JPH04324053A - Indoor unit for air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform room heating with high comfortableness by so controlling as to blow off the air at a high temperature with excellent room heating feeling to a person in a room at the time of room heating in which an air flow rate is increased in the room and to blow off the air of a high flow rate at the time of blowing OFF to a position where there is no person. CONSTITUTION:A leftward and rightward wind direction louver mechanism 9 is provided at a blow-off port of an indoor unit 1. The mechanism 9 has a plurality of independent louver units 12a-12c, which are so set that the left and right units 12a and 12c are directed leftward and rightward in air flowing directions and the central unit 12d is directed forward. Thus, the indoor air can be blown OFF to the center where a person is to exist and to right and left parts except the center. Further, a blow-off angle and an opening area between vertical louvers are variable by a louver angle varying mechanism 14, and low-speed and high-temperature blow-off of the air is conducted to the person in the room.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an indoor unit of an air conditioner used for heating a room or the like.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, an air conditioner capable of separate heating and cooling operation is comprised of an indoor unit installed indoors and an outdoor unit connected to the indoor unit installed outdoors.

Specifically, an indoor unit has an indoor heat exchanger and an indoor fan built into its main body, and an outdoor unit has a compressor, a four-way valve, an outdoor heat exchanger, an outdoor fan, and a built-in main body.
It has a built-in expansion valve (pressure reducing device). A four-way valve, an indoor heat exchanger, an expansion valve, and an outdoor heat exchanger are sequentially connected to the compressor via refrigerant piping to constitute a heat pump type refrigeration cycle. In other words, by switching the four-way valve, a heat pump cycle is constructed to heat the room or the like.

By the way, in order to operate the heating operation with high efficiency in such an air conditioner, it is sufficient to increase the efficiency of the heat pump cycle. In other words, by lowering the condensing temperature of the refrigerant in the indoor heat exchanger (condenser) and increasing the evaporation temperature of the refrigerant in the outdoor heat exchanger (evaporator), the pressure difference before and after the compressor is reduced. Bye. Therefore, efforts are being made to increase the amount of air blown in both the indoor unit and the outdoor unit.

[0005]

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] Normally, when heating a room, the wind direction grill is adjusted so that a portion of the warm air from the outlet blows out so that it hits the people in the room. There is. For this reason, comfort is especially important when it comes to heating.

However, if the amount of air blown by the indoor unit is increased as described above during heating operation, although the heating capacity does increase, the temperature of the blown air decreases as the amount of air blown increases, resulting in poor comfort.

[0007] In other words, the comfortable feeling of heating is generally expressed as a correlation between the feeling of warmth caused by the temperature of the air that hits the human skin and the feeling of airflow caused by the wind speed of the air, and as the wind speed increases, the feeling of heating worsens even at the same temperature. . For this reason, although heating can be performed with high heating capacity, there is a drawback that comfort during heating is lower than before.

[0008] The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to provide an excellent feeling of heating when air is blown to people in the room during heating operation when the amount of indoor air is increased. To provide an indoor unit of an air conditioner capable of blowing high-temperature air at a high temperature and blowing high air volume with high heating capacity to other areas where no one is present.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the indoor unit of the present invention includes a main body that includes an indoor heat exchanger and an indoor fan that circulates indoor air to the indoor heat exchanger. , an air outlet provided along the width direction of the main body for blowing out the indoor air heat exchanged by the indoor heat exchanger; and a plurality of air outlets provided in the air outlet in line along the width direction of the main body. A louver unit for left and right wind directions, which divides the outlet into a plurality of parts in the width direction of the main body, and is made up of a plurality of louvers that can be rotated in parallel along the width direction of the main body, and means for varying the blowing angle;
A means for varying the opening area between the louvers constituting the louver unit is provided.

0010

[Operation] According to the indoor unit of the present invention, the blowing angle of each louver unit is set to each direction in which heating is desired, such as for people in the room and for others. At the same time, the louvers of the louver unit facing people in the room should be set to the side where the opening area between the louvers is smaller, and the louvers of the louver unit facing other people should be set to the side where the opening area between the louvers is smaller. Make it bigger.

[0011] If heating operation is performed with the indoor air blowing amount increased while the louver units are kept in the state set in this way, the difference in the flow (air blowing) resistance of each louver unit will cause the louver units to direct less air to the people in the room. - Warm air from the indoor heat exchanger that has reached a high temperature at low speed is blown out from the bath unit. At the same time, a large amount of warm air is blown from the indoor heat exchanger from the louver unit directed toward the unoccupied area. As a result, the indoor air that directly hits the person becomes high-temperature warm air.

[0012] Therefore, it is possible to perform high-temperature blowing that provides an excellent heating feeling to people who are indoors, considering that they are directly exposed to indoor air; It is possible to blow out high air volume with high efficiency. In other words, it is possible to realize heating that fully utilizes the improved efficiency of the heat pump cycle.

[0013]

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 5.
This will be explained based on an example. FIG. 2 shows a separate type air conditioner capable of heating and cooling operation to which the present invention is applied, and 1 is an indoor unit.

The indoor unit 1 is illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 5, for example.
As shown, it is installed at the center of the upper part of the wall that makes up the room 2. This is adopted in order to blow hot air to the center part of the room 2 and the left and right parts of the room 2, since there are many people mainly in the center of the room 2.

Describing the structure of the indoor unit 1, 3 is a box-shaped main body. A suction port 4 is provided on the front surface of the main body 3. At the lower front of the main body 3, an elongated air outlet 5 is provided along the width direction of the main body. Further, inside the main body 3, an air passage 6 is provided that communicates the suction port 4 and the blowout port 5. An indoor heat exchanger 7 is installed on the suction side of this air passage 6.
is provided. Further, an indoor fan 8 composed of, for example, a cross-flow fan is provided on the blowout side, and when the indoor fan 8 operates, the indoor air sucked from the suction port 4 is passed through the indoor heat exchanger 7 and then passed through the blowout port. It is designed to blow out from 5. Note that 8a indicates a fan motor of the indoor fan 8. The air outlet 4 is provided with a louver mechanism 9 for left and right wind directions and a louver mechanism 10 for up and down wind directions in this order from the upstream side.

The louver mechanism 10 for vertical wind direction
Between the left and right end walls 5a and 5b, a strip-shaped horizontal louver 11 having, for example, a wing-shaped cross section is pivotably supported vertically. This horizontal louver 11 allows indoor air distributed by the louver mechanism 9 for left and right wind directions to be blown out to a predetermined location in the vertical direction.

The louver mechanism 9 for left and right wind directions is shown in FIGS. 1 and 3.
As shown in FIG. 4, the air outlet 4 is provided with a plurality of, for example, three independent louver units 12a, 12b, and 12c along the width direction of the main body 3. Louver unit 1
2a to 12c are a plurality of vertical louvers 13, each of which has its upper and lower ends rotatably pivoted at its center on the upper and lower wall surfaces of the air outlet 4.
The air outlet 4 is divided into three by these louver units 12a to 12c.

Specifically, the central louver unit 12b
For example, four vertical louvers 13 are arranged in parallel along the longitudinal direction of the air outlet 4, and the left and right louver units 1 are arranged in parallel along the longitudinal direction of the air outlet 4.
2a and 12c, for example, connect three vertical louvers 13 to the air outlet 4.
are arranged in parallel along the longitudinal direction. Note that the distance between the vertical louvers of the right and left louver units 12a, 12c is greater than the distance between the vertical louvers of the center louver unit 12b.

Each of these vertical louvers 13 is connected to, for example, a wire-type louver angle variable mechanism 14, and this louver angle variable mechanism 14 controls each of the louver units 12a to 12.
The blowing direction of c is made variable.

That is, in terms of the louver angle variable mechanism 14, each vertical louver 13 of the left louver unit 12a
Connecting pins 15a are protruded from the upper end surface of every other vertical louver 13 of the central louver unit 12b. . Also, each vertical louver 1 of the right louver unit 12c
Connecting pins 15b are protruded from the upper end surface of every other remaining vertical louver 13 of the central louver unit 12b on the downstream side in the direction of air flow. has been done. Note that the connecting pin 15b is the same as the connecting pin 15a.
The height dimension is lower than that of the previous model.

On the other hand, in a machine room (not shown) formed in the main body 3 adjacent to the right end wall 5a of the air outlet 5, a drive motor, for example a step motor, is installed with its output shaft facing upward. 16 are arranged along the vertical direction. A rotary drum 17 is attached to the step motor 16. This rotating drum 17 has two endless wires 18a, 1
One side of wire 8b is wound in two stages, upper and lower, so that each wire 18a, 18b is moved in the direction of the arrow as the step motor 16 rotates in the direction of the arrow.

Furthermore, in the space inside the main body 3 adjacent to the left end wall 5b of the air outlet 5, there are two small diameter horizontal rollers 20a.
, 20b are rotatably arranged. Horizontal roller 20
a, 20b are arranged on both sides of the pivot portion of the vertical louver 13, and the end wall 5a is connected to the horizontal roller 20a.
, the other side of the upper wire 18a is stretched through the guide roller 21a and the end wall 5b. Also horizontal low
The roller 20b includes an end wall 5a, a guide roller 21b, an end wall 5
The other side of the lower wire 18b is spanned through the wire 18b. In this embodiment, the horizontal roller 20a is arranged so that the return side is located at the position of the connecting pin 15a of the vertical louver 13, and the horizontal roller 20b is arranged so that the return side is located at the position of the connecting pin 15b of the vertical louver 13. It is arranged so that the return side is located at the position.

Each connecting pin 15a is connected to the wire portion 22a on the return side of the wire 18a, and each connecting pin 15b is connected to the wire portion 22b on the return side of the wire 18b. As a result, when the step motor 16 operates in the direction of the arrow, the left louver unit 1
Each vertical louver 13 of 2a faces leftward, and each vertical louver 13 of right louver unit 12c faces rightward. Further, the vertical louver 13 of the central louver unit 12b is such that the vertical louver 13 connected to the wire portion 22a is tilted to the left, and the vertical louver 13 connected to the wire portion 22b is symmetrically tilted to the right. Lean. This allows step mode
According to the operation of the louver unit 16, the air blowing direction (air blowing direction) of the louver units 12a and 12c on the left and right.
are set in the right and left directions, respectively, and the air blowing direction (blowout direction) of the central Yuba unit 12b is set in the front direction (four pieces are arranged in two sets of isosceles triangles with the blowing side at the top). (due to the arrangement of the vertical louvers 13).

By rotating the louver, room air can be blown out to the center of the room where a person is present in the room 2, and to the other parts on the left and right sides of the room (areas where there are no people). At the same time, the air outlet passages 23a, 23b have a large effective opening area between the vertical louvers in the left and right louver units 12a, 12c, and a small effective opening area between the vertical louvers in the central louver unit 12b. It is designed to form a In other words, the blowing angle and the opening area between the vertical louvers can be varied by one louver angle variable mechanism 14, and the difference in air blowing (circulation) resistance at this time allows the center louver unit to Indoor air is blown out from the louver unit 12b at a small blowing velocity (low speed), and indoor air is blown out at a large blowing velocity (high speed) from the left and right louver units 12a and 12c.

25 is an outdoor unit installed outdoors. The outdoor unit 25 has a built-in compressor 27 whose capacity is variable (by changing the power frequency), a four-way valve 28, an outdoor heat exchanger 29, an outdoor fan 30, and an expansion valve 31 (pressure reducing device) in the main body 26. Become. Then, the indoor heat exchanger 7, the expansion valve 31,
The outdoor heat exchangers 29 are connected in sequence to form a heat pump type refrigeration cycle circuit 32 that can be operated for heating and cooling by switching the four-way valve 28.

On the other hand, in accordance with the heating/cooling operation ON signal inputted from the operation section 33, the various refrigeration cycle devices (compressor 27, four-way valve 28, expansion valve 31, outdoor fan 3) are activated.
The control unit 34 (consisting of a microcomputer and its peripheral equipment) controls the louver angle variable mechanism 14 in a predetermined manner according to the cooling/heating load.
The step motor 16 is connected to the step motor 16. Also, the control section 3
4 is connected to a sensor 35 for detecting a reference initial position provided on the step motor 16, for example.

The control section 34 also has a built-in counter 36, which is set to rotate the step motor 16 by a predetermined amount from the reference initial position. With this function, for example, when a heating/cooling operation ON signal is output from the operation unit 33,
Each of the louver units 12a to 12c is driven so that the airflow angle and opening area are such that room air is blown out to the left and right and to the front, respectively, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4.

Furthermore, when the heating ON signal is output from the operation section 33, the control section 34 sets both the indoor fan 8 and the outdoor fan 30 to rotate at a rotation speed that is higher than the normal rotation speed. There is. Next, the operation of the air conditioner configured in this way will be explained.

When performing heating, for example, the horizontal louver 11
With the button facing downward, input the set temperature from the operation section 33 and turn on the heating operation. Then, the four-way valve 28 is switched to the heating side in accordance with the control signal output from the control unit 34, and the compressor 27 is operated in accordance with the power frequency selected based on the difference between the set temperature and the indoor temperature. This constitutes a heat pump cycle in which the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 27 circulates through the four-way valve 28, the indoor heat exchanger 7, the expansion valve 31, and the outdoor heat exchanger 29 in this order.

Further, in accordance with a control signal from the control section 33, the step motor 16 rotates from the reference initial position by a predetermined amount in the direction of the arrow. As a result, each louver unit 12
A to 12c are rotated using the pivot portion as a fulcrum via two wires 18a and 18b. Then, as shown in FIGS. 1, 4, and 5, the vertical louver 13 of the left louver unit 12a faces leftward, and the vertical louver 13 of the right louver unit 12c faces right. At the same time, the vertical louvers 13 of the central louver unit 12b are oriented alternately to the right and left. That is, the air blowing direction (blowing direction) of the left and right louver units 12a, 12c is set in the left-right direction, and the air blowing direction (blowing direction) of the central louver unit 12b is set in the front direction. At the same time, the central rule
The opening area between the vertical louvers of the louver unit 12b is set smaller than the opening area between the vertical louvers of the left and right louver units 12a, 12c.

On the other hand, in accordance with the commands from the control section 34, the indoor fan 8 and the outdoor fan 30 operate at high rotational speeds from the start of the heating operation. Indoor air sucked in from the suction port 4 by the operation of the indoor fan 8 exchanges heat with the indoor heat exchanger 7 while passing through the air path 6, becomes warm air, and reaches the blowout port 5.

[0032] At this time, the air outlet 5 is provided with a louver mechanism 10 for left and right wind directions whose directions are set as described above, and a louver mechanism 11 for vertical wind directions whose directions are set downward. Therefore, due to the difference in the flow (air blowing) resistance of the louver units 12a to 12c, the blowing flow velocity from the central louver unit 12b is small, and the flow rate from the left and right louver units 12a, 12 is small.
The blowout flow velocity from c increases.

This means that, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, from the center (front) louver unit 12b facing the people in the room 2, hot air at low speed and high temperature is blown out, A large amount of hot air is blown out from the louver units 12a and 12c which face the other side, that is, the side where no one is present. In other words, people in the room 2 are directly exposed to high-temperature warm air regardless of the increase in the amount of air blown by the indoor fan 8.

[0034] Therefore, considering that the hot air will directly hit the people in the room 2, high-temperature air blowing with an excellent heating feeling can be performed, and heating efficiency can be improved for other parts of the room where a heating feeling is not required. This means that high air volume can be blown out. Therefore, heating that fully utilizes the improved efficiency of the heat pump cycle can be realized. Note that this invention
The present invention is not limited to this embodiment, but may be implemented as a second embodiment shown in FIG. 6, for example.

In the second embodiment, for example, two step motors 16a and 16b are used to independently operate the louver unit 12.
The blowing direction of a to 12c can be varied and the opening area between the vertical louvers can be varied.

Specifically, the first step motor 16a to which the first rotary drum 17a is attached drives the wire 18a independently of the two wires 18a and 18b, and the second The wire 18b is independently driven by a second step motor 16b to which a rotating drum 17b is attached.

According to this, one drive system becomes the wind direction setting system that determines the wind direction, and the other drive system becomes the opening area setting system that determines the louver opening area, so that the left louver unit 12a and the center The structure allows the wind direction and air volume of the louver unit 12b and the right louver unit 12c to be independently controlled.

Therefore, instead of installing the indoor unit 1 in the center of the room 2 as in the first embodiment, the indoor unit 1 was installed on the corner side of the room 2 as shown in FIG. It is valid even if In addition, in the embodiment using these two step motors 16a and 16b, although not shown, the operating section 33 includes a knob for operating the first step motor 16a and a knob for operating the second step motor 16b. The system is equipped with a knob to operate the system and adjust the wind direction and volume.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, a structure was used in which each louver unit was operated using two wires, but each louver unit may be operated using another structure. .

[0040]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention,
For people indoors, it is possible to blow out high-temperature air with an excellent feeling of heating, considering that the indoor air is directly hitting the person.
A high air volume with high heating efficiency can be blown to indoor areas where there are no other people and a feeling of heating is not required. Therefore, it is possible to realize heating that fully utilizes the improved efficiency of the heat pump cycle.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a louver variable mechanism of an indoor unit, which is a main part of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an air conditioner capable of heating operation and configured using the same indoor unit.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the indoor unit.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the louver variable mechanism of the indoor unit together with the control system.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing how hot air is blown out during heating operation of the indoor unit installed in the center of the room.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a louver variable mechanism of an indoor unit, which is a main part of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing how hot air is blown out during heating operation of the indoor unit installed on the corner side of the room.

[Explanation of symbols] 1... Indoor unit, 3... Main body, 5... Air outlet, 7... Indoor heat exchanger, 8... Indoor fan, 9... Louver mechanism for left and right wind direction, 12a to 12c... Louver unit , 13...Vertical rule
14... Louver variable mechanism, 15a, 15b... Connecting pin, 16... Step motor, 17... Rotating drum, 18a
, 18b...Wire, 20a, 20b...Horizontal roller, 2
1a, 21b...Guide roller, 34...Control unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A main body incorporating an indoor heat exchanger and an indoor fan that circulates indoor air to the indoor heat exchanger; an air outlet for blowing out heat-exchanged indoor air;
A plurality of air outlets are provided in line along the width direction of the main body, and the air outlet is divided into a plurality of parts in the width direction of the main body.
A louver unit for left and right wind directions, comprising a plurality of louvers that are rotatable in parallel along the width direction of the main body, and these louvers.
1. An indoor unit for an air conditioner, comprising: means for varying the blowing angle of the louver unit; and means for varying the opening area between the louvers constituting the louver unit.