The present invention relates to an air conditioner comprising a housing, in which an output bladeless fan is arranged and supplied with an air stream provided by a feed bladed fan, which draws in a supply air stream through an inlet in the housing of the air conditioner and through an outlet air stream temperature control unit; wherein the output bladeless fan comprises

- a circumferential, preferably annular, chamber which is defined between an internal surface of a radially external circumferential wall and an internal surface of a radially internal circumferential wall and which defines a through channel of the output bladeless fan and its longitudinal axis;

- an outlet opening of the circumferential chamber formed in its radially external circumferential wall and connected to the outlet of the feed bladed fan;

- a circumferential slotted outlet which is open on the radially internal side of the circumferential chamber and defined between a radially inwardly curved, preferably arched, end part of the internal surface of the radially external circumferential wall and a radially outwardly curved, preferably arched, end part of the external surface of the radially internal circumferential wall;

- a diffuser part of the circumferential external surface of the radially internal circumferential wall, in which a radial distance between the circumferential external surface and the longitudinal axis of the circumferential chamber gradually increases along this longitudinal axis in the direction from the radially outwardly curved, preferably arched, end part of the external surface of the radially internal circumferential wall.

Such an air conditioner known from the prior art is disclosed for example in the patent publication US9964317B2. of the invention

It has been the object of the present invention to provide an air conditioner with a bladeless output fan featuring improved properties with regard to a regulation of an air temperature in a room, and in particular with regard to cooling an air in a room. of the invention

An air conditioner of the kind mentioned in the outset, according to the present invention is characterised in that

- the feed bladed fan is a centrifugal fan;

- the output bladeless fan comprises an inlet channel, which is connected to the outlet opening of the circumferential chamber and has a longitudinal axis that does not intersect the longitudinal axis of the circumferential chamber and the output bladeless fan;

- in the output bladeless fan a sound absorbing layer is arranged on a radially inwardly curved end part of an internal surface and/or an external surface of the radially external circumferential wall , and/or a radially outwardly curved end part of an internal surface and/or an external surface of the radially internal circumferential wall, and/or on an internal surface and/or an external surface of the diffuser part of the radially internal circumferential wall.

A slot width of the circumferential slotted outlet preferably amounts from 1 to 5 mm.

The sound absorbing layer attenuates noises and sounds generated by the air conditioner and therefore the sound absorbing layers may be also equivalently called sound attenuating layers. The sound absorbing layer of the present invention preferably comprises a porous coating and/or a surface provided with a number of projections, preferably evenly spaced projections, preferably cylindrical projections.

In some proffered embodiments of the air conditioner of the present invention, an edge of the inlet channel being radially external relative to the longitudinal axis of the output bladeless fan is tangent relative to the radially external circumferential wall of the circumferential chamber .

The inlet channel of the output bladeless fan extends preferably in a plane perpendicular relative to the longitudinal axis of the output bladeless fan.

According to the present invention it may be advantageous that reinforcing plates are circumferentially, preferably equiangularly, arranged in the area of the circumferential slotted outlet and the reinforcing plates extend axially and longitudinally relative to the longitudinal axis of the output bladeless fan between the radially inwardly curved end part of the internal surface of the radially external circumferential wall and the radially outwardly curved end part of the external surface of the radially internal circumferential wall.

Furthermore, according to the present invention it may be advantageous that reinforcing supports are circumferentially, preferably equiangularly, arranged between an end edge of the radially internal circumferential wall and the internal surface of the radially external circumferential wall, and the reinforcing supports preferably extend radially and/or axially relative to the longitudinal axis relative to the longitudinal axis of the output bladeless fan.

The housing of the air conditioner according to the present invention is preferably provided with a through opening in which the circumferential chamber of the output bladeless fan is arranged.

Within the meaning of the present invention, individually, separately used terms “external/internal” refer to respectively external/internal position with respect to the interior of the circumferential chamber of the output bladeless fan; whereas the terms “external/internal” with additional reference to radiality (such as for example “radially external” or “radially inwardly curved”) refer to respectively external/internal location on the radial direction relative to the longitudinal axis of the output bladeless fan, or, if specifically another specific axis is indicated, relative to this indicated axis.

The employment of the combination of the output bladeless fan having at least one of the defined sound absorbing layers and the feed centrifugal bladed fan supplying an air stream to this output bladeless fan in the air conditioner as proposed by the present invention provides extending the distance at which an air-conditioning stream (in particular a cooling air stream) exhausted from the air conditioner reaches and increasing an air speed in the upper part of an air-conditioning stream (in particular a cooling air stream) in comparison to an air speed in the lower part of the air-conditioning stream, that are surprisingly very advantageous in terms of cooling a room, wherein the noise level of the air conditioner operation is not increased too much. For a given predetermined air-conditioning stream to be exhausted from an air conditioner, in comparison with the solutions known from the prior art, the air conditioner according to the present invention may operate with a smaller slot width of the circumferential slotted outlet of the output bladeless fan and with a higher pressure existing in the circumferential chamber of the output bladeless fan. Thanks to that, in comparison with the air conditioners known from the prior art, the present invention provides increased distance at which an air-conditioning stream exhausted from the air conditioner of the present invention reaches and a considerably more even distribution of air temperature in an air-conditioned room as well as a more gentle influence on people situated along the path of an air-conditioning stream; therefore an air-conditioning stream may be exhausted from the air conditioner of the present invention in the horizontal direction directly into an occupant living zone without adversely affecting their sense of comfort and health. The air conditioner proposed according to the present invention can be constructed as a compact unit that can be easily used as a portable air conditioner, that is for example apt to be placed on a floor and easily moved inside a building as needed.

Brief description of

The invention shall be described and explained below in connection with embodiments presented on the attached drawings in which:

Figs. 1 and 2 show an embodiment of an air conditioner according to the present invention in axonometric front and back views respectively;

Figs. 3 and 4 show the embodiment of an air conditioner of the present invention in front and back views respectively, wherein main components of the air conditioner are additionally schematically depicted in Fig. 3;

Figs. 5 and 6 show a longitudinal cross-section of the embodiment of an air conditioner of the present invention made along the line B-B depicted in Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 shows a longitudinal cross-section of the embodiment of an air conditioner of the present invention made along the line A-A depicted in Fig. 4;

Fig. 8 shows a longitudinal cross-section of the embodiment of an air conditioner of the present invention made along the line D-D depicted in Fig. 4;

Figs. 9 and 10 show a longitudinal cross-section of the embodiment of an air conditioner of the present invention made along the line C-C depicted in Fig. 4;

Fig. 11 shows a transverse cross-section of the embodiment of an air conditioner of the present invention made along the line G-G depicted in Fig. 6; Fig. 12 shows a transverse cross-section of the embodiment of an air conditioner of the present invention made along the line G-G depicted in Fig. 6, but without depicting sound absorbing layers;

Fig. 13 shows a transverse cross-section of the embodiment of an air conditioner of the present invention made along the line H-H depicted in Fig. 6;

Fig. 14 shows a longitudinal cross-section of the embodiment of an air conditioner of the present invention made along the line E-E depicted in Fig. 4 and Fig. 11 ;

Fig. 15 shows a longitudinal cross-section of the embodiment of an air conditioner of the present invention made along the line F-F depicted in Fig. 4;

Fig. 16 shows an axonometric view of the embodiment of an air conditioner of the present invention with a partial oblique cross-section.

Figures Fig. 5-16 present cross-sectional views of an air conditioner according to the present invention, wherein the views do not depict cross-sections of the whole air conditioner, but they show partial cross-sections made in the areas of an air conditioner output bladeless fan.

Detailed description of preferred embodiments

The embodiment of an air conditioner 1 of the present invention as depicted in Figs. 1-16 comprises a housing 2 in which an output bladeless fan 3, a feed centrifugal bladed fan 4 and an outlet air stream temperature control unit 5 are arranged. The air conditioner 1 has a compact construction and may be used as a portable air conditioner.

The feed centrifugal bladed fan 4 draws a supply air stream from a room in which the air conditioner 1 is installed through an inlet 22 formed in the housing 2 of the air conditioner 1 and through the outlet air stream temperature control unit 5, and delivers this air stream of a temperature appropriately adjusted in the outlet air stream temperature control unit 5 (in particular a cooled air stream) to the output bladeless fan 3.

The exhaust air temperature control unit 5 may for example comprise a compressor refrigeration system comprising an evaporator through which an air stream used for cooling and exhausted to an air-conditioned room by means of the output bladeless fan 3 flows. Optionally, the outlet air stream temperature control unit 5 may also comprise a heating system (e.g. an electric heating element) increasing the temperature of the air stream blown out by the output bladeless fan 3.

Constructions of the feed centrifugal bladed fan 4 and the outlet air stream temperature control unit 5 as such do not constitute the essence of the present invention and therefore may have any arbitrary structures including constructions known from the prior art. Also the arrangement of the feed centrifugal bladed fan 4 and the outlet air stream temperature control unit 5 inside the housing 2 of the air conditioner 1 are not critical to the essence of the present invention and do not determine the gist of the present invention. Similarly the inlet 22 in the housing 2 is not a critical element to the essence of the present invention. According to the present invention, the inlet 22 may be a simple interruption in the wall of the housing 2 through which air is free to be drawn in by the feeding centrifugal bladed fan 4. For example, the inlet 22 may be a simple opening, additionally secured with a mesh or grating. The inlet 22 may be located in any arbitrary area on the housing 2, wherein for a skilled technician it is obvious that one of its preferred locations is on the side opposite to the side from which the exhaust air flows out from the output bladeless fan 3. As the constructions of the inlet 22, the feed centrifugal bladed fan 4 and the outlet air stream temperature control unit 5 as well as specific manners of connecting these components with each other, are as such not critical for the essence of the present invention; therefore these components are depicted only schematically and symbolically in Fig. 3.

The output bladeless fan 3 of the air conditioner 1 comprises a circumferential annular chamber 31 , an inlet opening 311 , a circumferential slotted outlet 312 and a diffuser part 3322.

The circumferential annular chamber 31 of the output bladeless fan 3 is arranged in a through opening 21 of the housing 2 of the air conditioner 1 and it is formed between an internal surface 321 of the radially external circumferential wall 32 and an internal surface 331 of the radially internal circumferential wall 33.

The circumferential annular chamber 31 defines a through channel 34 of the output bladeless fan 3 and its longitudinal axis 03. The air conditioning stream from the feed centrifugal bladed fan 4 flowing out of the circumferential slotted outlet 312 of the fan 3 and additional air stream induced by means of the primary annular air stream flowing out of the circumferential slotted outlet 312 flow through the through channel 34 in the manner known from the prior art. The circumferential slotted outlet 312 of the fan 3 is open on the radially internal side of the circumferential chamber 31 and it is defined between a radially inwardly curved and arched end part 3211 of the internal surface 321 of the radially external circumferential wall 32 and a radially outwardly curved and arched end part 3321 of the external surface 332 of the radially internal circumferential wall 33. The circumferential slotted outlet 312 has a slot width S which preferably amounts from 1 to 5 mm. When connected to each other in the area immediately behind the circumferential slotted outlet 312, the primary air conditioning stream from the feed centrifugal bladed fan 4 and the induced air stream merge with each other and flow through the further part of the through channel 34 of the fan 3 defined by a diffuser part 3322 of the circumferential external surface 332 of the radially internal circumferential wall 33. In this diffuser part 3323 a radial distance between a circumferential external surface 332 of the radially internal circumferential wall 33 and the longitudinal axis 03 of the circumferential chamber 31 gradually increases along this longitudinal axis 03 in the direction from the radially outwardly curved arched end part 3321 of the circumferential external surface 332 of the radially internal circumferential wall 33.

The inlet opening 311 of the output bladeless fan 3 is formed in the radially external circumferential wall 32 of the circumferential annular chamber 31 and is fluidly connected to the outlet of the feed centrifugal bladed fan 4 by means of the inlet channel 313. The longitudinal axis 0313 of this inlet channel 313 does not intersect the longitudinal axis 03 circumferential annular chamber 31 and the output bladeless fan 3, whereby the supply air stream does not flow into the circumferential annular chamber 31 in a radial direction but slantwise relative to that direction. Furthermore in this embodiment, the inlet channel 313 extends in the plane perpendicular relative to the longitudinal axis 03 of the output bladeless fan 3, and the edge 3131 of the inlet channel 313 being radially external relative to the longitudinal axis 03 of the output bladeless fan 3 is tangent relative to the radially external circumferential wall 32 of the circumferential chamber 31 . The air conditioner embodiment 1 presented in the drawings comprises sound absorbing layers 3212, 3222, 3312, 3322, provided on the curved end parts 3211 , 3221 and 3311 , 3321 of the internal surfaces 321 , 331 and the external surfaces 322, 332 of the radially external circumferential wall 32 and of the radially internal circumferential wall 33; as well as sound absorbing layers 3324 and 3325 provided on the external surface 332 and the internal surface 331 of the diffuser part 3323 of the radially internal circumferential wall 33.

The sound absorbing layers 3212, 3222, 3312, 3322, 3324, 3325 may according to the present invention preferably comprise porous coatings or may have a form of porous coatings. Porosity of such porous sound absorbing layers 3212, 3222, 3312, 3322, 3324, 3325 is to be according to the present invention understood in a typical engineering way as an existence of a number of voids in a volume of the material of these layers. These porous sound absorbing layers may be in particular made of plastic; these layers may comprise a foamed material; these layers may be coatings comprising fibrous material. Such porous sound absorbing layers of the output bladeless fan 3 may for example comprise polyurethane, polyethylene, glass fibers and/or polyamide fibers. The porous sound absorbing layers 3212, 3222, 3312, 3322, 3324, 3325 have to be obviously appropriately resistant to the rapid air flow acting on them. Furthermore any arbitrary sound absorbing layer 3212, 3222, 3312, 3322, 3324, 3325 may have according to the present invention a form of a number of projections projected from a surface on which such a sound absorbing layer is to be arranged. Such projections of the sound absorbing layer may be for example evenly spaced in a form of a matrix and may have for example a form of cylindrical projections. However, according to the present invention it is not necessary required that the sound absorbing layer has to comprise the above described porous material or surface projections, but it may have a form of any other layer featuring sound absorbing properties.

Since the output bladeless fan 3 of the air conditioner 1 according to the present invention is designed to operate with a high air pressure in its circumferential chamber 31 , it is provided with a number of reinforcing elements in the area of the circumferential slotted outlet 312 which is the most exposed to high loads. Thus a number of reinforcing plates 35 and reinforcing supports 36, 37 is circumferentially and equiangularly arranged in the area of the circumferential slotted outlet 312. The reinforcing plates 35 extend axially and longitudinally relative to the longitudinal axis 03 of the output bladeless fan 3 between the radially inwardly curved end part 3211 of the internal surface 321 of the radially external circumferential wall 32 and the radially outwardly curved end part 3321 of the external surface 332 of the radially internal circumferential wall 33. Whereas between the end edge of the radially internal circumferential wall 33 and the internal surface 321 of the radially external circumferential wall 32 there are circumferentially and equiangularly arranged reinforcing supports including radial reinforcing supports 36 and axial reinforcing supports 37 extending respectively radially and axially relative to the longitudinal axis 03 of the output bladeless fan 3. In particular, the radial reinforcing supports 36 have a shape of a trapezoidal prism and extend radially between the radially outwardly curved end part 3311 of the external surface 331 of the radially internal circumferential wall 33 and the radially inwardly curved end part 3211 of the internal surface 321 of the radially external circumferential wall 32; whereas the axial reinforcing supports 37 have also a shape of a trapezoidal prism but extend axially along the longitudinal axis 03 between the radially outwardly curved end part 3321 of the external surface 332 of the radially internal circumferential wall 33 and the radially inwardly curved end part 3211 of the internal surface 321 of the radially external circumferential wall 32. The radial reinforcing supports 36 and the axial reinforcing supports 37 arranged in pairs along the same directions every 90°, whereas angular distances between the adjacent pairs of the reinforcing supports 36, 37 are evenly divided by three reinforcing plates 35 with the total number of plates amounting 12.

The air conditioner embodiments 1 presented in the drawings comprises sound absorbing layers 3212, 3222, 3312, 3322, 3324, 3325 provided on the curved end parts of the internal surfaces and external surfaces of the radially external circumferential wall of the radially internal circumferential wall as well as on the diffuser part of the radially internal circumferential wall. However the present invention does not require all such sound absorbing layers 3212, 3222, 3312, 3322, 3324, 3325 to be used simultaneously, but it requires that only arbitrary one of such sound absorbing layers 3212, 3222, 3312, 3322, 3324, 3325 has to be employed. Therefore, in the simplest embodiment of the present invention when considering the structure of the sound absorbing layers, the output bladeless fan comprises only one of the sound absorbing layers 3212, 3222, 3312, 3322, 3324, 3325. Of course, it is also possible to use any combination of any number of sound absorbing layers 3212, 3222, 3312, 3322, 3324, 3325.

The presented embodiment 1 comprises both the reinforcing plates 35 and the reinforcing supports including radial and axial reinforcing supports 36, 37. However according to the present invention it is not necessary required to use these reinforcing elements, and in particular to use all these reinforcing elements. An employment of these reinforcing elements has to be individually considered for each specific design of an air conditioner according to the present invention and taking into account operating parameters for which a given air conditioner is envisaged. Wherein a use of such reinforcement elements 35, 36, 37 is advantageous as it stabilizes the width S of the circumferential slotted outlet 312, and such a stabilization is particularly advantageous in the case of the small width S of the outlet 312.

In the presented embodiment of the present invention the circumferential chamber 31 of the output bladeless fan 3 is built-in into the through opening 21 of the housing 2 of the air conditioner 1 . According to the present invention such a built-in structure of the circumferential chamber 31 into the housing 2 through opening 21 is not necessarily required. For a skilled technician it is nevertheless obvious that in other, not shown in the drawings, embodiments of the present invention the output bladeless fan 3 may be located outside the housing and for example may be installed in a manner analogous to the solutions disclosed in the patent publication US9964317B2.

The above presented embodiment of the present invention is merely exemplary. The figures are not necessarily to scale and some features may be exaggerated or minimized to better illustrate the present invention. These and other factors however should not be considered as limiting the spirit of the invention, the intended scope of protection of which is indicated in appended claims. List of reference numerals

1. air conditioner

2. housing

21. through opening

22. inlet

3. output bladeless fan

03. longitudinal axis of the output bladeless fan 3

31. circumferential chamber

311. inlet opening

312. circumferential slotted outlet

S. width of the circumferential slotted outlet 312

313. inlet channel

0313 longitudinal axis of the inlet channel 313

3131 . the edge of the inlet channel 313 being radially external relative to the axis 03

32. radially external circumferential wall

321 . internal surface

3211 . radially inwardly curved end part

3212. sound absorbing layer

322. external surface

3221 . radially inwardly curved end part

3222. sound absorbing layer

33. radially internal circumferential wall

331 . internal surface

3311 . radially outwardly curved end part

3312. sound absorbing layer

332. external surface

3321 . radially outwardly curved end part

3322. sound absorbing layer

3323. diffuser part

3324. external sound absorbing layer

3325. internal sound absorbing layer

34. through channel

35. reinforcing plate

36. radial reinforcing support

37. axial reinforcing support

4. feed centrifugal bladed fan

5. outlet air stream temperature control unit