JP2006234246A - Air-conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air-conditioner having improved safety while preventing an electric shock or electric leakage by accurately detecting the state of mounting a discharge dust collecting part for a long period of line without using a hard constitution such as a sensor or a switch. <P>SOLUTION: The air-conditioner comprises a voltage monitoring circuit 21 for monitoring a supply voltage on a high tension power supply 12a, a comparison part 31 for determining the state of removing the discharge dust collecting part 12b from the high tension power supply 12a in accordance with a change in voltage monitored by the voltage monitoring circuit 21, and a switching part 40 for shutting off a power supply passage for the high tension power supply 12a when the comparison part 31 determines that the discharge dust collecting part 12b is removed from the high tension power supply 12a. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioner including an electric dust collector having a high-voltage power supply unit and a discharge dust collection unit removable from the pressure power supply unit, and particularly when the discharge dust collection unit is removed from the high-voltage power supply unit. Further, the present invention relates to an air conditioner that is improved in safety by stopping the supply of high voltage in the high-voltage power supply unit to prevent electric shock or leakage.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an air conditioner that adjusts a room temperature by sucking room air and sending out the air heat-exchanged by a heat exchanger or a heater to the room is well known. In recent years, this air conditioner has been equipped with various functions in addition to the function of adjusting the room temperature. One of the functions is to collect floating substances such as dust floating in the room air. There is a dust collection function. In order to realize this dust collecting function, the air conditioner is provided with a dust collector.
As such a dust collector, a high voltage (several kV) supplied from a high-voltage power source is discharged (corona discharge) to charge dust in the air, and then the charged dust is adsorbed to an electrode. A so-called electrostatic precipitator that collects dust is known.
Such an electrostatic precipitator includes a high-voltage power source that supplies high voltage and a discharge dust collector that adsorbs dust charged by discharging the supplied high voltage, and removes the collected dust. In order to facilitate cleaning, the discharge dust collection unit is configured to be removable from the high-voltage power supply unit.

As described above, since the electrostatic precipitator uses a high voltage of several kV, it is necessary to take protective measures such as prevention of electric shock.
As the protection measure, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is detected by a sensor whether or not the air filter provided in the front stage of the electrostatic precipitator is fixed. There is an air conditioner that stops operation.
Further, the air conditioner disclosed in Patent Document 2 is provided with a switch that operates a power supply stop circuit in response to removal of a predetermined member (partition plate) provided in the air conditioner.
JP 2000-104941 A JP-A-9-276735

By the way, in an electrostatic precipitator in which the discharge dust collector is detachable from the high voltage power supply, the electrode of the high voltage power supply is exposed when the discharge dust collector is removed. The operation of the electric dust collector must be avoided. For this reason, normally, the operation of the electrostatic precipitator is controlled in accordance with the mounting state of the discharge dust collector with respect to the high-voltage power source. That is, when the discharge dust collector is removed, the operation of the electric dust collector is stopped.
The mounting state of the discharge dust collecting unit is detected by a sensor, a switch, or the like, as in the air conditioner described in each of the above patent documents.
However, when a hardware mechanism such as the above-described sensor or switch is used, dust or dust may accumulate on the sensor detection unit or the contact portion of the switch due to long-term use, which may cause a detection failure.
In addition, when the water inside the air conditioner is washed with water, there is a high possibility that the sensor, the switch, etc. will fail due to water droplets adhering to the sensor, the switch, etc. Therefore, from the viewpoint of safety, it is not preferable to use a hardware configuration such as the sensor or the switch for detecting the mounting state of the discharge dust collector.
Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the object of the present invention is to detect an electric shock or an electric leakage by accurately detecting the mounting state of the discharge dust collecting unit over a long period of time without using a hardware configuration. It is intended to provide an air conditioner capable of preventing the above and improving safety.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an electric dust collector having a high voltage power supply unit for supplying a high voltage, a discharge dust collecting unit configured to be removable from the high voltage power supply unit, and the high voltage power collector. Voltage monitoring means for monitoring a supply voltage in the power supply section; removal state determination means for determining a removal state of the discharge dust collection section with respect to the high-voltage power supply section based on a change in voltage monitored by the voltage monitoring means; Power supply path blocking means for blocking the power supply path of the high-voltage power supply section on the condition that the removal of the discharge dust collection section is determined by the attachment / detachment state determination means.
The present invention utilizes the fact that the supply voltage of the high-voltage power supply unit fluctuates before and after the discharge dust collection unit is removed. By monitoring such fluctuations, it is possible to accurately detect the removal of the discharge dust collection part. Therefore, since it is not necessary to use a hardware configuration such as a sensor and a switch as in the prior art, there is no failure over a long period of time, and the safety of the air conditioner is improved.
Here, when the high-voltage power supply unit is configured to include a low-voltage circuit and a high-voltage generation circuit that generates a high voltage by boosting a low voltage supplied from the low-voltage circuit, the voltage It is desirable that the monitoring means monitors a voltage of a predetermined electronic element such as a coil in the low voltage circuit that varies in accordance with a supply voltage in the high voltage power supply unit. Although the high voltage of the high voltage power supply unit may be monitored, the voltage monitoring means needs to be configured to withstand a high voltage, resulting in an increase in cost. Therefore, the configuration of the voltage monitoring means can be simplified by monitoring the voltage of the electronic elements of the low-voltage circuit as described above.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to accurately detect the removal of the discharge dust collection unit by monitoring fluctuations in the supply voltage of the high voltage power supply unit before and after the discharge dust collection unit is removed. As a result, it is not necessary to use a hardware configuration such as a sensor or a switch as in the prior art, so that there is no failure over a long period of time, and the safety of the air conditioner is improved.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings so that the present invention can be understood. The following embodiment is an example embodying the present invention, and does not limit the technical scope of the present invention.
Here, FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining a high voltage cutoff method by a monitoring device, FIG. 2 is an electric circuit diagram showing a circuit configuration of a high voltage power supply unit, and FIG. 3A is an air diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3B is an overall perspective view showing a state where the electric dust collector is attached to the conditioner X, FIG. 3B is an overall perspective view showing the state where the electric dust collector is removed from the air conditioner X, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of the air conditioner X with the upper side of the open panel opened, and FIG. 6 is the air conditioner with the lower side of the open panel opened. It is a sectional side view of the machine X. In FIG. 3, for convenience of explanation, the front panel, the open panel, and the filter are excluded.

First, the schematic configuration of the air conditioner X according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in the figure, the air conditioner X includes a cabinet 6, an open panel 9 (see FIG. 4), a front panel 13 (see FIG. 4), and an air suction port for sucking indoor air. 3, an air outlet 16 (see FIG. 4) that is disposed in the lower part of the air conditioner X and sends heat-converted air into the room, and a wind direction changing device 2 having a louver that can be attached to and detached from the air outlet 16. The exterior is comprised.
The air conditioner X includes a blower 5 that sucks room air and sends heat-exchanged air into the room, and dust and the like contained in the room air taken from the air suction port 3 by the blower 5. A filter 10 for removing floating substances, an electric dust collector 12 for collecting fine dust and the like that has passed through the filter 10, a heat exchanger 4 for exchanging heat between the introduced indoor air and a refrigerant, and dew condensation Accordingly, a front drain pan 7a and a back drain pan 7b that receive water droplets generated in the heat exchanger 4 and the like are appropriately arranged.
Moreover, the electrical equipment box 11 which comprises the control apparatus which integratedly controls this air conditioner X, and the monitoring apparatus 30 mentioned later is arrange | positioned at the left end part of the air conditioner X shown in FIG.
Further, as will be described later, a sensor, a switch, and the like for detecting that the lower side of the open panel 9 has been opened are provided.

The electrostatic precipitator 12 includes a high-voltage power supply unit 12a that boosts a low voltage (for example, DC12V) to a high voltage (for example, DC6000V) and supplies the high voltage, and a discharge configured to be removable from the high-voltage power supply unit 12. A dust collecting unit 12b and a mounting base 12c configured integrally with the high-voltage power supply unit 12a and attaching the discharge dust collecting unit 12b to the air conditioner X are configured.
The high-voltage power supply unit 12a is provided with connection terminals Ta and Tb that are connected to the discharge dust collection unit 12b and supply a high voltage. Accordingly, when the discharge dust collecting portion 12b is attached as shown in FIG. 3 (a) from the detached state shown in FIG. 3 (b), the terminal (not shown) of the discharge dust collecting portion 12b and the connection terminals Ta and Tb come into contact with each other. As a result, a high voltage can be supplied to the discharge dust collector 12b.
The discharge dust collecting part 12b adsorbs dust in the air charged by discharging a high voltage supplied from the high voltage power supply part 12a. Therefore, the discharge dust collecting portion 12b includes a discharge resistor (not shown) that induces discharge.
The mounting base 12c is disposed along the surface of the heat exchanger 4, and is configured to be able to mount the discharge dust collecting portion 12b. The mounting base 12c is formed with an opening 12d through which clean air from which dust and the like are removed through the discharge dust collecting portion 12b is passed through the heat exchanger 4.

The open panel 9 has three states: a closed stop state shown in FIG. 4, a normal operation state where the upper side is opened as shown in FIG. 5, and a state where the lower side is opened as shown in FIG. To get.
Therefore, when an operation instruction is given to the air conditioner X in a stopped state, the open panel 9 is operated from the closed state shown in FIG. 4 to the open state as shown in FIG. In this state, when the blower 5 rotates, room air is drawn from the opening 9a formed by opening the upper side of the open panel 9, and the drawn air is purified through the electric dust collector 12, and further, After passing through the heat exchanger 4 and exchanging heat, the air is blown into the room through the air outlet 16.
Further, at the time of maintenance, the operator opens the lower side of the open panel 9 as shown in FIG. 6 and removes the filter 10 and the discharge dust collecting part 12b of the electric dust collector 12 for cleaning, or cleans the heat exchanger 4. You can do it.

Next, the circuit configuration of the booster circuit 20 that boosts a low voltage to a high voltage (for example, DC 6000 V) in the high-voltage power supply unit 12a will be described using the electrical circuit diagram of FIG.
The booster circuit 20 shown is roughly divided into an oscillation circuit 22 that generates a high-frequency voltage (AC voltage) from a low voltage (DC12V) input from the input terminal T1, and a high-frequency voltage generated by the oscillation circuit 22 as a high voltage. A transformer 23 that boosts the voltage to a high voltage, a high-voltage rectifier circuit 24 that rectifies a high-frequency voltage boosted by the transformer 23 to generate a DC high voltage, and a high voltage supplied from the high-voltage rectifier circuit 24 to the discharge dust collector 12b. The circuit configuration includes a voltage monitoring circuit 21 (an example of voltage monitoring means) that monitors the voltage. That is, the booster circuit 20 includes a low voltage circuit having an oscillation circuit 22 and a voltage monitoring circuit 21 and a high voltage circuit having a high voltage rectifier circuit with the transformer 23 as a boundary.

Since the high-voltage power supply unit 12a having such a booster circuit 20 generates a high voltage of several kV, it is necessary to take protective measures to prevent electric shocks and leakage. In this embodiment, paying attention to the fact that the voltage between the connection terminals Ta and Tb of the high-voltage power supply unit 12a fluctuates before and after the discharge dust collection unit 12b is removed, this voltage state is changed to the voltage monitoring circuit 21. And detecting that the discharge dust collector 12b has been removed by detecting that the voltage has fluctuated, and cutting off the low voltage electric circuit supplied to the input terminal T1.
The voltage monitoring circuit 21 indirectly monitors the high voltage by monitoring the voltage across a coil L3 (an example of an electronic element) in the voltage monitoring circuit 21, as will be described later. Of course, the present invention is not limited to such a voltage monitoring circuit 21. For example, a circuit configured to directly measure and monitor the voltage between the connection terminals Ta and Tb of the high-voltage power supply unit 12a is used. Also good. The electronic element to be monitored is not limited to the coil L3, and may be a circuit configured to monitor a voltage applied to another electronic element.
As described above, since the discharge dust collecting unit 12b is determined to be detached without using a hardware configuration such as a sensor or a switch as in the prior art, there is no risk of failure of the switch or the like, and the safety of the air conditioner. Can be ensured for a long time.

Here, in the booster circuit 20, for example, when the voltage between the connection terminals Ta and Tb is set to 6000 V in a state where the discharge dust collection portion 12b is not attached, the discharge dust collection portion 12b In the attached state, the voltage drops by the amount consumed by the load such as the discharge resistance in the discharge dust collecting portion 12b, so that the voltage between the connection terminals Ta and Tb drops (fluctuates) to about 4000V. Is known. At this time, the voltage fluctuation between the connection terminals Ta and Tb also changes the voltage at both ends of the coil L3 constituting the voltage monitoring circuit 21 on the low voltage side, and the resistance R1 of the resonance circuit and the voltage Although depending on the specifications of each electronic element of the monitoring circuit 21, the voltage across the coil L3 is about 9V when the discharge dust collector 12b is not attached, and is about 7V when the discharge dust collector 12b is attached.
Thus, the voltage of the coil L3 monitored by the voltage monitoring circuit 21 is output as a voltage signal Sig1 to the monitoring device 30 described later.

Next, a method for cutting off the low-voltage electric circuit supplied to the input terminal T1 when the discharge dust collector 12b is removed will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the voltage signal Sig1 output from the high-voltage power supply unit 12a is input to the monitoring device 30 in the electrical box 11 (see FIG. 3).
As shown in the figure, the monitoring device 30 is generally configured to include a comparison unit 31 (an example of a removal state determination unit), an OP opening / closing detection unit 32, which will be described later, and an output unit 33. Note that each of the above units is an integrated circuit such as an ASIC configured by hard logic. Each of the above sections may be configured with hardware by an individual IC, and the entire monitoring device 30 may be configured with ASIC or the like. Of course, it is possible to adopt a software configuration in which a predetermined program is read and executed by the CPU, for example, instead of such a hardware configuration.

The comparison unit 31 determines a removal state of the discharge dust collection unit 12b with respect to the high-voltage power supply unit 12a based on the fluctuation of the input voltage signal Sig1. Specifically, it is compared and determined whether or not the input voltage signal Sig1 is larger than a predetermined threshold voltage. The threshold voltage may be stored in a memory (not shown) or the like, and the value may be appropriately changed by changing the contents of the memory.
In response to the determination made by the comparison unit 31, the output unit 33 includes a switching unit 40 (an example of a power supply path cutoff unit) such as a transistor provided in a low voltage path that is input to the high voltage power supply unit 12a. A switching signal Sig2 for switching is output to the switching unit 40. That is, the switching signal Sig2 is output from the output unit 33 to the switching unit 40 on the condition that the comparison unit 31 determines that the discharge dust collecting unit 12b has been removed from the high voltage power source unit 12a. The At this time, the switching unit 40 is switched by the switching signal Sig2 to cut off the low voltage path. As a result, the power supply path of the high-voltage power supply unit 12a is interrupted.

Further, the monitoring device 30 detects an output signal Sig3 from a switch, a sensor or the like (hereinafter referred to as “OP opening / closing SW50”) for detecting that the open panel 9 is opened as shown in FIG. An OP open / close detection unit 32 is provided, which instructs the output unit 33 to output the switching signal Sig2 when the input output signal Sig3 is detected. With this configuration, for example, when the open panel 9 is opened during maintenance, the power supply path of the high-voltage power supply unit 12a is interrupted.
As described above, in this embodiment, if it is determined that the open panel 9 has been opened or the discharge dust collection unit 12b has been removed, the power supply path of the high-voltage power supply unit 12a is interrupted. Because of the so-called double protection configuration, the risk of electric shock, electric leakage, etc. is reduced as compared with the conventional case.

The block diagram explaining the high voltage interruption | blocking method by a monitoring apparatus. The electric circuit diagram which shows the circuit structure of a high voltage power supply part. The whole perspective view of the air conditioner X of the state to which the electric dust collector was attached, and the state from which it was removed. The side sectional view of air harmony machine X in the state where the open panel was closed. The side sectional view of air harmony machine X in the state where the upper side of the open panel opened. The sectional side view of the air conditioner X in a state where the lower side of the open panel is opened.

Explanation of symbols

2 ... Wind direction changing device 3 ... Air inlet 4 ... Heat exchanger 5 ... Blower 6 ... Cabinet 7a ... Front drain pan 7b ... Rear drain pan 9 ... Open panel 10 ... Filter 11 ... Electrical equipment box 12 ... Electric dust collector 13 ... Front panel 20 ... Booster circuit 21 ... voltage monitoring circuit (an example of voltage monitoring means)
22 ... Oscillator circuit 23 ... Transformer 24 ... High voltage rectifier circuit 30 ... Monitoring device 31 ... Comparison part (an example of a removal state determination means)
32... OP open / close detection unit 33... Output unit 40.

Claims (2)

A high-voltage power supply unit that supplies high voltage, and a dust that is configured to be detachable from the high-voltage power supply unit and attached to the high-voltage power supply unit to discharge charged high voltage supplied from the high-voltage power supply unit. An air conditioner comprising an electric dust collector having a discharge dust collecting portion to be adsorbed,
Voltage monitoring means for monitoring the supply voltage in the high-voltage power supply unit;
A removal state determination unit for determining a removal state of the discharge dust collecting unit with respect to the high-voltage power supply unit based on a change in voltage monitored by the voltage monitoring unit;
Power supply path blocking means for cutting off the power supply path of the high-voltage power supply section on the condition that the removal of the discharge dust collecting section is determined by the attachment / detachment state determination means;
An air conditioner comprising: The high-voltage power supply unit includes a low-voltage circuit and a high-voltage generation circuit that generates a high voltage by boosting a low voltage supplied from the low-voltage circuit;
2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the voltage monitoring unit monitors a voltage of a predetermined electronic element in the low voltage circuit that varies in accordance with a supply voltage in the high voltage power supply unit.

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