Air conditioner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11079135-B2
Application number	US-202016988088-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 7, 2020
Priority date	Oct 23, 2015
Publication date	Aug 3, 2021
Grant date	Aug 3, 2021

Abstract

Disclosed herein is an air conditioner including a suction panel which includes a suction port through which air is suctioned in inside a housing. The suction panel is formed to rotate with an axial direction of an air blowing fan or a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the air blowing fan as a rotation axis to be coupled with or separated from the housing. Accordingly, a user may easily and intuitively separate the suction panel and falling of the suction panel, which may occur when the suction panel is separated, may be effectively reduced using a supporting unit disposed at the suction panel. Also, the housing and cover members which cover an outer perimeter of a lower portion of the housing may be coupled with each other by pressurizing the cover members toward the housing, thereby allowing the user to easily coupled the cover members.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An air conditioner comprising:
a housing including an upper housing having a cylindrical shape and a lower housing;
a suction panel including a suction port and having a circular shape provided along a central axis of the housing and separably coupled to the lower housing;
a filter disposed on a top surface of the suction panel, having a circular shape corresponding to the suction panel, and configured to decouple from or couple to the suction panel;
a discharge port configured to discharge air through an annular region between the suction panel and the housing; and
a heat exchanger having an arc shape and disposed inside the housing;
wherein the suction panel includes a plurality of coupling members formed to protrude upwardly from the top surface of the suction panel facing the housing and configured to couple with a plurality of coupling portions provided at the lower housing to correspond to the coupling members, and
the suction panel further includes a plurality of coupling hooks provided on a perimeter of the suction port and configured to support the filter.

2. The air conditioner of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of hooks is disposed at each of the plurality of coupling members.

3. The air conditioner of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of coupling members is configured to couple with the plurality of coupling portions by being rotated with respect to the central axis of the housing in one of a clockwise direction or a counter-clockwise direction, and to decouple from the plurality of coupling portions by being rotated with respect to the central axis of the housing in the other one of the clockwise direction or the counter-clockwise direction.

4. The air conditioner of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of coupling members is arranged in a circumferential direction of the top surface of the suction panel, and
each of the plurality of coupling portions is configured to support a corresponding coupling member of the plurality of coupling members while the coupling member is inserted into the lower housing.

5. The air conditioner of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of coupling members includes:
a guide surface configured to guide the coupling member to a corresponding coupling portion of the plurality of coupling portions, and
an insertion protrusion protruding from the guide surface and supported by the corresponding coupling portion.

6. The air conditioner of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of coupling portions includes:
a guide groove configured to guide a corresponding coupling member of the plurality of coupling members during coupling or decoupling of the corresponding coupling member to or from the lower housing,
an insertion groove into which the corresponding coupling member is inserted, and
a supporting step configured to support the corresponding coupling member while the coupling member is inserted into the insertion groove.

7. The air conditioner of claim 6 , wherein the an upper housing is configured to cover the heat exchanger,
wherein the lower housing includes a first lower housing disposed adjacent to the heat exchanger, and a second lower housing disposed further from the heat exchanger than the first lower housing, and
wherein the guide groove is provided in the second lower housing, and the insertion groove and the supporting step are provided in the first lower housing.

8. The air conditioner of claim 1 , further comprising a cover member located outward of the suction panel in a radial direction of the housing to cover a perimeter of the lower housing, and
wherein the cover member is coupled with the lower housing and is provided to be rotatable with respect to the central axis of the housing.

9. The air conditioner of claim 1 , further comprising:
a drain tray disposed to collect water condensed at the heat exchanger, and
a cover member located outward of the suction panel in a radial direction of the housing to cover a perimeter of the lower housing,
wherein the cover member is coupled with at least one of the lower housing and the drain tray and is provided to be rotatable with respect to the central axis of the housing.

10. The air conditioner of claim 9 , wherein:
the lower housing further includes a first assembling portion protruding outward from an outer circumferential surface of the lower housing,
the drain tray includes a second assembling portion protruding outward from an outer circumferential surface of the drain tray,
the first and second assembling portions are disposed to correspond to each other,
at least one of the first assembling portion and the second assembling portion forms a recess, and
the recess is recessed in an axial direction of the housing.

11. The air conditioner of claim 10 , wherein:
the cover member includes a coupling hook configured to couple to at least one of the first assembling portion and the second assembling portion,
the recess has a larger width than a width of the coupling hook, and
the cover member rotates with respect to the central axis of the housing for a length that is approximately a difference between the width of the recess and the width of the coupling hook.

12. The air conditioner of claim 8 , wherein cover member includes an opening having a circular shape, and a coupling slit extending in a circumferential direction of the opening, and
the cover member is coupled to at least one of the first assembling portion and the second assembling portion and rotates for approximately a length of the coupling slit.

13. The air conditioner of claim 8 , wherein the cover member rotates in the circumferential direction of the cylindrical portion of the housing and is supported by at least one of the first assembling portion and the second assembling portion.

14. The air conditioner of claim 13 , wherein the cover member includes an annular portion and a coupling protrusion provided at an inner circumferential surface of the annular portion and protruding inwardly in a radial direction of the annular portion, and
the coupling protrusion is coupled to and supported by at least one of the first assembling portion and the second assembling portion.

15. The air conditioner of claim 14 , wherein the cover member further includes an auxiliary coupling protrusion protruding inwardly in the radial direction of the annular portion and configured to be received by the recess.

16. An air conditioner comprising:
an upper housing formed in a substantially cylindrical shape;
a lower housing located below the upper housing and including a discharge port formed in a partial ring shape;
a heat exchanger located inward of an outer circumferential surface of the discharge port in a radial direction of the upper housing, and formed in a partial cylindrical shape;
a suction panel including a suction port and formed in a substantially circular shape, the suction panel having a circumference arranged inward of the discharge port in the radial direction of the upper housing; and
a filter disposed formed in a substantially circular shape corresponding to the suction panel, and configured to decouple from or couple to the suction panel;
wherein the suction panel is separably coupled to the lower housing by being rotated in a circumferential direction of the upper housing, and
the suction panel further includes a plurality of coupling hooks provided on a perimeter of the suction port and configured to support the filter.

17. The air conditioner of claim 16 , further comprising a cover located outward of the discharge port in the radial d

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lee Dong Yoon
• Sim Jae Hyoung
• Kim Do Yeon
• Kim Do-Hoon
• So Byung Yul
• Yoon Joon-Ho
• Lee Jung Dae
• Cho Sung-June

Classifications

• F24F13/20 Primary

  Casings or covers · CPC title

• F24F13/28

  Arrangement or mounting of filters · CPC title

• F24F13/32

  Supports for air-conditioning, air-humidification or ventilation units · CPC title

• F24F13/30 Primary

  Arrangement or mounting of heat-exchangers · CPC title

• F24F13/222

  for evacuating condensate · CPC title