U.S. patent application number 11/379156 was filed with the patent office on 2007-06-14 for air conditioner.
Invention is credited to Jae Oh HAN, Jai Kwon Lee, Jin Yong Mo, Hyun Ho Park.
Application Number | 20070130980 11/379156 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 38130301 |
Filed Date | 2007-06-14 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070130980 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
HAN; Jae Oh ; et
al. |
June 14, 2007 |
Air Conditioner
Abstract
An air conditioner includes a blower case to guide air blown by
a blowing fan to an indoor discharge port. The blower case includes
a discharge guide space to guide discharged air to the indoor
discharge port, and an air distribution member positioned in the
discharge guide space to guide distribution of the discharged air.
The air conditioner has uniform volume and velocity of air
discharged through an indoor discharge port, and suppresses blowing
noise from being generated from the indoor discharge port.
Inventors: |
HAN; Jae Oh; (Yongin-si,
KR) ; Lee; Jai Kwon; (Suwon-si, KR) ; Mo; Jin
Yong; (Anyang-si, KR) ; Park; Hyun Ho; (Seoul,
KR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
STANZIONE & KIM, LLP
919 18TH STREET, N.W.
SUITE 440
WASHINGTON
DC
20006
US
|
Family ID: |
38130301 |
Appl. No.: |
11/379156 |
Filed: |
April 18, 2006 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
62/262 ;
62/419 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F24F 1/0011 20130101;
F24F 1/027 20130101; F24F 1/0022 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
062/262 ;
062/419 |
International
Class: |
F25D 23/12 20060101
F25D023/12; F25D 17/06 20060101 F25D017/06 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Dec 8, 2005 |
KR |
2005-120016 |
Claims
1. An air conditioner, comprising: a blower case to guide air blown
by a blowing fan to an indoor discharge port, the blower case
including: a discharge guide space to guide discharged air to the
indoor discharge port, and an air distribution member positioned in
the discharge guide space to guide distribution of the discharged
air.
2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the blower
case comprises a fan receipt space to receive the blowing fan, and
communicates with the discharge guide space.
3. The air conditioner according to claim 2, wherein the air
distribution member comprises a plurality of air distribution
plates separated from each other, and fixed to an inner surface of
the discharge guide space.
4. The air conditioner according to claim 3, wherein the plurality
of air distribution plates are arranged in parallel with a blowing
direction of air, and integrally formed with the blower case.
5. The air conditioner according to claim 2, further comprising: a
body having a suction port and a discharge port formed at a front
side thereof; and a heat exchanger positioned inside the suction
port, wherein the blower case and the blowing fan are positioned
behind the heat exchanger.
6. The air conditioner according to claim 5, wherein the blowing
fan is a centrifugal fan.
7. A blower case usable with an air conditioner, comprising: a fan
port to contain a fan therein; and a discharge guide space adjacent
to the fan port to receive blown air from the fan within the fan
port, the discharge guide space including air distribution units
spaced apart from each other within the discharge guide space to
evenly distribute the received blown air.
8. A blower case usable with an air conditioner, comprising: a
housing including a fan to intake air from outside through an
indoor heat exchanger; an air discharge region to receive the air
from the fan and to discharge the air back outside; and air
distribution plates distributed at predetermined positions within
the air discharge region to evenly distribute the received air
while being discharged outside.
9. An air conditioner, comprising: a blower case including: a fan
to intake air from outside, an air discharge region to receive the
air from the fan and to discharge the air back outside, and air
distribution plates distributed at predetermined positions within
the air discharge region to evenly distribute the received air
while being discharged outside.
10. The air conditioner of claim 9, further comprising: an indoor
heat exchanger positioned adjacent to an indoor side of the blower
case such that the air being taken in by the fan passes
therethrough; and an indoor discharge port positioned adjacent to
the air discharge region to receive the evenly distributed air from
the air discharge region and to discharge the air back outside.
11. The air conditioner of claim 11, wherein the air distribution
plates are positioned at predetermined angles with respect to each
other.
12. The air conditioner of claim 11, wherein the air distribution
plates are integrally formed with the air discharge region.
13. The air conditioner of claim 11, wherein the air distribution
plates are fixed to the air discharge guide region.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.A.
.sctn.119 of Korean Patent Application No. 2005-0120016, filed on
Dec. 8, 2005 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the
disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its
entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present general inventive concept relates to an air
conditioner and, more particularly, to an air conditioner, designed
to have uniform air volume and velocity across an indoor discharge
port.
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2005-18384 discloses
an air conditioner which comprises an indoor unit and an outdoor
unit provided as an integral component. The air conditioner is
formed at a front side with an indoor suction port through which
indoor air is drawn into a body of the air conditioner, and at a
lateral side of the indoor suction port with an indoor discharge
port through which conditioned air is discharged. The air
conditioner of the disclosure comprises an indoor heat exchanger
inside the indoor suction port to heat-exchange indoor air, an
indoor blowing fan behind the indoor heat exchanger to blow
heat-exchanged air to the indoor discharge port, and a blower case
to guide the air blown by the indoor blowing fan to the indoor
discharge port.
[0006] FIG. 1 illustrates a blower case of the air conditioner as
described above. The blower case 1 comprises a fan receipt space 3
to receive an indoor blowing fan 2, and a discharge guide space 4
to guide discharged air to an indoor discharge port (not shown).
The discharge guide space 4 is communicated with the fan receipt
space 3. The indoor blowing fan 2 received in the fan receipt space
3 is a typical multi-blade type centrifugal fan.
[0007] In such an air conditioner, when the indoor blowing fan 2 is
operated, air flows to the discharge guide space 4 through the
indoor blowing fan 2 after being heat-exchanged through an indoor
heat exchanger (not shown), and is then guided to the indoor
discharge port (not shown) at the front side of the body through
the discharge guide space 4.
[0008] However, since the air circulates in a rotational direction
of the indoor blowing fan 2 while flowing from the fan receipt
space 3 of the blower case 1 to the discharge guide space 4, the
air conditioner has a problem in that the discharged air is
concentrated at a lower side of the discharge guide space 4 (a
lower right side in FIG. 1). In other words, due to a concentration
of the discharged air at the lower right side in the indoor
discharge port caused by circulation of air flow, distribution in
air velocity is not uniform across the indoor discharge port. In
addition, since the air velocity is higher at a lower portion than
at an upper portion of the indoor discharge port, blowing noise can
occur therefrom.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] The present general inventive concept provides an air
conditioner which has uniform volume and air velocity of air
discharged through an indoor discharge port, and which suppresses
blowing noise from being generated from the indoor discharge
port.
[0010] Additional aspects and/or advantages of the present general
inventive concept will be set forth in part in the description
which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description,
or may be learned by practice of the general inventive concept.
[0011] The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the
present general inventive concept are achieved by providing an air
conditioner which includes a blower case to guide air blown by a
blowing fan to an indoor discharge port, wherein the blower case
includes a discharge guide space to guide discharged air to the
indoor discharge port, and an air distribution member positioned in
the discharge guide space to guide distribution of the discharged
air.
[0012] The blower case may include a fan receipt space to receive
the blowing fan and communicates with the discharge guide
space.
[0013] The air distribution member may include a plurality of air
distribution plates separated from each other and fixed to an inner
surface of the discharge guide space.
[0014] The plurality of air distribution plates may be arranged in
parallel with a blowing direction of air, and integrally formed
with the blower case.
[0015] The air conditioner may further include a body having a
suction port and a discharge port formed at a front side thereof,
and a heat exchanger positioned inside the suction port, wherein
the blower case and the blowing fan are positioned behind the heat
exchanger.
[0016] The blowing fan may be a centrifugal fan.
[0017] The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the
present general inventive concept are achieved by providing a
blower case usable with an air conditioner, including a fan port to
contain a fan therein, a discharge guide space adjacent to the fan
port to receive blown air from the fan within the fan port, the
discharge guide space including air distribution units spaced apart
from each other within the discharge guide space to evenly
distribute the received blown air.
[0018] The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the
present general inventive concept are achieved by providing a
blower case usable with an air conditioner, including a housing
including a fan to intake air from outside through an indoor heat
exchanger, an air discharge region to receive the air from the fan
and to discharge the air back outside; and air distribution plates
distributed at predetermined positions within the air discharge
region to evenly distribute the received air while being discharged
outside.
[0019] The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the
present general inventive concept are achieved by providing an air
conditioner, including a blower case including a fan to intake air
from outside, an air discharge region to receive the air from the
fan and to discharge the air back outside, and air distribution
plates distributed at predetermined positions within the air
discharge region to evenly distribute the received air while being
discharged outside.
[0020] The air conditioner may further include an indoor heat
exchanger positioned adjacent to an indoor side of the blower case
such that the air being taken in by the fan passes therethrough;
and an indoor discharge port positioned adjacent to the air
discharge region to receive the evenly distributed air from the air
discharge region and to discharge the air back outside.
[0021] The the air distribution plates may be positioned at
predetermined angles with respect to each other.
[0022] The air distribution plates are integrally formed with the
air discharge region.
[0023] The air distribution plates are fixed to the air discharge
guide region.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0024] These and/or other aspects and advantages of the present
inventive concept will become apparent and more readily appreciated
from the following description of the embodiments, taken in
conjunction with the accompanying drawings, of which:
[0025] FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a blowing fan of a
conventional air conditioner;
[0026] FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an air conditioner
in accordance with an embodiment of the present general inventive
concept;
[0027] FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the
inner configuration of the air conditioner; and
[0028] FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a blowing fan of
the air conditioner.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0029] Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of
the present general inventive concept, examples of which are
illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The embodiments are
described below to explain the present general inventive concept by
referring to the figures.
[0030] As illustrated in FIG. 2, an air conditioner according to
the present embodiment includes a body 10 having a rectangular
shape. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the body 10 includes an upper case
11, which includes an upper side and opposite sides integrally
formed with the upper side, a bottom panel 12, a front panel 13,
and a rear panel (not shown). When installing the body 10 into a
building, the front panel 13 is positioned at an indoor side, while
the rear panel is positioned at an outdoor side.
[0031] The front panel 13 of the indoor side is formed with an
indoor suction port 14 and an indoor discharge port 15 to provide
suction and discharge of indoor air, and the upper case of the
outdoor side is formed at the upper and opposite sides with an
outdoor suction port 16 to provide suction of outdoor air. Although
not illustrates in the drawings, the rear panel is formed with an
outdoor air discharge port.
[0032] An indoor heat exchanger 17 to provide heat exchange of
indoor air is positioned inside the indoor suction port 14 of the
front panel 13, and an indoor blowing fan 18 to provide blowing of
indoor air is positioned behind the indoor heat exchanger 17. The
air conditioner further includes a cover 19 which is positioned
behind the indoor heat exchanger 17 and has an air suction port 19a
to guide air passing through the indoor heat exchanger 17 to an
inflow side of the indoor blowing fan 18, and a blower case 20
which is positioned behind the cover 19 to receive the indoor
blowing fan 18 while guiding air blown by the indoor blowing fan 18
to the indoor discharge port 15.
[0033] In addition, a control box 30 in which various electronic
components are received is positioned near the indoor discharge
port 15, and an adjusting handle 31 is positioned below the indoor
discharge port 15 of the front panel 13 and connected with the
control box 30. A partition plate 32 is positioned behind the
blower case 20 to divide an inner space of the body 10 into an
indoor side space and an outdoor side space.
[0034] The outdoor side space of the body 10 (behind the partition
plate) is provided with an outdoor heat exchanger 33 and an outdoor
blowing fan 34 to provide heat exchange and circulation of outdoor
air. The air conditioner further includes a motor 35 to drive the
indoor blowing fan 18 and the outdoor blowing fan 34, and a
compressor 36 to compress a circulating refrigerant, which are
positioned behind the partition plate 32.
[0035] The blower case 20 surrounding the indoor blowing fan 18 has
a parallelepiped-box shape, the front side of which is open, as
illustrated in FIG. 4. The blower case 20 is provided with a fan
receipt space 21 to receive the indoor blowing fan 18, and a
discharge guide space 22 to guide discharged air to the indoor
discharge port 15. The indoor blowing fan 18 is a multi-blade type
centrifugal fan, and the fan receipt space 21 is configured to
surround an outer periphery of the indoor blowing fan 18. In
addition, the fan receipt space 21 communicates with the discharge
guide space 22 such that air flows to the discharge guide space 22
via operation of the indoor blowing fan 18. The discharge guide
space 22 has a round inner surface in order to easily guide air
blown from the indoor blowing fan 18 to the indoor discharge port
15 at the front side.
[0036] The blower case 20 further includes an air distribution
member to guide discharged air such that the discharged air can be
uniformly distributed in an overall region of the indoor discharge
port 15. The air distribution member can include a plurality of air
distribution plates 23 separated from each other and fixed to an
inner surface of the discharge guide member 22. The air
distribution plates can be arranged parallel to a blowing direction
of air so as to guide distribution of discharged air, and can be
integrally formed with the blower case 20 during a process of
forming the blower case 20.
[0037] Operation of the air conditioner will be described
below.
[0038] When the driving motor 35 is driven, the indoor blowing fan
18 and the outdoor blowing fan 34 rotate. Then, indoor air is drawn
into the body 10 through the indoor suction port 14 of the front
panel 13 via operation of the indoor blowing fan 18, and is
heat-exchanged through the indoor heat exchanger 17. The
heat-exchanged indoor air is discharged through the indoor
discharge port 15 via the fan receipt space 21 and the discharge
guide space 22. At this time, as illustrated in FIG. 4, since air
flow is guided by the plural air distribution plates 23 during
blowing of the air from the fan receipt space 21 to the discharge
guide space 22, the air is discharged in a uniformly distributed
state across an overall area of the indoor discharge port 15. In
other words, since the air is not only distributed but also
restricted in circulation by the air distribution plates 23, the
volume and velocity of discharged air are uniform across the
overall area of the indoor discharge port 15. Accordingly, the air
conditioner of the present inventive concept can reduce blowing
noise caused by the discharged air, since it is possible to
maintain the volume of the discharged air constant while preventing
the discharged air from being concentrated at a specific position
of the indoor discharge port 15.
[0039] Outdoor air is drawn into the body 10 through the outdoor
suction port 16 via operation of the outdoor blowing fan 34, and is
then heat-exchanged through the outdoor heat exchanger 33. The
heat-exchanged outdoor air is discharged through an outdoor
discharge port at the rear side of the body 10.
[0040] As apparent from the above description, with the air
conditioner of the present inventive concept, discharged air is
uniformly distributed by means of the air dispensing plates
positioned in the discharge guide space of the blower case, and
thus prevented from being concentrated at a specific position in
the indoor discharge port, so that air is discharged with uniform
air volume and velocity through the indoor discharge port.
[0041] In addition, with the air conditioner of the present
inventive concept, since discharged air is uniformly distributed
across the overall area of the indoor discharge port, it is
possible to reduce deviations in air velocity across the overall
area of the indoor discharge port (i.e., prevent the air velocity
from being increased at a specific position) while maintaining the
volume of the discharged air constant, thereby reducing blowing
noise.
[0042] Although a few embodiments of the present general inventive
concept have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by
those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these
embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the
general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the
appended claims and their equivalents.
* * * * *