Air conditioner
An air discharge apparatus usable with an air conditioner includes a body formed with a suction opening and a discharge opening, a blowing fan arranged in the body to circulate air, and a partition to separate a suction path defined between the suction opening and the blowing fan from a discharge path defined between the blowing fan and the discharge opening. The partition has a vortex-restraint portion, which protrudes into the discharge path to occupy a portion of a bottom region of the cross sectional area of the discharge path, thereby serving to prevent generation of a vortex of air in the discharge path.
This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2005-94532, filed on Oct. 7, 2005 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an air discharge apparatus, and more particularly, to an air discharge apparatus to prevent generation of a vortex of air in a discharge path defined between a fan and a discharge opening, and an air conditioner having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an air conditioner is an apparatus that is used for adjusting the temperature or humidity of air by heat transfer generated upon evaporation and condensation of a refrigerant. The air conditioner is classified into a separated-type air conditioner and an integral-type air conditioner.
The separated-type air conditioner is configured such that an indoor heat exchanger and an outdoor heat exchanger are mounted in an indoor unit and an outdoor unit, respectively, while being connected to each other via a refrigerant pipe. On the other hand, the integral-type air conditioner is configured such that all constituent components to make up a refrigeration cycle are mounted in a single body. The integral-type air conditioner is operated while being partially located in a room on an inside of a window while the remaining part is located on an outside of the window. Such an integral-type air conditioner is often referred to as a window-type air conditioner.
It can be easily understood from
The present general inventive concept provides an air discharge apparatus capable of preventing generation of a vortex of air in a discharge path defined between a discharge opening and a blowing fan, and an air conditioner having the same.
Additional aspects and advantages of the present general inventive concept 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 general inventive concept.
The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present general inventive concept may be achieved by providing an air conditioner including a body formed with a suction opening and a discharge opening, a blowing fan arranged in the body to circulate air, and a partition to separate a suction path defined between the suction opening and the blowing fan from a discharge path defined between the blowing fan and the discharge opening, the partition includes a vortex-restraint portion, which protrudes into the discharge path to occupy a portion of a bottom region of a cross sectional area of the discharge path, to prevent generation of a vortex of air in the discharge path.
The vortex-restraint portion may have a path-expanding portion to allow the cross sectional area of the discharge path to increase toward the discharge opening.
The path-expanding portion may include a slope that is downwardly sloped toward the discharge opening or may have a step shape descending in the direction of the discharge opening.
The vortex-restraint portion may be located in a predetermined region of the discharge path that exhibits a relatively low discharge flow rate. In particular, the vortex-restraint portion may be located on a left side of a rotational center of the blowing fan when the blowing fan rotates clockwise.
The air conditioner may further include an indoor heat exchanger arranged beneath the partition, and the partition may have a flat plane portion formed at the front side of the vortex-restraint portion to come into contact with the indoor heat exchanger.
The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing an air conditioner including a body formed with a suction opening and a discharge opening, a blowing fan arranged in the body to circulate air, and a partition to separate a suction side of the blowing fan from a discharge side of the blowing fan to define an air discharge path along with the body, the partition mounted with a vortex-restraint member, which protrudes into the discharge path to prevent discharge air from flowing backward in a bottom region of the discharge path.
The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing an air conditioner, comprising a body having a suction opening, a discharge opening, an uppercase, and a bottom plate, a blowing fan disposed between the upper case and the bottom plate to generate an air path between the suction opening and the discharge opening, and a partition disposed between the upper case and the bottom plate to divide the air path into a suction path from the suction opening to the blowing fan and a discharge path from the blowing fan to the discharge opening, and having a first surface spaced-apart from the upper case by a first distance to define a first cross-sectional area perpendicular to a discharge direction of the discharge path, and a second surface spaced-apart from the upper case by a second distance to define a second cross-sectional area perpendicular to the discharge direction of the discharge path.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThese and/or other aspects and advantages of the present general inventive concept will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, of which:
Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present general inventive concept, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present general inventive concept by referring to the figures.
As illustrated in FIGS. 2 to 4, an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept includes a body 10 defining a predetermined interior space therein. The body 10 may include an upper case 11, a front panel 12, a rear panel (not shown), and a bottom plate 13. The interior space of the body 10 is divided into front and rear sections by use of a central partition 14. The front section of the body 10 defines a first heat-exchange chamber 20, and the rear section defines a second heat-exchange chamber 30. The first heat-exchange chamber 20 may be an indoor heat exchange chamber, and the second heat-exchange chamber 30 may be an outdoor heat-exchange chamber.
The outdoor heat-exchange chamber 30 of
The upper case 11 of the body 10 has a plurality of inlet holes 15 formed at upper and opposite lateral surfaces thereof, so that the outside air is introduced into the outdoor heat-exchange chamber 30 in accordance with a rotation of the propeller fan 33. The rear panel (not shown) of the body 10 is formed with an outlet hole, so that the heat-exchanged air having passed through the outdoor heat exchanger 32 is discharged to an outside of the air conditioner. Also, a suction opening 16 and a discharge opening 17 are formed at the front panel 12 of the body 10 to suction and discharge indoor air. The discharge opening 17 is provided with one or more blades 17a to adjust a discharge direction of the indoor air.
The indoor heat-exchange chamber 20 of
As illustrated in
Now, the operation of the air conditioner having the above-described configuration will be briefly explained.
As illustrated in
As stated above, the air is discharged in the radial direction from the blowing fan 21. Thus, under the effect of the fluid inertia phenomenon, most of the air is driven into a top region 23a of the discharge path 23, and only a relatively small amount of the air passes through a bottom region 23b of the discharge path 23. This phenomenon is exacerbated if a size of the air conditioner, more particularly, a size of the fan casing 21c, is reduced such that the fan casing 21c has no sufficient path in a region adjacent to the discharge side 21b of the blowing fan 21. That is, if the fan casing 21c has no path sufficient to allow the dynamic pressure of the air to be converted into the static pressure in a vicinity of the discharge side 21b of the blowing fan 21, the air discharged from the blowing fan 21 will have an increased speed in the radial direction, thereby being driven more substantially towards the top region 23a of the discharge path 23. Such an unbalance in the flow of air between the top and bottom regions 23a and 23b of the discharge path 23 results in a vortex of air moving from the top region 23a to the bottom region 23b. The vortex of air can reduce a rate of air discharge from the discharge path 23, and may have a negative effect upon the performance of the air conditioner.
In order to prevent generation of the vortex of air, the partition 40 is formed with a vortex-restraint portion 41 protruding into the discharge path 23. The vortex-restraint portion 41 occupies the bottom region 23b of the discharge path 23 that shows a relatively low flow rate of air, thereby preventing the air passing through the top region 23a of the discharge path 23 from completely moving into the bottom region 23b.
Referring to
As illustrated in FIGS. 3 to 5, the vortex-restraint portion 41 has a path-expanding portion 41a or 41b to allow a cross sectional area of the discharge path 23 to increase toward the discharge opening 17. That is, the path-expanding portion 41a or 41b serves to prevent the vortex-restraint portion 41 protruding into the discharge path 23 from reducing the cross sectional area of the discharge path 23 to disadvantageously cause a decrease in flow rate. In an example embodiment illustrated in
The vortex-restraint portion 41 is provided in a specific region of the discharge path 23 that ordinarily exhibits a relatively low discharge flow rate. When the blowing fan 21 rotates clockwise with respect to the front panel 12 as illustrated in
In
As apparent from the above description, the present general inventive concept provides an air conditioner having an air discharge apparatus, which is designed to prevent generation of a vortex of air in a discharge path 23 defined between a blowing fan 21 and a discharge opening 17, thereby achieving an increased flow rate of discharge air.
Further, according to the present general inventive concept, the air conditioner can reduce flow noise of the discharge air, which would normally be caused by a vortex of air.
Although a few embodiments of the present general inventive concept 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 general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.
Claims
1. An air conditioner comprising:
- a body formed with a suction opening and a discharge opening;
- a blowing fan arranged in the body to circulate air; and
- a partition to separate a suction path defined between the suction opening and the blowing fan from a discharge path defined between the blowing fan and the discharge opening, the partition comprising a vortex-restraint portion, which protrudes into the discharge path to occupy a portion of a bottom region of a cross sectional area of the discharge path, to prevent generation of a vortex of air in the discharge path.
2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the vortex-restraint portion comprises a path-expanding portion to allow the cross sectional area of the discharge path to increase toward the discharge opening.
3. The air conditioner according to claim 2, wherein the path-expanding portion comprises a slope that is downwardly sloped toward the discharge opening.
4. The air conditioner according to claim 2, wherein the path-expanding portion comprises a step shape descending in a direction to the discharge opening.
5. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the vortex-restraint portion is located in a predetermined region of the discharge path to exhibit a relatively low discharge flow rate.
6. The air conditioner according to claim 5, wherein the vortex-restraint portion is located on a left side of a rotation center of the blowing fan when the blowing fan rotates clockwise.
7. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein:
- the air conditioner further comprises an indoor heat exchanger arranged beneath the partition; and
- the partition comprises a flat plane portion formed at the front side of the vortex-restraint portion to come into contact with the indoor heat exchanger.
8. An air conditioner comprising:
- a body formed with a suction opening and a discharge opening;
- a blowing fan arranged in the body to circulate air; and
- a partition to separate a suction side of the blowing fan from a discharge side of the blowing fan to define an air discharge path along with the body, the partition mounted with a vortex-restraint member, which protrudes into the discharge path to prevent discharge air from flowing backward in a bottom region of the discharge path.
9. The air conditioner according to claim 8, wherein the vortex-restraint member comprises a path-expanding portion to allow a cross sectional area of the discharge path to increase toward the discharge opening.
10. The air conditioner according to claim 8, wherein the vortex-restraint member is located on a left side of a rotational center axis of the blowing fan when the blowing fan rotates clockwise.
11. An air conditioner, comprising:
- a body having a suction opening, a discharge opening, an uppercase, and a bottom plate;
- a blowing fan disposed between the upper case and the bottom plate to generate an air path between the suction opening and the discharge opening; and
- a partition disposed between the upper case and the bottom plate to divide the air path into a suction path from the suction opening to the blowing fan and a discharge path from the blowing fan to the discharge opening, and having a first surface spaced-apart from the upper case by a first distance to define a first cross-sectional area perpendicular to a discharge direction of the discharge path, and a second surface spaced-apart from the upper case by a second distance to define a second cross-sectional area perpendicular to the discharge direction of the discharge path.
12. The air conditioner according to claim 11, wherein the second surface is disposed between the suction opening and the first surface, and the second cross-sectional area is greater than the first cross-sectional area.
13. The air conditioner according to claim 11, wherein the first surface and the second surface are disposed in the discharge direction of the discharge path between the partition and the upper case.
14. The air conditioner according to claim 11, wherein the first surface and the second surface are disposed in a line perpendicular to the discharge direction of the discharge path.
15. The air conditioner according to claim 14, wherein the first cross-sectional area varies according to a distance from the suction opening.
16. The air conditioner according to claim 14, wherein the first distance of the first surface from the upper case varies according to a distance from the blowing fan.
17. The air conditioner according to claim 11, wherein the blowing fan generates first and second air currents along the discharge direction of the discharge path between the partition and the blowing fan, and the first and second surfaces form the discharge path with the upper case such that the first air current does not interfere with the second air current.
18. The air conditioner according to claim 11, wherein the first air current is formed along the upper case, and the second air current formed along one of the first and second surfaces of the partition.
International Classification: F25D 23/12 (20060101); F25D 17/06 (20060101);