FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an air-conditioner, particularly to a humidifying air-conditioner.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] In autumn and winter when ambient air is relatively dry, people will feel uncomfortable due to low humidity. Under this circumstance, the ambient air can be humidified by humidifiers so as to enhance comfortable feeling.

[0003] Thanks to its small volume, simple structure, environment friendly and low cost etc, ultrasonic transducers are usually used for atomizing humidifying liquid to humidify residing environment. Ultrasonic transducers transmit ultrasonic oscillations to liquid water to damage the surface tension thereof and change it into fine mist, which is outputted into air via duct, thereby achieving the purpose of humidifying the ambient air. [0004] Chinese Utility Model No. 02250247.5 discloses an ultrasonic humidifying air-conditioner, as shown in Fig. 1, the ultrasonic humidifying air-conditioner 110 comprises a water tank 111, a transducer 112 provided at the bottom of the water tank 111 and a water level detector 113 provided at the top of the water tank 111. The water tank 111 is in communication with ambient air at its top portion via a mist passage 116, and it is in communication with one end of a water passage 115 at its bottom portion.

The other end of the water passage 115 is in communication with one port of a tee joint 103. Other two ports of the tee joint 103 are respectively in communication with the condensed water discharge pipe 101 and the main discharge pipe 102 of the air-conditioner 100. The water passage 115 is provided with a control valve 118, a discharge pump 119 is positioned between the control valve 118 and the water tank 111.

The operations of the transducer 112, the control valve 118 and the discharge pump 119 are controlled by a controller 117. When it is detected by the water level detector 113 that the water tank 111 is short of water, the controller 117 will open the control valve 118, accordingly, the condensed water discharged from the air-conditioner 100 flows into the water tank 111 via the condensed water discharge pipe 101, the tee joint 103 and the water passage 115 sequently.

[0006J When it is detected by the water level detector 113 that the water level inside the water tank 111 is higher than a predetermined level, the humidifying operation can be started. The controller 117 operates to actuate the transducer 112, and the transducer 112 starts to atomize the water within the water tank 111 to form water mist. The water mist diffuses into ambient air through the mist passage 116 provided at the top of the water tank 111, thereby realizing humidification of the ambient air.

[0007] When it is detected by the water level detector 113 that the water level inside the water tank 111 is higher than a minimum level, the controller 117 will close the control valve 118 to prevent excessive water from entering into the water tank 111. [0008] When it becomes necessary to discharge the water inside the water tank 111 therefrom, the controller 117 will open the control valve 118 and the discharge pump 119 to pump out the water inside the water tank 111. The water pumped out is discharged out of the air-conditioner via the water passage 115, the tee joint 103 and the main discharge pipe 102 sequently. [0009] Chinese Utility Model NO. 03278370.1, NO. 200520122818.7 and Chinese

Patent Application NO. 200410016017.2 all disclose the technical solution of employing the condensed water in air-conditioners as humidifying liquid.

[00J0] Japanese Patent NO. JP1285330A discloses the technical solution of providing water mist outlet at the air supplying outlet of the air-conditioner, in this way, diffusing velocity of the water mist in ambient air can be enhanced by means of the outputting air of the air-conditioner.

[0011] However, providing water mist outlet at the air supplying outlet of the air-conditioner will cause the problem that the humidifying water mist may conveniently condense into water droplets at the air supplying outlet, accordingly leading to a hidden trouble that the air discharged from the air-conditioner may contain water.

[00J 2] Further, in the aforementioned prior art, the humidifier and the air-conditioner are two separate devices, thus increasing the mounting complexity and mounting space of air-conditioner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0013] In view of the drawbacks in prior art, the present invention aims at providing a humidifying air-conditioner which can prevent humidifying water mist from condensing into water droplet at the air supplying outlet thereof and thus avoid the trouble that air discharged from air-conditioners contains water.

[0014] To solve the aforementioned problems, the present invention provides a humidifying air-conditioner, which comprises a humidifier for forming mist, an indoor heat-exchanger and an internal air passage, said humidifier comprises a liquid container and a mist guiding duct, the inlet of which is in communication with said liquid container, characterized in that: the outlet of said mist guiding duct is positioned at the side of the indoor heat-exchanger of said air-conditioner, said indoor heat-exchanger is positioned on a mist discharging path formed between the outlet of said mist guiding duct and said internal air passage.

[0015] Preferably, said humidifying air-conditioner further comprises a body within which said liquid container is positioned.

[0016] Preferably, a pipe mounting space is provided within said body, and said liquid container is positioned in said pipe mounting space or a space specially designed for said liquid container.

[0017] Preferably, said body comprises an indoor body and an outdoor body, between which a connecting pipe is connected, said pipe mounting space is positioned within said indoor body and part of said pipe mounting space is used for mounting said connecting pipe. [0018] Preferably, said indoor body is of wall-mount type.

[0019] Preferably, said humidifying air-conditioner further comprises a discharge pipe, part of said pipe mounting space is used for mounting said connecting pipe and/or said discharge pipe.

[0020] Preferably, said liquid container further comprises a liquid inlet connected with an external humidifying liquid source. Preferably, said humidifier further comprises an inlet control valve for controlling said liquid inlet.

[0022] Preferably, said liquid container further comprises a liquid outlet, and said humidifying air-conditioner further comprises a condensed water guiding pipe, said liquid outlet is in communication with said condensed water guiding pipe.

[0023] Preferably, said humidifier further comprises an outlet control valve for controlling said liquid outlet.

[0024] Preferably, said outlet control valve is a normally closed valve which is under open state at the beginning of closing said air-conditioner. [0025] Preferably, said humidifier further comprises a controller for controlling said inlet control valve and said outlet control valve and a liquid level detector for detecting liquid level inside said liquid container, said liquid level detector sends a signal indicating the liquid level inside said liquid container, said controller receives the signal indicating the liquid level inside said liquid container and determines the relation between the liquid level inside said liquid container and a maximum liquid level as well as the relation between the liquid level inside said liquid container and a minimum liquid level, said controller opens said inlet control valve and closes said outlet control valve when the liquid level inside said liquid container is lower than the minimum liquid level; said controller closes said inlet control valve and opens said outlet control valve when the liquid level inside said liquid container is higher than the maximum liquid level; said controller closes said inlet control valve and said outlet control valve when the liquid level inside said liquid container is between the minimum liquid level and the maximum liquid level.

[0026] Preferably, said humidifier further comprises a transducer keeping contact with the liquid inside said liquid container, a humidity detector for detecting humidity of environment and a controller, said humidity detector sends a signal indicating humidity of environment, said controller opens or closes said transducer when said controller receives the signal indicating humidity of environment.

[0027] Preferably, said transducer is positioned at the internal bottom of said liquid container, the working surface of said transducer is directed toward the top of said liquid container.

Preferably, said humidifying air-conditioner further comprises an indoor air inlet, said humidity detector is positioned inside said air inlet.

[0029] Compared with prior art, the aforementioned humidifying air-conditioner further comprises a mist guiding duct, the inlet of which is in communication with said liquid container, the outlet of said mist guiding duct is directed toward the indoor heat-exchanger such that the indoor heat-exchanger is positioned on a mist discharging path. When the humidifying air-conditioner is operating only under humidifying mode and the mist thus generated passes through the indoor heat-exchanger, part of the mist will be condensed into water droplet on the indoor heat-exchanger and flows into a tank for storing condensed water (not shown), accordingly, condensation of the mist at the air supplying outlet of the humidifying air-conditioner will be prevented, that is, the phenomenon in which air discharged from the air-conditioners contains water can be avoided. When the humidifying air-conditioner is operating under the mode of both heating and humidifying, the temperature of the mist is increased after being heated by the indoor heat-exchanger upon passing through thereof, then the mist will not condense at the air supplying outlet and the phenomenon in which air discharged from the air-conditioners contains water can also be avoided.

Further, the liquid container is positioned inside the body of the humidifying air-conditioner which makes provision of an additional mounting space for the liquid container becomes unnecessary. Since the liquid container takes up more space of the humidifier than other parts thereof, in the event that the liquid container has been placed inside the body of the humidifying air-conditioner, the provision of an additional mounting space for the humidifier actually becomes unnecessary.

[0031] In addition, since there remains a surplus space after the pipes connecting the indoor body and the out door body being accommodated inside the indoor body of existing air-conditioners, especially those wall-mount air-conditioners, so as to adapt to the mounting orientations of the indoor body and the out door body. The liquid container is positioned within the surplus space, thereby improving efficiency of space utilization.

Furthermore, the humidifier further comprises an outlet control valve for controlling said liquid outlet, said outlet control valve is a normally closed valve which is under open state at the beginning of closing the air-conditioner, thus making it possible to discharge the humidifying liquid after the air-conditioner being closed and avoiding generation of harmful substance and microorganism in the liquid container. Further, the humidifier further comprises a humidity detector for detecting humidity of environment, said humidity detector sends a signal indicating humidity of environment to said controller; when the humidity of environment is lower than a predetermined value, said controller can control the operation of the humidifier and thus accurately control the humidity of environment, avoiding the humidity of environment becomes too high.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] Fig. 1 is a schematic view showing prior art;

[0035] Fig. 2 is a sectional rear view showing an embodiment of the humidifying air-conditioner according to the present invention;

[0036] Fig. 3 is a sectional left view showing the humidifying air-conditioner of the embodiment shown in Fig. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0037] The present embodiment mainly aims at providing a humidifying air-conditioner which can prevent humidifying water mist from condensing into water droplet at air supplying outlet thereof and thus avoid the trouble that air discharged from air-conditioners contains water.

To this end, the present embodiment provides a humidifying air-conditioner, which comprises a humidifier for forming mist, an indoor heat-exchanger and an internal air passage, said humidifier comprises a liquid container and a mist guiding duct, the inlet of which is in communication with said liquid container, characterized in that: the outlet of said mist guiding duct is positioned at the side of the indoor heat-exchanger of said air-conditioner, said indoor heat-exchanger is positioned on a mist discharging path formed between the outlet of said mist guiding duct and said internal air passage. Preferably, said humidifying air-conditioner further comprises a body within which said liquid container is positioned. Preferably, a pipe mounting space is provided within said body, and said liquid container is positioned in said pipe mounting space or a space specially designed for said liquid container. Preferably, said body comprises an indoor body and an outdoor body, between which a connecting pipe is connected, said pipe mounting space is positioned within said indoor body and part of said pipe mounting space is used for mounting said connecting pipe. Preferably, said indoor body is of wall-mount type. Preferably, said humidifying air-conditioner further comprises a discharge pipe, part of said pipe mounting space is used for mounting said connecting pipe and/or said discharge pipe. Preferably, said liquid container further comprises a liquid inlet connected with an external humidifying liquid source. Preferably, said humidifier further comprises an inlet control valve for controlling said liquid inlet. Preferably, said liquid container further comprises a liquid outlet, and said humidifying air-conditioner further comprises a condensed water guiding pipe, said liquid outlet is in communication with said condensed water guiding pipe. Preferably, said humidifier further comprises an outlet control valve for controlling said liquid outlet. Preferably, said outlet control valve is a normally closed valve which is under open state at the beginning of closing said air-conditioner. Preferably, said humidifier further comprises a controller for controlling said inlet control valve and said outlet control valve and a liquid level detector for detecting liquid level inside said liquid container, said liquid level detector sends a signal indicating the liquid level inside said liquid container, said controller receives the signal indicating the liquid level inside said liquid container and determines the relation between the liquid level inside said liquid container and a maximum liquid level as well as the relation between the liquid level inside said liquid container and a minimum liquid level, said controller opens said inlet control valve and closes said outlet control valve when the liquid level inside said liquid container is lower than the minimum liquid level; said controller closes said inlet control valve and opens said outlet control valve when the liquid level inside said liquid container is higher than the maximum liquid level; said controller closes said inlet control valve and said outlet control valve when the liquid level inside said liquid container is between the minimum liquid level and the maximum liquid level. Preferably, said humidifier further comprises a transducer keeping contact with the liquid inside said liquid container, a humidity detector for detecting humidity of environment and a controller, said humidity detector sends a signal indicating humidity of environment, said controller opens or closes said transducer when said controller receives the signal indicating humidity of environment. Preferably, said transducer is positioned at the internal bottom of said liquid container, the working surface of said transducer is directed toward the top of said liquid container. Preferably, said humidifying air-conditioner further comprises an indoor air inlet, said humidity detector is positioned inside said air inlet.

[0039] In the following, the present embodiment will be specified taking wall-mounted air-conditioner of separate type as an example with reference to the accompanied drawings. [0040] As shown in Fig. 2, humidifying air-conditioner 200 comprises an indoor body 201, an outdoor body (not shown) and a humidifier 210. The indoor body 201 may be mounted on the wall inside a room, while the outdoor body may be mounted on an outdoor platform where ventilation is excellent.

[004J] As shown in Fig. 2 and 3, the humidifier 210 may comprise a liquid container 211 for storing humidifying liquid, a transducer 212 for atomizing the humidifying liquid, a liquid level detector 213 for detecting the liquid level inside the liquid container 211, a controller 217 for controlling humidifying operation, mist guiding duct

216 for guiding humidifying mist and humidity detector 220 for detecting humidity of air. [0042] The controller 217 is provided for receiving signal from the liquid level detector 213 indicative of the liquid level inside the liquid container 211 and signal from the humidity detector 220 indicative of humidity of environment, and for controlling operation of the transducer 212 by opening or closing the transducer 212. The controller

217 may be provided on the outer wall of the liquid container 211. The controller 217 may be developed on the basis of existing controller or may be specially designed for the present invention.

[0043] The transducer 212 may be provided at the internal bottom of the liquid container 211 for atomizing humidifying liquid. The transducer 212 may be an ultrasonic vibration emitter for converting electric power into ultrasonic vibration, so as to atomize humidifying liquid. During operation, the working surface of the transducer

212 should be positioned below the liquid level inside the liquid container 211, such that the ultrasonic vibration generated by the transducer 212 can be transferred to the humidifying liquid effectively so as to damage the surface tension of the humidifying liquid and thus make it become into fine mist. The transducer 212 may also be a conventional ultrasonic transducer used for atomization.

Inlet of the mist guiding duct 216 may be in communication with the top of the liquid container 211, while its outlet is at the side of indoor heat-exchanger 203 of the indoor body 201 (see Fig. 3). Here, the side of the indoor heat-exchanger 203 is the side opposite to internal air passage 206 inside the indoor body 201, that is, upwind side of the indoor body 201, such that the mist has to pass through the indoor heat-exchanger 203 upon discharging. Due to the effect of diffusion, the mist generated by ultrasonically atomizing the humidifying liquid will firstly fill the space not occupied by humidifying liquid inside the liquid container 211, then it will flow into the mist guiding duct 216 and further be diverted to the upwind side of the indoor body 201 by the mist guiding duct 216. Therefore, by connecting one end of the mist guiding duct 216 with the top of the liquid container 211, the humidifying liquid will be prevented from blocking the mist guiding duct 216. Hence, the discharging path of the mist will be as follows: firstly, the mist diffuses into the mist guiding duct 216 after being generated by the transducer 212 inside the liquid container 211; secondly, it is guided along the mist guiding duct 216 and discharged from the outlet of the mist guiding duct 216; thirdly, it passes through the indoor heat-exchanger 203 and reach the internal air passage 206, finally, it is discharged from air supplying outlet 207 under the effect of air flow generated by a fan 204. Since the indoor heat-exchanger 203 is in the discharging path of the mist, when the humidifying air-conditioner 200 is operating only under humidifying mode and the mist thus generated passes through the indoor heat-exchanger 203, part of the mist will be condensed into water droplet on the indoor heat-exchanger 203 and flows into a tank for storing condensed water (not shown), accordingly, condensation of the mist at the air supplying outlet 207 of the humidifying air-conditioner will be prevented, that is, the phenomenon in which air discharged from the air-conditioners contains water can be avoided. When the humidifying air-conditioner is operating under the mode of both heating and humidifying, the temperature of the mist is increased after being heated by the indoor heat-exchanger 203 upon passing through thereof, then the mist will not condense at the air supplying outlet 207 and the phenomenon in which air discharged from the air-conditioners contains water can also be avoided.

The liquid level detector 213 is positioned inside the liquid container 211 for detecting the liquid level inside the liquid container 211 and transmitting the signal regarding liquid level to the controller 217. The liquid level detector 213 can be switches and sensors of contact or non-contact type.

The humidity detector 220 is positioned at the inlet of the humidifying air-conditioner 200 (not shown) for detecting the humidity of the air entering into the humidifying air-conditioner 200 and setting it as the one representing environment humidity and transmitting the signal regarding humidity to the controller 217. The humidity detector 220 can be a humidity detector of resistance or capacitor type. [0047] The liquid container 211 may be provided with a liquid inlet 215 and a liquid outlet 214 for respectively inputting and outputting humidifying liquid. The liquid inlet 215 may be positioned on the top of the liquid container 211 or on the top of the side wall of the liquid container 211, while the liquid outlet 214 may be positioned at the bottom of the liquid container 211 or at the lower portion of the side wall of the liquid container 211, so that the inflow and outflow of the humidifying liquid is facilitated.

[0048] Inventor of the present invention has found that, condensed water will be generated in air-conditioners only under the state of cooling, and the humidifying function will often be used in autumn when air is relatively dry, at this time, condensed water will not be generated since air-conditioners usually operate under heating mode. Moreover, condensed water in air-conditioners is actually the liquid water formed by the moisture in the air inside a room which is condensed on the surface of an evaporator of low temperature, which is as a matter of fact a kind of dehumidification for ambient air and is contrary to the process of humidification. Therefore, in actual life, common consumers will not perform the two opposite operations for their room simultaneously in the same air-conditioner. Then, it seems to the inventor of the present invention that it is an impractical application that condensed water in air-conditioners serves as the water source of the humidifier thereof.

Accordingly, the liquid inlet 215 can be in communication with a special humidifying liquid source. The humidifying liquid source may be a tank for storing humidifying liquid or a pipe for guiding humidifying liquid. Water is conventional humidifying liquid, which has often experienced softening treatment. Of course, other kind of liquid which can not only increase air humidity but also provides additional functions (such as fragrant smell, sterilization etc) can also be employed. By positioning the humidifying liquid in a tank of high level or pressurized pipe, continuous supplying of the humidifying liquid to the humidifier 210 can be realized. A control valve 218 for controlling liquid inlet may be provided at the liquid inlet 215; it functions to control the time and flow rate of the humidifying liquid from the liquid inlet 215 into the liquid container 211. The liquid outlet 214 is provided for discharging the humidifying liquid in the liquid container 211. The liquid outlet 214 may be arranged to be in communication with condensed water discharge pipe 202 of the humidifying air-conditioner 200, accordingly, it becomes unnecessary to provide the humidifying air-conditioner 200 with additional discharge pipe. An outlet control valve 219 may be provided at the liquid outlet 214; it functions to control the time and flow rate of the humidifying liquid discharged from the liquid outlet 214.

[0051] The aforementioned inlet control valve 218 and outlet control valve 219 can both be normally closed valves; they will be controlled to open by the controller 217 when needing to be opened. Such normally closed valves can be valves of electronic or mechanical type.

[0052] A connecting pipe 208 is provided between the indoor body 201 and the outdoor body, which may be an exchanging pipe for refrigerant or a pipe for guiding control circuit or power circuit. The indoor body 201 is provided with a mounting space 209 for mounting the connecting pipe 208 therein. To match the mounting orientation of the outdoor body, only half of the mounting space 209 is used for mounting the connecting pipe 208 under normal circumstance, for example, the connecting pipe 208 will only take up a corresponding side of the mounting space 209 when the outdoor body is positioned at one side of the indoor body, likewise, the connecting pipe 208 will only take up the other side of the mounting space 209 when the outdoor body needs to be positioned at the other side of the indoor body. Therefore, only part of the mounting space 209 is used for mounting the connecting pipe, the rest of which can be used for amounting the humidifier 210 and the liquid container 211.

[0053] In the above embodiment, the part of the mounting space 209 for mounting the liquid container 211 is the remaining space after the connecting pipe 208 being mounted. However, the present invention is not limited to this, the part of the mounting space 209 for mounting the liquid container 211 may also be the remaining space after other lines being mounted, such as the remaining space after the discharge pipe 202 even the pipe of the indoor heat-exchanger 203 being mounted. At this time, it will become necessary to adaptively design the contour of the liquid container 211 so that the liquid container 211 corresponds to the mounting space 209 in respect of contour.

[0054] Of course, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that, not only the remaining space inside the indoor body 201 after pipes being mounted can be utilized, but also a special space inside the indoor body 201 can be individually designed for the liquid container 211, in both ways, the purposes of the present invention can also be achieved. In latter case, it is unnecessary to design the contour of the liquid container 211 but the shape of the mounting space for receiving the liquid container 211. [0055] Since the liquid container 211 takes up more space of the humidifier 210 than other parts thereof, in the event that the liquid container 211 has been placed inside the indoor body 201, the whole humidifier 210 can actually be placed inside the indoor body 201 without any special modification, achieving the effect of integral configuration of the indoor body 201 and the humidifier 210 therein. [0056] In the above embodiment, the humidifying air-conditioner 200 is a wall-mounted air-conditioner of separate type, the indoor body 201 of which is hanged on the wall inside a room. However, the present invention is not limited to this, the humidifying air-conditioner may also be a vertical air-conditioner of separate type, namely, the indoor body is of floor type. The volume of the indoor body of floor type is often bigger than that of the wall-mounted indoor body, surplus space therein is also more than that of the wall-mounted indoor body. Likewise, the humidifying air-conditioner may also be an air-conditioner of integrated type, in which the indoor body is not distinguished from the outdoor body.

[0057] When the humidifying air-conditioner 200 starts to operate, the controller 217 sends a demand to make the humidity detector 220 operate, and receives a signal from the humidity detector 220 indicative of the humidity of the air entering into the humidifying air-conditioner 200 and then judge whether the humidity is lower than a predetermined humidity. When the controller 217 determines that humidification should be made, it will further judge whether the liquid level inside the liquid container 211 is higher than a predetermined minimum level on the basis of the liquid level signal received from the liquid level detector 213. When the liquid level inside the liquid container 211 is lower than the predetermined minimum level, the controller 217 will open the inlet control valve 218 so that the humidifying liquid flows into the liquid container from the liquid inlet 215. [0058] When the controller 217 determines that the liquid level inside the liquid container 211 is higher than the minimum level under which the transducer 212 can operate, the controller 217 will start the transducer 212 to atomize the humidifying liquid inside the liquid container 211. The atomized humidifying liquid flows from the liquid container 211 into the mist guiding duct 216 under the effect of diffusion and arrives at the internal air passage 206 through the indoor heat-exchanger 203, and then it is discharged from air supplying outlet 207 under the effect of air flow generated by the fan 204, thereby achieving the effect of humidifying environment air. [0059] When the controller 217 determines that the air humidity has reached a predetermined value, it will close the transducer 212 and thus stop atomizing the humidifying liquid.

[0060] When the controller 217 determines that the liquid level inside the liquid container 211 is higher than an allowable maximum level, the controller 217 will close the inlet control valve 218 to prevent the humidifying liquid from entering into the liquid container 211 again. By determining the liquid level indicated by the signal received from the liquid level detector 213, the controller 217 can control opening or closing of the inlet control valve 218 and thus adjust the liquid level of the humidifying liquid inside the liquid container 211. [0061] The abovementioned humidifying function can be performed separately or in conjunction with the heating function of the humidifying air-conditioner 200, and when necessary, the humidifying function can be performed under cooling mode.

[0062] When the humidifying air-conditioner 200 is turned off, the controller 217 will open the outlet control valve 219 to discharge the humidifying liquid through the liquid outlet 214 and the discharge pipe 202, avoiding generation of harmful substance and microorganism in the liquid container 211. If power is abruptly shut off for the humidifying air-conditioner 200, leading to futility of the controller 217 to open the outlet control valve 219, then, the controller 217 will firstly open the control valve 219 to empty the liquid container 211 before performing other operations when the humidifying air-conditioner 200 is started next time.

[0063] Although the present invention has been disclosed with reference to the preferred embodiments described above, it is not limited to those embodiments. Those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. Therefore, the protecting scope of the present invention is to be defined by the accompanied claims.