EP1950501A1

EP1950501A1 - Air conditioner

Info

Publication number: EP1950501A1
Application number: EP07252771A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Hyon Chel Park; Seung Hoon Yang
Original assignee: LG Electronics Inc
Current assignee: LG Electronics Inc
Priority date: 2007-01-29
Filing date: 2007-07-11
Publication date: 2008-07-30

Abstract

An air conditioner is disclosed. The present invention is suitable for performing efficient heat exchange of indoor air by opening/closing a plurality of air inlets via a front panel moving back and forth, blowing the heat-exchanged air upward and downward by reducing passage resistance, facilitating filter exchange, and preventing safety accident. The present invention includes a case provided with a heat exchanger and a blowing fan, a front panel provided in front of the case to open/close an air inlet by moving, an air outlet provided to a top and/or a bottom of the case, and an opening/closing guide provided to the front panel to guide an upward/downward rotational motion of the front panel.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an air conditioner. Although the present invention is suitable for a wide scope of applications, it is particularly suitable for performing efficient heat exchange of indoor air by opening/closing a plurality of air inlets via a front panel moving back and forth, blowing the heat-exchanged air upward and downward by reducing passage resistance, facilitating filter exchange, and preventing safety accident.

BACKGROUND ART

Generally, an air conditioner cools or heats an indoor room to provide a user with a more pleasant indoor environment using a refrigerant cooling cycle including a compressor, a 4-way valve, an outdoor heat exchanger, an expansion mechanism, and an indoor heat exchanger. And, the above-configured air conditioner can be classified into a separate type and a single body type.
The separate type air conditioner and the single body type air conditioner are functionally equal to each other. In particular, the separate type air conditioner includes an indoor unit having a cooling and radiating device, an indoor fan, and an indoor fan motor and an outdoor unit having a radiating/cooling device, an outdoor fan, and an outdoor fan motor. And, the indoor and outdoor units separate from each other are connected together via a refrigerant pipe. Yet, the single body type air conditioner integrates the cooling and radiating functions and is directly installed at a hole or window of a house wall.
FIG. 17 is an exploded perspective diagram of an air conditioner according to a related art. And, FIG. 18 is a cross-sectional diagram of an assembled air conditioner according to a related art.
Referring to FIG. 17 and FIG. 18, an air conditioner according to a related art consists of a chassis 102, a front grill 110 assembled to a front side of the chassis 102 to have an air inlet 104, an top inlet grill 106, and an air outlet 108 provided to a lower front side or bottom of the front grill 110, a side inlet grill 112 rotatably connected to a front side of the front grill 110, a motor 114 loaded in the chassis 102, a blowing fan 116 connected to the motor 114, and a heat exchanger 118 provided between the blowing fan 116, the air inlet 104, and the top inlet grill 106.
The front air inlet 104 is provided to the front side of the front grill 110. The top inlet grill 106 is built in one body of a topside of the front grill 110. And, a pre-filter 105 is provided to the front rill 110 to filter off particles from the air sucked into the air inlet 104.
The side inlet grill 112 is provided to protect the front air inlet 104 and the pre-filter 105. And, an upper part of the side inlet grill 112 is rotatably connected to an upper part of the front grill 110.
An outlet grill 124, which is provided with a condensed water receiving part 119 receiving a condensed water failing from the indoor heat exchanger 118 and includes a louver 120 changing a right/left wind direction of an air blowing out of the air outlet 108 and a vane 122 changing an up/down wind direction, is loaded in a lower part within the front grill 110.
In the above-configured air conditioner, if the blowing fan 116 is rotated by a drive of the motor 114, an indoor air in front of the side inlet grill 112 sequentially passes through the side inlet grill 112 and the front air inlet 104 to filter off particles by the filter 105 and is then sucked into a space between the front grill 110 and the chassis 102.
And, the indoor air above the front grill 110 passes through the top inlet grill 106 and is then sucked into the space between the front grill 110 and the chassis 102.
The indoor air sucked in the above manner passes through the indoor heat exchanger 118 to be cooled or heated by the refrigerant flowing though the indoor heat exchange 118, keeps passing through the blowing fan 116, and is then blown into an indoor space via the air outlet 108 by being guided by the louver 120 and the vane 122.
However, the related art air conditioner has the following problems.
First of all, air in an indoor space is sucked into the related art sir conditioner via the front and top sides of the air conditioner, cooled/heated by the heat exchanger 118, and then blown into the indoor space via a bottom side of the air conditioner. If an installation height of the air conditioner is low, it takes a considerably long time for the cool air to expand all over the indoor space in a cooling operation mode. If the installation height is low, the cooling air is blown to a user's face in the cooling operation mode to raise unpleasantness.
Secondly, since the related art air conditioner has difficulty in detaching the inlet grill 112 in case of filter replacement, it is inconvenient to replace the filter. Moreover, the filter should be replaced after the inlet grill 112 has been completely detached from the air conditioner. So, the air conditioner is vulnerable to infiltration of particles.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to an air conditioner that addresses one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
It would be desirable to provide an air conditioner, by which unpleasantness caused by direct blown air can be removed without the limitation put on a cooling/heating operation or an installation height.
It would also be desirable to provide an air conditioner, by which passage resistance can be reduced.
It would also be desirable to provide an air conditioner, by which cooling/heating can be quickly achieved.
It would also be desirable to provide an air conditioner, by which a filter replacement is facilitated in a manner of inhibiting upward and downward movements of a front panel at upper and lower limit positions in case of upward and downward rotational movement of the front panel.
It would also be desirable to provide an air conditioner, by which an unnecessary motion of a front panel is inhibited.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims thereof as well as the appended drawings.
Accordingly, the invention provides an air conditioner that includes a case provided with a heat exchanger and a blowing fan, a front panel provided in front of the case to open/close an air inlet by moving, an air outlet provided to a top and/or a bottom of the case, and an opening/closing guide provided to the front panel to guide an upward/downward rotational motion of the front panel.
Preferably, a downward movement of the opening/closing guide is restricted at an upper limit position in case of the upward/downward rotational motion of the front panel.
Preferably, the opening/closing guide extends to have an arc shape of which width gets smaller backward from an upper backside of the front panel.
Preferably, a front end portion of the opening/closing guide is concavely cut inward to configure an insertion recess.
More preferably, a detachable guide part elastically transformable inward is provided in rear of the insertion recess.
In this case, an inner portion adjacent to each of both side ends of the opening/closing guide is cut narrow in a length direction t configure the detachable guide part.
Preferably, the front panel is moved back and forth by a power transfer unit provided to the case.
More preferably, the front panel is hinged to the power transfer unit.
More preferably, a downward movement of the opening/closing guide is restricted at an upper limit position in case of the rotational motion of the front panel by a fixing projection provided to the power transfer unit.
More preferably, a holding sill provided to the power transfer unit is accommodated in an insertion groove configured by cutting a front end portion of the opening/closing guide concavely inward.
Preferably, a plurality of the front panels are configured to be spaced apart from each other.
Preferably, a filter is detachably loaded in front of the case to correspond to the front panel.
Preferably, the air conditioner further includes a plasma filter purifying an air introduced via the air inlet, a safety switch provided to a driving unit to decide a power supply to the plasma filter, and an on/off means for selectively activating the safety switch in correspondence to a movement of the front panel.
More preferably, the front panel is rotationally moved to draw an arc upwardly and downwardly.
More preferably, the on/off means is projected from an upper backside of the front panel.
More preferably, the driving unit includes a driving motor, a pinion gear connected to a rotational shaft of the driving motor, and a rack rail gearing with the pinion gear to be connected to the front panel.
In this case, the rack rail includes a body part provided with a rack gear gearing with the pinion gear, a guide part spaced apart from the body part, and a connecting part connecting the body part and the guide part together.
And, the safety switch is loaded in the guide part.
More preferably, a hinge hole is perforated in a front end portion of the rack rail.
More preferably, the air conditioner further includes an opening/closing guide provided to the front panel to guide the upward/downward rotational motion of the front panel.
More preferably, a downward movement of the opening/closing guide is restricted at an upper limit position in case of the upward/downward rotational motion of the front panel.
More preferably, a plurality of the front panels are configured to be spaced apart from each other.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
The present invention provides the following effects or advantages.
First of all, the above-configured air conditioner of the present invention is able to induce even spreading of an air blown out with a sufficient quantity of indoor air in the course of cooling/heating operation without considerable limitation of its installation height. And, the air conditioner of the present invention is able to indirectly blow out warm air in case of a heating operation without interruption of front air introduction.
Secondly, an upward/downward movement of an opening/closing guide is restricted at an upper/lower limit position in case of a rotational motion of a front panel. So, a replacement of filter is facilitated and an unnecessary motion of the front panel can be suppressed.
Thirdly, a safety switch is accommodated within an accommodating part provided to a guide part of a power transmission part and is moved in correspondence to a front/rear movement of the guide part to selectively turn on/off a contact point. So, a plasma generation is automatically cut off to prevent a safety accident in case of a filter replacement.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.
In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective diagram of an air conditioner according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is an assembled perspective diagram of an air conditioner according to the present invention;
FIG. 3 is an assembled cross-sectional diagram of an air conditioner according to the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a perspective diagram of a drive part of an air conditioner according to the present invention;
FIGs. 5 to 7 are cross-sectional diagrams of a driving unit of an air conditioner according to the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a perspective diagram of an opening/closing guide of an air conditioner according to the present invention;
FIGs. 9 to 11 are cross-sectional diagrams to explain states in using an opening/closing guide of an air conditioner according to the present invention;
FIG. 12 is across-sectional diagram to explain a state in using an opening/closing guide of an air conditioner according to the present invention;
FIG. 13 and FIG. 14 are perspective diagrams to explain states in using a safety switch of an air conditioner according to the present invention;
FIG. 15 and FIG. 16 are cross-sectional diagrams to explain states in using a safety switch of an air conditioner according to the present invention;
FIG. 17 is an exploded perspective diagram of an air conditioner according to a related art; and
FIG. 18 is a cross-sectional diagram of an assembled air conditioner according to a related art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective diagram of an air conditioner according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an assembled perspective diagram of an air conditioner according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an assembled cross-sectional diagram of an air conditioner according to the present invention.
Referring to FIGs. 1 to 3, an air conditioner according to the present invention includes an inlet passage 700, a heat exchange passage 800, and an outlet passage 900 which are configured by a case 200, a front frame 300, a front panel 400, a driving unit 500, and an outlet unit 600.
A heat exchanger 210 is provided within the case 200 to be arranged parallel with a front side of the case 200. and, a pair of blowing fans 220 are provided in rear of the heat exchanger 210 within the case 200 to be vertically spaced apart from each other with a prescribed gap.
A pair of the front frames 300 are assembled to the front side of the case 200 to be vertically spaced apart from each other. And, a display unit 310 is provided between a pair of the front frames 300.
An air inlet 320 is provided to the front frame 300 to suck an air from a front in an indoor space. And, a filter 325 is loaded in the air inlet 320.
The front panel 400 moves in front of the front frame 300 back and forth to open/close the air inlet 320. And, a pair of the front panels 400 pare provided in correspondence to a pair of the front frames 300 to be vertically spaced apart from each other.
The driving unit 500, as shown in FIGs. 5 to 7, includes a driving source unit 510 and a power transfer unit 520 to move the front panel 400 back and forth from the front frame 300.
The driving source unit 510 can include a driving motor for example. And, the power transfer unit 520 can include a pinion gear 521 and a rack rail 522.
The pinion gear 521 is connected to a rotational shaft of the driving motor. And, the rack rail includes a body part 5221, a guide part 5222, and a connecting part 5223.
The body part 5221 is provided with a rack gear 5221a gearing with the pinion gear 521. The guide part 5222 is provided under the body part 5221 in parallel. And, the connecting part 5223 connects the body part 5221 and the guide part 5222.
In particular, the rack rail 522 including the body part 5221, the guide part 5222, and the connecting part 5223 configures a '
' shape overall.
In order for the rack rail 522 to move in and out of the front frame 300 in correspondence to a rotation of the pinion gear 521, a leading hole 230 (cf. FIG. 12) is perforated in the case 200 to accommodate the rack rail 522.
In particular, an end sill 5221b is provided to a topside of the body part 5221. The end sill 5221b comes into contact with a body part support 240 provided to a upper part of the case 200 to smoothly move back and forth.
A hinge hole 5221c is provided to an upper part of a front end of the body part 5221 to be hinged to the front panel 400 by a hinge pin 5221d. So, it can be moved back and forth together with the front panel 400.
In order to guide the whole rack rail 522, a lower surface of the guide part 5222 smoothly moves back and forth by coming into contact with the guide part support 245 spaced art from a lower part of the body part support 240 of the case 200.
Meanwhile, a stopper 5221e is provided as a wedge shape to a rear end portion of the body part 5221. The stopper 5221e is held by a holding part 250 provided to an upper part of the case 200 to prevent the rack rail 522, which is moved to a front limit position, from proceeding farther.
The driving unit 500 is preferably provided to each of the separated front panels 400. More preferably, the driving unit 500 is provided to each of both side ends of the front panel 400.
The outlet unit 600 is hinged to each of top and bottom sides of the case 200. And, the outlet unit 600 rotates to open/close the air outlet 610.
The outlet unit 610 is opened/closed at a prescribed angle toward a front/rear in an inclining direction not to interrupt an air introduction from a front.
In the present invention, the inlet passage 700 means a passage via which an air in an indoor space is introduced into the air conditioner.
The inlet passage 700 is provided to a space between the case 200 or the front frame 300 and the front panel 400. Since the front frames 300 and the front panels 400 are plurally provided, the inlet passages 700 are plurally provided in correspondence to forward/backward movements of the front panels 400.
Specifically, since a pair of the front panels 400 are provided to be vertically spaced from each other centering on the display unit 310 in-between, the inlet passages 700 are provided to a middle part, an upper part, and a lower part of the space between the case 200 and the front panels 400 in correspondence to the movements of the front panels 400, respectively.
In particular, the inlet passage 700 is configured in a manner of diverging from the middle part of the space between the case 200 and the front panels 400 toward the upper and lower parts of the space.
In more particular, the inlet passage 700 is configured to diverge upward and downward across the overall middle part of the space between the case and the front panels 400 in correspondence to the movements of the front panels 400 and across the upper and lower parts of the case 200.
In this case, both lateral sides of the space between the case 200 and the front panel 400 are preferably closed in case of a forward movement of the front panel 400.
For this, the front panel 400 includes a plane part 410 configuring a front side and a bent part 420 configuring a lateral side. The bent part 420 is bent to extend backward from both ends of the plane part 410 and moves along both slant lateral sides of the front frame 300.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, in case that a pair of the front panels 400 are provided to be horizontally spaced apart from each other, the inlet passage 700 is provided to a middle part and a lateral part of the space between the case 200 and the front panel 400 in correspondence to a movement of the front panel 400.
In this case, it is preferable that the display unit 310 is vertically formed long between the right and left front panels 400.
In the present invention, the heat exchange passage 800 means a passage that induces heat exchange of an indoor air, which has been introduced into the air conditioner via the inlet passage 700 and then passes through the heat exchanger 210 provided within the case 200.
If the front panel 400 moves forward to open the inlet passage 700, the heat exchange passage 800 is configured by the front frame 300 in rear of the air inlet 320 and the case 200.
In particular, in the heat exchange passage 800, the heat exchanger 210 is vertically installed to facilitate the heat-exchanged air having been introduced from the front to be smoothly blown in upward and downward slant directions. And, a central part of the heat exchanger 210 preferably configured with a '>' shape to induce a slant direction movement of air.
Meanwhile, in the present invention, the outlet passage 900 means a passage to blow the air, which has been air-conditioned via the heat exchange passage 800, into the indoor space again.
The outlet passage 900 is opened/closed by the outlet unit 600 provided to the upper and lower parts of the case 200. And, the outlet passage 900 is configured by the front frame 300 and the case 200 assembled together.
The present invention further includes an opening/closing guide 1000, as shown in FIGs. 8 to 12, guiding an up/down rotational motion of the front panel 400 in case of attaching/detaching a filter to/from the air inlet 320 of the front fame 300 to correspond to the front panel 400.
The opening/closing guide 1000 is configured to extend in a shape of an arc in a manner that its width gets smaller toward a rear from an upper part of a backside of the front panel 400.
In order to restrict a downward motion at an upper limit position in case of an upward/downward motion of the front panel, the downward motion of the opening/closing guide 1000 is restricted at the upper limit position by a fixing projection 523 provided to the power transfer unit 520 in case of a rotational motion of the front panel 400.
In particular, the fixing projection 523 is projected from a front end portion of the guide part of the power transfer unit 520. If an inner lateral side of the opening/closing guide 1000 comes into contact with the fixing projection 523, the opening/closing guide 1000 is elastically transformed outwardly. If free end portion of the opening/closing guide 1000 is upwardly moved and then passes through the fixing projection 523, the opening/closing guide 1000 is restored inwardly to come into contact with the front side of the fixing projection 523. So, the downward motion is restricted.
In this case, to minimize a shaking of the front panel 400 when the opening/closing guide 1000 is moved by contacting with the fixing projection 523, a guide groove 1030 can be cut along an inner middle portion of the opening/closing guide 1000.
Preferably, a lateral side of the fixing projection 523 is rounded to enable the opening/closing guide 1000 to rotate upward/downward by contacting with the fixing projection 523.
A pair of insertion recesses 1010 are recessed into both sides of a front end portion of the opening/closing guide 1000 to concavely oppose each other, respectively. So, the insertion recess 1010 receives the holding sill 524 provided to the power transfer unit 520 to enable the opening/closing guide 1000 to be accurately fixed to the power transfer unit 520 at the lower limit position in case of the upward/downward rotational motion of the front panel 400.
In particular, the holding sills 524 are provided to upper and lower parts of the front end portion of the guide part 5222 of the power transfer unit 520 to oppose each other. A further downward motion of the opening/closing guide 1000 is restricted when the insertion recess 1010 receives the corresponding holding sill 524.
Specifically, both inner lateral sides of the opening/closing guide 1000 are cut narrow in a length direction to provide a detachable guide part 1020, which is elastically transformable inward, in rear of the insertion recesses 1010.
The detachable guide part 1020 enables the holding sill 524 to smoothly move by pressurizing the detachable guide part 102 when the insertion recess 1010 of the opening/closing guide 1000 receives or leaves the holding sill 524 of the guide part 5222.
The present invention can include a plasma filter 327, as shown in FIG. 3, which purifies the air introduced via the air inlet 320. And, a safety switch 1200, as shown in FIGs. 13 to 16, can be provided to decide a power supply to the plasma filter 327.
The safety switch 1200 can include a limit switch. And, the safety switch 1200 is accommodated within an accommodating part 120 provided to the guide part 5222 of the power transfer unit 520 to move together in correspondence to an upward/downward rotational motion of the guide part 5222.
An on/off means 1230 is projected from an upper rear side of the front panel 400 to enable a contact point 1220 of the safety switch 1200 to be selectively turned on/off in correspondence to an upward/downward rotational motion of the front panel 400 in case of replacing the filter 325 provided to the front side of the front frame 300.
The safety switch 1200 is accommodated within the accommodating part 1210 of the guide part 5222. So, the safety switch 1200 moves back and forth together with the front panel 400 when the power transfer unit 520 moves back and forth.
In this case, the on/off means 1230 stops the operation of the plasma filter 327 in a manner of releasing the contact point 1220 of the safety switch 1200 in case that the front panel 400 is rotated in an upper direction (case of opening the front panel 400).
On the contrary, the on/off means 1230 activates the plasma filter 327 in a manner of activating the contact point 1220 of the safety switch 1200 in case that the front panel 400 is rotated in a lower direction (case of closing the front panel 400).
In particular, the on/of means 1230 enables the contact point 1220 of the safety switch 1200 to be activated at the lower limit position of the front panel 400 only. If it deviates from the lower limit position, the on/off means 1230 releases the contact point 1220 not to further generate plasma.
Besides, unexplained reference numbers 221, 297, 630, 1100, 1110, 1120, 1150, and 1700 in the drawing are a blowing fan bearing unit, a mounting hanger, a main frame of the outlet unit, a driving motor fixing part, a body, an accommodating part, a loading leg, and a drain fan, respectively.
As mentioned in the foregoing description, the above-configured air conditioner according to the present invention is driven in a following manner.
First of all, a plurality of the front panels 400 are horizontally moved back and forth by the driving unit 500. And, indoor air is introduced into the case 200 via the air inlet 320 provided to the front side of the front frame 300 in correspondence to the movement of the front panel 400.
In this case, when the front panel 400 is moved forward, a plurality of the inlet passages 700 provided to the space between the front panels 400 and the front frame 300 play a role as a passage for introducing the indoor air into the air inlet 320.
So, since a plurality of the inlet passages 700 are opened/closed by the movements of the separated front panels 400, it is able to air-condition a sufficient quantity of the indoor air. By moving a plurality of the front panels 400 back and forth selectively, it is able to efficiently control the passages in various modes including a heating mode, a cooling mode, and other modes (sleeping mode, leaving-house mode, etc.).
Specifically, since the driving unit 500 includes the pinion gear 521 and the rack rail 522 connected to the front panel 400, the front panel 40 can be stably moved back and forth despite the air suction.
In case that the indoor air introduced via the inlet passage 700 in front of the case 200 is discharged via the air outlets 620 provided to the top and bottom of the case 200, even spreading of the blown air can be induced without limitation put on the installation height of the air conditioner in case of the cooling/heating operation.
Meanwhile, if the central part of the heat exchanger 210 provided within the case 200 configures a shape, the intake indoor air can be more smoothly blown out in upward and downward directions owing to the reduced flowing resistance within the heat exchange passage 800.
Moreover, the outlet panel 610 is rotationally moved toward a rear of the case 200 to open/close the outlet passage 900. So, the outlet panel 610 can remove the user's unpleasantness by indirectly blowing warm air without interrupting front air introduction in case of heating operation.
Since the downward/upward movement of the opening/closing guide 1000 is restricted at the upper/lower limit position in case of the upward/downward rotational motion of the front panel 400, the filter can be easily replaced and the unnecessary movement of the front panel can be suppressed.
The safety switch 1200 is accommodated within the accommodating part 1210 provided to the guide part 5222 of the power transfer unit 520 and the contact point 1220 is then selectively turned on/off in correspondence to the upward/downward rotational motion of the guide part 5222. So, the generation of the plasma is automatically cut off in case of the filter replacement, whereby the safety accident can be prevented in advance.
Accordingly, the present invention provides the following effects or advantages.
First of all, an air conditioner of the present invention sufficiently secures a quantity of air in an indoor space. An installation height of the air conditioner is not considerably restricted. The air conditioner of the present invention is able to induce even spreading of a blown air in case of cooling/heating operation. And, the air conditioner of the present invention can indirectly discharge warm air without interrupting front air introduction.
Secondly, since a downward/upward motion of an opening/closing guide is restricted at an upper/lower limit position in case of an upward/downward rotational motion of a front panel, a filter can be easily replaced and the unnecessary movement of the front panel can be suppressed.
Thirdly, a safety switch is accommodated within an accommodating part provided to a guide part of a power transfer unit and a contact point is then selectively turned on/off in correspondence to an upward/downward rotational motion of a guide part. So, the generation of plasma is automatically cut off in case of the filter replacement, whereby a safety accident can be prevented in advance.
While the present invention has been described and illustrated herein with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers the modifications and variations of this invention that come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

An air conditioner comprising:
a case provided with a heat exchanger and a blowing fan;

a front panel provided in front of the case to open/close an air inlet by moving;

an air outlet provided to a top and/or a bottom of the case; and

an opening/closing guide provided to the front panel to guide an upward/downward rotational motion of the front panel.
The air conditioner of claim 1, wherein a downward movement of the opening/closing guide is restricted at an upper limit position in case of the upward/downward rotational motion of the front panel.
The air conditioner of claim 1, wherein the opening/closing guide extends to have an arc shape of which width gets smaller backward from an upper backside of the front panel.
The air conditioner of claim 1, wherein a front end portion of the opening/closing guide is concavely cut inward to configure an insertion recess.
The air conditioner of claim 4, wherein a detachable guide part elastically transformable inward is provided in rear of the insertion recess.
The air conditioner of claim 5, wherein an inner portion adjacent to each of both side ends of the opening/closing guide is cut narrow in a length direction t configure the detachable guide part.
The air conditioner of claim 1, wherein the front panel is moved back and forth by a power transfer unit provided to the case.
The air conditioner of claim 7, wherein the front panel is hinged to the power transfer unit.
The air conditioner of claim 7, wherein a downward movement of the opening/closing guide is restricted at an upper limit position in case of the rotational motion of the front panel by a fixing projection provided to the power transfer unit.
The air conditioner of claim 7, wherein a holding sill provided to the power transfer unit is accommodated in an insertion groove configured by cutting a front end portion of the opening/closing guide concavely inward.
The air conditioner of claim 1, wherein a plurality of the front panels are configured to be spaced apart from each other.
The air conditioner of claim 1, wherein a filter is detachably loaded in front of the case to correspond to the front panel.
The air conditioner of claim 1, further comprising:
a plasma filter purifying an air introduced via the air inlet;

a safety switch provided to a driving unit to decide a power supply to the plasma filter; and

an on/off means for selectively activating the safety switch in correspondence to a movement of the front panel.
The air conditioner of claim 13, wherein the front panel is rotationally moved to draw an arc upwardly and downwardly.
The air conditioner of claim 13, wherein the on/off means is projected from an upper backside of the front panel.
The air conditioner of claim 13, the driving unit comprising:
a driving motor;

a pinion gear connected to a rotational shaft of the driving motor; and

a rack rail gearing with the pinion gear to be connected to the front panel.
The air conditioner of claim 16, the rack rail comprising:
a body part provided with a rack gear gearing with the pinion gear;

a guide part spaced apart from the body part; and

a connecting part connecting the body part and the guide part together.
The air conditioner of claim 17, wherein the safety switch is loaded in the guide part.
The air conditioner of claim 16, wherein a hinge hole is perforated in a front end portion of the rack rail.
The air conditioner of claim 13, further comprising an opening/closing guide provided to the front panel to guide the upward/downward rotational motion of the front panel.
The air conditioner of claim 13, wherein a downward movement of the opening/closing guide is restricted at an upper limit position in case of the upward/downward rotational motion of the front panel.
The air conditioner of claim 13, wherein a plurality of the front panels are configured to be spaced apart from each other.