JP-2026074734-A - air conditioner

Abstract

[Problem] To provide an air conditioner that improves safety when using flammable refrigerants. [Solution] The air conditioner of this disclosure is an air conditioner that uses a flammable refrigerant and comprises an indoor heat exchanger that exchanges heat with indoor air, an air filter through which indoor air from the room toward the indoor heat exchanger passes, a cleaning device for cleaning the air filter, and a control unit that controls the cleaning device, wherein the control unit drives the cleaning device to perform filter cleaning to remove dust adhering to the air filter. [Selection Diagram] Figure 2

Inventors

• 山田 裕也
• 鶸田 晃

Assignees

• パナソニック株式会社
• 株式会社ゼネラル
• ボッシュホームコンフォートジャパン株式会社

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20241021

Claims (11)

1. An air conditioner that uses a flammable refrigerant, An indoor heat exchanger that exchanges heat with indoor air, An air filter through which the indoor air passing from the room toward the indoor heat exchanger, A cleaning device for cleaning air filters, A control unit that controls the cleaning device, Equipped with, The control unit drives the cleaning device to perform filter cleaning, which removes dust adhering to the air filter. Air conditioner.
2. The aforementioned air filter is made of a flame-retardant material. The air conditioner according to claim 1.
3. When the control unit receives a signal to interrupt the execution of the filter cleaning, it interrupts the execution of the filter cleaning and, after a predetermined cleaning interruption time has elapsed, resumes the execution of the filter cleaning or makes the filter cleaning ready to be performed. The air conditioner according to claim 1.
4. The control unit, if the time elapsed since the completion of the filter cleaning exceeds a predetermined cumulative time, will continue the filter cleaning even if it receives a signal to interrupt the filter cleaning. The air conditioner according to claim 1.
5. Furthermore, it includes a notification unit that notifies the user of information, The control unit, when it receives a signal to interrupt the filter cleaning process but continues the filter cleaning, notifies a warning via the notification unit. The air conditioner according to claim 4.
6. The cleaning device has a brush for removing dust from the air filter, The aforementioned brush is made of a flame-retardant material. The air conditioner according to claim 1.
7. moreover, A dustbin for collecting the removed dust. Equipped with, The air conditioner according to claim 6.
8. moreover, A lid is provided on the dustbin that can be opened and closed. Equipped with, When the dust box is closed by the lid, the gap between the dust box and the lid is smaller than the flame extinguishing diameter of the refrigerant. The air conditioner according to claim 7.
9. The thickness of the material constituting the dust box is greater than the thickness of the material of other components included in the air conditioner. The air conditioner according to claim 7.
10. The material constituting the dust box has higher flame retardancy than the material of other components included in the air conditioner. The air conditioner according to claim 7.
11. moreover, A discharge unit for discharging dust accumulated in the aforementioned dust box to the outside. Equipped with, The air conditioner according to claim 7.

Description

This disclosure relates to air conditioners. Air conditioners are equipped with filters that collect dust from the air they draw in. When dust accumulates on the filter and clogs it, airflow resistance increases, reducing the air conditioner's performance. Therefore, air conditioners with a cleaning function to remove dust from the filter have been developed. For example, the air conditioner described in Patent Document 1 comprises a filter for collecting dust from the intake air, a cleaning mechanism for removing the dust collected by the filter, and a control unit for controlling the drive of the cleaning mechanism. Patent No. 7037575 Schematic diagram of an air conditioner according to Embodiment 1 of the present disclosureFigure 1 is a schematic diagram showing an enlarged view of the indoor unit of the air conditioner.Block diagram showing the internal configuration of the air conditioner in Figure 1.Timing chart showing filter cleaning controlTiming chart showing filter cleaning control when a signal to interrupt filter cleaning is received.Timing chart showing the execution status of filter cleaning in an air conditioner according to a modified example 1 of Embodiment 1.Schematic diagram showing the indoor unit of an air conditioner according to Embodiment 2Schematic diagram of region R1 enlarged in Figure 7.Schematic diagram showing the indoor unit of an air conditioner according to a modified example 1 of Embodiment 2.A schematic diagram showing a dust box according to a modified example 2 of Embodiment 2.A schematic diagram showing a dust box according to a modified example 2 of Embodiment 2.Timing chart showing the control of filter cleaning when a signal to interrupt filter cleaning is received in the air conditioner according to Embodiment 3. (Background leading to this disclosure) In recent years, from the perspective of preventing global warming, there has been a demand for the use of refrigerants with low global warming potential (GWP). For example, propane (R290) is being considered as a refrigerant with a low GWP. However, because refrigerants such as propane are flammable, there is a risk of ignition if, for example, a leak occurs in the indoor unit of an air conditioner, making it crucial to improve safety. In air conditioners using flammable refrigerants, dust accumulation on the air filter poses a risk of fire spreading if the refrigerant leaks. This is a problem newly discovered by the inventors. Therefore, in order to improve safety in air conditioners using flammable refrigerants, the inventors investigated the configuration of an air conditioner capable of removing dust from the air filter, and arrived at the following invention. The embodiments of this disclosure will be described below, with reference to the drawings as appropriate. However, the following embodiments are illustrative examples for illustrating this disclosure and are not intended to limit this disclosure to the following content (e.g., the shape, dimensions, and arrangement of each component). Unless otherwise specified, positional relationships such as up, down, left, and right are based on those shown in the drawings. The figures described in the following embodiments are schematic diagrams, and the ratios of size and thickness of each component in each figure do not necessarily reflect the actual dimensional ratios. Furthermore, the dimensional ratios of each element are not limited to those shown in the drawings. In the following explanation, when it is necessary to distinguish between multiple components, prefixes such as "First," "Second," etc., will be added to the names of the components. However, if the components can be distinguished by the symbols attached to them, prefixes such as "First," "Second," etc., may be omitted for the sake of readability. (Embodiment 1) [Overall structure] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an air conditioner 10 according to Embodiment 1 of the present disclosure. Figure 2 is an enlarged schematic diagram of the indoor unit 20 of the air conditioner 10 in Figure 1. Figure 3 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the air conditioner 10 in Figure 1. As shown in Figure 1, the air conditioner 10 according to this embodiment comprises an indoor unit 20 located in the indoor space Rin to be air-conditioned, and an outdoor unit 30 located in the outdoor space Rout. As shown in Figures 1 and 3, the outdoor unit 30 is equipped with an outdoor heat exchanger 32 that exchanges heat with the outdoor air A2, and an outdoor fan 34 that draws the outdoor air A2 into the outdoor unit 30 and blows the outdoor air A2, after heat exchange with the outdoor heat exchanger 32, out to the outdoor outlet. The outdoor unit 30 is also equipped with an indoor heat exchanger 23, an outdoor heat exchanger 32, a compressor 36, an expansion valve 38, and a four-way valve 40 that execute the refrigeration cycle. As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the indoor unit 20 comprises an indoor heat excha