JP2003240307A - Control method for air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a control method for an air conditioner causing no change in room temperature even performing drying operation and achieving excellent comfortableness. <P>SOLUTION: Current room temperature is detected after confirming the elapse of three minutes after stopping a compressor (ST2) upon completion of cooling and drying operation (ST1) and is stored in a memory part 5 as an initial room temperature (ST3) to start warming operation (ST4). Next, the elapse of three minutes is confirmed (ST5), and room temperature during warming operation is detected (ST6) to compare this value with the initial room temperature to confirm that the room temperature during warming operation is higher than the initial room temperature by 1°C or more (ST7). If the difference is below 1°C, warming operation is continued (ST7-N). If the difference is 1°C or more (ST7-Y), warming operation is stopped (ST8), and air blowing operation is started (ST9). Room temperature during air blowing operation and temperature of a heat exchanger are detected (ST10). If the difference between the room temperature during air blowing operation and the temperature of the heat exchanger is 1°C or less (ST11-N), air blowing operation is stopped. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air conditioner control method for determining stop timings of a heating operation and a blowing operation in a dry operation of an air conditioner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a control method for determining the timing for stopping the heating operation for drying the inside of the indoor unit, which is performed after the end of the cooling operation or the dry operation, is as follows.
For example, there has been a method of controlling according to the flowchart of FIG. 3 using the air conditioner configured by the block diagram of FIG. The air conditioner of FIG. 1 includes an indoor unit 1 and an outdoor unit 2. The indoor unit 1 includes an indoor temperature sensor 3 that detects a room temperature, an indoor heat exchanger temperature sensor 4 that detects a temperature of an indoor heat exchanger (not shown), and a memory unit 5 that temporarily stores the detected temperature data. A display unit 6 for displaying room temperature, set temperature, etc., an indoor fan motor 7 for rotating a fan that blows heat-exchanged air into the room, and a motor drive unit 8 for driving the indoor fan motor 7. In addition to controlling each part, operating instructions to the outdoor unit 2 installed outdoors,
The control unit 9 receives various information from the outdoor unit 2 and controls a predetermined operation.

By the way, when the air conditioner finishes cooling or dry operation, condensed water obtained by condensing moisture in the air adheres to the surface of the heat exchanger of the indoor unit. If left as it is, mold and the like may be generated, which is not only unsanitary, but may also cause a nasty smell. In order to prevent the formation of such mold, in an air conditioner, normally, after the cooling operation or the dry operation is completed, a heating operation in which the compressor is driven at a low speed is performed to evaporate the condensed water on the surface of the heat exchanger of the indoor unit 1. At the same time, a drying operation for drying the inside of the indoor unit 1 is performed.

As a control method for this drying operation, FIG.
As shown in (A), after the completion of cooling or dry operation (ST50), the progress of 3 minutes after stopping the compressor is confirmed (ST5
After 1), the heating operation (ST52) is performed for 10 minutes (ST53), or the indoor unit 1 as shown in FIG.
When the temperature of the heat exchanger is detected (ST63) and becomes 25 ° C or higher (ST63-Y), the heating operation is stopped (ST
64). In either case, after the heating operation is stopped, the blowing operation is controlled for a predetermined time, for example, 10 minutes.

However, in any of the control methods, since the change in room temperature is ignored, the room temperature becomes high after the drying operation, which may deteriorate the comfort.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide an air conditioner control method which is excellent in comfort because the room temperature does not change much even when a drying operation is performed.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention performs a drying operation consisting of a heating operation and a blowing operation after the end of the cooling operation or the dry operation in order to dry the inside of the indoor unit. In the air conditioner, the room temperature before the start of the heating operation in the drying operation and the room temperature during the heating operation are detected and compared, and the room temperature during the heating operation is a predetermined temperature difference or more from the room temperature before the start. Then, the heating operation is stopped and the air blowing operation is started.

During the air blowing operation, the room temperature during the air blowing operation and the temperature of the indoor unit heat exchanger in the indoor unit during the air blowing operation are detected and compared, and the temperature of the indoor heat exchanger and the air blowing operation are performed. When the temperature difference between the room temperature and the room temperature falls below a predetermined temperature difference, the air blowing operation is stopped.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, a control method for an air conditioner according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The structure of the air conditioner is the same as that of the conventional example, and therefore its description is omitted. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of a control method for an air conditioner according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows the procedure of the cooling or dry operation and the subsequent dry operation. When an operator (not shown) instructs the controller 9 to perform cooling or dry operation, the controller 9 starts a predetermined operation (ST1). Next, when the operator gives an instruction to end the cooling operation or the dry operation, the control unit 9 exits this operation mode and confirms whether or not 3 minutes have elapsed since the compressor (not shown) was stopped (ST.
2). This is to protect the compressor by avoiding sudden start / stop of the compressor. If 3 minutes have not passed, loop until the time passes (ST2-
N). If 3 minutes have elapsed (ST2-Y), the present room temperature is detected by the room temperature sensor 3, and this value is stored in the memory unit 5 as the initial room temperature which is the room temperature immediately before the heating operation (S).
T3). Then, the heating operation is started (ST4) and the next control is performed. Here, as in ST2, the progress of 3 minutes from the start of the compressor is confirmed (ST5). If 3 minutes have elapsed (ST5-Y), the room temperature during heating, which is the current room temperature, is detected by the room temperature sensor 3 (ST6), and the room temperature during heating and the initial room temperature stored in the memory unit 5 are detected. By comparison, it is confirmed whether the room temperature during heating is higher than the initial room temperature by a predetermined temperature, here 1 ° C. or more (ST7). If the room temperature has hardly risen yet and the difference is 1 ° C. or less, the heating operation is continued by looping (ST7-N). If the room temperature rises and the difference is 1 ° C. or more (ST7-Y), the heating operation is stopped (ST8) and the air blowing operation is started (ST9).

Next, the room temperature during blowing, which is the current room temperature, is detected by the indoor temperature sensor 3, and the exchanger temperature, which is the current temperature of the indoor heat exchanger, is detected by the indoor heat exchanger temperature sensor 4 (ST.
10). Comparing the room temperature and the heat exchanger temperature during blowing (ST1
1) When the temperature of the heat exchanger is a predetermined temperature from the room temperature during air blowing, here 1 ° C or more, loop to continue the air blowing operation (ST11-Y), and if 1 ° C or less (ST11-
N), it is determined that the temperature of the indoor heat exchanger is sufficiently lowered, the air blowing operation is stopped (ST12), and the drying operation processing is ended.

In this way, by stopping the heating operation for drying when the temperature rises above the predetermined room temperature, it is possible to maintain room comfort without raising the room temperature unnecessarily. Also, after stopping the heating operation for drying, the air blowing operation is started, the room temperature during the air blowing operation is compared with the temperature of the indoor heat exchanger, and the air blowing operation is stopped based on the result of the comparison. Can be performed in the shortest time.

As described above, according to the air conditioner control method of the present invention, the room temperature before the start of the heating operation in the dry operation and the room temperature during the heating operation are detected and compared, and the heating operation is performed. The heating operation is stopped and the air blowing operation is started when the inside room temperature exceeds a predetermined temperature difference from the room temperature before the start. Further, during the air blowing operation, the room temperature during the air blowing operation and the temperature of the indoor unit heat exchanger in the indoor unit during the air blowing operation are detected and compared, and the temperature of the indoor heat exchanger and the room temperature during the air blowing are equal to a predetermined temperature. By stopping the air blowing operation when the difference becomes less than or equal to the difference, it is possible to maintain the room comfortability without raising the room temperature unnecessarily, and to keep the air blowing operation for the minimum required time. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention and a conventional air conditioner.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of a control method for an air conditioner according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a control method of a conventional air conditioner, (A) showing one embodiment and (B) showing another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Indoor unit 2 outdoor unit 3 Indoor temperature sensor 4 Indoor heat exchanger temperature sensor 5 memory section 7 Indoor fan motor 8 motor drive 9 control unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An air conditioner that performs a drying operation including a heating operation and a blowing operation after completion of a cooling operation or a dry operation in order to dry the inside of an indoor unit, and a room temperature before the start of the heating operation in the drying operation. And comparing the room temperature during the heating operation by detecting, and when the room temperature during the heating operation becomes a predetermined temperature difference or more from the room temperature before the start, the heating operation is stopped, and the air blowing operation is started. A method for controlling an air conditioner characterized by the following. 2. During the air blowing operation, the room temperature during the air blowing operation and the temperature of the indoor unit heat exchanger in the indoor unit during the air blowing operation are detected and compared, and the temperature of the indoor heat exchanger and the air blowing operation are performed. The method for controlling an air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the air blowing operation is stopped when the temperature difference between the room temperature and the room temperature falls below a predetermined temperature difference.