Heat exchanger with unitary air intake and exhaust member for an air conditioner

The present invention relates to a unitary heat exchanger for an air conditioner which is capable of minimizing the size, weight, and the power consumption thereof, and improving the thermal efficiency. The unitary heat exchanger comprises an air intake member for introducing the room air, and a combustion furnace for firing a fuel with the air introduced through the air intake member to generate a hot combustion gas. A heat exchanger is disposed in line with the furnace for passing the hot combustion gas from the combustion furnace therethrough and heating fresh room air supplied by a blower. An air exhaust member discharges the hot combustion gas from the heat exchange means.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly to a 
unitary heat exchanger used for an air conditioner. 
2. Prior Arts 
Conventional heat exchangers used for the air conditioner, for instance as 
disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publications No. SHO 62-36029 or SHO 
63-11553 has a construction as shown in FIG. 4. That is, air from a room 
introduced through an inlet 5 is mixed with a fuel which is injected by a 
burner motor 4 mounted on a support panel 7. 
The mixture of the air and the fuel is introduced into a combustion furnace 
2 through a burner 6 and a connecting duct 8 and becomes incinerated 
therein. Upon the combustion operation, the generated combustion gas with 
high temperature is moved up through the heat exchanger 1 composed of a 
plurality of pipes juxtaposedly arranged therebetween. Then, the 
combustion gas is flowed into a warm air chamber 11, and discharged to the 
outdoor through an outlet 3 of the exhaust pipe(not shown). Here, the room 
air supplied by a blower(not shown) is heated during passing through the 
heat exchanger 1 in the form of heat convection. 
Meantime, in the conventional heat exchanger constructed as above, the heat 
exchanger 1 and the combustion furnace 2 are installed in parallel, which 
increases the volume and weight of the heat exchanger 1, whereby the air 
conditioner can not be smaller in size. Also the air intake motor becomes 
larger to increase the power consumption, which is not economical. 
Moreover, the heat exchanger 1 is connected to the combustion furnace 2 
through the connecting pipe 9, thereby the flow path of the hot combustion 
gas from the combustion furnace 2 to the heat exchanger 1 is long and 
complex. As a result, there arises a problem that it takes too much time 
for the hot combustion gas to be supplied to the heat exchanger 1, which 
deteriorates the heat exchanging efficiency at the heat exchanger 1. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of the 
above mentioned problems. 
It is an object of the present invention to provide a unitary heat 
exchanger for an air conditioner which is capable of minimizing the size, 
weight, and the power consumption thereof and improving the thermal 
efficiency during the air conditioning operation. 
To achieve the above object, the unitary heat exchanger in accordance with 
the present invention having a burner motor and a combustion burner, 
comprises an air intake member for introducing a room air, a combustion 
furnace for firing a fuel with the air introduced through said air intake 
member to make a hot combustion gas, a heat exchange means disposed in 
line with the furnace for passing said hot combustion gas from the 
combustion furnace therethrough and heating a fresh room air supplied by a 
blower, and an air exhaust member for discharging said hot combustion gas 
from said heat exchange means.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Now, a preferred embodiment of the unitary heat exchanger of the present 
invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying 
drawings. 
Referring to FIG. 1(a) and FIG. 1(b), an air conditioner 20 is provided 
with side plates 21a and 21b at the left and the right sides thereof. A 
bottom plate 22 and a top plate 23 are attached to the bottom part and the 
top part, respectively between the side plates 21a and 21b of the air 
conditioner 20. A front panel which is assembled with the side plates 21a 
and 21b, the bottom plate 22, and the top plate 23 includes a upper panel 
25, an operating control panel 29 provided with an operation control unit 
29a at one end, an air intake panel 30 for introducing a room air upon the 
operation of a blower 35 driven by a blower motor 34 which is mounted on a 
support member (not shown), and a lower panel 31. 
The upper panel 25 and the lower panel 31 are, generally, shaped in a 
corresponding manner. The upper panel 25 is provided with an upper opening 
26 in which a plurality of wind direction control plates 27a are pivotably 
installed for controlling the hot/cold wind upward or downward during the 
air conditioning operation. The lower panel 31 also is provided with a 
lower opening 33 in which a plurality of wind control plates 32a are 
pivotably installed for controlling the hot/cold wind to the right or the 
left during a heating operation. 
The reference numeral 37 indicates the location for installing an air 
cooling system which is not an essential part of the present invention, an 
therefore detailed components of the air cooling system are not 
illustrated. In the interior space of the lower panel 31, the unitary heat 
exchanger according to the present invention is installed as shown in FIG. 
1(b). 
Next, the heat exchanger in accordance with the present invention will be 
described with reference to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. 
A heat exchanger main body 40, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4, comprises a 
heat exchanger drive member D for driving the heat exchanger, a baffle 
member for introducing or exhausting a combustion gas, a combustion 
furnace 55, a heat exchanger 46 having a plurality of intake side heat 
exchange pipes 46a and exhaust side heat exchange pipes 46b of stainless 
steel or copper, a warm air chamber 60 in cylindrical shape formed with 
through holes 60a for supporting ends of the pipes 46a and 46b and a 
closed surface 44 at an opposite end. The drive member D, heat exchanger 
46, furnace 55 and warm air chamber are disposed in-line with one another. 
The baffle member of the heat exchanger 46 comprises intake and exhaust 
baffles 47 and 48, an air intake pipe 49, an air intake tube 43, and an 
exhaust pipe 51. 
The intake/exhaust baffles 47 and 48 are cone-shaped members and coaxially 
arranged. A room air is introduced through the intake buffle thereafter, 
fired with a fuel within the combustion furnace 55 to make a hot 
combustion gas, and the hot combustion gas is passed through the pipes 46a 
and introduced into the warm air chamber 60. Then the hot combustion gas 
is passed through the exhaust pipes 46b arranged interiorly of the intake 
pipes 46a to be discharged outwardly. 
The air intake pipe 49 has a large diameter and its one end is airtightly 
secured, e.g. by welding, to a hole 47b formed on the inclined surface of 
the intake baffle 47 preventing leakage of an air and the other end is 
open to the atmosphere. One end of the air intake tube 43 is airtightly 
secured, e.g. by welding, to a hole 47a formed on the inclined surface of 
the intake baffle 47 perpendicular to the air intake pipe 49 and the other 
end of the air intake tube 43 is airtightly connected to a throughhole 42a 
of a support panel 42 of the heat exchanger drive member. 
The exhaust pipe 51 having smaller diameter than that of the intake pipe 49 
is provided with an outlet 51a and is coaxially installed within the 
intake pipe 49. One end of the exhaust pipe is airtightly secured, e.g. by 
welding, to a throughhole (not shown) of the exhaust baffle 48 and the 
other end of the exhaust pipe 51 is open to the atmosphere. 
Here, the intake baffle 47, the intake pipe 49 and the intake tube 43 
constitute an air intake member. Also the exhaust buffle 48 and the 
exhaust pipe 50 constitute an air exhaust member. 
In addition, the combustion furnace 55 comprises a support panel 50 having 
a plurality of support holes 50a and 50b which receive respective ends of 
the intake/exhaust side heat exchange pipes 46a and 46b by welding. The 
panel 50 is attached to a cylindrical portion 54 having a throughhole 54a 
at a side surface in which the air intake pipe 49 is passed through. A 
disc-shaped side plate 52 secured at one side surface of the cylindrical 
portion 54 has a throughhole 52a for passing through the air intake tube 
43 and a receiving pipe 52b for airtightly receiving the connecting duct 8 
of the heat exchanger drive member. 
The heat exchanger drive member D comprises a support panel 42 having the 
hole 42a for airtightly securing the one end of the air intake tube 43, 
the connecting duct 8 which is sealingly inserted within the receiving 
pipe 52b of the combustion furnace 55, a burner motor 41 mounted on the 
upper side of the support panel 42 for injecting the fuel, and a burner 6 
for mixing an intake air with the fuel injected by the burner motor 41 and 
firing the mixture of the air and the fuel. 
In the meantime, the assembling procedure of the baffle member E is 
described below. 
Firstly, as shown in FIG. 2, 3 and FIG. 4, the intake and exhaust baffles, 
47, 48 are welded at the predetermined portions marked in dotted lines B 
and A of the support panel 50, the exhaust pipe 51 is welded at a hole 
(not shown) formed at the inclined surface of the exhaust buffle 48 as 
shown by arrow C. The air intake pipe 49 and the air intake tube 43 are 
welded at holes 47b and 47a formed at the inclined surface of the intake 
buffle 47, and then the air intake pipe 49 is airtightly secured at the 
throughhole 54a formed at the cylindrical portion 54 of the combustion 
furnace 55. 
Next, the support panel 50 is airtightly welded at the left periphery of 
the cylindrical portion 54 of the combustion furnace 55, and the side 
plate 52 which is provided with the throughhole 52a and the receiving pipe 
52b is airtightly welded at the right periphery of the cylindrical portion 
54 of the combustion furnace 55. 
It is convenient the assemblying procedure that the air intake pipe 49 is 
secured to the throughhole 54a before the support panel 50 and the side 
plate 52 are welded to the opposite peripheries of the cylinderical 
portion 54. Moreover, it is preferable that the throughholes (not shown) 
on the inclined surface of the exhaust baffle 48 and the holes 47a and 47b 
on the inclined surface of the intake baffle 47 are threaded in order to 
connect the ends of the air intake/exhaust pipes 49 and 51, thereby 
enhancing the assemblying efficiency thereof. 
The operation of the unitary heat exchanger in accordance with the present 
invention constructed as above will be described hereinafter. 
Upon the operation of the burner motor 41, the room air is introduced into 
the inlet 49a of the air intake pipe 49, passed sequentially through the 
intake baffle 47, the air intake pipe 43, and the connecting duct 8, and 
introduced into the combustion furnace 55. The air is mixed with the fuel 
to be fired within the combustion furnace 55. 
The hot combustion gas generated from the combustion action within the 
combustion furnace 55 is flowed into the heat exchange pipes 46a formed 
around the outer portion of the support panel 50. During the flowing 
motion of the hot combustion gas through the pipes 46a, a room air 
supplied by the blowing action of the blower 35 is heated in a convective 
heat transfer manner. 
After heat exchanging through the heat exchanger 46, the hot combustion gas 
whose temperature has be lowered to some extent is introduced into the 
warm air chamber 60, and entered into the heat exchange pipes 46b and 
passed through toward the exhaust buffle 48. At this time, the fresh room 
air supplied by the blower 35 is reheated in a convective heat transfer 
manner by the hot combustion gas flow through the pipes 46b. Then the hot 
combustion gas in the pipes 46b whose temperature has been considerably 
lowered is flowed through the exhaust baffle 48 into the exhaust pipe 51 
having the outlet 51a at its end and discharged outwardly. 
Meanwhile, the room air supplied by the blower 35 is heated to a high 
temperature owing to the heat exchanging action between the pipes 46a and 
46b of the heat exchanger 46 and discharged through the lower opening 33 
formed at the lower panel 31 to increase the room temperature. 
As described above, according to the unitary heat exchanger of the present 
invention, the intake/exhaust baffles are installed within the combustion 
furnace and the air intake/exhaust pipes are coaxially arranged, whereby 
the air intake/exhaust system can be made in compact construction, light 
in weight, and minimized in size. Moreover, it is noted that the power 
consumption may be lowered due to the smaller size of construction of the 
heat exchanger. 
In addition, it will be appreciated that the thermal efficiency of the heat 
exchanger may be improved because the room air supplied by the blower is 
apt to be repeatedly heated by means of the intake/exhaust side heat 
exchange pipes and also the distance between the combustion furnace and 
the heat exchanger is shortened. 
The foregoing disclosure and description of the invention is illustrative 
and explanatory thereof, and various changes in the size, shape and 
materials, as well as in the details of the illustrated construction, may 
be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the 
spirit of the invention.