Air conditioning appliance and telescoping air plenum with self-adjusting divider
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional air conditioning plenums are challenging to install due to varying wall sizes, leading to errors and omissions, particularly with multi-piece designs that require additional steps and adjustments.
Innovation Solution
A telescoping plenum design with an interior and exterior portion, featuring a duct wall, flange-less outer surface, and axially slidable divider panels, allowing for minimal steps during installation and adaptability to different wall sizes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a multi-piece plenum is used to accommodate varying wall sizes, then adaptability to different wall thicknesses is improved, but device complexity increases due to the need for separate divider wall installation and adjustment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the divider wall with the plenum body by providing divider panels that are integrally formed with or fixed to the plenum walls. This merging eliminates the need for separate divider installation steps while maintaining the multi-piece configuration's adaptability to different wall sizes.
Solution Approach 2:
The divider panels are pre-positioned and fixed to the plenum sections during manufacturing. This preliminary action ensures that when the plenum is installed, the dividers are already in their correct positions, eliminating the need for post-installation adjustment and reducing installation complexity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a multi-piece plenum with separately installed divider wall is used, then adaptability to different wall sizes is improved, but reliability decreases due to additional opportunities for errors and omissions
Solution Approach 1:
By merging the divider panels with the plenum structure through integral formation or fixed attachment, the patent eliminates separate installation steps that create error opportunities. The combined structure ensures proper positioning and reduces the chance of omissions during installation.
3Ease of operation
If a telescoping plenum with axially slidable divider panels is used, then ease of operation during installation is improved, but device complexity increases due to the sliding mechanism
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates axially slidable divider panels that can move along the plenum sections during installation. This dynamic feature allows the dividers to be easily positioned and locked into place, significantly improving ease of operation despite the added structural complexity of the sliding mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
An air conditioning appliance may have a telescoping plenum attached to a housing of the air conditioning appliance. The telescoping plenum may be receivable within a wall channel defined by a structure wall along an axial direction. The telescoping plenum may include an interior portion and an exterior portion. The interior portion may include a duct wall and an outer flange extending radially outward from the duct wall to contact an internal surface of a structure wall. The telescoping plenum may further include a divider wall defining an upper passage and a lower passage within the telescoping plenum. The divider wall includes an interior divider panel fixed to the interior portion and an exterior divider panel fixed to the exterior portion. Each of the interior divider panel and the exterior divider panel is axially slidable along the other of the interior divider panel and the exterior divider panel.