Air conditioner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10458673-B2
Application number	US-201715720052-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 29, 2017
Priority date	Oct 27, 2016
Publication date	Oct 29, 2019
Grant date	Oct 29, 2019

Abstract

An air conditioner includes a discharge blade configured to move between a guide position at which a direction of air blown from a blower fan and discharged to an outlet is controlled, and a closing position at which the outlet is closed, wherein the discharge blade includes a plurality of blade holes through which the air is discharged through the discharge blade at the closing position, wherein the discharge blade moves between the guide position and the closing position and controls an air flow from the blower fan to a discharge plate or the outlet. Through this configuration, an air flow discharged to the outside of the housing can be controlled by operation of the discharge blade.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An indoor unit of an air conditioner comprising:
a housing including a discharge plate having a plurality of holes formed therein, and an outlet;
a heat exchanger disposed inside the housing;
a drain panel disposed below the heat exchanger to collect condensate water generated by the heat exchanger;
a blower fan configured to blow air heat-exchanged by the heat exchanger toward the discharge plate or the outlet; and
a discharge blade configured to move between a guide position at which a direction of the air blown from the blower fan and discharged to the outlet is controlled, and a closing position at which the outlet is closed and the discharge blade is substantially flush with the discharge plate to thereby form a surface of the housing,
wherein the discharge blade includes:
a blade body rotatably disposed in the outlet; and
a plurality of blade holes formed in the blade body so as to discharge air passing through the discharge blade,
wherein air is discharged from the plurality of blade holes and the plurality of holes of the discharge plate when the discharge blade is in the closed position, and
wherein the blade body is configured to block an air flow moving toward the discharge plate when the discharge blade is at the guide position, and
wherein the indoor unit further comprises a flow path guide including a first flow path guide configured to form a first flow path through which air flows from the blower fan to the outlet, and a second flow path guide provided in the drain panel and configured to form a second flow path which diverges from the first flow path and through which the air flows through the plurality of holes, and the discharge blade is configured to selectively block the first and second flow paths, and
wherein the blade body includes:
a guide part configured to control the direction of the air blown from the blower fan at the guide position; and a flow path door part extending from the guide part and configured to block the second flow path at the guide position, and
wherein the second flow path guide includes a curved surface guide configured to form a rotation space of the flow path door part at the guide position, and an end of the flow path door part moves along an inner surface of the curved surface guide.

2. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein an operation of opening the outlet and an operation of blocking the air flow to the discharge plate are performed together at the guide position.

3. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein the discharge plate is disposed at side surfaces of the housing and a front surface of the housing at which the outlet is disposed.

4. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein the discharge plate includes a first section and a pair of second sections disposed at both sides of the first section, and a plurality of holes in the first section have a larger size than a plurality of holes in the second section.

5. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein the housing includes an outlet forming part configured to form the outlet, and the discharge blade includes at least one separation protrusion formed at one end of the discharge blade to form a predetermined gap with the outlet forming part.

6. The air conditioner according to claim 5 , wherein the at least one separation protrusion includes a plurality of separation protrusions spaced a predetermined distance apart from each other in a longitudinal direction of the discharge blade.

7. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of holes have at least one of a circular shape and a polygonal shape.

8. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , further comprising a housing door provided in the housing to be slidable so that the discharge plate and the discharge blade are not exposed to the outside.

9. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein the discharge blade rotates and moves between the guide position and the closing position.

10. An air conditioner comprising:
a housing including a discharge plate having a plurality of holes formed therein, and an outlet;
a heat exchanger disposed inside the housing and performing heat exchanging with air introduced into the housing;
a drain panel disposed below the heat exchanger to collect condensate water generated by the heat exchanger;
a blower fan configured to blow the air heat-exchanged by the heat exchanger; and
a discharge blade configured to control a direction of air discharged to the outlet and to open/close the outlet, the discharge blade includes a blade body rotatably disposed in the outlet and a plurality of blade holes formed in the blade body,
wherein the discharge blade is substantially flush with the discharge plate to thereby form a surface of the housing when the outlet is closed by the discharge blade,
wherein air is discharged from the plurality of blade holes and the plurality of holes of the discharge plate when the discharge blade is in the closed position,
wherein the discharge blade closes one of the outlet and the discharge plate so that the air blown from the blower fan flows toward the other one of the outlet and the discharge plate, and
wherein the air conditioner further includes a flow path guide comprising a first flow path guide configured to form a first flow path through which the air blown from the blower fan flows, and a second flow path guide provided in—the drain panel—configured to form a second flow path which diverges from the first flow path and through which the air flows toward the discharge plate, wherein the discharge blade is configured to open any one of the first and second flow path guides by a rotation operation.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Cho Sang Ki
• Kim Ki Jun
• Kim Dae Dong
• Lee Chang Heon
• Shin Moon Sun
• Jo Young Lae

Classifications

• F24F13/14 Primary

  built up of tilting members, e.g. louvre · CPC title

• F24F1/0003

  characterised by a split arrangement, wherein parts of the air-conditioning system, e.g. evaporator and condenser, are in separately located units · CPC title

• F24F11/74

  for controlling air flow rate or air velocity · CPC title

• F24F13/12

  built up of sliding members · CPC title

• F24F1/0057

  mounted in or on a wall · CPC title