KR20060108027A - Multi air-conditioner and its compressor control method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a multi-air conditioner and a method of controlling the compressor, which detects a malfunction of one compressor and cuts off the operation power of the compressor and alternately operates the other compressor. A first step of applying power to a plurality of compressors for controlling the control unit; and detecting a malfunctioning compressor by detecting a current amount and / or a voltage amount flowing through each of the compressors to which power is applied, and a second step of shutting off the power of the determined compressor. Including the steps, accordingly it can automatically cut off the power of the compressor to prevent adversely affecting the operation of other compressors, which can greatly improve the reliability of the product, and automatically detects the abnormal compressor By operating the alternative compressor to be more comfortable cooling / heating It can be effective to enhance the user's convenience.

Constant speed compressor, inverter compressor, outdoor unit, pressure sensor, current sensing, multi air conditioner

Description

 Multi Air-Conditioner and its Compressor control method

1 is a block diagram showing the flow of the refrigerant of the multi-air conditioner according to the prior art,

2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a multi-air conditioner according to the present invention;

3 is a flowchart illustrating a compressor control method of a multi-air conditioner according to the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols on main parts of the drawings>

50: microcomputer 51: memory

61: current detection unit 62: low pressure sensor

63: high pressure sensor

The present invention relates to a multi-air conditioner and a compressor control method thereof. In particular, in a multi-air conditioner having a plurality of compressors, when one of the compressors malfunctions, it detects the malfunction and cuts off the operation power of the compressor. The present invention relates to a multi-air conditioner and a compressor control method thereof for performing an alternative operation.

In general, an air conditioner is a device that cools or heats a room in order to create a more comfortable indoor environment. The air conditioner sucks air in the room and heats or cools it to discharge the room.

1 is a block diagram showing the flow of the refrigerant of the multi-air conditioner according to the prior art.

The air conditioner includes compressors 2a and 2b for compressing a refrigerant having a low temperature and low pressure gas state at a high temperature and high pressure, a condenser 4 for condensing the refrigerant discharged from the compressors 2a and 2b, and the condenser 4 Expansion mechanism (6) for expanding the liquid refrigerant condensed by the above, an evaporator (8) for evaporating the refrigerant introduced from the expansion mechanism (6), and a four-way valve (12) for switching the refrigerant flow in accordance with cooling or heating operation. And a microcomputer that controls the four-way valve 12 in accordance with a cooling operation and a heating operation, and controls the compressors 2a and 2b and the electronic expansion valve 6 according to a cooling load or a heating load. 20).

A plurality of outdoor units and indoor units are each provided, and each refrigerant pipe is connected by a service valve.

In the general air conditioner configured as described above, the refrigerant compressed in the compressors 2a and 2b is transferred to the outdoor heat exchanger through the four-way valve 12 during the cooling operation, and the refrigerant passing through the outdoor heat exchanger Is condensed by heat exchange of and then delivered to the expansion mechanism.

In addition, the expanded refrigerant is delivered to the indoor heat exchanger to evaporate while absorbing the heat of the sucked indoor air, and the room is cooled as the cold air is discharged again.

On the other hand, during the heating operation, the flow path is switched from the four-way valve, and the refrigerant discharged from the compressor heats the room while sequentially passing through the four-way valve, the indoor heat exchanger, the expansion mechanism, the outdoor heat exchanger, and the four-way valve.

On the other hand, the compressor of the multi-air conditioner may be composed of one or more compressors for adjusting the amount of refrigerant according to the load somewhat, the general multi-air conditioner is a failure occurs in any one of the plurality of compressors that operate according to the power applied It can not detect and continuously supply power.

In addition, if power is continuously applied to the compressor in which an abnormality occurs, the operation current value is significantly increased and normal operation is not driven, or other compressors that are normally driven as the oil in the compressor is carbonized due to high heat are generated. The problem is going crazy.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems of the prior art, by detecting the amount of current in the plurality of compressors in operation to determine whether each of the compressor abnormality, stop the operation by cutting off the operating power to the compressor that has an error It is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-air conditioner and a method of controlling the compressor so that the undriven compressor operates.

Compressor control method of a multi-air conditioner according to the present invention for solving the above problems is the first step of applying power to a plurality of compressors for controlling the capacity of the refrigerant in response to the cooling or heating load, and the power is applied And a second step of detecting a malfunctioning compressor by sensing a current amount and / or a voltage amount flowing in the compressor, and shutting off the power of the determined compressor.

In addition, the multi-air conditioner according to the present invention is a plurality of compressors for controlling the compression of the refrigerant in accordance with the cooling or heating operation, a memory for storing the unique information of each compressor, the amount of current and / or voltage of each of the compressors to which power is applied The amount of the detection, and if the detected current amount is greater than the reference current amount is characterized in that it comprises a microcomputer to cut off the operating power applied to the compressor, and to store the information of the blocked compressor in the memory separately.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. At this time, since the internal configuration of the multi-air conditioner according to the present invention is similar to the prior art shown in Figure 1 will be omitted a detailed description. In addition, in the multi-air conditioner according to the present invention, the plurality of compressors may be composed of a plurality of constant speed compressors that are driven at constant speed, and may be composed of a plurality of inverter compressors that are shifted in speed. It will be described with an example consisting of a compressor and a plurality of constant speed compressor that is constant speed operation.

That is, when the cooling or heating load is small, the inverter compressor is operated at a low speed to relieve the load, but as the cooling or heating load increases, the inverter compressor is operated at a high speed to eliminate the load. Otherwise, the inverter compressor and the constant speed compressor operate simultaneously to relieve the load.

2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of a multi-air conditioner according to the present invention, Figure 3 is a flow chart illustrating a compressor control method of a multi-air conditioner according to the present invention.

In the multi-air conditioner according to the present invention, when operating power is applied to an inverter compressor and a plurality of constant speed compressors, a sensing unit 60 having a plurality of sensors for sensing current or voltage of each compressor is transferred from the sensing unit 60. It is configured to include a microcomputer 50 for determining the operation state of each compressor through the received signal.

The multi-air conditioner may include a memory 51 in which information of each compressor is stored, and information on the abnormal compressor is separately stored according to the determination of the microcomputer.

The detection unit 60 includes a current detection unit 61 for detecting the amount of current flowing through each compressor, a high pressure sensor 63 and a low pressure sensor 62 for detecting the degree of pressure in each compressor, The current sensing unit 61 preferably uses a current transformer device.

In addition, the memory 51 is preferably an EEPROM, which is a nonvolatile memory device in which constant data exists even when power is not supplied to the PCB of the outdoor unit by circuit.

On the other hand, the push control method of the multi-air conditioner according to the present invention configured as described above with reference to FIG.

When a power relay for supplying power to the constant speed compressor is turned on, power is applied to the constant speed compressor to start the compressor.

If an abnormality occurs during the operation of each compressor, the current in the compressor is within or above a reference value, the current amount is sensed by the current sensing unit and transferred to the microcomputer.

In this case, since the reference value may vary according to the operation state of each compressor, the reference value may be set to the reference value by calculating ± 30% of the expected value based on the expected value according to the operation state.

When the amount of current falls within the reference value, it may be determined that the coil of the motor in the compressor is completely shorted. When the amount of current is significantly increased, the motor may be normal but it may be determined that the compressor is broken, but is not limited thereto. (S3)

In addition, when the amount of current sensed by the current sensing unit is lower than the reference value, it is possible to determine in more detail whether the constant speed compressor is operating normally by comparing the pressure value detected by the high and low pressure sensors with the reference pressure value. In this case, the reference pressure value may be set as the reference value by calculating ± 30% of an expected value according to the operation state of the compressor, similar to the reference current amount.

Next, when it is determined that the compressor is normal according to the determination, the operation is continued.

However, when the detected current amount is equal to or greater than the reference value or the detected pressure value is equal to or greater than the reference pressure value, it is determined that an abnormality occurs in the operation of the corresponding compressor, and the power relay connected to the corresponding compressor is turned off to apply the operating power. Will block (S6)

At the same time, in order to replace the compressor whose power is cut off, one of the non-driven compressors is selected to apply operating power to the selected compressor, and thus the normal operation is maintained as the selected compressor is driven.

Next, information about the compressor, which is powered off, is stored in the memory built in the multi-air conditioner. When the memory is an EEPROM, the compressor is repaired and is normally operated even when the multi-air conditioner is interrupted and restarted. Do not apply power until it is operated.

In addition, this is displayed to the outside so that the user can recognize it.

As described above, the multi-air conditioner and the compressor control method thereof according to the present invention have been described with reference to the illustrated drawings. However, by detecting the current and the pressure, the operation abnormality of each compressor is sensed and the power of the corresponding compressor is cut off accordingly. The technical idea of the present invention can be easily applied by those skilled in the art within the scope of protection.

The multi-air conditioner and the compressor control method according to the present invention configured as described above is configured and operated to detect an operation abnormality of each compressor by sensing current and pressure and to cut off the power of the corresponding compressor accordingly, thereby having an abnormality of the compressor. It is possible to grasp more precisely and accurately, and accordingly, it can automatically cut off the power of the corresponding compressor to prevent the adverse influence on the operation of other compressors, thereby greatly improving the reliability of the product.

In addition, when a compressor having an abnormality is detected, a more comfortable cooling / heating operation may be performed by automatically operating a replacement compressor, thereby improving user convenience.

Claims (8)

A first step of applying power to a plurality of compressors for controlling the capacity of the refrigerant in response to a cooling or heating load; And a second step of detecting a malfunctioning compressor by sensing a current amount and / or a voltage amount flowing through each of the compressors to which power is applied, and shutting off the power of the determined compressor. The method of claim 1, The compressor control method may further include a third step of indicating to the outside that the determined power of the compressor is cut off after the second step, and storing information of the compressor. . The method of claim 1, The second step may include: detecting an amount of current flowing through each of the compressors, and disconnecting operating power of the corresponding compressor in which the detected amount of current is greater than a reference amount of current; Compressor control method of a multi-air conditioner comprising the step of applying the power to the other compressor that did not drive in place of the compressor is switched off. The method of claim 3, wherein The determination process further includes a pressure discrimination process of detecting a pressure in the corresponding compressor when the detected current amount is less than the reference current amount, comparing the reference pressure according to a high pressure or a low pressure, and cutting off the power of the corresponding compressor when the comparison result is higher than the reference pressure. Compressor control method for a multi-air conditioner, characterized in that made. A plurality of compressors for controlling the compression of the refrigerant according to the cooling or heating operation; A memory for storing unique information of each compressor; A microcomputer that senses the amount of current and / or voltage of each compressor to which power is applied, cuts off the operating power applied to the compressor when the detected current is greater than the reference current, and separately stores the information of the blocked compressor in the memory. Multi-air conditioner comprising a. The method of claim 5, The multi-air conditioner is a multi-air conditioner comprising a current sensing unit, a low pressure sensor and a high pressure sensor for sensing the current amount and / or voltage amount of each compressor. The method of claim 6, And the memory is an EEPROM that is a nonvolatile memory. The method of claim 7, wherein The microcomputer multi-air conditioner, characterized in that the external display whether the operating power of the compressor is cut off, and to apply the operating power to the other compressor not driven to replace the blocked compressor.

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