Disclosure of Invention
An object of the present invention is to overcome at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art and to provide an indoor unit of an air conditioner with soft and comfortable air supply.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a conventional air conditioner which is small in size and simple in structure.
Another further object of the present invention is to reduce the noise of the air-conditioning indoor unit during operation.
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an indoor unit of an air conditioner, comprising:
a housing having an air inlet at a top thereof and an air outlet at a bottom thereof;
a heat exchange device horizontally disposed in the cabinet and configured to exchange heat with air flowing therethrough; and
the ion wind generating device is arranged on a flow path from the heat exchanging device to the air outlet in the shell and is configured to promote the air entering through the air inlet to flow to the heat exchanging device and promote the air after heat exchange through the heat exchanging device to flow to the air outlet through electric field force; wherein
The air outlet direction of the ion wind generating device is vertical and downward.
Optionally, the heat exchange device comprises a multi-fold evaporator; and is
The windward side of the multi-fold evaporator is in a sawtooth shape or a wavy shape along a section plane extending in the front-back direction and the vertical direction or along a section plane extending in the transverse direction and the vertical direction.
Optionally, the indoor unit of an air conditioner further includes:
the air guide mechanism is provided with at least two movable air guide plates which are arranged side by side in the front-rear direction, and the at least two movable air guide plates are configured to be controlled to synchronously swing in the front-rear direction so as to adjust the air outlet direction of the air outlet.
Optionally, the ion wind generating device includes a plurality of discharge modules arranged in sequence, and each discharge module includes a mesh electrode placed horizontally and a plurality of needle electrodes distributed on an upper side of the mesh electrode.
Optionally, projections of the needle electrodes of every two adjacent discharge modules in the air outlet surface of the ion wind generating device are overlapped.
Optionally, the needle electrodes of every two adjacent discharge modules are arranged in a staggered manner in the transverse direction, and the projections of the needle electrodes of every two adjacent discharge modules in the air outlet surface of the ion wind generating device are on the same horizontal line.
Optionally, the needle electrodes of every two adjacent discharge modules are arranged in a staggered manner in the transverse direction and the front-back direction.
Optionally, the needle electrode of each of the discharge modules is electrically connected to a positive or negative polarity high voltage terminal, and the mesh electrode of each of the discharge modules is electrically connected to a ground terminal, so that the plurality of discharge modules are connected in parallel.
Alternatively, the needle electrode of the discharge module located at one end of the ion wind generating device is electrically connected to a positive or negative polarity high voltage terminal, the mesh electrode of the discharge module located at the other end of the ion wind generating device is electrically connected to a ground terminal, and the mesh electrode of each of the discharge modules except the discharge module located at the other end of the ion wind generating device, which are arranged from one end of the ion wind generating device to the other end thereof, is electrically connected to the needle electrode of the discharge module located adjacent thereto downstream, so that the plurality of discharge modules are connected in series.
Optionally, the indoor unit of an air conditioner further includes:
and the water receiving tray is adjacently arranged below the heat exchange device so as to receive the condensed water dropping from the heat exchange device.
According to the air-conditioning indoor unit, the heat exchange device and the ion wind generating device are sequentially arranged in the shell from top to bottom, so that the air can better integrate the fluid state at the air inlet of the air-conditioning indoor unit, and the air flow is more stable. Furthermore, the internal structure of the indoor unit of the air conditioner can be flexibly adjusted on the basis of ensuring the required size of the ion wind generating device and the required area of the heat exchange device, and the size of the indoor unit of the air conditioner is reduced.
Furthermore, the invention promotes the ambient air to form heat exchange air after heat exchange of the heat exchange device through the ion wind device, and the heat exchange air flows to the air outlet. Because the ion wind generated by the ion wind generating device is not generated by pressure, but is a soft wind which is close to nature and is generated by electric field force, the stimulation on sense organs or the damage to the body health of a user can not be brought to the user, the comfort level of the air conditioner indoor unit can be further improved, and the purposes of soft, uniform and comfortable air supply are achieved. Compared with a rotary air supply assembly (such as a fan), the ion air generating device has the advantages of pressure loss, low energy consumption, low noise and the like, so that the noise generated when the air conditioner indoor unit operates is reduced to a certain extent.
Further, compared with a common evaporator, the multi-fold evaporator can increase the heat exchange area between air and the evaporator, so that the refrigerating and heating efficiency of the indoor unit of the air conditioner is improved. Furthermore, the air outlet of the indoor unit of the air conditioner can supply air within the range of 0-90 degrees to the horizontal plane through the swinging of the air deflector, so that large-angle and large-range air supply is really realized, and the refrigerating and heating efficiency of the indoor unit of the air conditioner is further improved.
Furthermore, the invention can ensure that the ion wind generating device can generate uniform ion wind with larger wind quantity by reasonably designing the spatial position relationship between the needle electrodes and the mesh electrodes and reasonably distributing the position relationship among a plurality of needle electrodes, thereby improving the wind speed, the wind quantity and the wind efficiency of the ion wind generating device.
The above and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of specific embodiments thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Drawings
Some specific embodiments of the invention will be described in detail hereinafter, by way of illustration and not limitation, with reference to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in the drawings identify the same or similar elements or components. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. In the drawings:
fig. 1 is a schematic structural view of an indoor unit of an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 2 is a schematic sectional structure view of the indoor unit of the air conditioner shown in fig. 1;
fig. 3 is a schematic exploded view of the indoor unit of the air conditioner shown in fig. 1;
FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of an ionic wind generating apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a schematic exploded view of an ionic wind generating device according to one embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a schematic front view of a pin grid layout of an ionic wind generating device according to one embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 7 is a schematic side view of a pin grid layout of an ionic wind generating device according to one embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a schematic top view of a pin grid layout of an ionic wind generating device according to one embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 9 is a schematic front view of a pin grid layout of an ionic wind generating device according to another embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 10 is a schematic side view of a pin grid layout of an ionic wind generating device according to another embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 11 is a schematic top view of a pin grid layout of an ionic wind generating device according to another embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 12 is a schematic front view of a pin grid layout of an ionic wind generating device according to yet another embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 13 is a schematic side view of a pin grid layout of an ionic wind generating device according to yet another embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 14 is a schematic top view of a pin grid layout of an ionic wind generating device according to yet another embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 15 is a schematic configuration diagram of a connection relationship between a plurality of discharge modules of the ion wind generating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 16 is a schematic structural view of a connection relationship between a plurality of discharge modules of an ion wind generating apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.
Detailed Description
Fig. 1 is a schematic configuration view of an air conditioning indoor unit 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention; fig. 2 is a schematic sectional configuration view of the air conditioning indoor unit 100 shown in fig. 1; fig. 3 is a schematic exploded view of the air conditioning indoor unit 100 shown in fig. 1. Referring to fig. 1 to 3, an air conditioning indoor unit 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a cabinet 10, a heat exchanging device 40 horizontally disposed in the cabinet 10, and an ion wind generating device 60 disposed in a flow path from the heat exchanging device 40 to an outlet 70 in the cabinet 10. Specifically, the ion wind generating device 60 may be disposed below the heat exchanging device 40, that is, the heat exchanging device 40 and the ion wind generating device 60 are disposed in order from top to bottom.
Specifically, the cabinet 10 has an intake vent 20 at the top thereof and an exhaust vent 70 at the bottom thereof.
In the air conditioning indoor unit 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the heat exchanging device 40 is configured to exchange heat with air flowing therethrough to change the temperature of the air flowing therethrough into heat exchange air (cold air or hot air). The ion wind generating device 60 is configured to induce the natural air entering through the air inlet 20 to flow to the heat exchanging device 40 and induce the heat exchanged air after heat exchange by the heat exchanging device 40 to flow to the air outlet 70 by an electric field force. The air outlet direction of the ion wind generating device 60 is vertically downward. It should be emphasized that the natural air referred to in the present invention means air that has not been heat-exchanged by the heat exchanging device 40, i.e. the ambient air of the ambient space where the indoor unit 100 of the air conditioner is located. The heat exchange air referred to in the present invention means air that has undergone heat exchange by the heat exchange device 40, and may be hot air when the indoor air conditioner 100 is in the heating mode, and may be cold air when the indoor air conditioner 100 is in the cooling mode.
Because the heat exchange device 40 and the ion wind generating device 60 are sequentially arranged in the casing 10 from top to bottom in the air-conditioning indoor unit 100 of the invention, the air can better integrate the fluid state at the air inlet 20 of the air-conditioning indoor unit 100, and the air flow is more stable. Further, the internal structure of the indoor unit 100 of the air conditioner can be flexibly adjusted on the basis of ensuring the required size of the ion wind generating device 60 and the required area of the heat exchanging device 40, and the volume of the indoor unit 100 of the air conditioner can be reduced.
Meanwhile, the ion wind generating device 60 utilizes the electric field force to make the particles in the air obtain kinetic energy, so as to form soft, uniform and comfortable ion wind without local high-speed airflow (since the generation principle of the ion wind is easily obtained and known by those skilled in the art, the description is omitted here). Since the ion wind generated by the ion wind generating device 60 is not generated by pressure but is a soft wind close to nature generated by an electric field force, the comfort of the air conditioning indoor unit 100 can be further improved. Meanwhile, compared with a rotary air supply component (such as a fan), the ion wind generating device 60 has the advantages of small pressure loss, low energy consumption, low noise and the like, so that the overall noise generated when the air conditioner indoor unit 100 operates is reduced to a certain extent.
In some embodiments of the present invention, heat exchange device 40 may comprise a multi-fold evaporator. The windward surface of the multi-fold evaporator may have a saw-toothed or wavy cross section taken along a section extending in the front-rear direction and the vertical direction or along a section extending in the lateral direction and the vertical direction. In other words, at least one of the cross sections of the multi-fold evaporator taken along the cross-sectional plane extending in the vertical direction is serrated or wavy. The special multi-fold evaporator structure can increase the heat exchange area between the air and the evaporator, thereby improving the cooling and heating efficiency of the indoor unit 100 of the air conditioner. Accordingly, the indoor unit 100 further includes a drain pan 50 adjacently disposed below the heat exchanging device 40 for receiving the condensed water dropped from the heat exchanging device 40. Specifically, one water pan 50 is provided directly below each of the lower edge edges of the multi-fold evaporator in a zigzag or wavy shape. The cross section of the drip tray 50 taken along a cross section extending in the front-rear direction and the vertical direction or along a cross section extending in the lateral direction and the vertical direction may be a trapezoidal groove, a semicircular groove, or other shapes.
In some embodiments of the present invention, the air conditioning indoor unit 100 may further include an air guiding mechanism having at least two movable air deflectors 80 arranged side by side in the front-rear direction, wherein the movable air deflectors 80 are configured to controllably swing synchronously in the front-rear direction to adjust the air outlet direction of the air outlet 70. In the present embodiment, the number of the movable wind deflectors 80 may be two, three or more. Through the swing of the movable air deflector 80, the air outlet 70 of the indoor air conditioner unit 100 can supply air within the range of 0-90 degrees to the horizontal plane, so that large-angle and large-range air supply is really realized, and the refrigerating and heating efficiency of the indoor air conditioner unit 100 can be further improved.
The indoor unit 100 may further include an air inlet grille disposed at the top of the casing 10, and natural air enters the inside of the indoor unit 100 through the air inlet grille to exchange heat with the heat exchanging device 40. The housing 10 may be integrally formed by injection molding. Each device or component of the indoor unit 100 of the air conditioner may be installed in the cabinet 10 by a mounting method such as a snap-fit.
FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of an ion wind generating device 60 according to one embodiment of the present invention; fig. 5 is a schematic exploded view of an ion wind generating device 60 according to one embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 4 and 5, the ion wind generating device 60 includes a plurality of discharge modules arranged in sequence, each of which includes a housing, a mesh electrode disposed inside the housing and horizontally disposed, and a plurality of needle electrodes distributed on an upper side of the mesh electrode. It is emphasized that references to a plurality in embodiments of the present invention mean two, three or more than three. Specifically, the mesh electrode may be a metal mesh having square holes, diamond holes, circular holes, or other shaped through holes. The needle electrode may be a discharge needle made of a metal material, and has a discharge tip, and the discharge tip may be directed to the center of a through hole of the mesh electrode.
Each discharge module further comprises a plurality of conductive bars and a conductive bar for supporting the plurality of conductive bars. A plurality of buckles arranged along the transverse direction are arranged on the bottom wall of the shell, so that the conducting rods penetrate through the shell from bottom to top and extend into the shell. Be equipped with a plurality of metal conducting strips on the busbar to the joint that makes the busbar be fixed in the diapire of casing through metal conducting strip and buckle.
Specifically, the plurality of needle electrodes of the discharge module are uniformly distributed on one side of the conductive rod facing the mesh electrode of the discharge module. Each of the conductive rods has an insulating protective layer formed on the outside thereof and a conductive layer formed on the inside thereof, the conductive layer being electrically connected to the needle electrodes distributed on the conductive rod. The side surface of each conducting rod facing the mesh electrode is provided with a plurality of pinholes for mounting the needle electrode, and a filling layer filled by a welding process is arranged around the needle electrode. Therefore, the needle-shaped electrode can be ensured to be well electrically connected with the conducting layer in the conducting rod, and the conducting layer can be strictly prevented from being exposed to the outside, so that the phenomenon of disordered discharge or ignition is avoided. The size of the needle may be slightly smaller than the size of the needle electrode so that the two are held together by an interference fit.
For convenience of description and understanding of the technical solution of the present invention, directional coordinates are given in fig. 5 to 13, wherein the OX direction denotes a lateral direction; the OY direction represents the front-back direction, the direction indicated by the OY arrow is front, and the direction indicated by the OY arrow is back; the OZ direction represents the vertical direction. And every two adjacent discharge modules are located at the lower part in the air outlet direction of the ion wind generating device 60 as a front stage discharge module 610, and located at the upper part in the air outlet direction as a rear stage discharge module 620. The front discharge module 610 has a mesh electrode 611 and a plurality of needle electrodes 612, and the rear discharge module 620 has a mesh electrode 621 and a plurality of needle electrodes 622.
FIG. 6 is a schematic front view of a pin grid layout of an ion wind generating device 60 according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 7 is a schematic side view of a pin grid layout of an ion wind generating device 60 according to one embodiment of the present invention; fig. 8 is a schematic top view of a pin grid layout of an ion wind generating device 60 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 6 to 8, in some embodiments of the present invention, the needle electrodes of every two discharge modules adjacent to each other in the air outlet direction are arranged in a straight pair, that is, the projections of the needle electrodes of every two discharge modules adjacent to each other in the air outlet direction in the air outlet plane of the ion wind generating device 60 coincide. In the front view shown in fig. 6, the projections of the respective needle electrodes 612 of the front stage discharge module 610 and the respective needle electrodes 622 of the rear stage discharge module 620 on the OX axis coincide. That is, the needle electrodes corresponding to the upper and lower discharge modules are located at the same position in the horizontal direction. In the side view shown in fig. 7, the projections of the corresponding needle electrodes 612 of the front stage discharge module 610 and the corresponding needle electrodes 622 of the rear stage discharge module 620 on the OY axis coincide, that is, the needle electrodes corresponding to the upper and lower discharge modules are located at the same position in the front-rear direction. In the top view shown in fig. 8, the respective needle electrodes 612 of the front stage discharge module 610 and the respective needle electrodes 622 of the rear stage discharge module 620 are completely overlapped in the vertical direction. Therefore, a larger and stronger electric field is generated in the area corresponding to the tip of each needle electrode, so that ion wind with high local wind speed is generated in the area, and the ion wind blows the user body to make the user have stronger wind feeling. In other words, this arrangement can obtain a local large wind speed near each wind speed center point of the mesh electrode, so as to improve the wind sensation when the natural air driven by the ion wind generating device 60 in the indoor unit 100 of the air conditioner flows out from the air outlet 70.
FIG. 9 is a schematic front view of a pin grid layout of an ion wind generating device 60 according to another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 10 is a schematic side view of a pin grid layout of an ion wind generating device 60 according to another embodiment of the present invention; fig. 11 is a schematic top view of a pin grid layout of an ion wind generating device 60 according to another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 9 to 11, in other embodiments of the present invention, the needle electrodes of each two adjacent discharge modules are arranged in a staggered manner in the transverse direction, and the projections of the corresponding needle electrodes of each two adjacent discharge modules in the air outlet plane of the ion wind generating device 60 are on the same horizontal line. That is, the lateral positions of the needle electrodes of every two adjacent discharge modules along the air outlet direction are different, but the positions of the needle electrodes in the front-back direction are the same. In the front view of fig. 9, the projections of the corresponding needle electrodes 612 of the front stage discharge module 610 and the corresponding needle electrodes 622 of the rear stage discharge module 620 on the OX axis are misaligned, that is, the needle electrodes corresponding to the upper and lower discharge modules are located at different positions in the lateral direction. In the side view shown in fig. 10, the projections of the corresponding needle electrodes 612 of the front stage discharge module 610 and the corresponding needle electrodes 622 of the rear stage discharge module 620 on the OY axis coincide, that is, the needle electrodes corresponding to the upper and lower discharge modules are located at the same position in the front-rear direction. In the plan view shown in fig. 11, the structure of the front stage discharge module 610 is shown by a dotted line and the structure of the rear stage discharge module 620 is shown by a solid line for easy understanding. The corresponding needle electrodes 612 of the front stage discharge module 610 and the corresponding needle electrodes 622 of the rear stage discharge module 620 are offset from each other in the OX direction, but have no displacement difference in the OY direction. Therefore, uniform soft wind can be generated in a plurality of linear regions in the horizontal direction, and the superposition of a plurality of discharge modules can form a larger and stronger electric field in the linear regions, so that the wind speed of the ion wind in the linear regions is relatively higher. Furthermore, the projections of each group of three adjacent needle electrodes formed by the needle electrodes of the plurality of discharge modules in the horizontal plane all form an isosceles triangle, so as to ensure that the ion wind generated by the ion wind generating device 60 is distributed uniformly.
FIG. 12 is a schematic front view of a pin grid layout of an ion wind generating device 60 according to yet another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 13 is a schematic side view of a pin grid layout of an ion wind generating device 60 according to yet another embodiment of the present invention; fig. 14 is a schematic top view of a pin grid layout of an ion wind generating device 60 according to yet another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 12 to 14, in some embodiments of the present invention, the needle electrodes of each adjacent two discharge modules are arranged with a shift in both the lateral and front-to-rear directions. In the front view shown in fig. 12, the projections of the corresponding needle electrodes 612 of the front stage discharge module 610 and the corresponding needle electrodes 622 of the rear stage discharge module 620 on the OX axis are misaligned, that is, the needle electrodes corresponding to the upper and lower discharge modules are located at different positions in the lateral direction. In the side view shown in fig. 13, the projections of the corresponding needle electrodes 612 of the front stage discharge module 610 and the corresponding needle electrodes 622 of the rear stage discharge module 620 on the OY axis are misaligned, that is, the needle electrodes corresponding to the upper and lower discharge modules are also at different positions in the front-rear direction. In the top view shown in fig. 14, the respective needle electrodes 612 of the front stage discharge module 610 and the respective needle electrodes 622 of the rear stage discharge module 620 are arranged with a misalignment in both the OX direction and the OY direction. Therefore, the ion wind generated by the ion wind generating device 60 can be uniformly distributed in the wind outlet surface, so that soft, uniform and large-wind-volume air supply can be realized under the conditions of low voltage, low electric field intensity and low power. That is, the needle electrodes of every two adjacent discharge modules along the air outlet direction are staggered, so that the gaps between the needle electrodes of each discharge module can be filled. Therefore, relatively uniform ion wind can be formed in the whole area of the mesh electrode, and the whole air supply quantity is improved. Furthermore, each group of three needle-shaped electrode projections adjacent to each other formed by the needle-shaped electrodes of the plurality of discharge modules in the air outlet surface of the ion wind generating device 60 form an equilateral triangle, so as to ensure that the ion wind generated by the ion wind generating device 60 is distributed more uniformly.
Fig. 15 is a schematic configuration diagram of a connection relationship between a plurality of discharge modules of the ion wind generating device 60 according to one embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 14, in some embodiments of the present invention, the ion wind generating device 60 includes a plurality of discharge modules sequentially arranged along the wind outlet direction and connected in parallel, that is, the needle electrode of each discharge module is electrically connected to a positive polarity or negative polarity high voltage terminal, and the mesh electrode of each discharge module is electrically connected to the ground terminal, so that the plurality of discharge modules are connected in parallel. Taking the pre-discharge module 610 as an example, the needle electrode 612 is electrically connected to a positive or negative high voltage terminal, and the mesh electrode 611 is electrically connected to the ground terminal.
Fig. 16 is a schematic structural view of a connection relationship between a plurality of discharge modules of an ion wind generating device 60 according to another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 15, in another embodiment of the present invention, the ion wind generating device 60 includes a plurality of discharge modules sequentially arranged along the wind outlet direction and connected in series, that is, the needle electrode of the discharge module located at one end of the ion wind generating device 60 is electrically connected to a positive or negative high voltage terminal, the mesh electrode of the discharge module located at the other end is electrically connected to the ground terminal, and the mesh electrode of each discharge module except the discharge module located at the other end arranged from one end of the ion wind generating device 60 to the other end is electrically connected to the needle electrode of the discharge module located adjacent to the other end, so that the plurality of discharge modules are connected in series. Taking the pre-stage discharge module 610 as an example, the needle electrode 612 of the pre-stage discharge module 610 located at one end of the ion wind generating device 60 is electrically connected to the mesh electrode located adjacent to and upstream of the pre-stage discharge module 610, and the mesh electrode 611 of the pre-stage discharge module 610 is electrically connected to the ground terminal.
In the embodiment shown in fig. 15 and 16, the plurality of discharging modules in the ion wind generating device 60 are sequentially arranged along the wind outlet direction and connected in series or in parallel, and when the needle-shaped electrode (corresponding to the emitting electrode) is connected to the high-voltage positive electrode and the mesh-shaped electrode (corresponding to the receiving electrode or the grounding electrode) is grounded, a corona discharge phenomenon is generated between the needle-shaped electrode and the corresponding mesh-shaped electrode in each discharging module, so that the ion wind can be accelerated multiple times through the plurality of discharging modules, and the superposition of the wind speed can be realized to obtain a higher wind outlet speed. And negative pressure can be formed under the action of high-speed air outlet, so that the air inlet volume is further increased, and the air supply speed, the air supply volume and the air supply efficiency of the multi-stage ion air supply module are improved.
It should be understood by those skilled in the art that terms used in the embodiments of the present invention, such as "upper", "lower", "inner", "outer", "lateral", "front", "rear", and the like, for indicating orientation or positional relationship, are used with reference to the accompanying drawings, and are used only for convenience in describing and understanding the technical solutions of the present invention, and do not indicate or imply that the devices or components referred to must have a specific orientation, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present invention.
Thus, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that while a number of exemplary embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described in detail herein, many other variations or modifications consistent with the principles of the invention may be directly determined or derived from the disclosure of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be understood and interpreted to cover all such other variations or modifications.