MXPA99007876A - Entry for air filter and placement guide for an air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an air conditioner of the type having an interior section, including a housing having an evaporator coil mounted therein in a substantially vertical orientation, and an interior grill adapted to be mounted in the housing in a separate relationship with the evaporator coil, the grid includes a front wall having a return air opening inside it to admit air back to be conditioned inside the conditioning coil, the front wall has an elongated opening therein, adjacent to a With this edge, the opening is adapted to facilitate the insertion and removal of a filter inside the space between the rear wall of the inner grille and the evaporator coil, the filter includes a rectangular structure that has an inlet edge and an exit edge , and laterally separated edges interconnecting the entrance and exit edges, the characteristic improvement It comprises: a filter guide structure integrally formed with said grid structure, for receiving the entrance edge of the filter, following the passage of the entrance edge through the elongated openings with said filter structure angularly provided with respect to the front wall and to direct the rectangular structure in a parallel relationship with the front wall

Description

ENTRY FOR AIR FILTER AND GUIDE D? PLACEMENT FOR A CONDITIONER D? AIR DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to air conditioners and, more particularly, to an arrangement for facilitating the installation of a filter in the interior grid of an air conditioner. Air conditioners typically have an inner section and an outer section. The inner section is responsible for cooling and dehumidifying the interior of a room while the outer section is responsible for letting the heat out to the outside environment. The inner and outer sections each have a heat exchanger coil and a fan, and each has an air return opening and a discharge opening - A grid structure is usually installed on top of each section to prevent entry of objects strangers, while allowing the free flow of air to and from the sections as well as for aesthetic considerations. It is common in practice to have a filter element associated with the inner grid structure, through which the indoor air passing to the indoor coil must pass. Said filter is designed to remove from the air contaminants substantially smaller than the internal grid. Very often, the interior grille must be removed from the air conditioner in order to gain access to the filter. Other air conditioners are known, which have a rectangular reusable filter, which slides into a slot oriented above the grid so that the filter can be installed or removed from a place behind the grid and opposite of the evaporator coil by vertically moving the filter inside the slot. It is also known to provide a filter assembly, which is provided with movable guides which receive the filter and prevent the filter assembly from contacting and possibly damaging the fragile fins of the heat intercoder of the evaporator coil as the filter is installed and removed from its assembly in an interior grid. It is considered desirable to have a structure which is formed integrally with the inner grid which facilitates the easy insertion and removal of the inner grid and which provides the positioning and support for the filter assembly in a separate relationship with the evaporator coil. An air conditioner of the type having an inner section, which includes a housing, an evaporator coil and an inner grid adapted to be mounted in the housing in a separate relationship with the evaporator coil, is provided. The grid includes a front wall having back openings therein to admit air back into the latter to admit return air to be conditioned inside the evaporator coil. The front wall also has an elongated opening adjacent an edge thereof, which is adapted to receive a filter for the insertion and removal of the filter within the space between the rear wall of the inner grid and the evaporator coil. The filter includes a rectangular structure having an inlet edge and an outlet edge and laterally spaced edges that interconnect the inlet and outlet edges. A filter guide structure is formed integrally with the grid and is adapted to receive the inlet edge of the filter with the filter structure angularly disposed with respect to the front wall and to direct the rectangular structure within the space between the rear wall of the filter. the inner grid and the evaporator coil without making contact with the evaporator coil. In a preferred embodiment, the trailing edge defines a decorative outer wall similar in configuration to the structure defining the air return openings in the front wall of the grid. The structure is provided in the decorative outer wall and the filter guide structure to support and position the outer wall with respect to the external grid structure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention can be better understood and its objects and advantages will be obvious to those skilled in the art with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of an air conditioner which illustrates the features of this invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view of a front grille of the air conditioner of Figure 1 with the inlet filter partially installed therein; Figure 3 is a rear view of the front grille of the air conditioner of Figure 1 with a filter installed inside it; Figure 4 is a view taken along line 4-4 of Figure 3; Figure 5 is a view taken along line 5-5 of Figure 3; Figure 6 is an enlarged view of the region identified as Figure 6 in Figure 4; Figure 7 is an enlarged view of the region identified as Figure 7 in Figure 5; Figure 8 is a perspective view of the input filter; and Figure 9 is an enlarged view of the region identified as Figure 9 in Figure 8.

Figure 1 illustrates an air conditioner unit 10 which generally includes an inner section 12 and an outer section 14. The air conditioner is covered by a substantially rectangular housing 16 and is adapted to be placed in a rectangular opening in an outer wall. or in a window in a room to be cooled, with the interior section 12 facing the inside of the room, as is conventional. The inner section 12 includes an inner grid section 18, which includes air inlet vent grilles 20 and an air discharge assembly 22 mounted in an air discharge opening 23. During the operation of the air conditioner, the air which comes from the space to be conditioned is sucked by the action of an evaporator fan (not shown) through the intake vents 20 and is directed through an evaporator coil (schematically shown as 25 in Figures 4 and 5). ) where the air is cooled. The cooled air is then directed back into the room to be cooled through the air discharge openings 23 and the air discharge assembly 22. Referring now particularly to Figures 2-7, the interior grill 18 comprises a component in the form of a plastic molded structure 24 in which the inlet ventilation grids 20 and the opening 23 for the air discharge assembly 22 are formed. The grid structure 24 comprises a substantially flat front section 26, an upper wall 28, a lower wall 30, and left and right side walls 32 and 34, respectively. The upper and lower side walls each extend from the front section 26 and cooperate with each other to define a skirt-shaped configuration integrally formed with and extending rearwardly from the front wall 26. A horizontally extended opening 36 is provided in the wall flat front 26 at the upper end thereof, above the inlet ventilation grilles 20 and covering the air discharge opening 23. As will be seen, the horizontal opening 36 is adapted to receive an air inlet filter assembly 38 through it. Now looking at Figures 8 and 9, the filter assembly 38 includes a substantially rectangular structure having an upper wall 40, a lower wall 42 and a pair of laterally spaced side walls 44. A horizontally extending member 46 extending between the side walls 44 and a pair of vertically extended members 48 extend between the upper wall 40 and the lower wall 42 to define a grid-like structure preferably made of an unfilled polypropylene polymer. A screen material for filter 50 covers and is generally attached to the sections forming the filter assembly 38. This film is preferably a polypropylene material and is adapted to be vacuum cleaned and / or washed in such a way that it can be reused during the filter's lifetime. The upper wall 40 of the filter has a cross section profile which has a surface facing forward 52 and an inclined surface facing upwards., which substantially agrees with the profile of each of the inlet ventilation grilles 20, as can be seen in Figures 6 and 7. Extending forward at the opposite ends of the forward facing surface 52 of the upper wall 40 there are a pair of flanges 56, which facilitate the insertion and removal of the filter of the air conditioner unit. Extending down from the lower surface 58 of the upper wall 40 is a pair of positioning lugs 60, as best seen in Figures 4, 6 and 9. As best seen in Figures 2, 5 and 1 , the rear part of the upper wall 40 is substantially open and is provided with a series of 6 arch-shaped elements 62, which present a curved surface facing rearwardly of the filter assembly 38. Now looking at Figures 3-7, The filter assembly that receives and guides the structure will be described in detail. First, it should be understood that Figure 3 illustrates the back of the interior grille 18. The references on the left and right sides are based on the view of the air conditioning unit and grid 18 from the front, as illustrated in FIG. Figure 1 and, therefore, the references to the left and to the right are inverted with respect to Figure 3. The horizontal opening 36 is defined at the lower edge thereof by the upper edge 66 of one of the ventilation grids horizontally The opening 36 is limited on the right and left sides thereof by molded configurations 68 and 70, respectively, which have the appearance of an inlet vent 20. The upper part of the horizontal opening 36 is defined by a curved surface 72, which extends from a horizontal edge 74 in the front wall 26 of the grid structure 24 and which extends inwardly and downwardly; terminates at a second horizontal edge 76 within the interior of the grid structure and separated rearwardly from the rear 78 of the inlet ventilation grids 20 (best shown in Figure 7). As best seen in Figures 3, 4 and 6, a pair of vertically spaced apart guide walls 80 extend from the opposite ends of the second horizontal edge 76 where they terminate in a horizontal structural wall 82, which is located coincident with the lowermost horizontal entrance ventilation grille 20. The vertical walls 80 are separated from the ventilation grilles by the same distance as the second horizontal edge 76 and together define a channel configured to receive the side walls 44 of the filter assembly within this when the filter is installed in the grid. As best seen in Figures 5 and 7, a pair of outwardly extending protuberances 82 are located in a separate relationship on the curved surface 72. With the filter assembly structure and the grid guide structure, such as described above, when a filter assembly 88 is inserted into the horizontal opening 36, the lower wall 42 of the filter assembly which serves as the inlet edge will pass through the opening 36 where it will engage the curved surface 72, which will be guided inwardly and downwardly until the sidewalls 44 engage the inner surfaces 84 of the vertical walls 80. The walls 80 will then serve to guide the filter assembly vertically downwardly to form a substantially parallel relationship with the interior grid 18. , as illustrated in Figures 3, 4 and 5. Upon completion of the insertion of the filter assembly, the surface that is facing forward 52 and the surface The inclined surface 54 of the upper wall 40 of the filter assembly will be in the position illustrated in Figures 4-7 and will have the appearance of the continuation of an inlet vent 20. This appearance will be further reinforced by the grid structures. of simulated ventilation left and right 68 and 70, respectively, located on opposite sides of the horizontal opening 36. The upper wall 40 will be restricted in the desired position by the engagement of the positioning lugs 60 carried on the lower surface 58 of the upper wall 40 with the upper surface 66 of the inlet vent 20, which covers the horizontal opening 36, as best shown in Figures 4 and 6. Moreover, the backward movement of the upper wall 40 is prevented by the engagement of the surface on the arched surface of two of the arcuate elements 62 with the positioning protuberances 82 of the curved surface 72, as best shown in Figures 5 and 7.

Claims (4)

1. CLAIMS 1. An air conditioner of the type having an interior section, which includes a housing having an evaporator coil mounted therein in a substantially vertical orientation, and an interior grill adapted to be mounted in the housing in a separate relationship With the evaporator coil, the grid includes a front wall having a return air opening therein to admit air back to be conditioned inside the cooling coil, the front wall has an elongated opening adjacent to an edge thereof, the opening is adapted to facilitate the insertion and removal of the filter within the space between the rear wall of the inner grid and the evaporator coil, the filter includes a rectangular structure having an inlet edge and an outlet edge, and laterally separated edges interconnecting the input and output edges, the improvement characterized in that it comprises: filter guide structure integrally formed with said grid structure, for receiving the filter inlet edge, with said filter structure angularly provided with respect to the front wall and for directing the rectangular structure in a parallel relationship with the front wall.
2. 2. The apparatus in accordance with the claim 1, characterized in that the filter guide structure comprises a longitudinally extended curved wall having a first end defining an upper edge of the elongated opening and extending back and down to form a space between the rear wall of the grid interior and the evaporator coil.
3. 3. The apparatus in accordance with the claim 2, characterized in that it comprises a pair of vertically extended guide walls extending at opposite ends of the elongated opening, each of the guide walls having an upper end which cooperates with one end of the curved surface to provide a surface of guide continues on opposite sides of the filter and a lower end which terminates and is generally formed with a portion of the screen covering the return air openings of the screen.
4. 4. The apparatus in accordance with the claim 3, characterized in that the return air openings are defined by a plurality of contoured horizontally extending ventilation grilles, and where the exit edge of the filter comprises a horizontally extended element having the same decorative configuration as one of the ventilation grilles horizontally extended. SUMMARY An air conditioner of the type having an inner section, including a housing, an evaporator coil and an inner grid adapted to be mounted in the housing in a separate relationship with the evaporator coil, is provided. The grid includes a front wall having a return opening therein to admit air back to be conditioned inside the evaporator coil. The front wall also has an elongated opening adjacent an edge thereof, which is adapted to receive a filter for inserting and removing the filter in the space between the rear wall of the inner grid and the evaporator coil. The filter includes a rectangular structure having an entry edge and an exit edge and laterally spaced edges interconnecting the entry and exit edges. A filter guide structure is formed integrally with the grid and is adapted to receive the entrance edge of the filter with the filter structure angularly disposed with respect to the front wall and to direct the rectangular structure within the space between the rear wall of the filter. the inner grid and the evaporator coil without making contact with the evaporator coil. In a preferred embodiment, the trailing edge defines a decorative outer wall similar in configuration to the structure defining the air return openings in the front wall of the grid. The structure is provided in the decorative outer wall and the filter guide structure to support and position the outer wall with respect to the outer grid structure.