JP7607191B2 - Wall-mounted air conditioner - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to a wall-mounted air conditioner that improves the ease of installation of the indoor unit of the air conditioner.

Patent Document 1 discloses an air conditioner installation device that improves the ease of installation of the indoor unit during piping work and other such work. This installation device is equipped with a mounting plate fixed to the wall of a house, and multiple hooks for engaging the indoor unit are provided on the rear side of the indoor unit, and the hooks are positioned on the rear side of the heat exchanger and fan motor, which are approximately at the center of gravity of the indoor unit.

Patent Document 2 discloses an air conditioner that effectively utilizes a support material that supports the indoor unit in an inclined position during piping work, after using the support material as a brace. The support material for this air conditioner includes a base that is rotatably attached to the back of the indoor unit, a bracing part extending from the base, an abutment part that bends from the tip of the bracing part and abuts against the installation frame, and a pipe support part extending from the abutment part; by rotating the support material downward, the pipe support part can be placed into the pipe installation space, and the pipe to be installed in the pipe installation space can be pushed in with the support material.

JP 2002-98403 A JP 2006-145049 A

This disclosure provides a wall-mounted air conditioner that improves the workability of the indoor unit during piping and wiring work, while reducing the depth size and improving energy efficiency.

The wall-mounted air conditioner disclosed herein comprises a heat exchanger disposed in the horizontal center of the main casing, a fan motor disposed at one side end of the main casing, an installation plate having an engagement portion at the top for engaging the main casing, and a holding member for holding the main casing at an incline with the main casing engaged with the engagement portion during installation. The main casing has a holding member storage portion in which the holding member is stored, and has a rotation support portion with a horizontal shaft that engages with the holding member. The holding member is disposed on the rear side of the main casing and is disposed on the opposite side of the fan motor across the heat exchanger when viewed from the front, has a rotating shaft portion with the horizontal shaft as its axis, and is stored by rotating upward.

In the wall-mounted air conditioner disclosed herein, the holding member that holds the indoor unit at an angle during installation is located on the opposite side of the fan motor across the heat exchanger when viewed from the front, making effective use of the storage space in the depth direction of the electrical equipment and increasing the effective length of the heat exchanger. Furthermore, since there is no need to provide a holding member on the back side of the heat exchanger in the main casing, the area of the heat transfer portion of the heat exchanger can be increased. Furthermore, regardless of the space in which the piping is arranged, the holding member can be stored while maintaining the indoor unit in an angled state, making piping work easy to perform. This makes it possible to reduce the depth size of the indoor unit, improve energy-saving performance, and further improve workability when installing the indoor unit.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a wall-mounted air conditioner according to a first embodiment. 1 is a rear view of a wall-mounted air conditioner according to a first embodiment. FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of a wall-mounted air conditioner according to a first embodiment, as viewed from the rear side; FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a holding member according to a first embodiment; FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA, which is the center of a holding member according to the first embodiment; FIG. 1 is a side view of a wall-mounted air conditioner according to a first embodiment when the wall-mounted air conditioner is installed on a wall. FIG. 1 is a side view of a wall-mounted air conditioner according to a first embodiment when installed. FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a wall-mounted air conditioner according to a second embodiment, viewed from slightly below the front. FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a wall-mounted air conditioner with a construction cover removed according to a second embodiment, viewed from slightly below the front; FIG. 11 is a side view of a wall-mounted air conditioner according to a second embodiment when installed.

(The knowledge and other information that formed the basis of this disclosure)
At the time when the inventors came up with the present disclosure, users were demanding an air conditioner equipped with an indoor unit that was excellent in design, compact in depth, and had high energy-saving performance. Also, workers who install air conditioners were demanding improved workability when performing piping and wiring work when installing a wall-mounted air conditioner on a wall. In general, in order to secure space for piping and wiring work, a method is available in which an installation plate is fixed to the wall inside the room in advance, a hook part of the indoor unit is hooked on a locking part of the installation plate, and the indoor unit is tilted and held by a holding member.

As shown in Patent Document 1, in the conventional tilt-holding method during installation, in order to stabilize the holding state, the holding member is often provided at the approximate center or approximate center of gravity of the indoor unit, and space is required to place the mounting member and the locking part. Therefore, the mounting member and the locking part are located on the rear side of the heat exchanger, and they need to be placed so that they do not interfere with the rear-side heat exchanger and the space, so the area of the heat transfer part of the stored heat exchanger cannot be increased, and it is difficult to increase its volume. In addition, if you try to place them on the rear side of the electrical equipment and fan motor, the boards stored in the electrical equipment cannot be made larger in the depth direction, and the only way to make them larger is to place multiple boards horizontally, which shortens the effective horizontal length of the heat exchanger. As another method of placing the electrical equipment, it may be placed in front of the heat exchanger, which is the front side of the indoor unit, but it is difficult to place them in this way in thin models with a compact depth.

As shown in Patent Document 2, the support material that maintains the inclined state when installed is rotated downward in a direction different from the rear side of the heat exchanger and stored in the piping installation space. In this case, the space formed by the air passage connected to the air outlet of the air conditioner, the rear side of the insulation material that insulates this air passage, and the indoor wall surface becomes the piping installation space, making it possible to increase the area of the heat transfer part of the stored heat exchanger. However, while there is no problem if the piping installation space is sufficiently large, in wall-mounted air conditioners with a compact depth, this piping installation space cannot be made large, making it difficult to secure space to store the support material that maintains the inclined state when installed. In addition, since the working space is small, the work of storing this support material is not easy.

The inventors therefore discovered a problem in that when a wall-mounted air conditioner with a compact depth is equipped with a retaining member that maintains the inclined state during installation, if they try to increase the volume of the heat exchanger to improve energy-saving performance, it is not possible to increase the volume of the heat exchanger because space is required for the retaining member and the locking part that locks the retaining member, as well as space to store the retaining member inside the indoor unit. In order to solve this problem, the inventors came up with the subject matter of the present disclosure.

The present disclosure provides a wall-mounted air conditioner that improves the workability of the indoor unit during piping and wiring work, while also reducing the depth and improving energy efficiency.

Below, the embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, more detailed explanation than necessary may be omitted. For example, detailed explanation of already well-known matters or duplicate explanation of substantially the same configuration may be omitted. This is to avoid the following explanation becoming unnecessarily redundant and to make it easier for those skilled in the art to understand.

The accompanying drawings and the following description are provided to enable those skilled in the art to fully understand the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the subject matter described in the claims.

(Embodiment 1)
Hereinafter, the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

[1-1. Configuration]
[1-1-1. Configuration of wall-mounted air conditioner]
Figure 1 is a front view of a wall-mounted air conditioner, with the front frame 2 (see Figure 6) and the outlet grill removed so that the arrangement of the components inside the main casing 1 can be seen, and Figure 2 shows a rear view of the wall-mounted air conditioner.

As shown in FIG. 1, the wall-mounted air conditioner of this embodiment 1 is provided with a main casing 1, a heat exchanger 3, a fan motor 4, a cross-flow fan (not shown), an electrical equipment section 5 that houses a drive power supply and a control board for driving the fan motor 4, and a holding member storage section 1b that houses a holding member 7.

In a wall-mounted air conditioner, the cross-flow fan is driven by the fan motor 4 to rotate, sucking in indoor air through the intake port formed in the front frame 2, and blowing the air that has been heat-exchanged in the heat exchanger 3 out of the exhaust port into the room. During cooling operation in which the heat exchanger 3 functions as an evaporator, the moisture in the air condenses and generates condensed water, which is collected in a drain pan formed by the main casing 1 or the exhaust grill, and is discharged to the outside through a drain hose connected to the drain pan. In addition, in order to circulate the refrigerant between the heat exchanger provided in the outdoor unit and the heat exchanger 3 of the indoor unit, two types of refrigerant pipes, one for high pressure and one for low pressure, are connected by auxiliary pipes 8 covered with insulating material. This auxiliary pipe 8 is routed to the lower part of the back side of the main casing 1 and connected to the outdoor unit through a hole in the wall located on the back side of the wall-mounted air conditioner.

As shown in FIG. 2, the rear side of the main casing 1 is provided with an installation plate 6 that fixes the main casing 1 to the indoor wall surface and a holding member 7 that keeps the wall-mounted air conditioner tilted against the wall when installed. The upper part of the installation plate 6 is provided with a locking portion 6a that hooks onto the mounting claw 1a provided on the upper part of the rear side of the main casing 1. The holding member 7 is located on the rear side inside the main casing 1, on the opposite side of the fan motor 4 across the heat exchanger 3 when viewed from the front, and is positioned so as not to overlap the heat exchanger 3.

[1-1-2. Configuration of holding member]
Fig. 3 is a partial perspective view of the wall-mounted air conditioner as viewed from the rear side, showing (a) a state in which the holding member 7 is stored in the holding member storage section 1b of the main body casing 1, and (b) a state in which the holding member 7 is opened 90 degrees from the main body casing 1. As shown in Fig. 3, the main body casing 1 is provided with a rotation support section that engages with the rotation shaft section 7b of the holding member 7 and has a horizontal shaft 7a as the rotation shaft, and the holding member 7 rotates upward to be stored in the holding member storage section 1b of the main body casing 1. The holding member 7 is engaged with a claw or the like (not shown) to maintain the 90-degree open state relative to the main body casing 1.

Figure 4 shows a perspective view of the holding member 7, and Figure 5 shows a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A in Figure 4, which is the center of the holding member 7. The holding member 7 has a rotating shaft portion 7b that engages with the rotation support portion to rotate on a horizontal shaft 7a, a rotation stopper portion 7c that stops the rotation when the holding member 7 rotates 90 degrees relative to the main casing 1, and a contact surface 7d that contacts the indoor wall surface or the installation plate 6 when the wall-mounted air conditioner is held at an angle against the wall. As shown in Figure 5, the holding member 7 is designed to have a height H so that the contact area of the contact surface 7d against the indoor wall surface or the installation plate 6 is large, and the approximately box-shaped shape makes it possible to maintain high rigidity of the holding member 7 even when it is thin-walled.

[1-2. Installation work]
The installation work for the wall-mounted air conditioner configured as above will be described below.

Figure 6 shows a side view of a wall-mounted air conditioner when it is installed on a wall, and Figure 7 shows a side view of the wall-mounted air conditioner when piping and installation work is being performed, i.e., when the wall-mounted air conditioner is supported by the holding member 7 and held in an inclined position.

First, in preparation for installation of the wall-mounted air conditioner of the present disclosure, the mounting plate 6 is fixed to the wall with screws in several places. Next, as shown in FIG. 7, the mounting claws 1a provided on the upper part of the back side of the main body casing 1 are hooked onto the locking parts 6a of the mounting plate 6 so that the front frame 2 does not hit the ceiling 11, and the holding member 7 stored in the holding member storage part 1b of the main body casing 1 is rotated 90 degrees by the worker's hand to open it. When the holding member 7 is in the 90-degree open state, it abuts against the wall side, and the wall-mounted air conditioner can be tilted and maintained in its position. Then, in this tilted state, space is secured between the wall-mounted air conditioner and the wall 10, and work is performed to connect the refrigerant piping of the indoor unit and the outdoor unit, to install the drain hose, and to electrically connect the indoor unit and the outdoor unit. Once the piping and installation work is complete, the holding member 7 is rotated 90 degrees upward and stored in the holding member storage section 1b of the main casing 1, and the rear side of the main casing 1 and the mounting plate 6 are fixed with nails or screws so that they fit together at the bottom. After checking that the main casing 1 and the mounting plate 6 are securely fitted together, the wall-mounted air conditioner is installed on the wall 10.

[1-3. Effects, etc.]
As described above, in this embodiment, the wall-mounted air conditioner comprises a heat exchanger 3 arranged in the horizontal center within the main casing 1, a fan motor 4 arranged at one side end within the main casing 1, an installation plate 6 having an engagement portion 6a at the top for engaging the main casing 1, and a holding member 7 for holding the main casing 1 at an inclination with the main casing 1 engaged with the engagement portion 6a during installation, wherein the main casing 1 has a holding member storage portion 1b in which the holding member 7 is stored, and the holding member 7 is arranged on the rear side within the main casing 1 and is arranged on the opposite side of the fan motor 4 across the heat exchanger 3 when viewed from the front, has a rotating support portion with a horizontal axis that engages with the holding member 7, and has a rotating shaft portion whose axis is the horizontal shaft, and is rotated upwards for storage.

As a result, the holding member 7 that holds the indoor unit at an angle during installation is placed on the opposite side of the fan motor 4 across the heat exchanger 3 when viewed from the front, making effective use of the storage space in the depth direction of the electrical equipment 5 and increasing the effective horizontal length of the heat exchanger 3. Furthermore, since there is no need to provide the holding member 7 on the back side of the heat exchanger 3 in the main casing 1, the cross-sectional area of the heat exchanger 3 can be increased. In addition, since the holding member 7 is placed so as not to overlap the heat exchanger 3 when viewed from the front, it is possible to secure storage space for the holding member and configure a shape necessary for holding it regardless of the cross section of the heat exchanger 3. Furthermore, the holding member 7 can be stored on the upper side that is not related to the space for arranging the piping, making it easy to perform piping work. As a result, it is possible to compact the depth size of the indoor unit, improve energy saving performance, and further improve the workability when installing the indoor unit.

As in this embodiment, the retaining member 7 is formed in a generally box shape and may have a contact surface 7d that contacts the interior wall surface or the mounting plate 6.

By making the retaining member 7 substantially box-shaped, sufficient strength and rigidity can be ensured even if the retaining member 7 is a resin molded product. Furthermore, by increasing the height H of the retaining member 7, the area of the contact surface 7d that comes into contact with the indoor wall surface or the mounting plate 6 attached to the indoor wall surface can be increased. Therefore, when the wall-mounted air conditioner is held at an angle, it can be firmly supported against the indoor wall surface even if there is no retaining member at the center of gravity, and it can maintain a stable posture. This makes it possible to maintain and improve workability. Also, if it is directly abutted against the indoor wall surface, there is no need to place the mounting plate 6 where the retaining member 7 is placed. Therefore, the amount of material for the mounting plate 6 can be reduced, leading to lower costs.

As in this embodiment, the holding member 7 has a rotation stopper 7c that can stop the rotational motion when rotated 90 degrees around the rotating shaft 7b, and may also have a rotation stopper locking portion that locks the rotation stopper 7c to the holding member 7 and/or the main casing 1.

As a result, by supporting the holding member 7 rotated 90 degrees relative to the main casing 1, it is possible to configure the holding member 7 to an optimal length without ensuring a length that is longer than necessary, and by rotating the holding member 7 until the rotation stopper 7c hits the holding member storage section 1b of the main casing 1, it will be rotated 90 degrees. At that time, the rotation stopper 7c can be locked by a rotation stopper locking section such as a claw. This prevents the holding member 7 from rotating unintentionally during piping installation work, making it impossible to maintain the tilted state, allowing the worker to work safely.

As in this embodiment, the retaining member 7 may be positioned adjacent to one side of the main casing 1.

This allows the holding member 7 to be positioned at a distance that allows it to be grasped by hand from the side. This allows the holding member 7 to be easily moved, improving workability.

(Embodiment 2)
The second embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS.

[2-1. Overall configuration]
The wall-mounted air conditioner in embodiment 2 comprises a front frame 2 and a construction cover 15 that is placed on the underside of the front frame 2.

[2-2. Configuration of construction cover]
The construction cover 15, like the front frame 2, also has the design aspect of the wall-mounted air conditioner, and is configured as a separate body from the front frame 2. FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of the wall-mounted air conditioner in the second embodiment of the present disclosure, viewed from slightly below the front. The construction cover 15 is disposed at the bottom of the main body casing 1. The construction cover 15 also has a screw cover 16 on each side, and the screw covers 16 can be removed to remove the screws of the construction cover 15 fixed to the main body casing 1. After removing the screws, the construction cover 15 can be removed by removing the claws that are engaged with the main body casing 1 and the front frame 2.

Figure 9 shows a perspective view of the front when the construction cover 15 is removed, viewed from slightly below. The area enclosed by the dotted line at this point is the work space 20 for piping installation.

Figure 10 is a side view of the wall-mounted air conditioner in embodiment 2 when it is held at an angle against the indoor wall surface by the holding member 7 during installation work, and shows a partial cross section so that the piping storage space 30 can be seen. By removing the construction cover 15, a large work space 20 can be secured.

[2-3. Effects, etc.]
As described above, in this embodiment, the wall-mounted air conditioner has a piping storage space 30 for the interior and exterior connection piping that connects the indoor unit and the outdoor unit at the bottom of the main casing 1, and is equipped with a removable construction cover 15 that covers the interior and exterior connection piping located in the piping storage space 30.

This allows the work space 20 for arranging the piping to be made larger by removing the construction cover 15. Therefore, even if the holding member 7 is not located at the center of gravity, it is possible to ensure sufficient work space 20 for arranging the piping, improving workability.

Other Embodiments
As described above, the first and second embodiments have been described as examples of the technology disclosed in this application. However, the technology in this disclosure is not limited to these, and can be applied to embodiments in which modifications, substitutions, additions, omissions, etc. are made. In addition, it is also possible to combine the components described in the first and second embodiments to create new embodiments.

Therefore, other embodiments are given below as examples.

In the first and second embodiments, a wall-mounted air conditioner in which the fan motor 4 and electrical equipment 5 are arranged on the right side when viewed from the front, and the holding member 7 is arranged on the left side across the heat exchanger 3, has been described as an example of a wall-mounted air conditioner. Any wall-mounted air conditioner can be installed on a wall and used for air conditioning. Therefore, the wall-mounted air conditioner is not limited to a wall-mounted air conditioner in which the fan motor 4 and electrical equipment 5 are arranged on the right side when viewed from the front, and the holding member 7 is arranged on the left side across the heat exchanger 3. However, as a wall-mounted air conditioner, if the holding member 7 is arranged so that it does not overlap with the heat exchanger 3 when viewed from the front, the area of the heat transfer part of the heat exchanger can be increased regardless of the holding member 7, which allows the depth size of the indoor unit to be made compact, energy-saving performance to be improved, and workability when installing the indoor unit to be improved.

This disclosure is applicable to indoor units of air conditioners that are compact in depth and have high energy-saving performance. Specifically, this disclosure is applicable to wall-mounted air conditioners, etc.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Main casing 2 Front frame 3 Heat exchanger 4 Fan motor 5 Electrical equipment 6 Installation plate 7 Holding member 8 Auxiliary piping 10 Wall 11 Ceiling 15 Construction cover 16 Screw cover 20 Working space 30 Piping storage space

Claims (5)

a heat exchanger disposed in a horizontal center portion of a main body casing;
a fan motor disposed at one side end portion within the main body casing;
an installation plate having an upper portion with a locking portion for locking the main body casing;
a retaining member that retains the main casing at an inclination in a state in which the main casing is engaged with the engaging portion during installation,
the main body casing has a holding member housing portion in which the holding member is housed, and a rotation support portion having a horizontal shaft that engages with the holding member,
The holding member is disposed on a rear side within the main body casing, and
a fan motor having a rotation shaft portion having a horizontal axis as an axis, the fan motor being rotated upward and stored ;
A wall-mounted air conditioner characterized in that it is formed in a substantially box shape . The wall-mounted air conditioner according to claim 1, characterized in that the lower part of the main casing is provided with a piping storage space for the internal and external connection piping that connects the indoor unit and the outdoor unit, and is provided with a removable construction cover that covers the internal and external connection piping located in the piping storage space. 3. The wall-mounted air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein the holding member has a contact surface that contacts an indoor wall surface or the mounting plate. A wall-mounted air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the holding member is provided with a rotation stopper that can stop the rotational motion when rotated 90 degrees around the rotating shaft, and is provided with a rotation stopper locking portion that locks the rotation stopper to the holding member and/or the main body casing. A wall-mounted air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the holding member is disposed adjacent to one side of the main body casing.