JP2004125283A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problems of requiring to transmit the infrared light in three directions or more, being obliged to arrange three or more infrared transmission elements at a different angle, and increasing part cost and a space for surely receiving a signal to a remote controller in a transmitting infrared element arranged on the body side. <P>SOLUTION: This air conditioner is provided with a transmission part for transmitting operation information, the remote controller having a light receiving part for receiving and converting a signal, a transmission part having at least one transmitting infrared element for transmitting a signal to the remote controller by converting the operation information on an air conditioner body into the signal and a light receiving part for receiving and converting the signal from the remote controller. This air conditioner forms a refraction part constituted by arranging a plurality of recesses/projections having a triangular cross section on a transmission element front face of an indoor machine, and is constituted so as to bidirectionally communicate between the remote controller and the indoor machine. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an air conditioner that performs two-way communication using infrared light.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a transmission / reception device using infrared light has been provided with a lens or the like for widening an incident angle of infrared light over the entire surface of a light receiving device that receives infrared light to improve light receiving performance. In addition, the two-way communication system includes a remote controller having an infrared transmitting unit that converts operation information into an infrared signal and transmits the infrared signal and an infrared light receiving unit that receives the infrared signal and converts the signal into a digital signal. An infrared transmitting unit having a plurality of transmitting infrared elements for converting operation information of the machine main body from a digital signal to an infrared light signal and transmitting the infrared light signal to the remote control, and receiving the infrared light signal from the remote control and converting it into a digital signal A bidirectional communication has been performed between the remote controller and the main body by the infrared receiving unit for conversion (for example, see Patent Document 1).
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 05-28193 [0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the configuration described in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to collect the infrared light from the uncertain position into the infrared detection portion of the light receiving device, and the refraction when entering the refraction device and the refraction when emitting to the light reception device are required. It is complicated and it is difficult to collect infrared light.
[0005]
An infrared signal from the main body is transmitted by a request from the remote controller, and a transmission request from the remote controller is made by a person operating the remote controller and transmitting an infrared signal. Therefore, since the infrared signal transmission from the air conditioner main body has passed some time after the request from the remote control, the infrared light incident part of the infrared light receiving section installed on the remote control was installed on the main body. It is not necessarily on the optical axis of the infrared transmitting element (the remote control user may change the direction from the main body after requesting bidirectional communication).
[0006]
In order for the transmitting infrared element installed on the main unit to reliably receive signals to the remote controller, it is necessary to transmit infrared light in multiple directions, and multiple infrared transmitting elements must be installed at different angles. There was a problem that had to be.
[0007]
This not only increases the cost of parts, but also requires a space for installing a plurality of infrared elements in the main body, which has led to restrictions on the structure and design of the air conditioner.
[0008]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0009]
(Embodiment 1)
3 and 4 are conventional two-way communication structure diagrams of an air conditioner indoor unit. In FIG. 1, a remote controller 1 using infrared light includes a transmitting infrared element 2 and an infrared light receiving unit 3, and an indoor unit 4 of the air conditioner receives an infrared signal transmitted from the remote controller 1. Bidirectional transmission infrared elements 6, 6 (a) for transmitting infrared signals from the air conditioner indoor unit main body 4 to the remote controller 1 in response to a request from the infrared receiver 5 and the remote controller 1 , 6 (b) and 6 (c).
[0010]
For infrared transmission from the remote controller 1, it is recommended that the remote controller 1 be operated with the remote controller 1 facing the indoor unit 4. Therefore, basically, the transmission infrared element 2 of the remote controller 1 and the infrared receiving section 5 of the indoor unit 4 substantially coincide with each other in optical axis, so that the signal from the remote controller can be reliably received.
[0011]
However, the transmission of the main body operation information from the indoor unit 4 is triggered by a transmission request from the remote controller 1 and at least after the infrared signal is transmitted from the remote controller 1. There is a possibility that the optical axis of the transmission infrared element 6 for bidirectional communication of the indoor unit 4 of the air conditioner and the optical axis of the infrared signal receiving unit are not the same.
[0012]
At this time, the remote controller 1 cannot accurately receive the infrared signal from the indoor unit due to the deviation of the optical axis. In the prior art, in order to solve the above-described problem, the infrared light transmitted by arranging a plurality of transmission infrared elements in different directions with their optical axes facing each other repeatedly reflects on the wall or ceiling of the room. 3 to ensure bidirectional transmission and reception performance.
[0013]
In the conventional example, a total of three transmission infrared elements are arranged, one each in a direction perpendicular to the indoor unit and one each such that the optical axis is in the left-right direction of 30 degrees, to secure the above-mentioned performance.
FIG. 2 is a layout view of a transmission infrared element installed in an indoor unit in the air conditioner according to the first embodiment of the present invention, where 7 (a) and 7 (b) are transmission infrared elements, and 8 is an infrared ray. It is a refracting portion arranged on the front surface of the elements 7 (a) and 7 (b).
[0014]
On the inner side of the refraction part, unevenness processing is performed in parallel with the arrangement row of the infrared elements 7 (a) and 7 (b). As shown in FIG. 2B, the infrared elements 7 (a) and 7 (b) are installed such that the optical axis is at a right and left direction at an angle of 30 ° with respect to the vertical direction of the surface of the printed circuit board 9, and Has a triangular saw-tooth shape, and the generatrix of the slope has an angle of 20 ° with respect to the horizontal direction of the surface of the printed circuit board 9 on which the infrared element is mounted.
[0015]
Here, refraction will be described with reference to FIG. When the optical axis of the infrared element 7 is installed at an angle α with respect to the vertical direction of the printed circuit board surface, and the transmission medium 10 having the refractive index n is installed in front of the infrared element and parallel to the printed circuit board surface, The infrared light produces a refraction angle α / n, that is, a direction change angle of α−α / n.
Next, when the transmission medium is inclined at an angle β with respect to the vertical direction of the printed circuit board 9, the refraction angle becomes (α + β) / n, that is, the direction turning angle becomes (α + β) − (α + β) / n.
[0016]
At this time, since β has an angle in the infrared incident direction, the direction of the turning angle is a direction in which the infrared light is spread out with respect to the optical axis, that is, the directivity is expanded.
[0017]
In the above embodiment, the transparent resin having the transmittance n = 1.45 of the refraction portion is selected, and according to the above-described installation structure, the direction turning angle is about 15.5 °.
[0018]
Therefore, the center of the optical axis is about 14.5 ° from the perpendicular to the printed circuit board surface, that is, the peak of the infrared light is shifted by 14.5 ° from the perpendicular direction.
[0019]
In the above description, when the incident angle increases to β + γ, that is, the infrared light output at an angle γ from the optical axis of the infrared element becomes perpendicular to the printed circuit board surface when γ = β.
[0020]
That is, by selecting a directional infrared element having an attenuation characteristic of 80 to 90% at 20 ° with respect to the optical axis, the same effect as in the case of increasing the number of infrared elements with the optical axis vertical is increased under the conditions of the embodiment. Obtainable.
[0021]
In order to make full use of the directional characteristics of the infrared element, a certain spatial distance is required between the infrared element and the refraction part. Regardless, the same effect can be obtained.
[0022]
Further, by selecting an infrared element having a wide directional characteristic and making the angle of the triangular unevenness an acute angle, it is possible to achieve the same performance with only one infrared element in the vertical direction. This means that the same infrared transmission energy can be obtained with a smaller number of infrared elements than in the past, that is, two-way communication can be realized with a small cost and a small volume.
[0023]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the configuration of the present invention, reliable two-way communication can be realized even with a small number of infrared devices for transmission, and cost increases due to an increase in the number of devices and lack of design due to physical space restrictions. Can be reduced.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of refraction according to the present invention. FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating the configuration of an infrared device according to the present invention. FIG. 4 Conventional infrared device configuration diagram [Explanation of symbols]
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 infrared wireless remote controller 2 remote control infrared transmitter 3 remote controller infrared receiver 4 indoor unit 5 indoor unit infrared receiver 6, 6 (a), (b), (c) infrared light element 7 7 (a), (b) Infrared light element 8 Refraction section 9 Printed circuit board

Claims (1)

An infrared transmission unit that converts digital operation information into an infrared light signal and transmits the same, an infrared wireless remote control (hereinafter referred to as a remote control) having an infrared light reception unit that receives the infrared light signal and converts it into a digital signal, and air An infrared transmitting unit having at least one transmitting infrared element for converting operation information of the main body of the harmony device from a digital signal to an infrared light signal and transmitting the infrared light signal to the remote control, and receiving an infrared light signal from the remote control An infrared light receiving portion for converting into a digital signal, and an infrared refraction portion formed by arranging at least one unevenness having a linear triangular cross section on the front surface of the infrared transmitting element of the indoor unit; An air conditioner characterized by two-way communication between the air conditioner and indoor units.

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