Air conditioner
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing air conditioners have inconvenient disassembly operations and inflexible controller arrangements due to integrated indoor and outdoor units, which affect installation and after-sales maintenance.
Innovation Solution
An air conditioner design with a protruding housing portion that houses the controller, allowing for improved space utilization and flexible controller placement without altering the original appearance, featuring a detachable handle casing and rotatable cover plate for enhanced accessibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the controller is built-in on the front panel or right rear panel of the air conditioner, then the controller is integrated into the air conditioner body, but it requires disassembly of peripheral sheet metal for maintenance and reduces installation flexibility
Solution Approach 1:
The air conditioner body is segmented into modular components: the handle casing can be detached from the housing body, and the controller is separately mounted on the handle casing. This segmentation allows the controller to be accessed by simply removing the handle casing, avoiding the need to disassemble peripheral sheet metal, thus resolving the contradiction between controller accessibility and disassembly complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The controller arrangement is made dynamic and flexible through the detachable handle casing design. The controller can be easily installed or removed by detaching the handle casing, providing installation flexibility without requiring permanent integration into the air conditioner body, thereby resolving the contradiction between integration and maintenance ease
2Adaptability or versatility
If the controller is externally mounted on indoor or outdoor walls, then the controller is separated from the air conditioner body, but the installation flexibility is reduced and after-sales maintenance becomes less convenient
Solution Approach 1:
The controller is nested within the handle casing structure, which itself is part of the air conditioner body. This nested arrangement allows the controller to be integrated into the product while maintaining easy accessibility through handle casing removal, providing both installation flexibility and maintenance convenience without requiring external wall mounting
Solution Approach 2:
The handle casing serves multiple functions: it provides a mounting structure for the controller, maintains the aesthetic appearance of the air conditioner, and enables easy access to the controller for maintenance. This multi-functionality resolves the contradiction between arrangement flexibility and maintenance ease by combining the benefits of both integrated and external mounting approaches
3Volume of stationary object
If the controller is arranged in the accommodating cavity formed by the protruding portion, then the space utilization is improved, but the controller arrangement must not affect the original appearance of the housing
Solution Approach 1:
The protruding portion is designed with specific local characteristics: it protrudes from the housing to create an accommodating cavity for the controller, while the handle casing covering this protruding portion maintains the overall aesthetic appearance. This local quality differentiation allows space optimization without compromising the general appearance of the housing
Solution Approach 2:
The handle casing acts as an intermediary element that bridges the accommodating cavity and the external environment. It covers the protruding portion containing the controller, preserving the aesthetic appearance of the housing, while still allowing access to the controller through handle casing removal, thus resolving the contradiction between space utilization and appearance
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is an air conditioner that can include a housing, a protruding portion protruding outwardly from the housing and defining an accommodating cavity, and a controller, at least a portion of the controller being arranged in the accommodating cavity, wherein: the protruding portion is provided with an operating hole communicated with the accommodating cavity, an operating surface of the controller is arranged in the operating hole so that the operating surface is exposed, or the operating surface of the controller is arranged on an outer side surface of the protruding portion.