JP4504288B2 - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioner that performs indoor heating, drying, and the like, and more particularly to an air conditioner that includes a cross-flow fan.

A conventional air conditioner equipped with a crossflow fan has the distance between the ends of the crossflow fan and the heat exchanger set to be substantially the same in order to effectively use the heating region of the heat exchanger. It is common.
The size of the casing that houses the cross flow fan and the heat exchanger is such that the gap provided around the cross flow fan, the heat exchanger, etc. is minimized so as to make the overall size of the air conditioner main body as compact as possible. It is formed so as to be limited (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  Therefore, with this product, when manufacturing multiple types of air conditioners with different capacities, the cross flow fans and heat exchangers with widths that match the respective capacities are matched with the widths of the cross flow fans and heat exchangers. Since the formed casings having different sizes are used, the types of parts to be handled are increased, and the burden on the management of these parts and the production of the air conditioner main body is large.

  Therefore, in order to share parts between air conditioners with different capacities, heat exchangers, casings, and other parts that support large capacity regardless of the capacity of the air conditioner are used. By using a long fan when manufacturing a large capacity air conditioner and a short width when manufacturing a small capacity air conditioner, an air conditioner with different capacities is provided. A method is conceivable.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a configuration of a bathroom heater 6 exemplified as an air conditioner in which the above-described components are shared, a heat exchanger 7 through which hot water from a heat source unit (not shown) flows, and the heat exchanger 7 includes a cross flow fan 8 that circulates the air in the bathroom via 7, and a fan motor 9 as a drive source of the cross flow fan 8.
The casing 600 of the bathroom heater 6 is provided with an air inlet 61 and an air outlet 62, and an air passage 63 that connects the air inlet 61 and the air outlet 62 is formed in the casing 600. .

  The heat exchanger 7 is disposed in the vicinity of the air inlet 61 of the ventilation path 63 and is supported in a fixed state with respect to the side walls 64 and 64 of the ventilation path 63. The distance between both ends of the heat exchanger 7 (hereinafter referred to as “the width of the heat exchanger 7”) W7 is a capacity suitable for cold districts and relatively large bathrooms (hereinafter referred to as “large heating capacity”). It is set to a dimension that can be demonstrated.

The cross flow fan 8 is disposed in the vicinity of the air outlet 62 of the air passage 63, and the shaft portion 82 on one end side thereof is connected to the fan motor 9 fixed to the fan support portion 640 of the one side wall 64, A shaft portion 82 on the other end side is pivotally supported by the fan support portion 640 on the other side wall 64 so as to be rotatable.
The distance between the end plates 81 of the cross flow fan 8 (hereinafter referred to as “width of the cross flow fan 8”) W8 is a capacity suitable for a relatively small bathroom (hereinafter referred to as “small heating capacity”). It is set to a dimension that can exhibit

The distance W6 between the fan support portions 640 and 640 is set to be substantially the same as the width W7 of the heat exchanger 7.
Between the one end plate 81 of the cross flow fan 8 corresponding to the small heating capacity and the fan support part 640 of the side wall 64 facing the end plate 81, the cross flow fan 8 has a margin in the air passage 63. By having it loaded, a gap 630 having a relatively large width is formed.

That is, a cross-flow fan having a dimension that can exhibit a large heating capacity wider than that of the cross-flow fan 8 can be incorporated between the fan support portions 640 and 640.
In this case, the width W7 of the heat exchanger 7 is set to a dimension corresponding to the large heating capacity, and the distance between the fan support portions 640 and 640 where a cross flow fan corresponding to the large heating capacity can be incorporated. Therefore, parts other than the cross flow fan 8 can be the same as those in the bathroom heater corresponding to the large heating capacity.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-051457 (FIG. 5) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-161692 (FIG. 1)

However, in the bathroom heater 6, since a relatively large gap 630 is formed between the end plate 81 and the side wall 64 of the cross flow fan 8, the air sent from the cross flow fan 8 is in the gap 630. There was a risk that the wind speed would decrease.
The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and even when a relatively large gap 630 is formed between the end plate 81 and the side wall 64 of the cross flow fan 8, the wind speed during operation is stabilized. This is the issue.

In order to solve the above problems, an air conditioner according to a first aspect of the present invention provides:
“A casing having an air passage connecting the air inlet and the air outlet,
A heat exchanger provided in the air passage;
A cross flow fan provided in the air passage on the air outlet side of the heat exchanger;
A fan motor for rotating the cross flow fan,
Between the side wall of the air passage and the end plate of the cross flow fan, there is a gap formed by loading the cross flow fan with a margin in the air passage,
A spacer for closing this is provided between the gaps.
In this case, since a spacer is provided between the play formed between the end plate of the cross flow fan and the side wall of the air passage, the air sent from the cross flow fan enters the play. It flows smoothly in the downstream direction without backflow. Moreover, the occurrence of turbulent flow in the gap is also suppressed.
Further, indoor air is prevented from being sucked into the upstream side of the cross flow fan through the gap without passing through the heat exchanger. This stabilizes the amount of heat of the air sent from the cross flow fan.

An air conditioner according to a second aspect of the present invention is the above first aspect,
“The spacer is provided with an air guide plate extending from the vicinity of the end plate of the cross flow fan facing the spacer side to the air blowing port”.
In this case, since the air sent from the cross flow fan is guided to the air blowing port by the air guide plate provided in the spacer, the flow of air from the cross flow fan to the air blowing port is stabilized. Moreover, the occurrence of turbulent flow in the vicinity of the cross-flow fan in the gap side is also suppressed.

The air conditioner according to a third aspect of the present invention is the above-described first or second aspect,
“The spacer is supported in a fixed state in the air passage,
The cross flow fan is pivotally supported in the vicinity of the end plate with respect to the spacer.
In this case, the crossflow fan is pivotally supported by a spacer that is supported in a fixed state in the air passage in the vicinity of the end plate on the gap side, so that the shaft end of the shaft portion extending into the gap is supported by the fan support portion. The rotation of the cross flow fan is stabilized as compared with the above-described conventional one that is directly supported.

Since the present invention has the above configuration, the present invention has the following specific effects.
In the invention according to claim 1, by providing the spacer between the gaps, the air sent from the cross flow fan flows smoothly in the downstream direction without flowing back into the gap, so that the wind speed is stabilized.
Moreover, since the noise caused by the turbulent flow is suppressed by suppressing the turbulent flow in the gap, the operation sound of the entire air conditioner can also be reduced.
Furthermore, by preventing the indoor air from being sucked into the upstream side of the cross flow fan through the gap, air with a stable amount of heat is supplied from the cross flow fan into the room, so that the heating efficiency is also improved.

In the invention which concerns on Claim 2, since the flow of the air from a crossflow fan to a ventilation port is stabilized by providing the baffle plate in the spacer, a wind speed is stabilized more.
In addition, since the generation of turbulent flow near the idle side of the cross flow fan is suppressed, noise caused by the turbulent flow is also suppressed, so that the operation sound of the entire air conditioner can be further reduced.

  In the invention according to claim 3, since the rotation of the crossflow fan during operation is stabilized by pivotally supporting the crossflow fan in the vicinity of its end plate, in addition to the effect of the above-mentioned claim 1 or 2, air conditioning The occurrence of abnormal vibration of the entire machine can also be suppressed.

Next, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a bathroom heater 1 exemplified as an air conditioner according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Details of each part will be described below.
As shown in FIG. 1, the bathroom heater 1 includes a casing 10 that houses a heat exchanger 2 and a crossflow fan 3 that will be described later, a heat exchanger 2 through which hot water from a heat source machine (not shown) flows, A crossflow fan 3 that circulates air in the bathroom via the heat exchanger 2 and a fan motor 4 that is connected to the crossflow fan 3 are provided.

  The casing 10 is provided with an air inlet 11 as an inlet for bathroom air and an air outlet 12 as an outlet for bathroom air taken into the casing 10. An air passage 13 that connects the air inlet 11 and the air outlet 12 is formed. Further, fan support portions 140a and 140b for supporting the cross flow fan 3 are provided in the vicinity of the air blowing port 12 of the side walls 14 and 14 of the air passage 13, and a distance W1 between the fan support portions 140a and 140b is provided. Is set to approximately the same dimension (for example, 450 mm) as the width W2 of the heat exchanger 2 described later.

  The distance W1 between the fan support portions 140a and 140b is a cross-flow fan (not shown) having a large heating capacity suitable for a cold district or a relatively large bathroom (for example, a unit bath having a vertical and horizontal dimension of 1600 mm × 2400 mm). ) Can be accommodated, and the fan support portions 140a and 140b can pivotally support the large flow capacity crossflow fan in a rotatable state.

The heat exchanger 2 is disposed in the vicinity of the air inlet 11 in the air passage 13, and both ends thereof are supported in a fixed state with respect to the side walls 14, 14 of the air passage 13.
The distance between the two ends of the heat exchanger 2 (hereinafter referred to as “the width of the heat exchanger 2”) W2 is relative to a cold district or a relatively large bathroom (for example, a unit bath having a vertical and horizontal dimension of 1600 mm × 2400 mm). Is set to a dimension (for example, 450 mm) that exhibits a sufficient heat exchange capability.

  The cross flow fan 3 is disposed at a position closer to the air outlet 12 than the heat exchanger 2 in the air passage 13, and a fan motor 4 whose one end side shaft portion 32a is fixed to the fan support portion 140a. The shaft portion 32b on the other end side is connected to a spacer 5 (described later) fixed to the fan support portion 140b.

  The distance between the end plates 31a and 31b that sandwich the plurality of blade pieces 30 of the crossflow fan 3 at both ends (hereinafter referred to as “width of the crossflow fan 3”) W3 is a relatively small bathroom (for example, indoor vertical and horizontal). The dimension is set to a dimension (for example, 400 mm) that provides a small heating capacity suitable for a 1600 mm × 1600 mm unit bath). The cross flow fan 3 is disposed in a state where the end plate 31a on one end side thereof is close to the fan support portion 140a on the fan motor 4 side, that is, close to the fan motor 4. Therefore, a gap 130 having a predetermined width (for example, 50 mm) is formed between the end plate 31b on the other end side and the fan support portion 140b. The fan support portion 140a on the fan motor 4 side covers the entire periphery of the end plate 31a.

The clearance 130 is provided with a spacer 5 whose one end is screwed and fixed to the fan support portion 140b and whose other end is rotatably supported on the shaft portion 32b of the crossflow fan 3, and covers the whole. ing.
An end cover 51 that covers the entire periphery of the end plate 31 b of the cross flow fan 3 is formed on the cross flow fan 3 side of the spacer 5, and a bearing 35 provided at the center thereof is a shaft portion of the cross flow fan 3. It supports the vicinity of the root of 32b.

  The end cover 51 is connected to the base portion 52 of the spacer 5 so as to be slidable in the axial direction of the cross flow fan 3. For this reason, when manufacturing this bathroom heater 1, if the end cover 51 is slid to the base part 52 side and the distance between the fan support part 140a and the end cover 51 is increased, the interior of the casing 10 is increased. The work of incorporating the cross flow fan 3 is easy.

  Further, the end cover 51 is formed with an air guide plate 514 that divides the air passage 13 into the cross flow fan 3 side and the idler side 130 in the range from the vicinity of the end plate 31 b to the air blowing port 12 of the casing 10. The air passage 13 a on the cross flow fan 3 side divided by the air guide plate 514 is set to have substantially the same width as the width W 3 of the cross flow fan 3.

  In this case, since the gap 130 formed between the end plate 31b of the cross flow fan 3 and the fan support portion 140b is closed by the spacer 5 so as to cover the whole, it is sent out from the cross flow fan 3. The air thus made flows smoothly in the downstream direction of the cross flow fan 3 without flowing backward from the gap 130 into the casing 10. Thereby, the wind speed within the range of the width W3 of the cross flow fan 3 is stabilized, and the air volume sent from the cross flow fan 3 is also stabilized.

  In addition, by closing the gap 130 with the spacer 5, the turbulent flow in the gap 130 generated when the air sent from the cross flow fan 3 flows into the gap 130 is also suppressed. Noises such as wind noise and vibrations of parts are also suppressed. Thereby, the driving sound of the whole bathroom heater 1 can also be reduced.

Furthermore, air in the bathroom is prevented from being sucked into the upstream side of the cross flow fan 3 through the gap 130 without passing through the heat exchanger 2 and sent out from the cross flow fan 3 into the bathroom again. A stable amount of heat is supplied from the cross flow fan 3 into the bathroom.
Thereby, the heating efficiency of the bathroom heater 1 improves.

The spacer 5 is provided with an air guide plate 514 that divides the air passage 13 into the left and right in the range from the vicinity of the end plate 31 b to the air outlet 12 of the casing 10, so that the air is sent from the cross flow fan 3. The air is guided to the air outlet 12 side, and the air flow is stabilized in the air passage 13a having the same width as the width W3 of the cross flow fan 3.
Thereby, the wind speed and air volume sent out from the cross flow fan 3 are further stabilized.

Furthermore, since the turbulent flow is suppressed by the wind guide plate 514 near the gap 130 side of the cross flow fan 3, noise such as wind noise caused by the turbulent flow and vibration noise of each part is also suppressed. Is done.
Thereby, the operation sound of the whole bathroom heater 1 can also be reduced further.

  On the other hand, the shaft portion 32b on the clearance 130 side of the crossflow fan 3 is supported in the vicinity of the root of the spacer 5 fixed to the fan support portion 140b. The vibration of the cross flow fan 3 at the time is suppressed. Therefore, the rotation of the cross flow fan 3 is stabilized, and abnormal vibration of the entire bathroom heater 1 hardly occurs.

  When manufacturing multiple types of air conditioners with different heating capacities in air conditioners, in order to improve efficiency in terms of production and management, sharing parts among the above multiple types of air conditioners However, in the above embodiment, a cross flow fan corresponding to a large heating capacity suitable for cold districts and relatively large bathrooms can be assembled in the space between the fan support portions 140a and 140b. As shown in FIG. 2, instead of the cross flow fan 3 and the spacer 5 corresponding to the small heating capability, a bathroom heater 1A having a large heating capability can be obtained by assembling a cross flow fan 3A corresponding to the large heating capability. It is possible to manufacture. That is, when the bathroom heater 1 with a small heating capacity is manufactured, the fan heaters 140a and 140b incorporate the cross flow fan 3 and the spacer 5 corresponding to the small heating capacity to manufacture the bathroom heater 1A with a large heating capacity. In this case, the bathroom heaters 1 and 1A having different heating capacities can be manufactured by incorporating the cross flow fan 3A corresponding to the large heating capability into the fan support portions 140a and 140b.

  In this case, main parts other than the cross flow fan constituting the bathroom heater 1, 1A, such as the casing 10 and the heat exchanger 2, can be shared. Therefore, the number of manufacturing processes when manufacturing the bathroom heaters 1 and 1A having different heating capacities is shortened, the burden on the production side is reduced, and the types of component parts are reduced to manage these component parts. The efficiency in various aspects is improved, such as the burden on the company is reduced.

On the other hand, as a method of manufacturing a plurality of types of air conditioners with different heating capacities, the fan volume can be reduced by setting the fan motor speed to be lower than the fan motor set speed for a large heating capacity bathroom heater. Although a method of providing a bathroom heater with a heating capacity is also conceivable, in this bathroom heater with a small heating capacity, the rotational speed of the fan motor is set low, so that the wind speed decreases simultaneously with the air volume.
Accordingly, there is a problem that the warm air sent from the cross flow fan does not reach the floor surface of the bathroom, and the entire interior of the bathroom cannot be heated uniformly (the dashed line shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B). A region surrounded by a circle indicates a hot air arrival region S1 of the bathroom heater 1A corresponding to the large heating capacity, and a region surrounded by a broken line indicates a temperature when the rotation speed of the fan motor corresponds to the small heating capacity. Wind arrival area S2 is shown).

  However, in the above-described embodiment, as described above, the airflow is reduced by incorporating the crossflow fan 3 shorter than the crossflow fan 3A corresponding to the large heating capacity, and the bathroom heater 1 having the small heating capacity is provided. Therefore, it is not necessary to change the set rotational speed of the fan motor 4 between the bathroom heater 1 having a small heating capacity and the bathroom heater 1A having a large heating capacity.

  That is, the bathroom heater 1 with the small heating capacity can maintain the same wind speed as the bathroom heater 1A with the large heating capacity. Therefore, the warm air sent out from the cross flow fan 3 reaches the floor in the bathroom (the area surrounded by the two-dot chain line shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B corresponds to the small heating capacity. The warm air arrival area S3 of the bathroom heater 1 is shown), and the entire bathroom can be uniformly heated.

[Others]
The spacer 5 is closed so as to cover the entire gap 130. However, if the air sent from the cross flow fan 3 can be prevented from flowing back into the casing 10 from below the gap 130, the gap 130 It may be closed so as to cover only the air outlet 12 side.
Further, one end of the spacer 5 is screwed and fixed to the fan support portion 140b. However, the spacer 5 may be connected to the fan support portion 140b so as to be easily detachable.

Although the end cover 51 of the spacer 5 is slidably connected to the base portion 52, it may be formed integrally with the base portion 52 as shown in FIG. .
The spacer 5 may be provided with an inclined portion 53 that is inclined toward the cross flow fan 3 from the vicinity of the heat exchanger 2 on the side wall 14 on the heat exchanger 2 side (see FIG. 4).
In this case, since air smoothly flows from the heat exchanger 2 to the cross flow fan 3, the wind speed and the amount of air sent from the cross flow fan 3 are further stabilized.

Moreover, since the air in the bathroom is circulated more efficiently, the heating efficiency is improved, noises such as wind noise and vibration noise of each part are suppressed, and the operation sound of the entire bathroom heater 1 can be reduced. .
Furthermore, a cover portion 54 may be provided on the air blowing port 12 side of the spacer 5 so as to cover the air blowing port 12 in the range from the side wall 14 on the gap 130 side to the air guide plate 514 (see FIG. 4).
In this case, since the air flow around the air guide plate 13 is stabilized, it is possible to further stabilize the wind speed and the amount of air sent from the cross flow fan 3.

  On the other hand, in the above embodiment, the spacer 5 is configured such that one end side is fixed to the fan support portion 140b and the other end side closes the gap 130 with the shaft portion 32b of the crossflow fan 3 supported. As shown, one end side is fixedly connected to end plates 315 and 315 of a small flow capacity crossflow fan 3B suitable for a relatively small bathroom, and shaft portions 325 and 325 on the other end side are fan support portions 140a, Cylindrical spacers 5B and 5B supported in a rotatable manner with respect to 140b may be used.

  In this case, as in the above embodiment, the gaps 130 and 130 formed between the end plates 315 and 315 of the cross flow fan 3B and the fan support portions 140a and 140b are closed by the spacers 5B and 5B. Therefore, backflow and turbulence in the gaps 130 and 130 are suppressed.

Thereby, the wind speed within the range of the width W3 of the crossflow fan 3B is stabilized, and the amount of air sent from the crossflow fan 3B is also stabilized.
Moreover, since the air in the bathroom is circulated efficiently, the heating efficiency is improved, noises such as wind noise and vibrations of each part are suppressed, and the operation sound of the entire bathroom heater 1B can be reduced.

Further, in the cross flow fan 3B, the shaft portion 325 of the spacer 5B fixed to the end plate 315 on one end side is connected to the fan motor 4 fixed to the fan support portion 140a, and the end plate 315 on the other end side. The shaft portion 325 of the spacer 5B fixed to the shaft is supported in the vicinity of the root of the bearing 35 incorporated in the fan support portion 140b. Accordingly, the deflection of the shaft portions 325 and 325 is relatively small, and vibration of the cross flow fan 3B during rotation is suppressed.
Thereby, rotation of cross flow fan 3B becomes stable and abnormal vibration of bathroom heater 1B whole does not occur easily.

  In addition, also in the said bathroom heater 1B, when manufacturing the bathroom heater 1B of small heating capability similarly to the said embodiment, the cross flow fan 3B corresponding to the small heating capability which provided spacer 5B, 5B at both ends Is incorporated into the fan support portions 140a and 140b to produce a bathroom heater 1A (see FIG. 2) having a large heating capacity, by incorporating a cross flow fan 3A corresponding to the large heating capacity into the fan support portions 140a and 140b. The bathroom heaters 1B and 1A having different heating capacities can be manufactured.

The schematic block diagram of the bathroom heater 1 illustrated as an air conditioner which concerns on embodiment of this invention Instead of the crossflow fan 3 and the spacer 5 of the bathroom heater 1 exemplified as an air conditioner according to the embodiment of the present invention, a schematic configuration of the bathroom heater 1A incorporating a crossflow fan 3A corresponding to a large heating capacity Figure Each of the hot air arrival areas of the bathroom heater 1A having a large heating capacity, the bathroom heater 1A in which the rotational speed of the fan motor 4 is set low, and the bathroom heater 1 exemplified as the bathroom air conditioner according to the embodiment of the present invention. Explanatory drawing which shows S1, S2, S3 Explanatory drawing which shows the modification of the spacer 5 of the bathroom heater 1 illustrated as an air conditioner which concerns on embodiment of this invention. Schematic block diagram of bathroom heater 1B exemplified as an air conditioner according to another embodiment of the present invention Schematic configuration diagram of a bathroom heater 6 exemplified as a conventional air conditioner

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Air conditioner 10 ... Casing 11 ... Intake port 12 ... Blower port 13 ... Ventilation path 130 ... Spacing 14,14 ... Side wall 2 ... Heat exchanger 3 ... Cross flow fans 31a, 31b ... End plate 4 ... Fan motor 5 ... Spacer

Claims (3)

A casing having an air passage connecting the air inlet and the air outlet;
A heat exchanger provided in the air passage;
A cross flow fan provided in the air passage on the air outlet side of the heat exchanger;
A fan motor for rotating the cross flow fan,
Between the side wall of the air passage and the end plate of the cross flow fan, there is a gap formed by loading the cross flow fan with a margin in the air passage,
An air conditioner provided with a spacer for closing the gap between the gaps. In the air conditioner according to claim 1,
The air conditioner, wherein the spacer is provided with an air guide plate extending from the vicinity of the end plate of the cross flow fan facing the spacer side to the air blowing port. In the air conditioner according to claim 1 or 2,
The spacer is supported in a fixed state in the air passage,
The cross flow fan is an air conditioner that is pivotally supported in the vicinity of the end plate with respect to the spacer.

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