Air conditioner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12222129-B2
Application number	US-202217866038-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 15, 2022
Priority date	Jan 20, 2020
Publication date	Feb 11, 2025
Grant date	Feb 11, 2025

Abstract

An air conditioner includes a housing having a first outlet and a second outlet, a first channel communicating with the first outlet, a second channel communicating with the second outlet, a tank unit configured to hold water for cooling first air and second air, the first air flowing through the first channel, the second air flowing through the second channel, a cooling unit configured to cool the first air by heat of vaporization of water held in the tank unit, a water supply channel for supplying water held in the tank unit to the cooling unit, and a water recovery channel for collecting water remaining in the cooling unit to the tank unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An air conditioner, comprising:
a housing having a first outlet and a second outlet;
a first channel communicating with the first outlet;
a second channel communicating with the second outlet;
a tank unit configured to hold water for cooling first air and second air, the first air flowing through the first channel, the second air flowing through the second channel;
a cooling unit configured to cool the first air by heat of vaporization of water held in the tank unit;
a water supply channel for supplying water held in the tank unit to the cooling unit; and
a water recovery channel for collecting water remaining in the cooling unit to the tank unit, wherein
the cooling unit includes:
a sensible heat exchanger configured to cool the second air by heat exchange with water supplied from the tank unit and cool the first air by sensible heat exchange between the cooled second air and the first air, and
a vaporization filter configured to cool the first air by heat of vaporization of water supplied from the tank unit;

the water supply channel includes a first water supply channel for supplying water to the vaporization filter and a second water supply channel for supplying water to the sensible heat exchanger; and
a volumetric flow rate of water in the second water supply channel is greater than a volumetric flow rate of water in the first water supply channel.

2. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein the tank unit includes
a first tank communicating with the water supply channel and the water recovery channel, and
a second tank configured to hold water to be supplied from outside the housing and to be supplied to the first tank.

3. The air conditioner according to claim 2 , wherein the first tank has a volume smaller than the second tank has.

4. The air conditioner according to claim 2 , wherein, when an amount of water in the first tank is lower than or equal to a predetermined value, the water in the second tank is supplied to the first tank.

5. The air conditioner according to claim 2 , wherein an amount of water to be supplied from the second tank to the first tank at a time is smaller than or equal to half a total value of a volume of the first tank, a volume of the water supply channel, and a volume of the water recovery channel.

6. The air conditioner according to claim 2 , wherein
the first tank is below the cooling unit, and
a bottom surface of the first tank is below a bottom surface of the second tank.

7. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein the vaporization filter is disposed downstream of the sensible heat exchanger in a flow direction of the first air.

8. The air conditioner according to claim 2 , wherein the air conditioner comprises a plurality of second tanks each being the second tank.

9. An air conditioner, comprising:
a housing having a first outlet and a second outlet;
a first channel communicating with the first outlet;
a second channel communicating with the second outlet;
a tank unit configured to hold water for cooling first air and second air, the first air flowing through the first channel, the second air flowing through the second channel;
a cooling unit configured to cool the first air by heat of vaporization of water held in the tank unit;
a water supply channel for supplying water held in the tank unit to the cooling unit; and
a water recovery channel for collecting water remaining in the cooling unit to the tank unit, wherein
the cooling unit includes:
a sensible heat exchanger configured to cool the second air by heat exchange with water supplied from the tank unit and cool the first air by sensible heat exchange between the cooled second air and the first air, and
a vaporization filter configured to cool the first air by heat of vaporization of water supplied from the tank unit;

the second channel has a portion downstream of the sensible heat exchanger in a flow direction of the second air and including a gas-liquid separator to turn a flow direction of the second channel from a lower side to an upper side;
the air conditioner further includes a fan and a fan motor disposed downstream of the gas-liquid separator in the flow direction of the second air; and
the fan is configured to convey the first air and the second air, and the fan motor is configured to rotate the fan.

10. The air conditioner according to claim 9 , wherein
the fan includes a first fan configured to convey the first air and a second fan configured to convey the second air, and
the fan motor is shared by the first fan and the second fan.

11. The air conditioner according to claim 10 , further comprising a separation plate between the first fan and the second fan, the separation plate separating the first channel from the second channel.

12. The air conditioner according to claim 9 , further comprising a first water supply part above the vaporization filter and configured to hold water to be supplied from the tank unit and to be supplied to the vaporization filter,
wherein the first water supply part has a water supply hole communicating with the vaporization filter, and
wherein the fan is downstream of the vaporization filter in a flow direction of the first air.

13. An air conditioner, comprising:
a housing having a first outlet and a second outlet;
a first channel communicating with the first outlet;
a second channel communicating with the second outlet;
a tank unit configured to hold water for cooling first air and second air, the first air flowing through the first channel, the second air flowing through the second channel;
a cooling unit configured to cool the first air by heat of vaporization of water held in the tank unit;
a water supply channel for supplying water held in the tank unit to the cooling unit; and
a water recovery channel for collecting water remaining in the cooling unit to the tank unit, wherein
the cooling unit includes:
a sensible heat exchanger configured to cool the second air by heat exchange with water supplied from the tank unit and cool the first air by sensible heat exchange between the cooled second air and the first air, and
a vaporization filter configured to cool the first air by heat of vaporization of water supplied from the tank unit;

the sensible heat exchanger has a plurality of paths constituting part of the second channel and extending in an up and down direction;
the air conditioner further comprises a second water supply part above the sensible heat exchanger, the second water supply part being to hold water to be supplied to each of the plurality of paths; and
the second water supply part includes a water receiver to receive water supplied from the tank unit, and a plurality of ribs each radially extending from the water receiver toward a corresponding path of the plurality of paths.

14. The air conditioner according to claim 13 , wherein the second water supply part is downstream of the sensible heat exchanger in the flow direction of the second air.

Assignees

• Brother Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Sakano Yuji
• Iijima Ryuta
• Yoshida Shigeki
• Osawa Naokatsu
• ICHIHASHI Masashi
• Shirai Manabu

Classifications

• F24F1/0323

  by the mounting or arrangement of the heat exchangers · CPC title

• F24F1/0087

  with humidification means · CPC title

• F24F12/001

  with heat-exchange between supplied and exhausted air · CPC title

• F24F12/00

  Use of energy recovery systems in air conditioning, ventilation or screening (with both heat and humidity transfer between supplied and exhausted air F24F3/147) · CPC title

• F24F5/0035 Primary

  using evaporation · CPC title