SILVA REGIS (BR)
| US6022270A | ||||
| US6009717A |
CLAIMS
1. A window air conditioning unit comprising: a compressor, a condenser, an evaporator, and a housing receiving the compressor, condenser and evaporator; air moving devices for moving air over the condenser and the evaporator; and a control for providing a user input member to control the operation of the window air conditioning unit, said control being positioned in the housing; and a door selectively covering or providing access to the user input member on the control, said door pivoting relative to a portion of the housing, and a latch holding said door latched to the portion of the housing, said latch on a user depressable portion, said latch being positioned behind a ledge on the portion of the housing, and the user depressable portion being depressed to move the latch to a position where it is no longer behind the ledge on the portion of the housing such that the control door may be easily pivoted to its open position.
2. The window air conditioning unit as set forth in Claim 1, wherein said latch includes a user held portion spaced from said user depressed portion, said user held portion being separated from said user depressed portion by a gap, and a neck connecting said user depressed portion with said user held portion.
3. The window air conditioning unit as set forth in Claim 2, wherein said neck extends for a smaller thickness than said user depressed portion and said user held portion.
4. The window air conditioning unit as set forth in Claim 1, wherein said portion of said housing is a front grill secured to a front of the housing, and including an opening to allow air to pass over the evaporator, and an additional opening to allow air to move back into an environment to be conditioned after having been conditioned on the evaporator.
5. The window air conditioning unit as set forth in Claim 4, wherein said control being positioned vertically beneath said additional opening.
6. The window air conditioning unit as set forth in Claim 1, wherein said door pivots from a pivot point vertically below said user depressable portion.
7. A window air conditioning unit comprising: a compressor, a condenser, an evaporator, and a housing receiving the compressor, condenser and evaporator; air moving devices for moving air over the condenser and the evaporator; a control for providing a user input member to control the operation of the window air conditioning unit, said control being positioned in the housing and a door selectively covering or providing access to the user input member on the control, said door pivoting relative to a portion of the housing, and a latch holding said door latched to the portion of the housing, said latch on a user depressable portion, said latch member being positioned behind a ledge on the portion of the housing, and the user depressable portion being depressed to move the latch to a position where it is no longer behind the ledge on the portion of the housing such that the control door may be easily pivoted to its open position; said latch includes a user held portion spaced from said user depressed portion, said user held portion being separated from said user depressed portion by a gap, and a neck connecting said user depressed portion with said user held portion, said neck extending for a smaller thickness than said user depressed portion and said user held portion, said portion of said housing being a front grill secured to a front of the housing, and including an opening to allow air to pass over the evaporator, and an additional opening to allow air to move back into an environment to be conditioned after having been conditioned on the evaporator, said front grill includes the opening for allowing conditioned air to move back into the environment to be conditioned, and said control being positioned vertically beneath said additional opening.
8. The window air conditioning unit as set forth in Claim 7, wherein said door pivots from a pivot point vertically below said user depressable portion.
9. A method of operating a window air conditioning unit comprising the steps of: (1) providing a compressor, a condenser, an evaporator, and a housing receiving said compressor, condenser and evaporator, providing air moving devices for moving air over the condenser and the evaporator, and providing a control with a user input member to control the operation of the window air conditioning unit, said control being positioned in the housing; and
(2) providing a door selectively covering or providing access to the user input member on the control, said door pivoting relative to a portion of the housing, said door being held latched on said housing by a latch, and said latch including a user depressable portion, and including the step of depressing the user depressable portion to move a latch away from a ledge on the portion of the housing such that the door may be pivoted to an open position to provide access to the user input member, and then operating the user input member to control the window air conditioning unit.
10. The method as set forth in Claim 9, wherein said latch includes a user-held portion spaced from said user depressable portion, and said user-held portion being held by a user as the user depressed portion is being depressed.
11. The method as set forth in Claim 10, wherein said portion of said housing is a front grill secured to a front of the housing, and including an opening to allow air to pass over the evaporator, and an additional opening to allow air to move back into an environment to be conditioned after having been conditioned on the evaporator, and said control door being provided vertically beneath said additional opening.
12. The method as set forth in Claim 9, wherein said user depressable portion is positioned vertically above a pivot axis for said door. |
AIR CONDITIONING UNIT WITH CONTROL DOOR EASY OPEN SNAP
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This application relates to a control door for a window air conditioning unit which snaps between an open and closed position to provide access to control knobs. The control door has a latch feature which snaps behind a ledge on a grill on the window air conditioning unit. The latch is moveable along with a depressed portion to reduce the force necessary to move the control door to an open position.
Window air conditioning units are known, and typically include a single housing receiving a compressor, a condenser, and an evaporator. Typically, a front grill faces into a room to be conditioned.
The front grill allows passage of air over the evaporator, and also provides an opening where conditioned air is delivered back into a room to be conditioned. Further, a control box is typically placed somewhere on a front of the housing. The control box will include knobs, etc., to control the degree of conditioning being performed on the air being delivered into the room.
To provide access to the control knobs, typically a control door has been pivotally mounted to the front grill. In the prior art, the control door has a relatively rigid latch which snaps behind a ledge on the front grill. At times, users of the window air conditioning units have found it undesirably difficult to move the control door to an open position. Thus, it is known to simply leave the
control door open, rather than have to open the prior art latch.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In the disclosed embodiment of this application, the latch for a control door on a window air conditioning unit is formed to move with a user depressed portion. The user depressed portion and the latch are formed at one side of the latch. A gap is formed between the user depressed portion and a relatively rigid user held portion of the latch. When it is desired to move the control door to an open position, a user depresses the user depressed portion toward the user held portion. The latch will then move away from the ledge on the front grill, and the control door may be pivoted to the open position with little or no required force.
These and other features of the present invention can be best understood from the following specification and drawings, the following of which is a brief description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is an exploded view of a window air conditioning unit.
Figure 2 shows a control door in the inventive window air conditioning unit.
Figure 3 shows a latch feature of the control door.
Figure 4A shows a cross-sectional view through the latched control
door.
Figure 4B shows the control door being moved to release the control door from the grill.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
A window air conditioning unit 20 is illustrated in Figure 1. A housing 22 encloses the components of the air conditioning unit. As shown, a front grill 24 is placed in front of an evaporator 26. A condenser 28 is positioned at the other end of the air conditioning unit. All of the components will eventually be received within the housing 22, and they are shown in this exploded view removed from the casing.
As also shown, a blower 30 pulls air through openings 38 in the grill 24, across the evaporator 26, and back through an opening 40 in the grill
24. Louvers 120 are formed in the opening 4, but not shown in Figure 1 (see
Figure 2). The air is conditioned at the evaporator 26, as known. The blower 30 is driven by a motor 34 which also drives a fan 32. Fan 32 moves air over the condenser 28. A compressor 36 compresses refrigerant and delivers refrigerant to the condenser 28, as known. The refrigerant then passes through an expansion device (not shown) and to the evaporator 26.
As shown in this figure, a control box 42 controls the operation of the window air conditioning unit. Knobs 43 are shown, and provide various control to a user, as is known. Buttons may also be used to provide electronic control. As shown, a latch 46 is positioned on a control box door 44 which is
part of the front grill 24 in this example. It is noted that the present invention is not limited to the location shown.
As shown in Figure 2, the latch 46 includes a user depressed portion 50 and a user held portion 52. The control door 44 pivots between open and closed position relative to the front grill 24.
As shown in Figure 3, there is a gap 53 between the user held portion 52 and the user depressed portion 50. Further, a slim neck 60 extends rearwardly of the user depressed portion 50. A latch 62 is formed on this thin neck 60.
As shown in Figure 4A, when held in the latched position, the latch 62 sits behind a lower edge 101 of the grill 24. When it is desired to move the control door 44 to an open position, the user depressed portion 50 is pivoted toward the user held portion 52. Thus, as shown in Figure 4B, when in a pivoted position 100, the latch 62 now moves beneath the ledge 101, and the control door may easily pivot to its open position. The force required to move to the latch is much less than in the prior art, which had a relatively rigid latch formed on top of a solid door, and thus required the user to pull the door open with sufficient force as to deform the latch material. Operators with limited hand strength found the previous solutions difficult to operate and thus would leave the control box open. For a number of reasons, this was not ideal from a functional or aesthetic point of view.
It should be understood that the control door may be formed of a
plastic material which is easily deformable to provide the functions as set forth above. In addition, while the application is disclosed as an air conditioning unit, it should be understood that it would extend also to heat pumps. The term "window air conditioning unit" as utilized in this application should be understood to also extend to heat pumps which function in both an air conditioning mode and a heating mode.
Although a preferred embodiment has been disclosed a worker or ordinary skill in the art would recognize that certain modifications would come within the scope of this invention. For that reason the following claims should be studied to determine the true scope and content of this invention.
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