Rotary kinetic fluid motors or pumps – Working fluid passage or distributing means associated with... – Casing having tangential inlet or outlet
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-05
2004-01-20
Look, Edward K. (Department: 3745)
Rotary kinetic fluid motors or pumps
Working fluid passage or distributing means associated with...
Casing having tangential inlet or outlet
Reexamination Certificate
active
06679682
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly, to an improved turbofan in an air conditioner.
2. Background of the Related Art
FIG. 1
illustrates a perspective disassembled view of a related art window air conditioner, referring to which the related art window air conditioner will be explained.
There is a front grill
3
at a front face (indoor side) of a base pan
1
, a bottom of the air conditioner. The front grill
3
is provided with an inlet
3
i
in a lower part thereof for drawing room air, and an outlet grill
3
e
in an upper part thereof for discharging the air heat exchanged in the air conditioner into the room, again. There is an inlet grill (not shown) provided to the inlet
3
i,
and a filter (not shown) between the inlet grill and the inlet
3
i.
There is an air guide
7
at an inner side of the front grill
3
provided with a room heat exchanger
5
, for cooling the air drawn through the inlet
3
i
by heat exchange between working fluids in an air conditioning cycle. The air guide
7
is fitted to an upper surface of the base pan
1
, and partitions the air conditioner into an indoor side and an outdoor side. That is, the indoor side and the outdoor side are isolated by the air guide
7
to cut off air circulation between the two. The air guide
7
has a shaft hole
7
′ for pass of a shaft of a motor
15
for rotating the sirocco fan
13
. There is also a brace
7
B at a top of the air guide
7
formed as a unit with the air guide
7
for fastening to a shroud
18
of a fan. The air guide
7
has a control box hold
8
formed as one unit with the air guide
7
at one side thereof for holding a control box (not shown) therein. There is a scroll
9
fitted in the air guide
7
. The scroll
9
has a flow guide surface
9
g
form inside thereof with a required curvature from one side to the other side. There is an orifice
11
fitted in front of the scroll
9
, with an orifice hole
12
for guiding the air flowing through the indoor heat exchanger
5
toward the sirocco fan
13
. There is an outlet guide
11
e
formed as a unit with the orifice
11
at a top of the orifice
11
for guiding the heat exchanged air toward the outlet grill
3
e.
A back of middle part of the outlet guide
11
e
is opened, at both ends of which opening coupling parts
11
′ are formed for coupling with the top of the air guide
7
. There is a finger guide ‘F’ at a back of the outlet guide
11
e
for cutting off access to the sirocco fan
13
from an outside. There is a projection ‘E’ formed of ESP at one side of the outlet guide
11
e
for preventing the white scroll
9
from being seen from outside. Since the outlet guide
11
e
is formed above the orifice
11
, the orifice
11
is inserted between the indoor heat exchanger
5
and the sirocco fan
13
from above. That is, the orifice
11
is assembled in a top-down method. The sirocco fan
13
fitted in the scroll
9
makes room air to flow through the inlet
3
i,
the indoor heat exchanger
5
, and the orifice hole
12
. The sirocco fan
13
draws air through the orifice
12
, and leads the air to flow in a circumferential direction thereof along the flow guide surface
9
g
to the outlet guide
11
e.
The explanation made up to now is on the indoor side of the window air conditioner, and the outdoor side of the window air conditioner will be explained.
There is a motor
15
in the outdoor side (rear side) of the air guide
7
for rotating the sirocco fan
13
and the fan
17
. The motor
15
has a shaft projected in front and back thereof, one of which is passed through the air guide
7
, projected up to a center of the scroll
9
, and coupled with the sirocco fan
13
. The fan
17
is coupled to the outdoor side shaft of the motor
15
. The fan
17
draws air from outside of the air conditioner, and makes the air to pass through the indoor heat exchanger
19
. The fan
17
has a ring
17
r
connected at ends of blades. There is a fan shroud
18
fitted on the base pan
1
for guiding air flow formed by the fan
17
, having an opening
18
′ in communication with an outdoor heat exchanger
19
side for fitting the fan
17
therein. There is an outdoor heat exchanger
19
on outdoor side of the base pan
1
opposite to the fan shroud
18
. Though not shown, there are a compressor and an expansion valve and the like, elements of the air conditioning cycle, on the outdoor side. Lastly, the different components of the air conditioner are enclosed by an outer case
20
. The outer case
20
forms an outer appearance of the air conditioner. The window air conditioner is installed such that the indoor side of the window air conditioner is in an air conditioning space, and the outdoor side is in the outdoor.
The operation of the air conditioner will be explained.
Upon putting the air conditioner into operation, the air conditioning cycle is activated, as the motor
15
rotates the sirocco fan
13
and the fan
17
. According to this, indoor side air is provided to the indoor heat exchanger
5
through the inlet
3
i
. The air heat exchanges with a working fluid as the air passes through the heat exchanger
5
, to be cooled down to a relatively low temperature. The heat exchanged air is provided to the sirocco fan
13
through the orifice hole
12
. The air drawn into the sirocco fan
13
is guided in the circumferential direction of the sirocco fan
13
, until the air is discharged therefrom, guided along the flow guide surface
9
g
of the scroll
9
, lead to the outlet guide
11
e
, and discharged to the air conditioning space again through the outlet grill
3
e.
On the other hand, in the outdoor side, an operation for discharging a heat, the working fluid is received at the indoor heat exchanger
5
, is in process. That is, external air is drawn by the fan
17
, heat exchanged with the outdoor heat exchanger
19
, for discharging the heat to outside of the room.
However, the related art window air conditioner has the following problems.
First, the sirocco fan
13
, used for drawing the room air, is designed for handling a large volume of air, has numerous short blades each having a curvature opposite to a direction of rotation to require a separate air guide structure, the scroll
9
, for forming an air flow. However, the use of a scroll causes various problems. In detail, the air is discharged in the circumferential direction of the sirocco fan
13
throughout the flow guide surface
9
g
. Therefore, the air discharged upstream of the flow guide surface
9
g
flows along the flow guide surface
9
g
, to build up a higher air pressure as the air flows downstream and creates an increasing resistance against the rotation of the sirocco fan
13
. Moreover, since the air is concentrated toward the downstream of the flow guide surface
9
g
, the air flow is concentrated on one side of the outlet guide
11
e
. At the end, in view of the whole outlet grill
3
e
, the air is not uniformly discharged from the outlet grill
3
e
. Accordingly, in order to solve the shortcomings of the sirocco fan designed for handling a large volume of air, a technology is suggested, in which a high efficiency turbofan is employed for forming an indoor air flow.
An example of a related art turbo fan will be explained with reference to
FIGS. 2
,
3
A, and
3
B.
The related art turbo fan is provided with a base plate
32
of a circular disc having a hub
38
at a center thereof for coupling with a shaft of a motor, a plurality of blades
34
fitted along a circumference of the base plate
32
, and a shroud
36
formed as a unit with the blades
34
. The blade
34
has a blade exit angle &bgr;
2
smaller than 90°, a ratio of inside/outside diameters smaller than 0.8, a backward curved form, and an inlet width W
1
into which the air is started to be introduced thereto smaller than an outlet width W
2
. The shroud
36
is annular to connect all blades
34
at the smaller side widths of the blades
34
. The shroud
36
guides the air flowing along the blade
34
, and
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
LG Electronics Inc.
Look Edward K.
McCoy Kimya N
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