JP7093460B1 - Cold fan - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve a cooling function of a cold air fan using heat of vaporization and to achieve high quietness. SOLUTION: The casing is provided with a water pan, a sirocco fan and a vaporization filter housed in the casing, the lower end of the vaporization filter is immersed in the water of the water pan, and the air flow by the sirocco fan passes through the vaporization filter. A cold air fan is provided in which a housing of a sirocco fan and a case of a vaporization filter are arranged on a virtually identical horizontal plane. [Selection diagram] FIG. 4

Description

The present invention relates to a cold air fan, particularly a cold air fan that generates cold air by utilizing the heat of vaporization of water.

The cold air fan includes a fan that forms an air flow and a cooling unit that utilizes the heat of vaporization of water by the air flow.
A vaporization filter made of a non-woven fabric or the like impregnated with water is used for the cooling unit. When the air flow comes into contact with the vaporization filter, the water in the vaporization filter evaporates, the heat of vaporization is taken from the vaporization filter, and the temperature drops. As a result, the air flow passing through such a vaporization filter is cooled.
A shaft flow fan is generally used as the fan. Since the axial flow fan has a simple structure, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost, which is one of the reasons for its adoption. Further, according to the axial flow fan, since the air flow is formed in the axial direction of the housing, the axial flow fan and the vaporization filter can be arranged in series, so that the cold air fan itself can be easily miniaturized. In this case, in order to discharge the cooled air more efficiently, a structure is adopted in which a vaporization filter is arranged on the downstream side of the axial flow fan and the cooled air that has passed through the vaporization filter is discharged to the outside as it is. (See FIG. 1A).

Please refer to Patent Document 1 as a prior art document that discloses a technique related to the present invention.
Patent Document 1 discloses a humidity control device. This humidity control device is equipped with a sirocco fan and a vaporization filter on the upstream side of the air flow. There is a distance in the air flow path between the vaporization filter and the sirocco fan because it is not intended to generate cold air. In other words, even if the air flow is cooled by the heat of vaporization of the vaporization filter, it is affected by the outside air temperature until it reaches the sirocco fan, and the air flow released from the sirocco fan is not always in the cooled state.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2021-120608

Due to the demand for miniaturization, the cold air fan for the tabletop was used exclusively with an axial fan.
Even in such a cold air fan, in addition to improving the cooling function, higher quietness is required.

Therefore, the present inventors considered the use of a sirocco fan instead of the axial flow fan, and came up with the present invention. When comparing an axial flow fan and a sirocco fan that fit in the same housing, the latter has a larger air flow rate than the former. As a result, the air cooling performance due to the heat of vaporization in the vaporization filter is improved. In addition, the sirocco fan is quieter than the axial flow fan due to its structure.

That is, the first aspect of the present invention is defined as follows.
The casing is provided with a water pan, a sirocco fan and a vaporization filter housed in the casing, the lower end of the vaporization filter is immersed in the water of the water pan, and the air flow by the sirocco fan passes through the vaporization filter. It ’s a cold fan,
A cold air fan in which the housing of the sirocco fan and the case of the vaporization filter are arranged so as to include the same virtual horizontal plane.

According to the cold air fan of the first aspect defined in this way, the housing of the sirocco fan and the case of the vaporization filter are arranged including the same virtual horizontal plane. In other words, both are arranged horizontally with respect to the plane of the base (for example, a desk) of the cold air fan. As a result, both can be arranged as close as possible. As a result, the housing of the cold air fan itself that surrounds the housing of the sirocco fan and the case of the vaporization filter can be miniaturized.
Furthermore, when the vaporization filter is placed on the air inlet side of the sirocco fan, the distance between the vaporization filter and the sirocco fan can be shortened as much as possible, so that the disturbance (heat from the outside) to the air cooled by the vaporization filter can be reduced. The effect can be suppressed.
On the other hand, even when the vaporization filter is arranged on the air outlet side of the sirocco fan, the distance between the two is short, so that the ventilation resistance can be suppressed as much as possible, and the absorption efficiency of the heat of vaporization in the vaporization filter can be improved. ..

The cold air fan of the second aspect of the present invention is defined as follows.
The case of the vaporization filter is brought into contact with the vicinity of the air inlet of the housing of the sirocco fan, which is a cold air fan specified in the first aspect.
In the sirocco fan, the air flow is orthogonal in the housing, and air is discharged from the side surface of the housing of the disk or the rectangular disk. Therefore, if the vaporization filter is arranged on the downstream side of the air flow of the sirocco fan, the case for accommodating the sirocco fan and the vaporization filter is inevitably increased in size (see FIG. 1B).
Therefore, from the viewpoint of downsizing the cold air fan itself, it is preferable to arrange the case of the vaporization filter on the air inlet side of the sirocco fan as shown in FIG. 1C. Furthermore, as specified in the second aspect, by abutting the case of the vaporization filter around the air inlet of the sirocco fan housing, it is more reliable to prevent the influence of disturbance on the air cooled by the vaporization filter. do.

The cold air fan of the third aspect of the present invention is defined as follows. That is, in the cold air fan specified in the second aspect, a rib surrounding the air inlet is formed in the housing of the sirocco fan, and the contact edge of the case of the vaporization filter is arranged so as to overlap the rib. ..
According to the cold air fan of the third aspect defined in this way, the rib surrounding the air inlet of the sirocco fan housing and the case of the vaporization filter overlap each other, so that the outside air flows to the air flow cooled by the vaporization filter. You can surely prevent it from entering. Therefore, the influence of the disturbance on the air flow cooled by the vaporization filter can be efficiently eliminated.

The fourth aspect of the present invention is defined as follows. That is, in the cold air fan specified in the third aspect, the ribs are composed of vertical ribs and horizontal ribs, and the vertical ribs have a larger protrusion length than the horizontal ribs.
When attaching / detaching the vaporization filter case to / from the cold air fan, it is necessary to lift the vaporization filter case upward. At this time, if the amount of protrusion of the rib in the lateral direction is large, this interferes with the case of the vaporization filter, which makes assembly difficult. On the other hand, by increasing the amount of protrusion of the ribs in the vertical direction that does not interfere with each other when the case of the vaporization filter is assembled, the inflow of outside air is more reliably prevented.

The fifth aspect of the present invention is defined as follows. That is, in the cold air fan specified in the fourth aspect, the base of the cold air fan is provided with an insertion port of the case of the vaporization filter, and a guide wall extending from the peripheral edge of the insertion port to the outer edge of the rib in the vertical direction is provided. Be prepared.
According to the cold air fan of the fifth aspect defined in this way, when the case of the vaporization filter is assembled to the cold air fan, the contact edge of the case of the vaporization filter is guided to the rib in the vertical direction by following the guide. Will be done. As a result, the contact edge of the case of the vaporization filter automatically overlaps with the rib, and thus abuts with high position accuracy around the air inlet of the sirocco fan.

The sixth aspect of the present invention is defined as follows. That is, in the cold air fan specified in the first aspect, a duct is interposed between the periphery of the air inlet of the housing of the sirocco fan and the case of the vaporization filter.
According to the cold air fan of the sixth aspect defined in this way, the duct can prevent a gap from being formed between the housing of the sirocco fan and the case of the vaporization filter.

The seventh aspect of the present invention is defined as follows. That is, in the cold air fan specified in any one of the first to sixth aspects, the casing of the sirocco fan is provided with a drain hole.
According to the cold air fan of the seventh aspect defined in this way, even if water such as water droplets is mixed in the casing (rotary blade storage portion) of the sirocco fan, it is automatically drained from the drain hole to the outside of the casing. Therefore, it is possible to prevent accidents such as electric leakage and rust and the occurrence of deterioration.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram seen from above showing the type of the fan and the arrangement mode of the vaporization filter. FIG. 2 is a photograph showing the appearance of the cold air fan according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a sirocco fan. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state in which the case of the vaporization filter is assembled. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the positional relationship between the vaporization filter and the sirocco fan. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the filter receiving portion.

Hereinafter, the cold air fan 1 of the embodiment will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6.
The cold air fan 1 includes a casing 10, a sirocco fan 21, a vaporization filter case 41, and a filter receiving portion 61.
As shown in FIG. 2, the casing 10 has a cubic shape, and the intake port 11 and the exhaust port 13 are formed on an adjacent vertical side surface.
The vertical side surface 12 provided with the intake port 11 is removable, and the case 41 of the vaporization filter can be attached with the vertical side surface 12 removed. A louver 15 is attached to the vertical side surface 14 provided with the exhaust port 13.
The upper surface of the casing 10 is provided with a control switch, an indicator and a handle.

The sirocco fan 21 includes a fan main body 22 and a housing 30 surrounding the fan main body 22, and as shown in FIG. 3, the entire sirocco fan 21 has a thick board shape.
A circular air inlet 31 is provided on one side of the housing 30, and an air outlet 33 is provided on the side surface. The air outlet 33 faces the exhaust port 13 of the casing 10.
A drain hole 35 is opened on the lower surface of the housing 30 to prevent water from staying in the housing 30.

Vertical ribs 36, 36 and lateral ribs 37, 37 are formed on the peripheral edge of the air inlet 31. These ribs 36, 36, 37, 37 rise vertically from one surface of the housing and are continuous with each other without gaps.
The amount of protrusion of the vertical ribs 36, 36 is larger than that of the horizontal ribs 37, 37. The amount of protrusion of the ribs 37 and 37 in the lateral direction can be arbitrarily designed so as not to cause interference when assembling the case 41 of the vaporization filter, but can be, for example, 1 to 10 mm.

The amount of protrusion of the ribs 36 in the vertical direction is 2 to 10 times that of the ribs in the horizontal direction, so that a sufficient amount of overlap with the case 41 of the vaporization filter is secured and the intrusion of outside air into the air flow is prevented.
In this example, the ribs 36, 36 in the vertical direction have a small protrusion amount at about half of the positions in the vertical direction. This is due to the presence of the guide wall 63 of the filter receiving portion 61 (see FIGS. 4 and 6). The guide wall 63 overlaps with the portions of the ribs 36 and 36 in the vertical direction where the amount of protrusion is small from the outside, and prevents the ingress of outside air.

As shown in FIG. 4, in the filter case 41, the retainer 45 of the vaporization filter 71 is erected on the U-shaped substrate portion 43. One edge of the substrate portion 43 overlaps with the ribs 36, 36, 37, 37 around the air inlet 31 of the housing 30 of the sirocco fan 21, and abuts on the periphery.
A plurality of vaporization filters 71 are held in the filter case 41. As shown in FIG. 4, the vaporization filters 71 are arranged with a small gap of 1 to 5 mm along the air flow direction. The vaporization filter can be formed of a water-absorbent carrier such as paper, non-woven fabric, or sponge.
According to the sirocco fan 21, an air flow having a sufficient speed can be obtained even if the above gap is made small, so that the filling amount of the vaporization filter 71 can be increased, and thus the cooling capacity by the heat of vaporization can be increased. growing.

As shown in FIG. 5, there are two legs 73 and 74 on the lower edge of the vaporization filter 71, and the legs 73 and 74 are immersed in the water of the water tank 65 of the filter receiving portion 61 (see FIG. 6).
The lower edge 75 of the filter 71 has the same height as the lower edge of the substrate portion 43 of the filter case 41, and is placed on the retainer portion 67 of the filter receiving portion 61.
The height of the case 41 holding the vaporization filter 71 is defined by the relationship between the position of the lower edge of the substrate portion 43 and the height of the retainer portion 67.
In this embodiment, the height of the main body portion (planar portion other than the legs 73 and 74) of the vaporization filter 71 is set to be substantially the same as the diameter of the air inlet 22 of the sirocco fan 21, and the front surface of the latter when viewed from the air flow direction. Is covered with the former.
The sirocco fan 21 is generally obtained as an assembly of the fan main body 22 and its housing 30, and the vaporization filter 71 is a separate member from the sirocco fan 21 as an assembly with the case 41. Here, in order to bring the vaporization filter 71 close to the sirocco fan 21 and the air inlet, it is preferable that the housing 30 of the sirocco fan 21 and the case 41 of the vaporization filter 71 have the same height. In other words, they both contain the same virtual plane.

According to the cold air fan 1 configured in this way, an air flow is generated with the operation of the sirocco fan 21. The air flow flows in the order of the intake port 11 provided in the casing 10, the vaporization filter 71, the air inlet 31 of the sirocco fan housing 30, the fan body 22, the air outlet 33, and the exhaust port 13.
Since the vaporization filter 71 contains water, the water is evaporated when the air flow passes there. Since the heat of vaporization is taken from the vaporization filter 71 by this evaporation of water, the temperature of the vaporization filter 71 itself drops. The vaporization filter 71 whose temperature has been lowered in this way serves as a cooling unit to cool the air flow.

In this example, the edge of the case 41 of the vaporization filter facing the air inlet 31 of the housing 30 of the sirocco fan is in contact with the peripheral edge of the air inlet 31. As a result, outside air does not enter the air flow cooled by the vaporization filter 71. Further, since the ribs 36, 36, 37, 37 erected around the air inlet 31 and the case 41 overlap each other, it is possible to reliably prevent the outside air from entering the air flow at this point as well.
These ribs 36, 36, 37, 37 can be regarded as ducts.
By the presence of the duct, that is, the rib, even if a gap is formed between the case 41 and the peripheral edge of the air inlet 31, the influence of disturbance can be prevented. This also means that there is a margin in the assembly accuracy between the case 41 and the housing 31 of the sirocco fan 21, which can contribute to the reduction of manufacturing cost and the improvement of durability.

For example, as can be seen from FIGS. The lateral ribs 37, 37 of the housing 30 of the sirocco fan limit the amount of protrusion so as not to interfere with the lifting operation.

Although the embodiments and examples of the present disclosure have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the description of each aspect of the above disclosure, the embodiments (examples), and variations thereof. Various modifications are also included in the present invention to the extent that those skilled in the art can easily conceive without departing from the scope of claims.

1 Cold fan 10 Casing 21 Sirocco fan 22 Air inlet 30 Housing 31 Air inlet 36 Vertical rib 37 Horizontal rib 41 Vaporization filter case 63 Guide wall 71 Vaporization filter

Claims (4)

The casing is provided with a casing, a water pan, a sirocco fan, a housing of the sirocco fan, a vaporization filter, and a case of the vaporization filter, and the lower end of the vaporization filter is immersed in the water of the water pan. A cold air fan in which the air flow from the sirocco fan passes through the vaporization filter.
The vaporization filter is held in the case to form an assembly as a member separate from the sirocco fan.
The assembly is detachably assembled to the housing of the sirocco fan.
The housing of the sirocco fan and the case of the vaporization filter are arranged so as to include the same virtual horizontal plane.
A cold air fan in which the case of the vaporization filter is arranged on the air inlet side of the housing of the sirocco fan.
The housing of the sirocco fan is formed with ribs composed of vertical ribs and horizontal ribs surrounding the air inlet, and the contact edge of the case of the vaporization filter is arranged so as to overlap the ribs.
The vertical rib is a cold air fan having a larger protrusion length than the horizontal rib. The cold air fan according to claim 1, wherein the case of the vaporization filter is brought into contact with the periphery of the air inlet of the housing of the sirocco fan. The casing of the cold fan is provided with an insertion port for the case of the vaporization filter.
The cold air fan according to claim 1 or 2 , comprising a guide wall extending from the peripheral edge of the insertion port to the outer edge of the vertical rib. The cold air fan according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the casing of the sirocco fan is provided with a drain hole.

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