KR101643223B1 - Air conditioner and controlling method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an air conditioner capable of minimizing noise generated by rotation of a blower fan during air conditioning of an indoor space, and more particularly to an air conditioner having a plurality of air conditioners The present invention relates to an air conditioner capable of purifying indoor air without providing a separate filter and a control method thereof.

Air conditioner, corona blower, blower fan, corona discharge, air purification

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to an air conditioner and a control method thereof,

The present invention relates to an air conditioner and a control method for minimizing noise generated by rotation of a blower fan during air conditioning of an indoor space.

The present invention relates to an air conditioner and a control method thereof, and more specifically, it is possible to realize differentiated low noise by operating a plurality of blowers together or selectively in accordance with a required air volume of an air conditioning space such as a strong wind or a weak wind, The present invention relates to an air conditioner and a control method thereof.

The air conditioner is a device for cooling or heating an indoor space such as a residential space, a restaurant, or an office.

The air conditioner basically comprises a refrigeration cycle including a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, an expansion valve, and an indoor heat exchanger. Specifically, the refrigerant gas compressed in the compressor flows into the outdoor heat exchanger to be phase-changed into liquid refrigerant. In the outdoor heat exchanger, heat is released to the outside while the refrigerant undergoes a phase change. The refrigerant discharged from the outdoor heat exchanger expands while passing through the expansion valve and flows into the indoor heat exchanger.

Then, the liquid refrigerant flowing into the indoor heat exchanger undergoes a phase change to the gas refrigerant. Likewise, the refrigerant absorbs external heat while performing a phase change in the indoor heat exchanger.

In this way, the air conditioner discharges the heat-exchanged air (cold or warm) to the indoor space by absorbing the surrounding heat when the refrigerant in the liquid state is vaporized or discharging the heat when the refrigerant in the gaseous state is liquefied, The temperature is controlled.

In addition, the air conditioner may be configured to be separate or integral with an outdoor unit including the outdoor heat exchanger and an indoor unit including the indoor heat exchanger.

On the other hand, the heat-exchanged air is supplied to the room through the blowing fan, and the blowing fan installed in the air conditioner includes a sirocco fan, an axial fan, a turbo fan, and a crossflow fan.

Such a blower fan basically requires a motor to rotate the blades, and the rotation of such a motor generates a considerably high noise.

Accordingly, development of a blower fan capable of preventing such noise generation and development of a blower capable of supplying heat-exchanged air to the room without using a motor is desired.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an air conditioner and a control method thereof capable of minimizing noise generated by rotation of a blower fan in air conditioning of an indoor space .

Another object of the present invention is to provide an air conditioner and control method thereof that can realize differentiated low noise by operating a plurality of blowers together or selectively in accordance with a required air volume of an air conditioning space such as a strong wind or a weak wind.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an air conditioner capable of purifying indoor air without installing a separate filter and a control method thereof.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems,

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air conditioner comprising: a housing having an air inlet and an outlet; A heat exchanger disposed in the housing for exchanging heat with the sucked air; A blowing fan disposed in the housing for discharging heat-exchanged air to the outside; A corona blower disposed in the housing, the corona blower including a corona electrode and a dust collecting electrode and discharging the heat exchanged air to the outside through a corona discharge; And a control unit for driving at least one of the blowing fan and the corona blower according to the required air volume of the air conditioning space.

The controller may drive the blowing fan and the corona blower together when the required air flow rate is greater than a predetermined threshold air flow rate, and may drive only the corona blower when the required air flow rate is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold air flow rate, 5 CMM.

In addition, in the case where the blowing fan is a cross flow fan, the corona blower may be disposed behind the blowing fan, and the corona electrode is disposed below the heat exchanger to be positioned on the discharge flow path of the heat-exchanged air, An electrode is disposed below the corona electrode, and an air flow path may be formed therein.

The corona electrode may be one or more probes protruding toward the dust collecting electrode.

Alternatively, the corona electrode may be one or more wires extending in the longitudinal direction.

In addition, a carbon nanotube coating layer may be formed on the surface of the corona electrode.

Also, the dust collecting electrode may be a pair of plate electrodes spaced apart at a predetermined interval, an air flow path may be formed in a space between the plate electrodes, and the pair of plate electrodes may be bent And its cross section may have a nozzle shape.

The dust collecting electrode may have a streamlined cross section corresponding to the rotating direction of the blowing fan along the direction of the air discharge opening below the heat exchanger to guide the flow of the air discharged to the outside through the blowing fan.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a heat exchanger comprising: a heat exchanger; And a corona blower having a corona electrode and a dust collecting electrode, the method comprising the steps of: (a) determining an air conditioning mode by comparing an air volume required for an air conditioning space with a predetermined threshold air volume; And (b) driving at least one of the blowing fan and the corona blower according to the air conditioning mode to discharge the heat-exchanged air to the outside.

In the step (b), when the required air flow rate is larger than a preset threshold air flow rate, the blowing fan and the corona blower are driven together, and only the corona blower can be driven when the required air flow rate is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold air flow rate. To 5 CMM.

The air conditioning mode may include a strong wind mode, a neutral wind mode and a weak wind mode. In the strong wind and the neutral wind mode, the blower fan and the corona blower may be driven together. In the weak wind mode, only the corona blower may be driven.

As described above, according to the air conditioner and the control method of the present invention, it is possible to minimize the noise generated by the rotation of the air blower during air conditioning of the indoor space.

Further, the air conditioner and the control method thereof according to the present invention can realize differentiated low noise by operating a plurality of blowers together or selectively according to the required air volume of the air conditioning space such as a strong wind or a weak wind.

In addition, the air conditioner and the control method thereof according to the present invention can purify the room air without installing a separate filter.

Hereinafter, an air conditioner and a control method thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

In addition, the same or corresponding components are denoted by the same reference numerals regardless of the reference numerals, and redundant description thereof will be omitted. For convenience of explanation, the size and shape of each constituent member shown may be exaggerated or reduced have.

On the other hand, it is to be understood that terms including ordinal numbers such as first, second, etc. may be used to describe various components, but the components are not limited by the terms, It is used only for the purpose of discrimination.

1 is a perspective view illustrating an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The air conditioner 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a housing 10 forming an outer appearance and the housing 11 is provided with an inlet 11 through which outside air flows into the housing 10, And a discharge port 12 through which air is discharged to the outside.

On the other hand, L, which is an unexplained reference character, indicates the longitudinal direction in each constituent member described later.

Although the indoor unit including the indoor heat exchanger is shown in FIG. 1 for the sake of convenience, the present invention is not limited to this. The indoor unit including the indoor heat exchanger and the outdoor unit including the outdoor heat exchanger may be separately constructed, In addition, the indoor unit and the outdoor unit may include an air conditioner having a single housing.

Further, the air conditioner 1 according to the present invention may be a radiator or a radiator, but for convenience of description, the following description will be limited to the case where the air conditioner 1 is operated by a radiator.

2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A 'in Fig.

An air conditioning apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a housing 10 forming an outer appearance and a heat exchanger 30, a blowing fan 20 and a corona blender 40 disposed in the housing, respectively do.

As described above, the housing 10 has an inlet 11 and a discharge port 12. A louver or a grill or the like can be mounted on the inlet 11 side, and air A wind direction adjusting device 14 for adjusting the direction of the air conditioner 1 along the longitudinal direction L of the air conditioner 1 can be mounted and a cover 13 for opening and closing the air outlet is mounted on the side of the air outlet 12 .

An air passage communicating from the inlet 11 to the outlet 12 is formed in the inner space of the housing 10.

The heat exchanger (30) may be provided at the inlet side of the inside of the housing, and the blower fan (20) for discharging the heat exchanged air into the indoor space may be provided below the heat exchanger.

The blowing fan 20 may be of various types such as a sirocco fan, an axial flow fan, a turbo fan, and a cross flow fan. For convenience of explanation, the blow fan 20 is a cross flow fan.

The cross-flow fan 20 may include a disk-shaped rim and a plurality of impellers vertically arranged along the circumferential direction on the side surface of the rim. The transverse fan 20 may be installed in the air conditioner together with a guide for guiding the flow of air. After the impeller sucks air in the circumferential direction from the inlet 11 of the housing 10, The air is discharged in the circumferential direction to the discharge port 12 of the discharge port 12.

2, the cross-flow fan 20 rotates in a clockwise direction to suck indoor air through the inlet 11 of the housing 10 and then discharge the air through the outlet 12 of the housing 10 .

At this time, the air that has flowed into the inlet 11 of the housing 10 passes through the heat exchanger 30, is heat-exchanged to cool air, flows into the impeller in the radial direction of the cross flow fan 20, (20) rotates to the discharge port (12) side and is discharged again in the radial direction of the cross flow fan.

On the other hand, as described above, a rear guide 60 for guiding the flow of air can be provided on the rear side of the cross-flow fan, and the rear guide 60 can be provided with a vortex flow generated when the cross- The pressure is changed to a constant pressure while minimizing noise generation due to vortex flow.

In the air conditioner having the structure of the indoor unit, the refrigerant sequentially flows through the outdoor compressor, the outdoor heat exchanger, and the indoor heat exchanger and the compressor of the indoor unit. At this time, the refrigerant compressed at the high pressure in the compressor is condensed in the liquid phase by radiating heat of condensation in the outdoor heat exchanger, and is then transferred to the indoor heat exchanger (30) of the indoor unit.

The refrigerant transferred to the indoor heat exchanger 30 is vaporized while exchanging heat with the air introduced through the inlet port 11 from the indoor heat exchanger 30. At this time, the refrigerant absorbs the heat of vaporization, And cooled. The cooled air is supplied to the room through the discharge port (12) to cool the room. Then, the refrigerant passed through the indoor heat exchanger (30) flows into the compressor, and then the room is cooled while repeating the above-described process.

On the other hand, if the refrigerant is caused to flow in the opposite direction after adding a few components to the air conditioner having the above-described structure, the refrigerant absorbs the heat of vaporization in the outdoor heat exchanger and dissipates heat of condensation in the indoor heat exchanger .

When the condensation heat emitted from the indoor heat exchanger is discharged to the indoor space by rotating the cross-flow fan 20, the air conditioner functions as a radiator. Since the air conditioning system capable of performing cooling and heating together is widely used in general, a detailed description thereof will be omitted herein.

3 is a conceptual view showing the operation of the corona blower constituting the air conditioner 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the corona blower 40 includes a corona electrode 40 and a collector electrode 50 facing the corona electrode 40.

Generally, a corona discharge is a phenomenon in which, when a high electrode is applied between two electrodes, only a strong part of the electric field is emitted to emit light before the flame is emitted.

At this time, the electric field is almost uniform in the case where both electrodes are flat or large in diameter, but when one pole or the anode is formed into a rod or needle shape, the electric field of the pole becomes particularly strong and partial discharge occurs.

The corona blower 40 constituting the air conditioner 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention applies a high voltage between the corona electrode 40 and the dust collecting electrode 50 to apply the high voltage between the corona electrode 40 and the dust collecting electrode 50 50 to the corona discharge.

The corona discharge can perform the following three functions.

First, the corona discharge can perform the dust (filter) function of the suspended particulate matter.

The corona discharge charges suspended particulate matter such as particulate matter (PM) or dust or the like in the gas, and the charged particles are electrostatically charged by the electric field formed between the corona electrode 50 and the dust collecting electrode 60, And is captured on the surface of the dust collecting electrode 60. Further, the trapped particles can be detached from the dust collecting electrode by externally applying an impact thereto as in the case of an ordinary electric dust collecting apparatus.

Alternatively, the corona discharge can perform an anion generating function.

When a stable molecule is supplied with electrons for some reason, electrons are emitted. When electrons are emitted from the surface of a material, it is called electron emission. The generation of negative ions generates a large amount of electrons Ionization of a substance. The corona discharge causes the negatively charged air to be released into the air at a high speed with enough energy that the negatively charged electrons can cause ionization.

Finally, the corona discharge can function to form a flow of air from the corona electrode 50 to the dust collecting electrode 60.

3, the air molecules around the corona electrode 50 are ionized by a high intensity electric field, and an ion stream is formed between the corona electrode 50 and the dust collecting electrode 60, The blower 40 generates an air flow like a pump.

As described above, the corona blower 4 generates an air flow having a low noise, and provides various effects such as a filter action and an anion generation.

Hereinafter, concrete embodiments of the corona blower 40 having such an action and effect will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2, the corona electrode 50 may be disposed below the heat exchanger 30 so as to be positioned on the discharge flow path of the heat-exchanged air, and the dust collecting electrode 60 may be disposed below the corona electrode 50 And an air flow path may be formed inside.

As described above, in the corona blower 40, when a voltage is applied to the corona electrode 50 and the dust collecting electrode 60, an air flow is formed between the corona electrode 50 and the dust collecting electrode 60, And supplied to the room. The corona blower 40 performs the same function as that of the blowing fan 20, but its driving method does not depend on the rotation of the motor, thereby providing a low noise operation.

In addition, a carbon nanotube (CNT) coating layer may be formed on the surface of the corona electrode 50 to minimize the generation of ozone when negative ions are generated.

Meanwhile, the corona blower 40 constituting the air conditioner 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention can be disposed behind the cross-flow fan when the blow fan is the cross-flow fan 20.

With such a configuration, the cross-flow fan 20 rotates clockwise to suck air in the room through the inlet 11 of the housing 10 and then discharge the air through the outlet 12 of the housing 10 In the process, the heat exchanged air can naturally flow into the corona blower (see FIG. 2).

2, the dust collecting electrode 60 is disposed below the heat exchanger 30 to guide the flow of the air discharged to the outside through the cross flow fan 20 along the direction of the air discharge port. Sectional shape corresponding to the rotational direction of the rotor.

With the above configuration, the dust collecting electrode 60 formed to have the streamlined cross-sectional shape can perform the function of the rear guide described above, and accordingly, the vortex flow generated during the rotation of the cross- , And the generation of noise due to vortex flow can be minimized.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a corona blower constituting an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the corona blower shown in FIG.

In one embodiment, the corona electrode 50 may have one or more probe structures protruding toward the collection electrode 60, and referring to FIGS. 3 and 5, when the corona electrode 50 has a probe structure A discharge region is generated around the corona electrode.

At this time, the dust collecting electrodes are mounted inside the housing 10 in a state of extending along the longitudinal direction L of the housing 10 at a predetermined gap g, and a pair of plate electrodes 61, 62, and an air flow path may be formed in the space 63 between the plate electrodes 61, 62.

4 and 5, the heat exchanger-side end portions 61a and 62a of the pair of plate electrodes 61 and 62 are bent outwardly and each end face may have a nozzle shape. The speed of the air flowing into the dust collecting electrode 60 can be increased.

4 and 5, the corona electrode is arranged in a direction parallel to the longitudinal direction L of the housing 10, that is, in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the housing 10. [0030] FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of a corona blower constituting the air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention. (Not shown).

In addition, the dust collecting electrode may be a plurality of plate electrodes 72 spaced apart at a predetermined interval, so that a plurality of air channels 73 may be formed. 4 and 5, only the structure of the corona electrode and the dust collecting electrode is different from that of the corona blower described above, and the operation principle thereof is the same, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Although the corona electrode 50 is a probe and a wire, the present invention is not limited thereto. The corona electrode 50 and the dust collecting electrode 60 Can be configured to have various shapes and structures.

7 is a block diagram illustrating an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The air conditioner (1) according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a control unit (80) for driving at least one of a blowing fan and a corona blower in accordance with a required air volume of the air conditioning space.

The air conditioner 1 may further include a temperature sensing unit 80 for measuring the temperature of the indoor space and a humidity sensing unit 110 for measuring the humidity. The air conditioning apparatus 1 may further include a blowing fan 20 and / And a power supply unit 120 for supplying power to the blower 40.

The control unit 80 drives the blowing fan 20 and the corona blower 40 together when the required air volume due to user input or the like is larger than a predetermined threshold air volume and when the required air volume is equal to or less than a preset threshold air volume, 40 alone.

Since the corona blower 40 requires a high voltage to obtain a high air flow rate and the overall size of the corona blower 40 increases, the critical air flow rate, which is the maximum air flow rate of the corona blower 40,

That is, when air volume of 9 to 10 CCM is required in an indoor unit having a normal structure and size, the critical air volume of the corona blower 40 may be 2 to 5 CCM, although not limited thereto.

The air conditioning apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention is constructed so that the cross flow fan 20 and the corona blower 40 are used together or in a corona blower 40 are driven to reduce the load applied to the cross-flow fan 20, it is possible to realize differentiated low noise.

For example, in the air conditioner 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, about 7 CCM is obtained through the cross flow fan 20 in the case of a strong wind mode of about 10 CCM, and about 7 CCM is obtained through the corona blower 40 3 CCM can be obtained.

In addition, in the case of the weak wind mode of about 3 CCM, for example, the sleep mode or the low power mode, only the corona blower 40 is operated to minimize noise generation.

8 is a flowchart showing a control method of the air conditioner 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The control method of the air conditioner 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of: (a) determining an air conditioning mode by comparing the air volume required in the air conditioning space with a predetermined threshold air volume; and (b) And discharging the heat-exchanged air to the outside by driving at least one of the blowing fan and the corona blower according to the mode.

Further, negative ions may be supplied to the indoor space through the corona blower 40, or the heat-exchanged air may be purified and provided.

In step (b), when the required air flow rate is larger than a predetermined threshold air flow rate, the air blowing fan and the corona blower are driven together (S200), and only the corona blower is driven (S300) when the required air flow rate is equal to or less than a preset threshold air flow rate , Which is the same as described above, so that a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In addition, the air conditioning mode may be variously named, but it is not limited thereto. For example, the air conditioning mode may include a strong wind mode, a neutral wind mode and a weak wind mode depending on the difference in air volume. , A sleep mode, and a low power mode.

In addition, depending on various functions of the corona blower, an air conditioning mode such as an anion generating mode and a filter mode may be included.

At this time, the blowing fan and the corona blower can be driven together in the strong wind and the neutral wind mode, and only the corona blower can be driven in the weak wind mode.

As described above, according to the air conditioner and the control method thereof according to the present invention, it is possible to minimize the noise generated by the rotation of the air blowing fan during air conditioning of the indoor space, The blower fan and the corona blower can be operated together or selectively according to the amount of air to realize differentiated low noise.

In addition, the air conditioner and the control method thereof according to the present invention can purify indoor air without providing a separate filter because the corona blower performs negative ion generation and filter functions together.

Further, by driving only the corona blower in a state in which the pusher is not driven, indoor air can be purified separately from cooling or heating.

The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention, And additions should be considered as falling within the scope of the following claims.

1 is a perspective view showing an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A 'of FIG. 1;

3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating operation of a corona blower constituting an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is an exploded perspective view of a corona blower constituting an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a cross-sectional view of the corona blower shown in Fig.

6 is an exploded perspective view of a corona blower constituting an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention;

7 is a block diagram showing an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a flowchart showing a control method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Claims (17)

A housing having an air inlet and an outlet; A heat exchanger disposed in the housing for exchanging heat with the sucked air; A blowing fan disposed in the housing for discharging heat-exchanged air to the outside; A corona blower disposed in the housing, the corona blower including a corona electrode and a dust collecting electrode and discharging the heat exchanged air to the outside through a corona discharge; And And a control unit for driving at least one of the blowing fan and the corona blower according to a required air volume of the air conditioning space, The corona electrode is disposed below the heat exchanger so as to be positioned on the discharge flow path of the heat-exchanged air, the dust collecting electrode is disposed below the corona electrode and an air flow path is formed therein, Wherein the dust collecting electrode is disposed behind the blowing fan to guide vortex flow generated when the blowing fan rotates. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the control unit drives both the blowing fan and the corona blower together when the required air flow rate is larger than a predetermined threshold air flow rate and drives only the corona blower when the required air flow rate is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold air flow rate. 3. The method of claim 2, Wherein the critical air volume is 2 to 5 CMM. The method according to claim 1, Wherein when the blowing fan is a cross flow fan, the corona blower is disposed behind the blowing fan. delete The method according to claim 1, Wherein the corona electrode is one or more probes protruding toward the dust collecting electrode. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the corona electrode is one or more wires extending in the longitudinal direction. 8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, Wherein a carbon nanotube coating layer is formed on the surface of the corona electrode. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the dust collecting electrode is a pair of plate electrodes spaced apart at a predetermined interval, and an air flow path is formed in a space between the plate electrodes. 10. The method of claim 9, Wherein a pair of plate electrodes are bent toward the heat exchanger side end portion outwardly and have a cross section of a nozzle shape. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the dust collecting electrode has a streamlined cross section corresponding to a rotating direction of the blowing fan along the direction of the air discharge opening below the heat exchanger to guide the flow of the air discharged to the outside through the blowing fan. Heat exchanger; blower fan; And a corona blower having a corona electrode and a dust collecting electrode, wherein the dust collecting electrode has an air flow path formed therein and is disposed behind the blowing fan, (a) determining an air conditioning mode by comparing the air volume required in the air conditioning space with a predetermined critical air volume; And (b) driving at least one of the blowing fan and the corona blower according to the air conditioning mode to discharge the heat-exchanged air to the outside, In the step (b), when the required air flow rate is larger than the predetermined critical air flow rate, the blowing fan and the corona blower are driven together, and only the corona blower is driven when the required air flow rate is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold air flow rate, Wherein when the blowing fan and the corona blower are driven together, a vortex flow generated by driving the blowing fan is guided to the dust collecting electrode. delete 13. The method of claim 12, Wherein the critical air volume is 2 to 5 CMM. 13. The method of claim 12, Wherein the air conditioning mode includes a strong wind mode, a neutral wind mode, and a weak wind mode. 16. The method of claim 15, And the air blowing fan and the corona blower are driven together in the strong wind and the neutral wind mode. 16. The method of claim 15, Wherein only the corona blower is driven in the weak wind mode.

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