JP2000155601A - Controller and air conditioner provided with the controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To securely store data which CPU holds in a memory immediately before a power cut. SOLUTION: In a controller 13, a CPU 26, an EEPROM 27, an IC 28, a relay 29, a power source circuit 30 supplying power to the CPU 26, the IC 28 and the relay 29, and a reset IC 31 monitoring the power of the power source circuit 30 and emitting a PDOWN signal (a) predicting a power cut and a RESET signal (b) requesting the stop of the CPU 26 to the CPU 26, are installed and the CPU 26 stores data which CPU 26 holds in the EEPROM 27 during the reception of the PDOWN signal from the reset IC to the reception of the RE SET signal. When the CPU 26 receives the PDOWN signal from the reset IC, it interrupts the supply of power from the power source circuit 30 to a part except for the CPU 26 and starts the storage of data which the CPU 26 holds to the EEPROM 27.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device and an air conditioner provided with the control device, and in particular, stores data held in a CPU (central processing unit) of the control device in a memory immediately before a power failure. The present invention relates to a control device suitable for performing the control and an air conditioner provided with the control device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, control by a control device of an air conditioner has become complicated, and a large amount of data is processed by a CPU of the control device.

[0003] In some cases, instantaneous power outages frequently occur due to the power supply source side of the air conditioner. When a power failure occurs in this manner, the CPU in the control device
While the power for operating the CPU is supplied,
EEPROM stored in the control device by own data
Need to be stored in a non-volatile memory such as.

More specifically, the power supply of the power supply circuit in the control device is monitored by a power supply monitoring circuit (such as a reset IC). This power supply monitoring circuit transmits a power failure prediction signal (PDOWN signal) for predicting a power failure when the power supply of the power supply circuit falls to a predetermined voltage, and when the power supply circuit further decreases to a lower predetermined voltage, the CPU of the power supply monitoring circuit operates. A stop request signal (RESET signal) for requesting a stop is transmitted to the CPU. The CPU stores its own data in the EEPROM within a time period from the reception of the power failure prediction signal to the reception of the stop request signal.

[0005]

The control device includes devices to be controlled, such as a relay and an IC, which are controlled by the CPU. Power is supplied from the power supply circuit to not only the CPU but also these devices to be controlled. Have been. If power continues to be supplied from the power supply circuit to the control target device within the time from when the CPU receives the power failure prediction signal to when the CPU receives the stop request signal, the degree of power reduction in the power supply circuit during this time Becomes sharp. Therefore, the time from when the power supply circuit transmits the power failure prediction signal to when the power supply circuit transmits the stop request signal is shortened. There is a possibility that the data held by itself cannot be sufficiently stored in the EEPROM.

In the control device, the devices to be controlled by the CPU differ depending on the type of the control device. Therefore, the number of devices supplied with power from the power supply circuit also differs depending on the type of the control device. For this reason, the time from when the CPU receives the power failure prediction signal to when the CPU receives the stop request signal differs for each control device. During this time, it is verified whether the data held in the CPU can be sufficiently stored in the EEPROM. Must be performed for each control device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and has a control device and a control device capable of reliably storing data held by a CPU in a memory immediately before a power failure. To provide an improved air conditioner.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
A CPU for processing data, a memory for storing data, one or more controlled devices controlled by the CPU, a power supply circuit for supplying power to the CPU and the controlled device, and a power supply for the power supply circuit And a power monitoring circuit for transmitting a power failure prediction signal for predicting a power failure and a stop request signal for requesting a stop of the CPU to the CPU. The CPU monitors the power failure from the power monitoring circuit. In the control device, between the reception of the prediction signal and the reception of the stop request signal, the CPU receives the power failure prediction signal from the power supply monitoring circuit. Then, the power supply from the power supply circuit to other than the CPU is cut off, and the storage of the data held by the CPU in the memory is started. It is characterized in that.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an outdoor unit having an outdoor heat exchanger, an indoor unit having an indoor heat exchanger, and a control device for controlling these outdoor units and indoor units. The apparatus includes a CPU for processing data, a memory for storing data, one or more controlled devices controlled by the CPU, a power supply circuit for supplying power to the CPU and the controlled device, A power failure monitoring signal for monitoring the power supply of the circuit and transmitting a power failure prediction signal for predicting a power failure and a stop request signal for requesting a stop of the CPU to the CPU. In the air conditioner configured to be able to store data held by the CPU in the memory between the reception of the power failure prediction signal and the reception of the stop request signal, U, when receiving the power failure prediction signal from the power supply monitoring circuit, shuts off the power supply from the power supply circuit to other than the CPU, and stores the data held by the CPU in the memory. It is characterized by starting.

The invention described in claim 1 or 2 has the following operation.

When the CPU receives the power failure prediction signal from the power supply monitoring circuit, the CPU shuts off the power supply from the power supply circuit to the CPUs other than the CPU. , The degree of power supply decrease can be moderated. Therefore, the time from the transmission of the power failure monitoring signal by the power supply monitoring circuit to the transmission of the stop request signal is the same as that after the CPU receives the power failure prediction signal from the power monitoring circuit. The time is longer than when power is continuously supplied. As a result, the data held by the CPU can be reliably stored in the memory within the time from the reception of the power failure prediction signal from the power supply monitoring circuit by the CPU to the reception of the stop request signal immediately before the power failure. In the control device, the CPU
The number of devices to be controlled differs depending on the type of control device, and therefore, the number of devices supplied with power from the power supply circuit also differs depending on the type of control device. In the present invention, when the CPU receives the power failure prediction signal from the power supply monitoring circuit, it shuts off the supply of power from the power supply circuit to other than the CPU, so that after the CPU receives the power failure prediction signal, Power is supplied only from the power supply circuit to the CPU. Therefore, even in different types of control devices, the time from when the power supply monitoring circuit transmits the power failure prediction signal to when the power supply monitoring circuit transmits the stop request signal becomes substantially equal. As a result, different types of control determine whether or not the time from when the CPU receives the power failure prediction signal from the power supply monitoring circuit to when the stop request signal is received is sufficient time to store the data held by the CPU in the memory. There is no need to verify each device.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing a refrigerant circuit of an air conditioner according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the air conditioner 10 includes:
It has an outdoor unit 11, an indoor unit 12, and a control device 13, and an outdoor refrigerant pipe 14 of the outdoor unit 11 and an indoor refrigerant pipe 15 of the indoor unit 12 are connected via connection pipes 24, 25.

The outdoor unit 11 is installed outdoors, and a compressor 16 is disposed on the outdoor refrigerant pipe 14. An accumulator 17 is provided on the suction side of the compressor 16 and a four-way valve 18 is provided on the discharge side of the compressor 16 via the outdoor refrigerant pipe 14. The four-way valve 1
8 is connected to an outdoor heat exchanger 19 via an outdoor refrigerant pipe 14. An outdoor fan 20 that blows air toward the outdoor heat exchanger 19 is disposed adjacent to the outdoor heat exchanger 19.

On the other hand, the indoor unit 12 is installed indoors, and the indoor heat exchanger 21 is disposed in the indoor refrigerant pipe 15.
An electric expansion valve 22 is provided near the indoor heat exchanger 21 in the indoor refrigerant pipe 15. An indoor fan 23 for blowing air to the indoor heat exchanger 21 is disposed adjacent to the indoor heat exchanger 21.

The control device 13 controls the operation of the outdoor unit 11 and the indoor unit 12.
, The compressor 16, the four-way valve 18 and the outdoor fan 20,
In addition, it controls the electric expansion valve 22 and the indoor fan 23 in the indoor unit 12 respectively.

When the four-way valve 18 is switched by the control device 13, the air conditioner 10 is set to the cooling operation or the heating operation. That is, the control device 13 controls the four-way valve 1
8 is switched to the cooling side, the refrigerant flows as shown by the solid line arrow, and the outdoor heat exchanger 19 is connected to the condenser and the indoor heat exchanger 2
1 becomes an evaporator and enters a cooling operation state, and the indoor heat exchanger 21 of the indoor unit 12 cools the room. Also, the control device 1
When 3 switches the four-way valve 18 to the heating side, the refrigerant flows as indicated by the dashed arrow, the indoor heat exchanger 21 becomes a condenser, and the outdoor heat exchanger 19 becomes an evaporator, and enters a heating operation state.
The indoor heat exchanger 21 of the indoor unit 12 heats the room.

Further, the control device 13 controls the opening of the electric expansion valve 22 in the indoor unit 12 according to the air conditioning load of the indoor unit 12, and controls the fan drive system of the indoor fan 23 in the indoor unit 12.

As shown in FIG. 2, the control device 13
CPU 26 (central processing unit) and EEP as memory
ROM27 (electrically erasab
leprogrammable read only
memory, an IC (semiconductor) 28 and a relay 29 as control target devices, a power supply circuit 30, and a reset IC 31 as a power supply monitoring circuit. The CPU 26 decodes and calculates the instructions of the computer program, processes the data, processes the data, and
9 and so on. In addition, the EEPROM 27 stores the CPU 2
6 used for data processing.

The power supply circuit 30 supplies necessary power to the CPU 26, IC 28, relay 29 and the like. Therefore, the CPU 26, the IC 28, the relay 29, and the like serve as electrical loads on the power supply circuit 30.

The reset IC 31 monitors the power supply of the power supply circuit 30 and outputs a PDOWN signal a as a power failure prediction signal.
And a RESET signal b as a stop request signal
26. Here, the PDOWN signal a
Is a signal that is transmitted when the voltage of the power supply circuit 30 decreases to the predetermined voltage A (FIG. 3) and that predicts a power failure. The RESET signal b is transmitted when the voltage of the power supply circuit 30 further decreases and reaches a predetermined voltage B (FIG. 3).
This signal requests that the CPU 26 be stopped. The predetermined voltage B is a substantially minimum voltage at which the CPU 26 can operate.

Further, the CPU 26 includes a reset IC 3
When a PDOWN signal a is received from the power supply circuit 1, a shutoff request signal c is transmitted to the power supply circuit 30 and the CPU
26 is cut off, that is, the power supply circuit 30
The CPU 26 starts to store the data held by the CPU 26 into the EEPROM 27 at the same time when the power supply to the IC 28 and the relay 29 is cut off from the CPU 26. The CPU 26
The data held by itself is transferred from the reset IC 31 to the PD.
The data is stored in the EEPROM 27 within the time from the reception of the OWN signal a to the reception of the RESET signal b.

The above-mentioned CPU 26 operates as a reset IC 3
The time from reception of the PDOWN signal a to reception of the RESET signal b from 1 is referred to as data storage time T1. The data storage time T1 is the same as the reset IC3
1 transmits PDOWN signal a and then RESET signal b
Is substantially equal to the time T (FIG. 3) until the signal is transmitted.

In FIG. 3, when the CPU 26 receives the PDOWN signal a from the reset IC 31, the voltage change in the power supply circuit 30 when the power supply from the power supply circuit 30 to other than the CPU 26 is cut off. To the solid line M
And the time T at this time is shown. Further, in FIG. 3, even after the CPU 26 receives the PDOWN signal a from the reset IC 31, the power supply circuit 30
A change in voltage in the power supply circuit 30 when power is continuously supplied to the C28, the relay 29, and the like is indicated by an alternate long and short dash line N. Then, at this time, the reset IC 31
The time from transmission of signal a to transmission of RESET signal b is indicated by time t.

Therefore, according to the air conditioner 10 of the above embodiment, the following effects are obtained. CPU2
6 is a cut-off request signal c when the PDOWN signal a is received.
Is transmitted to the power supply circuit 3 and the CP from the power supply circuit 30 is transmitted.
Since power supply to other than U26 is cut off, CP
After the reception of the PDOWN signal a by the U26, the degree of the voltage drop in the power supply circuit 30 can be moderated as shown by the solid line M in FIG. Therefore, the reset IC 31
The time T from the transmission of the PDOWN signal a to the transmission of the RESET signal b is determined by the CPU 26 as in the prior art.
After receiving the PDOWN signal a from the reset IC 31, the time is longer than the time t when power is continuously supplied from the power supply circuit 30 to the CPU 26, the IC 28, the relay 29, and the like. As a result, during the data storage time T1 immediately before the power failure, the CPU 26 stores the data held by the CPU 26 in the EE.
It can be securely stored in the PROM 27.

Generally, in the control device 13, the CPU 26
The number of the ICs 28 and the relays 29 and the like differ depending on the type of the control device 13, and accordingly, the number of devices (the CPU 26, the IC 28, the relay 29, etc.) to which power is supplied from the power supply circuit 30 also differs depending on the type of the control device 13 . In the control device 13 of the present embodiment, the CPU 26 transmits a cutoff request signal c when receiving the PDOWN signal a from the reset IC 31 to cut off the supply of power from the power supply circuit 30 to components other than the CPU 26. From the CPU 26, PDOWN
After receiving the signal a, the power supply circuit 30
Power is supplied only to the For this reason, even in the control devices 13 of different types, the reset IC 31
The time T from transmission of the DOWN signal a to transmission of the RESET signal b becomes substantially equal. As a result, the data storage time T1 changes the data held by the CPU 26 to the EEPRO.
It suffices to verify whether the time is sufficient to store the data in M27 with respect to any of the control devices 13, and it is not necessary to perform this verification for all the control devices 13 of different types.

When the CPU 26 receives the PDOWN signal a from the reset IC 31, the supply of power from the power supply circuit 30 to the components other than the CPU 26 is cut off. Even if it is transmitted, as shown by the solid line M in FIG. 3, the voltage drop in the power supply circuit 30 becomes gentle, and the RESET signal b is not transmitted from the reset IC 31. Then, the power failure is eventually resolved as shown by the two-dot chain line L in FIG. 3, so that the CPU 26 can be continuously operated.

Although the present invention has been described based on one embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this.

For example, in the above embodiment, the memory is E
Although the case of the EPROM has been described, another nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory may be used. Although the control device 13 has been described as being provided for the air conditioner 10, the control device 13 may be provided for a control device such as a refrigerator, a showcase, or a fan heater.

[0031]

As described above, according to the control device of the first aspect or the air conditioner of the second aspect, the CPU in the control device receives the power failure detection signal from the power supply monitoring circuit. At the same time, the supply of power from the power supply circuit to the CPU other than the CPU is interrupted, and the storage of data held by the CPU is started in the memory. The time until the signal is transmitted is long, and immediately before the power failure, the CPU
The data held by the user can be reliably stored in the memory.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing a refrigerant circuit of an air conditioner according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a graph showing a change in voltage of a power supply circuit during a power failure.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 air conditioner 11 outdoor unit 12 outdoor unit 13 control device 19 outdoor heat exchanger 21 indoor heat exchanger 26 CPU 27 EEPROM (memory) 28 IC (control target device) 29 relay (control target device) 30 power supply circuit 31 reset IC (Power supply monitoring circuit) a PDOWN signal (power failure prediction signal) b RESET signal (stop request signal) c Shutdown request signal T1 Data storage time

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 12/16 340 G06F 1/00 341L (72) Inventor Tomio Mogi 2-5-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka No. 5 F term in Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (reference) 3L060 AA02 CC10 DD08 EE01 3L061 BA07 5B011 EA10 GG12 HH02 HH04 JA04 5B018 GA06 KA03 LA05 MA01 NA06 QA05 5H209 AA11 DD13 EE13 GG13 HH04 HH26 JJ07

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A CPU for processing data, a memory for storing data, one or more controlled devices controlled by the CPU, a power supply circuit for supplying power to the CPU and the controlled device, A power failure monitoring signal for monitoring the power supply of the power supply circuit to transmit a power failure prediction signal for predicting a power failure and a stop request signal for requesting a stop of the CPU to the CPU; In a control device capable of storing data held by the CPU in the memory during a period from reception of the power failure prediction signal to reception of the stop request signal from a circuit, the CPU includes: When the power failure prediction signal is received, the power supply from the power supply circuit to other than the CPU is cut off, and the memo of the data held by the CPU is stored. Control apparatus characterized by initiating storage of the. 2. An outdoor unit having an outdoor heat exchanger, an indoor unit having an indoor heat exchanger, and a control device for controlling the outdoor unit and the indoor unit, wherein the control device processes data. CPU, a memory for storing data, one or more controlled devices controlled by the CPU, a power supply circuit for supplying power to the CPU and the controlled device, and a power supply for the power supply circuit. A power failure monitoring signal for transmitting a power failure prediction signal for predicting a power failure and a stop request signal for requesting the CPU to stop to the CPU, wherein the CPU receives the power failure prediction signal from the power monitoring circuit. In the air conditioner configured so that data held by the CPU can be stored in the memory during a period from the reception of the stop request signal to the stop request signal, the CPU monitors the power supply When receiving the power failure prediction signal from the circuit, the power supply circuit cuts off the power supply from the power supply circuit to a device other than the CPU, and starts storing data held by the CPU in the memory. Air conditioner.