Air conditioning apparatus

A self-contained refrigeration heat pump air conditioning unit operable in a heating and cooling cycle for conditioning the air of an enclosure comprising:

• a chassis including a base member and a barrier dividing said chassis into an indoor compartment and an outdoor compartment;
• indoor and outdoor heat exchangers mounted respectively in said indoor and outdoor compartments;
• an indoor air moving means for recirculating enclosure air through said indoor compartment;
• an outdoor air moving means for circulating air through said outdoor compartment;
• a compressor mounted in said outdoor compartment;
• means for selectively connecting said compressor to said heat exchangers whereby said outdoor heat exchanger functions as an evaporator during operation of the unit on the heating cycle and said indoor heat exchanger functions as an evaporator during the cooling cycle;
• a condensate collection sump in said outdoor compartment formed in said base member being arranged to collect condensate from said indoor and outdoor heat exchangers;
• means for directing condensate formed on said indoor and outdoor heat exchangers into said sump;
• and
• condensate disposal means arranged in said outdoor compartment including a housing forming a compartment comprising:
• (a) a hood portion projecting from said one wall of said housing to a position overlying a portion of said sump to define a condensate lifting area,
• (b) a passageway having substantially parallel side walls and upper and lower walls diverging from an inlet communicating with said housing lifting area to an outlet positioned in said indoor compartment through an opening in said barrier,
• (c) a motor operable in the heating cycle being mounted in said compartment with the drive shaft of said motor extending through one wall of said housing,
• (d) a condensate lifting disc rotatably mounted on said shaft being positioned under said hood,
• (e) the diameter of said disc being sufficient to place a portion of its lower circumferentially disposed edge in said sump, said circumferentially disposed edge portion of said disc being tapered to form substantially a knife edge effective for lifting and throwing a diverging thin wall of mist tangentially off said edge portion,
• (f) said disc being positioned axially on said shaft so that said knife edge is in a plane in alignment with said passageway inlet for directing said diverging thin wall of mist into said passageway inlet and through said passageway outlet in said indoor compartment into the path of air.