Patent Description:
A household wall-mounted air conditioner is capable of performing heat exchange on indoor air. If the wall-mounted air condition is operated in a confined room for a long time, and the indoor air is not refreshed with outdoor air during the operation, users are prone to negative physiological responses. The current air conditioner is typically provided with a fresh air module for air ventilation or air purification. However, due to an unstable mounting structure of a motor for driving a fan in the fresh air module, there may occur a relatively large vibration of the fresh air module and an accompanied unpleasant noise, which affects user experience. <CIT> relates to a double fulcrum blower fan structure and cabinet air conditioner. <CIT> relates to a blower motor-support structure in an air conditioner.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present invention and may not constitute the prior art.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a fresh air module, an indoor unit of an air conditioner, and an air conditioner, aiming to decrease the vibration of the fresh air module and the accompanied noise.

In accordance with the fresh air module provided herein, the overall structure of the mounting holder is strengthened by arranging the reinforcing rib thereon, and thus the mounting holder can be prevented from a relatively large deformation caused by the vibration of the fresh air motor. As such, the noise generated by the fresh air module during operation can be abated, which improves user experience. In addition, the arrangement of the reinforcing rib can prolong the service life of the fresh air housing, thereby ensuring a stable operation of the fresh air motor, and improving the performance of the fresh air module.

In order to illustrate the technical solution in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art more clearly, a brief description will be made below of the drawings referred to in the present invention. It is appreciated that the drawings in the following description are merely exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and those skilled in the art could obtain other drawings according to the structures shown in the drawings without any creative efforts.

The realizing of the aim, functional characteristics and advantages of the present invention are further described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and the embodiments.

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be described clearly and completely combining the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. It is appreciated that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, but not all of them. Based on the embodiments in the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative work shall belong to the protection scope of the present invention.

It will be appreciated that, all directional indications (such as "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "front", "rear". ) in the embodiments of the present invention are only used to explain the relative positional relationship, motion, and the like, between components in a certain posture. If the particular posture changes, the directional indication changes accordingly.

In the present invention, unless specified or limited otherwise, the terms "connected", "fixed" and the like are used broadly, and may be, for example, fixed connections, detachable connections, or integral connections; may also be mechanical or electrical connections; may also be direct connections or indirect connections via intervening structures; may also be inner communications of two elements or interactions of two elements, which will be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific situations.

In addition, terms such as "first" and "second" are used herein for purposes of description and are not intended to indicate or imply relative importance or to imply the number of indicated technical features. Thus, the features defined with "first" and "second" may comprise or imply at least one of these features. In the description of the present invention, "a plurality of' means two or more than two, unless specified otherwise.

The present invention is set out in claim <NUM>.

In an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in <FIG>, the fresh air module <NUM> includes:.

In this embodiment, the fresh air module <NUM> is typically mounted in an indoor unit of the air conditioner, and configured to vent fresh air into indoor room. The built-in structure of the fresh air module <NUM> is both beautiful and convenient to use. The indoor unit herein may be a wall-mounted type or a cabinet type, which is not limited herein. It will be appreciated that the fresh air module <NUM> may also be used separately.

Specifically, the fresh air housing <NUM> has a fresh air cavity, and is also provided with a fresh air outlet and a fresh air inlet both communicated with the fresh air cavity. In addition, a fresh air tube is connected to the fresh air inlet, so as to communicate the outdoor environment and the fresh air cavity. The fresh air module <NUM> further includes a fresh air fan for inhaling and outputting air. The fresh air fan is mounted in the fresh air cavity, and configured to drive the outdoor air into the fresh air cavity, and then output the air into the indoor room through the fresh air outlet, so as to realize indoor air purification. The fresh air motor <NUM> for driving the fresh air fan is mounted in the mounting holder <NUM> and connected to the fresh air fan via a rotating shaft. Correspondingly, the mounting holder <NUM> is provided with a shaft hole through which the rotating shaft passes. The mounting holder <NUM> may be integrally formed with other parts of the fresh air housing <NUM>, or may be a separate structure and connected fixedly or detachably with other parts. The clamping space 13a is adapted to the fresh air motor <NUM> for a stable mounting. The surface of the mounting holder <NUM> away from the clamping space 13a is provided with one or more reinforcing ribs <NUM>. The reinforcing rib <NUM> may be in a form of a block, a strip or the like. In addition, the reinforcing rib <NUM> may be integrally formed with the mounting holder <NUM>, in order to effectively strengthen the overall structure of the mounting holder <NUM>.

In accordance with the fresh air module <NUM> herein, the overall structure of the mounting holder <NUM> is strengthened by arranging the reinforcing rib <NUM> thereon, and thus the mounting holder <NUM> can be prevented from a relatively large deformation caused by the vibration of the fresh air motor <NUM>. As such, the noise generated by the fresh air module <NUM> during the operation can be abated, which improves user experience. In addition, the arrangement of the reinforcing rib <NUM> can prolong the service life of the fresh air housing <NUM>, thereby ensuring a stable operation of the fresh air motor <NUM>, and improving the performance of the fresh air module <NUM>.

In an embodiment, referring to <FIG>, <FIG>, the fresh air housing <NUM> includes a main body <NUM>. The mounting holder <NUM> is disposed at a middle portion of the main body <NUM>. In addition, a protruding edge <NUM> is provided at an edge of the main body <NUM>. The reinforcing rib <NUM> is extended from the center of the mounting holder <NUM> toward the edge of the fresh air housing <NUM>, and connected to the protruding edge <NUM>.

In this embodiment, the main body <NUM> is constituted as a part of the fresh air cavity. In a specific structure, the fresh air housing <NUM> is a split structure, including two detachable parts that can be fastened with each other to form the fresh air cavity, where the main body <NUM> is one of the parts. The mounting holder <NUM> is disposed in the middle of the main body <NUM>, such that the fresh air motor <NUM> can be mounted in the middle of the main body <NUM>, to enhance the structural stability of the fresh air motor <NUM>. The main body <NUM> is generally in a form of a volute, and formed with a cavity for accommodating the fresh air fan. The fresh air motor <NUM> can be connected to the fresh air fan correspondingly, when the two parts of the fresh air housing <NUM> are fastened to form the fresh air cavity. The surface of the main body <NUM> away from the clamping space 13a, namely the surface away from the fresh air cavity, is provided with the protruding edge <NUM>, to enhance the structural strength. Specifically, the protruding edge <NUM> is sheet-shaped and disposed perpendicular to the surface of the main body <NUM>, which further strengthens the stability of the protruding edge <NUM> and the main body <NUM>. In another embodiment, the protruding edge <NUM> is arranged to extend along the edge of the main body <NUM> in a form of a cylindrical strip. The protruding edge <NUM> may be distributed continuously or at intervals along the edge of the main body <NUM>, as long the protruding edge <NUM> is connected to an extended end of the reinforcing rib <NUM>. The reinforcing rib <NUM> disposed on the mounting holder <NUM> is extended from the center of the main body <NUM> toward the edge of the main body <NUM> and abutted against the protruding edge <NUM>. The reinforcing rib <NUM> is also connected with the surface of the main body <NUM>, and thus the reinforcing rib <NUM> and the protruding edge <NUM> can be formed integrally. According to the invention, the extending direction of the reinforcing rib <NUM> is perpendicular to the extending direction of the protruding edge <NUM>, such that when there occur vibrations of the fresh air motor <NUM>, the protruding edge <NUM> can effectively block the deformation of the mounting holder <NUM> and the reinforcing rib <NUM> in the extending direction, which enhances the structural stability of the mounting holder <NUM>. In this embodiment, the main body <NUM>, the mounting holder <NUM>, the reinforcing rib <NUM> and the protruding edge <NUM> are formed together as an integral structure, which facilitates the processing and significantly improves the strength of the fresh air housing <NUM>.

In an embodiment, referring to <FIG> and <FIG>, the middle portion of the main body <NUM> is provided with an avoiding hole <NUM>. The mounting holder <NUM> includes a frame <NUM> and a base <NUM>. The frame <NUM> is configured to bend from the edge of the avoiding hole <NUM> toward the center of the avoiding hole <NUM>. The base <NUM> is fastened to the frame <NUM> and the two cooperatively enclose to form the clamping space 13a. The reinforcing ribs <NUM> are disposed on the surfaces of the frame <NUM> and the main body <NUM> away from the clamping space 13a.

In this embodiment, in order to facilitate the mounting of the fresh air motor <NUM>, the mounting holder <NUM> includes the frame <NUM> and the base <NUM> detachably connected with each other. The frame <NUM> bends from the main body <NUM> toward the center of the avoiding hole <NUM>, so as to form a space for accommodating the fresh air motor <NUM>. The base <NUM> is fastened to the frame <NUM> to form the clamping space 13a. The connection of the base <NUM> and the frame <NUM> may be a screw connection, a buckle connection, or a plug connection or the like. In this embodiment, the frame <NUM> and the base <NUM> are in a threaded connection for the purpose of stability. Because the frame <NUM> is integrally formed with the main body <NUM>, and the fresh air motor <NUM> is accommodated in the frame <NUM>, the reinforcing rib <NUM> on the frame <NUM> can improve the structural stability of the mounting holder <NUM>, thereby improving the overall stability of the fresh air module <NUM>.

In an embodiment, referring to <FIG>, the reinforcing ribs <NUM> are provided in plurality. The plurality of reinforcing ribs <NUM> are evenly arranged along the circumferential direction of the frame <NUM>.

In this embodiment, the reinforcing ribs <NUM> are provided in plurality, such as two or more than two. The plurality of reinforcing ribs <NUM> can further improve the structural stability of the mounting holder <NUM>. In addition, the plurality of reinforcing ribs <NUM> are evenly arranged along the circumferential direction of the frame <NUM>, thus the strength of each part of the frame <NUM> can be enhanced. As such, the stress concentration due to the vibration of the frame <NUM> with uneven structural strength can be prevented, thereby improving uniformity of the structural strength.

In an embodiment, the reinforcing rib <NUM> is sheet-shaped and disposed perpendicular to the surface of the frame <NUM>.

In this embodiment, the reinforcing rib <NUM> is sheet-shaped, of which the thickness may be selected according to the thickness of the main body <NUM>. For example, the thickness of the reinforcing rib <NUM> is consistent with the thickness of the main body <NUM>. The sheet-shaped reinforcing rib <NUM> is disposed perpendicular to the surface of the frame <NUM>, and according to the principle of force superposition, the deformations of the main body <NUM> and the frame <NUM> can be effectively reduced, to decrease the vibration frequency of the mounting holder <NUM>, thereby improving the stability of the fresh air motor <NUM> and thus suppressing the generation of noise.

In an embodiment, the frame <NUM> includes a plurality of support strips <NUM> spaced apart. The reinforcing ribs <NUM> are provided in plurality, and two of the reinforcing ribs <NUM> are disposed in parallel and respectively on two sides in a width direction of one support strip <NUM>.

In this embodiment, in order to facilitate the mounting of the fresh air motor <NUM> and heat dissipation, the frame <NUM> has the plurality of support strips <NUM> spaced apart, such that a heat dissipation space is formed between each two of the support strips <NUM>, thereby improving the performance of the fresh air motor <NUM> and the heat dissipation. Each of the support strips <NUM> is configured to bend from the edge of the avoiding hole <NUM> to the center of the avoiding hole <NUM>. The reinforcing ribs <NUM> are provided in plurality, and at least two of the reinforcing ribs <NUM> are disposed in the width direction perpendicular to the extending direction of the support strip <NUM>, in order to increase the structural strength of the support strip <NUM>, thereby ensuring the mounting stability of the frame <NUM>. Specifically, the support strips <NUM> are provided with three, and the three support strips <NUM> are evenly arranged along the circumferential direction of the avoiding hole <NUM>, so as to implement the even arrangement of the reinforcing ribs <NUM>, thereby realizing material savings in case of the guaranteed strength. The base <NUM> is provided with three connecting lugs <NUM>, and each of the connecting lugs <NUM> is provided with a connecting hole <NUM>. Correspondingly, the three support strips <NUM> are provided with mounting holes 1313a. By this way, a screw connection can be used between the connecting hole <NUM> and the mounting hole 1313a, to realize a stable mounting.

In addition, referring to <FIG> and <FIG>, in order to facilitate the mounting of the base <NUM> and the frame <NUM>, the base <NUM> is provided with a positioning notch <NUM> at an end of the connecting lug <NUM>, and an end of the support strip <NUM> is provided with a positioning block 1313b. The cooperation of the positioning notch <NUM> with the positioning block 1313b allows the base <NUM> to be relatively fixed to the frame <NUM>, so as to facilitate the screw connection, thereby improving the assembly efficiency.

In an embodiment, referring to <FIG>, each two of the reinforcing ribs <NUM> is provided with a protruding rib <NUM> therebetween. The protruding rib <NUM> is configured to extend from the center of the frame <NUM> to the edge of the frame <NUM>.

In this embodiment, in order to further enhance the structural strength of the frame <NUM>, the protruding rib <NUM> is disposed between the two reinforcing ribs <NUM> of each support strip <NUM>. The protruding rib <NUM> may be integrally formed with the support strip <NUM>. In addition, the protruding rib <NUM> may be sheet-shaped and disposed perpendicular to the surface of the support strip <NUM>, of which the thickness may be smaller than the thickness of the reinforcing rib <NUM>. The protruding rib <NUM> extends from the center of the frame <NUM> toward the edge of the frame <NUM>, and a length of the extending direction of the protruding rib <NUM> may be smaller than that of the reinforcing rib <NUM>, so as to facilitate the processing of the protruding rib <NUM>, and further strengthen the frame <NUM> combined with the reinforcing rib <NUM>.

In an embodiment, at least one of the reinforcing ribs <NUM> has a stair-step structure in an extending direction from the center of the frame <NUM> toward the edge of the frame <NUM>.

In this embodiment, the support strip <NUM> bends in its extending direction, which forms a certain stair step structure. The reinforcing rib <NUM> may have a uniform or non-uniform height perpendicular to the support strip <NUM> in its extending direction. The reinforcing rib <NUM> may also have a stair-step structure in its extending direction. The stair-step structure of the reinforcing rib <NUM> may match with the stair-step structure of the support strip <NUM>. Alternatively, the stair-step structure of the reinforcing rib <NUM> may be formed at a portion in contact with the main body <NUM>. The reinforcing rib <NUM> with the stair-step structure can further strength itself. In addition, the stair-step structure formed in the direction perpendicular to the extending direction can effectively block the softness in the extending direction and thus improve the stiffness, which strengthens the overall structural strength of the support strip <NUM> and the frame <NUM>, further improving the stability of the fresh air motor <NUM>.

The present invention further provides an indoor unit of an air conditioner (not shown), including a fresh air module <NUM> as described in above embodiments. The specific structure of the indoor unit may refer to any of the above embodiments. It will be appreciated that since the indoor unit herein adopts all the technical solutions of the above embodiments, thus can achieve all the technical effects introduced by the above embodiments.

In this embodiment, the indoor unit is a device for performing heat exchange on indoor air, such as cooling or heating the air. It will be appreciated that the indoor unit further includes a second housing and a main machine of the indoor unit. The second housing includes but is not limited to components such as a chassis and a face frame. The main machine includes but is not limited to an indoor heat exchanger and a wind wheel. The second housing has an air passage, as well as an air inlet and an air outlet. The wind wheel is disposed in the air passage. During the rotation of the wind wheel, the air is passing through the indoor heat exchanger to enter the air passage and then output through the air outlet.

The fresh air module <NUM> is disposed in the second housing, and side by side with the main machine in the length direction of the second housing, that is, the fresh air housing <NUM> of the fresh air module <NUM> is arranged side by side with the indoor heat exchanger or the wind wheel, so that the outdoor air circulating in the fresh air cavity does not affect the efficiency of indoor heat exchange. The second housing may have an opening communicated with the fresh air outlet of the fresh air module <NUM>, so as to vent fresh air into the indoor room. In other embodiments, the panel of the second housing does not cover the fresh air outlet, and the fresh air outlet directly communicates with the indoor room, thereby effectively improving efficiency of refreshing the air.

The present invention also provides an air conditioner (not shown), including an indoor unit and an outdoor unit connected to the indoor unit. The indoor unit includes a second housing, a main machine, and a fresh air module <NUM>. The fresh air module <NUM> and the main machine are arranged side by side along the length direction of the second housing. The specific structure of the indoor unit may refer to any of the above embodiments. It will be appreciated that since the indoor unit herein adopts all the technical solutions of the above embodiments, thus can achieve all the technical effects introduced by the above embodiments.

Claim 1:
A fresh air module (<NUM>) comprising:
a fresh air housing (<NUM>), comprising a main body (<NUM>) and a mounting holder (<NUM>), wherein an edge of the main body (<NUM>) is provided with a protruding edge (<NUM>) and wherein the mounting holder (<NUM>) is disposed at a middle portion of the main body (<NUM>) and has a clamping space (13a), a surface of the mounting holder (<NUM>) away from the clamping space (13a) is defined with a reinforcing rib (<NUM>), the reinforcing rib (<NUM>) being configured to extend from a center of the mounting holder (<NUM>) to an edge of the fresh air housing (<NUM>), and is connected to the protruding edge (<NUM>); and
a fresh air motor (<NUM>), mounted in the clamping space (13a), wherein an extending direction of the reinforcing rib (<NUM>) is perpendicular to an extending direction of the protruding edge (<NUM>).