JP2018124001A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air conditioner that makes it possible to have a sufficient deodorization effect, reduce the material cost, and reduce wasteful space.SOLUTION: An air conditioner has a heat exchanger. The heat exchanger has a fin that performs heat exchange, and an LED that applies light to the fin. To that surface of the fin that receives light from the LED, directly bonded is titanium oxide as a photocatalyst.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioner.

  Conventionally, deodorization and sterilization of an air conditioner and an air purifier are performed by a member such as a filter, an ion generator, a plasma generator, and the like. In particular, in recent years, a combination of a photocatalyst and an LED has been developed for an indoor unit of an air conditioner. For example, as in Patent Document 1, a floating substance decomposition unit that decomposes, kills, or inactivates a floating substance floating in the air when irradiated with light in a predetermined wavelength region, and an LED that emits light. There is an air conditioner indoor unit. In Patent Document 1, an optical semiconductor catalyst such as titanium oxide is used as the suspended matter decomposition part. However, like patent document 1, what combined the photocatalyst and LED in the indoor unit of an air conditioner has not reached practical use.

  On the other hand, in a heat exchanger such as Patent Document 2, which includes a copper pipe for flowing a refrigerant inside, and aluminum fins in which a large number of copper pipes are lined through the copper pipe and a hydrophilic layer is formed on an aluminum material, titanium oxide There has also been proposed a heat exchanger in which a nanoparticle deodorizing antibacterial material supporting zinc is added to the hydrophilic layer so that the surface side is more densely distributed than the aluminum material side.

  Further, as in Patent Document 3, an air conditioner including an ultraviolet LED that irradiates ultraviolet rays having a wavelength of 254 nm to 280 nm toward a heat exchanger has been proposed.

JP 2005-300110 A JP 2006-138567 A JP 2014-126303 A

  However, in recent years, there has been a demand for heat exchangers and air conditioners that can further reduce material costs and space in addition to a sufficient deodorizing effect.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides an air conditioner capable of obtaining a sufficient deodorizing effect, reducing material costs, and reducing useless space. With the goal.

  In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, an air conditioner having a heat exchanger, the heat exchanger includes a fin that performs heat exchange, and an LED that emits light toward the fin. And the fin provides the air conditioner by which the titanium oxide which is a photocatalyst is directly couple | bonded with the surface irradiated with light from said LED.

  With such an air conditioner, a sufficient deodorizing effect can be obtained. In addition, since titanium oxide is directly bonded to the fin, and a binder can be dispensed with, the material cost can be reduced. Moreover, since deodorization is performed on the surface of the fin of the heat exchanger, a separate member is not required, and a useless space can be reduced. Furthermore, since a filter that generates pressure loss is not necessary, deodorization and sterilization can be performed without a filter, and power saving and maintenance-free can be realized.

  At this time, the direct bonding of the titanium oxide to the fin is preferably performed by thermal spraying or fusion.

  Thus, in this invention, the direct coupling | bonding of the titanium oxide to the fin can be made | formed by thermal spraying or melt | fusion, for example.

  At this time, the light emitted from the LED is preferably visible light, ultraviolet light, or deep ultraviolet light.

  Thus, as LED used as a light source in the air conditioner of this invention, visible light, ultraviolet light, or deep ultraviolet light can be irradiated. Therefore, in order to obtain a simple deodorizing effect, an LED that emits visible light or ultraviolet light can be used as a light source. In addition to a deodorizing effect, an LED that emits deep ultraviolet light is used as a light source. It can also be used.

  At this time, the fin is preferably an aluminum fin, a copper fin, or a stainless steel fin.

  Thus, in the present invention, the above-described fins can be used, for example.

  If it is the air conditioner of this invention, while being able to acquire sufficient deodorizing effect, material cost can be reduced and a useless space can be reduced. Moreover, since deodorization and sterilization can be performed without a filter, power saving and maintenance-free can be realized.

It is the schematic which shows an example of the air conditioner of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the horizontal direction of the indoor unit of FIG. It is sectional drawing to which the fin of FIG. 2 was expanded.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an example of an air conditioner according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view in the lateral direction of the indoor unit in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the fins in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the air conditioner 1 is configured by connecting a wall-mounted indoor unit 2 attached to an indoor wall surface and an outdoor unit 3 installed outdoors by a connection pipe 4.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the indoor unit 2 includes a housing 7 having a suction port 5 at the upper end and a blowout port 6 at the lower end. A heat exchanger 8 and a blower fan 9 are arranged inside the housing 7, and the heat exchanger 8 includes a fin 10 that performs heat exchange and an LED 11 that emits light toward the fin 10. . The fin 10 is penetrated by a pipe 12 at a plurality of locations.

  The fin 10 is not particularly limited, but is preferably any one of an aluminum fin, a copper fin, and a stainless steel fin, and particularly preferably an aluminum fin.

  The number of LED11 is not specifically limited, One may be used and multiple may be used.

  The light emitted from the LED 11 is preferably visible light, ultraviolet light, or deep ultraviolet light. Thus, in this invention, LED used as a light source shall be irradiated with visible light, ultraviolet light, or deep ultraviolet light. Therefore, in order to obtain a simple deodorizing effect, an LED that emits visible light or ultraviolet light can be used as a light source. In addition to a deodorizing effect, an LED that emits deep ultraviolet light is used as a light source. It can also be used. In particular, by combining LEDs that irradiate deep ultraviolet light, generation of molds and the like in the fins can be suppressed, so that the frequency of fin cleaning can be reduced and the efficiency of the heat exchanger can be kept high.

  In the indoor unit 2, as indicated by an arrow in FIG. 2, first, the blower fan 9 is rotated to take in air from the suction port 5 at the upper end and perform heat exchange by passing through the heat exchanger 8. At the same time, the air is deodorized and sterilized. Thereafter, air that has been heat-exchanged and deodorized and sterilized can be taken out from the outlet 6 at the lower end.

  In this case, as shown in FIG. 3, titanium oxide 13 as a photocatalyst is directly bonded to the surface of the fin 10 on the surface irradiated with light from the LED. In the air conditioner of this invention, deodorization can be performed by irradiating light to the titanium oxide currently couple | bonded on the surface of the fin from LED, and causing a photocatalytic reaction. In the present invention, since titanium oxide is directly bonded to the fin, a binder can be made unnecessary for bonding titanium oxide to the fin. This not only saves material costs, but also requires little space to place the photocatalyst in the air conditioner. Moreover, there is no obstruction of the air flow.

  Although the titanium oxide 13 is directly bonded to the surface of the fin 10, it is preferable that the titanium oxide 13 is directly bonded to the fin 10 by thermal spraying or fusion.

  In the present invention, the heat exchanger 8 may be provided with a lens or a reflector. By providing a lens and a reflecting plate, light can be applied to a titanium oxide on the surface of the fin with a few LEDs in a wide range as much as possible, so that a higher deodorizing effect can be obtained.

  Moreover, in this invention, since it can deodorize and sterilize with the fin of a heat exchanger, the filter which generate | occur | produces a pressure loss can be made unnecessary. For this reason, the embodiment in which the filter is not provided in the indoor unit has been described as an example, but it is needless to say that the filter may be provided.

  With the air conditioner of the present invention as described above, a sufficient deodorizing effect can be obtained, material costs can be reduced, and wasted space can be reduced. Moreover, since deodorization and sterilization can be performed without a filter, power saving and maintenance-free can be realized.

  Here, an example is given and demonstrated about the case where a titanium oxide is directly couple | bonded with a fin by thermal spraying. As described below, titanium oxide can be directly bonded to the aluminum fins by plasma spraying.

  First, a roll-shaped aluminum plate is prepared as a base material for an aluminum fin.

  Next, plasma spraying is performed on the aluminum plate using titanium oxide particles. The average particle size of the titanium oxide particles used is preferably 10 to 70 μm. Moreover, it is preferable to use what contains hydrogen as plasma gas as conditions for plasma spraying, and it is preferable that electric power shall be 40 kW or more.

  By performing plasma spraying under such conditions, highly active titanium oxide particles are generated, and the titanium oxide particles are released to the surface of the substrate at a high speed, so that the titanium oxide particles collide with the aluminum plate. It bites in and bonds firmly to the aluminum plate. The coating film of titanium oxide particles formed in this way has a bonding strength that is several steps greater than the coating film of titanium oxide particles simply formed on a metal substrate having a metal surface.

  By finishing the aluminum plate thus obtained into aluminum fins, aluminum fins in which titanium oxide is directly bonded to the surface by thermal spraying can be obtained.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. The above-described embodiment is an exemplification, and the present invention has any configuration that has substantially the same configuration as the technical idea described in the claims of the present invention and that exhibits the same effects. Are included in the technical scope.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Air conditioner, 2 ... Indoor unit, 3 ... Outdoor unit, 4 ... Connection piping,
5 ... Suction port, 6 ... Outlet port, 7 ... Housing, 8 ... Heat exchanger,
9 ... Blower fan, 10 ... Fin, 11 ... LED,
12 ... pipe, 13 ... titanium oxide.

Claims (4)

An air conditioner having a heat exchanger,
The heat exchanger includes a fin that performs heat exchange, and an LED that emits light toward the fin.
An air conditioner characterized in that titanium oxide, which is a photocatalyst, is directly bonded to the fin on the surface irradiated with light from the LED.   The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the titanium oxide is directly bonded to the fin by thermal spraying or fusion.   The air conditioner according to claim 1 or 2, wherein light emitted from the LED is visible light, ultraviolet light, or deep ultraviolet light.   The air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the fin is any one of an aluminum fin, a copper fin, and a stainless steel fin.

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