Refrigeration – With repair – assembly or disassembly means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-18
2002-05-28
Doerrler, William (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
With repair, assembly or disassembly means
C062S259100, C062SDIG001
Reexamination Certificate
active
06393856
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an air conditioner in which most of components are contained in a space in the ceiling, and only a front panel portion is disposed on the ceiling surface. More particularly, it relates to an air conditioner of a so-called ceiling recessed type which can be installed so that the appearance of the front panel portion is good even if the height space in the ceiling is limited.
BACKGROUND ART
An air conditioner is equipped with an indoor unit for making heat exchange of indoor air and an outdoor unit for dissipating heat to the outside air or absorbing heat from the outside air. The indoor unit is fixed to the wall or placed on the floor. In particular, in an office building or a store, the indoor unit is preferably installed on the ceiling so that the floor surface or the wall surface can be used effectively.
Even when the indoor unit is installed on the ceiling, importance is given to the appearance thereof. For this reason, the indoor unit is installed in a space in the ceiling as a ceiling recessed type. One example thereof will be explained with reference to a perspective view of
FIG. 30 and a
sectional view of
FIG. 31
showing the installation state. In the description below, an air conditioner means an indoor unit.
An air conditioner (indoor unit)
1
is provided with a box-shaped case body
2
whose lower face on the indoor side is open. At the central portion of the case body
2
, there are provided a centrifugal fan
21
and a drive motor
22
therefore with the rotating shafts thereof being substantially vertical. A heat exchanger
23
is arranged around the centrifugal fan
21
. Under the heat exchanger
23
is provided a drain pan
24
serving as a drip pan.
At the center on the lower face side of the case body
2
, there is provided a bell mouth
25
forming a suction port for the centrifugal fan
21
. Also, at the peripheral portion on the lower face side of the case body
2
, there are formed air ports
26
for the air heat-exchanged in the heat exchanger
23
. On the lower face side of the case body
2
, there is installed a front panel (also referred to as a decorative panel)
3
by using not illustrated fixing means such as screws.
The front panel
3
has, at the center thereof, an air suction port
31
communicating with the bell mouth
25
, and a suction grille
32
is detachably mounted in the air suction port
31
. A filter
33
is disposed on the inside of the suction grille
32
. Also, at the peripheral portion of the front panel
3
, there are formed air blow ports
34
communicating with the air ports
26
in the case body
2
. Although not shown in the figure, an air deflector is provided in the air blow port
34
.
In the prior art, the case body
2
is hung from a ceiling slab
5
via hanging bolts
4
in a state in which the front panel
3
is installed to the case body
2
as described above. Then, the height of the case body
2
is adjusted by the hanging bolts
4
so that the front panel
3
is substantially flush with a ceiling plate
6
. After the height of the case body
2
has been adjusted, the ceiling plate
6
is installed along a not illustrated support skeleton.
By the way, the height space in the ceiling is not constant for each building. Therefore, the case body
2
is hung by using the hanging bolts
4
that can make height adjustment. However, the adjustment made by the hanging bolts
4
is effective only when the height space in the ceiling is greater than the height of the case body
2
.
In order to enhance the room environment, there has been a tendency to make the ceiling higher in recent years, so that the height space in the ceiling has been decreased relatively. On the other hand, for the air conditioner, the heat exchanger etc. have been made larger in size to enhance the air conditioning capability, and accordingly the height of the case body
2
has been increased.
Therefore, even if the height adjustment is made fully by using the hanging bolts
4
, the case body
2
cannot be contained in the ceiling completely, so that a part of the lower portion thereof sometimes projects from the ceiling surface. In this case, a gap is developed between the front panel
3
and the ceiling plate
6
, by which the appearance is marred, and the product value is decreased remarkably. In some cases, the type of product is inevitably changed, so that a heavy loss may be caused.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, the above problem is solved, and even when the height space in the ceiling in which a case body of an air conditioner is installed is limited and a part of the case body projects from the ceiling surface, the appearance of a front panel portion can be made good.
Specifically, the present invention provides a ceiling recessed type air conditioner comprising a case body which comprises a rectangular parallelepiped shaped box whose lower face on the room side is open and is supported by hanging bolts in the ceiling so that the height thereof is adjustable; and a panel base which is formed into a square frame shape and is attached to the lower face side of the case body, in which the case body contains a centrifugal fan, a motor for driving the centrifugal fan, and a heat exchanger disposed around the centrifugal fan; a bell mouth forming a suction port for the centrifugal fan and air ports for the air heat-exchanged by the heat exchanger are provided on the lower face side of the case body; and the panel base is provided with air deflectors disposed corresponding to the air ports and a suction grille communicating with the suction port of the bell mouth, wherein a decorative frame is selectively installed at different height positions on the side wall of the panel base via installation position changing means.
In the present invention, the front panel is made up of two elements of the suction grille and the decorative frame. The suction grille is fixed to the panel base, but the height of the decorative frame can be adjusted with respect to the panel base. Therefore, when the height space in the ceiling is larger than the size of the case body, the decorative frame is set at a height position substantially located on the extension of surface of the suction grille (normal position). Thereby, the suction grille and the decorative frame are recognized as an integral object in appearance.
Contrarily, when the height space in the ceiling is limited and cannot fully contain the case body so that a difference in level is developed between the suction grille and the ceiling plate, the decorative frame is set at an adjust position higher than the normal position. Thereby, no gap is developed between the decorative frame and the ceiling plate, so that the appearance can be kept good.
The present invention provides some characteristic installation position changing means to set the decorative frame at different height positions. As one of them, there is first installation position changing means which comprises hooks provided on predetermined two opposing sides of the decorative frame, shallow first grooves formed on two opposing sides of the panel base so as to be engaged with the hooks, and deep second grooves formed on the other two opposing sides of the panel base so as to be engaged with the hooks. According to this means, by engaging the hooks with the first grooves or the second grooves, the decorative frame can be held at a different height position with respect to the panel base.
In this first installation position changing means, a mode in which the hook is formed into an inverse U shape engaging with the groove from the upside is recommended as a preferable mode. Also, by providing ribs, which come into contact with both sides of the hook, under the first groove or the second groove, the transverse movement of the hook can be restrained.
In this case, it is preferable that the rib has an inclined face whose height increases gradually toward the lower side. According to this configuration, the hook can be engaged smoothly with the groove.
According to second ins
Gunji Yoshihiro
Sahara Masamitsu
Shirai Akimasa
Doerrler William
Fujitsu General Limited
Kanesaka & Takeuchi
Shulman Mark
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