JPH0735401A - Duct for spot cooler and spot cooler employing said duct - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a duct for spot cooler, which is light in weight, big in rate of elongation, capable of being folded compactly and small in the minimum radius of curvature, as well as a spot cooler, capable of storing said duct into the box thereof when the duct is not used. CONSTITUTION:A cold air discharging duct 15 is attached to a box 10 for supplying cold air. The duct 15 is formed of a synthetic resin so as to have the shape of a bellows while the duct 15 can be elongated and/or bent at the crest and/or trough of the bellows. A recess 11, capable of receiving the contracted duct 15, is formed in the box 10.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a spot cooler, and more particularly to a structure of a cool air discharge duct and a structure for housing the duct.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a spot cooler for blowing cold air to an arbitrary one place, as shown in FIG. 5, cold air is discharged to a box 1 having a compressor (not shown) built therein and movable on a floor surface. A duct 2 is provided. The duct 2 used here is a flexible type that can be bent at an arbitrary angle. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, a profile 3 made of synthetic resin is spirally wound. Profile 3
Is a band-shaped body having a cross-sectional shape having a retaining portion 3b at the rear end of the fitting portion 3a and a locking portion 3c protrudingly provided at the front end. While the profile 3 is spirally wound around a predetermined diameter, the locking portion 3c is inserted from the retaining portion 3b into the fitting portion 3a to form a stretchable and flexible spiral tube (duct 2). The duct 2 can be expanded and contracted by the locking portion 3c moving within the fitting portion 3a within the range of the stroke S, and can be bent in an arbitrary direction.

However, this type of duct 2 has a large weight and a small extension rate (for example, the diameter is 125 mm and the extension rate is 1.50 times), and the duct 2 largely projects from the box 1 even when not in use. It has the problem. In addition, the minimum bend radius is large (for example, diameter 12
5mm and minimum bending radius is 300mm), 400-600
The duct 2 having a length of mm cannot be bent in the horizontal direction unless the elbow 4 is provided at the root portion. Therefore, the duct 2 is excessively projected from the box 1 by the amount of the elbow 4 installed. If the amount of protrusion of the duct 2 is large, the transportation cost becomes high, and a large space for the user to store it when not in use is required.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a duct for a spot cooler which is lightweight, has a large elongation rate, has a small minimum bending radius, is highly fixed, and can be folded compactly. Especially. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a spot cooler that can store the duct in the box when not in use.

In order to achieve the above object, the spot cooler duct according to the present invention is a cool air discharge duct whose end is fixed to a box for supplying cold air and whose tip is movable, and which is bellows-shaped from a synthetic resin material. It is a foldable duct that can be expanded and contracted with the peaks and valleys as refraction portions, and that one oblique side is inverted and overlaps with the other oblique side when contracted, and adjacent oblique sides spread out in a wavy shape when expanded.

[0006] This duct is thin and lightweight and has a large expansion rate of about 4 times. Moreover, it can be bent arbitrarily, and the minimum bending radius is small. Therefore, as compared with the conventional duct, the duct according to the present invention contracts greatly even when the same size is obtained when the duct is extended. In addition, since the minimum bending radius is small, it can be bent sufficiently horizontally even if it has a length of 400 to 600 mm without providing an elbow at the root portion. Therefore, the amount of projection of the duct in the folded state when not in use is small, the transportation cost is low, and the space for storing the cooler can be small.

Further, the spot cooler according to the present invention is
A box for supplying cold air and the duct are provided, and a recess for accommodating the duct is provided in the box, and the recess has a depth corresponding to the length of the duct when contracted. Since the duct has a large extension rate as described above, for example, 400m when extended.
Those having a length of m contract to about 100 mm. Therefore,
If a recess with a depth of 100 mm is provided on the box, the contracted duct can be stored in the box without protruding to the outside, which is a great advantage in terms of transportation and storage of the spot cooler.

[0008]

【Example】

(First embodiment, see FIGS. 1, 2 and 3) In FIG.
The spot cooler is a box 10 and a duct for cold air discharge 1.
It is composed of 5 and 5. The box 10 contains a compressor (not shown) for generating cold air, and is movable on the floor surface.

The duct 15 is a bellows-shaped cylindrical body having elasticity and flexibility. More specifically, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a coil 19 is provided inside the ridge 16a of the bellows-shaped wall portion made of synthetic resin, and the adjacent oblique sides 17a and 17b are tensioned. The peaks 16a and the valleys 16b are bendable, and small recesses 18a are formed along the outer peripheral surface in the vicinity of the apex of the hypotenuse 17a, and small recesses 18b are formed in the valleys 16b along the inner peripheral surface. . The material of the duct 15 is a thermoplastic elastomer having hardness Shore D45 to 70, for example, Sumitomo TPE (trade name) manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.

The coil 19 is formed by coating a metal core material with a resin material (for example, polypropylene resin). The coil 19 is adhesively fixed to the inside of the mountain 16a and functions as a reinforcing member for the duct 15. When a compressive force acts on the duct 15 in the axial direction, as shown in FIG. 3, the hypotenuse 17a having the concave portion 18 is inverted and overlaps the hypotenuse 17b to contract in the axial direction, and is stabilized in this state. On the other hand, when a tensile force acts in the axial direction, the hypotenuses 17a and 17b spread out in a corrugated form as shown in FIG. Retained. The duct 15 has a large extension rate, and although it varies slightly depending on the diameter, it has an extension rate of about 4 times. When the bending force acts, the duct 15 can bend in the direction in which the bending force acts, and as shown in FIG. 1 (A) or (B),
It can be bent at any angle and shape.

By the way, the duct 15 is provided with end collars 20 and 21 at both ends thereof, and is connected to the cool air discharge portion of the box 10 through the end collars 20. Figure 1
(A) and (B) show the time of use, and the duct 15 is arbitrarily stretched and bent to discharge cold air to a desired portion. FIG. 1C shows the state of storage, and the duct 15 is compactly folded.

Below, the duct 15 according to the invention and FIG.
The characteristics of the conventional duct 2 shown in FIG. 6 will be compared. The ducts 15 and 2 have a diameter of 125 mm, and the experiment is 2
It was carried out at a temperature of 0 ° C.

[0013]

[Table 1]

As is clear from the above table, the duct 15 of the present invention is lighter than the conventional product and has a small minimum bending radius (this means that the right-angled elbow 4 shown in FIG. 5 is used).
Means that it is not necessary), and the length when contracted is short.

(Second Embodiment, See FIG. 4) In the second embodiment, a recess 1 for accommodating a duct 15 in a box 10 is provided.
1 is provided. The duct 15 has the same structure as that shown in FIGS. The recess 11 is the duct 15
The end collar 20 is fixed to the bottom of the recess 11 and has the same depth as the contracted length. At the time of storage, as shown in FIG. 4 (B), the duct 15 enters the recess 11 and the upper surface of the box 10 is flat,
It is convenient for transportation and storage. At the time of use, the duct 15 may be pulled out from the recess 11 (see FIG. 4 (A)).

(Other Embodiments) The duct and spot cooler according to the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, but can be variously modified within the scope of the invention. In particular, the duct can have various shapes and configurations as long as it is bellows-shaped and can be expanded and contracted by using the peaks and valleys as refraction portions. For example, by partially changing the thickness of the oblique sides 17a and 17b, one oblique side may overlap with the other oblique side during contraction. The coil 19 is not always necessary.

The bellows shape may be a shape in which peaks and valleys are connected in a spiral shape or a shape in which they are connected in an annular shape. Further, one box 10 may be provided with a plurality of ducts 15. Further, the box 10 may be connected not by a single body but by a main duct for supplying cold air as a part of the cooling system. In this case the box is fixed and does not need to contain a compressor.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention, in which (A) and (B) are perspective views when in use, and (C) is a perspective view during storage.

FIG. 2 is a front view in which a part of the cool air discharge duct is cut away, showing an expanded state.

FIG. 3 shows a partial cross-sectional view of the cool air discharge duct when it is contracted.

4A and 4B show a second embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 4A is a perspective view during use and FIG. 4B is a perspective view during storage.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing when a conventional spot cooler is used.

FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view of a duct used in a conventional spot cooler.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 ... Box 11 ... Recess 15 ... Duct 16a ... Mountain 16b ... Valley 17a, 17b ...

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor, Seiji Hattori, 6th Danyo, Kakegawa City, Shizuoka Prefecture Tigers Polymer Co., Ltd. Shizuoka Factory

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A cool air discharge duct for a spot cooler, the end of which is fixed to a box for supplying cold air and whose tip is freely movable. A duct for a spot cooler, characterized in that it is bendable, and when contracted, one hypotenuse is inverted and overlaps the other hypotenuse, and when extended, adjacent hypotenuses spread out in a corrugated shape. 2. A box for supplying cold air and a spot cooler duct according to claim 1, wherein the box has a recess for accommodating a duct, and the recess corresponds to a length of the duct when contracted. The spot cooler is characterized by having a depth.