Indoor unit for air conditioner

• US 20050097915A1
• Filed: 12/06/2001
• Published: 05/12/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kang, Seong-Min, Joo, Chang-Hwoi
• Granted Patent: US 7,275,388 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 62/408
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 1/0011 characterised by air outlets
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 1/0014 having two or more outlet openings
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 1/0057 mounted in or on a wall
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 13/15 with parallel simultaneously tiltable lamellae
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 13/28 Arrangement or mounting of filters
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 8/108 using dry filter elements
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 8/50 by odorisation
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 50/20 Air quality improvement or preservation, e.g. vehicle emission control or emission reduction by using catalytic converters

Abstract

Indoor unit of air conditioner of the present invention includes air discharge units at left, right, and bottom of an outer case of the indoor unit oriented to blow air in forward outer sides, to prevent air blow to a suction side, thereby making air circulation smooth and fast air conditioning, and preventing infiltration of foreign matter in ordinary times to keep a tidy outer appearance because air suction, and the discharge units are only opened during operation of the air conditioner.

Claims

1. An indoor unit of an air conditioner, comprising:

an outer case having components installed inside;

a front panel installed at a front side of the outer case and having an air intake part enabling to be opened/closed; and

blow units installed in right, left, and lower directions of the outer case respectively so as to blow a heat-exchanged air to a space for air-conditioning.

2. The indoor unit of claim 1, wherein the blow units are installed at right, left, and lower sides of the outer case and wherein each of the blow units comprises a blow grill forming a frame, a blow louver driven by an additional driving source so as to open/close the blow outlet selectively and guide a blown air to a front outside of the outer case, and a blow vane guiding the blown air from the blow outlet so that the blow air turns in one direction overall.

3. The indoor unit of claim 2, wherein the blow vane divides the blow outlet along its length direction.

4. The indoor unit of claim 2 or claim 3, wherein the blow vane is built in one body with the blow grill.

5. The indoor unit of claim 2, wherein an inner face of a louver body of the blow louver has a predetermined curvature from upper to lower stream portions of the louver body and wherein a vertical hem plane portion is formed at a vertical hem outer face of the louver body.

6. The indoor unit of claim 5, wherein a shut-off portion is formed at the outer face of the upper stream portion of the louver body so as to block a gap between the outer face of the louver body and the corresponding blow outlet when the blow louver is opened.

7. The indoor unit of claim 2, wherein blow unit landing spaces for receiving the blow units are formed at the sides of the outer case, respectively, and wherein hanging pieces and hanging protrusions are formed at each of the blow grills landing at the blow unit landing spaces and inner sides of the outer case, respectively so as to assemble each of the blow units with the outer case.

8. The indoor unit of claim 7, wherein a landing rest is formed at one side of the blow grill so as to land at a landing channel formed at the outer case.

9. An indoor unit of an air conditioner, comprising:

an outer case having components installed inside;

a front panel installed at a front side of the outer case;

at least one grill louver installed on the front panel so as to be closed/opened to suck an air of an air-conditioned space inside;

blow guides installed inside the outer case so as to guide an air to blow units wherein the air is sucked inside to be heat-exchanged when the grill louver is opened; and

blow units installed in right, left, and lower directions of the outer case, respectively so as to blow externally the air guided by the blow guide.

10. The indoor unit of claim 9, wherein the blow guides are installed at a base face of the outer case, and wherein two of the blow guides are built in one body with both lower end sides of the base face and the rest blow guide is installed additionally at an upper end of the base face so as to extend long from one side to the other side.

11. The indoor unit of claim 10, wherein the blow guide at the upper end of the base face is made of Styrofoam based material so as to have a guide face having a predetermined curvature at a portion confronting a blow fan.

12. The indoor unit of claim 10, wherein a lead wire landing channel is formed at each of the blow guides built in one body with the base face so as to receive a lead wire thereon.

13. An indoor unit of an air conditioner, comprising:

an outer case having components installed inside;

a front panel installed at a front side of the outer case;

at least one grill louver installed on the front panel so as to be closed/opened to suck an air of an air-conditioned space inside;

a base panel installed under the grill louver so as to be able to elevate along the front panel, the base panel used as an access path for attaching/detaching a filter installed at a rear side of the grill louver; and

blow units installed at right, left, and lower sides of the outer case, respectively so as to blow the air to the air-conditioned space wherein the air is sucked inside to be heat-exchanged when the grill louver is opened.

14. The indoor unit of claim 13, wherein guide pins are formed to protrude from both upper end sides of the base panel and wherein the guide pins move along guide slots formed at the front panel, respectively so as to guide elevation of the base panel.

15. The indoor unit of claim 14, wherein guides are formed at the base and front panels, respectively so as to guide the elevation of the base panel.

16. The indoor unit of claim 13 or claim 15, further comprising:

at least one locker penetrating into back and front faces of the front panel so as to support a back face of the base panel; and

at least one locker loading part formed at the back face of the front panel so as to have the locker loaded thereon.

17. The indoor unit of claim 16, the locker comprising:

a support rod having one end protruding toward a front side of the front panel so as to support the base panel;

a landing body built in one body with the other end of the support rod so as to land at the locker loading part; and

a plurality of coupling wings built in one body with a circumference of the landing body wherein hooks are formed at vertical hems of the coupling wings so as to be coupled with the locker loading part.

18. The indoor unit of claim 17, the locker loading part comprising:

a landing space at which the landing body lands;

a locking rib formed along an inner face of a guide rib forming the landing space to correspond to a number of the coupling wings so as to fix the coupling wings thereto; and

a passing hole making the support rod protrude from the front face of the front panel.

19. The indoor unit of claim 18, wherein the guide rib is formed at the back face of the base panel.

20. The indoor unit of claim 13, further comprising a display unit at the base panel, the display unit comprising:

a housing coupled with a back face of the base panel;

at least one light source installed inside the housing so as to emit light;

a light traveling globe installed on a substrate landing inside the housing and loaded on the back face of the base panel so as to transfer the light of the light source;

a light guide globe installed on the substrate so as to guide the light emitted from the light source to the light traveling globe; and

a light emitting part installed on the light traveling globe to be exposed to a front face of the base panel so as to provide a front side of the base panel with the light.

21. The indoor unit of claim 20, the light guide globe comprising:

a body portion having a light guide hole inside so as to have an exit of the light guide hole adhere closely to the light traveling globe; and

loading legs built in one body with the body portion and having hooks at vertical hems of the loading legs, respectively so as to be loaded on the substrate elastically.

22. The indoor unit of claim 20, wherein the light source is installed at each end of the light traveling globe so as to form a plurality of colors with three primary colors of light and combinations thereof to be displayed on the display unit.

23. An indoor unit of an air conditioner, comprising:

an outer case having components installed inside;

is a front panel installed at a front side of the outer case;

at least one grill louver installed on the front panel so as to be closed/opened to suck an air of an air-conditioned space inside;

a filter installed in rear of the grill louver so as to purify the air passing through the front panel, the filter moving upward and downward along a surface of the front panel so as to be detachable; and

blow units installed at right, left, and lower sides of the outer case, respectively so as to blow the air to the air-conditioned space wherein the air is sucked inside to be heat-exchanged when the grill louver is opened.

24. The indoor unit of claim 23, the filter comprising:

an intake filter part having a filter portion inside a predetermined type intake filter frame so as to filter dust by letting the air pass through the filter portion wherein the air flows from the air-conditioned space to an inside of the air conditioner; and

a deodorizing filter part built in one body with the intake filter frame so as to deodorize smell in the air.

25. The indoor unit of claim 24, the deodorizing part comprising:

a rear frame built in one body with the intake filter frame;

a front frame installed at the rear frame detachably so as to leave a predetermined space from the rear frame; and

a deodorizing portion installed between the front and rear frames for deodorization.

26. The indoor unit of claim 25, in order to assemble the front and rear frames with each other, the filter further comprising:

front and rear coupling protrusion pieces protruding from both ends of the front and rear frames so as to have selectively coupling recesses and protrusions coupled with each other, respectively; and

coupling cut portions and coupling pieces formed at the front and rear frames selectively so as to be coupled with each other.

27. The indoor unit of claim 24, wherein the filter is installed at an intake air vent part in the front panel and wherein a lattice type air vent frame is formed in the intake air vent part so as to support the filter.

28. The indoor unit of claim 27, wherein hanging protrusions are formed at an upper end of the intake filter frame so as to be installed at the front panel respectively and wherein a handle is formed at a lower end of the intake filter frame for detachment/attachment.

29. The indoor unit of claim 28, wherein a filter landing ends are formed along both ends of the intake air vent part of the front panel so as to guide to support both ends of the filter and wherein hanging portions are formed at positions corresponding to upper and lower ends of the filter so that one side of the filter is inserted therein to be hung.

30. The indoor unit of claim 29, in order to prevent interference between the handle of the filter and a base panel installed under a front lower end of the front panel, wherein an interference prevention part is formed at an inner upper end of the base panel.

31. An indoor unit of an air conditioner, comprising:

an outer case having components installed inside;

a front panel installed at a front side of the outer case;

at least one grill louver installed on the front panel so as to be closed/opened to suck an air of an air-conditioned space inside;

a grill louver driving unit opening/closing the grill louver in accordance with an operation status of the air conditioner; and

blow units installed at right, left, and lower sides of the outer case, respectively so as to blow the air to the air-conditioned space wherein the air is sucked inside to be heat-exchanged when the grill louver is opened.

32. The indoor unit of claim 31, the grill louver driving unit comprising:

a motor providing a driving force for driving the grill louver;

a gear housing installed at the front panel so as to have a landing space inside wherein the motor is loaded on the gear housing;

a driving gear installed in the gear housing so as to be driven by the driving force of the motor;

a rack gear bar landing at the landing space of the gear housing so as to operate by receiving the driving force through the driving gear; and

at least one driven gear installed at the gear housing and gearing into the rack gear bar so as to transfer the driving force of the motor to the grill louver.

33. The indoor unit of claim 32, wherein the driven gear is a circular arc type gear having teeth on a partial section thereof.

34. An indoor unit of an air conditioner, comprising:

an outer case having components installed inside;

a front panel installed at a front side of the outer case;

at least one grill louver installed on the front panel so as to be closed/opened to suck an air of an air-conditioned space inside;

blow guides installed inside the outer case so as to guide the air to blow units wherein the air is sucked inside to be heat-exchanged when the grill louver is opened;

a filter installed in rear of the grill louver so as to purify the air passing through the front panel, the filter moving upward and downward along a surface of the front panel so as to be detachable;

a base panel installed under the grill louver so as to be able to elevate along the front panel, the base panel used as an access path for attaching/detaching the filter installed in rear of the grill louver; and

blow units installed at right, left, and lower sides of the outer case, respectively so as to blow the air to the air-conditioned space wherein the air is sucked inside to be heat-exchanged when the grill louver is opened.

35. The indoor unit of claim 34, further comprising a grill louver driving unit for opening/closing the grill louver-automatically.

36. The indoor unit of claim 35, the grill louver driving unit comprising:

a motor providing a driving force for driving the grill louver;

a gear housing installed at the front panel so as to have a landing space inside wherein the motor is loaded on the gear housing;

a driving gear installed in the gear housing so as to be driven by the driving force of the motor;

a rack gear bar landing at the landing space of the gear housing so as to operate by receiving the driving force through the driving gear; and

at least one driven gear installed at the gear housing and gearing into the rack gear bar so as to transfer the driving force of the motor to the grill louver.