Refrigeration – With vehicle feature – Occupant-type vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-02
2001-09-04
Buiz, Michael Powell (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
With vehicle feature
Occupant-type vehicle
C062S259100, C062SDIG001
Reexamination Certificate
active
06282912
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates in general to air conditioner units, and more specifically to an air conditioner unit suitable for mounting within or on the roof of a vehicle, such as a bus.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Vehicles such as buses are typically provided with air conditioning units for conditioning the air within the interior of the bus. These air conditioning units may include both heating and cooling functions and are generally mounted on the roof of the bus with inlets and outlets provided in communication with the interior of the bus for conditioning the air within the interior of the bus.
A number of roof mounted air conditioner units have been developed which incorporate both the evaporator and condenser functions in a single package and include evaporator coils at the suction side of air flow passage.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,055 Roof Mounted Air Conditioner describes units which incorporate both of the evaporator and condenser functions in a single package wherein pairs of condenser and evaporator coils are located outboard of the longitudinal axis. Other examples of such units are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,926,655 and 5,005,372 among others.
These units suffer some disadvantages, in particular, water which may condense on the surface of the coils under the negative static pressure. This condensation of liquid must be evacuated from the air conditioner unit or else it may leak into the interior of the bus.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides for an air conditioner which includes both the evaporator and condenser functions in a single package wherein evaporator coils are mounted against evaporator air flow on a discharge side of evaporator section air delivery means.
The present invention provides for an air conditioning unit for mounting within the roof of a vehicle which has a passenger compartment and air delivery ducts, the unit being adapted for conditioning of air with the passenger compartment of the bus. The unit comprises a casing having a longitudinal axis extending between ends and adapted to be attached to the roof of the vehicle with the longitudinal axis oriented front to back of the vehicle. A condenser section is located centrally of the casing and adjacent the top thereof, the condenser section including air delivery means and at least one condenser coil located adjacent the air delivery means. At least one evaporator section is located between the condenser section and a side of the casing and adjacent the bottom of the casing, the evaporator section including an evaporator section air delivery means and an evaporator coil, the air delivery means having an air inlet for drawing in air from the passenger compartment and an outlet for discharging the air through the evaporator coil and then returning the conditioned air to the passenger compartment.
In an aspect of the invention, there is provided an air conditioning unit suitable for mounting within the roof of a vehicle which has a passenger compartment and air delivery ducts and is adapted for delivery of conditioned air from the air conditioner unit into the passenger compartment of the bus. The air conditioner unit includes a casing having a longitudinal axis extending between the ends and is adapted to be attached to the roof structure of the vehicle with the longitudinal axis of the casing oriented front to back on the vehicle. The air conditioner unit has a condenser section having longitudinal centrally located openings for condenser air flow, air flow delivery means attached to the openings and elongated condenser coils are horizontally located outboard from the longitudinal opening and are attached to the condenser openings. Longitudinal openings are provided in the bottom of the casing extending parallel to the longitudinal axis which are located outboard from the condenser section. The openings are equally spaced from the first and second sides of the casing. First and second elongated evaporator coils are oriented vertically, but at a slight angle, outboard from the longitudinal opening. Between the openings and between the evaporator coils are evaporator air flow delivery means. The air flow passages for both the evaporator coils are located between each of the pairs of condenser coils and evaporator air delivery means.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3848428 (1974-11-01), Rieter, Jr.
patent: 3973620 (1976-08-01), Stringer
patent: 4051691 (1977-10-01), Dawkins
patent: 4201064 (1980-05-01), Krug et al.
patent: 4592207 (1986-06-01), Rummel
patent: 4926655 (1990-05-01), King
patent: 4982583 (1991-01-01), Matsuda et al.
patent: 5001905 (1991-03-01), Miyazaki
patent: 5005372 (1991-04-01), King
patent: 5220808 (1993-06-01), Mayer
patent: 5605055 (1997-02-01), Salgado
patent: 44 35 292 (1996-04-01), None
patent: 0 257 569 (1988-03-01), None
Buiz Michael Powell
Jiang Chen-Wen
LandOfFree
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