US2878657A - Self-contained heating and cooling apparatus - Google Patents

Description

March 24, 1959 L. w. ATCHISON 2,873,657

SELF-CONTAINED HEATING AND COOLING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 26, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.

W INVENTOR. LEONARD W. ATCHISON HIS ATTORNEY March 24, 1959 L. w. ATCHISON SELF-CONTAINED HEATING AND COOLING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec.

INVENTOR. LEONARD w. ATCHISON Q N m.

Q r N. OhOOOOO HIS ATTORNEY United States Patent SELF-CONTAINED HEATING AND COOLING APPARATUS Leonard W. Atchison, Louisville, Ky., assignor. to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application December 26 1957, Serial No. 705,281

3 Claims. (Cl. 62-325) The present invention relates to a self-contained air conditioning unit and more particularly to such a unit for supplying either heated or cooled air to an enclosure.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a self-contained air conditioning unit having an improved arrangement for the flow of air therethrough for cooling or heating an enclosure.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a self-contained air conditioning unit having an improved air flow arrangement for both heating and cooling air from an enclosure without requiring a reversible refrigcrating system therein.

Another object of this invention is to provide air controlling means in a self-contained air conditioning unit for controlling the flow of air through a plurality of opposed openings which lead from the front and rear faces of the unit respectively into the various compartments of the conditioner.

More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide a self-contained air conditioning unit having a plurality of air controlling valves, each of which is associated with a pair of opposed inlet and outlet openings of the unit for permitting selective control of the air flowing into and discharging from the unit in order to direct air either from the outside or from within the within separate compartments of the unit.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, and the features of novelty which characterize the invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided an air conditioning unit including a casing to be mounted in the wall of an enclosure. Within the casing there is mounted a refrigerating system having a condenser and an evaporator each positioned in separate compartments formed within the casing. Each compartment is divided by means including a shroud and a fan into separate sections and each of these sections contains a pair of opposed openings, one leading to the enclosure and the other facing the outdoors. A closure means is provided in each section which is movable between each of the openings in each section to control the direction and amount of air flowing through each of the openings to provide a multiplicity of different conditioning effects.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. '1 is a plan view in schematic form showing the air conditioner arrangement of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevation view taken along line 22 of Fig. 1 showing the track and flexible air valve arrangement within a single section;

, Fig. 3 is a diagrammatical view of the air conditioner unit of Fig. 1 illustrating the arrangement of the air valves forheating air circulated through the unit from the enclosure; Fig.

4 is a diagrammatical view of the air conditioner'of I Fig. 1 illustrating the air valve arrangement for exhausting air from the enclosure;

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatical view of the air conditioner illustrating the air valve arrangement for venting fresh air from the outside into the enclosure;

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatical view illustrating the air valves arrangement for providing dehumidification of air within the enclosure;

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatical view illustrating the air valve arrangement for cooling air from the enclosure as well as for introducing a metered amount of fresh air from the outside and for exhausting a certain amount of air from the enclosure;

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatical view taken along line 8-8 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a diagrammatical view taken along line 9--9 of Fig. 7; and

Fig. 10 is a cross sectional view of the edge of one air valve.

Referring now to Fig. 1 there is shown an air conditioner unit including a casing 2 having the front wall 3 thereof arranged substantially flush with the inner surface of the wall 5 of the enclosure 4. The casing 2 could easily be mounted with the rear wall 6 mounted flush against the outer surface of the enclosure wall with the air conditioning unit extending a short distance into the enclosure or, if the wall were of proper thickness, the casing could be mounted with both the front and rear walls 3 and 6 respectively mounted flush with both surfaces of the enclosure wall. The casing is divided by a barrier 7 into two separate compartments 8 and 9. Within the casing is a refrigeration system including an evaporator 11 and a condenser 12 connected in refrigerant flow relationship with a compressor 13. The evaporator llis disposed in the compartment 8, hereinafter designated the evaporator compartment, and the condenser 12 is disposed in the compartment 9 which is hereinafter designated the condenser compartment. Thus, during operation, the evaporator 11 always removes heat from air within the evaporator compartment 8 while the condenser discharges heat to the air within the condenser compartment 9. J

As may be seen in Fig. 1, the barrier 7 extends substantially transverse to the longitudinal dimension of the rectangular casing 2, or transverse to the wall, thereby dividing the casing into two compartments with each of the compartments having sides facing respectively the enclosure and the outdoors. The evaporator compartment 8 is substantially divided into inlet and outlet sections 14 and 16 respectively by a fan shroud 17 and fan 18 which also provides air circulation through the evaporator compartment 8. Air is circulated by the fan 18 from the evaporator compartment inlet section 14, to the evaporator compartment outlet section 16. Similarly, the condenser compartment 9 is substantially divided by the shroud 19 and the condenser fan 21 into condenser compartment inlet and outlet sections 22 and 23. The condenser fan 21 is arranged to circulate air through the condenser compartment in the direction from the condenser compartment inlet section 22 to the outlet section 23. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, both of the fans 18 and 21 are rotated by a shaft 24 driven by the motor 26 mounted within the condenser compartment 9 or, more specifically, within the outlet section 23 of the condenser compartment.

As is clearly evident from Fig. l, the casing 2 is divided into four sections by the barrier 7 and the two fan shrouds 17 and 19 in combination with their respective fans 18 and 21. It can be seen that all of the heat producing members of the unit are located in the condenser com partment 9. More specifically, the compressor 13, condenser 12, and fan motor 26 are all mounted so that the 'heat produced by these members 'is transferred *toair 3 circulated within the Condenser compartment 9. This arrangement is advantageous because it permits full utilization of the heating and cooling capacities of the components within the separate compartments.

Referring to Fig. 1,'it can be seen that all of the inlet and outlet sections are arranged side-by-side within the rectangular shaped casing 2 with each section having a pair of openings therein; one facing the outdoors, and a second opening facing the enclosure whereby air can be both introduced and discharged from the two separate compartments in two diflerent directions. More specifically, the evaporator compartment inlet section 14 contains openings 27 and 28 and the outlet section 16 is provided with openings 29 and 31. Similarly, condenser compartment inlet section 22 is provided with openings 32 and 33 and the outlet section 23 is provided with openings 34 and 36. As will be hereinafter explained, each pair of openings within the separate sections is provided with a closure means for independently and selectively controlling the amount of air flow and the direction of air flow into the sections and, thereby, through the two separate compartments.

As may be seen in Figs. 1 and 2, each section is pro vided with a flexible air valve or damper which is fitted into track members 37 extending completely around the upper portion of the casing. Each of the valves is made of a thin sheet of flexible material such as a steel or aluminum or some material which will not lose its resiliency due to the changes in temperature ordinarily encountered in heating and cooling apparatus of this type. The flexible valves are designated generally by the reference numeral 38 and are specifically designated 38a, 38b, 33c and 38d with respect to the four separate sections in which they are mounted, as viewed from left to right in Fig. 1. As may be seen in Fig. 2, the tracks 37 extend downwardly into the casing or opposite sides ofthe sections adacent the edges of the openings thereof. In order to retain the'fiexible air valves, the curved tracks or members 37 are formed of a substantially U shaped or channel shaped cross section. These members support the edges of the valves which are inserted into the groove or opening in the U-shaped track. The flexible valves 38 slide around the track members into position to restrict the air flowing through one or the other of the openings in each section. In order to provide a good seal and prevent leakage of air through the juncture between the flexible valves and the track members, each of the valves 38 has attached to its'opposite edges a resilient material 39, such as a sponge rubber strip or a strip of heavy felt material. This may be more clearly seen in Fig. 10. The material 39 provides an reflective seal between the track members and the air valves.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, each of the air valves are movable independently one from the other. This movement is provided by a plurality of independently operated driving means which move each of the flexible valves along the track members to any desired position according to the particular conditioning effect desired within the enclosure. More specifically, there is associated with each of the air valves a small reversible capacitor run motor 41 for driving, in either direction through appropriate gearing, a drive sprocket 42 having a plurality of teeth thereon which engage with perforations 43 formed in the edge portions of the individual air valves 38. The drive sprockets 42 drive the air valves 38 somewhat in the same manner as motion picture film is-driven through a projector by the sprockets engaging the perforations in the outer edges of film. To obtain a great variety of conditioning effects the driving arrangement is controllable to such an extent that the air valves .38may be stopped in their movement along the track members .37 at any position between a fully closed position on one .side of the section and 'fully closed position on the otherside of the section. Thlspermits a partial flow of air into or out of the sections in either direction according to the particular desires of the operator.

As may be more fully seen in Fig. 2, in the area adjacent the motor 41 and sprocket 42 the curved track member 37 has its underside, or one of the legs of the U-shaped section, broken away to permit the insertion of the drive sprocket 42 for engaging the edge of the flexible air valve. In a tested embodiment of the invention only one drive sprocket 42 was used to drive each of the flexible air batfles and this worked satisfactorily. However, in order to relieve the stress on the driven edge portions of the flexible valve members 38 the shafts 44 are shown extended across the top of each section and these drive a second sprocket (not shown, but identical to sprocket 42) on the opposite sides of each of the sections thereby supplying a driving force to the opposite edges of the flexible valves 38. This arrangement insures that the valves run true within the channel shaped track members 37 and do not bind therein. This, in turn, reduces the amount of wear on the resilient material on the edges of the air valves 38.

Although, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, the air valves 38 are motor driven or power operated, obviously they could be manually movable, by substituting a gear and crank arrangement (not shown) for the drive motor with the operating crank extending outwardly through the front face ofthe unit. However, the most desirable arrangement is to have the air baffles powered upon actuation of a drive motor, such as the motors illustrated in the present embodiment of the invention.

With the air valves 38a, 38b, 38c, and 38d arranged in the positions shown in Fig. l, the air flow through the conditioner is such as tocool the air circulated from enclosure 4. That is, with the air valves 38c and 38d closing the openings 29 and 27 respectively, air from within the enclosure is drawn into the evaporator compartment -8 through the opening 28 where it is passed through the evaporator 11 and cooled. The air then flows from the evaporator inlet compartment 14 to the evaporator discharge compartment 16 and is discharged into the room through the opening 31 in the discharge compartment 16. In the condenser compartment 9, the air valves 38a and 38b are arranged to close the openings 33 and 36 respectively to the sections 22 and 23 and, with the valves in this position, air from the outside is drawn into the condenser compartment inlet section 22 through the opening 32. This outside air is then forced over the condenser 12, removing heat from the condenser, and then passes through the scroll 19 intothe condenser outlet compartment 23. It is then discharged to the outdoors through the opening 34.

The versatility .of air valve arrangement of the present invention can well be realized by reference to the Figs. 3 through 9. With the air valves arranged as shown in Fig. 3 the unit provides a souce of heat for air within the enclosure. During this arrangement, room air is circulated through the condenser compartment 9 where it is'heated prior to its discharge back into the enclosure, while outside air is brought into the evaporator compartment where the air gives up its heat and is discharged back into the outside atmosphere.

In the arrangement of Fig. 4, air is drawn from the enclousre into both the condenser and the evaporator compartment inlet sections 23 and 16, respectively, and is discharged to the outdoors through both the condenser and evaporator compartment outlet sections 22 and '14 respectively. With the dampers or air bafllcs in this arrangement, both of the fans are utilized to exhaust air through the unit to the outdoors. In Fig. 5 there is shown an arrangement, which is the reverse of that shown in Fig. 4, and which provides ventilation from the outside into the enclosure. That is, outside air is drawn into both vthecondenser and evaporator inlet compartments22 and 14, respectively, and discharged into the enclosure from the condenser and evaporator outlet sections 23 and 16, respectively.

During the heating cycle, illustrated in Fig. 3, if the outdoor temperature falls to a point where condensate forming on the evaporator 11 becomes frozen the heating efficiency of the unit is greatly impaired by the restricted air flow through the evaporator. Upon moving the air valves 38c and 38d to the position shown in Fig. 6, defrosting of the evaporator is obtained by passing warm enclosure air over the evaporator. Movement of the air valves to the position of Fig. 6 can be effected automatically by energizing the motors to drive these valves to the position of Fig. 6 according to signals received from a pressure responsive device (not shown) disposed 'in a position to sense the decreased air pressure in the section 14 due to the restricted flow of air through the evaporator 11, or any other means for sensing frost conditions may be used to automatically energize the motors to move the valves to the defrost position. An auxiliary heater (not shown) may also be energized at this time to supplyheat to the enclosure while the evaporator is defrosting. 'Also, when the unit is operating in the manner illustrated in Fig. 6, water is removed from the air as it flows through the evaporator compartment and this air is cooled while the air flowing through the condenser compartment is heated. The overall effect is to reduce the amount of moisture in the air within the enclosure.- Thus, the air conditioning unit becomes a dehumidifier when operated with the valves arranged as in Fig. 6.

Various modifications of the arrangements shown in Figs. 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are made by moving some of the air valves to a posititon in which they partially open both openings leading to the particular section thereby permitting the flow of air into the section from both the outdoors and from within the enclosure. For example, referring to Fig. 7, the air valves 38a and 38d have-been moved such that they are positioned to permit air flow into the evaporator and condenser inlet sections simultaneously from both the outdoors and the enclosure. With this arrangment, air flowing into the inlet sections 14 from both the outdoors and the enclosure is mixed and cooled in the evaporatorcompartment 8 and this mixed air is then discharged into the enclosure. By positioning the air valve 38a to partially open both of the inlets to the condenser compartment inlet section 22, air is drawn into the condenser compartment 9 from both the outdoors and the enclosure via the condenser compartment inlet section 22 to cool the condenser and is then discharged to the outdoors through the outlet section 23. In this manner, the air from within the enclosure is continually replaced with fresh outdoor air and stale air is continually removed from the enclosure and discharged to the outdoors. The position of the air valves in the evaporator compartment inlet section 14 can be best seen in Fig. 8 which shows the valve 38d arranged around its track so that the opening 28 to the indoors is only slightly restricted and the opening 27 to the outdoors is almost fully restricted. In Fig. 9, the air valve 38a is arranged in the condenser inlet section 22 to permit a fairly large volume of outdoor air into the section and also to permit a small amount of enclosure air to be drawn into the section. Obviously, the air valves can be moved to any position to permit almost complete quantitative control of the makeup and discharge air for the particular conditioning effect desired.

It should be noted that, by having all of the openings leading into the various sections of the conditioner in the vertical faces of the rectangular casing 2, it is possible to obtain all of these conditioning effects with the conditioner while still permitting the unit to be flush mounted with either the inside or the outdoor walls of the enclosure. That is, with none of the openings in the ends, bottom, or top portions of the conditioner it is possible to obtain all of these conditioning effects while still permitting the unit to be flush mounted.

As a further aspect of the present invention, it should be noted that the evaporator and the condenser are arranged in circular fashion within their respective compartments. While the circular heat exchanger is presently the preferred one for the coils, other configurations are possible. However, this configuration is particularly desirable because the openings leading to the particular sections are arranged on opposite sides of the sections and the air flows into the sections from opposite directions. That is, by this heat exchanger configuration it is possible to more efiiciently take advantage of all of the space within each of the inletsections and to utilize the capacity of the heat exchangers to its fullest extent regardless of the direction of air flow. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention the cylindrically formed heat exchangers are arranged slightly outwardly from the projected periphery of the inlet to the scrolls and air flows through the heat exchangers around substantially the entire 360 of the heat exchanger. Y

By the present invention there has been provided a selfcontained air conditioning unit having an air flow pattern and controlling means therefor of great versatility to provide a variety of different conditioning effects for the air within the enclosure. Moreover, the arrangement is such as to take advantage of the full capacity of the heat exchanger members and the heat producing membersof the unit while still permitting the unit to be flush mounted with respect to eithersurface of the enclosure wall.

While in accordance with the Patent Statutes there has been described what at present is considered to be the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention and it is, therefore, the aim of the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. I

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is: I

1. An air conditioning unit for heating and coolingan enclosure comprising a casing adapted to be positioned in a wall of said enclosure with one side of said casing facing the outdoors and another side of said casing facing said enclosure, a barrier dividing said casing into an evaporator compartment and a condenser compartment,

a refrigerating system including a condenser in said condenser compartment and an evaporator in said evaporator compartment, a fan shroud in each of said compartments substantially dividing said compartment into inlet and outlet sections, a fan within each of said shrouds for circulating air through each of said compartments in a direction from said inlet section to said outlet section, a motor mounted in said barrier having a shaft extending into each of said compartments for driving said fans, each of said sections in each compartment containing a pair of openings therein, one opening in each section being in said outdoor facing side of said casing and the other opening in each section being in said enclosure facing side of said casing, a flexible air damper associated with each pair of openings in each of said sections, means for moving each of said flexible air dampers to a plurality of positions between a first position wherein it opens said one opening and fully closes said other opening to a final position wherein it opens said other opening and fully closes said one opening, said moving means including curved track members arranged adjacent the edges of said openings and extending around the upper portion of said casing, said curved track members having grooves therein into which the edges of said flexible air dampers are inserted and drive means for moving said flexible air dampers around said curved track members between said first and final positions whereby air from said enclosure and from the outdoors may be selectively admitted into said inlet sections of either of said compartments and whereby air from said unit is selectively discharged to the outdoors or into the em closure from said outlet sections of either of said compartments.

2. An air conditioning unit for heating and cooling an enclosure comprising a casing adapted to be positioned in a wall of said enclosure with one side of said casing facing the outdoors and the opposite side of said casing facing said enclosure, a barrier extending substantially normal to Said outdoor and enclosure facing sides of said casing and dividing said casing into an evaporator compartment and a condenser compartment, a refrigcrating system including a condenser in said condenser compartment and an evaporator insaid evaporator compartment, a fan shroud in each of said compartments extending substantially normal to said outdoor and enclosure facing sides of said casing and substantially dividing each of said compartments into inlet and outlet sec- .tions, each of said sections containing a pair of openings,

one opening in each section in said outdoor facing side of said casing and the other opening in each section in said enclosure facing side of said casing, a motor mounted in said barrier having a shaft extending substantially normal to said barrier into each of said outlet sections of said respective compartments, fans mounted on the ends of said shaft and arranged within said shrouds dividing said compartments into said inlet and outlet sections for circulating air streams through each of said compartments in a direction from said inlet sections to said outlet sections, said heat exchangers in said respective compartment arranged within said inlet sections of said compartments and formed in cylindrical fashion with the axis of said cylindrical heat exchangers arranged substantially normal to the axis of said motor shaft and with the inner periphery of said cylindrical heat exchangers arranged outwardly from the projected perimeter of the openings in said fan shrouds, and closure means associated with each pair of openings in each section, said closure means being independently operable to a plurality of positions between a first position wherein said closure means opens said one opening and fully closes said other opening to a final position wherein said closure means fully closes said one opening and opens said other opening whereby the direction and quantity of air entering each of said inlet sections is selectively controlled and the direction and quantity of air discharged from each of said outlet sections is selectively controlled.

3. An air conditioning unit for heating and cooling ,an enclosure comprising a casing adapted to be positioned in a wall of said enclosure with one side of said casing facing the outdoors and the opposite side of said casing facing said enclosure, a barrier extending substantially normal to said outdoor and enclosure facing sides of said casing and dividing said casing into an evaporator compartment and a condenser compartment, a refrigerating system including a condenser in said codenser compartment and an evaporator in said evaporatorcompartment, a fan shroud in each of said compartments substantially dividing said compartment into inlet and outlet sections, each of said sections containing a pair of openings, one opening of each section being disposed in said outdoor facing side of said casing and the other opening of each section being disposed on the opposite side of said section in said enclosure facingside of said casing, a fan arranged within each of said shrouds for circulating air through each of said compartments in a direction from said inlet section to said outlet section, :channel shaped guide track means extending downwardly adjacent the vertical edges of said openings in each scotion and extending around the upper portion of said casing between said pair of openings, flexible air valves-in each of said sections, each of said flexible valves having the opposite edges thereof arranged to slide around said guide track members between a first position wherein said air valve opens said one opening and fully .closcs said other opening to a final position wherein said air valve opens said other opening and fully closes said one opening, means for moving each of said air valves around said guide track means including a plurality of perforations along at least one edge of said air valve, atdrive sprocket having teeth arranged to mate with said perforations on the edges of said air valve, and a reversible motor connected in driving relationship with said drive sprocket whereby said flexible air valve is selectively moved to an infinite number of positions for controlling the direction and quantity of air admitted to or discharged from the respective inlet or outlet section.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,391,151 Gibson Dec. 18, 1945

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