Indoor unit of air conditioner

Abstract

To provide an indoor unit of an air conditioner which may perform ventilation for air supply / exhaustion and supply / exhaust heat while achieving a small size and low noise.SOLUTION: An indoor unit of a wall hanging air conditioner in the disclosure has: an indoor unit housing; and an air supply / exhaust ventilation unit located in the indoor unit housing. The air supply / exhaust ventilation unit includes a motor, a blower which is driven by the motor, and a heat supply / exhaust material located on a passage of ventilating air for air supply / exhaust. An air supply / exhaust port is provided at a position located on an upper surface of the indoor unit housing and spaced apart from the front surface side to the back surface side of the indoor unit housing.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an indoor unit of an air conditioner. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a ventilation system. This ventilation system is installed on an exterior wall that separates the outdoors from the indoors, and has an air supply and exhaust section in which a duct extends from the outdoors into the indoors, passes through a two-way air supply and exhaust fan, and opens to the indoors. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2022-25716 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The present disclosure provides an indoor unit for an air conditioner that is small and quiet, yet capable of supplying and exhausting ventilation and preventing heat loss during supply and exhaust. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] The indoor unit of the air conditioner in the present disclosure has an indoor unit housing and an air supply and exhaust ventilation unit in the indoor unit housing, the air supply and exhaust ventilation unit is equipped with a motor, a blower driven by the motor, and a heat supply and exhaust material on the air supply and exhaust ventilation flow path, and is equipped with an air supply and exhaust port provided on the top surface of the indoor unit housing and away from the front side. Effect of the Invention

[0006] The indoor unit of the air conditioner disclosed herein has an air intake and exhaust port located in a position on the indoor unit far from the user, i.e., on the top surface of the indoor unit housing and away from the front side. Since the air intake and exhaust port opens in the shadow part of the indoor unit housing as seen by the user, the sound of the air intake and exhaust leaking from the air intake and exhaust port is less likely to reach the user's ears, and as a result, the noise level of the sound of the air intake and exhaust can be reduced. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is an external front view of an indoor unit of an air conditioner according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an indoor unit of an air conditioner according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a supply and exhaust ventilation unit according to a first embodiment; [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a supply and exhaust ventilation unit according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a fan in a supply and exhaust ventilation unit according to a first embodiment; [Figure 6] Conventional technology configuration diagram DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0008] (The knowledge and other information that formed the basis of this disclosure) At the time when the inventors came up with the present disclosure, the supply and exhaust ventilation technology, as shown in FIG. 6, had a duct extending from the outdoors into the room, extended via a bidirectional supply and exhaust fan 101, an supply and exhaust opening 102 opened from the ceiling toward the indoor side, and ventilation was performed while exchanging heat with a heat storage device (e.g., a heat exchange element 100) placed near the supply and exhaust opening 102. In such a configuration, the supply and exhaust port was opened toward the indoor space. For this reason, the blowing sound easily reached the user, resulting in a high noise level. On the other hand, it was possible to install a total heat exchanger in the middle of the supply and exhaust flow path in order to reduce the noise level, but such a solution had the problem of requiring a large housing.

[0009] Under these circumstances, the inventors have come up with the subject matter of the present disclosure in order to solve the problem. Therefore, the present disclosure provides an indoor unit of a wall-mounted air conditioner having a wall-mounted indoor unit housing and an supply and exhaust ventilation unit in the wall-mounted indoor unit housing, wherein the supply and exhaust ventilation unit is equipped with a motor, a blower driven by the motor, and a supply and exhaust heat material on the supply and exhaust ventilation flow path, and an supply and exhaust port opening to the indoor side of the supply and exhaust air flow path is provided on the top surface of the indoor unit housing and away from the front side, thereby providing an indoor unit of a wall-mounted air conditioner that is compact yet reduces noise generated by supply and exhaust air.

[0010] Hereinafter, the embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, more detailed description than necessary may be omitted. For example, detailed description of already well-known matters or duplicate description of substantially the same configuration may be omitted.

[0011] It should be noted that the accompanying drawings and the following description are provided to enable those skilled in the art to fully understand the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the subject matter described in the claims.

[0012] (Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is an external front view of an indoor unit of an air conditioner according to a first embodiment. The air conditioner of the first embodiment is a so-called separate type air conditioner in which an indoor unit and an outdoor unit are connected to each other by refrigerant piping, control wiring, and the like. A heat pump is made up of an indoor unit 1 and an outdoor unit (not shown). The indoor unit 1 contains an indoor heat exchanger, a blower, a control device, etc., while the outdoor unit contains an outdoor heat exchanger, a blower, a compressor, a throttling device, a control device, etc.

[0013] The indoor unit 1 is an indoor unit of a wall-mounted air conditioner that is attached to a wall surface inside a room. The separate type air conditioner can perform cooling, heating and dehumidification operations by using the heat pump. These functions are the same as those of a general air conditioner, and detailed explanations will be omitted.

[0014] The indoor unit of the wall-mounted air conditioner of the first embodiment is equipped with a supply and exhaust ventilation unit 2 that functions independently of or in cooperation with the functions of the ordinary air conditioner.

[0015] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the indoor unit of the air conditioner in embodiment 1, with the supply and exhaust ventilation unit 2 built into the indoor unit of the wall-mounted air conditioner in embodiment 1 being located near the left end when viewed from the front.

[0016] As described above, the supply and exhaust ventilation unit 2 usually functions independently of or in cooperation with the functions of a general air conditioner. Therefore, it is installed in a position that does not impede the functions of the air conditioner described above. In other words, it is placed outside the flow path into which the indoor air flows so as not to impede the flow of indoor air flowing into the indoor heat exchanger 9, which is essential for cooling, heating, and dehumidification operations. Therefore, it is placed to the side of the indoor heat exchanger 9. In this example, it is shown to be placed near the left end of the indoor unit, but it may be placed at the right end or anywhere else.

[0017] FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of the supply and exhaust ventilation unit 2 arranged in the vicinity of one end of the indoor unit housing in the above-described first embodiment.

[0018] 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the supply and exhaust ventilation unit in embodiment 1. The left side of the figure is the front side of the indoor unit of the air conditioner, and the right side is the back side, which is suspended in contact with the wall of a room.

[0019] As shown in the figure, the supply / exhaust ventilation unit 2 contains a storage section 4 inside, and the storage section 4 has a supply / exhaust port 5 and a communication port 8. The air supply / exhaust port 5 is open to the indoor space, and the communication port 8 is connected to an air pipe (not shown), which leads to the outdoor space.

[0020] The inside of the storage section 4 is a space whose flow passage area changes, and the heat supply / exhaust material 3 is stored inside the space.

[0021] The storage section 4 also houses a motor 6 and a ventilation fan 7 for drawing in and discharging air inside the storage section 4.

[0022] The motor 6 can rotate in both directions, and accordingly the ventilation fan 7 also rotates in both directions, thereby reversing the ventilation direction. In the present embodiment 1, an axial flow fan shown in FIG. 5 will be used as an example of the ventilation fan 7.

[0023] For example, when the ventilation fan 7 is driven by the motor 6 so as to generate an air flow from the air supply / exhaust port 5 to the communication port 8, exhaust ventilation is performed to exhaust air from the indoor space to the outdoors. On the other hand, when the ventilation fan 7 is rotated in the opposite direction to that described above and driven by the motor 6 to generate an air flow from the communication port 8 to the air supply / exhaust port 5, supply ventilation is performed to supply outdoor air to the indoor space.

[0024] At this time, heat exchange takes place between the heat supply / exhaust material 3 and the ventilation air. For example, when air in a living space passes through the heat supply / exhaust material 3 by exhaust ventilation during cooling, heat is exchanged between the air in the living space and the heat supply / exhaust material 3, and the heat supply / exhaust material 3 is cooled. After that, when the operation mode is switched to supply ventilation, outdoor air is supplied from the outdoor side to the living space through the supply and exhaust ventilation unit. At this time, the outdoor air is cooled as it passes through the cooled heat supply and exhaust material 3 and enters the living space. In other words, when exhaust ventilation and supply ventilation are alternately performed, heat loss during ventilation can be reduced.

[0025] On the other hand, during heating, when the air in the living space passes through the heat supply / exhaust material 3 by exhaust ventilation, heat is exchanged between the air in the living space and the heat supply / exhaust material 3, and the heat supply / exhaust material 3 is heated. After that, when the operation mode is switched to supply ventilation, outdoor air is supplied from the outdoor side to the living space through the supply and exhaust ventilation unit. At this time, the air is heated as it passes through the heated supply and exhaust heat material 3 and enters the living space. In other words, in ventilation in which exhaust ventilation and supply ventilation are performed alternately, heat loss during ventilation can be reduced.

[0026] As described above, when exhaust ventilation and supply ventilation are alternately performed during both cooling and heating, heat loss can be reduced without the need for a total heat exchanger, making it possible to reduce the size of the device.

[0027] As described above, the inside of the storage section 4 is a space whose flow path area changes, and the heat supply / exhaust material 3 is stored inside this space, so that it can act as a sound absorbing muffler when air passes through the inside of the storage section 4. Note that the inside of the storage section 4 may or may not have both the space whose flow path area changes and the heat supply / exhaust material 3.

[0028] The supply / exhaust ventilation opening arranged in the housing is provided on the top surface of the indoor unit 1 at a position farthest from the front surface. With this configuration, the air supply and exhaust port 5 is hidden behind the indoor unit 1 when viewed from the user, and the housing of the indoor unit 1 hides the noise generated by the air flowing in and out through the air supply and exhaust port 5.

[0029] This makes it difficult for the noise to reach the user's ears, making it possible to achieve quieter ventilation operation. [Industrial Applicability]

[0030] The air conditioner of the present invention is capable of ventilating both intake and exhaust air during cooling and heating operation. It also suppresses heat loss, is quiet, and can be made compact, making it useful as an air conditioner for business use and at home. [Explanation of symbols]

[0031] 1 Indoor unit 2. Supply and exhaust ventilation unit 3 Heat supply and exhaust materials 4 Storage area 5. Air supply and exhaust vent 6 Motor 7. Ventilation fan 8 Contact point 9 Indoor heat exchanger 100 Ventilation System 101 Two-way supply and exhaust fan 102 Air supply and exhaust opening 103 Heat exchange element

Claims

1. An indoor unit of an air conditioner having an indoor unit casing and an air supply / exhaust ventilation unit in the indoor unit casing, wherein the air supply / exhaust ventilation unit is provided with a motor, a blower driven by the motor, and a heat supply / exhaust material in the air supply / exhaust ventilation flow path, and an air supply / exhaust port opening to the indoor side of the air supply / exhaust air flow path is provided on the top surface of the indoor unit casing and away from the front side.

2. 2. The indoor unit of a wall-mounted air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the air supply and exhaust port opening to the indoor side is provided on the top surface of the indoor unit housing and in a position close to the rear side.

3. The indoor unit of a wall-mounted air conditioner according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the supply and exhaust ventilation unit has an expanded flow path section in the flow path of the indoor unit housing, and a heat supply and exhaust material is provided inside the expanded flow path section.

4. The indoor unit of a wall-mounted air conditioner as described in claim 1, characterized in that the motor is a motor capable of rotating in both forward and reverse directions, the blower is an axial fan or a vortex fan, and the rotation of the motor is switched between forward and reverse to switch between supply air and exhaust air.

Images