Patent Publication Number: US-4367636-A

Title: Air conditioner

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention: 
     The present invention relates to an improvement in an air conditioner having a reduced width and used while standing on a floor; that is, a so called slim type, having a reduced depth. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art: 
     FIGS. 1 and 2 show a construction of the conventional slim type air conditioner, wherein a machinery chamber 2, for containing wiring and piping (not shown) therein, is provided at the lower portion of the container 1 of the air conditioner and a suction grille 3, an air filter 4 and a heat exchanger 5 are provided above the machinery chamber 2 in the above order from the front side. A squirrel cage fan is used as a blower 6 and is placed above the heat exchanger 5. The intake openings 7 of the blower 6 are provided to suck air from both sides of the blower, on the front surface of the air conditioner. A motor 9 for the blower is attached to the casing 8 of the blower 6 so that a portion of the motor is held in the blower 6. Above the blower 6 there is provided a chamber 11 through which air is blown into the room. 
     The conventional air conditioner with the above-mentioned structure has the disadvantage of a large thickness of the casing 8 because the suction inlets 7 are provided at both sides of the blower 6 thereby increasing the depth of the container 1 of the air conditioner. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to overcome the above disadvantage of the conventional air conditioner and to provide an air conditioner having a reduced depth for the container so that the air conditioner may be smaller than a conventional one while maintaining the width unchanged and without changing the characteristics of noise, output and input etc., so that the area required for the air conditioner can be significantly reduced. 
     It is another object of the present invention to provide an air conditioner comprising a heat exchanger placed in a substantially vertical position at an intake opening for room air and a plurality of multiblade type blowers with their suction inlets parallel to and at the rear of said heat exchanger, wherein the distance of the air passage from said heat exchanger to said suction inlet of the lower blower is greater than that from the heat exchanger to the suction inlet of the upper blower and the air passage for said lower blower is provided at the rear of the casing of said upper blower. 
     It is still another object of the present invention to provide an air conditioner comprising a heat exchanger placed in a substantially vertical position at an intake opening for room air, sucked air passages provided at the rear of said heat exchanger, and a plurality of multiblade type blowers with their suction inlets parallel to said heat exchanger, an air passage for the lower blower provided at the rear of the casing of the upper blower and diffusers placed in a blowing chamber to define the air passages for the upper and lower blowers. 
     In is a further object of the present invention to provide an air conditioner comprising a heat exchanger placed in a substantially vertical position at an intake opening for room air, sucked air passages provided at the rear of said heat exchanger, a plurality of multiblade type blowers with their suction inlets parallel to said heat exchanger, an air passage for the lower blower provided at the rear of the casing of the upper blower, diffusers placed in a blowing chamber to define the air passages for the upper and lower blowers and a partition plate placed in a sucked-air passage to split it into independent sucked-air passages. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Various other objects, features and attendant advantages of the present invention will be more fully appreciated as the same becomes better understood from the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a front view of a conventional air conditioner; 
     FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II--II in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a front view of an embodiment of the air conditioner of the present invention; 
     FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV--IV in FIG. 3; 
     FIG. 5 is a front view of another embodiment of the air conditioner of the present invention; and 
     FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VI--VI in FIG. 5. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. 
     In FIGS. 3 and 4, the reference numeral 11 designates a container for an air conditioner which is made of a material such as sheet metal; 12 designates a machinery chamber provided in the lower portion of the container 11 to contain wiring, piping (not shown) and so on; 13 designates a suction grille placed in the front of the container; 14 designates an air filter set adjacent to the suction grille 13 for removing dust in the air and 15 designates a heat exchanger having a thickness C and placed in a substantially vertical direction at the rear of the air filter. Two multiblade type blowers 16a and 16b such as a single-suction type squirrel cage fan or turbo fan are vertically arranged at the rear of the heat exchanger 15. Intake openings 17a and 17b for the blowers are so arranged that they extend substantially parallel to the heat exchanger 15, and the length of a sucked-air passage in a direction perpendicular to the plane of said heat exchanger, from the heat exchanger 15 to the intake opening of the lower blower, is greater than that from the heat exchanger 15 to the upper blower. The reference numerals 18a and 18b designate casings for the blowers 16a, 16b and 19a, 19b designate motors for the blowers. An air passage 20b, feeding air blown from the lower blower 16b, is provided at the rear of the casing 18a of the upper blower 16a. Another air passage 20a is also provided to feed air blown from the upper blower 16a. The reference numeral 21 designates a chamber for feeding air towards the front of the air conditioner; 22 designates guide vanes for changing air direction; and 23 as well as 24 designate deflectors placed in the chamber 21. 
     In the air conditioner having the structure described above, air in the room is sucked through the suction grille 13 by driving the upper and lower blowers, passing through the air filter 14 to the heat exchanger 15 where the air is heat-exchanged. The heat-exchanged air is fed from each suction inlet 17a, 17b through each passage shown by arrow marks to the deflectors 23,24 placed in the chamber 21, at the end of which the separate flows of air are combined to be blown into the room. 
     In the embodiment of the present invention, the position of the casings is turned by 90° from that of the conventional casing. Therefore, the blower dimension shown by the character A can be the width of the conventional blower and the dimension of the blower shown by the character B can be 1/2 that of the conventional blower if the feeding rate of air and the diameter of blades are the same as in the conventional blower because the two single-suction blowers are used instead of the conventional dual suction blower. The depth of the heat exchanger can be reduced because the sucking area of the heat exchanger can be larger than that of the conventional heat exchanger. 
     In the present invention, the air passage for the lower blower is provided at the rear of the casing of the upper blower and the deflectors 23 and 24 are mounted in the chamber 21 so that an increase of air pressure loss caused by the sudden diffusion of air blown from the air passage into the chamber, by the combination of air flows from the upper and lower blowers, each having a different rate of flow, and by the non-uniform flow rate at the air outlet portion, can be prevented, thereby reducing the depth of the air passage. As a result, the depth of the container of an air conditioner can be smaller than that of the conventional one while maintaining the width unchanged and without changing the characteristics of noise, output and input etc. so that the area required for the air conditioner can be greatly reduced. 
     Another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. In FIGS. 5 and 6, the reference numeral 31 designates a partition plate for separating a space defined by the heat exchanger 15 and the casing 18 into two portions. The partition plate 31 provides a space 32 for feeding sucked air to the upper blower and a space 33 for feeding sucked air to the lower blower, thereby eliminating mutual interference between both the blowers 16a, 16b. The structure of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is the same as that in FIGS. 3 and 4 except that in FIGS. 5 and 6 the distance from the heat exchanger 15 to the suction inlet 17a is the same as that from the heat exchanger 15 to the suction inlet 17b; the same reference numerals designate the same or corresponding parts. 
     In the air conditioner having the structure described above, air in the room is sucked through the suction grille 13 passing through the air filter 14 to the heat exchanger 15 where the air is heat-exchanged. The heat-exchanged air is fed from each suction inlet 17a or 17b through each passage shown by arrow marks to the deflectors 23 and 24 placed in the chamber 21, at the end of which the separate flows of air are combined to be blown into the room. With this structure, the embodiment of the present invention provides the following effect in addition to the effect described in relation to the former embodiment. The sucked-air passages and the air-feeding passages of the upper blower 16a and the lower blower 16b have different air-flow resistances. This causes difficulty in the determination of the flow rate characteristics of the blowers. Accordingly, the suctioned-air passage is split by the partition plate 31 to form independent spaces 32, 33 for air passage for the upper and lower blowers thereby allowing easy determination of the characteristics for each of the blowers. 
     Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.