Air conditioner

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Solution Overview

Problem

The conventional air conditioner design requires disassembly of the appearance member and evaporator for motor maintenance, increasing the disassembly and assembly workload.

Innovation Solution

The air conditioner features a drive box mounted on a side surface with an avoidance groove structure, allowing the motor to be exposed and maintained without interfering with the drive box, facilitating easier disassembly and maintenance by dismantling the side plate and appliance box first.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Strength

If the motor is mounted on the bottom shell and fixed by a motor pressing plate, then the motor can be securely fixed, but the appearance member and evaporator must be completely disassembled for motor maintenance, increasing the disassembly workload

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemotor fixing stabilityVSAvoidmaintenance accessibility
Core Design Contradiction:
StrengthVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The air conditioner is divided into functionally independent modules: the drive box containing the compressor and motor, the evaporator assembly, and the appearance members. The drive box can be independently removed from the front without disassembling the evaporator or appearance members, enabling targeted maintenance of the motor while preserving other components.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The drive box is extracted as a separate removable unit from the main air conditioner body. The motor is mounted on the drive box rather than the bottom shell, allowing the entire drive box assembly to be removed and serviced independently, eliminating the need to disassemble appearance members and evaporator for motor maintenance.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

2Device complexity

If the motor is mounted on the bottom shell, then the structure is compact, but the disassembly and assembly workload during motor maintenance is greatly increased

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvestructural compactnessVSAvoidmaintenance time
Core Design Contradiction:
Device complexityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The drive box is segmented as a separate serviceable module containing the motor, compressor, and related components. This segmentation allows maintenance personnel to access and service the motor by removing only the drive box from the front, significantly reducing maintenance time compared to complete disassembly while maintaining structural compactness during operation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

3Device complexity

If the drive box is mounted on the bottom shell, then the overall structure is simplified, but the drive box interferes with the motor disassembly path

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvestructural simplicityVSAvoidmotor disassembly ease
Core Design Contradiction:
Device complexityVSEase of repair

Solution Approach 1:

The drive box is positioned and configured as a separate module that can be independently removed from the front of the air conditioner. The avoidance structure on the drive box further segments the space to clear the motor removal path, allowing the motor to be extracted without interfering with the drive box structure while maintaining overall structural simplicity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The motor is mounted on the side of the drive box rather than on the bottom shell, changing the spatial dimension of motor placement. This dimensional change creates a clear disassembly path from the front of the air conditioner, allowing the motor to be removed without interference from the drive box while maintaining structural simplicity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

Data Source

PatentEP3617610B1Air conditioner
Publication Date: 2023.07.26 GREE ELECTRIC APPLIANCES WUHAN
  • EP3617610B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3617610B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3617610B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

An air conditioner, including: a bottom shell (10); an air-out motor (30) detachably mounted on the bottom shell (10); a drive box (40) mounted on the bottom shell (10), and an avoidance structure (46) mounted on the bottom shell (10) on a path for dismounting and moving the air-out motor (30). This solves a problem that all the appearance members and the evaporator of the air conditioner need to be disassembled when the motor is detected and repaired due to the motor pressing plate fixing motor.