1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly, to a device for disposing of condensate from a small sized air conditioner, which can remove condensate formed at an evaporator of the air conditioner without draining the condensate to outside of the air conditioner.
2. Background of the Related Art
The air conditioner maintains a temperature, a humidity, and the like of a desired space (air conditioned space) at appropriate states by using a refrigerating cycle of compression, condensation, expansion, and evaporation of a refrigerant. In the air conditioner, there are package type air conditioners and room air conditioners. In general, the air conditioner has a heat discharging part with the condenser and a heat absorbing part with the evaporator arranged in separate places. And, since the heat discharging part is arranged outside of the room, the heat discharging part is called as an outdoor unit, and, since the heat absorbing part is arranged inside the room, the heat absorbing part is called as an indoor unit. A related art room air conditioner will be explained with reference to FIG. 1.
A heat discharging part 5 is arranged outside of the room, and, the heat absorbing part 3 is arranged inside of the room. For an example, the heat absorbing part 3 is fixed to a wall, and the heat discharging part 5 is placed on a veranda or the like. There is refrigerant pipe lines connected between the heat absorbing part 3 and the heat discharging part 5 for flow of the refrigerant. And, there is a drain hose 9 connected to the heat absorbing part 3 for discharging the condensate formed at the evaporator of the heat absorbing part 3.
A system of the heat absorbing part will be explained, with reference to FIG. 2. The heat absorbing part 3 is provided with an evaporator 37 and a fan 38 fitted inside thereof. And, there is a suction grill 33 in front portion of a body 31 of the heat absorbing part, for drawing air from the room, and a discharge grill 35 below the body 31 of the heat absorbing part, for discharging cooled air heat exchanged with the evaporator 37 into the room again.
The operation of the related art air conditioner will be explained, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
The room air flowed into the suction grill 33 is cooled down as the room air is heat exchanged at the evaporator 37, and discharged into the room again, for maintaining the room temperature at a preset level. The evaporated refrigerant is provided to a compressor in the heat discharging part 5 through a low pressure pipe line 7b, and compressed and provided to the condenser. The refrigerant makes heat exchange with external air at the condenser to condense the refrigerant and discharge heated air outside of the room. The condensed refrigerant is expanded at an expansion valve and flows to the evaporator 37 through a high pressure pipe line 7a again. By repeating the foregoing process, the room, i.e., the air conditioned space 1 can be maintained at a desired temperature.
In the meantime, water drops are formed on a surface of the evaporator 37 during heat exchange between the room air and the refrigerant at the evaporator 37 in the heat absorbing part 3, because a surface temperature of the evaporator 37 is very low compared to the room temperature, to cool down the room air in contact with the evaporator 37 below a dew point of the air. The water drops formed at the evaporator 37 are collected at a place along a drain channel 39 in the heat absorbing part 3 and drained to outside of the room through a drain hose 9.
However, the related art air conditioner is in general not convenient to install owing to its heavy weight. And, the air conditioner once installed is difficult to disassemble, since the refrigerant pipe lines are passed through a wall and fastened at desired locations, and moving the air conditioner once installed to other place is difficult. And, in general the drain hose for draining the condensate formed at the evaporator is passed through the wall and exposed to outside of the room, of which outer appearance, not only is poor, but also limits the installation location, and since moving the drain hose once placed at a desired location is difficult, moving the air conditioner actually becomes impossible. Therefore, in order to develop a local space cooling air conditioner, or a small sized air conditioner, which is convenient and simple in installation and movement, enough to permit an instant cooling of, not the entire air conditioning space, but a particular space, solving the problem has been a prerequisite.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a device for disposing of condensate from a small sized air conditioner that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a device for disposing of condensate from a small sized air conditioner without draining the condensate so that the air conditioner can be moved and installed with easy.
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 hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, the small sized air conditioner includes a heat discharging part having a small sized compressor and condenser, a heat absorbing part having a small sized evaporator, a drain hose for transferring condensate from the evaporator to the heat discharging part, and a device for disposing of condensate fitted in the heat discharging part for vaporizing the condensate transferred through the drain hose by using a heat generated at the heat discharging part.
The device for disposing of condensate includes a cylindrical body around an outer circumference of the compressor, and a plurality of flow paths in the cylindrical body for guiding the condensate.
The device for disposing of condensate includes a cylindrical body around an outer circumference of the compressor, and a condensate absorbing member fitted in the cylindrical body.
The device for disposing of condensate includes a condensate distributor fitted over the condenser for distributing the condensate transferred through the drain hose onto the condenser. The condenser has slit fin type cooling fins, and more than 19 of the cooling fins are arranged per one inch.
Since exposure of the drain hose to outside of the room is not required, the present invention permits easy installation and movement of the air conditioner.
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.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds