A roof-mounted unit for a roof-mounted air conditioner and a roof-mounted air conditioner

Abstract

A roof-mounted unit for a roof-mounted air conditioner, wherein the roof-mounted unit is arranged on an exterior wall surface of a roof, characterized in that the roof-mounted unit comprises a top cover and a base plate assembly (1), wherein the base plate assembly (1) comprises a base plate (2) and a cover element (3), and when the top cover is attached to the base plate assembly (1) and the roof-mounted unit is arranged on the roof, the cover element (3) covers at least a portion of the surface of the base plate (2) that is exposed outside the top cover and the roof, wherein the base plate (2) is provided with a snap-in fastener (21) extending outwards from a base of the base plate (2), and wherein the cover element (3) has a bottom provided with edges (31), wherein the snap-in fastener (21) interacts with the edges (31) to secure the base plate (2) and the cover element (3).and wherein the underside of the cover element (3) is provided with a pull cord (32, 33) extending between the edges (31), and wherein the base plate (2) is provided with a recess (22, 23) for receiving the pull cord (32, 33).

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of roof-mounted air conditioning systems, in particular to a roof-mounted unit for a roof-mounted air conditioning system and a roof-mounted air conditioning system with such a roof-mounted unit.

[0002] The rooftop air conditioner generally consists of a rooftop unit, an air distribution box, and a plurality of connecting air ducts. Specifically, the rooftop unit is mounted on a roof, such as an outer wall surface of a vehicle roof, via a base plate thereof. The base plate of the rooftop unit is provided with an air outlet; and the air distribution box with an air inlet supply duct is mounted on an inner wall surface of the roof. The air outlet of the base plate communicates with the air inlet supply duct of the air distribution box via an opening in the roof by means of the plurality of connecting air ducts. In the rooftop air conditioner, the weight of the rooftop unit, which is mounted on the outer wall of the roof, is very important for installation.Therefore, replacing a current metal or injection-molded base plate with a lighter foam base plate is advantageous for installation. However, according to detailed safety regulations, the base plate must pass a ball pressure test, and current foam materials cannot meet the requirements for passing the ball pressure test.

[0003] A roof air conditioning unit for buses comprising a frame made of metallic material, a condenser section mounted on the frame and at least one condenser with a fan associated therewith for sucking air through the condenser and discharging the air to the outside is disclosed in DE 10 2015 100 144 A1.

[0004] An air conditioning unit with a cooling circuit comprising components such as a compressor for compressing a refrigerant, a condenser, and an evaporator is disclosed in DE 10 2004 032 920 A1. At least some of the components of the cooling circuit are held in their functional position by a common support in the form of housing shells. The housing shells are made of a foamed plastic material, e.g., expanded polypropylene (EPP).

[0005] Since current roof-mounted air conditioners suffer from the above-mentioned deficiency, a first aspect of the present invention provides a novel roof-mounted unit for a roof-mounted air conditioner. The roof-mounted unit aims to solve the above-mentioned technical problem in the related art, at least to some extent.

[0006] In order to achieve the above object, in the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a roof-mounted unit for a roof-mounted air conditioner, the roof-mounted unit being arranged on an outer wall surface of a roof, characterized in that the roof-mounted unit comprises an upper cover and a base plate assembly, the base plate assembly comprising a base plate and a cover member, and when the upper cover is mounted on the base plate assembly and the roof-mounted unit is arranged on the roof, the cover member covers at least a part of the surface of the base plate exposed outside the upper cover and the roof.The base plate is provided with a snap fastener extending outward from a base of the base plate, and the cover element has a bottom provided with edges, the snap fastener cooperating with the edges to secure the base plate and the cover element. The underside of the cover element is provided with a drawstring extending between the edges, and the base plate is provided with a recess for receiving the drawstring.

[0007] Since the rooftop unit for a rooftop air conditioner according to the first aspect of the present invention uses a novel base plate assembly, that is, the combination of the base plate and the cover member covered thereon, the base plate using a non-metallic material such as an EPP foam material can pass a ball pressure test due to the presence of the cover member, thereby achieving the light weight of the base plate to reduce the weight of the rooftop unit while complying with the detailed rules and regulations of safety, which is advantageous for the installation of the rooftop unit on the roof.

[0008] According to one aspect of the present invention, two or more tension bands are provided.

[0009] According to one aspect of the present invention, the cover element has a thickness of 1.5 mm to 3 mm.

[0010] According to one aspect of the present invention, the slip closure has a depth of 4 mm to 10 mm.

[0011] According to one aspect of the present invention, the depth of the slip closure is preferably 6 mm.

[0012] According to one aspect of the present invention, the base plate is an EPP base plate.

[0013] According to one aspect of the present invention, the cover element is a plastic cover element or a metal cover element.

[0014] According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a roof-mounted air conditioner which is a roof-mounted air conditioner for a vehicle and comprises the roof-mounted unit according to the first aspect of the present invention.

[0015] The present invention will be described in more detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. In the accompanying drawings: Fig. 1 is an exploded view of a base plate assembly of a roof attachment unit according to a first aspect of the present invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged schematic representation of a partial cross-section in which a snap fastener of a base plate cooperates with the edges of a cover element to secure the base plate and the cover element; Fig. 3 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view in which a tension band of the cover element is accommodated and fastened in a recess of the base plate; and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the base plate assembly of the roof attachment element according to the first aspect of the present invention.

[0016] The embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below, and examples of the embodiments are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like or similar reference numerals represent like or similar elements or elements having like or similar functions. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary and are intended to illustrate the present invention, but are not to be construed as limiting the present invention.

[0017] A roof-mounted unit for a roof-mounted air conditioner according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0018] Fig. 1 shows an exploded view of an exemplary embodiment of a base plate assembly 1 of the roof attachment element according to the present invention. The base plate assembly 1 comprises a base plate 2 and a cover element 3. The underside of the cover element 3 is provided with edges 31 extending toward the inside of the cover element 3, and the edges 31 are configured to cooperate with an inverted snap-in fastener 21 extending outwardly from the base of the base plate 2 so that they can be fastened together to form the base plate assembly 1 according to the present invention.

[0019] As in Fig. 2, the depth of the inverted slip-on fastener 21 is greater than the thickness of the cover member 3, and the length of the bottom surface of the slip-on fastener 21 is greater than the width distance between the edges 31, e.g., a similar inverted T-shape as shown in the figures. When the base plate 2 and the cover member 3 are assembled, the slip-on fastener 21 of the base plate protrudes from a gap between the edges 31 due to the elasticity of the material, e.g., EPP foam, of the slip-on fastener, and the edge 31 is secured between the base of the base plate and the slip-on fastener. In this way, the securing between the base plate 2 and the cover member 3 is achieved. Alternatively, the slip-on fastener 21 may have any other structural shape that allows for snapping and securing with the edges 31, such as a trapezoidal shape.

[0020] In some embodiments, the thickness of the cover element 3 can be between 1.5 mm and 3 mm, and the depth of the slip closure 21 can be between 4 mm and 10 mm. In a preferred embodiment, the depth of the slip closure 21 can be 6 mm.

[0021] In addition or alternatively, as in Fig. 1, the cover element 3 may be provided with a first tension band 32 and a second tension band 33 extending between the edges 31. The tension bands 32 and 33 may be used to maintain the structural stability of the cover element 3. For example, during assembly of the base plate 2 and the cover element 3, the tension bands may prevent a side frame of the cover element 3 from deforming laterally outward, thereby ensuring the fit between the base plate 2 and the cover element 3. In addition, the base plate 2, as shown in Fig. 3, is provided with a first recess 22 and a second recess 23 for receiving the drawstrings 32 and 33 (in the case of slip closures, the recesses 22 and 23 are provided in the slip closures), so that the interaction of the drawstrings 32 and 33 and the recesses 22 and 23 can also be used to fix the base plate 2 and the cover element 3.

[0022] However, those skilled in the art should understand that the structure of the interaction of the snap fasteners and the edges, or the structure of the interaction of the drawstrings and the recesses, as described above, can be used alone to secure the base plate 2 and the cover element 3. When the drawstrings are used alone, the drawstrings can extend directly between the side frames of the cover element, and the recesses that receive the drawstrings are provided directly in the base of the base plate. Furthermore, it should also be understood that, although the above figures show two drawstrings by way of example, any other number of drawstrings, such as three or more, can alternatively be used.

[0023] Accordingly, the number of recesses formed on the base plate can also be adapted to the number of tension bands provided on the cover element.

[0024] Fig. 4 shows a perspective view of the base plate assembly of the roof attachment according to the first aspect of the present invention. The cover member covers at least the part of the surface of the base plate that protrudes from the top cover and the roof. The cover member uses a material such as a plastic or metal material, which allows the base plate made of a non-metallic material such as an EPP foam material to pass a ball pressure test, thereby achieving the light weight of the base plate to reduce the weight of the roof attachment unit while complying with the detailed rules and regulations of safety, which is advantageous for the installation of the roof attachment unit on the roof.

[0025] The embodiments shown in the figures above and described above are merely exemplary, and in addition to the above-explained structure of the interaction of the snap fastener and the edges and / or the structure of the interaction of the drawstrings and the recesses, the fastening can also be carried out using an adhesive or screws. In an embodiment in which the fastening is carried out using an adhesive or screws, the cover element 3 can only have side frames, i.e., it does not have the edges and / or the drawstrings in the above embodiments, which means that the cover element only covers the part of the surface of the base plate that protrudes from the top cover and the roof.

[0026] In another embodiment, the underside of the cover element 3 can also be designed to have the same structure as the underside of the base plate 2. In this embodiment, the cover element 3 has high structural stability. This means that the cover element covers not only the part of the surface of the base plate exposed by the top cover and the roof, but also the part of the base plate that is not exposed due to the presence of the roof, i.e., the bottom of the base plate.

[0027] It is understood that the methods for fastening between the base plate and the cover member in each of the above embodiments may be used alone or in combination, which does not exceed the scope specified in the present invention.

[0028] Furthermore, the present invention provides a roof-mounted air conditioner which is a roof-mounted air conditioner for a vehicle and has the roof-mounted unit in any one of the embodiments described above.

[0029] In describing the present invention, it should be understood that the orientations or positional relationships referred to by terms such as "top", "bottom", "inside" and "outside" are based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, which merely serves to simplify the description of the present invention and to simplify the description and does not mean that the devices or elements mentioned necessarily have a particular orientation structure and function, and therefore cannot be construed as a limitation of the present invention.

[0030] Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second" are used for illustrative purposes only and should not be interpreted as indicating relative importance. Thus, the characteristics defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly encompass one or more of the characteristics.

[0031] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described above, it is to be understood that the above embodiments are merely exemplary and should not be construed as limiting the present invention, and that those skilled in the art would have made changes, modifications, substitutions, and variations of the above-described embodiments within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

[1] A roof-mounted unit for a roof-mounted air conditioning system, wherein the roof-mounted unit is arranged on an external wall surface of a roof, characterized bythat the roof attachment unit comprises an upper cover and a base plate assembly (1), wherein the base plate assembly (1) comprises a base plate (2) and a cover element (3), and when the upper cover is mounted on the base plate assembly (1) and the roof attachment unit is arranged on the roof, the cover element (3) covers at least part of the surface of the base plate (2) that is exposed outside the upper cover and the roof, wherein the base plate (2) is provided with a snap fastener (21) extending outwardly from a base of the base plate (2), and that the cover element (3) has a bottom provided with edges (31), wherein the snap fastener (21) cooperates with the edges (31) to secure the base plate (2) and the cover element (3), and wherein the underside of the cover element (3) is provided with a drawstring (32, 33) extending between the edges (31),and that the base plate (2) is provided with a recess (22, 23) for receiving the tension band (32, 33)., [2] The roof attachment unit according to claim 1, characterized by that two or more tension bands (32, 33) are provided. [3] The roof attachment unit according to claim 1, characterized by that the cover element (3) has a thickness of 1.5 mm to 3 mm. [4] The roof attachment unit according to claim 1, characterized by that the snap-in closure (21) has a depth of 4 mm to 10 mm. [5] The roof attachment unit according to claim 4, characterized by that the depth of the snap lock (21) is 6 mm. [6] The roof attachment unit according to claim 1, characterized by that the base plate (2) comprises EPP foam material. [7] The roof attachment unit according to claim 1, characterized by that the cover element (3) is a plastic cover element or a metal cover element. [8] A roof-mounted air conditioner which is a roof-mounted air conditioner for a vehicle and comprises the roof-mounted unit according to any one of the preceding claims.

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