US2826048A - Refrigerating apparatus for cooling room air - Google Patents

Description

H. A. WHEELER March 11, 1958 REFRIGERATING APPARATUS FOR COOLING ROOM AIR Filed Aug. 27. 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet l I I INVENTOR.

282m @Wee/az REFRIGERATING APPARATUS FOR COOLING ROOM AIR Filed Aug. 27, 1954 March 11, 1958 H. A. WHEELER 3 Sheeis Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.

lllll March 11, 1958 I H.IAI. WHEELER REFRIGERATING APPARATUS FOR COOLING ROOM AIR Filed Aug. 2'7, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. zza/z QWea ez BYE Va- 2 I Harold A. Wheeler, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich, a corporation of Delaware Application August 27, 1954, Serial No. 452,524 4 Claims. (Cl. 62140)' This invention relates to refrigerating apparatus and more particularly to a self-contained room cooler of the type adapted to be mounted in a window opening.

it is an object of this invention to provide a compact and inexpensive air conditioner which is easy to install and service.

Another object of this invention is to provide a self contained air conditioning unit which may be used for introducing large quantities of fresh air at times when no cooling is required.

A further object of this invention is to provide a unit which may be mounted. in a casement type of window without making. any major alterations in the easement window.

Another object of this invention is to provide a selfcontained room cooler which may be used for cooling 100 percent recirculated air, 1.00 percent outside air or any desired ratio of fresh air to outside air.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a window mounted air conditioner having the air inlets and outlets so arranged that the front end of the unit may, if desired, be mounted substantially flush with the window casing with the major part of the unit projecting outwardly from the window opening.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, where,- in a preferred form of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a side elevational view with parts broken away showing a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view with parts broken away;

Figure 3 is an end elevational view showing the air inlet and air outlet passages;

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially on line 4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the compressor mounting arrangement;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the construction and arrangement of the condenser cover;

and,

Figure 7 is a fragmentary sectional view on an enlarged scale showing in detail the. construction of the internal air seal.

For purposes of illustration, the invention has been I shown applied to a self-contained air conditioning unit of the type which. is particularly suitable for mounting in a casement window whereas certain aspects of the invention. are equally applicable to air conditioning units mounted in other types of windows and wall openings.

The air conditioning unit used in illustrating the invention comprises an outer casing 10 having a top wall 12, side walls 14, and an end. wall 16-. The casing 10 is open at its front end and bottom and is provided with guide rails 18 adjacent the bottom edges for slidably receiving a refrigeration unit which is mounted on a pan like base 22. In installing an air conditioner of this type the cabinet 10 is first secured on the window sill and then the refrigeration unit is inserted through the front end of the cabinet. The front end of the casing, in the device illustrated is larger in cross section than. the rear end which is made small enough to project through a rates atent ii ice casement window opening. In those air conditioners designed for use in conventional windows the rear end could be made just as large as the front end.

The inner wall of the casing 10 has spot-wcldedthereto a bracket 2 which supports an extruded rubber or rubber-like sealing strip 26 which seals ed the evaporator compartment from the condenser compartment. This sealing strip is provided with a projecting web-like member 28 which is arranged to engage the edges of the vertical Wall 29 of: the refrigeration unit in a manner. to seal the evaporator compartment from the condenser compartment. A removable and decorative front panel 69 fits onto the front end of the casing after the refrigerating mechanism has been installed.

The refrigerating unit includes the usual refrigerant evaporator 39, a sealed motor-compressor unit 32-, and a condenser 36. The evaporator 30 is supported adjacent the front end of the base 22 in a raised position relative to the base so as to provide a passage for the flow of fresh air between the bottom of the evaporator 30 and the base 22. The sealed motor-compressor unit, 32 is adapted to be supported on the base 22 by means of spring mounts 34 which serve to resiliently support the compressor in spaced relationship to the base 22. as.

shown. The mounts 34 include a coil spring 35 held between resilient pads 37 and 39 as shown.

The refrigerant condenser 36 is arranged adjacent the rear end of the base 22 and extends substantially the full width and height of the casing. The usual refrigerant flow connections generally designated by the reference numeral 3?: serve to connect the compressor, condenser and evaporator into series refrigerant flow relationship. These connections include the usual capillary tube restrictor element 40 which serves to restrict the flow of refrigerant from the condenser to the evaporator in accordance with well known practice.

The side walls 14 of the outer casing are provided with suitable air inlet openings 42 through which condenser cooling air enters the condenser compartment of the unit. A condenser fan 44 driven by a motor 46 serves to pull air in through the side air inlets 42 and to discharge the air outwardly through the condenser and the rear air outlet 48. The bottom wall of the pan-like base 22 drains the condensate water toward the rear of the unit in accordance with standard practice. As best shown in Figure 1 of the drawing the blades of the fan 44 include a condensate flinger ring 50 which dips into the condensate which tends to collect in the pan-like base element 22.

This fiinger ring serves to atomize the condensate water and in so doing dings an appreciable amount of water onto the bottom side of the condenser cover 52. Some of this water tends to collect in large droplets which eventually fall down. If this condenser cover were made fiat some of the drops would tend to fall onto the fan blades and cause objectionable noises. in order to prevent this from happening the cover is provided with a depression 54. This depression provides an inclined surface directly above the fan which is so arranged that the droplets of water follow the inclined surface to the very lowest point before dropping down. This low point is located on a line beyond the edge of the fan and in close proximity to the face of the coils so that the droplets of water do not fall onto the fan blades but fall so close to the fins on the condenser that the air circulated by the fan causes the drops. to impinge against the condenser fins and the associated tubes. of the condenser whereby the water is evaporated by the heat being dissipated by the condenser.

An evaporator fan 6-!) driven by an electric motor 62 serves to circulate air to be conditioned in thermal exchange relationship with the evaporator 39. Room air to be conditioned is introduced into the casing adjacent the lower front edge of the casing so as to flow rearwardly over the evaporator on its way to the evaporator fan inlet 64. The outlet of the fan is arranged to direct the refrigerated air forwardly through "a conduit 66 located directly above the evaporator and extending from the fan shroud to the front of the assembly. An air directing grill assembly 68 is secured directly to the front end of the conduit 66. By virtue of the above described construction and arrangement it is obvious that the air grill, the conduit 66, and the evaporator fan form a part of the mechanism carried by the base 22.

As best shown in Figure l of the drawing, the front panel 69 for the unit is made of molded plastic material and includes an opening 70 in alignment with the air outlet grill assembly 68. For a more complete description of the air outlet grill assembly, reference is hereby made to copending application Serial No. 454,480 filed Sept. 7, 1954, which describes the air grill in detail. in the air conditioner shown herein, only one conditioned air outlet grill is shown whereas the larger air conditioners would have two or more grills. The plastic front panel 69 also includes an opening 72 which is provided with a pivoted door 74. The door 74 opens outwardly so as to provide access to the control knobs 76 and 78. A spring 73 yieldably holds the door 74 in the closed position. The knob 76 controls the energization of the fan motors and the compressor unit whereas the knob 78 controls the temperature setting of the thermostatic switch unit 79 which controls the cycling of the refrigerating system. Inasmuch as controls of this type are notoriously old they will not be described in greater detail.

For the purpose of controlling the ratio of fresh air to recirculated air flowing over the evaporator 30 a control damper 8b is pivotally supported at the front edge of the base-like pan element 22 as indicated at 82 in Figure 1. This control damper cooperates with the plastic front panel 6 to completely shut off the room air inlet opening when the damper is in a raised position up against the inner surface of the front panel 69. By pivotally swinging the damper 80 downwardly onto the fresh air inlet opening 84 it is possible to completely shut olf the introduction of fresh air to the evaporator compartment. A bug screen 86 is provided at the inlet opening 84 so as to prevent flies and other insects from entering the room.

As best shown in Figure 4 of the drawing, fresh air entering the condenser compartment is free to flow toward the front of the casing by flowing beneath the shroud 90 of the evaporator fan 60 and also beneath the evaporator 30. This fresh air passage has been designated by the reference numeral 92 and extends from the condenser compartment to a point ahead of the evaporator 30 as best shown in Figures 1 and 4. The amount of fresh air which is allowed to flow through the passage 92 is controlled by the damper 80 which is located at the outlet of this passage.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as hereindisclosed constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, as may come within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. In a window mounted air conditioner the combination of a cabinet comprising a top wall, side walls, an end wall and an open bottom adapted to extend outwardly through a window opening and having guide rail means therein, means for fastening the cabinet within a window opening, and an air cooling unit slidably mounted in said cabinet and having means cooperating with said top and side walls to divide the interior of said cabinet into an evaporator compartment and a condenser compartment, said cooling unit including a base, a condenser mounted adjacent the outer end of said base, an evaporator mounted adjacent the inner end of said base, fan means for circulating air in thermal exchange relationship with said condenser, fan means for circulat- 4 ing air to be conditioned in thermal exchange relationship with said evaporator, said evaporator being supported in elevated position relative to said base so as to form a fresh air inlet passage between said evaporator and said base, a front panel means secured to said cabinet and having a cut away lower edge portion forming an air inlet adjacent its lower edge and having an air outlet adjacent its upper edge, a conduit connecting the outlet of said evaporator fan means and said air outlet, said conduit overlying said evaporator, and an air directing grill secured directly to the front end of said conduit and projecting into said air outlet.

2. In a self-contained air conditioning unit, a cabinet, refrigerating apparatus disposed within said cabinet, said refrigerating apparatus comprising an evaporator, 11 condenser, a sealed motor-compressor unit, and refrigerant flow connections between said evaporator, compressor and condenser, evaporator fan means for circulating air to be conditioned in thermal exchange relationship with said evaporator, condenser fan means for circulating condenser cooling air in thermal exchange relationship with said condenser, means for draining condensate from said evaporator to a point adjacent said condenser fan, a plate extending from a point above said condenser fan to a point above said condenser and forming a condenser fan shroud, the top wall of said fan shroud including an inclined surface for draining condensate water to a point oflset from said fan toward the outlet side of said fan whereby droplets falling from the lowest point on said inclined surface do not fall onto said fan.

3. A room cooler adapted to be mounted on a window sill of a window frame and including a supporting cabinet secured to the window sill, a refrigeration unit slidably supported in said cabinet, said refrigeration unit including an evaporator adjacent the front end thereof and a condenser adjacent the rear end thereof, means for supportin said evaporator in spaced relationship to the top and bottom of said cabinet whereby air flow passages are provided above and beneath said evaporator, means for introducing outside air to be conditioned through one of said passages forwardly beneath .d evaporator, and means including a fan for circulating the air to be conditioned rearwardly through said evaporator and for discharging the air thus cooled forwardly over the top of said evaporator through the other of said passages, manually operated control means for said refrigeration unit located in front of said evaporator and directly beneath said other passage, and a removable front panel for said cabinet having openings providing access to said passages and said control means.

4. In a self-contained air conditioner, a separable assembly including a cabinet and a refrigeration unit to be positioned within said cabinet, said refrigeration unit comprising a refrigerating system including a condenser and an evaporator, said cabinet having guide means disposed thereon, said refrigeration unit having a pan-like base slidably supported on said guide means, gasket means carried by said cabinet and arranged to engage a portion of said refrigeration unit to separate said cabinet into an evaporator compartment and a condenser compartment, said cabinet having a sheet metal strip secured thereto and provided with a pair of wings lying substantially parallel to the adjacent inside walls of said cabinet, said gasket means having slotted mounting flanges gripping said wings for holding the gasket means in position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,262,261 Smith Nov. 11, 1941 2,290,973 Jewell July 28, 1942 2,335,627 Wolfert Nov. 30, 1943 2,357,362 Smith Sept. 5, 1944 2,408,973 Cody Oct. 8, 1946 2,472,792 Cohler June 14, 1949 2,730,873 Hardin Jan. 17, 1956

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