Air conditioner including a handle and method of controlling the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10101042-B2
Application number	US-201514660016-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 17, 2015
Priority date	Mar 18, 2014
Publication date	Oct 16, 2018
Grant date	Oct 16, 2018

Abstract

Disclosed herein is an air conditioner that is designed to include a first space in which an evaporator is disposed and a second space in which a condenser is disposed and which is divided from the first space. An outdoor unit and an indoor unit are integrally formed, and thus it is easy to move the air conditioner. A structure and disposition of a heat exchanger are improved, and thus heat exchange efficiency is improved. Operations of a cooling mode and a dehumidifying mode are possible.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An air conditioner comprising:
a housing including:
a first portion including a first suction port and a first discharge port,
a second portion including a second suction port and a second discharge port, and
a partition separating the first portion of the housing from the second portion of the housing;

a compressor disposed in the housing and configured to compress a refrigerant;
a condenser disposed in the second portion of the housing and configured to condense the refrigerant compressed by the compressor into a liquid phase;
an expansion tube configured to expand the refrigerant condensed by the condenser to a low pressure state;
an evaporator disposed in the first portion of the housing and configured to evaporate the refrigerant expanded by the expansion tube to exchange heat with ambient air;
a watertank configured to store a condensate; and
a tray assembly configured to discharge a condensate generated by the evaporator to the condenser and to discharge a condensate not evaporated by the condenser to the watertank, the tray assembly including:
a first tray having a water storage space configured to store the condensate generated from the evaporator,
a second tray configured to receive the condensate from the first tray and to discharge the received condensate to the condenser, and
a third tray disposed below the condenser and configured to collect condensate passing through the condenser.

2. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein:
the first tray is disposed below the evaporator and includes an open water conduit configured to collect the condensate generated by a heat exchange between the evaporator and the air introduced from an outside;
the second tray is disposed above the condenser and includes a supply space configured to store the condensate delivered from the first tray; and
the third tray includes a discharge space configured to collect the condensate passing through the condenser.

3. The air conditioner according to claim 2 , further comprising an auxiliary member disposed between the second tray and the condenser and configured to uniformly supply the condensate discharged from the second tray to the condenser.

4. The air conditioner according to claim 3 , wherein the auxiliary member covers an upper portion of the condenser and is disposed between the condenser and the second tray under pressure and configured to uniformly disperse the condensate to the condenser.

5. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , further comprising a handle disposed on a line passing through a center of gravity of the air conditioner, wherein the condenser and the evaporator have a center of gravity disposed below the handle.

6. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a first ventilation fan disposed in the first portion of the housing between the first discharge port and the evaporator; and
a second ventilation fan disposed in the second portion of the housing between the second discharge port and the condenser,
wherein the first discharge port, the first ventilation fan, the evaporator, and the first suction port are disposed in one row in the first portion of the housing, and
the second discharge port, the second ventilation fan, the condenser, and the second suction port are disposed in the second portion of the housing in another row parallel to the one row.

7. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein the first discharge port and the second discharge port are disposed on opposing sides of the housing.

8. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein:
the first portion of the housing includes an evaporation channel extending from the first suction port to the first discharge port;
the second portion of the housing includes a condensation channel extending from the second suction port to the second discharge port; and
the evaporation channel and the condensation channel extend in opposite directions from each other.

9. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein the second portion of the housing is disposed below the first portion of the housing, and main surfaces of the condenser are not parallel to main surfaces of the evaporator.

10. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , further comprising a controller that is disposed in the second portion of the housing and configured to electrically control the air conditioner, wherein
the second portion of the housing includes a condensation channel extending from the second suction port, into which air is introduceable from an outside, to the second discharge port to which the air in the second portion of the housing is dischargeable, and
the condensation channel includes a first condensation channel that passes through the second suction port, the condenser, a ventilation fan, and the second discharge port, and a second condensation channel that passes through the second suction port, the controller, the ventilation fan, and the second discharge port.

11. An air conditioner comprising:
a housing comprising:
a first portion including a first suction port, a first discharge port, and an evaporator, and
a second portion including a second suction port, a second discharge port, and a condenser;

a partition configured to prevent air in the first portion of the housing from being interchanged with air in the second portion of the housing; and
a tray assembly including:
a first tray having a water storage space configured to store a condensate generated from the evaporator,
a second tray configured to receive the condensate from the first tray and to discharge the received condensate to the condenser, and
a third tray disposed below the condenser and configured to collect condensate passing through the condenser,

wherein the first portion of the housing includes components configured to discharge air cooled by the air conditioner to an indoor environment and the second portion of the housing includes other components configured to provide air from an outdoor environment to be cooled by the components included in the first portion of the housing.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Jung Ho
• Kil Yong Hyun
• Cho Sung-June
• Yoon Joon-Ho
• Song Kil Hong
• Kang Dong Woon
• Kang Eun-Jung
• Jang Eom Ji
• Chae Ina

Classifications

• F24F2013/225

  by evaporating the condensate in the cooling medium, e.g. in air flow from the condenser · CPC title

• F24F13/222 Primary

  for evacuating condensate · CPC title

• F24F1/42

  characterised by the use of the condensate, e.g. for enhanced cooling · CPC title

• F24F1/022 Primary

  comprising a compressor cycle · CPC title

• F24F11/62

  characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values · CPC title