Patent Publication Number: US-11022325-B2

Title: Air conditioner

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) 
     This application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2018-0005149, filed on Jan. 15, 2018 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present disclosure relates to an air conditioner capable of variously controlling discharge air flow. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     An air conditioner is equipped with a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, an evaporator, an air blowing fan, and the like, and controls the temperature, humidity and air flow in a room, and the like by using a refrigeration cycle. The air conditioner may include an indoor unit disposed in the room and an outdoor unit disposed outdoors. 
     The indoor unit of the air conditioner includes a heat exchanger for exchanging heat between a refrigerant and air, an air blowing fan for flowing air, and a motor for driving the air blowing fan to cool or heat the room. 
     The air blowing fan sucks indoor air, heat-exchanges the indoor air through the heat exchanger, and then discharges the heat-exchanged air back into the room. The air blowing fan has to rotate at a predetermined RPM or higher in consideration of the heat exchange efficiency of the heat exchanger, and the air discharged through a discharge port may be discharged in a direct wind form up to a certain distance. 
     When this wind contacts a user directly, the user may feel uncomfortable, cold or hot. 
     SUMMARY 
     It is an aspect of the present disclosure to provide an air conditioner capable of discharging air in various ways. 
     It is an aspect of the present disclosure to provide an air conditioner capable of cooling or heating a room while preventing direct wind from reaching a user. 
     It is an aspect of the present disclosure to provide an air conditioner capable of supplying natural wind that is not heat-exchanged. 
     It is an aspect of the present disclosure to provide an air conditioner capable of mixing and supplying natural wind and heat-exchanged air. 
     It is an aspect of the present disclosure to provide an air conditioner in which a discharge panel may be prevented from being deformed by pressing and the exposure of the interior of the air conditioner through discharge holes of the discharge panel may be minimized. 
     It is an aspect of the present disclosure to provide an air conditioner capable of easily cleaning a rear surface of a discharge panel. 
     Additional aspects of the present disclosure will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the disclosure. 
     In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, an air conditioner includes a housing having a suction port and a discharge port, a discharge panel having a plurality of discharge holes and disposed at the discharge port, a heat exchanger to exchange heat with air flowing into the housing, a fan configured to discharge the heat exchanged air out of the housing and a reinforcing member disposed at a rear of the discharge panel to support the discharge panel and guide the air that has passed through the heat exchanger to the discharge panel. 
     The reinforcing member may include a plurality of unit cells continuously arranged to be adjacent to each other on one plane, and each of the unit cells may include a partition and a through hole formed to be surrounded by the partition. 
     The reinforcing member may be disposed to be spaced apart from the discharge panel by a predetermined gap. 
     The cross-sectional area of the through-hole may be within a range of 5 to 10 times the cross-sectional area of the discharge hole. 
     The unit cells may have a hexagonal, rectangular, or triangular shape. 
     The reinforcing member may include a reinforcing portion having the plurality of unit cells, and a frame portion formed at an edge of the reinforcing portion. 
     The air conditioner may further include a support frame coupled to an edge of the reinforcing member to fix and support the reinforcing member. 
     The support frame may include a front support portion protruding to support a front surface of the reinforcing member and a rear support portion protruding to support a rear surface of the reinforcing member. 
     The reinforcing member may include through holes and a louver configured to be rotatable to open and close the through holes. 
     The reinforcing member may include a plurality of the louvers arranged in a vertical direction, and the louvers may be configured to be rotatable up and down about a rotational shaft disposed in a horizontal direction. 
     The air conditioner may further include a cleaning brush provided between the discharge panel and the reinforcing member to clean a rear surface of the discharge panel. 
     The cleaning brush may be configured to move in a vertical direction between the discharge panel and the reinforcing member. 
     The discharge panel may include guide grooves formed on opposite sides of the discharge panel in the vertical direction to guide the movement of the cleaning brush. 
     The cleaning brush may include a brush shaft inserted into the guide grooves, and brush bristles provided on an outer circumferential surface of the brush shaft. 
     The cleaning brush may include a handle provided to allow a user to manually move the cleaning brush. 
     In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, an air conditioner includes a housing having a suction port and a discharge port, a discharge panel having a plurality of discharge holes and disposed at the discharge port, a blowing fan provided inside the housing to suck air into the housing through the suction port and to discharge air to the outside of the housing through the plurality of discharge holes, and a cleaning brush provided at a rear of the discharge panel in a vertical direction to clean a rear surface of the discharge panel. 
     The discharge panel may include guide grooves formed on opposite sides of the discharge panel in the vertical direction to guide the movement of the cleaning brush. 
     The cleaning brush may include a brush shaft inserted into the guide grooves, and brush bristles provided on an outer circumferential surface of the brush shaft to be in contact with a rear surface of the discharge panel. 
     The cleaning brush may include a handle provided to allow a user to manually move the cleaning brush. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and/or other aspects of the disclosure will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of main configurations of the air conditioner in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a plan sectional view of main configurations of the air conditioner in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a side sectional view of main configurations of the air conditioner in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is an enlarged view of a part of a reinforcing member of the air conditioner in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a view illustrating a state in which a discharge panel, a front panel, a reinforcing member, and a support frame of the air conditioner in  FIG. 1  are separated; 
         FIG. 7  is a side sectional view illustrating a state in which a discharge panel, a front panel, a reinforcing member, and a support frame of the air conditioner in  FIG. 1  are coupled to each other, 
         FIG. 8  is an enlarged view of a dotted line portion in  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 9  is a view illustrating a reinforcing member according to another embodiment of the present disclosure, in which the reinforcing member includes unit cells of a rectangular shape; 
         FIG. 10  is a view illustrating a reinforcing member according to another embodiment of the present disclosure, in which the reinforcing member includes unit cells of a triangular shape; 
         FIGS. 11 and 12  are views illustrating operations of a reinforcing member according to another embodiment of the present disclosure, in which the reinforcing member includes rotatable louvers; 
         FIG. 13  is an exploded perspective view of main configurations of an air conditioner having a cleaning brush capable of cleaning a rear surface of a discharge panel according to another embodiment of the present disclosure; and 
         FIG. 14  is a side sectional view illustrating the relationship between the discharge panel and the cleaning brush of the air conditioner in  FIG. 13 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The embodiments described herein and the configurations shown in the drawings are only examples of preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, and various modifications may be made at the time of filing of the present disclosure to replace the embodiments and drawings of the present specification. 
     It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also, the terms “comprises” and “has” are intended to indicate that there are features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, parts, or combinations thereof described in the specification, and do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, parts, or combinations thereof. 
     It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various components, these components should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure, the first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, the second component may also be referred to as a first component. 
     Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present disclosure,  FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of main configurations of the air conditioner in  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 3  is a plan sectional view of main configurations of the air conditioner in  FIG. 1 , and  FIG. 4  is a side sectional view of main configurations of the air conditioner in  FIG. 1 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 to 4 , an air conditioner  1  may include a housing  10  for forming an outer appearance, an air blowing device  30  provided to flow air into or out of the housing  10 , and a heat exchanger  2  provided to heat-exchange the air introduced into the housing  10 . 
     The housing  10  may include a casing  11  on which the air blowing device  30  and the heat exchanger  2  are mounted, and a front panel  20  coupled to a front surface of the casing  11 . The casing  11  is opened on a front side and the opened front side may be covered by the front panel  20 . The front panel  20  may be detachably coupled to the casing  11 . 
     The casing  11  may be provided with at least one first suction port  12 . The first suction port  12  may be formed on an upper portion of a rear surface of the casing  11 . External air may be introduced into the housing  10  through the first suction port  12 . 
     The front panel  20  may be provided with at least one first discharge port  21 . The first discharge port  21  may be formed on an upper portion of the front panel  20 . The first discharge port  21  may be formed at a height corresponding to the height of the first suction port  12 . Exchanged air via the heat exchanger  2  may be discharged to the outside of the housing  10  through the first discharge port  21 . The first discharge port  21  may discharge the air introduced through the first suction port  12 . 
     In this embodiment, the air conditioner  1  has three of the first suction ports  12 , but the number of the first suction ports  12  is not limited thereto. In this embodiment, the first suction port  12  is formed in a circular shape, but the shape of the first suction port  12  is not limited thereto. 
     The casing  11  may be provided with at least one second suction port  13 . The second suction port  13  may be formed on a lower portion of a rear surface of the casing  11 . The second suction port  13  may be formed on a lower side of the first suction port  12 . External air may be introduced into the housing  10  through the second suction port  13 . The number and shape of the second suction ports  13  are also not limited and may be formed in many numbers and various shapes. 
     The first suction port  12  may be equipped with a first suction grill  6  to prevent foreign matter from being sucked through the first suction port  12 . The second suction port  13  may be equipped with a second suction grill  7  to prevent foreign matter from being sucked through the second suction port  13 . 
     The casing  11  may be provided with at least one second discharge port  14 . The second discharge port  14  may be formed on a side surface of the casing  11 . The second discharge port  14  may be formed on an upper portion of the side surface of the casing  11 . The second discharge port  14  may be formed at a height corresponding to the height of the first discharge port  21 . 
     The second discharge port  14  may be formed long in a vertical direction. The air which has not been heat-exchanged inside the housing  10  may be discharged to the outside of the housing  10  through the second discharge port  14 . The second discharge port  14  may discharge the air introduced through the second suction port  13 . 
     The casing  11  may have a curved surface guide  15  for guiding air discharged from the second discharge port  14 . The curved surface guide  15  may guide the air discharged from the second discharge port  14  through the Coanda effect. The curved surface guide  15  may be provided to guide the air discharged through the second discharge port  14  forward. Thus, the air discharged through the second discharge port  14  may be mixed with the air discharged from the first discharge port  21 . 
     The air conditioner  1  may include a first flow passage S 1  for connecting the first suction port  12  and the first discharge port  21  and a second flow passage S 2  for connecting the second suction port  13  and the second discharge port  14 . The first flow passage S 1  and the second flow passage S 2  may be partitioned from each other. Accordingly, the air flowing through the first flow passage S 1  and the air flowing through the second flow passage S 2  may not be mixed. 
     Specifically, the first flow passage S 1  and the second flow passage S 2  may be partitioned by a partition plate  17 . The partition plate  17  may be formed long in a vertical direction inside the housing  10 . 
     The air conditioner  1  may be configured such that the air that has been heat-exchanged through the heat exchanger  2  is discharged through the first discharge port  21  and the air that has not been passed through the heat exchanger  2  is discharged through the second discharge port  14 . Since the heat exchanger  2  is disposed on the first flow passage S 1 , the air discharged through the first discharge port  21  may be air that has been heat-exchanged. Since a heat exchanger is not disposed on the second flow passage S 2 , the air discharged through the second discharge port  14  may be air that has not been heat-exchanged. 
     A support stand  5  may be provided at a lower end of the housing  10  to stably support the air conditioner  1 . An accommodating space  18  is formed in the casing  11 , and a second blowing unit  36  and various electrical components necessary for driving the air conditioner  1  may be disposed in the accommodating space  18 . 
     The air blowing device  30  may include a first blowing unit  31  and the second blowing unit  36 . The first blowing unit  31  and the second blowing unit  36  may be driven independently of each other. 
     The first blowing unit  31  may be disposed on the first flow passage S 1  formed between the first suction port  12  and the first discharge port  21 . Air may be introduced into the housing  10  through the first suction port  12  by the first blowing unit  31 . The air introduced through the first suction port  12  may be moved along the first flow passage S 1  and discharged to the outside of the housing  10  through the first discharge port  21 . The first blowing unit  31  may include a first blowing fan  32  and a first fan driver  33 . 
     The first blowing fan  32  may be an axial flow fan or a mixed flow fan. However, the type of the first blowing fan  32  is not limited thereto. The first fan driver  33  may drive the first blowing fan  32 . The first fan driver  33  may be disposed at a center portion of the first blowing fan  32 . The first fan driver  33  may include a motor. 
     The second blowing unit  36  may be disposed on the second flow passage S 2  formed between the second suction port  13  and the second discharge port  14 . Air may be introduced into the housing  10  through the second suction port  13  by the second blowing unit  36 . The air introduced through the second suction port  13  may be moved along the second flow passage S 2  and discharged to the outside of the housing  10  through the second discharge port  14 . 
     The second blowing unit  36  may include a second blowing fan  37 , a second fan driver, and a fan case  39 . 
     The second blowing fan  37  may be a centrifugal fan. However, the type of the second blowing fan  37  is not limited thereto. The second fan driver may drive the second blowing fan  37 . The second fan driver may include a motor. 
     The fan case  39  may cover the second blowing fan  37  and guide air. The fan case  39  may have a fan inlet  39   a  into which air flows and a fan outlet  39   b  through which air is discharged. 
     The heat exchanger  2  may be disposed between the first blowing unit  31  and the first discharge port  21 . The heat exchanger  2  may be disposed on the first flow passage S 1 . The heat exchanger  2  may absorb heat from the air introduced through the first suction port  12  or transfer the heat to the air introduced through the first suction port  12 . The heat exchanger  2  may include headers, tubes through which a refrigerant flows, and heat exchange fins attached to the tubes to increase the heat transfer area. 
     The air conditioner  1  may include a discharge panel  40  that is mounted on the first discharge port  21  of the front panel  20 . The discharge panel  40  may have a plurality of discharge holes  42  passing through the discharge panel  40 . Since the air guided to the first discharge port  21  is discharged to the outside of the housing  10  through the plurality of discharge holes  42 , the discharge speed may be reduced. 
     The plurality of discharge holes  42  are of a minute size and may be uniformly distributed over the entire area of the discharge panel  40 . The wind blown out through the plurality of discharge holes  42  does not directly reach the user, and may gradually cool or heat a room. 
     The thickness of the discharge panel  40  needs to be made sufficiently thin so as to improve the workability of the plurality of discharge holes  42  and to prevent the speed of the air passing through the plurality of discharge holes  42  from being too slow. The thickness of the discharge panel  40  may be approximately 0.6 mm. As described above, since the discharge panel  40  is thin, the discharge panel  40  may be vulnerable to external impact. That is, when the discharge panel  40  is pressed from the outside, a dent or other deformation may occur in the discharge panel  40 . In addition, the inside of the air conditioner  1  may be seen from the outside through the discharge holes  42  of the discharge panel  40 . Since the heat exchanger  2  is disposed at a rear of the discharge panel  40 , the heat exchanger  2  may be exposed to the outside through the discharge holes  42  of the discharge panel  40 , thereby lowering the esthetic sense. 
     According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the air conditioner  1  may include a reinforcing member  50  disposed at a rear of the discharge panel  40  to prevent the deformation of the discharge panel  40  and to minimize the exposure of the inside of the air conditioner  1 . 
     The reinforcing member  50  (which may be a panel as shown in various of the figures such as, for example,  FIGS. 2, 6, 11, 12 and 13 ) may include a reinforcing portion  51  provided to support the discharge panel  40  and a frame portion  56  formed at an edge of the reinforcing portion  51  to support the reinforcing portion  51 . 
     The air conditioner  1  may also include a support frame  70  that is coupled to the reinforcing member  50  to fix and support the reinforcing member  50 . 
     Hereinafter, a specific configuration of the reinforcing member  50  and the support frame  70  will be described in detail. 
       FIG. 5  is an enlarged view of a part of a reinforcing member of the air conditioner in  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 6  is a view illustrating a state in which a discharge panel, a front panel, a reinforcing member, and a support frame of the air conditioner in  FIG. 1  are separated,  FIG. 7  is a side sectional view illustrating a state in which a discharge panel, a front panel, a reinforcing member, and a support frame of the air conditioner in  FIG. 1  are coupled to each other, and  FIG. 8  is an enlarged view of a dotted line portion in  FIG. 7 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 5 to 8 , the reinforcing portion  51  of the reinforcing member  50  may be composed of a plurality of unit cells  52  continuously arranged to be adjacent to each other on one plane. Each of the unit cells  52  may include a partition  53  having a predetermined thickness and a through hole  54  formed to be surrounded by the partition  53 . 
     The unit cells  52  may have a honeycomb shape, i.e., a hexagonal shape. That is, the partition  53  may include six unit walls  53   a ,  53   b ,  53   c ,  53   d ,  53   e , and  53   f . Such a honeycomb shape, as is known, forms a stable structure that is resistant to twisting, pressing, etc., while consuming a small amount of material and smoothly flowing air. 
     The reinforcing member  50  may be disposed to be spaced apart from the discharge panel  40  by a predetermined gap G (refer to  FIG. 8 ). The discharge panel  40  may be supported in contact with the unit wall  53   a  of the partition  53  forming a front support surface when the discharge panel  40  is depressed by external pressure. That is, the partition  53  may restrict a depressed amount of the discharge panel  40  when the discharge panel  40  is depressed by external pressure. 
     The air that has been heat-exchanged through the heat exchanger  2  may be guided to the discharge panel  40  side through the through holes  54  of the reinforcing member  50 . Since the reinforcing member  50  is disposed to be spaced apart from the discharge panel  40  by the predetermined gap G, the partition  53  of the reinforcing member  50  is prevented from clogging the discharge holes  42  of the discharge panel  40  and air may smoothly escape from the discharge holes  42  as shown by arrows in  FIG. 8 . 
     The cross-sectional area of the through holes  54  of the reinforcing member  50  needs to be appropriately designed so as to secure sufficient strength without disturbing the flow of air and may be determined within a range of about 5 to 10 times the cross-sectional area of the discharge holes  42 . 
     The support frame  70  may be coupled to the reinforcing member  50  to fix and support the reinforcing member  50 . The support frame  70  has a substantially rectangular frame shape and may include a front support portion  71  (refer to  FIGS. 6 and 7 ) protruding to support a front surface of the reinforcing member  50  and a rear support portion  72  (refer to  FIGS. 6 and 7 ) protruding to support a rear surface of the reinforcing member  50 . 
     An assembly in which the reinforcing member  50  and the support frame  70  are coupled to each other may be combined with the discharge panel  40  again. The discharge panel  40  may include a front portion  41  on which the plurality of discharge holes  42  are formed and a coupling portion  43  extending from the front portion  41  to mount the discharge panel  40  to the first discharge port  21 , and the coupling portion  43  may have coupling grooves  44 . 
     The support frame  70  may have coupling ribs  73  that are inserted into and coupled to the coupling grooves  44  of the discharge panel  40 . Thus, by having the coupling ribs  73  inserted into the coupling grooves  44 , the assembly of the reinforcing member  50  and the support frame  70  may be combined with the discharge panel  40 . 
     An assembly in which the discharge panel  40 , the reinforcing member  50  and the support frame  70  are coupled to each other may be mounted to the first discharge port  21  of the front panel  20  again. To this end, the front panel  20  may be formed with coupling grooves  22  (refer to  FIG. 6 ), and the support frame  70  may be formed with coupling hooks  74  which are inserted into and coupled to the coupling grooves  22 . The assembly in which the discharge panel  40 , the reinforcing member  50  and the support frame  70  are coupled to each other may be detachably mounted to the first discharge port  21  of the front panel  20 . 
       FIG. 9  is a view illustrating a reinforcing member according to another embodiment of the present disclosure, in which the reinforcing member includes unit cells of a rectangular shape,  FIG. 10  is a view illustrating a reinforcing member according to another embodiment of the present disclosure, in which the reinforcing member includes unit cells of a triangular shape, and  FIGS. 11 and 12  are views illustrating operations of a reinforcing member according to another embodiment of the present disclosure, in which the reinforcing member includes rotatable louvers. 
     The same reference numerals are given to the same components as those of the above-described embodiment, and description thereof may be omitted. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 9 , unit cells  252  of a reinforcing member  250  may have a rectangular shape or a rhombus shape. Each of the unit cells  252  may include a partition  253  having a predetermined thickness and a through hole  254  formed to be surrounded by the partition  253 . 
     The partition  253  and the through hole  254  of each of the unit cells  252  may have a rectangular shape or a rhombus shape. That is, the partition  253  may include four unit walls  253   a ,  253   b ,  253   c , and  253   d.    
     As illustrated in  FIG. 10 , unit cells  352  of a reinforcing member  350  may have a triangular shape. Each of the unit cells  352  may include a partition  353  having a predetermined thickness and a through hole  354  formed to be surrounded by the partition  353 . 
     The partition  353  and the through hole  354  of each of the unit cells  352  may have a triangular shape. That is, the partition  353  may include three unit walls  353   a ,  353   b  and  353   c.    
     As illustrated in  FIGS. 11 and 12 , a reinforcing member  450  may include through holes  454  formed to guide the air that has passed through the heat exchanger  2  to the discharge panel  40 , and louvers  455  provided to open and close the through holes  454 . 
     A plurality of the louvers  455  may be arranged in a vertical direction. The louvers  455  may be rotatably provided. The louvers  455  may be configured to be rotatable up and down about a rotation axis  456  disposed in a horizontal direction. An actuating bar  457  is connected to the louvers  455  so that the louvers  455  may be rotated as the actuating bar  457  moves. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 11 , the louvers  455  open the through holes  454  to allow air to flow smoothly when the air conditioner  1  is operated, and as illustrated in  FIG. 12 , the louvers  455  may close the through holes  454  to prevent the inside of the air conditioner  1  from being exposed when the air conditioner  1  is not operated. 
       FIG. 13  is an exploded perspective view of main configurations of an air conditioner having a cleaning brush capable of cleaning a rear surface of a discharge panel according to another embodiment of the present disclosure, and  FIG. 14  is a side sectional view illustrating the relationship between the discharge panel and the cleaning brush of the air conditioner in  FIG. 13 . 
     Hereinafter, the structure of a cleaning brush capable of easily cleaning the discharge panel  40  will be described with reference to  FIGS. 13 and 14 . The same reference numerals are given to the same components as those of the above-described embodiments, and description thereof may be omitted. 
     Since the discharge panel  40  is coupled to the front panel  20 , the reinforcing member  50  and the support frame  70 , it is not easy for the user to separate the discharge panel  40  from these components. Even if the user has separated the discharge panel  40  from these components, it is cumbersome and not easy for the user to again couple the discharge panel  40  to these components. 
     Further, a rear surface of the discharge panel  40  may not be cleaned without separating the discharge panel  40  from these components. 
     Accordingly, according to the present embodiment, the air conditioner  1  may further include a cleaning brush  580  provided at a rear of the discharge panel  40  so that a rear surface  47  of the discharge panel  40  may be easily cleaned without separating the discharge panel  40  from the front panel  20 , the reinforcing member  50  and the support frame  70 , that is, in a state in which the discharge panel  40  is coupled with the front panel  20 , the reinforcing member  50  and the support frame  70 . 
     The cleaning brush  580  is disposed between the discharge panel  40  and the reinforcing member  50  and may be configured to be movable in a vertical direction. To this end, guide grooves  46  may be formed long in a vertical direction on opposite sides  45  of the discharge panel  40  so as to guide the movement of the cleaning brush  580 . 
     The cleaning brush  580  may include a brush shaft  581  provided to be inserted into the guide grooves  46  and brush bristles  582  provided on an outer circumferential surface of the brush shaft  581 . The brush bristles  582  are provided to be in contact with the rear surface  47  of the discharge panel  40  so as to clean the rear surface  47  of the discharge panel  40 . The cleaning brush  580  may include separation preventing portions  585  having a greater thickness than the guide grooves  46  so that the cleaning brush  580  is not separated from the guide grooves  46 . 
     The cleaning brush  580  may be manually operated by the user. To this end, the cleaning brush  580  may include a handle  583  that may allow for the user to hold the cleaning brush  580  and move it up and down. A coupling protrusion  584  may be formed on the handle  583 . The coupling protrusion  584  may be inserted into the brush shaft  581  to couple the handle  583  to the brush shaft  581 . 
     As described above, according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, even if the discharge panel  40  is not detached, dust and the like on a rear surface of the discharge panel  40  may be easily cleaned by the user holding the cleaning brush  580  and moving the cleaning brush  580  in the vertical direction. Therefore, clogging of the discharge holes  42  of the discharge panel  40  by dust and the like may be prevented, and the reliability of the air conditioner may be improved. 
     As is apparent from the above, the air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present disclosure can discharge air in various ways because the air conditioner includes a first discharge port at which the discharge panel having a plurality of discharge holes is disposed and a second discharge port through which air can be blown. 
     The air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present disclosure can prevent the discharge panel having a plurality of discharge holes from being deformed due to pressing or the like. 
     The air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present disclosure can prevent the inside of the air conditioner from being exposed through the plurality of discharge holes of the discharge panel. 
     The air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present disclosure can easily clean the discharge panel. 
     Although a few embodiments of the present disclosure have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the disclosure in the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.