Screwless air-conditioning coil attachment apparatus and method
OwnerDavid Piccioneinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An assembly and method is provided for an air-conditioning system coil housing and a plastic drain pan wherein the coil housing has one or more sheet metal walls. A first flap is cut and formed in at least one sheet metal wall which is resiliently bendable away from the metal wall. A second flap is cut and formed in the first flap. The drain pan comprises an outwardly extending lip portion such that when the coil housing is mounted to the drain pan then the sheet metal wall slidingly engages a drain pan wall whereby the first flap portion bends outwardly to catch the lip portion such that the second flap engages an underside of the outwardly extending lip portion.
Claims19
An attachment assembly for an air-conditioning system, said air-conditioning system comprising an air-conditioning coil housing and a drain pan, said attachment assembly comprising:
- at least one receptacle wall for said drain pan which defines at least one receptacle within said air-conditioning drain pan for receiving liquids,
- a coil housing wall for said air-conditioning coil housing;
- a gripping arm extending from said coil housing wall whereby said gripping arm is engageable with an opposite side of said at least one receptacle wall from said coil housing wall, said gripping arm further defining a stop element;
- an enlarged portion on said at least one receptacle, said coil housing wall and said at least one receptacle wall mating together such that once said gripping arm is inserted over one side of said enlarged portion with said coil housing wall on an opposite side of said at least one receptacle wall, then said stop element prevents removal of said coil housing wall from said at least one receptacle wall due to engagement of said enlarged portion with said stop element.
A method for making an attachment assembly for an air-conditioning system for securing an air-conditioner coil housing to a drain pan, comprising:
- forming an enlarged portion on a first wall within an air-conditioning system comprising said air-conditioning coil housing and said drain pan;
- providing a flexible and resilient gripping arm on a second wall within said air-conditioning system which is resiliently expandable;
- and
- providing that said first wall and said second wall are slidingly engageable whereby when said first wall and said second wall are slidingly engaged then said gripping arm is expandable around said enlarged portion to thereby catch said enlarged portion between said resilient gripping arm and said second wall to thereby secure said first wall and said second wall together.
An attachment assembly for an air-conditioning system, said air-conditioning system comprising an air-conditioning first component and a air-conditioning second component, said air-conditioning first component and said air-conditioning second components consisting of at least one of a plenum, a plenum section, a coil housing, or a drain pan, said assembly comprising:
- at least one first wall of said air-conditioning first component;
- a flap portion formed on said at least one wall which is resiliently bendable away from said wall;
- at least one second wall for said air-conditioning second component, a lip portion formed on said at least one second wall, said at least one first wall being positioned such that when said air-conditioning first component is mounted to said air-conditioning second component then said at least one first wall slidingly engages said at least one second wall whereby said flap portion bends away from said at least one first wall such that said lip portion is caught between said flap portion and said at least one first wall, said first flap portion being biased to return to an original position and thereby engaging said enlarged portion to thereby clamp said at least one first wall to said at least one second wall.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.