JP2012042072A - Indoor unit for air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

An indoor unit of an air conditioner that can increase and stabilize the amount of discharge of electrostatic mist into an air-conditioned space is provided.
A ventilation path 9 that connects a suction port 5 and an outlet 6 provided in an indoor unit body 4 includes a heat exchanger 10 and a cross-flow fan 11 that constitutes an indoor blower. A water supply unit that is disposed in a space communicating with the ventilation path 9a on the suction port 5 side, supplies water to the discharge unit, a high-voltage application device that applies a voltage to the discharge unit, and discharges electrostatic mist An electrostatic atomizing unit 13 having a discharge part that generates electrostatic mist by the crystallization phenomenon is provided. A mist discharge port 13a for discharging the electrostatic mist generated by the electrostatic atomization unit 13 was formed on the upper surface of the air outlet side ventilation passage 9b.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  Embodiments described herein relate generally to an indoor unit of an air conditioner.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an indoor unit of an air conditioner that includes an electrostatic atomization unit is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). This is a main flow path that connects a suction port for sucking indoor air by an indoor fan and a blow-out port for exchanging heat of the sucked indoor air by a heat exchanger and blowing it again into the room (air-conditioned space) as temperature-controlled air. Further, a bypass flow path for bypassing the intake air is provided in parallel, and an electrostatic atomization unit is disposed in the bypass flow path.

  And the mist discharge port which discharge | releases the electrostatic mist produced | generated by this electrostatic atomization unit is provided in the side surface of the main flow path by the side of a blower outlet.

  For this reason, the pressure on the main flow path side in the vicinity of the mist discharge port becomes negative pressure than the pressure on the mist discharge port side due to the ventilation of the indoor fan, so the mist on the mist discharge port side is on the main flow path side due to the negative pressure on the main flow path side. Sucked into. As a result, the electrostatic mist is blown into the room along with the temperature-controlled air blown into the room from the air outlet of the main channel, decomposes the odor components and organic matter in the room, deodorizes, etc. The effect of can be produced.

JP 2009-204229 A

  However, the device described in Patent Document 1 has a problem that the amount of discharge of electrostatic mist into the room is small and unstable. That is, since a cross flow fan is used as the indoor fan, the wind speed on the side of the main flow path on the outlet side is not necessarily high speed and is not a steady flow. For this reason, since the negative pressure on the main flow channel side with respect to the mist discharge port opened on the side surface of the main flow channel on the air outlet side is not necessarily large and unstable, the electrostatic mist sucked from the mist discharge port to the main flow channel side The suction volume is small and unstable. Thereby, the discharge amount of the electrostatic mist into the room is small and unstable.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and its purpose is to increase the amount of discharge of electrostatic mist into the room (air-conditioned space) and to stabilize the air conditioner indoor unit. The purpose is to provide indoor units.

  According to the present embodiment, the heat exchanger and the cross-flow fan that constitutes the indoor fan are disposed in the ventilation path that communicates the suction port and the air outlet that are disposed in the indoor unit main body.

  In addition, according to the present embodiment, a water supply unit that is disposed in a space communicating with the suction side air passage and supplies water to the discharge unit, and a high voltage application unit that applies a voltage to the discharge unit to discharge the water. And an electrostatic atomizing unit having a discharge part that generates electrostatic mist by an electrostatic atomization phenomenon of water by discharge.

  Furthermore, according to this embodiment, the mist discharge port which discharge | releases the electrostatic mist produced | generated with the electrostatic atomization unit is formed in the upper surface of the blower outlet side ventilation path.

The longitudinal cross-sectional view of the indoor unit of the air conditioner which concerns on this embodiment. The whole external appearance perspective view of the indoor unit shown in FIG. The principal part enlarged view of FIG. The perspective view of the electrostatic atomizer provided with the electrostatic atomization unit shown in FIG. The disassembled perspective view of the electrostatic atomization unit shown in FIG. (A) is a schematic front view of the electrostatic atomization unit shown in FIG. 4, (b) is a schematic side view of the same. The perspective view when the front side of the indoor unit with the front panel removed is suppressed. The perspective view when the filter unit attachment frame shown in FIG. 7 is seen from the back side.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the same or an equivalent part in several drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an indoor unit of an air conditioner according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is an overall perspective view of the indoor unit, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, in the indoor unit 1, a housing of the indoor unit body 4 is configured by a rear plate body 2 and a front panel 3 that are fixed to a mounting surface such as an indoor wall surface. The front panel 3 constitutes a housing part on the front surface, upper surface, and both left and right side surfaces of the indoor unit body 4, and the rear panel body 2 includes an attachment part for arranging and fixing components housed therein and the indoor unit body 4. It constitutes the back part.

  The upper surface and the front surface of the front panel 3 are provided with openings that form an upper suction port 5a and a front suction port 5b. A decorative panel 3a is attached to the opening on the front surface of the front panel 3 so as to shield the central portion in the vertical direction of the front surface of the opening over the entire width and to form a ventilation path at the upper and lower portions. Accordingly, the upper and lower sides of the decorative panel 3a form the front suction port 5b. The decorative panel 3a is configured to be openable and closable for maintenance such as cleaning of the filter disposed in the indoor unit body 4.

  An air outlet 6 is formed at the lower part of the front panel 3. The blower outlet 6 is provided with a wind direction louver 6a in which a horizontal louver that changes the wind direction in the vertical direction and a left and right louver disposed on the surface of the horizontal louver are integrated.

  A movable panel 3b is disposed across the entire width of the front panel 3 on the front side of the front suction port 5b and the blower outlet 6 below the decorative panel 3a.

  The movable panel 3b includes support shafts on the left and right of the upper part, and is configured to open and close by rotating the lower end side forward. The opening / closing operation of the movable panel 3b is performed by a driving source such as a motor (not shown) disposed in the indoor unit body 4.

  When the movable panel 3b is closed, the front surface forms a curved surface continuous with the upper decorative panel 3a, the front suction port 5b below the decorative panel 3a is closed, and the front of the blowout port 6 is shielded. The opening of the air outlet is made difficult to see from the front to improve the design.

  Further, in a state where the movable panel 3b is rotated and opened, the lower end side protrudes forward and becomes almost horizontal, and the upper surface side of the movable panel 3b opens the front suction port 5b. Since the lower surface side opens the front of the outlet, the movable panel 3b partitions the suction ventilation path and the blowing ventilation path in the upper and lower directions, and can prevent a short circuit phenomenon in which the blowing air flows to the suction opening side.

  An air filter 7 is disposed inside the upper and front suction ports 5a and 5b. An air filter cleaning device 8 for cleaning the air filter 7 is disposed in the vicinity of the lower end of the air filter 7. The air filter cleaning device 8 mainly includes an air filter feeding mechanism, a dust removing brush, and a dust box. The filter feed mechanism is driven during the air filter cleaning operation, and causes the lower end portion of the air filter to U-turn to the guide path on the back side (right side in FIG. 1) and move upward.

  The dust removing brush rotates in conjunction with the movement of the air filter, and dust is scraped off by a brush spirally wound around the outer surface of the rotating shaft and is dropped and stored in the dust box.

  The indoor unit main body 4 has an air passage 9 that communicates the upper and front suction ports 5a and 5b with the air outlet 6 in its internal space. The ventilation path 9 is provided with a substantially inverted V-shaped heat exchanger 10 on the upstream side thereof, and a cross-flow fan 11 constituting an indoor blower on the downstream side thereof, and a blower on the outlet 6 side. The air passage 9 communicates with the air outlet 6 via the air outlet passage 9b, and the air passage 9 has an air inlet passage 9a on the air inlet 5 side and an air outlet passage 9b.

  An electrostatic atomizing unit 13 is disposed in a portion of the ventilation path 9 that communicates with the suction port side ventilation path 9 a upstream of the heat exchanger 10. The electrostatic atomization unit 13 has the electrostatic mist discharge port 13a opened on the upper surface in the vicinity of the air outlet 6 of the air outlet side air passage 9b.

  As shown in FIGS. 4-6, the electrostatic atomization unit 13 is equipped with the high voltage application apparatus 16 which is the water supply part 14, the discharge part 15, and the high voltage pressurization means.

  The water supply unit 14 fixes a heat sink 14b made of a metal with good heat dissipation to one surface of a Peltier element 14a, which is an example of a cooling device, and water made of metal having high heat conductivity to the other surface of the Peltier element 14a. A generation plate 14c and a front cover 14d are attached.

  The heat sink 14b has a plurality of fins arranged in parallel at a required pitch on the outer surface of a base made of a metal rectangular flat plate with good heat dissipation.

  The water generating plate 14c is exposed to the space of the portion communicating with the suction side air passage 9a, and when cooled by the Peltier element 14a, the surface of the water generating plate 14c is cooled by cooling the surface air. Condensed water w is generated on the surface. In addition, it is desirable that the space of the communication portion in which the water generation plate 14c is disposed is disposed not in a portion along the flow of the intake air in the suction port side ventilation passage 9a but in a portion where the air flow is relatively small. This is because if it is disposed in a portion where air flows, the generated condensed water is discharged into the flowing air, and the water generating action is reduced.

  The front cover 14d covers and electrically insulates the front surface of the Peltier element 14a, and has an opening for exposing the outer surface of the water generating plate 14c to the air inlet side air passage 9a, and is generated by the water generating plate 14c. A guide function for guiding the condensed water w to be supplied to the discharge unit 15 is provided. The front cover 14d is attached to the heat sink 14b by a wire-like stopper 14e having elasticity shown in FIG.

  The discharge unit 15 includes a discharge pin 15a made of a porous felt pin or the like to which condensed water w is supplied from the water supply unit 14, a lower electrode cover 15b that accommodates the discharge pin 15a, and an upper half of the lower electrode cover 15b. An upper electrode cover 15c for covering is provided. A cylindrical connection end 15b1 connected to a resin mist discharge tube 17 having electrical insulation is integrally formed at one end of the lower electrode cover 15b.

  The discharge pin 15a is electrically connected to the high voltage application device 16 via a strip-shaped lead plate 15d having conductivity. The discharge pin 15a is discharged when a high voltage is applied by the high voltage applying device 16, and the discharge is applied to the dew condensation water w to generate the electrostatic atomization phenomenon, thereby generating water W (condensation water w). Electrostatic mist is generated by splitting the particle size from picometers to negatively charged fine particles of nanometer size.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the upstream side of the mist discharge pipe 17 on the electrostatic atomization unit 13 side has many bent portions, so that this upstream side is formed by the upstream portion 17a made of hard resin, and the remaining electrostatic mist discharge port In order to secure the degree of freedom when assembling the indoor unit body 4 on the downstream side of the 13a side, it is formed in a downstream portion 17b made of a soft resin hose or the like.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the mist discharge port 13a is disposed in the vicinity of one end of the horizontally long air outlet 6 in the drawing. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the electrostatic atomizing unit 13 is attached to the back surface of the filter unit attachment frame 18, and the mist discharge port 13 a is attached to the lower surface of the filter unit attachment frame 18.

  Next, the operation of the air conditioner 1 will be described.

  When the air conditioner is operated, the cross flow fan 11 constituting the indoor blower is rotationally driven. For this reason, room air is sucked into the indoor unit main body 4 from the suction port 5, foreign matter such as dust is captured and removed by the air filter 7, and further, the air is passed through the suction port side air passage 9 a and then the heat exchanger 10. The heat is exchanged at Here, the temperature-controlled air such as cold air or hot air subjected to heat exchange is blown out into the room again from the air outlet 6 through the air outlet side ventilation path 9b. By repeating this, the room temperature is adjusted.

  And in the electrostatic atomization unit 13, since the Peltier device 14a is energized, the water generating plate 14c is cooled by this Peltier device 14a. For this reason, a part of the suction air in the suction side air passage 9a comes into contact with the outer surface of the water generation plate 14c to be cooled, and the condensed water w is generated and attached to the outer surface of the water generation plate 14. Further, the condensed water w is guided by the water guide portion of the front cover 14d, dropped on the outer surface of the discharge pin 15a by gravity, and supplied to the discharge pin 15a.

  At this time, the discharge pin 15a is discharged when a high voltage is applied by the high voltage application device 16, and therefore, the discharge acts on the dew condensation water w adhering to the outer surface of the discharge pin 15a, and the electrostatic atomization phenomenon causes the discharge pin 15a to discharge. The particle size is divided into negative charged fine particles having a particle size of picometer to nanometer size, and electrostatic mist is generated.

  On the other hand, in the air outlet side ventilation path 9 b, the air near the mist discharge port 13 a becomes negative with respect to the pressure in the mist discharge pipe 17 due to the blowing of the cross flow fan 11. For this purpose, the electrostatic mist generated in the discharge unit 15 is sucked into the blower outlet 6 through the mist discharge pipe 17 and discharged into the blower outlet 6 from the mist discharge outlet 13a on the upper surface in the vicinity of the blower outlet 6. The

  For this reason, the electrostatic mist is discharged into the room along with the temperature-controlled air blown into the room from the air outlet 6 along with the flow of the temperature-controlled air. Since the electrostatic mist generates OH radicals having a strong oxidizing power, the strong oxidizing power of the OH radicals removes hydrogen atoms from the organic matter in the air and decomposes and cleans the bonds of the organic matter. The OH radical is highly reactive and eventually becomes carbon dioxide or water.

  Therefore, according to the indoor unit 1, the mist discharge port 13 a is provided in the vicinity of the air outlet 6 on the upper surface of the air outlet side air passage 9 b where the air velocity of the cross flow fan 11 is high and stable. The negative pressure toward the air outlet 6 with respect to the mist discharge port 13a can be increased and stabilized.

  For this reason, since the attraction | suction force which attracts | sucks electrostatic mist from the mist discharge port 13a into the blower outlet 6 improves and is stabilized, discharge | release amount of the electrostatic mist discharged | emitted from the blower outlet 6 indoors (air-conditioning space) Can be increased and stabilized.

  By the way, during heating operation, the high-temperature air heat-exchanged by the heat exchanger 10 has a low relative humidity, so there is a risk that the amount of condensed water w generated and deposited on the water generation plate 14c may be reduced. The amount of electric mist generated is reduced.

  However, according to the present embodiment, the electrostatic atomizing unit 13 is provided in a portion where the air flow communicating with the suction port side air passage 9a upstream of the heat exchanger 10 is relatively small. The condensed water w can be generated by the intake air before being heated to the heated air by the vessel 10. For this reason, electrostatic mist can be reliably generated even during heating operation.

  For this reason, since electrostatic mist is blown into the room together with the blown air, organic substances such as odorous components contained in the indoor air and odorous components adhering to curtains, indoor walls and furniture are strongly oxidized by OH radicals. It can decompose | decompose and can show purification effects, such as a deodorizing.

  In addition, in the present embodiment, the electrostatic atomization unit 13 is simply disposed in a portion where the air flow communicating with the suction port side ventilation path 9 is relatively small, so that the bypass pipe bypassing the heat exchanger 10 is provided. Compared to the conventional example in which the electrostatic atomizing unit is provided, the configuration can be simplified and the cost can be reduced.

  And according to this embodiment, while the mist discharge pipe 17 forms the upstream upstream part 17a with many bends with a hard resin, the downstream downstream part 17b gives the freedom degree at the time of an assembly | attachment. For this reason, since it is formed of a soft resin hose, it is possible to improve both the assembling property and the storing property when assembling the mist discharge tube 17 in the narrow internal space in the indoor unit body 4. In addition, since the upper and downstream portions 17a and 17b are formed of a resin having electrical insulation, electrical insulation for the electrostatic atomizing unit 13 having the discharge portion 15 can be improved.

  In addition, since electrostatic mist is charged particles, it is easily absorbed and reduced by metal parts such as the metal heat exchanger 10, but according to this embodiment, the vicinity of the air outlet 6 by the resin discharge pipe 17 is used. Since the metal parts such as the heat exchanger 10 are bypassed, the decrease in electrostatic mist can be suppressed.

  Furthermore, the electrostatic mist generates OH radicals by coming into contact with air, and the OH radicals are easily lost due to high reactivity. However, since the electrostatic mist is released in the vicinity of the outlet 6, The extinction of radicals can be suppressed.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the upstream portion 17a of the mist discharge pipe 17 is formed of a hard resin and the downstream portion 17b is formed of a soft resin hose has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, part or all of the discharge tube 17 may be formed of a conductive resin or an antistatic resin. However, when a part or all of the discharge tube 17 is formed of a conductive resin, it is necessary to ground.

  According to this, it is possible to prevent the mist discharge tube 17 from being charged by the discharge part 15 of the electrostatic atomizing unit 13, and to ground the conductive resin mist discharge tube 17 with a potential difference. Therefore, when the electrostatic mist, which is a charged particle, flows through the mist discharge tube 17, it is possible to prevent the amount of discharge from being reduced by being electrically adsorbed on the inner surface of the discharge tube 17. .

  Further, even when the mist discharge tube 17 is not formed of a conductive resin, for example, a C-shaped grounding member adapted to the curved surface of the upper inner surface is provided from the upper surface of the inner surface to both side surfaces, and grounded. Good. According to this, when the electrostatic mist which is a charged particle flows in the mist discharge tube 17, the mist discharge tube 17 may be charged. However, since the charge is grounded, the charge of the mist discharge tube 17 is charged. Prevention can be achieved. In addition, since only the upper side is locally grounded by the C-shaped ground member, not the lower side of the inner surface of the mist discharge pipe 17, a large amount of electrostatic mist is generated during cooling, for example. Even if it stays in the discharge pipe 17, there is a high possibility that the electrostatic mist will not stay on the inner surface of the mist discharge pipe 17, so the electrostatic atomization unit 13 and the ground are short-circuited through the stayed electrostatic mist. Can be prevented.

  Moreover, although the case where the Peltier element 14a was provided as a cooling device of the water supply part 14 was demonstrated in the said embodiment, it is not limited to the Peltier element 14a, The means to cool the water production | generation board 14c or the discharge pin 15a If it is. Furthermore, the water supply unit 14 may be configured to supply water from the water tank to the discharge unit 15. Also in this case, since the water tank is disposed in the air inlet side ventilation path 9a, the water tank can be attached and detached without being obstructed by the heat exchanger 10.

  As mentioned above, although several embodiment of this invention was described, these embodiment is shown as an example and is not intending limiting the range of invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Indoor unit, 4 ... Indoor unit main body, 5 ... Air inlet, 6 ... Air outlet, 9 ... Ventilation channel, 9a ... Air inlet side air passage, 10 ... Heat exchanger, 11 ... Cross-flow fan, 9b ... Air outlet side Ventilation path, 13 ... Electrostatic atomization unit, 13a ... Mist discharge port, 14 ... Water supply unit, 14a ... Peltier element, 14c ... Water generating plate, 15 ... Discharge unit, 15a ... Discharge pin, 16 ... High voltage application device (High voltage application means), 17 ... mist discharge pipe, w ... dew condensation water.

Claims (4)

In the indoor unit of an air conditioner in which a heat exchanger and a cross-flow fan that constitutes an indoor fan are arranged in a ventilation path that communicates the suction port and the outlet provided in the indoor unit main body,
A water supply unit that is disposed in a space communicating with the suction side air passage, supplies water to the discharge unit, a high voltage application unit that applies voltage to the discharge unit to discharge, and electrostatic mist of water by discharge Comprising an electrostatic atomizing unit having a discharge part that generates electrostatic mist by the crystallization phenomenon, and the mist discharge port for discharging the electrostatic mist generated by the electrostatic atomizing unit is an upper surface of the air outlet side ventilation path An air conditioner indoor unit characterized by being formed into There is an electrostatic mist discharge tube connecting the electrostatic atomization unit and the mist discharge port, and the electrostatic mist discharge tube is formed of a hard resin on the electrostatic atomization unit side, and the mist discharge port side is The indoor unit for an air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the indoor unit is formed of a soft resin. An electrostatic mist discharge pipe connecting the electrostatic atomization unit and the mist discharge port, and the electrostatic mist discharge pipe is partially or entirely formed of a conductive resin and grounded; or The indoor unit for an air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the indoor unit is formed of an antistatic resin. An electrostatic mist discharge pipe for connecting the electrostatic atomization unit and the mist discharge port is provided, and the electrostatic mist discharge pipe is provided with a grounding member for grounding from the upper surface of the inner surface to both side surfaces. The indoor unit of the air conditioner according to claim 1.

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