KR100747723B1 - Air Conditioner and Method for controlling the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides an air conditioner and a method of controlling the air that can be the most suitable air conditioning for the user. The present invention provides an air conditioner including a compressor, a compressor fan, an evaporator and a fan for an evaporator. An input unit 12 for receiving input user information; And a controller (1) for classifying the user type based on the user information, determining a comfort zone according to the classified user type, and controlling an air conditioner and each component to satisfy the comfort zone. Provide an air conditioner. In addition, the present invention comprises an input step of receiving user information that is the basic data for the user using the air conditioner; A user type classification step of classifying the user type based on the user information; Provided is a control method of an air conditioner including a comfort zone determination step of determining a comfort zone according to a classified user type.

Description

Air Conditioner and Method for Controlling the Air Conditioner and Method for Controlling the Same

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly, to an air conditioner capable of air conditioning at a temperature, humidity, and the like most suitable for a user, and a control method thereof.

An air conditioner is a device that maintains a desired temperature, humidity, etc. in an appropriate state by using a refrigeration cycle consisting of a compression, condensation, expansion, and evaporation of a refrigerant. Each process of the refrigeration cycle is performed by devices such as compressors, condensers, expansion valves and evaporators. Each device is installed in an indoor unit and an outdoor unit, which are located indoors and outdoors, respectively. Usually, the indoor unit is provided with an evaporator and an evaporator fan (indoor fan) that absorbs heat, and the compressor and a compressor fan (fan for outdoor unit) are installed in the outdoor unit. Condensers are typically installed in outdoor units, but may also be installed in indoor units. On the other hand, a suction grill for introducing air in the room is installed in the lower part of the indoor unit, and an exhaust grill is installed in the upper part to heat the introduced air to heat the evaporator and discharge the air adjusted to a predetermined temperature back to the room. Vertical louvers and horizontal louvers are installed to adjust the wind direction of the discharged air in the vertical and horizontal directions.

However, the above-described conventional air conditioner and its control method have the following problems.

Conventional air conditioners do not consider the user using the air conditioner at all, and the air conditioner is controlled uniformly so that the temperature and humidity of the room is generally considered to be comfortable. That is, in the conventional air conditioner, the temperature and relative humidity of the room are controlled so as to be in the range of about 22 to 26 ° C. and 30 to 60%, respectively, without considering the user. However, the temperature and humidity etc. which a person feels comfortable are different. Therefore, in the conventional air conditioner, it is difficult to air condition the room at an optimum temperature and humidity for the user.

In particular, in recent years, it has been proposed to perform air conditioning for individual users, in addition to air conditioning for a specific space. Nevertheless, the individual air conditioner does not consider the user's characteristics, so air conditioning has the disadvantage that the user does not have the optimal air conditioning.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an air conditioner and a control method thereof, which can provide a state most suitable for a user of the air conditioner.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an air conditioner including a compressor, a compressor fan, an evaporator, and an evaporator fan, comprising: an input unit for receiving user information which is basic data about a user; And classifying the user type based on the user information, determining a comfort zone according to the classified user type, and controlling each component of the air conditioner to satisfy the comfort zone. Provide a flag.

The user type is classified by at least one of sensitivity to temperature, humidity, wind direction and wind speed, and the comfort zone is preferably at least one of temperature, humidity, wind direction and wind speed. The user information is at least one of basic information originally possessed by the user, variable information that may vary according to the user's state, and selection information selected by the user. The basic information includes at least the face of the user and the date of birth. The variable information includes at least the current state of health of the user. The selection information includes at least a sensitivity to temperature, humidity, wind direction, and wind speed that the user feels subjectively.

Meanwhile, the comfort zone is preferably defined by enthalpy and temperature on the cyclometric chart. The comfort zone preferably further comprises wind direction and wind speed.

The input unit may be a combination of at least one of a keypad for directly inputting user information, a camera for photographing a user, a scanner for scanning a user photo, and a personal computer connected to the air conditioner and the network. The air conditioner may further include an output unit configured to display the comfort zone determined according to the user type.

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On the other hand, the air conditioner controls the compressor, the compressor, the evaporator and the fan for the evaporator to adjust the temperature and humidity. At this time, the air conditioner is preferably configured to further include a humidity detecting unit for detecting the humidity. In addition, the air conditioner is more preferably configured to further include a warming, dehumidifying and humidifying unit. In addition, the air conditioner may further include a wind direction control unit for adjusting the wind direction of the air discharged from the air conditioner.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the present invention includes an input step of receiving user information that is the basic data for the user using the air conditioner; A user type classification step of classifying the user type based on the user information; Provided is a control method of an air conditioner including a comfort zone determination step of determining a comfort zone according to a classified user type.

In the user type classification step, the user is classified according to at least one of sensitivity of temperature, humidity, wind direction, and wind speed, and in the comfort zone determination step, at least one of temperature, humidity, wind direction, and wind speed is determined. In the input step, it is preferable to receive at least one of basic information originally possessed by the user, variable information that can vary according to the user's state, and selection information selected by the user.

The basic information preferably includes at least the face of the user and the date of birth.

According to the present invention described above, it is possible to achieve air conditioning most suited to the user of the air conditioner.

The features and advantages of the present invention may be better understood with reference to the following accompanying drawings in conjunction with the following detailed description of embodiments of the invention, of which:

1 is a Psychrometric chart showing a comfortable area used in a general air conditioner;

2 is a flowchart showing a preferred embodiment of the control method of the air conditioner according to the present invention;

3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a method used in the user type classification step in FIG. 2;

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9 is a block diagram showing a preferred embodiment of the air conditioner according to the present invention;

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, preferred embodiments of the present invention can be specifically realized the above object. In describing the present embodiment, a detailed description of the same configuration as a general air conditioner is omitted.

First, referring to Figure 1, the principle of the air conditioner and its control method according to the present invention will be described.

As described in the prior art, in a conventional air conditioner, a predetermined temperature and humidity range, that is, a predetermined temperature and humidity range (hereinafter referred to as a "comfort zone") in which a user feels comfortable, is determined, and the room is The air conditioner is controlled such that a space to be cooled (hereinafter referred to as a "cooling space") is in the comfort zone. Generally, the comfort zone set by ASHRAE (American Society of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning) is used as the comfort zone, and the comfort zone has a temperature of about 22 to 26 ° C. and a relative humidity of about 30 to 60%. That is, the prior art controls the air conditioner so that the cooling space is in a comfortable area without considering the user who uses the air conditioner at all. However, the comfort zones that each person feels are different, and it is not desirable to uniformize the comfort zones. In other words, the temperature and humidity that are pleasant to some people may be unpleasant to others.

According to the research of the present inventors, it was confirmed that the comfort zone is remarkably different depending on personal or subjective factors such as human health, date of birth, biorhythm, race, sex, age, occupation, and the like. Furthermore, the present inventors have found that the sensitivity to temperature, humidity, air volume, wind speed, etc. according to human beings is particularly correlated with health status and date of birth. Other personal factors such as age, gender, and race were found to have a secondary effect on sensitivity to temperature and humidity.

As described above, since sensitivity to temperature, humidity, and the like varies from person to person, it is preferable to type the user of the air conditioner according to a predetermined criterion to vary the comfort zone according to the user type.

Therefore, the user's type is classified according to a predetermined criterion, different comfort zones (hereinafter referred to as "modified comfort zones") are determined according to the classified user types, and the air conditioner is arranged so that the cooling space is within the range of the modified comfort zone. It is desirable to control. That is, as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 1, it is desirable to appropriately move the comfortable area on the cyclometric chart according to the user type.

Referring to Figure 2, it will be described a preferred embodiment of the control method of the air conditioner according to the present invention.

The present invention provides an input step (S3) for receiving user information on a user who uses an air conditioner, a user type classification step (S5) for classifying the user type based on the user information, and a classified user type. Thus, a comfort zone step S7 for determining the comfort zone and an operation control step S9 for controlling the air conditioner to achieve the determined comfort zone are provided.

Although the user types can be classified in various ways, it is most preferable for the user to classify the users mainly based on the sensitivity to temperature and humidity, and more preferably to consider the sensitivity to the wind direction and the wind speed. Based on this, it is preferable to determine the comfort zone and to control the air conditioner so that the cooling space is in the determined comfort zone, that is, the cooling space is in a predetermined range of predetermined temperature, humidity, wind direction, and wind speed.

Basic data for classifying user types, that is, user information, will be described as follows.

The user information is basically determined by the individual user, the user information is the basic information that the user has inherently difficult to change, variable information that can be changed according to the user's state, and is selected by the user and has a strong subjective feeling. It is preferable that it is at least one or more of selection information. Basic information refers to information that is originally determined when a user is determined, for example, the race, gender, date of birth, and face type of the user. The variable information is not inherently determined by the user, but may affect the degree of sensitivity to temperature, humidity, and the like, and may vary depending on the user's condition, for example, the user's current health condition, disease history, and the like. Unlike the basic information and the variable information that can be objectified to some extent, the selection information refers to information that has a strong subjective character, for example, information indicating a sensitivity to temperature, humidity, etc. that the user feels.

Based on the user information described above, the type of user is determined. The user types can be classified in various ways, but since air conditioners can ultimately be controlled in terms of temperature, humidity, wind direction, and wind speed, a classification that can indicate the degree of sensitivity to temperature, humidity, wind direction, and wind speed is desirable. .

On the other hand, there are a number of ways to determine the user type based on the user information. For example, the correlation between user information and user type may be determined by a statistical method.

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The manner of classifying user types in the present invention is not limited to the above-described example. That is, anything can be done by properly statistical information about the user to create a function between the user information and the user type. For example, a correlation between the user information and the degree of sensitivity to temperature, humidity, wind speed, and the like may be found by using the user's height, weight, obesity, region of origin, and occupation as user information. For example, according to the inventor's study, the occupation was favored by low temperatures for students or manual workers. Also, if the gender is female, the temperature was not good.

Meanwhile, as described above, the user type is basically classified based on the basic information of the user, but the user type may be classified independently or additionally using variable information such as the current state of health of the user. In addition, the user type may be classified using independent or additionally selected information such as sensitivity to temperature, humidity, wind direction, and wind speed that the user feels subjectively.

On the other hand, if the comfort zone according to the user type and the user type is determined, each component of the air conditioner should be properly controlled so that the room maintains the comfort zone. At this time, the modified comfort zone is represented by temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and wind direction, but the air conditioner is preferably controlled in terms of temperature, enthalpy, wind speed and weight.

9, an example of an air conditioner suitable for implementing the control method of the air conditioner according to the present invention described above will be described.

An input unit 12 for inputting various instructions by a user is connected to an input terminal of the control unit 1 for controlling the air conditioner, and a temperature sensing unit 14 such as a temperature sensor that senses indoor and outdoor temperatures is connected. . And, in order to precisely control the humidity, it is preferable that the humidity sensing unit 16 measuring humidity is further connected to the control unit 1.

The input unit 12 may be a keypad for directly inputting user information. In addition, it may be a camera for photographing the user and a scanner for scanning the user picture. Of course, the keypad, camera, scanner can be used in combination. In addition, the personal computer 20 may be connected to the control unit 1 of the air conditioner by a network, and user information may be first received from the personal computer 20, and the received user information may be received from the control unit 1. In this case, the network may be a LAN connected between the air conditioner and the personal computer 20, and may also be connected through the Internet.

When configured as described above, the user can directly enter his user information through the keypad. In addition, when receiving information such as a user's face using a camera or a scanner, a program for properly determining a user type from the input information should be included in the controller 1, so that the camera and scanner mainly use the user's face shape. Is used to determine the user type.

In addition, it is possible to database the user information and the user type, and the user can view the database-based data and determine the type of his / her user and input it.

On the other hand, the control unit 1 is connected to the output unit 32 for displaying a variety of information to the user. The output unit 32 has a function of displaying information such as items inputted by the user through the input unit 12, current temperature, humidity, and the like, and preferably has a function of displaying a comfortable area determined according to the user type.

In addition, the control unit 1 is connected to the compressor drive unit 34, the compressor fan drive unit 36 and the evaporator fan drive unit 38, the control unit 1 is the compressor drive unit 34, the compressor fan drive unit ( 36) and the fan drive unit 38 for the evaporator is properly controlled to adjust temperature and humidity, and the air volume discharged from the air conditioner may be controlled by controlling the fan drive unit 38 for the evaporator. At this time, the evaporator is preferably controlled by the inverter. In detail, when the temperature is increased, the evaporator temperature is increased and / or the wind speed is decreased, and when the temperature is lowered, the evaporator temperature is decreased and / or the wind speed is increased. When the humidity is increased, the humidification mode, that is, the evaporator temperature is increased, and when the humidity is lowered, the dehumidification mode, the evaporator temperature, is suddenly dropped and the wind speed is increased.

In addition, the control unit 1 is preferably connected to a heating unit 58 such as a heater, a dehumidifying unit 54 such as a dehumidifier and a humidifying unit 36 such as a humidifier. Because, as described above, it is possible to control the temperature and humidity by controlling the compressor, the fan for the compressor, the fan for the evaporator, but because the temperature and humidity more precisely to control the temperature requires active heating, humidification, dehumidification, etc. to be.

On the other hand, it is preferable to appropriately control not only the amount of air discharged from the air conditioner but also the wind direction. Thus, the controller 1 is more preferably connected to the wind direction control unit 52 for adjusting the wind direction of the air discharged from the air conditioner. The wind direction control unit 52 functions to control the driving of the vertical louver and the horizontal louver installed in the discharge grill of the air conditioner. In a conventional air conditioner, the wind direction is simply adjusted up and down and left and right by rotating the vertical louver and the horizontal louver vertically and horizontally at regular intervals. However, in the present invention, by controlling the vertical louver and the horizontal louver according to the user type, in the case of a user type disliked by the wind, the louver may be controlled so that the wind direction is not the user direction.

On the other hand, the present invention can be applied even when there are a large number of users in the space to be cooled, that is indoors. For example, you can classify multiple user types, find common denominators, and properly control them. In addition, the principle of the present invention is also applicable when operating with a heat pump having the same components.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, in addition to the embodiments described above, the present invention can be embodied in many other specific forms without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. Therefore, the above-described embodiments should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive, and thus, the present invention is not limited to the above detailed description, but may vary within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

According to the air conditioner and control method thereof according to the present invention, air conditioning can be performed comfortably in accordance with user information using the air conditioner. That is, since the air conditioner can be provided at the most suitable temperature, humidity, weight, and wind speed, the user's convenience is improved.

In addition, according to the present invention, since the air conditioner is automatically controlled by the temperature, humidity, air volume, and wind speed that are most suitable for the user, there is an advantage in that energy can be saved because the user does not frequently change the operating condition setting of the air conditioner. .

Claims (24)

In an air conditioner comprising a compressor, a compressor fan, an evaporator and a fan for the evaporator, An input unit for receiving user information which is basic data about the user; And classifying the user type based on the user information, determining a comfort zone according to the classified user type, and controlling each component of the air conditioner to satisfy the comfort zone. group. The method of claim 1, The user type is classified by at least one of sensitivity to temperature, humidity, wind direction, and wind speed, and the comfort zone is at least one of temperature, humidity, wind direction, and wind speed. The method of claim 2, And the user information is at least one of basic information originally possessed by the user, variable information that can vary according to a user's state, and selection information selected by the user. The method of claim 3, wherein And the basic information includes at least a user's face type and date of birth. The method of claim 3, wherein And said variable information comprises at least a current state of health of a user. The method of claim 3, wherein The selection information includes at least a sensitivity to temperature, humidity, wind direction, and wind speed that the user feels subjectively. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6 And said comfort zone is defined by enthalpy and temperature on the cyclometric chart. delete delete delete delete delete delete delete The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, And the input unit is a combination of at least one of a keypad for directly inputting user information, a camera for photographing a user, a scanner for scanning a user photo, and a personal computer connected to the air conditioner. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, The air conditioner further comprises an output unit for displaying the comfort zone determined according to the user type. The method of claim 6, And the air conditioner controls the compressor, the compressor, the evaporator, and the fan for the evaporator to adjust temperature and humidity. The method of claim 17, The air conditioner is characterized in that it further comprises a humidity sensing unit for sensing the humidity. The method of claim 18, The air conditioner is an air conditioner, characterized in that further comprises a warming, dehumidifying and humidifying unit. The method of claim 6, The air conditioner further comprises a wind direction control unit for adjusting the wind direction of the air discharged from the air conditioner. An input step of receiving user information which is basic data on a user who uses an air conditioner; A user type classification step of classifying the user type based on the user information; And a comfort zone determination step of determining the comfort zone according to the classified user type. The method of claim 21, In the user type classification step, the user is classified by at least one of the sensitivity of temperature, humidity, wind direction, and wind speed, and in the comfort zone determination step, at least one of temperature, humidity, wind direction, and wind speed is determined. Control method. The method of claim 22, The control method of the air conditioner, characterized in that for receiving at least one of the basic information, the variable information that can be changed according to the user's state, and the selection information selected by the user. The method of claim 23, And the basic information includes at least a user's face type and date of birth.

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