JP7484321B2 - Air conditioner indoor unit - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an indoor unit for an air conditioner, and in particular to the structure of an indoor unit that is attached to the wall of a room.

For example, as shown in Patent Document 1, an indoor unit of an air conditioner is known that has side panels (hereinafter referred to as side panels) arranged at both the left and right ends of the main body and has its back side fixed to the wall of the room, and has an indoor heat exchanger (not shown), auxiliary piping (hereinafter referred to as internal refrigerant piping) that connects to the indoor heat exchanger, and a refrigerant piping connection port (hereinafter referred to as piping connection part) located at the end of the internal refrigerant piping and detachably connected to a connection piping (hereinafter referred to as external refrigerant piping) from the outdoor unit, and an opening is provided in the frame bottom plate (hereinafter referred to as the bottom cover) on the bottom side, and a bottom lid that covers the opening is detachably attached to the bottom cover.

In the indoor unit shown in Patent Document 1, the structure by which the bottom cover is removably attached to the lower cover is an attachment/detachment means consisting of a convex portion at the tip of a protrusion provided on the bottom cover side and a concave portion provided on the lower panel side, and the bottom cover is attached to the lower cover by pushing the cover plate into the lower cover side to engage the convex portion with the concave portion.
Therefore, to connect the external refrigerant piping and the internal refrigerant piping, the bottom cover is pulled downward from the underside cover to remove it, and then the external refrigerant piping and internal refrigerant piping are connected. After completing the work, the bottom cover is pushed from below toward the underside cover to attach the bottom cover to the underside cover.

Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 4-43735

In the indoor unit shown in Patent Document 1, when connecting the external refrigerant piping extending from the side of the indoor unit to a piping connection part of the indoor refrigerant piping, it was necessary to remove one of the side panels located at both the left and right ends of the indoor unit in order to connect the external refrigerant piping and the piping connection part of the internal refrigerant piping, which posed a problem that the work was not easy.
Furthermore, since there is no member for supporting the external refrigerant piping and the internal refrigerant piping, the weight of the external refrigerant piping and the internal refrigerant piping is applied to the bottom lid, which causes deformation of the bottom lid.
Furthermore, when connecting the piping connections of the external refrigerant piping and the internal refrigerant piping, the bottom cover needs to be pulled downward and removed from the underside cover. However, in the case of indoor units whose back side is fixed to the indoor wall, there is a problem that if there is something underneath the indoor unit, it is not easy to remove the bottom cover from the underside panel.
In view of the above problems, the present invention provides an air conditioner indoor unit that can improve the ease of connecting an external refrigerant piping and an internal refrigerant piping in the air conditioner indoor unit.

One aspect of the present invention is an indoor unit for an air conditioner that is attached to a wall surface inside a room and has a main body including a front panel arranged on the front side, side panels arranged on both left and right ends of the front panel, and an opening provided on the bottom surface, an installation plate attached to the back side of the main body and attached to a wall surface inside a room, a bottom cover that covers the opening, an internal refrigerant piping formed between the front panel and the bottom cover and connected to an indoor heat exchanger arranged inside the main body, and a piping connection part that is arranged on the bottom side inside the main body and exposed to the opening, is attached to an end of the internal refrigerant piping and is detachably connected to an external refrigerant piping from an outdoor unit, and is attached to a wall surface inside a room. The air conditioner indoor unit has a cutout opening that is continuous with the opening of the pipe connection part, and a pipe holding bracket that is on the bottom side of the internal refrigerant pipe inside the main body and can support the internal refrigerant pipe at each of the left and right positions sandwiching the pipe connection part, and the bottom cover has a flat central cover that covers the opening in the center of the opening, and a substantially L-shaped end cover that is disposed on each of the left and right end sides of the central cover and covers the opening on the end side of the opening and the opening of the cutout opening, and the central cover and the pipe holding bracket are removably attached to the main body, and the end covers on the left and right end sides are removably attached to the main body and the pipe holding bracket.

Another aspect of the present invention is an indoor unit for an air conditioner in which, in the invention of the first aspect, a bracket base portion for attaching the piping holding bracket to the main body by a fastening means and a panel base portion for attaching the central cover to the main body by a fastening means are arranged on the bottom side of the main body, and the attachment direction of the fastening means when attaching the piping holding bracket to the bracket base portion by the fastening means and the attachment direction of the fastening means when attaching the central cover to the panel base portion by the fastening means are from the front side to the back side of the main body.

According to the present invention, the main body has a cutout opening at the lower end of the side panel that is continuous with the opening of the opening, and a pipe holding bracket that is on the bottom side of the internal refrigerant pipe inside the main body and can support the internal refrigerant pipe at each of the left and right positions sandwiching the pipe connection part, and the bottom cover has a flat central cover that closes the opening in the center of the opening, and a substantially L-shaped end cover that is arranged on both the left and right end sides of the central cover and closes the opening on the end side of the opening and the opening of the cutout opening. The central cover and the pipe holding bracket are removably attached to the main body, and the end covers arranged on both the left and right end sides are removably attached to the main body and the pipe holding bracket. Therefore, when connecting the external refrigerant pipe extending from the side of the indoor unit to the pipe connection part of the indoor refrigerant pipe, the external refrigerant pipe can be connected to the pipe connection part of the indoor refrigerant pipe by simply removing the central cover from the main body and the end cover from the main body and the pipe holding bracket without removing the side panel from the main body, thereby improving the efficiency of the work.

In addition, the main body has pipe holding brackets that are located closer to the bottom than the internal refrigerant piping inside the main body and can support the internal refrigerant piping at both left and right positions across the piping connection part, so that the weight of the internal refrigerant piping is not directly applied to the bottom cover, preventing deformation of the bottom cover.
Furthermore, the installation direction of the fastening means when the fastening means is used to attach the piping holding bracket to the bracket base portion, and the installation direction of the fastening means when the fastening means is used to attach the central cover to the panel base portion, are from the front to the rear side of the main body, thereby improving the ease of attaching and detaching the piping holding bracket and central cover to the main body of the indoor unit, even if there is an object below the indoor unit.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an indoor unit of the indoor conditioning device. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the indoor unit of the indoor air conditioning device with the central cover removed. This is an oblique view of the indoor unit of the indoor conditioning device with the bottom cover and pipe holding bracket removed. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an indoor unit of the indoor conditioning device. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the end cover attached to the main body.

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the front of the indoor unit 1 of the air conditioner in this embodiment from the diagonally lower right side, Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the front of the indoor unit 1 from the diagonally lower right side with the central cover described below removed, Figure 3 is a perspective view showing the front of the indoor unit 1 from the diagonally lower right side with the central cover and the piping holding bracket described below removed, and Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view of the indoor unit 1 of the air conditioner.

The indoor unit 1 of the air conditioner in this embodiment is a type of indoor unit in which the back of the indoor unit 1 is fixed to a wall surface (not shown) in the room in which the indoor unit 1 is installed, and as shown in Figures 1 to 3, the indoor unit 1 has a horizontally long rectangular shape and has a front panel 2 arranged on the front side, a top panel 3 arranged on the top side, side panels 4 arranged on both the left and right ends, a main body 6 with an opening 5 on the back side of the bottom surface that opens over the entire length of the indoor unit, and an installation plate 7 that is attached to the back of the main body 6 and is also attached to the wall surface in the room.

A rear opening 8 is also provided on the lower side of the rear of the main body, which opens over the entire length of the indoor unit 1, and the opening 5 and the rear opening 8 are continuous. In addition, a notched opening 9 is formed on the rear side of the lower end of the side panel 4, which is located at both the left and right ends of the main body 6, and opens continuously to both the opening 5 and the rear opening 8.

A bottom cover 10 that covers the opening of the opening 5 is removably attached to the bottom surface of the main body 6, and an air outlet 11 (not shown) is formed between the front panel 2 and the bottom cover 10 so as to be inclined from the front panel toward the bottom cover 10, and a movable panel 12 that covers the air outlet 11 is attached to the main body 6 so as to be able to swing. The movable panel 12 opens the air outlet 11 when the air conditioner is operating, and by changing the angle as desired, changes the direction of the air flow that has passed through the indoor heat exchanger 20 (described later), and functions as a lid that closes the air outlet 11 when the air conditioner is stopped.

The bottom cover 10 has a central cover 13 that covers the opening in the central portion of the opening 5 in the left-right direction, a left end cover 141 that covers both the opening in the left portion of the opening 5 and the opening of the notched opening 9 formed in the left end side panel 4, and a right end cover 142 that covers both the opening in the right portion of the opening 5 and the opening of the notched opening 9 formed in the right end side panel 4.

Inside the main body 6, there are arranged an indoor heat exchanger 20, an indoor fan 21, a drain pan 22, an internal refrigerant piping 25 connected to the indoor heat exchanger 20, and a piping connection part 26 attached to the end of the internal refrigerant piping 25 and detachably connected to an external refrigerant piping from an outdoor unit (not shown). The piping connection part 26 is located on the bottom side of the inside of the main body 6, approximately in the longitudinal center of the opening 5, and when the bottom cover 10 is removed from the main body 6, the piping connection part 26 can be seen through the opening 5. Therefore, the connection work between the external refrigerant piping and the piping connection part 26 of the internal refrigerant piping 25 can be performed through the opening 5.

Furthermore, the internal refrigerant piping 25, the piping connection portion 26, and the external refrigerant piping are each arranged in two sets, one with an inflow side for sending refrigerant from the outdoor unit to the indoor unit 1, and the other with an outflow side for sending refrigerant from the indoor unit 1 to the outdoor unit.
In addition, a part of the internal refrigerant piping 25 has flexibility. Therefore, in order to allow the external refrigerant piping to be connected to the indoor unit 1 from either the left or right side, the internal refrigerant piping 25 can be bent so that the piping connection part 26 can be disposed near the left end or the right end of the opening 5.

Inside the main body 6, two plate-shaped pipe holding brackets 30 capable of supporting the internal refrigerant pipes 25 are arranged facing the opening 5, at positions on the bottom side of the internal refrigerant pipes 25, sandwiching the pipe connection portion 26 arranged in the center of the opening 5, and sufficiently distant in the left and right directions from the pipe connection portion 26, and when the bottom cover 10 is removed from the main body 6, the pipe holding brackets 30 are exposed at the opening 5 so as to be visible. In this embodiment, the pipe holding bracket 30 is located approximately ¼ of the way from the end side of the longitudinal width of the main body 6, and is arranged so that the plate-shaped surface of the pipe holding bracket 30 is approximately parallel to the bottom surface of the indoor unit 1.
Since the piping connection part 26 can be seen through the opening 5, the connection work between the external refrigerant piping and the piping connection part 26 can be easily performed from the space between the piping holding brackets 30 arranged in two places, and since the piping holding brackets 30 are arranged in a position where they can support the internal refrigerant piping 25 and the external refrigerant piping, the internal refrigerant piping 25 and the external refrigerant piping can be prevented from directly contacting the bottom cover 10 due to their own weight.

On the bottom side of the main body 6, bracket base parts 36 for attaching the pipe holding bracket 30 to the main body 6 with screws 35 as fastening means are arranged in two locations approximately 1/4 of the width of the main body 6 from the end side of the longitudinal width of the main body 6, and panel base parts 37 for attaching the central cover 13 to the main body 6 with screws 35 as fastening means are arranged in three locations at the center and both end sides. The bracket base part 36 and the panel base part 37 are each provided with screw holes 36a, 37a for fastening the screws, and each screw hole 36a, 37a opens toward the front side.

Figure 5 shows an outline of the state in which the left end cover 141 is attached to the left side panel 4 and the pipe holding bracket 30 attached to the main body, with the lower side of Figure 5 showing the bottom side of the indoor unit 1 and the left side of Figure 5 showing the left end side of the indoor unit 1. The state in which the right end cover 142 is attached to the right side panel 4 and the pipe holding bracket 30 attached to the main body is omitted, but only the left-right orientation is different from Figure 5, and the other configurations are the same. Near the cutout opening 9 of each of the left end side panel 4 and the right end side panel 4, there is provided an end cover case side locking portion 4a for locking the left end cover 141 and the right end cover 142. The end cover case side locking portion 4a is provided in a convex shape protruding from the inner surface of the side panel 4 near the upper side of the cutout opening 9 toward the inside.

2 and 3, the pipe holding bracket 30 has screw holes 30a for mounting to the bracket base 36 of the main body 6, claws 30b as a temporary fastening means for temporarily fastening the center cover 13 to the pipe holding bracket 30, and, as shown in FIG. 4, an end cover fastening portion 30c for mounting the left end cover 141 or the right end cover 142. The cross-sectional view of FIG. 4 shows the state in which the pipe holding bracket 30 is attached to the main body 6, and the claws 30b are formed so that the tip of the claws 30b faces the front side of the outer side of the pipe holding bracket 30 when the pipe holding bracket 30 is attached to the main body 6, and are approximately parallel to the plate-like surface of the pipe holding bracket 30. In addition, the end cover fastening portion 30c is provided in a convex shape protruding toward the inside of the main body 6 when the pipe holding bracket 30 is attached to the main body 6.

The central cover 13 is provided with a flat decorative plate portion 13a formed in a long shape in the longitudinal direction of the indoor unit 1 to cover the opening of the opening 5, a front end decorative portion 13b having the same width as the longitudinal direction of the decorative plate portion 13a and bending from the front end side of the decorative plate portion 13a to form a part of the air outlet, a boss portion 13d provided at a predetermined position of the front end decorative portion 13b and having a screw hole 13c for attaching the central cover 13 to the main body 6 with a screw 35, and an insertion groove portion 13e that allows the central cover 13 to be inserted from the front side into the claw portion 30b provided on the pipe holding bracket 30 to temporarily fix the central cover 13. In this embodiment, the boss portion 13d is provided at three positions in the longitudinal direction of the central cover 13 so as to coincide with the position of the panel base portion 37 of the main body 6, and the insertion groove portion 13e is provided at two positions in the longitudinal direction of the central cover so as to coincide with the position of the claw portion 30b of the pipe holding bracket 30 attached to the main body 6. The cross-sectional view of FIG. 4 shows the state in which the insertion groove 13e is inserted into the claw portion 30b, and the opening of the insertion groove 13e opens in a direction facing the tip of the claw portion 30b when the central cover 13 is inserted into the pipe holding bracket 30 so that the central cover 13 can be inserted from the front side into the claw portion 30b provided on the pipe holding bracket 30.

Here, common components of the left end cover 141 and the right end cover 142 are described using common numbers. The left end cover 141 is substantially L-shaped and has a bottom cover part 14a that covers the left opening of the opening 5 and a side cover part 14b that covers the notched opening 9 formed in the left side panel 4. Similarly, the right end cover 142 is substantially L-shaped and has a bottom cover part 14a that covers the right opening of the opening 5 and a side cover part 14b that covers the notched opening 9 formed in the right side panel 4. The opening 5 is covered by the bottom cover part 14a of the left end cover 141, the center cover 13, and the bottom cover part 14a of the right end cover 142. The left and right notched openings 9 formed in the side panel 4 are each covered by the side cover part 14b of the left end cover 141 and the side cover part 14b of the right end cover 142.

As shown in FIG. 5, the end surface of the bottom cover part 14a of each of the left and right end covers 141 and 142 on the side of the central cover 13 is provided with a concave bottom cover part side engaging part 14c that engages with the end cover engaging part 30c provided on the pipe holding bracket 30, and the upper end surface of the side cover part 14b of each of the left and right end covers 141 and 142 is provided with a concave side cover part side engaging part 14d that engages with the end cover case side engaging part 4a provided on each of the left and right side panels 4. The mounting to the main body 6 can be easily performed without tools by engaging the concave bottom cover side engaging portion 14c of the bottom cover portion 14a with the convex end cover engaging portion 30c provided on the pipe holding bracket 30 attached to the main body 6, and engaging the concave side cover side engaging portion 14d of the side cover portion 14b with the convex end cover case side engaging portion 4a provided on the side panel 4. It can also be easily removed without tools by releasing the engagement between the engaging portions 30c, 4a and the engaging portions 14c, 14d.

The main body 6 is attached to the mounting plate 7 so that the lower side of the main body can swing toward the front side, with the rear side of the upper part of the main body 6 as a fulcrum, and the lower side of the rear side of the main body 6 can be opened wide toward the wall on which the indoor unit 1 is installed.
Therefore, when performing the connecting work between the external refrigerant piping and the piping connection portion of the internal refrigerant piping, by making the lower side of the back surface of the main body wide open toward the wall surface on which the indoor unit is installed, the connecting work between the external refrigerant piping and the piping connection portion of the internal refrigerant piping can be easily performed.

To attach the central cover 13 to the main body 6, insert the insertion groove portion 13e of the central cover 13 from the front side of the indoor unit 1 toward the claw portion 30b of the pipe holding bracket 30 attached to the main body 6, and temporarily fix the central cover 13 to the pipe holding bracket 30. Next, insert the screw 35 into the screw hole 37a of the panel base portion 37 provided on the main body through the screw hole 13c of the central cover 13 temporarily fixed to the pipe holding bracket 30, and tighten it from the front side of the indoor unit using a screwdriver tool. The central cover 13 can be removed from the main body 6 by performing the procedure in reverse.

When connecting the external refrigerant piping to the piping connection part 26 of the internal refrigerant piping 25, the pipe holding bracket 30 is removed from the bracket base part 36 of the main body 6 or installed. Since the screw holes 36a on the bracket base part 36 of the main body 6 open toward the front side, a screwdriver tool can be used from the front side. Therefore, the pipe holding bracket 30 can be easily attached and detached even if something is placed on the bottom side of the indoor unit 6.

Similarly, when connecting the pipe connection 26 between the external refrigerant pipe and the internal refrigerant pipe 25, the central cover 13 can be attached to the panel base 37 of the main body 6 with the screws 35 or removed. Since the screw holes 37a on the panel base 37 of the main body 6 open toward the front side, a screwdriver tool can be used from the front side. This makes it easy to attach and remove the central cover 13 even when something is placed on the bottom side of the indoor unit 1.

Furthermore, the central cover 13 can be temporarily fixed to the pipe holding bracket 30, and this temporary fixing can be achieved by inserting the insertion groove portion 13e on the central cover 13 into the claw portion 30b on the pipe holding bracket 30 from the front side, so even if something is placed on the bottom side of the indoor unit 1, the central cover 13 can be easily attached and detached to temporarily fix it.

Furthermore, in order to facilitate the connection between the external refrigerant piping and the piping connection part 26 of the internal refrigerant piping 25 regardless of whether the external refrigerant piping is located on the left or right side of the indoor unit 1, a part of the internal refrigerant piping 25 is made flexible, and the end covers 141, 142 can be easily attached and detached to the main body 6 without using tools. Therefore, for example, if the external refrigerant piping is located on the left side of the indoor unit 1 when viewed from the front, and it is necessary to connect the external refrigerant piping extending from the left side to the piping connection part 26 of the internal refrigerant piping 25, the left end cover 141 can be removed from the main body 6 to expose the left cutout opening 9, and the external refrigerant piping can be pulled into the indoor unit 1 through the exposed left cutout opening 9, and the connection work between the external refrigerant piping and the piping connection part 26 of the internal refrigerant piping 25 can be performed, which improves the efficiency of the work.

The above description refers to a limited number of embodiments, but the scope of the rights is not limited to these, and modifications of the embodiments based on the above disclosure will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

1...Indoor unit for air conditioner, 2...Front panel, 4...Side panel, 5...Opening, 6...Main body, 7...Mounting plate, 9...Cutout opening, 10...Lower cover, 11...Air outlet, 12...Moveable panel, 13...Central cover, 141, 142...End cover, 20...Indoor heat exchanger, 25...Internal refrigerant piping, 26...Pipe connection, 30...Pipe holding bracket, 30b...Claw portion (temporary fastening means), 35...Screw (fastening means), 36...Bracket base, 37...Panel base

Claims (5)

A main body including a front panel disposed on a front surface, side panels disposed on both left and right ends of the front panel, and an opening provided on a bottom surface;
An installation plate that is attached to the rear surface of the main body and to a wall surface inside a room;
A bottom cover that closes the opening;
an air outlet formed between the front panel and the lower cover;
An internal refrigerant pipe connected to an indoor heat exchanger disposed inside the main body;
a piping connection part that is disposed on a bottom side inside the main body and exposed to the opening, and that is attached to an end of the internal refrigerant piping and detachably connected to an external refrigerant piping from an outdoor unit, and the indoor unit for an air conditioner is attached to a wall surface inside a room,
The body includes:
a cutout opening at a lower end of the side panel, the cutout opening being continuous with the opening of the opening;
and a pipe holding bracket that is located on a bottom side of the internal refrigerant pipe inside the main body and can support the internal refrigerant pipe at each of left and right positions across the pipe connection portion,
the lower cover includes a flat central cover that closes an opening at a central portion of the opening, and substantially L-shaped end covers that are disposed on both left and right end sides of the central cover and close openings on the end sides of the opening and the opening of the notch opening,
The center cover and the pipe holding bracket are detachably attached to the main body,
The end covers on both left and right end sides are detachably attached to the main body and the pipe holding bracket. a bracket base portion for attaching the pipe holding bracket to the main body by a fastening means, and a panel base portion for attaching the center cover to the main body by a fastening means are disposed on a bottom surface side of the main body;
An indoor unit for an air conditioning apparatus as described in claim 1, characterized in that the installation direction of the fastening means when the fastening means is used to attach the piping holding bracket to the bracket base portion, and the installation direction of the fastening means when the fastening means is used to attach the central cover to the panel base portion, are from the front side to the rear side of the main body. The pipe holding bracket has a temporary fastening means for temporarily fastening the central cover to the pipe holding bracket,
3. The air conditioner indoor unit according to claim 1, wherein the central cover is attached to the temporary fastening means in a direction from the front side to the rear side of the main body. 4. The air conditioner indoor unit according to claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the internal refrigerant piping is flexible and can be deformed so that the piping connection portion faces the cutout opening . An indoor unit for an air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the main body is attached to the mounting plate so as to be swingable around the upper side as a fulcrum.

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