US2408972A - Air conditioning apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 8, 1946. A. H. EBERHART AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 6, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 7 Plant INVENTOR nmua h. Essa/mar.

AQZZRNEY Get 3946. EBERH-ART 7 2,408,972

AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 6, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR HRTHUR H. EBERHFI RT.

55 BY 7? W h ATTORNEY- I Patented Oct. 8, 1946 AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS Arthur H. Eberhart, Springfield, Mass, assignor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a. corporation of Pennsylvania Application December 6, 1944, Serial No. 566,797

Claims.

My invention relates to an air conditioning unit of'the type adapted to be mounted on the window sill of a room.

One object of my invention is to produce an improved unit of the type set forth,

Another object of my invention is to produce an improved air conditioning unit which is capable of being readily adjusted to condition and recirculate room air only, to introduce conditioned outside air only to the room, to condition a mixture of outside air and room air and deliver the conditioned mixture to the room, or to exhaust air from the room to the outside atmosphere.

Another object of my invention is to produce an air conditioning unit which can be adjusted to effect the various air flows above set forth by the manipulation or setting of a single readily accessible control knob or handle.

Another object of my invention is to produce an inexpensive construction for attaining the foregoing objects.

These and other objects are effected by my invention as will be apparent from the following description and claims taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view, partly in top plan and partly in horizontal section, of an air conditioning unit embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the unit shown in Fig. 1, the view being approximately on line II-II of Fig. 1; and

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are diagrammatic views illustrating three positions of the dampers for controlling the air flow through the unit.

In Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, I illustrate a refrigeration system including an evaporator it, a compressor I2 and a condenser 14. The liquid refrigerant flows from the condenser to the evaporator through a pipe it of small diameter and the evaporated refrigerant is sucked from the evaporator by the compressor through a pipe it. The compressed refrigerant gas flows through a pipe 29 to the condenser where it is cooled, liquefied and returned to the evaporator in the well-known manner. A motor M drives a condenser fan 22 for blowing air over the condenser, and an evaporator fan 24 for blowing air over the evaporator. I

The refrigerating system above described is mounted on or in a tray which may be secured directly to the sill 26 of a window, or to other supporting means forming part of, or carried by the window structure. The tray includes a bottom wall 23, side flanges 30 and 32, and front and rear flanges 34 and 36. A removable decorative cover including a top wall 38, side walls 48 and 42, and front and rear walls 44 and 46, coacts with the tray to form a casing completely enclosing the refrigerating apparatus. The casing is divided transversely by a partition 48 to form an outer compartment extending into, or in the direction of, the outside atmosphere, and an inner compartment extending into, or in the direction of, a room the air of which is to be conditioned. The partition 48 extends upwardly from the bottom wall 28 of the tray to Within a short distance of the top wall 38 of the decorative cover. As will be seen from Fig, 1, the outer compartment houses the compressor, the condenser, the motor M and the condenser fan 22. The inner compartment houses the evaporator, the fan 24 and other parts which will be later described. The inner compartment is also provided with a-top wall 50, which coacts with the top wall 38 of the decorative cover to form a passage 52, and a front wall 56 which coacts with the front wall 44 of the decorative cover to form a passage 56. The passage 52 and. passage 56 communicate with the room through an inlet 58. The outer end of the passage 52 communicates with the top of the outer compartment, as clearly shown in Figs. 3

The side wall 42 of the decorative cover adjacent the blower 22 is provided with an'outside air inlet through which the condenser fan22, under certain conditions of operation, draws outside air for cooling the refrigerant gas flowing through the condenser. The condenser fan is adapted simultaneously to draw outside air through an opening 62 in registration with the compressor 50 that the air drawn through the opening 52 serves to cool the compressor. Under other conditions of operation, the condenser fan is also adapted to draw air from the room. The air moved by the condenser fan 22, be it drawn through either or both of the. openings 60 and 62, or from the room in a manner hereinafter explained, is blown over the condenser and is discharged to the outside atmosphere through an outlet 64.

The evaporator fan 24 is provided with a spiral shroud 66, the discharge end of which leads to the bottom of the evaporator, as best shown in Fig. 2. The air blown over the evaporator is discharged to the room through an outlet 88 which is preferablyprovided with a grille H3. The front Wall 54 of the inner compartment is provided with a fan inlet 12 communicating with the passage 56 through a suitable filter l4.

In order to direct and regulate the flow 'of air 3 conditioned by the unit thus far described, I provide a damper I5 for controlling the inlet 58, a damper I8 for controlling the passage 52, and a damper 80 for controlling the outside air inlet 80. Also, I so construct and arrange the dampers and their adjuncts that they are all adjusted to the desired position by a simple movement of a single, readily accessible control knob 84. As shown, the damper I8 is hinged to a suitable support 88 and is biased to a position Opening the inlet 58 by a spring 88. The damper I8 is hinged to a suitable support 90 and is biased to a position closing the passage 52 by a spring 92.

In order to move the dampers I6 and I8 against the action of their respective springs, and in order simultaneously to regulate the position of the damper 80, I provide an actuating arm 94 which includes a horizontal portion 90 and a pendant vertical portion 98. The horizontal portion 98 extends through guide slots I80 formed in the front and rear walls of the inner compartment, and the vertical portion 98 extends downwardly through the passage 55. The actuating arm is connected to one end of a chain or other flexible element I02, the other end of which is secured to a pulley I04 on a shaft I06 rotatable by the knob 84. The outer end of the horizontal portion of the actuating arm is connected by a, pivoted link I08 to the damper 80. The actuating arm as a whole is biased to the right as viewed in Figs. 3 to 5, by a spring I I 0. The lower end of the vertical portion 98 of the actuating arm abuts against the damper I6 in all positions of said arm. The shaft I06 is provided with one or more friction washers, not shown, for retaining the shaft in any position to which it is adjusted.

The-horizontal portion 96 of the actuating arm is also connected to one end of a chain or other flexible element II2 which passes between guide rolls I I4 and the other end of which is connected to one end of a lever IIG, the other end of which is secured to the damper I8.

By turning the knob 84 so as to rotate the shaft I 06 in counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Figs. 3 to 5, the chain I02 is partly wound upon the pulley I04 and .the arm 94 is thus pulled to the left, against the action of the spring I I0, The vertical portion 98 of the arm is now somewhat retracted from the damper I6 and permits the spring 88 to open the damper I6 to a corresponding extent, as shown in Fig. 3.

Further rotation of the shaft I05 in counterclockwise direction, further winds the chain I02 on the pulley I04. This moves the arm 84 still further to the left and further retracts the vertical portion 88 thereof so that the spring 88 moves the damper 16 to its fully open position, as shown in Fig. 5.

By turning the knob 84 so as to rotate the shaft I06 in clockwise direction, the chain I02 is unwound from the pulley I04, thus permitting the spring I I to move the arm 94 to the right. The spring IIO being stronger than the spring 88, the vertical portion 98 of the arm moves the damper I in a direction to close the inlet 58.

The movement of the arm 94is transmitted to the damper I8 through the chain H2 and to the damper 80 through the link I08. Thus, if the arm 94 is moved sufliciently to the right, the dampers I8 and 80 are moved to their respective fully open positions, as shown in Fig. 4. If the arm 94 is moved sufliciently to the left, the damper I8 is opened and the damper 80 is closed, as shown in Fig. 5.

While in Fig. 4 the arm 84 is shown in its ex- 4 treme right-hand position, and in Fig. 5, the arm is shown in its extreme left-hand position, it will be understood that intermediate adjustments of the arm can be effected by appropriate rotation of the knob 84.

For example, in the intermediate position of the arm 94 illustrated in Fig. 3, the dampers I6 and are partly open, the chain I I2 is slack and the damper I8 is closed by the spring 92.

Operation When it is desired to condition and recirculate room air only, the knob 84 is rotated to a position indicated on an index plate, not shown, to adjust the parts as shown in Fig. 3. In this posi tion, the evaporator fan 24 draws room air through the inlet 58 and filter I4, passes the air over the evaporator and discharges it into the room through the grille I0. Also, in this position, thedamper 80 is in partly open position and the condenser fan 22 draws outside air through the openings 60 and 82 and discharges it over the condenser and through the outlet 64. The path of flow of the air is indicated by the arrows in Figs. 1 and 3.

When it is desired to introduce conditioned, outside air only into the room, the knob 84 is rotated to another indicated position to adjust the parts as shown in Fig. 4, in which the damper I6 is in a position fully closing the inlet 58, the damper I8 is in a position in which the passage 52 is unobstructed and, the damper 80 is in full open position. The evaporator fan 24 now draws outside air through the opening 80, the passage 52 and the filter I4, passes it over the evaporator and discharges it into the room. The full opening of the damper 80 permits admission of enough air to satisfy the requirements of both the condenser fan 22 and the evaporator fan 24. The path of flow of the air is indicated by the arrows in Fig. 4.

A mixture of room air and outside air, in various proportions, for conditioning, may be obtained by rotating the knob 84 to bring the arm 94 to a suitable position intermediate the positions shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Upon moving the arm 94 to the left from the position shown in Fig. 3, the damper I8 gradually opens, to provide an increasing amount of outside air, and the damper I8 gradually closes, to reduce the amount of room air and to transfer the suction effect of the evaporator fan 24 to induce the flow of outside air through the passage 52 past the damper I8. When the position of Fig. 4 is reached, the admission of room air has been reduced substantially to zero and the outside air has been increased substantially to per cent.

When it is desired to exhaust air from the room, the control knob 84 is rotated to still another indicated position, to bring the parts to the position shown in Fig. 5 in which the dampers I6 and 18 are moved to full open position. It will be noted that, in this position of the actuating arm, the damper 80 is in its maximum closing position. Therefore, in order to satisfy the requirements of the condenser fan 22, air is drawn from the room, through the inlet 58 and passages 56 and 52, as well as from the outside atmosphere through the inlet 62. The path of flow of the air is partly indicated by the arrows in Fig. 5.

If desired, the rod 94 may be omitted and the shaft I06 may be provided with separate pulleys which will be connected to the dampers I6, I0 and 80 by chains or other flexible elements in a manner such as that illustrated in my prior Patent No. 2,343,122 of February 29, 1944. Also, if desired, the damper 80 may be mounted for sliding movement against the side wall 42 instead of the pivoted mounting of the damper illustrated.

While I have shown my invention in but one form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof.

What I claim is:

1. In a room air conditioning unit, a casing having a first portion and a second portion, a first heat exchanger in said first portion, a second heat exchanger in said second portion, an outside air inlet for admitting air from the outside atmosphere to said first portion, an air outlet leading from said first portion to the outside atmosphere, a fan for drawing outside air through said outside air inlet into contact with said first heat exchanger and discharging it through said outlet to the outside atmosphere, a room air inlet for admitting air from a room the air of which is to be conditioned to said second portion, a room air outlet leading from said second portion for discharging air to said room, a fan for drawing room air through said room air inlet into contact with said second heat exchanger and discharging it through said room air outlet back into the room, a passage connecting said room air inlet with said outside air inlet and said outside air outlet, and means for regulating the flow of outside air or room air into contact with either of said heat exchangers and into the room or to the outside atmosphere, comprising a first damper for controlling said outside air inlet, a second damper for controlling said passage, and a third damper for controlling said room air inlet, and actuating means for positioning said dampers, said actuating means and said dampers being so constructed and arranged that, in one position thereof said inlets are open and said passage is closed, whereby outside air is circulated around said first heat exchanger and room air isv circulated around said second heat exchanger, in a second position of said actuating means and said dampers said room air inlet and said passage are open and said outside air inlet is at least partly closed, whereby room air is withdrawn through said room air inlet and said passage and discharged to the atmosphere, and, in a third position of said dampers and said actuating means, said outside air inlet and said passage are open and said room air inlet is at least partly closed, whereby outside air is drawn through said outside air inlet and said passage into contact with said second heat exchanger and is discharged into said room.

2. An air conditioning unit comprising a casing, means dividing said casing into an inner compartment and an outer compartment, refrigerant liquefying means disposed in said outer compartment, refrigerant evaporating means disposed in said inner compartment and connected in refrigerant flow relation to said refrigerant liquefying means, means providing a passage connecting said compartments, there being an outside air inlet leading to said outer compartment, an air outlet leading from said outer compartment to the outside atmosphere, at room air inlet leading from a room, the air of which is to be conditioned, to said inner compartment, and a conditioned air outlet leading from said inner compartment to said room, a first damper for controlling said room air inlet,

6 means biasing said damper to a position in which said room air inlet is open, a second damper for controlling said passage, means biasing said second damper to a position in which said passage is closed, an actuating member adapted simultaneously to position both of said dampers, and means biasing said member to a position in which said first damper is moved to a positionclosing said room air inlet and said second damper is moved to a position in which said passage is open.

3. The structure recited in claim 2 together with a third damper for controlling said outside air inlet, and means connecting said third damper to said actuating member, said means being so constructed and arranged that said third damper is moved to a position partly or wholly closing said outside air inlet according to the position of said member and in predetermined relation to the position of said first and second dampers.

4. The structure recited in claim 2 in which said actuating member is movable to three different positions and in which said dampers and said member are so constructed and arranged that in one position of said member said first damper is partly open and said second damper is fully closed, and in a second position of said member said first damper is fully closed and said second damper is fully open, and in a third position of said member said first and said second dampers are open.

5. In a room air conditioning unit, a casing having a first compartment and a second compartment, a first heat exchanger in said first compartment, a second heat exchanger in said second compartment, an outside air inlet for admitting air from the outside atmosphere to said first compartment, an air outlet leading from said first compartment for discharging air to the outside atmosphere, a room air inlet for admitting air from a room to said second compartment, there being a discharge opening leading from said second compartment for discharging air back to said room, a first fan for drawing air through said outside air inlet into contact with said first heat exchanger and discharging it through said outlet, a second fan far drawing room air through said room air inlet into contact with said second heat exchanger and discharging it back into the room through said discharge opening, a wall structure defining a passage connecting said compartments, and means for controlling the flow of outside air and room air into and through one or both of said compartments and through said passage, said means including a first damper for controlling said passage, a second damper for, controlling said room air inlet, a member movable through a range of movement from a first position to a second position and effecting movement of said second damper from full open to full closed position upon movement from its first to its second position, said member and said first damper being interconnected so that, when said member is in an intermediate position between said first position and said second position and said second damper is partly open, said first damper is closed and so that, as said member is moved from said intermediate position to either said first position or said second position, said first damper is moved to open position.

ARTHUR H. EBERHART.

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