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EP-3594583-B1 - CEILING-EMBEDDED AIR CONDITIONER

EP3594583B1EP 3594583 B1EP3594583 B1EP 3594583B1EP-3594583-B1

Inventors

  • FUJITA, NAOTO
  • NAKAMURA, YUTA

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20150930

Claims (11)

  1. A ceiling-embedded air conditioner (1) comprising: a box-shaped housing (10) that is suitable for being embedded in a ceiling of an air-conditioned room (K) and has a blowing fan (23) and a heat exchanger (25); a square decorative panel (3) that is attached to a lower surface of the housing (10) and covers the ceiling; main body outlets (15) that are provided along respective four sides of a bottom surface of the housing (10) and blow heat-exchanged air; outlets (31) that are provided in the decorative panel (3) along respective four sides of the decorative panel (3), both one of main body outlets (15) and one of the outlets (31) being opposed with each other at each of the four sides with forming a space through which air passes, so as to correspond to the main body outlets (15); coupling portions (35) provided at each of corners of the decorative panel (3) so as to couple a pair of adjacent portions of the decorative panel (3) at which each of the outlets (31) is formed; corner blowoff units (36) that are provided in the decorative panel (3) so as to correspond to coupling portions (35) for coupling the outlets (31); a blowoff path (32) that is circumferentially provided in the decorative panel (3) so as to correspond to the outlets (31) and the corner blowoff units (36); and wind direction plates (5) that are rotatably provided along the respective sides of the decorative panel (3) so as to cover or open the blowoff path (32); characterized in that : the wind direction plates (5) are longer than a length of a long side of the outlets (31), the wind direction plates (5) have wind direction portions (51) and auxiliary wind direction portions (52), the wind direction portions (51) being opposed to the adjacent outlets (31), and the auxiliary wind direction portions (52) being provided at the ends of the wind direction portions (51) and opposed to the coupling portions (35), on an outer side of the ceiling-embedded air conditioner (1), peripheral edges of the wind direction plates (5) include straight portions (551) corresponding to the outlets (31) and inclined portions (553) at the auxiliary wind direction portions (52); the wind direction plates (5) further have first side parts (54), second side parts (55), and third side parts (53), the first side parts (54) being the peripheral edges of the wind direction plates (5) at a suction grill (40) side, the second side parts (55) being peripheral edges of the wind direction plates (5) at an outer frame portion (33) side and opposed to the first side parts (54), the third side parts (53) being positioned at the ends of the first side parts (54) and being parallel or almost parallel to the inclined portions (553), the inclined portions (553) being inclined from both ends of the straight portions (551) toward ends of the first side parts (54); and air (W2) guided to corners of the blowoff path (32) along a space between front faces (57) of the wind direction plates (5) at the auxiliary wind direction portions (52) and the blowoff path (32) joins together with air (W2) guided from the adjacent wind direction plates (5), and is blown when the wind direction plates (5) rotate.
  2. The ceiling-embedded air conditioner (1) according to claim 1, wherein the corner blowoff units (36) include: bottom paths (441) that are provided in the blowoff path (32) at positions corresponding to the coupling portions (35); and the auxiliary wind direction portions (52) of the wind direction plates (5).
  3. The ceiling-embedded air conditioner (1) according to claim 2, wherein in a case where faces of the wind direction plates (5) appearing on the decorative panel (3) side when the wind direction plates (5) cover the blowoff path (32) are designated as front faces, front faces of the auxiliary wind direction portions (52) partially constitute the corner blowoff units (36).
  4. The ceiling-embedded air conditioner (1) according to any one of claims 2 to 3, wherein the wind direction plates (5) are configured such that, when the wind direction plates (5) open the blowoff path (32), end portions of the auxiliary wind direction portions (52) come under the bottom paths (441).
  5. The ceiling-embedded air conditioner (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising: motors (43) for rotating the wind direction plates (5) and motor covers (44) for storing the motors (43), the motors (43) and the motor covers (44) being provided in the blowoff path (32) at positions corresponding to the coupling portions (35).
  6. The ceiling-embedded air conditioner (1) according to claim 5, wherein bottom surfaces of the motor covers (44) are included in the corner blowoff units (36).
  7. The ceiling-embedded air conditioner (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the blowoff path (32) includes concaved portions (32a) continuously provided around the outlets (31) and the coupling portions (35).
  8. The ceiling-embedded air conditioner (1) according to claim 5, wherein the motors (43) are fixed to the blowoff path (32) integrally with the motor covers (44).
  9. The ceiling-embedded air conditioner (1) according to claim 8, wherein each of the motor covers (44) has a shape symmetric with respect to diagonal lines (D) of the decorative panel (3), and includes two motor storage portions (442) at both sides of the diagonal lines (D) that stores the two motors (43) for driving the two wind direction plates (5) corresponding to the two outlets (31) coupled via the coupling portion (35), and bottom paths (441) included in the corner blowoff units (36) are formed between the motor storage portions (442) in the motor cover (44).
  10. The ceiling-embedded air conditioner (1) according to claim 9, wherein when the wind direction plates (5) are rotated by the motors (43) to open the blowoff path (32), the outlets (31) are divided by the wind direction plates (5) into main blowoff portions (331) and auxiliary blowoff portions (312), and the motor storage portions (442) of the motor covers (44) form wall surfaces at the main blowoff portion (331) side.
  11. The ceiling-embedded air conditioner (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the wind direction plates (5) are four panels of the same shape.

Description

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field The invention relates to a ceiling-embedded air conditioner in which a housing is embedded in a ceiling. 2. Description of the Related Art The ceiling-embedded air conditioner has a box-shaped housing including a heat exchanger and a blowing fan (turbo fan) and embedded in a ceiling. A suction grill in a decorative panel at the lower part of the housing sucks air in. The heat exchanger performs heat exchange between the sucked air and a refrigerant. The heat-exchanged air is adjusted in wind direction by wind direction plates and delivered from outlets into a room. This type of air conditioners is used in relatively large rooms in offices or stores. Examples of such a ceiling-embedded air conditioner are disclosed in JP 2005 249328 A, EP 1 688 678 A1 and JP 2001 133032 A, for instance. A typical ceiling-embedded air conditioner has a suction grill at the center of an almost square decorative panel and outlets around the suction grill along the respective sides of the square decorative panel. The air conditioner also has wind direction plates suited to the shape of the outlets to cover the outlets. Motors for driving the wind direction plates are attached to the back surface of the decorative panel (refer to JP-A-2008-64396). In this structure, however, the blown air is supplied in the directions of the four sides of the ceiling-embedded air conditioner but is unlikely to be supplied in the directions of the four corners of the same. Another typical ceiling-embedded air conditioner has a blowoff path around almost the entire circumference of a drain pan in the housing. The air conditioner is provided with a decorative panel, outlets, and auxiliary outlets. The outlets and the auxiliary outlets are disposed in an almost octagon shape. This allows the air to be blown in almost all directions (refer to Japanese Patent No. 4052264). SUMMARY The invention provides a ceiling-embedded air conditioner with the features of claim 1. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is an external view of a ceiling-embedded air conditioner in the shutdown state;Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the ceiling-embedded air conditioner, and the right side indicates the operating state and the left side indicates the shutdown state;Fig. 3 is an exploded view of the ceiling-embedded air conditioner;Fig. 4 is a front view of the ceiling-embedded air conditioner in the shutdown state;Fig. 5 is an exploded view of a decorative panel in the ceiling-embedded air conditioner;Fig. 6 is an enlarged view of Fig. 2 in the shutdown state;Fig. 7 is an illustrative view of the decorative panel, a motor, and a motor cover in the ceiling-embedded air conditioner;Fig. 8A is a perspective view of a wind direction plate in the ceiling-embedded air conditioner, Fig. 8B is a plane view of the wind direction plate, Fig. 8C is a front view of the wind direction plate, Fig. 8D is a rear view of the wind direction plate, Fig. 8E is an enlarged side view of the wind direction plate, and Fig. 8F is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the wind direction plate;Fig. 9 is an external view of the ceiling-embedded air conditioner in the operating state;Fig. 10 is an enlarged view of Fig. 2 in the operating state;Fig. 11 is an illustrative view of a corner blowoff unit of the ceiling-embedded air conditioner; andFig. 12 is an illustrative view of the rotating wind direction plates in the ceiling-embedded air conditioner. DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS In the following detailed description, for purpose of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent, however, that one or more embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are schematically shown in order to simplify the drawing. One object of the present invention is to provide a ceiling-embedded air conditioner, wherein the ceiling-embedded air conditioner blows air in all directions (or almost all directions) without auxiliary outlets. This reduces temperature variations in an air-conditioned room and allows efficient air conditioning in large rooms. Another object of the present invention is to provide a ceiling-embedded air conditioner, wherein the ceiling-embedded air conditioner is provided with a blowoff path for guiding the air blown from the outlets to the corners of the decorative panel, and wind direction plates. This allows the ceiling-embedded air conditioner to blow air in all directions (or almost all directions) without having to provide auxiliary outlets. The ceiling-embedded air conditioner is further provided with motors for rotating the wind direction plates within the blowoff path. This ensures the spaces for attachment of the motors. In the air conditioner, the corner blowoff units include: bottom paths that are provided in the blowoff path at positions corresponding to the coupling portions; and