JP2012237481A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air conditioner that can prevent a person from suffering heat stroke inside a house.SOLUTION: The air conditioner the operation of which is controlled based on the detection of the presence or absence of a person by a human body detection sensor mounted in an indoor unit, includes a room temperature detector for detecting the room temperature of a room to be air conditioned. When it is confirmed by the human body detection sensor that there is a person in the room to be air conditioned and that the room temperature of the room to be air conditioned is at a predetermined temperature or higher, the air conditioner is forced into operation, even if not in operation, to cool down the room to the predetermined temperature or lower.

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioner including a human body detection sensor.

  Conventionally, air conditioners have been equipped with human body detection sensors to detect the presence or absence of humans during the operation of the air conditioner, and when the absence is confirmed, power saving operation is performed with less power consumption than during normal operation. There has been a control technology to do this (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2008-224132 A

  However, in an air conditioner equipped with a human body detection sensor, although air conditioning operation is controlled based on a human body detection state, there is room for further improvement. There is a social problem that humans become insensitive to changes in room temperature when they enter old age, and the risk of heat stroke increases without their knowledge.

  An object of this invention is to provide the air conditioner which can prevent the heat stroke in a house.

  In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, the present invention is an air conditioner that controls the operation by detecting the presence or absence of a person by a human body detection sensor provided in an indoor unit, and detects the room temperature of the conditioned room When the presence of a person is confirmed by a human body detection sensor in a conditioned room, and the conditioned room is further confirmed to be at a predetermined room temperature or higher. Even when the air conditioner is in a stopped state, heat stroke in the house can be prevented by forcibly operating the room temperature to be equal to or lower than a predetermined temperature.

  The present invention can provide an air conditioner that can prevent heat stroke in a house.

The front view of the indoor unit of the air conditioner which concerns on this invention 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the indoor unit of FIG. The longitudinal cross-sectional view of the indoor unit of FIG. 1 with the movable front panel opening the front opening and the upper and lower blades opening the outlet. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the indoor unit in FIG. 1 in a state where the lower blades constituting the upper and lower blades are set downward. Schematic which shows the person position discrimination area detected by the sensor unit which comprises the human body detection apparatus provided in the indoor unit of FIG. Flowchart for setting region characteristics for each region shown in FIG. The flowchart which finally determines the presence or absence of a person in each area | region shown by FIG. Timing chart showing the presence / absence determination of people by each sensor unit Schematic plan view of a residence where the indoor unit of FIG. 1 is installed The graph which shows the long-term accumulation result of each sensor unit in the residence of FIG. Schematic plan view of another residence where the indoor unit of FIG. 1 is installed The graph which shows the long-term accumulation result of each sensor unit in the residence of FIG. Definition diagram of heat stroke risk area by room temperature and relative humidity in the embodiment of the present invention Flowchart for implementing heat stroke countermeasures in the embodiment of the present invention The graph of the room temperature and time which compared with the conventional control regarding the effect in embodiment of this invention

  An air conditioner according to a first aspect of the present invention is an air conditioner that controls the operation by detecting the presence or absence of a person by means of a human body detection sensor provided in the indoor unit, and means for detecting the room temperature of the conditioned room. If there is a room temperature detection means and the presence of a person is confirmed by the human body detection sensor in the conditioned room, and if it is further confirmed that the conditioned room has a room temperature higher than a predetermined value, Even if the machine is in a stopped state, it is possible to prevent heat stroke in the house by forcibly operating the room temperature to be equal to or lower than a predetermined temperature.

  The air conditioner of the second invention has a relative humidity detecting means which is a means for detecting the relative humidity of the conditioned room, particularly in the first invention, and the value of the predetermined temperature is changed according to the change of the relative humidity. By changing, the energy saving effect can be further improved.

  In the air conditioner of the third invention, particularly in the first or second invention, when the air conditioner is stopped, confirmation of the presence / absence of a person and confirmation of the room temperature and relative humidity of the conditioned room are predetermined. By carrying out at intervals, it is possible to reliably prevent heat stroke by predicting and confirming a change in room temperature.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

(Embodiment 1)
An air conditioner used in a general home is composed of an outdoor unit and an indoor unit that are usually connected to each other by refrigerant piping, and FIGS. 1 to 4 show the indoor unit of the air conditioner according to the present invention. ing.

  The indoor unit has a main body 2 and a movable front panel (hereinafter simply referred to as a front panel) 4 that can freely open and close the front opening 2a of the main body 2, and the front panel 4 is the main body 2 when the air conditioner is stopped. While the front opening 2a is closed in close contact with the front, the front panel 4 moves in a direction away from the main body 2 to open the front opening 2a during operation of the air conditioner. 1 and 2 show a state where the front panel 4 closes the front opening 2a, and FIGS. 3 and 4 show a state where the front panel 4 opens the front opening 2a.

  As shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, inside the main body 2, a heat exchanger 6 that exchanges heat between indoor air taken in from the front opening 2 a and the upper opening 2 b, and heat exchange by the heat exchanger 6. The indoor fan 8 for transporting the air that has been transported, and the up-and-down air direction change blades (hereinafter simply referred to as “ (Upper and lower blades) 12 and left and right wind direction changing blades (hereinafter simply referred to as “left and right blades”) 14 for changing the air blowing direction to the left and right, and heat exchange with the front opening 2a and the upper opening 2b A filter 16 for removing dust contained in room air taken from the front opening 2a and the top opening 2b is provided between the container 6 and the container 6.

Further, the upper part of the front panel 4 is connected to the upper part of the main body 2 via two arms 18 and 20 provided at both ends thereof, and a drive motor (not shown) connected to the arm 18 is driven and controlled. Thus, during operation of the air conditioner, the front panel 4 moves forward and obliquely upward from the position when the air conditioner is stopped (closed position of the front opening 2a).

  Further, the upper and lower blades 12 are composed of an upper blade 12a and a lower blade 12b, and are respectively attached to the lower portion of the main body 2 so as to be swingable. The upper blade 12a and the lower blade 12b are connected to separate drive sources (for example, stepping motors) and are independently angle-controlled by a control device (for example, a microcomputer (not shown)) built in the indoor unit. As is clear from FIGS. 3 and 4, the changeable angle range of the lower blade 12b is set larger than the changeable angle range of the upper blade 12a.

  In addition, the upper and lower blades 12 can be composed of three or more upper and lower blades. In this case, at least two (particularly, the uppermost blade and the lowermost blade) can be independently angle-controlled. Is preferred.

  In addition, the left and right blades 14 are configured by a total of 10 blades arranged five by left and right from the center of the indoor unit, and are respectively swingably attached to the lower portion of the main body 2. The left and right five blades are connected to separate drive sources (for example, stepping motors) as a unit, and the left and right five blades are independently angle-controlled by a control device built in the indoor unit. .

  The suction sensor 101 is disposed on the upper part of the heat exchanger 6 and can detect room temperature or a temperature proportional to the room temperature.

  Furthermore, although the relative humidity sensor 102 is disposed at any location on the indoor unit body 2, it is a sensor that detects the indoor relative humidity, and is preferably disposed in the vicinity of the suction sensor.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of (for example, three) fixed sensor units 24, 26, and 28 are attached to the upper portion of the front panel 4 as a human body detection device. , 28 are held by a sensor holder 36 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

  Each of the sensor units 24, 26, and 28 includes a circuit board, a lens attached to the circuit board, and a human body detection sensor mounted inside the lens. The human body detection sensor is composed of a pyroelectric infrared sensor that detects the presence or absence of a person by detecting infrared rays radiated from the human body, for example, and outputs in accordance with a change in the amount of infrared rays detected by the infrared sensor. The presence or absence of a person is determined by the circuit board based on the pulse signal. That is, the circuit board acts as presence / absence determination means for determining the presence / absence of a person.

  In the present embodiment, the human body detection sensor is a fixed type as an example. However, the human body detection sensor is not limited to this. For example, the human body detection sensor is a left and right swing type human body detection sensor. May be.

  FIG. 5 shows human position determination areas detected by the sensor units 24, 26, and 28. The sensor units 24, 26, and 28 can detect whether or not a person is in the next area. Further, the sensor unit 24: the area A + B + C + D, the sensor unit 26: the area B + C + E + F, and the sensor unit 28: the area C + D + F + G are detected.

That is, in the indoor unit of the air conditioner according to the present invention, the areas that can be detected by the sensor units 24, 26, and 28 are partially overlapped, and a smaller number of sensor units than the number of the areas A to G are used. Thus, the presence or absence of a person in each of the areas A to G is detected. Table 1 shows the relationship between the output of each sensor unit 24, 26, and 28 and the presence determination area (area determined to have a person). In Table 1 and the following description, the sensor units 24, 26, and 28 are referred to as a first sensor 24, a second sensor 26, and a third sensor 28.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart for setting region characteristics to be described later in each of the regions A to G using the first to third sensors 24, 26, and 28. FIG. 7 illustrates the first to third sensors. It is a flowchart which determines whether there exists a person in the area | regions A-G using the sensors 24, 26, and 28, and a person's position determination method is demonstrated below, referring these flowcharts.

  In step S1, the presence / absence of a person in each area is first determined at a predetermined period T1 (for example, 5 seconds). In this determination method, the presence / absence of a person in areas A, B, and C is determined. An example will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 8, when all of the first to third sensors 24, 26, and 28 are OFF (no pulse) in the period T1 immediately before the time t1, there are people in the regions A, B, and C at the time t1. It is determined that there is no yes (A = 0, B = 0, C = 0). Next, during the period from time t1 to time t2 after period T1, only the first sensor 24 outputs an ON signal (with a pulse), and when the second and third sensors 26 and 28 are OFF, at time t2. It is determined that there is a person in the area A and there are no persons in the areas B and C (A = 1, B = 0, C = 0). Further, when the first and second sensors 24 and 26 output ON signals from time t2 to time t3 after the period T1, and the third sensor 28 is OFF, a person is in area B at time t3. It is determined that there are no people in the areas A and C (A = 0, B = 1, C = 0). Hereinafter, the presence / absence of a person in each of the areas A, B, and C is similarly determined for each period T1.

  Based on the determination result, each of the areas A to G is classified into a first area where people are good (place where they are good), a second area where people are short (area where people simply pass through, areas where stay time is short). And a third area (a non-living area where people hardly go, such as walls and windows). Hereinafter, the first area, the second area, and the third area are referred to as life category 1, life category 2, and life category 3, respectively. It can also be said that the region of region characteristic 2, the region of region characteristic 2, and the region of region characteristic 3. Further, the life category 1 (region characteristic 1) and the life category 2 (region characteristic 2) are combined into a life region (region where people live), while the life category 3 (region characteristic 3) is changed to a non-living region ( The area of life may be broadly classified according to the frequency of the presence or absence of a person.

  This determination is performed after step S3 in the flowchart of FIG. 6, and this determination method will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 9 shows a case where the indoor unit of the air conditioner according to the present invention is installed in an LD of 1 LDK comprising one Japanese-style room, an LD (living room / dining room) and a kitchen, and is indicated by an ellipse in FIG. The area shows the well-placed place where the subject reported.

  As described above, the presence / absence of a person in each of the regions A to G is determined for each period T1, and 1 (with a reaction) or 0 (without a reaction) is output as a reaction result (determination) in the period T1. Is repeated a plurality of times, and in step S2, all sensor outputs are cleared.

  In step S3, it is determined whether or not the cumulative operation time of a predetermined air conditioner has elapsed. If it is determined in step S3 that the predetermined time has not elapsed, the process returns to step S1. On the other hand, if it is determined that the predetermined time has elapsed, two reaction results accumulated in the predetermined time in each region A to G are obtained. Each region A to G is determined as one of the life categories I to III by comparing with the threshold value.

  More specifically with reference to FIG. 10 showing the long-term accumulation result, the first threshold value and the second threshold value smaller than the first threshold value are set, and in step S4, the long-term accumulation results of the regions A to G are obtained. It is determined whether or not it is greater than the first threshold value, and the region determined to be greater is determined to be the life category I in step S5. If it is determined in step S4 that the long-term cumulative result of each region A to G is less than the first threshold value, whether or not the long-term cumulative result of each region A to G is greater than the second threshold value in step S6. The region determined to be large is determined to be the life category II in step S7, while the region determined to be small is determined to be the life category III in step S8.

  In the example of FIG. 10, the areas C, D, and G are determined as the life category I, the areas B and F are determined as the life category II, and the areas A and E are determined as the life category III.

  Moreover, FIG. 11 shows the case where the indoor unit of the air conditioner according to the present invention is installed in another 1 LDK LD, and FIG. 12 discriminates each region A to G based on the long-term accumulation result in this case. Results are shown. In the example of FIG. 11, the areas B, C, and E are determined as the life category I, the areas A and F are determined as the life category II, and the areas D and G are determined as the life category III.

  Note that the above-described determination of the region characteristics (life classification) is repeated every predetermined time, but the determination result hardly changes unless the sofa, the table, or the like arranged in the room to be determined is moved.

  Next, the final determination of the presence / absence of a person in each of the regions A to G will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

Steps S21 to S22 are the same as steps S1 to S2 in the flowchart of FIG. In step S23, it is determined whether or not a predetermined number M (for example, 15 times) of reaction results in the period T1 has been obtained. If it is determined that the period T1 has not reached the predetermined number M, the process returns to step S21. If it is determined that the period T1 has reached the predetermined number M, in step S24, the total number of reaction results in the period T1 × M is used as the cumulative reaction period number, and the cumulative reaction period number for one time is calculated. This calculation of the cumulative reaction period is repeated a plurality of times, and it is determined in step S25 whether or not the calculation result of the cumulative reaction period has been obtained for a predetermined number of times (for example, N = 4). When the determination is made, the process returns to step S21. On the other hand, when it is determined that the predetermined number of times has been reached, in step S26, the person in each of the areas A to G is determined based on the already determined area characteristics and the predetermined number of accumulated reaction periods. Presence or absence of is estimated.

  In step S27, by subtracting 1 from the number of times (N) for calculating the cumulative reaction period and returning to step S21, the calculation of the number of cumulative reaction periods for a predetermined number of times is repeatedly performed.

  Table 2 shows a history of reaction results for the latest one time (time T1 × M). In Table 2, for example, ΣA0 means the number of cumulative reaction periods for one time in the region A.

  Here, the cumulative reaction period number for one time immediately before ΣA0 is ΣA1, the cumulative reaction period number for one previous time is ΣA2,..., And when N = 4, the history for the past four times (ΣA4, ΣA3) , .SIGMA.A2, .SIGMA.A1), for life category I, it is determined that there is a person if the cumulative reaction period is one or more. In addition, for life category II, it is determined that there is a person if the cumulative reaction period of one or more times is two or more in the past four history, and for life category III, the past four history Among them, if the cumulative reaction period number of 2 times or more is 3 times or more, it is determined that there is a person.

  Next, after the time T1 × M from the above-described determination of the presence / absence of the person, the presence / absence of the person is similarly estimated from the past four histories, life categories, and cumulative reaction period times.

  That is, in the indoor unit of the air conditioner according to the present invention, the presence / absence of a person is estimated using a smaller number of sensors than the number of the discrimination areas A to G. Since there is a possibility that the position is incorrect, avoiding human position estimation in a single predetermined period regardless of whether it is an overlapping area, the region characteristics obtained by accumulating the region determination results for each predetermined period over a long period, and for each predetermined period The region determination results are accumulated N times, and the location of the person is estimated from the past history of the accumulated reaction period times of each region obtained, thereby obtaining the position estimation result of the person with high probability.

  Table 3 shows the time required for the presence estimation and the time required for the absence estimation when the presence / absence of the person is determined as described above and T1 = 5 seconds and M = 12.

  Thus, after the area to be air-conditioned by the indoor unit of the air conditioner according to the present invention is divided into the plurality of areas A to G by the first to third sensors 24, 26 and 28, each area A to G Area characteristics (life categories I to III) are determined, and the time required for the presence estimation and the time required for the absence estimation are changed according to the area characteristics of the areas A to G.

  In other words, since it takes about 1 minute for the wind to reach after changing the air conditioning setting, changing the air conditioning setting in a short time (for example, a few seconds) will not only impair comfort, but will also make people short. For such a place, it is preferable not to perform air conditioning so much from the viewpoint of energy saving. Therefore, the presence / absence of a person in each of the areas A to G is first detected, and the air conditioning setting in the area where the person is present is optimized.

  More specifically, with the time required for estimating the presence / absence of the area determined as the life category II as a standard, in the area determined as the life category I, there is a person at a shorter time interval than the area determined as the life category II. In contrast, when there are no people in the area, the absence of the person is estimated at a longer time interval than the area determined as the life category II. The time required for estimation is set to be long. On the other hand, in the area determined to be life category III, the presence of a person is estimated at a longer time interval than the area determined to be life category II. By estimating the absence of a person at a time interval shorter than the region determined as II, the time required for the presence estimation is set longer and the time required for the absence estimation is set shorter. Furthermore, as described above, the life division of each region changes depending on the long-term accumulation result, and accordingly, the time required for the presence estimation and the time required for the absence estimation are variably set.

  When the air conditioner is stopped, whether or not there is a person in the room is confirmed intermittently (for example, every 5 minutes) by the above-described human body detection sensor. Similarly, the room temperature and the relative humidity are confirmed by the suction sensor 101 and the relative humidity sensor 102 (every 5 minutes).

  And as a result of detection, when the detected room temperature shown in FIG. 13 is suitable, the cooling operation is forcibly performed, and the air conditioner is operated so that the room temperature is below the dangerous area. However, the dangerous area shown in FIG. 13 is an example, and the dangerous area may be divided into other ways. Further, for example, the user may be able to change the dangerous area using an operating device (for example, a remote controller (not shown)).

FIG. 14 shows a flowchart for implementing measures against heat stroke. When the operation of the air conditioner is stopped or when it has not been operated from the beginning, in step S31, it is determined whether or not five minutes or more have passed since the previous detection of the person, room temperature, and relative humidity. If so, the process proceeds to step S32; otherwise, the process returns to step S31. In step S32, the human, room temperature, and relative humidity sensors are operated to detect the presence, absence room temperature, and humidity of the person, and the process proceeds to step S33. In step S33, it is determined whether or not a person is present in the room. If so, the process proceeds to step S34, and if not, the process returns to step S31. In step S34, based on FIG. 13, it is determined whether or not the detected room temperature is a dangerous area. If so, the process proceeds to step S35, and if not, the process returns to step S31. In step S35, the cooling operation is performed so that the room temperature is out of the dangerous area.

  In FIG. 15, the graph of the time transition of the room temperature regarding the effect of this invention is shown. The broken line is the conventional control, and the solid line is the transition of the room temperature when this embodiment is executed. The broken line portion does not take heat stroke countermeasures, so the room temperature is in the danger area, while the practice section takes heat stroke countermeasures, and it can be seen that the room temperature has changed outside the danger area.

  As described above, the present invention can be applied to an air conditioner including a human body detection sensor.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 Main body 2a Front opening 2b Upper surface opening 4 Front panel 6 Heat exchanger 8 Indoor fan 10 Outlet 12 Upper and lower blades 12a Upper blade 12b Lower blade 14 Left and right blades 16 Filter 101 Suction sensor 102 Relative humidity sensor

Claims (3)

An air conditioner that controls operation by detecting the presence or absence of a person by means of a human body detection sensor provided in an indoor unit, and has room temperature detection means for detecting the room temperature of the room to be conditioned. In a room, when the presence of a person is confirmed by the human body detection sensor, and when it is confirmed that the room to be conditioned is at a predetermined room temperature or more, even if the air conditioner is in a stopped state, An air conditioner that is operated such that the room temperature is forcibly reduced to a predetermined temperature or less. The air conditioner according to claim 1, further comprising a relative humidity detecting unit that detects a relative humidity of the room to be conditioned, wherein the value of the predetermined temperature changes according to a change in the relative humidity. 3. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein when the air conditioner is stopped, confirmation of presence / absence of a person and confirmation of room temperature and relative humidity of the conditioned room are performed at predetermined intervals.

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