Casing is for air-conditioning apparatus and has rectangular frame whose uprights and rails are formed by a hollow plate profile

The invention relates to a box for an air conditioner according to the preamble of claim 1.

Such a box was disclosed, for example, by EP 0 468 597 A1, in which the covers of the box are firmly screwed to a profile projection of corner elements. A construction made of solid profiles is chosen. The forces exerted by the cover on the profile projection are absorbed by the mass of the solid profile, but in particular by the profile projection, in the form of stresses in the material. A disadvantage of this method is that the profile width cannot be reduced too much because the dimensions of the screws alone limit a smaller dimension.

The invention described in AT 404 404 B represents an improvement in that the covers are essentially fixed by leaf springs that snap into undercuts of a hollow profile. Here, however, use was also made of the principle of absorbing the forces exerted by the cover on the stop bar by the mass body in the form of stresses in the material, so that an attempt was made to keep the stop bar as short as possible. In this known box, the stop strips of the hollow profile are formed only up to half of their extension by essentially flat sheet metal sections, the transition from the stop strips to the side walls of the hollow profile made of sheet metal bearing the undercuts being essentially sharp-edged.

However, this results in the disadvantage of relatively wide visible surfaces of the frame, which for aesthetic reasons are usually provided with a coating or subjected to a special treatment. However, this is associated with considerable effort.

The aim of the invention is to reduce this disadvantage and to propose a frame of the type mentioned at the outset in which only narrow visible surfaces are produced with the same clear height between the outer plane of the frame and the stop strips.

According to the invention, this is achieved with a frame of the type mentioned at the beginning by the characterizing features of claim 1.

The characterizing features of claim 1 pursue a different principle of force absorption, which has been found to be more suitable for hollow profiles. The force is no longer absorbed by rigid mass bodies by converting them into tension, but by flat, longer stop bars that convert the forces that occur into torques by means of their ability to vibrate, which now largely compensate each other. For reasons of symmetry, it is necessary to make the stop strips the same length and to keep the distance between the fillets as small as possible, or to let them touch even better. In contrast to the documents mentioned above, the covers therefore rest on swingable stop strips and are fixed by leaf springs.

The proposed measures make it possible to limit the width of the visible surfaces of the frame essentially to the thickness of the covers. This reduces the cost of coating the visible surfaces or treating them, since only a smaller surface needs to be coated or treated.

The features of claim 2 have the advantage that overstressing of the sheet metal during deformation, as can occur with sharp-edged transitions, is avoided.

The invention will now be explained in more detail with reference to the drawing. Show:

Fig. 1 is an overall view of a box according to the invention for air conditioning devices,

FIG. 2 shows a detail of the overall view of a box according to FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 shows a cross section through a profile of the frame and FIG. 4 shows a spring element.

Fig. 1 shows a box for an air conditioner, which has a frame 1 in which covers 3 are held and form your cavity, which is sealed off.

As indicated by the arrows 2 in FIG. 2, the covers are inserted into the frame 1 in the direction of these arrows 2 and fastened therein. For this purpose, the leaf springs 12 shown in FIG. 4.

3 shows a cross section of the hollow profile of the frame 1 made of sheet metal. This has undercuts 4 in the insertion direction 2 of the covers 3 on each of the side walls 20 facing the covers 3. Furthermore, stop strips 5 are provided to support the covers 3.

AT 41 1 191 B

The covers 3 have an outer cover 6 and an inner cover 7, between which there is a non-combustible and rot-proof insulation 8 made of a mineral material. In the area of ​​the end walls 9 of the covers 3, these are provided with a fold 10 which is molded onto the end area of ​​the outer cover 6. The outer cover 6 rests essentially directly on the frontal area of ​​the inner cover 7.

This fold 10 serves to accommodate a spring element 11 which has a plurality of leaf springs 12 arranged approximately 10 cm apart from one another, one of which is shown in plan view in FIG. 4.

These leaf springs 12 are stuck with their foot parts 13 in the fold 10 of the covers 3 and are bent away from the end wall with their detachable free end. The leaf springs 12 are supported with their free ends 14 on a wall 15 of the undercut 4 of the hollow profile, which wall 15 extends at an angle of approximately 60 to 80 ° to the end wall 9 of the respective cover 3.

To seal the covers 3 against the frame 1, rubber seals 16 of rectangular cross-section are provided, which rest against the stop strips 5, the stop strips 5 of the hollow profile extending in cross-section at an angle of 90 ° and defining a re-entrant corner.

The stop strips 5 are formed by essentially flat sheet metal sections 21, 22, which are provided with an outwardly directed bulge 17 only in the area of ​​the free longitudinal edges of the stop strips 5. The sheet metal sections 22 facing the outside of the frame 1 extend over the entire extent of the stop strips 5 and merge into the side walls 20 of the hollow profile in a fillet 23, the fillets touching each other (the illustration of the stop strips 5 and fillets 23 with small distances only chosen for the sake of clarity).

Since the stop strips 5 have practically the same width in their inside and outside, they can be used as a support over their entire width, whereby the hollow profile can be kept correspondingly narrow and therefore only small visible surfaces on the outside of the frame 1 result usually coated or specially treated for aesthetic reasons.

The inner cover 7 of the covers 3 has a recess 18, the depth of which corresponds essentially to the thickness of the seal 16 together with the stop bar 5. There is therefore a substantially continuous surface on the inside of the air-conditioning box extending from the corner area of ​​the stop strips 5 over the inside of the covers 3, which results in a low flow resistance and noiseless passage of the air inside the air-conditioning box. In addition, the possibilities for depositing dust and dirt are very significantly restricted as a result.