Indoor unit of air conditioner and method of controlling the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9726385-B2
Application number	US-201314045288-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 3, 2013
Priority date	Oct 8, 2012
Publication date	Aug 8, 2017
Grant date	Aug 8, 2017

Abstract

An indoor unit of an air conditioner has an improved discharge structure of air. The indoor unit of an air conditioner includes a panel which defines an external appearance thereof and has an opening, a mixed flow fan which is located within the panel, a heat exchanger unit which is located rearward of the mixed flow fan, an inlet port which is located rearward of the heat exchanger unit so that air is suctioned from rearward of the heat exchanger unit to be introduced into the mixed flow fan, an outlet port which is exposed forward of the panel through the opening so that the air passing though the mixed flow fan is discharged through a front portion of the panel, and a plurality of circular louvers to open and close the outlet port by moving outwards from a center of the outlet port.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An indoor unit of an air conditioner, comprising:
a panel which defines an external appearance thereof and has an opening;
a mixed flow fan which is located within the panel;
a heat exchanger unit which is located rearward of the mixed flow fan;
an inlet port which is located rearward of the heat exchanger unit so that air is suctioned from rearward of the heat exchanger unit to be introduced into the mixed flow fan;
an outlet port which is exposed forward of the panel through the opening so that the air passing though the mixed flow fan is discharged through a front portion of the panel;
a louver unit to close the outlet port by moving outwards from a center portion of the outlet port and to open the outlet port by moving toward the center portion of the outlet port when the outlet port is closed by the louver unit, the louver unit including a plurality of louvers and to form substantially a circular shape corresponding to the outlet port when the louver unit closes the outlet port; and
a drive disc which is coupled to the louvers to move the louvers, the drive disc including
a fixing disc to which the louvers are coupled and including the fixing disc rail, and
a rotatable disc which is coupled between the fixing disc and the louvers and to rotate to move the louvers coupled to the fixing disc, and including a rotatable disc rail,

wherein the drive disc moves the louvers along a route formed by the fixing disc rail and the rotatable disc rail to open or close the outlet port.

2. The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of louvers are coupled to a drive disc to move the louvers, and the drive disc is coupled to a louver drive motor so as to be driven.

3. The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to claim 2 , wherein the drive disc comprises a fixing disc to which the louvers are coupled, and a rotatable disc which is coupled between the fixing disc and the louvers and rotates to move the louvers coupled to the fixing disc.

4. The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to claim 3 , wherein the fixing disc is provided with a fixing disc rail which is a moving route of each of the louvers, and the rotatable disc is provided with a rotatable disc rail to move the louver along the fixing disc rail.

5. The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to claim 3 , further comprising:
a coupling member to couple each of the louvers to the fixing disc.

6. The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to claim 4 , wherein the rotatable disc rail comprises a first rotatable disc rail and a second rotatable disc rail which have different shapes to individually open and close the left and right portions of the outlet port.

7. The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to claim 2 , further comprising a louver drive motor housing to accommodate the louver drive motor.

8. An indoor unit of an air conditioner, comprising:
a panel which defines an external appearance thereof and has an opening;
a mixed flow fan which is located within the panel;
a heat exchanger unit which is located rearward of the mixed flow fan;
an inlet port which is located rearward of the heat exchanger unit so that air is suctioned from rearward of the heat exchanger unit to be introduced into the mixed flow fan;
an outlet port which is exposed forward of the panel through the opening so that the air passing though the mixed flow fan is discharged through a front portion of the panel;
a louver unit to close the outlet port by moving outwards from a center portion of the outlet port and to open the outlet port by moving toward the center portion of the outlet port when the outlet port is closed by the louver unit, the louver unit including a plurality of louvers and to form substantially a circular shape corresponding to the outlet port when the louver unit closes the outlet port and
a diffuser which is arranged forward of the mixed flow fan,
wherein the diffuser comprises a circular disc plate and a grill which is coupled to an outer peripheral surface of the disc plate, and the outlet port is formed between the disc plate and the grill.

9. The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to claim 8 , wherein the louvers are located between the disc plate and the grill to open and close the outlet port.

10. The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to claim 1 , further comprising a controller which independently controls each of the plurality of louvers according to a selected operation mode and generates a control command to open and close all or a portion of the outlet port.

11. An indoor unit of an air conditioner, comprising:
a panel which comprises a front panel having an opening, a rear panel coupled to the front panel;
an inlet port which is formed in the rear panel;
an outlet port which is formed at a position corresponding to the inlet port;
a heat exchanger which is arranged forward of the inlet port;
a mixed flow fan unit which is arranged forward of the heat exchanger and has the outlet port exposed forward of the front panel through the opening; and
an opening and closing unit to open and close at least a portion of the outlet port,
wherein the opening and closing unit comprises:
a louver unit to close the outlet port by moving outwards from a central portion of the outlet port, and to open the outlet port by moving toward the central portion of the outlet port when the outlet port is closed by the louver unit, the louver unit including a plurality of louvers and to form substantially a circular shape corresponding to the outlet port when the louver unit closes the outlet port;
a drive disc to move the louvers, the drive disc including
a fixing disc to which the louvers are coupled and including the fixing disc rail, and
a rotatable disc which is coupled between the fixing disc and the louvers and to rotate to move the louvers coupled to the fixing disc, and including a rotatable disc rail,

wherein the drive disc moves the louvers along a route formed by the fixing disc rail and the rotatable disc rail to open or close the outlet port; and
a louver drive motor which drives the drive disc to drive the louvers.

12. The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to claim 11 , wherein the drive disc comprises a fixing disc to which the louvers are coupled, and a rotatable disc which is coupled between the fixing disc and the louvers and rotates such that the louvers coupled to the fixing disc are linearly moved outwards from the central portion of the outlet port.

13. The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to claim 12 , wherein the fixing disc is provided with a fixing disc rail which is a moving route of each of the louvers, and the rotatable disc is provided with a rotatable disc rail to move the louver along the fixing disc rail.

14. The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to claim 13 , wherein:
the louvers comprise a first louver and a second louver which open and close the left portion of the outlet port and a third louver and a fourth louver which open and close the right portion of the outlet port;
the rotatable disc rail comprises first rotatable disc rails which are respectively coupled with the first and second louvers, and second rotatable disc rails which are respectively coupled with the third and fourth louvers; and
the first and second rotatable disc rails have different shapes.

15. The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to claim 11 , further comprising a controller which independently controls each of the plurality of louvers according to a selected operation mode and generates a

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yun Yeon Seob
• Kim Jung Ho
• Kim Jin Baek
• Shin Hae Gyun
• Kim Jin Gyun
• Song Woo Seog
• Shin Moon Sun
• Cho Jae Youn
• Jung Chang Woo
• Choi Hyoung Seo
• Han Dong Gi
• Hwang Jun

Classifications

• F24F2001/004

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic

• F24F13/24

  Means for preventing or suppressing noise · CPC title

• F24F1/0007

  Indoor units, e.g. fan coil units (self-contained units F24F1/02) · CPC title

• F24F1/0059 Primary

  characterised by heat exchangers · CPC title

• F24F1/0011 Primary

  characterised by air outlets · CPC title