air conditioner

Abstract

DEPCT67 An air conditioner that inhibits bacteria and viruses in the air and kills airborne germs using light bulbs. Ultraviolet, where the leakage of ultraviolet radiation from outside the air conditioner is inhibited, while Ensure the required air blowing capacity of the air conditioner (1) assembled. The blower fan (23) and heat exchanger (24) in it, and the intake duct (34) that draws in the indoor air. and the blower vent (35) that blows the adjusted air to the underside of the air conditioner (1) is included, attached to Suction port (34), a rod-shaped ultraviolet tube (40) that irradiates ultraviolet light into the air drawn in from the suction port. (34) and the reflector (41) which is constructed in a V-shaped cross-section toward the top by the reflector plate. Light(41b),(41c) blocking ultraviolet radiation below and on both sides of the ultraviolet lamp(40), plate. The reflectors (41b), (41c) of the reflector (41) are provided with multiple blade-like vents (42) that allow Air passes through;

Description

air conditioner

[0001] The present invention relates to an air conditioner that is attached to a ceiling indoors, and more particularly to an air conditioner that sterilizes the air by inactivating bacteria and viruses in the air (inactivating bacteria and viruses in the air).

[0002] A conventional ceiling-mounted air conditioner includes a fan coil unit located inside the ceiling and a ceiling panel unit attached to the ceiling surface below the fan coil unit (see Patent Document 1). The fan coil unit includes an intake chamber, a blower fan, a heat exchanger, and a blower chamber. The blower fan drives air from the intake chamber through the blower fan to the heat exchanger and then to the blower chamber. The ceiling panel unit also includes an intake port on its underside that draws in indoor air and an air outlet that blows air into the room. The indoor air drawn in through the intake port flows into the intake chamber of the fan coil unit, and air supplied from the blower chamber of the fan coil unit is blown into the room through the air outlet.

[0003] Air conditioners typically use internal filters to remove dust and a heat exchanger to regulate temperature, but a separate sterilization device is required to inactivate bacteria and viruses in the air and sterilize the air.

[0004] Air conditioners often use ultraviolet lamps to disinfect the air. However, when using ultraviolet lamps, it is necessary to consider the adverse effects of ultraviolet light on the human body. Therefore, it is necessary to minimize leakage of ultraviolet light from the ultraviolet lamps to the outside (room) through the ceiling panel unit of the air conditioner.

[0005] However, if one wants to completely prevent the leakage of ultraviolet rays, the only option is to block the optical path of the ultraviolet rays, but it is not possible to block the suction port of the ceiling panel unit. Furthermore, if the suction port is made small enough to not have a negative impact on the human body, the amount of air that can be sucked in will decrease, the air conditioner will not be able to obtain the original amount of air intake, the air blowing capacity will decrease, and the necessary air blowing capacity of the air conditioner will not be secured.

[0006] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-225972

[0007] The present invention has been made in consideration of such problems, and its purpose is to prevent ultraviolet light from leaking outside from an air conditioner that uses an ultraviolet lamp to sterilize the air by inactivating bacteria and viruses in the air, while ensuring the air-blowing capacity required of the air conditioner.

[0008] The present invention is an air conditioner that has a blower fan and a heat exchanger inside, and has an intake port and an air outlet on its underside, and is equipped with a reflector that is V-shaped in cross section facing upward and is made up of a rod-shaped ultraviolet lamp adjacent to the intake port that irradiates ultraviolet rays onto the air sucked in from the intake port and a reflector plate that blocks ultraviolet rays below and on both sides of the ultraviolet lamp, and the reflector's reflector plate is equipped with a plurality of bladed grilles that allow air to pass through.

[0009] According to the present invention, it is possible to significantly reduce leakage of ultraviolet rays from the air conditioner to the outside while ensuring the air-blowing capacity of the air conditioner. Specifically, by providing a reflector that blocks ultraviolet rays below and on both sides of the ultraviolet lamp attached adjacent to the air conditioner's intake port, it is possible to significantly reduce leakage of ultraviolet rays from the ultraviolet lamp to the outside (here, the room) from the air conditioner. Furthermore, by forming the reflective surface of the reflector into a V-shaped cross section and providing a bladed grille on the reflective surface, air passes through this bladed grille, which allows the required amount of air flowing through the air conditioner to be maintained without impeding the air flow, thereby ensuring the air-blowing capacity of the air conditioner.

[0010] 5A is a longitudinal cross-sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG. 2, showing the entire air conditioner. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a ceiling panel unit. FIG. 7 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view taken along line B-B in FIG. 2. FIG. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of part A in FIG. 1. FIG. 9A is a side view of a reflector, FIG. 9B is a plan view of the reflector, and FIG. 9C is a front view of the reflector. FIG. 9B is a diagram showing the position where the amount of ultraviolet light was measured in the experiment.

[0011] An embodiment of an air conditioner of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The air conditioner according to this embodiment is a type that is attached to a ceiling indoors and uses an ultraviolet lamp to inactivate bacteria and viruses in the air and sterilize the air, thereby supplying clean air to the room. Note that the indoor space here refers to the interior space of a home, office, hospital, commercial facility, public institution, etc.

[0012] FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG. 2, showing the entire air conditioner; FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a ceiling panel unit; and FIG. 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view taken along line B-B in FIG. 2. Before describing the air conditioner according to this embodiment, we will explain the terms used. In this specification, the "front-rear direction" refers to the longitudinal direction of the ceiling panel unit 3, which will be described later, and is indicated by arrow X in FIG. 2. The "left-right direction" refers to the width direction of the ceiling panel unit 3 and is indicated by arrow Y in FIGS. 2 and 3. The "up-down direction" refers to the height direction of the ceiling panel unit 3 and is indicated by arrow Z in FIGS. 2 and 3. The arrows X, Y, and Z in the other drawings have the same meaning.

[0013] First, we will provide a brief overview of the overall structure of the air conditioner 1. As shown in Figure 1, the air conditioner 1 is composed of a fan coil unit 2 that is placed inside the ceiling of a room, and a ceiling panel unit 3 that is attached to the bottom of the fan coil unit 2 and is placed so that its bottom surface is approximately flush with the ceiling surface C.

[0014] The fan coil unit 2 includes, within its casing, an air intake chamber 22 having an air intake port 21 at the bottom, a blower fan 23 arranged above the air intake chamber 22, a heat exchanger (coil) 24 adjacent to the downstream side of the blower fan 23, and an air blower chamber 26 adjacent to the downstream side of the heat exchanger 24. The air blower chamber 26 has an opening 25 at its bottom. The fan coil unit 2 sends air from the air intake chamber 22 to the heat exchanger 24 using the blower fan 23, and the air exchanges heat in the heat exchanger 24. The heat-exchanged air is sent to the air blower chamber 26. The fan coil unit 2 is fixed to the inside of the ceiling inside the room so that it cannot be easily removed from inside the ceiling.

[0015] 2 and 3, the ceiling panel unit 3 is molded from, for example, synthetic resin. As shown in the figures, the ceiling panel unit 3 is rectangular in plan view, with the front and rear sides of the four sides constituting the rectangle being walls (front wall 30a, rear wall 30b), and the left and right sides being formed by left and right air ducts 32a, 32b which serve as air passages for sending air discharged from the fan coil unit 2 into the room. A bottom panel 33 is attached to the bottom surface of the ceiling panel unit 3, and the overall shape is like a casing (box) with an open top.

[0016] The bottom panel 33 is provided with an intake port 34 for drawing air into the air conditioner 1, and an air outlet 35 for blowing conditioned (i.e., purified and heat-exchanged) air into the room. Furthermore, the front wall 30a is formed with a rectangular frame 30d that forms an inspection hatch 30c that communicates vertically for inspecting the fan coil unit 2, and the rear wall 30b is integrally formed with a convex portion 30e at the same height as the frame 30d, which, together with the frame 30d, serves as a positioning means for placing the fan coil unit 2 on the ceiling.

[0017] The right-side air blower duct 32b has a generally rectangular cross section and has openings (upper opening 32c and lower opening 32d) at both the top and bottom ends. The upper opening 32c is connected to the opening 25 at the bottom end of the air blowing chamber 26 of the fan coil unit 2. The right-side air blower duct 32b has an air outlet 35 for blowing air blown into the right-side air blower duct 32b from the upper opening 32c into the room via an opening (air outlet) 33a in the bottom panel 33. The left-side air blower duct 32a has a generally rectangular cross section and has an air outlet 35 for blowing air supplied to its lower end into the room via an opening (air outlet) 33b in the bottom panel 33, and its upper part is integrally connected to a connecting duct 36, which will be described later.

[0018] The left and right air ducts 32a, 32b are integrally connected to a plurality of connecting ducts 36 (two in the figure) provided at equal intervals in the front-to-rear direction, as shown, and air flowing into the right air duct 32b is branched by the connecting duct 36 to the left air duct 32a, and is then blown into the room from the lower end of the left air duct 32a through an opening (air outlet) 33b in the bottom panel 33. The air flow through the left and right air ducts 32a, 32b and the connecting duct 36 is indicated by arrows F in Figures 2 and 3.

[0019] 1 and 3, a horizontal panel 37 is provided inside the ceiling panel unit 3. A space that is open downward is formed by this panel 37, the front and rear walls 30a, 30b of the outer portion 30 that surround it, and the inner walls of the left and right air ducts 32a, 32b. By closing this open space with the bottom panel 33, an intake chamber 38 into which air drawn from the room flows is formed.

[0020] The horizontal panels 37 form the bottom walls of the connecting ducts 36, and openings are provided between the connecting ducts 36 and between the front and rear walls 30a, 30b between the connecting ducts 36. As will be described later, these openings provide a flow path (inlet passage 39) through which air sucked into the ceiling panel unit 3 flows into the intake chamber 22 of the fan coil unit 2. The flow of air passing through this inlet passage 39 is indicated by arrow E in Figure 2.

[0021] A filter 34a is provided at the lower end of the suction chamber 38, i.e., at the suction port 34 provided in the bottom panel 33 attached to the bottom surface of the ceiling panel unit 3, to remove dust and other particles from the sucked air. Adjacent to and above the filter 34a, an ultraviolet lamp 40 and a reflector 41 that regulates the direction of irradiation of ultraviolet light emitted from the ultraviolet lamp 40 are provided.

[0022] Next, the ultraviolet lamp 40 and the reflector 41 will be described. Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of portion A shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 5A is a side view of the reflector, Fig. 5B is a plan view of the reflector, and Fig. 5C is a front view of the reflector. The ultraviolet lamp 40 is a rod-shaped lamp. As shown in Fig. 4, the ultraviolet lamp 40 is attached to the intake chamber 38 of the inner portion 31 of the ceiling panel unit 3, that is, adjacent to and above the suction port 34 of the bottom panel 33, at a position corresponding to the center of the suction port 34, and parallel to the ceiling surface C (front-to-back direction in Fig. 2). The ultraviolet lamp 40 irradiates ultraviolet light onto the air sucked in through the suction port.

[0023] The ultraviolet lamp 40 used is, for example, a UV-C lamp that generates UV-C radiation. UV-C (ultraviolet C: short-wavelength ultraviolet radiation) is ultraviolet radiation with a wavelength of 180 nm to 280 nm, has the highest energy among ultraviolet radiation, is highly destructive to living organisms, and is highly effective in inactivating bacteria and viruses, i.e., has a very high sterilization effect. Furthermore, the ultraviolet lamp 40 is not limited to a UV-C lamp, and may be, for example, a UV-A lamp that generates UV-A (ultraviolet A: long-wavelength ultraviolet radiation) or a UV-B lamp that generates UV-B (ultraviolet B: medium-wavelength ultraviolet radiation).

[0024] 5A, 5B, and 5C, the reflector 41 includes a horizontal plate 41a that is narrow and extends in the front-to-rear direction at the center, and reflecting plates 41b and 41c that extend diagonally upward symmetrically on the left and right sides of the horizontal plate 41a. That is, the reflector 41 is formed so as to open upward, i.e., has a V-shaped cross section, and extends in the front-to-rear direction to cover the bottom and both sides of the ultraviolet lamp 40. As a result, the reflecting plates 41b and 41c block ultraviolet light on both sides of the ultraviolet lamp 40.

[0025] The reflector 41 is the same length as or longer than the ultraviolet lamp 40, and is configured so that its upper end reaches the top of the suction chamber 38 when installed in the suction chamber 38. Each of the reflectors 41b, 41c is provided with a bladed grille 42 that allows air to pass through. Each bladed grille 42 has multiple sets of slits 42a and blades 42b. The blades 42b guide the sucked air into the slits 42a and prevent ultraviolet light from leaking from the slits 42a. A plurality of bladed grilles 42, for example, five (two in the figure), are provided on the reflectors 41b, 41c at predetermined intervals in the front-to-rear direction.

[0026] The horizontal plate 41a of the reflector 41 has a length in the front-rear direction that is longer than the lengths of the reflecting plates 41b and 41c in the front-rear direction. The reflector 41 is held by the bottom panel 33 of the ceiling panel unit 3.

[0027] A lamp holder 43 is attached to the upper side of the horizontal plate 41a of the reflector 41. The ultraviolet lamp 40 is attached to the inside of the reflector 41 by this lamp holder 43 so that the lower and both sides of the ultraviolet lamp 40 are covered by the reflecting plates 41b and 41c of the reflector 41.

[0028] The reflector 41 can sterilize air flowing into the V-shaped cross-sectional area defined by the reflectors 41b and 41c by irradiating it with ultraviolet light. The reflector 41 also includes an inner reflector 44, which is made up of left and right reflectors 44a and 44b and has a predetermined height along the ultraviolet lamp 40, located inside the reflectors 41b and 41c. These reflectors 44a and 44b block ultraviolet light on both sides of the ultraviolet lamp 40. The vertical length (height) of the inner reflector 44 is approximately two-thirds the height of the reflector 41, and its front-to-back length is the same as that of the reflector 41. The height of the inner reflector 44 is set to approximately two-thirds the height of the reflector 41 because a higher height would result in an insufficient amount of ultraviolet light irradiating the air, and a lower height would result in an undesirable increase in the amount of ultraviolet light leaking out.

[0029] By providing the inner reflector 44, most of the direct light (ultraviolet rays) from the ultraviolet lamp 40 toward the reflectors 41b and 41c is blocked by the reflectors 44a and 44b of the inner reflector 44. The reflectors 44a and 44b also act as baffles to the airflow, creating vortexes in the air between the left and right reflectors 44a and 44b, thereby stirring the flowing air. This prevents UV rays from leaking out, allowing UV rays to be evenly irradiated onto the air that has flowed into the reflector 41, inactivating bacteria and viruses with UV rays and enhancing the sterilization effect.

[0030] Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4 , the suction port 34 provided in the bottom panel 33 attached to the bottom surface of the ceiling panel unit 3 has multiple vanes 34b attached below the filter 34a along the longitudinal direction of the ultraviolet lamp 40. That is, the suction port 34 has multiple vanes 34b attached at intervals parallel to the ultraviolet lamp 40. The vanes 34b are attached at opposite angles to each other so that they open upward on both sides of the ultraviolet lamp 40. The inclination direction of these vanes 34b is opposite to the inclination direction of the vanes 42b of the vaned grille 42 of the reflecting plates 41b and 41c of the reflector 41. This allows the air drawn in through the suction port 34 to flow smoothly in the direction of diffusion within the suction chamber 38, and the inclined vanes 34b prevent ultraviolet light scattered within the reflecting plates 41b and 41c or the inner portion 31 from leaking downward, i.e., into the room.

[0031] Next, the air flow and sterilization within the air conditioner 1 described above will be explained. As shown in Figure 1, when the air conditioner 1 is operating, indoor air is sucked in through the suction port 34 of the ceiling panel unit 3 by the blower fan 23 of the fan coil unit 2. The sucked air first passes through a filter 34a to remove dust and other particles before flowing into the suction chamber 38. Next, the air that reaches the reflector 41 is guided by the blades 42b of the bladed grille 42 provided on the reflecting plates 41b and 41c, and flows into the reflector 41 through the slits 42a.

[0032] The air that has flowed into the reflector 41 flows upward while being exposed to reflected and scattered ultraviolet light, and after reaching the upper end of the inner reflector 44, it is agitated by the action of the inner reflector 44 and is also exposed to direct light from the ultraviolet lamp (some of the air flows into the inner reflector 44 and is exposed to direct ultraviolet light there). The air that has been uniformly sterilized by ultraviolet irradiation in this way passes through the inlet passage 39 and flows into the air intake chamber 22 of the fan coil unit 2.

[0033] The air that flows into the intake chamber 22 is discharged by the blower fan 23 to the heat exchanger 24, where it undergoes heat exchange. The heat-exchanged air flows into the air supply chamber 26 and the right-side air supply duct 32b connected to the air supply chamber 26. A portion of the air that flows into the right-side air supply duct 32b is diverted by the connecting duct 36 and flows into the left-side air supply duct 32a. The air that has been sterilized and heat-exchanged in this manner is blown into the room from the air supply port 35 provided in the bottom panel 33 of the ceiling panel unit 3 of the air conditioner 1. The air blown from the air supply port 35 is guided by a guide plate 35a provided in the air supply port 35, and its discharge direction is changed diagonally downward before being blown.

[0034] As described above, in the air conditioner 1 according to this embodiment, the ceiling panel unit 3 is provided with the reflector 41 having a V-shaped cross section that blocks ultraviolet light below and on both sides of the ultraviolet lamp 40 attached above the suction port 34, and the inner reflector 44 is provided inside the V-shaped cross section reflector 41, so that it is possible to significantly reduce the leakage of ultraviolet light from the ultraviolet lamp 40 to the outside (room) of the air conditioner 1. Furthermore, by attaching the vanes 34b to the suction port 34, it is possible to further prevent ultraviolet light leaking from the V-shaped cross section reflector 41 from leaking into the room. Therefore, it is possible to significantly reduce the leakage of ultraviolet light from the ultraviolet lamp 40 to the outside of the air conditioner 1.

[0035] Furthermore, in the V-shaped reflector 41 that blocks ultraviolet rays below and on both sides of the ultraviolet lamp 40, a bladed grill 42 is provided on the reflecting plates 41b, 41c, and the air is guided by the blades 42b of this bladed grill 42 and can pass smoothly through the slits 42a, so the flow of air is not obstructed and the air flowing through the air conditioner 1 can be maintained at a specified ventilation volume, thereby maintaining the air-blowing capacity of the air conditioner 1.

[0036] Furthermore, because the ultraviolet lamps 40 and the V-shaped cross-section reflector 41 are provided within the ceiling panel unit 3, when replacing an existing air conditioner 1 without an air sterilization function with an air conditioner 1 with an air sterilization function that inactivates bacteria and viruses in the air, it is not necessary to replace the fan coil unit 2 fixed to the interior of the ceiling inside the room, but it is sufficient to simply replace the ceiling panel unit 3 that is detachably attached to the bottom of the fan coil unit 2. In other words, an existing air conditioner 1 without an air sterilization function can be easily and inexpensively replaced with an air conditioner 1 with an air sterilization function.

[0037] In the above-described embodiment, the air conditioner 1 is composed of two units, a fan coil unit 2 and a ceiling panel unit 3, but this is not limited to this and may be other units, such as an integrated unit of these.

[0038] Next, an experiment was conducted to examine the amount of ultraviolet light leaking from the air conditioner 1 of this embodiment to the outside (room), and this will be described.

[0039] In the experiment, the amount of UV rays leaking to the outside from the air conditioner 1 was investigated. The amount of UV rays leaking to the outside from the air conditioner 1 was measured at four locations (P1, P2, P3, and P4) below the air conditioner 1, as shown in Figure 6. All measurement locations were 200 mm away from the underside of the ceiling panel unit 3 of the air conditioner 1. Additionally, a comparative example was used in which the ceiling panel unit 3 of the air conditioner 1 did not have the V-shaped cross-section reflector 41 and inner reflector 44, and the amount of UV rays leaking to the outside in this comparative example was also measured. The measurement locations were the same as those described above, at four locations (P1, P2, P3, and P4) below the air conditioner 1. The results are shown in Table 1 below.

[0040]

[0041] As shown in Table 1, in the air conditioner 1 according to this embodiment, the amount of ultraviolet light leaking to the outside is 0.027 to 0.083 (μW / cm ２ ) and the amount of ultraviolet light was 0.1 (μW / cm ２ ) or less, which is the safety standard value of 0.1 (μW / cm ２ In contrast, in the air conditioner of the comparative example that is not provided with the V-shaped cross-section reflector 41 and the inner reflector 44, the amount of ultraviolet light leaking to the outside was 2.788 to 5.346 (μW / cm ２ ), and the amount of ultraviolet light in all four locations was below the safety standard value of 0.1 (μW / cm ２ As described above, it was confirmed that the air conditioner 1 of this embodiment can significantly reduce the leakage of ultraviolet light from the ultraviolet lamp 40 into the room, and the air conditioner 1 can be used safely.

[0042] 1...air conditioner, 2...fan coil unit, 3...ceiling panel unit, 21...intake port, 22...air intake chamber, 23...blower fan, 24...heat exchanger, 25...opening, 26...blower chamber, 30...outer portion, 30a...front wall, 30b...rear wall, 30c...inspection hatch, 30d...frame body, 30e...convex portion, 31...inner portion, 32a...blower duct, 32b...blower duct, 32c...upper opening, 32d...lower opening, 33...bottom panel, 33a...opening (blower port), 33b ...Opening (air outlet), 34...Suction port, 34a...Filter, 34b...Blades, 35...Air outlet, 35a...Guide plate, 36...Connecting duct, 37...Panel, 38...Suction chamber, 39...Inlet passage, 40...Ultraviolet lamp, 41...Reflector, 41a...Horizontal plate, 41b...Reflector, 41c...Reflector, 42...Blade grill, 42a...Slit, 42b...Blades, 43...Lamp holder, 44...Inner reflector, 44a...Reflector, 44b...Reflector.

Claims

DEPCT671. The air conditioner comprises: a fan, a blower and a heat exchanger within it, intake and exhaust vents on the lower surface, and the air conditioner also comprises: attached to the intake vent, a rod-shaped ultraviolet lamp that irradiates ultraviolet radiation to the air drawn from the intake vent, and a reflector constructed in a V-shaped cross-section toward the top by a reflective plate blocking ultraviolet radiation below and on both sides of the ultraviolet lamp; the reflector plate of the reflector is provided with multiple blade-like air vents that allow air to pass through.

2. The air conditioner according to claim 1 also comprises: an inner reflector of a predetermined height provided along the ultraviolet lamp inside the reflector plate of the reflector; the inner reflector blocks ultraviolet radiation on both sides of the ultraviolet lamp.

3. The air conditioner according to claim 2, where the height of the inner reflector is approximately two-thirds the height of the reflector plate.4.An air conditioner pursuant to any of claims 1 through 3, also includes: multiple blades attached to the intake vents at intervals parallel to the ultraviolet lamp; blades attached diagonally on opposite sides to open towards the top on both sides of the ultraviolet lamp; 5. An air conditioner pursuant to claim 4, where the upward tilt direction of the blades is opposite to the upward tilt direction of the blade-type air intake of the reflector; 6. An air conditioner pursuant to any of claims 1 through 5, where the ultraviolet lamp is an ultraviolet lamp C.