JPH06341667A - Air conditioner with oxygen-enriching function - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an air conditioner with an oxygen enriching function, which is capable of stably supplying oxygen-enriched air. CONSTITUTION:An air conditioner has an oxygen-enriching function by which air inside a room is taken in, nitrogen contained in the air is adsorbed and removed by adsorbing towers 27 and 29 to enrich the air with oxygen and the air is sent into the room. Two or more adsorbing towers 27 and 29 are provided and a portion of air from which nitrogen is removed by one adsorbing tower 27 between two is led to the other adsorbing tower 29 to regenerate adsorbent in the adsorbing tower 29 under the atmospheric pressure condition.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air conditioner having an oxygen enrichment function and relates to a system for regenerating an adsorbent in an adsorption tank.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, there is known an air conditioner having an oxygen enrichment function of taking in indoor air, adsorbing and removing nitrogen in the air in an adsorption tank, and converting it into oxygen-enriched air and sending it out into the room. In this type, a two-head compressor having a pressurizing unit and a depressurizing unit is provided, and the indoor air pressurized by the pressurizing unit is sent into the adsorption tank to form oxygen-enriched air and then sent indoors. The air decompressed in the decompression unit is fed into the adsorption tank to regenerate the adsorbent in the adsorption tank under decompression conditions.

[0003]

However, in the conventional structure, since the adsorbent is regenerated under a reduced pressure condition lower than the atmospheric pressure, a time period in which oxygen-enriched air is not generated can be obtained. There is a problem that flow fluctuations and oxygen concentration fluctuations occur in oxygen-enriched air.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an air conditioner having an oxygen enrichment function, which solves the problems of the above-mentioned conventional techniques and can stably deliver oxygen enriched air. It is in.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention takes in indoor air and adsorbs and removes nitrogen in the air in an adsorption tank to produce oxygen-enriched air in the room. In the air conditioner equipped with the oxygen enrichment function to send out,
It is characterized in that a plurality of the adsorption tanks are provided, a part of the air from which nitrogen has been adsorbed and removed in one adsorption tank is introduced into the other adsorption tank, and the adsorbent in the adsorption tank is regenerated under atmospheric pressure conditions. It is a thing.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that a pipe for guiding the oxygen-enriched air to the indoor unit is provided, and a sound absorbing or silencer such as a silencer is provided in this pipe.

[0007]

According to the present invention, nitrogen is adsorbed and removed in one of the adsorption tanks to turn the room air into oxygen-enriched air, and most of the air is sent into the room, while a part of the oxygen-enriched air is
The adsorbent in the adsorption tank is guided to the other adsorption tank and the adsorbent in the adsorption tank is regenerated under atmospheric pressure conditions, and the air is released to the atmosphere, for example. According to this, the oxygen-enriched air is constantly generated, so that there is no time zone in which the oxygen-enriched air is not generated, and the oxygen-enriched air does not fluctuate in flow or oxygen concentration.

If a pipe for guiding the oxygen-enriched air to the indoor unit is provided and a silencer is provided in the pipe, the sound of the outdoor unit is not transmitted to the room by riding the flow of the oxygen-enriched air. , There is no discomfort at bedtime when background noise is reduced.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an air conditioner having an oxygen enrichment function according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In FIG. 1, 1 is an indoor unit and 3 is an outdoor unit. Although not shown in the drawings, the indoor unit 1 has a built-in cross-flow fan, an indoor heat exchanger, etc., and the outdoor unit 3 also has an accumulator, a compressor, though not shown.
It has a built-in four-way valve, outdoor heat exchanger, and electric expansion valve. The indoor unit 1 and the outdoor unit 3 are connected to the refrigerant pipes 9, 10
It is connected by. Further, the outdoor unit 3 has an oxygen enrichment device 5 built therein, and the oxygen enrichment device 5 is connected to the indoor unit 1 by two pipes 7 and 8.

As shown in FIG. 2, the oxygen enrichment apparatus 5 includes a compressor 21 connected to the pipe 7 and a cooler 23.
The electromagnetic switching valve 25, the two adsorption tanks 27 and 29, and the electromagnetic switching valve 31 are included. 51 is a check valve,
Reference numerals 61 and 62 are pressure equalizing tubes.

The characteristic feature of this embodiment lies in the circuit configuration of the oxygen enrichment device 5. Especially two adsorption tanks 27,
29, both adsorption tanks 27, 29 are connected by a bypass pipe 33, and a throttle 35 is incorporated in the bypass pipe 33.

The operation of the oxygen enriching device 5 will be described. When the electromagnetic switching valves 25 and 31 are in the positions indicated by the solid lines, the room air flows into the first adsorption tank 27 through the compressor 21 and the cooler 23. . In this first adsorption tank 27, nitrogen in the air is adsorbed and removed, and oxygen-enriched air is generated.

Most of this oxygen-enriched air is sent to the indoor unit 1 through the check valve 51 and the pipe 8, and is blown out from the oxygen-enriched air outlet 11 as shown in FIG. It is blown into the room by riding the airflow of the flow fan.

On the other hand, part of the oxygen-enriched air flows into the second adsorption tank 29 through the bypass line 33 and the throttle 35, and the adsorbent therein is regenerated under atmospheric pressure. Through the electromagnetic switching valves 25 and 31, and further through the silencer 37 to be released into the atmosphere.

According to this, while the oxygen-enriched air is generated in the first adsorption tank 27, a part of the second adsorption tank 29 is used.
Since the adsorbent in the inside is regenerated, the oxygen-enriched air is constantly generated, so that the oxygen-enriched air generated does not have flow fluctuations and oxygen concentration fluctuations as compared with the conventional ones.

Further, after switching the dotted line position of the electromagnetic switching valve 31 so that the pressure equalizing pipes 61 and 62 communicate with each other, the valve is returned to the original position.
When the electromagnetic switching valve 25 is switched as shown by the dotted line, the compressor 2
The room air that has passed through the cooler 23 is the second adsorption tank 2
It flows into the inside 9 and is converted into oxygen-enriched air there, and most of it is sent out to the indoor unit 1. At this time, a part of the oxygen-enriched air flows into the first adsorption tank 27 through the bypass pipe 33 and the throttle 35, and is discharged to the outside of the apparatus together with the nitrogen released from the adsorbent inside each of them. Regenerate 27 adsorbents.

However, according to this embodiment, as long as the electromagnetic switching valves 25 and 31 are switched, any one of the adsorption tanks 2
Since oxygen-enriched air is always generated in 7 and 29, the inconvenience of having a time zone in which oxygen-enriched air is not generated is almost completely eliminated as compared with the conventional one.

Further, a needle valve 38 and a silencer 39 are provided in the pipe 8 for feeding the oxygen-enriched air.

The needle valve 38 regulates the flow of oxygen-enriched air, and is preferably an on-off valve that regulates the degree of opening / closing according to a signal from a remote controller of the air conditioner. The silencer 39 silences the noise of the outdoor unit 3 in the middle of the pipe 8 so that the noise of the outdoor unit 3 is not transmitted to the room by riding on the flow of oxygen-enriched air. It is especially effective when background noise is reduced, such as when going to bed.

As an example, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG.
Can be placed. According to this, the vibration energy of the sound is dispersed in the space of the particles of the plastic 41 and converted into heat energy, so that an extremely high silencing effect is exhibited.

As shown by the dotted line in FIG. 1, a suction nozzle 43 having an oxygen-enriched air outlet 11 is provided, and the suction nozzle 43 is detachably housed in the indoor unit 1. Good. At this time, the indoor unit 1 and the suction nozzle 43 are connected by the tube 45. According to this, when it is desired to suck oxygen-enriched air for refreshing indoors, it is possible to take out the oxygen-enriched air and suck it personally. At this time, the needle valve 37 described above is used to adjust the discharge amount of the oxygen-enriched air and to synchronize with the human breath.
Alternatively, the discharge amount may be increased or decreased. When the oxygen-enriched air is increased / decreased in synchronism with the breathing of the person, it is possible to prevent the user from feeling uncomfortable or uncomfortable.

Although one embodiment has been described above, the present invention is
Obviously, it is not limited to this. For example, the oxygen enrichment device 5 may not be built in the outdoor unit 3,
It may be a separate body, or a silencer may be arranged in the pipe 8 arranged outside the outdoor unit 3 to muffle the sound.
Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the suction nozzle 43 may be attached and detached from the lower part of the indoor unit 1.

[0024]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, oxygen-enriched air can be delivered stably, so that the generated oxygen-enriched air has flow fluctuations and oxygen concentration fluctuations. There is no such thing as an effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an air conditioner having an oxygen enrichment function.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of an oxygen enrichment device.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a structure of a silencer.

FIG. 4 is a main part perspective view showing another embodiment of an air conditioner having an oxygen enrichment function.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Indoor Unit 3 Outdoor Unit 5 Oxygen Enrichment Device 7, 8 Pipe 9, 10 Refrigerant Pipe 21 Compressor 23 Cooler 25, 31 Electromagnetic Changeover Valve 27, 29 Adsorption Tank 33 Bypass Pipeline 35 Throttle

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An air conditioner having an oxygen enriching function, which takes in indoor air, adsorbs and removes nitrogen in the air in an adsorption tank to produce oxygen-enriched air, and sends it out into the room.
It is characterized in that a plurality of the adsorption tanks are provided, a part of the air from which nitrogen has been adsorbed and removed in one adsorption tank is introduced into the other adsorption tank, and the adsorbent in the adsorption tank is regenerated under atmospheric pressure conditions. An air conditioner with an oxygen enrichment function. 2. An air having an oxygen-enriching function according to claim 1, wherein a pipe for guiding the oxygen-enriched air to the indoor unit is provided, and a sound absorbing or silencing device is provided in the pipe. Harmony device.