Filter unit for air conditioner

Abstract

To provide a filter unit which can reduce inflow of contaminated particles into an air conditioner.SOLUTION: A filter unit for an air conditioner is attached to an air conditioner including: an air-conditioner-side inlet for sucking air into the air conditioner from bottom upward; and an air-conditioner-side outlet for guiding the air sucked from the air-conditioner-side inlet in a horizontal direction which is substantially perpendicular to a vertical direction, conditioning the air, and blowing the air from a front of the air conditioner. The filter unit includes: a casing having a filter-side inlet for sucking air in the horizontal direction, and a filter-side outlet connected to the air-conditioner-side inlet and allowing the air-conditioner-side outlet to suck the air sucked from the filer-side inlet; and an air filter attached to the filter-side inlet for collecting particles.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a filter unit used in an air conditioner. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, Patent Documents 1 to 3 disclose air conditioners having a filter unit containing a filter attached to the air inlet on the bottom surface thereof for the purpose of dust collection. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a filter chamber 51 that houses a high-performance filter 61 below a blower 13 and has an air inlet grill 37 on its underside. Patent Document 2 discloses a filter chamber that can be attached to the air inlet grill 37 of an air conditioner 1. Patent Document 3 discloses an air cleaning filter 11 that is attached to the air inlet 1 on the bottom surface of an air conditioner Z. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-101497 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-164215 [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-090593 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The filter units containing the filters disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3 above have a structure in which air is drawn in from below to above, so there was a problem in that airborne particles that had passed through the filter of the filter unit would pass through a normal filter or a high-performance filter installed at the air intake port of the air conditioner and be drawn into the inside of the air conditioner, contaminating the heat exchanger and fan.

[0005] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a filter unit for an air conditioner that can reduce the inflow of contaminated particles into the air conditioner. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the filter unit for an air conditioner of the present invention is a filter unit that is attached to an air conditioner and has an air conditioner-side intake port that draws air from below into the air conditioner from above, and an air conditioner-side outlet that guides the air drawn in from the air conditioner-side intake port in a horizontal direction that is approximately perpendicular to the up-and-down direction, harmonizes it, and blows it out from the front of the air conditioner, and is equipped with a casing that has a filter-side intake port that draws in the air in the horizontal direction, and a filter-side outlet that is connected to the air conditioner-side intake port and draws the air drawn in from the filter-side intake port into the air conditioner-side intake port, and an air filter that is attached to the filter-side intake port and collects particles. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] The filter unit for an air conditioner according to the present invention can reduce the inflow of contaminated particles into the inside of the air conditioner. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a perspective view showing a state in which a filter unit according to an embodiment of the present invention is connected to an air conditioner. [Figure 2] 1 is a side view showing a state in which a filter unit according to an embodiment of the present invention is connected to an air conditioner. [Figure 3] FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a side view showing a modified example of the filter unit according to the embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a filter unit for an air conditioner according to the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

[0010] The filter unit 10 in this embodiment is attached to an air conditioner 30. The air conditioner 30 has an air conditioner-side inlet 30a and an air conditioner-side outlet 30b. The air conditioner-side inlet 30a draws air from below into the air conditioner 30. The air conditioner-side outlet 30b blows out the conditioned air that has been drawn in through the air conditioner-side inlet 30a and guided in a horizontal direction substantially perpendicular to the up-down direction from the front (forward) of the air conditioner 30.

[0011] The casing of the air conditioner 30 mainly contains, from the air conditioner-side intake port 30a toward the downstream side, a mesh filter 31, a nonwoven fabric filter 32, a control board and power supply unit 33 for controlling temperature, time, etc., a fan 34, a heat exchanger 35, and refrigerant piping 36. The heat exchanger 35 is connected via the refrigerant piping 36 to a compressor, a pressure reducing device, an outdoor heat exchanger, etc. (not shown) located outdoors, and forms a heat cycle engine.

[0012] The filter unit 10 includes a casing 11 and an air filter 12 .

[0013] The casing 11 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape of required dimensions and is made of, for example, galvalume steel plate, plated steel plate (zinc or aluminum alloy), stainless steel, resin, or a combination of these. The casing 11 preferably has a shape that does not obstruct the airflow around the air conditioner-side outlet 30b of the air conditioner 30, and preferably has a length in the front-to-rear direction that is shorter than the length of the air conditioner 30 in the front-to-rear direction, for example.

[0014] The casing 11 has a filter-side intake port 10a and a filter-side outlet port 10b. The filter-side intake port 10a is located on the front and draws in air horizontally. The filter-side outlet port 10b is located on the top and is connected to the air-conditioner-side intake port 30a, allowing air drawn in through the filter-side intake port 10a to be drawn into the air-conditioner-side intake port 30a. The filter-side intake port 10a is divided into three compartments by two partition plates 16. In addition, notches 17 are formed in the vertical center of the partition plates 16 and the left and right side walls 11c of the casing 11. The notches 17 are formed to facilitate the attachment and detachment of the air filter 12 to and from the filter-side intake port 10a.

[0015] The filter-side intake port 10a is preferably provided on the front side of the air conditioner 30. Typically, there are walls, piping, etc. on the sides (left and right) and back side (rear) of the air conditioner 30. For this reason, providing the filter-side intake port 10a on the front side of the filter unit 10 improves the ease of maintenance work, such as replacing the air filter 12 placed there. Note that there are no particular restrictions on the position or size of the intake port for the filter-side intake port 10a, as long as it can draw air horizontally; for example, it may be provided on the side or back side of the filter unit 10.

[0016] Furthermore, the shape of the casing 11 is not limited as long as it has a structure that draws air horizontally and has a filter-side outlet 10b connected to an air conditioner-side inlet 30a that draws air from below to above. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, it is preferable to configure the casing 11 to have a rear wall 11s located on an extension of the linear direction of the air passing through the filter-side inlet 10a, and a bottom surface 11b that is continuous below the rear wall 11s and perpendicular to the vertical direction. This allows the air drawn in from the horizontal direction to change direction vertically within the casing 11, thereby utilizing the inertia of the drawn particles P to collide with the inner wall of the casing 11. Furthermore, the rear wall 11s can serve as a wall against which particles P that have passed through the air filter 12 collide, and the bottom surface 11b can serve as a receptacle for particles P that have collided with the rear wall 11s, etc.

[0017] The casing 11 further has a baffle plate 15. The baffle plate 15 is a flat plate-like member that is placed in the flow path of the air sucked in from the filter-side inlet 10a. The baffle plate 15 prevents some of the particles P that have passed through the air filter 12 from flowing upward and into the air conditioner 30 in front of the air conditioner-side inlet 30a of the air conditioner 30.

[0018] The baffle plate 15 is made of a material strong enough to withstand the air volume inside the filter unit 10, and may be made of, for example, a flat plate-like member made of steel plate or resin. The baffle plate 15 is disposed, for example, at a required height from the bottom surface 11b, and is fixed to the rear wall 11s so as to protrude from the rear wall 11s toward the filter-side suction port 10a. The amount by which the baffle plate 15 protrudes horizontally from the rear wall 11s is set so as not to obstruct the flow of air sucked through the filter-side suction port 10a. The baffle plate 15 may be in the form of a mesh that has been subjected to a punching process or the like.

[0019] The casing 11 further has mounting plates 13 and 14 for mounting the filter unit 10 to the air conditioner-side suction port 30a of the air conditioner 30. The mounting plate 13 is disposed above the filter-side suction port 10a and protrudes upward. The mounting plate 14 is disposed above the rear wall 11s and protrudes upward. The mounting plates 13 and 14 each have bent portions 13a and 14a that are bent in an L-shape toward the inside of the filter-side outlet 10b. The bent portions 13a and 14a each have a required number of screw holes 13b and 14b for fastening with screws.

[0020] The air conditioner 30 has mounting portions corresponding to the mounting plate portions 13, 14 inside the air conditioner-side air inlet 30a, and the filter unit 10 is fixed to the air conditioner 30 via these mounting portions.

[0021] The air filters 12 are attached to the filter-side suction port 10a and capture particles P. The air filters 12 have a rectangular frame and a filter medium housed within the frame. Three air filters 12 are arranged in the left-right direction at the filter-side suction port 10a.

[0022] The filter material is made of glass fiber nonwoven fabric, electret nonwoven fabric, PTFE membrane, or the like. The filter material is folded, for example, in a zigzag shape, spaced apart by a separator or resin ribbon, and housed in a filter frame. The filter frame and filter material are preferably sealed with an airtight agent such as urethane resin. The air filter 12 is a filter having performance according to the required collection capacity, such as a pre-filter or a medium-performance filter. The performance and number of the air filters 12 are not particularly limited and may be determined appropriately depending on the performance required of the filter unit 10.

[0023] In this filter unit 10, air is sucked in horizontally through the filter-side inlet 10a, enters the air conditioner 30 through the filter-side outlet 10b and the air conditioner-side inlet 30a, and is guided horizontally, approximately perpendicular to the up-and-down direction. The air is conditioned through the heat exchanger 35 according to the air conditioning mode (cooling, heating, dehumidification, etc.), and is blown out from the air conditioner-side outlet 30b on the front of the air conditioner 30.

[0024] Particles P that are not captured by the air filter 12 collide with the inner wall of the casing 11 due to inertia and adhere to the inner wall, or fall to the bottom surface 11b of the casing 11. This reduces the number of particles P heading toward the air conditioner-side inlet 30a, and as a result, it is possible to prevent contamination of the fan 34, heat exchanger 35, and other components inside the air conditioner 30.

[0025] The filter unit 10 is also easy to use because it can be installed as an option depending on the filter performance required of the air conditioner 30. When the air filter 12 reaches the end of its life and needs to be replaced, it can be removed by pulling it out from the front, facilitating maintenance. Therefore, the filter unit 10 of this embodiment can effectively reduce the inflow of contaminated particles P into the air conditioner 30.

[0026] Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims. These novel embodiments can be embodied in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included within the scope and spirit of the invention, and are also included in the inventions described in the claims and their equivalents.

[0027] For example, as shown in Fig. 5, the filter-side suction port 10a, which serves as the mounting surface for the air filter 12, may be formed as an inclined surface with its upper portion inclined rearward. That is, the filter-side suction port 10a or the air filter 12 is not limited to a vertical surface extending in the up-down direction. Note that by forming the filter-side suction port 10a as an inclined surface as in this modification, the height of the casing 11 can be reduced. Furthermore, although the example in which the flat baffle plate 15 is provided has been described, the bent portion 14a of the mounting plate portion 14 may function as the baffle plate. Also, the baffle plate 15 may be omitted. [Explanation of symbols]

[0028] 10 Filter unit 10a Filter side suction port 10b Filter side outlet 11 Casing 11b Bottom 11c Left and right side walls 11s back wall 12 Air filter 13, 14 Mounting plate 13a, 14a bent part 13a, 14a Bent section 13a Bend part 13b, 14b screw holes 15 Baffle Plate 16 Partition 17 Notch 30 Air conditioner 30a Air conditioner side intake 30b Air conditioner side outlet 31 Mesh Filter 32 Nonwoven fabric filter 33 Power Supply Unit 34 Fans 35 Heat exchanger 36 Refrigerant piping 37 Intake Grill P particles

Claims

1. A filter unit that can be attached to an air conditioner having an air conditioner-side intake port that draws air from below into the air conditioner, and an air conditioner-side outlet port that guides the air drawn in from the air conditioner-side intake port in a horizontal direction that is approximately perpendicular to the up-down direction, harmonizes the air, and blows it out from the front of the air conditioner, a casing having a filter-side suction port that sucks the air in the horizontal direction, and a filter-side outlet that is connected to the air-conditioner-side suction port and causes the air sucked from the filter-side suction port to be sucked into the air-conditioner-side suction port; and an air filter attached to the filter-side inlet port to capture particles.

2. The filter unit for an air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein the filter-side inlet port draws the air from the front side of the air conditioner.

3. 3. A filter unit for an air conditioner as described in claim 1 or 2, wherein the casing has a side wall located on an extension of the straight-line direction of air passing through the filter-side suction port, and a bottom surface that is continuous with the side wall and perpendicular to the vertical direction.

4. 4. The filter unit for an air conditioner according to claim 3, wherein the casing has a baffle plate on the side wall for preventing a portion of the air sucked through the filter-side suction port from flowing to the filter-side outlet.

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