JPH04217722A - Air-conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a drain pan from being clogged and enhance the drainage capacity. CONSTITUTION:A trough 22 is installed on the outer face of a rear panel main body 5 of an indoor unit 21 to receive drain drops 8 attached on the outer face and cover a part of upper opening of a drain pan 6 from above. Both horizontal left and right ends of the trough 22 are extended inside beyond tooth horizontal left and right ends of the rear panel main body 5, and guide side walls 24a and 24b, and ribs 25a and 25b are provided on the trough 22 to lead the drain drops 8 to the drain pan 6.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[Object of the invention]

0002

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air conditioner in which drain is attached to the rear plate body of an indoor unit and collected in a drain pan, and more particularly to an air conditioner with an improved rear plate body.

0003

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in the indoor unit of an air conditioner, the fan casing that houses the indoor fan and forms the ventilation path is made of a foam insulation material, but this foam material is quite thick. Therefore, in recent years, attempts have been made to make indoor units thinner by omitting this foam material, and a system has been proposed in which drain is attached to the rear plate body and collected using a drain pan.

An example of this type of indoor unit is shown in FIG. 4, and this indoor unit 1 has a suction grill and an outlet grill (not shown) arranged vertically in the figure on the front of a front panel 2. Grill indoor unit 1
They are communicated via a ventilation passage 3 inside.

The ventilation passage 3 has an indoor fan 4 such as a cross-flow fan disposed in the middle thereof, and an indoor heat exchanger (not shown) is disposed upstream of the indoor fan 4. The side is hermetically closed directly by the rear plate main body 5 without using a heat insulating material, and a drain pan 6 is provided below to receive the drain dripping from the rear plate main body 5.

Further, the lower end of the rear plate main body 5 contacts the inner bottom surface of the drain pan 6, and the lower outer surface of the rear plate main body 5 has an upwardly convex chevron-shaped rib 7 projecting outward. It's bulging out.

Therefore, during cooling operation of the indoor unit, the cold air cooled by the indoor heat exchanger passes through the ventilation passage 3, and at this time, the outside air in contact with the outer surface of the rear plate main body 5 is cooled.
Drain 8 adheres to the outer surface in the form of water droplets.

This drain 8 travels along the outer surface of the rear plate main body 5 and drips due to its own weight, is once received by the angled slope of the angled rib 7, and is then guided by this slope and drips into the left and right ends of the drain pan 6. It is collected and then drained outside.

On the other hand, another indoor unit 11 shown in FIG. 5 has the chevron rib 7 replaced with an upper gutter 12, and is otherwise the same as the indoor unit 11.
Inside, parts common to those in FIG. 1 are given the same reference numerals.

[0010] The upper gutter 12 is arranged in its horizontal direction (horizontal direction in the figure).
It is constructed by protruding a band-shaped plate whose length is slightly shorter than the horizontal length of the rear plate main body 5 from the lower outer surface of the rear plate main body 5 so as to expand upward.

[0011]

In the conventional indoor unit 11 shown in FIG. 5, the internal volume of the groove formed by the upper gutter 12 and a portion of the outer surface of the rear plate main body 5 facing thereto is large. In addition, since some of the dust falling from above toward the top opening of the drain pan 6 is received by the upper gutter 12, the dust falls and accumulates on the inner bottom surface of the drain pan 6, causing clogging and draining. It can prevent the ability from decreasing.

However, the internal volume of the drain pan 6 is not sufficiently large compared to the internal volume of the upper gutter 12. Therefore, in the case of an air conditioner with a large air conditioning capacity and a low evaporation temperature, the amount of condensate 8 adhering to the outer surface of the rear plate main body 5 increases and the size of the condensate increases, so that the water droplets of this condensate 8 become larger. Not only does the amount of drain 8 that separates from the surface of the rear plate main body 5 and falls downward and cannot be received by the drain pan 6 increase, but the large amount of drain 8 that was received by the upper gutter 12 overflows the drain pan 6, exceeding its drainage capacity. There is a problem.

[0013]The present invention was made in consideration of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide an air conditioner that can prevent clogging of the drain pan due to dust, etc. and increase the drain collection capacity. There is a particular thing. [Structure of the invention]

[0014]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is constructed as follows.

In other words, the present invention provides an air conditioner having a rear plate main body to which drain is attached, and a drain pan having an opening on the upper surface for receiving the drain adhering to the outer surface of the rear plate main body. A gutter is provided to receive the drain adhering to the drain pan and to cover a part of the upper opening of the drain pan above the gutter, and the gutter has both left and right ends in the horizontal direction retreating inward from both the left and right ends in the horizontal direction of the rear plate main body, and , guide side walls are provided on both left and right ends of the gutter to project outward in the vertical direction and guide the drain into the drain pan, and ribs are attached to at least part of the outer ends of both the left and right guide side walls. It is characterized by what it did.

[0016]

[Operation] Some of the dust that falls towards the top opening of the drain pan is caught by the gutter while it is falling.
This prevents dust from falling and accumulating in the drain pan, causing clogging and reducing drainage capacity.

Furthermore, since the left and right ends of the gutter in the horizontal direction are set back inward from the left and right ends of the drain rear plate body, the flat surface area of the drain pan that receives the drain is expanded accordingly, increasing the drain capacity. It is possible to increase the drain collection capacity.

Furthermore, the drain adhering to the outer surface of the rear plate main body is received by the gutter and furthermore guided into the drain pan by the guide side walls and guide ribs on the left and right sides of the gutter.

Therefore, in an air conditioner with a large air conditioning capacity and a low evaporation temperature, even if the amount of condensate adhering to the outer surface of the rear plate body increases and the condensate particles become larger,
The drain can be reliably guided to the drain pan, and the drain recovery capacity can be increased.

[0020]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, an indoor unit 21 of an air conditioner has a chevron-shaped rib 7 of the indoor unit 1 shown in FIG. 4 connected to an upper gutter 22. It is characterized by improvements, and other than this, it is configured almost the same as indoor unit 1, so in Figure 1, Figure 4
The same parts are given the same reference numerals.

The upper gutter 22 has a strip-shaped gutter body 23 extending horizontally (horizontally in FIG. 1) on the outer surface of the lower part of the rear plate main body 5, and stands up obliquely upward in the figure. A substantially V-shaped groove is formed by a part of the outer surface of the rear plate main body 5 facing the rear plate body 5, and the groove volume is expanded.

As a result, the gutter body 23 covers a portion of the rear end portion 6a of the rectangular dish-shaped drain pan 6 with an upper opening.

The length of the gutter body 23 in the longitudinal direction (in the left-right direction in the figure) is slightly shorter than the length in the left-right direction of the rear plate body 5, and the left and right ends of the gutter body 23 are
The inner bottom surface area of the left and right corners L and R at the rear end 6a of the drain pan 6 is expanded by that amount, and the internal volume of the drain pan 6 is increased. ing.

[0025] The upper gutter 22 has the right and left ends of the gutter body 23,
A pair of left and right guide side walls 24a, 24b are provided to protrude from the outer surface of the rear plate main body 5. It extends almost perpendicularly in the vertical direction from the upper ends of both left and right ends to the inner bottom surface of the drain pan 6, and guides the drain 8 received by the gutter body 23 so as to drip onto the inner bottom surface of the drain pan 6.

These pair of left and right guide side walls 24a, 24b
These guide side walls 2 are located inside the upper end of the protruding outer end.
Guide ribs 25a, 25b slightly thicker than 4a, 24b
are attached to improve the mechanical strength of these side walls 24, 24b, and to guide the drain 8 to the inner bottom surface of the drain pan 6.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

When the indoor unit 21 of the air conditioner is operated for cooling, cold air passes through the ventilation passage 3 inside the rear plate main body 5, and at this time the rear plate main body 5 is cooled.
A drain 8 is placed on the outside surface to cool the outside air that comes into contact with the outside surface of the
adheres in the form of water droplets, and these water droplets further fall downward along the outer surface due to their own weight.

The drain 8 is once received and collected by the upper gutter 22 on its way down, and is further guided toward the left and right ends of the upper gutter 22, where it passes through the left and right guide side walls 24a, 24.
b, and is guided to drip onto the inner bottom surfaces of both left and right ends L and R of the drain pan 6, and is once accommodated before being drained to the outside.

When the air conditioning capacity increases and the evaporation temperature decreases, the amount of condensate 8 adhering to the outer surface of the rear plate body 5 increases, and the water droplets of the condensate 8 grow into large particles. Many things peel off from the outer surface and fall.

However, this drain 8 is received by the upper gutter 22 projecting outward from the rear plate main body 5, guided to the drain pan 6, and then drained to the outside.

In this embodiment, the inner groove volume of the upper gutter 22 is large, and the planar area of both left and right ends L and R of the drain pan 6 is enlarged, so that the drain capacity of the drain pan 6 is increased. There is.

Furthermore, since the upper gutter 22 protrudes outward from the outer surface of the rear plate main body 5, dust falling from above the upper gutter 22 toward the upper opening of the rear end 6a of the drain pan 6 is removed. Since it is received by the upper gutter 22, it is possible to prevent dust from falling and accumulating on the inner bottom surface of the drain pan 6, causing clogging and making it impossible to drain water.

[0034] In the above embodiment, the guide side wall 24a
, 24b are formed vertically along the vertical direction; however, the present invention is not limited to this; for example, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the guide side walls 24a1, 24b1 may be inclined inward at a required angle α. According to this, it is possible to separate the guide surfaces of the guide side walls 24a1, 24b1 from the casing as much as possible in terms of blower performance, etc. Therefore, the range of application becomes wider.

[0035]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, in this invention, a part of the dust falling toward the top opening of the drain pan is received by the gutter, so this dust falls into the drain pan and accumulates, preventing clogging. It is possible to prevent this from occurring and reducing the drainage capacity.

Furthermore, since the left and right ends of the gutter are set back inward from the left and right ends of the rear plate body to enlarge the opening area of the left and right ends of the drain pan, the capacity of the drain pan can be increased accordingly. .

In other words, since the drain capacity of the drain pan is increased in accordance with the increase in the drain capacity of the gutter, it is possible to correspond to an indoor unit of an air conditioner having a large capacity and a low evaporation temperature.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing an embodiment of an indoor unit of an air conditioner according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged view showing a modification of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view from arrow III in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a rear perspective view of a conventional indoor unit.

FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged perspective view of another conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

3 Ventilation passage 4 Indoor fan 5 Rear plate body 6 Drain pan 8 Drain 21 Indoor unit 22 Upper gutter (gutter) 23 Gutter body 24a, 24b, 24a1, 24b1 Guide side wall 25a, 25b Guide rib

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: In an air conditioner having a rear plate main body to which drain is attached, and a drain pan having an opening on the top surface to receive the drain adhering to the outer surface of the rear plate main body, the outer surface of the rear plate main body is provided with a drain pan attached to the outer surface of the rear plate main body. A gutter is provided to receive the drain and cover a part of the upper opening of the drain pan above the gutter, and the gutter has both left and right ends in the horizontal direction retreating inward from both the left and right ends in the horizontal direction of the rear plate main body. Guide side walls projecting vertically outward to guide the drain into the drain pan are provided on both left and right ends of the drain pan, and ribs are attached to at least part of the outer ends of both the left and right guide side walls. Characteristic air conditioner.