Air conditioner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9714773-B2
Application number	US-201615146197-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 4, 2016
Priority date	Oct 23, 2015
Publication date	Jul 25, 2017
Grant date	Jul 25, 2017

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;
a heat exchanger disposed inside the housing; and
a suction panel having a circular shape and a plurality of openings to introduce air to be cooled by the heat exchanger therethrough and configured to decouple from or couple to the housing by being rotated with respect to the housing in a circumferential direction of the suction panel.

2. The air conditioner of claim 1 , wherein:
the suction panel includes a coupling member configured to couple to or decouple from the housing, and
the housing includes a coupling portion supporting the coupling member while the coupling member is inserted into the coupling portion of the housing by rotating the suction panel with respect to the housing in order to couple the suction panel to the housing.

3. The air conditioner of claim 1 , wherein:
the suction panel includes a plurality of coupling members provided on the suction panel and arranged in a circumferential direction of the suction panel,
the plurality of coupling members are configured to couple to the housing or decouple from the housing,
the housing includes a plurality of coupling portions corresponding to the plurality of coupling members and supporting the plurality of coupling members while the plurality of coupling members are inserted into the housing.

4. The air conditioner of claim 2 , wherein the coupling member includes
a guide surface configured to guide the coupling member to the coupling portion and
an insertion protrusion protruding from the guide surface and supported by the coupling portion.

5. The air conditioner of claim 4 , further comprising a filter, wherein:
the filter is configured to decouple from or couple to the suction panel and is disposed on the suction panel, and
the coupling member further includes a hook supporting the filter.

6. The air conditioner of claim 2 , wherein the coupling portion includes:
a guide groove configured to guide the coupling member during coupling or decoupling of the coupling member to or from the housing,
an insertion groove into which the coupling member is inserted, and
a supporting step supporting the coupling member while the coupling member is inserted into the insertion groove.

7. The air conditioner of claim 6 ,
wherein the housing includes an upper housing covering the heat exchanger, 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,
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 supporting unit configured to connect the suction panel and the housing to support the suction panel while the suction panel is at least partially spaced apart from the housing.

9. The air conditioner of claim 1 , further comprising a supporting unit which includes:
a link member configured to connect the suction panel and the housing to support the suction panel while the suction panel is at least partially spaced apart from the housing,
a first slide slot provided on the suction panel and configured to allow one end of the link member to slide with respect to the suction panel, and
a second slide slot provided in the housing and configured to allow another end of the link member to slide with respect to the housing.

10. The air conditioner of claim 1 , wherein:
the housing includes a cylindrical portion,
the heat exchanger has an annular shape,
the housing includes a discharge port located between an inner circumferential surface of the cylindrical portion of the housing and an outer circumferential surface of the heat exchanger, and
the discharge port has an arc shape and at least partially surrounds a perimeter of the suction panel.

11. An air conditioner comprising:
a housing including a cylindrical portion and a first assembling portion protruding outward from an outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical portion;
a heat exchanger disposed inside the housing;
a drain tray disposed to collect water condensed at the heat exchanger, and including a second assembling portion protruding outward from an outer circumferential surface of the drain tray; and
a cover member having an opening and configured to
cover a perimeter of the cylindrical portion of the housing, and
couple to at least one of the first assembling portion and the second assembling portion by being rotated with respect to the housing in a circumferential direction of the cylindrical portion of the housing.

12. The air conditioner of claim 11 , wherein:
the first assembling portion and the second assembling portion 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.

13. The air conditioner of claim 12 , 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 housing for a length that is approximately a difference between the width of the recess and the width of the coupling hook.

14. The air conditioner of claim 12 , wherein:
the opening has a circular shape,
the cover member includes 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.

15. The air conditioner of claim 12 , 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.

16. The air conditioner of claim 15 , 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.

17. The air conditioner of claim 16 , 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.

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

• B01D46/4263

  Means for active heating or cooling · CPC title

• B01D46/0005

  Mounting of filtering elements within casings, housings or frames (B01D46/2422 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F24F13/00

  Details common to, or for air-conditioning, air-humidification, ventilation or use of air currents for screening · CPC title

• B01D46/523

  with means for maintaining spacing between the pleats or folds · CPC title

• F24F13/084

  with mounting arrangements, e.g. snap fasteners for mounting to the wall or duct · CPC title