MXPA99007878A - Vent air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a window air actuator of the type having an internal section and an external section, which are supported by a base tray, and which are separated by a division, the internal section includes an internal fan and an evaporator coil and the outer section includes a condenser coil, an external fan and a compressor, wherein the improvement is characterized in that it comprises: a first subassembly comprising: a base tray having an internal region close to the front from the base tray and an external region near the back of the base tray, a compressor supported in the outer region, a condenser coil supported in the external region to the rear of the compressor, an evaporator coil supported in the internal region a cooling flow circuit that interconnects the condenser coil, the evaporator coil and the co compressor, and a second sub-assembly comprising: a vertically extending partition has an inner side, an outer side and an opening through which extends the inner side towards the outer side, the division is configured to assist the base tray to separate the inner region of the outer region, an electric motor mounted on the outer side of the division, the motor has a conductive axis that extends perpendicular to the division with a first end extending through the opening to be placed on the inner side of the division and a second end on the outer side of the division, a fan internal to the first end of the drive shaft, and an external fan mounted to the second end of the drive shaft, the first subassembly and the The second sub-assembly is each configured in such a way that they can be assembled separately from each other and in such a way that the second subassembly can be assembled with the other. the first subassembly by placing the second subassembly in a vertically spaced position above the first subassembly and lowering the second subassembly in a predetermined alignment with the first subassembly with the external ventilator forward of and adjacent to the external heat exchanger and the internal fan backwards from and separated from the internal heat exchanger and with a partition that attaches to the base tray, and means to fix the partition to the tray

Description

WINDOW AIR CONDITIONER DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to air conditioners and, more particularly, to the assembly of window air conditioning units. The air conditioning units called "window air conditioners" are commonly used for residential and similar applications and generally include closed cooling circuits that have an evaporator and a condenser. The unit is normally divided by a separation in the evaporator section and the condenser section. The evaporator section communicates with the air in the room to be conditioned and the condenser section communicates with the external air as is the ambient air. The refrigerant flows through a refrigerant circuit absorbing heat from the room's air in the evaporator and discharging the heat energy to the outside air in the condenser. The conventional refrigeration circuit is completed by adding a compressor, an expansion device, and the appropriate connections between the components. Said air conditioning unit usually includes a base tray that supports all the components and an external housing that surrounds the entire unit. The front of the evaporator or the interior section, includes an interior grill, which has openings in it to direct the internal hot air inside the evaporator and discharge openings in it to direct the air back to the room. The outer section of the housing includes a plurality of openings in the sides and upper part thereof, which serve as inlet openings for the cooled air which flows in and out of the outer section after passing through the Endless condenser, which is mounted vertically on the back of the outer section. In addition to the components mentioned above, the outer section also typically includes an outdoor fan and a fan orifice, as well as an electric motor, which typically also activates an indoor fan. The interior section also typically includes the aforementioned indoor fan, an indoor fan orifice, a control box as well as a spiral fan structure to direct the air cooled by the evaporator back into the room to be cooled. Each of the aforementioned components requires means for fixing them to the base tray and / or other structure of the air conditioning unit. Several approaches are known to assemble the components of said unit. However, it is desirable to design a unit that can be assembled in a manner which minimizes the total number of individual components in the unit. The fewer components less number of fixing means which results in lower material costs, less labor and, consequently, a less expensive unit. An improved air conditioner of the type having an inner section and an outer section, which are supported by a base tray and which are separated by a partition. The interior section includes an indoor fan and an evaporator coil and the outdoor section includes a cooling coil, an outdoor fan and a compressor. The air conditioner is made from two sub-assemblies, the first sub-assembly includes a base tray having an inner region near the front of the base tray and an outer region near the rear of the base tray. The compressor is supported in the outer region and a cooling coil is also supported in the outer region to the rear of the compressor. The evaporator coil is supported in the inner region and a cooling flow circuit interconnects the condenser, the evaporator coil and the compressor. The second sub-assembly includes a vertically extending division having an inner side, an outer side and an opening therethrough extending from one side to the other. The division is configured to cooperate with the base tray to separate the inner region from the outer region. An electric motor is mounted on the outer side of the division. The motor has a drive shaft that extends perpendicular to the division with the first end extending through the opening such that it is on the inner side of the division and the second end on the outer side of the division. An indoor fan is mounted to the first end of the drive shaft and an outdoor fan is mounted to the second end of the drive shaft. The second subassembly is configured to be assembled to the first subassembly by placing the second subassembly in a vertically separate position on top of the first subassembly and lowering it to enter alignment with the first subassembly with the exterior fan forward of and adjacent to the exterior heat exchanger, and the indoor fan backwards from and separated from the indoor heat exchanger. The division engages the base tray and is structurally fixed to it. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention can be better understood and its objects and advantages will be obvious to those skilled in the art with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of an air conditioner which illustrates the features of this invention; Figure 2 is an exploded view of the air conditioner illustrated in Figure 1; Figures 3-8 illustrate the sequence of steps in the assembly of one of the subassemblies of the air conditioning unit illustrated in Figure 1; Figure 9 is an exploded view illustrating the finished subassembly of Figures 3-8 and their relationship to the components of the inner scroll; Figure 10 is an assembled view of the components illustrated in Figure 9; Figure 11 illustrates the subassembly of Figures 3-9 in one position before being assembled to the second subassembly in accordance with the present invention; and Figure 12 illustrates the first and second subassemblies assembled one to the other. Figure 1 illustrates an air conditioner unit 10 which generally includes an interior section 12 and an exterior section 14. The air conditioner is covered by a substantially rectangular housing 16 and is adapted to be placed in a rectangular opening in a wall outside or in a window in a room where it is desired to cool the air of this, with the interior section 12 facing towards the inside of the room, as is conventional. The interior section 12 includes an interior grill section 18, which includes inlet ventilation grills 19 and an air discharge assembly 20. The front grill 18 also includes a door 21 in the upper right corner, which covers a panel control 22 for the unit as you can see in the other drawn figures. Now looking at Figures 2 and 12, the components of both the inner section 12 and the outer section 14 are supported on a rectangular base tray 24. The outer and inner sections are separated by a vertically extending metal partition 26, the which is illustrated in more detail in Figures 3 to 9. The inner section basically comprises a coil of the evaporator 28 vertically provided at the front end thereof, an indoor evaporator or fan 30 located behind the evaporator 28 and a spiral that directs the air 29. The outer section 14 includes a cooling coil 32 vertically provided adjacent the rear end thereof, a condenser fan 34, located adjacent to the cooling coil, and a fan orifice 35. The compressor of the unit 36 is also located in the outer section 14. The cooling coil 32 is fluidly interconnected with the compressor 36 and the evaporator 28 in a conventional manner to provide cooling of the room in which the unit is installed. During operation, the air in the space to be cooled by the unit is sucked by the action of the evaporator fan 30 through the inlet ventilation grids 19 and is directed through the evaporator coil 28 where the air is cooled. The cooled air is then directed down the spiral 29 back into the room to be cooled through the air discharge assembly 20. At the same time, ambient air is sucked through the inlets 37 in the outer section of the housing 16 and through the hole 35, by operation of the condenser fan 34, and is directed through the cooling coil 32 before letting it out from the rear of the cooling coil. According to the present invention, all the components of the air conditioning unit 10, which are contained within the housing 16 and the inner grate 18, are assembled into two main sub-sections, which are then easily assembled one on the other before installation in the housing 16 and the interior grill 18 completes the assembly of the unit. Figure 11 illustrates the two main sub-assemblies, to which from now on they will be referred to with reference to their relative positions as illustrated in Figure 11, which are their positions before the assembly one in the other. Accordingly, the reference number 38 refers to the upper subassembly and the reference number 40 refers to the lower subassembly, as illustrated in Figure 11. As can be seen, Figure 12 illustrates the assembly result of the upper subassembly 38 in the lower subassembly 40. Seeing first Figure 11, and with further reference to Figures 2, the lower subassembly 40 comprises the base tray previously described 24, which has an interior region 42 near the front of the tray of base and an outer region 44 near the rear of the base tray. The first component installed in the inner region 42 of the base tray is a lower portion 46 of the spiral 29. The lower spiral section 46 is made of a molded polystyrene foam material and includes a section of condensate drain pan 48. and a vertically extending section 50, which forms the lower part of the spiral assembly. This component is illustrated in detail in Figure 9. The evaporator coil 28 is then placed with its lower end supported by the condensate drain pan 48. Following this, the cooling coil 32 is placed on the back of the outer region 44 of the base tray, as shown. The compressor 36 is then properly fixed as illustrated in the figures drawn to the base tray in the outer region 44 through appropriate fixing tools, including mounting bolts and vibration isolating sleeves 54. The cooling coil 32, the compressor 36, and the evaporator coil 28 are then properly interconnected to each other by generally refrigerant pipe 56, including a capillary tube expansion device 58, as is conventional. After assembly, the refrigeration system can be evacuated and charged with refrigerant and, as illustrated in Figure 11, it is ready for installation of the upper subassembly 38 thereto. The assembly sequence of the upper subassembly 38 starts as illustrated in Figure 3 with the metal division 26, to which all the other components of the upper subassembly are fixed. The division is made of galvanized steel sheet and comprises a main flat section 60 having a centrally located circular depression 62 formed therein which has a centrally located circular opening 64 extending therethrough. Extending forward from the right edge of the flat section 60 is an intermediate section 66 from which a second smaller flat section 68 extends. The lower edges of both the flat section 60 and the 68 are provided with perpendicularly extended mounting flanges 70 with openings 72 therethrough, which facilitate the mounting of the partition to the base tray 24 by suitable fasteners (not shown). ) to set subassembly 88 to the finished unit. Now seeing Figure 4, an electric motor 74 having a shaft section 76 extends from the front end thereof and a shaft section 78 extending from the rear thereof is assembled to the division 26 by inserting, the front axle section 76 through the opening 64 and passing four mounting screws 80, integrally formed with the motor, through coupling openings 82 in the depressions 62. The appropriate threaded nuts 84 are assembled into the four screws of assembly 80, as illustrated in Figure 5. In this manner assembled, the ends of the mounting screws 80 and the nuts carried by them extend into the depression 62 but do not extend beyond the plane of the flat section 60. and, in this way, as will be seen, when they are assembled, they will not interfere with the inner spiral section, which is assembled very close to the flat section.

The outer fan orifice 35 comprises a one-piece plastic component preferably molded from a polypropylene material filled with 20% talcum powder. The hole 35 comprises a main body section 86 that defines the ventilator hole 88 therein. A horizontally extending flange 87 projects rearward from the top of the main body section. This tab is configured to cover and retain the cooling coil, as you can see. The main body has left and right edges 89 and 91, respectively, which are provided with vertically extended channels which are adapted to couple the tube sheets of the cooling coil, as will be described in detail later. Extending forward from the top of the main body section, there is a pair of tubular spacers 90, which extend from a large diameter section where they are integrally formed with the main body section to the smaller diameter ends. 92, which are provided with openings 94 within these adapted to structurally receive the threaded fasteners. The ends 92 of the spacers and the openings 94 within these are adapted to be axially aligned through the openings 96 in the large flat section 60 of the partition through which the appropriate threaded fasteners 98 pass and threadably engage with the openings 94 in the spacers to thereby secure the fan hole 35 to the partition, as illustrated in Figure 6. With continuous reference to Figure 6, the next step. in the assembly of the upper subassembly 38 is the fixing of the external fan 34, which comprises a fan of the helix type having an outer tubular ring extending peripherally 100. The fan has a central hub 102 having an axial opening 104 therein. , which is adapted to receive the motor shaft 78 within it. In the illustrated mode, the axial opening 104 is a blind opening and the shaft is inserted into it until it makes contact with the end of the blind opening and a suitable external clamping clip 105 is installed to rotate and axially fix the fan 34 to the motor shaft . Looking now at Figure 7, the indoor fan 30 is a centrifugal fan having a plurality of peripherally located radially extended blades 106 supported by a closed rear section 108 and a peripherally extending front ring 110. A centrally extended axial opening ( not shown) is formed in a fan bushing 112 and is adapted to receive the end of the front motor shaft 76 therein in a blind manner and is axially and rotatably fixed to the shaft by a pincer mechanism 113. Turning now to the Figure 8, the reference number 114 generally designates a one-piece component which serves to define the inner fan hole, and a portion of the inner spiral assembly 29. This component 114 will be referred to as the "evaporator orifice 114". "and like the condenser is molded of a polypropylene plastic material filled with talcum powder. The evaporator orifice 114 comprises a substantially planar main body section 116 having an opening 118 therein, which is approximately the same diameter as the peripheral ring 110 of the indoor fan 30. The main body section has left and right edges 120 and 122, respectively, which are provided with vertically extended channels which are adapted to couple the evaporator coil, as will be described in detail below. A horizontally extended flange 124 projects forward from the upper end of the main body section 116. This flange is adapted to cover and retain the evaporator coil, as will be seen. The reference numeral 126 indicates a curved wall portion on the left side of the main body section, which makes transition to a vertically extended wall section 128 on the left side of the main body section, which together form a Curved portion of the internal fan spiral. As best seen in Figure 8, a horizontally extending wall section 130 extends rearwardly from the upper end of the main body section 116. The horizontal wall section 130 forms part of the whirlpool wall separator for the ventilator interior 30. A curved wall 132 extends downward and to the left from the left edge 134 of the horizontal wall section and tapers toward the curved wall section 126 to complete the lower portion of the inner fan coil. Extending backward from the rear of the main body section 116 are two hollow tubular mounting spacers 136 and 138. The first of these spacers 136,. it extends from the upper right corner of the main body section 116 while the second separator 138 extends from the lower left corner thereof. As best seen in Figure 8, for the separator 136, each of the spacers are hollow and have an opening 137 in the rear end thereof, which is adapted to receive a threaded fastener therethrough which, in turn, it is adapted to be received in the openings 140, for the separator 136, and 142 for the separator 138 in the metal division 26.

The control box 144 is the last component to complete the assembly of the upper subassembly 38. The control box comprises a substantially inverted L-shaped housing 146 having a mounting tab 147 extending from the upper end thereof and a second Mounting tongue (not shown) extending from the lower end thereof. A suitable threaded fastener extends through the mounting tab 147 and the lower mounting tab and into suitable openings 145 provided in the second planar section 68 of the partition 26 to thereby secure the control box to division. The termination of the assembly of the air conditioning unit 10 is then easily accomplished by placing the upper assembly 38 with respect to the lower subassembly 40, as illustrated in Figure 11. As will be noted by the imaginary lines interconnecting the two subassemblies, the channels conveyed by the left and right edges 120 and 122 of the evaporator orifice 114 are placed in a vertical relationship covered with the left and right edges 146 and 148 of the left and right tube sheets 150 and 152, respectively, of the evaporator coil 28. In a similar manner, the guide channels 89 and 91 at the left and right edges of the main body section 86 of the condenser orifice 35 are placed in a vertically spaced apart relation with the left and right inner corners 154 and 156 of the left and right tube sheets 158 and 160 of the cooling coil 32. It is contemplated that in an assembly line and The lower subassembly 40 will be on a support surface such as a conveyor belt or the like and the upper subassembly 38 will be placed as illustrated in Figure 11 by assembly line workers taking the left and right sides of the unit, placing it as illustrated in Figure 11, and lowering the unit 38 with the channels described above by sliding them in engagement with the corners of the tube sheet. As this happens, the main components of the upper subassembly 38 will move in their final assembled position with respect to the components of the upper subassembly 40 as follows. The one-piece component 114 and the body section 116 thereof will be located directly behind the evaporator coil 28 with the horizontally extended flange 124 in a direct covered relationship with the evaporator, as seen in Figure 12. The portion vertically The spiral extending 50 carried in the lower subassembly will be received within a space that lies behind the interior fan 30 and forward of the partition wall 26. The partition wall 26 will move to the position illustrated in Figure 12 with the mounting tabs 70 at the lower end thereof moving in direct contact with the upper surface of the base tray with the openings therein in accordance with the openings in the base tray to permanently fix the partition thereto. At the same time, the main body section 86 of the outer fan hole 35 moves downwardly with the flange 87 covering the cooling coil and the channels cooperating with the pipe sheet edges. The condenser fan will move to a final forward position adjacent to the cooling coil 43. After this, the termination of the air conditioning unit is achieved by inserting the upper spiral section 29, as best seen in Figure 9, within the space defined between the back of the indoor fan 30 and the front of the partition 26. Again, as best seen in Figure 9, this component has a lower edge 166 which is configured to be complementary to the upper edge 168 of the vertical wall section 50 of the lower spiral component 46. Thus assembled, the unit is then completed by sliding the base tray 24 and the finished unit into the outer housing 16 and assembling the interior grill section 18 to this.

Claims (8)

1. CLAIMS 1. An air conditioner of the type having an inner section and an outer section, which are supported by a base tray, and which are separated by a division, the inner section includes an indoor fan and an evaporator coil , and the inner section includes a cooling coil, and an outdoor fan and a compressor, wherein the improvement is characterized in that it comprises: a first sub-assembly comprising: a base tray having an interior region near the front of said base tray and an outer base tray near the rear of said base tray; a compressor supported in said outer region; a cooling coil supported in said outer region towards the rear, like the compressor; an evaporator coil supported in said inner region; and a cooling flow circuit interconnecting the cooling coil, the evaporator coil and the compressor; and a second sub-assembly comprising: a vertically extended partition having an inner side, an outer side and an opening therethrough extending from the inner side to the outer side, said division being configured to cooperate with the base tray to separate said inner region from said outer region; an electric motor mounted on the outer side of said division, the motor having a conductive axis extending perpendicular to said division with a first end extending through said opening so that it is on the inner side of said division, and a second end on the outer side of said division; an indoor fan mounted on the first end of the drive shaft; and an outdoor fan mounted on the second end of the drive shaft; the second subassembly is configured to be assembled in the first subassembly by placing the second subassembly in a vertically separate position above the first subassembly and lowering the second subassembly in a predetermined alignment with the first subassembly with the outside ventilator forward of and adjacent to the exchanger of external heat, and the internal fan backwards and separated from the indoor heat exchanger and with the partition coupling the base tray; and means to fix the division to the base tray.
2. 2. The apparatus in accordance with the claim 1, characterized in that the second subassembly further includes an outer fan orifice plate having an opening therein surrounding the outer fan, the orifice plate has integrally formed means for securing the orifice plate to the partition; and an integrally formed interior fan orifice and a spiral assembly cooperating with said inner vent, the assembly has means for securing the assembly to the partition.
3. 3. The apparatus in accordance with the claim 2, characterized in that the outer fan orifice plate further includes a peripherally extended curved wall, which defines said fan opening at one end thereof, very close to said division, said curved wall transitioning to a substantially rectangular structure, said structure has an upper part as a lower part, and left and right sides, the lower part is configured to couple the base tray, the upper part has a horizontal flange extending rearward thereof, which is configured to cover the outdoor heat exchanger.
4. 4. The apparatus in accordance with the claim 3, characterized in that the left and right sides of the rectangular structure are configured to couple and align the left and right sides, respectively, of the outdoor heat exchanger. The apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that the inner fan is a centrifugal fan having a circular inlet going forward and an easily outwardly outwardly peripherally extended outlet.; wherein the inner fan hole and the spiral assembly comprise a flat wall provided between said inner heat exchanger and the inner fan inlet, the flat wall has an inlet hole within it is in an axial alignment with the fan inlet , the flat wall has tabs extending forward from the upper end and the left and right sides thereof, the tabs are configured to couple and align the inner heat exchanger. The apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that the fan hole and spiral assembly further comprise a curved wall extending rearwardly of said flat wall, the curved wall extends in a separate peripheral relationship with the exit of inner fan and having an open upper end through which the air flowing from said fan is directed; and means for closing the rear part of the curved wall to thereby enclose the rear part of the inner fan, and to receive the air flow from the open upper end and redirect said air flow towards the front thereof. 7. The apparatus in accordance with the claim 6, characterized in that the means for closing and receiving and redirecting the air flow comprise a two piece plastic foam structure having a first section thereof provided between said inner side of the partition and the rear part of the curved wall, Said first section is substantially below the motor shaft opening and the partition, and a second section also provided intermediate the inner side of the partition and the rear part of the curved wall, the second section is substantially above the opening of the opening. motor shaft in the division; the first section and the second section have a substantially air-tight interface therebetween. 8. The apparatus in accordance with the claim 7, characterized in that said second section further includes an upper wall that extends perpendicularly and horizontally in a separate relationship to the open upper end, and left and right side walls at opposite ends of the upper wall to thereby define a plenum to receive the flow of air from the open end and redirect the air flow forward of it. SUMMARY An improved air conditioner of the type having an inner section and an outer section, which are supported by a base tray and which are separated by a division. The section includes an indoor fan and an evaporator coil and the outdoor section includes a cooling coil, an outdoor fan and a compressor. The air conditioner is made from the two sub-assemblies, the first sub-assembly includes a base tray having an inner region near the front of the base tray and an outer region near the rear of the base tray . The compressor is supported in the outer region and a cooling coil is also supported by the outer region to the rear of the compressor. The evaporator coil is supported in the inner region and a cooling flow circuit interconnects the condenser, the evaporator coil and the compressor. The second subassembly includes a vertically extended partition having an interior side, an exterior side and an opening therethrough extending from one side to the other. The division is configured to cooperate with the base tray to separate the inner region from the outer region. An electric motor is mounted on the outer side of the division. The motor has a drive shaft that extends perpendicular to the division with the first end extending through the opening to be on the inner side of the division and the second end on the outer side of the division. An indoor fan is mounted to the first end of the drive shaft and an outdoor fan is mounted to the second end of the drive shaft. The second subassembly is configured to be assembled in the first subassembly by placing the second subassembly in a vertically separate position above the first subassembly and lowering it in alignment with the first subassembly with the exterior fan forward and adjacent to the outdoor heat exchanger and the indoor fan back from and separated from the indoor heat exchanger. The division engages the base tray and is structurally fixed to it.