JP2007225131A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a stop of an air cleaning function by protecting motion by leaked current based on a result of humidity detection, as dust suspended in the air and dust growing on an electrode portion 4 absorb humidity in the air, when the indoor humidity becomes high, a resistance value per a unit accumulation is lowered by moisture absorbing humidity, the leaked current is increased in proportion thereto, and the trigger for the stop of air cleaning function caused by detection of increased leakage current, is increased when the humidity is increased. <P>SOLUTION: A relative humidity of a room is detected by a humidity detecting portion 9, and high voltage output of a high voltage generating portion 3 is stopped when the relative humidity reaches a prescribed value. That is, high voltage is not output even when operating conditions of the air cleaning function are satisfied. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioner having an air purifying function for purifying indoor air.

  In an air conditioner having a conventional air purifying function, the operation is executed if there is an operation instruction in the air purifying setting regardless of the temperature and humidity environment in the room where the air conditioner is installed (for example, Patent Documents). 1).

  In addition, the air conditioner having a means for detecting humidity by the humidity detector has been used as comfort control information related to indoor temperature and humidity such as dehumidification control and humidity display (for example, Patent Document 2).

  FIG. 2A is a schematic configuration diagram of an air purification system of a conventional air conditioner, FIG. 2B is an operation explanatory diagram viewed from the side, and FIG. 2C is a diagram showing a path of leakage current. In FIG. 2, the high voltage generated by the high voltage generation unit 3 is applied to the electrode unit 4. The electrode unit 4 to which a high voltage is applied generates a high electric field and charges the dust floating in the room.

  The indoor air circulates in the air conditioner by convection generated by the fan of the air conditioner, but passes through the air filter unit 1 installed in the air conditioner. At this time, the dust floating in the room is adsorbed to the air filter unit 1 to some extent, but the air filter unit 1 has many holes that pass through the holes to allow air to pass therethrough. To do. In addition, since the air filter cannot cover the entire surface of the heat exchanger, there is dust that passes through the air filter without passing through the air filter, and these dusts are discharged into the room together with the convection air. In order to improve this state, an electric air cleaner using a high voltage has a configuration in which dust is charged as described above and is easily adsorbed to the air filter by the static electricity.

  However, dust is easily adsorbed to the electrode portion 4 to which a high voltage is applied so as to generate a high electric field, as in the case of an air filter. Therefore, dust grows between the electrodes.

  Grown dust has a resistance that depends on the substance that forms the dust, and its resistance is very low compared to the insulation resistance of air, so the distance between the electrodes decreases due to the growth of the dust and flows between the electrodes. The current value, that is, the leakage current increases.

When the leakage current increases, if an electric current exceeds a certain value, an arc may be generated, causing abnormal noise or accumulated dust, etc., to ignite. The protective device which stops the high voltage output of the generation | occurrence | production part 3, ie, stops an air purifying function, is comprised.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-16253 Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 7-96946

  In Patent Document 1, in order to reduce the chance of entering a protective operation due to an increase in leakage current due to dust accumulated between electrodes to which a high voltage is applied in an electric air cleaner using a high voltage, A configuration is described in which a resistor is inserted into an electrode to suppress a leakage current value.

  Patent Document 2 describes providing information, which is one of comfort indexes, to a user by detecting the indoor room level with a sensor and displaying the result on a display device.

  In the former configuration, it is clear that the increase in leakage current due to dust accumulation can be suppressed by inserting a resistor into the electrode, but at the same time the output itself in the normal state is also limited by the resistance, so as an original air cleaning function Will fall. Further, there is a problem in that further accumulation of dust and the accumulated dust absorb moisture and the resistance value decreases, thereby increasing the leakage current, which is a protective operation by detecting excessive leakage current.

  In the latter case, the detection result of the humidity detector or the like is used for air conditioning control or status notification to the user, and is not a configuration that finds any effect on the behavior of the air cleaning function.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and an object thereof is to prevent the air purifying function from being stopped by a protection operation using a leakage current, using a humidity detection result.

  In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, the air conditioner of the present invention is a filter installed in an indoor unit by charging a dust floating in the room by applying a high voltage between electrodes provided in the indoor unit. An electric air cleaning function that keeps indoor air clean by adsorbing the dust to the humidity, a humidity detection unit that detects the humidity in the room, and a control device that performs various controls according to the detection result by the humidity detection unit, In the air conditioner having the above, when the detected humidity is equal to or higher than a certain level, the high voltage application is temporarily stopped.

  In the air conditioner of the present invention, the leakage current increases due to a decrease in the resistance value due to the humidity of dust attached to the electrode to which a high voltage is applied, and the air cleaning function is stopped due to the protective operation by detecting the excessive leakage current. It can be avoided.

  Further, by specifying the operating conditions, the indoor air can be kept clean without compromising the basic performance of the air cleaning function.

  Moreover, since the flow for releasing the stop of air purification control due to a change in humidity is achieved, it is possible to avoid a decrease in indoor air cleanliness retention due to a decrease in the air purification operation.

  In the first invention, a high voltage is applied between electrodes provided in the indoor unit to charge the dust floating in the room, and the dust is adsorbed by a filter installed in the indoor unit to clean indoor air. In an air conditioner having an electric air purifying function to be held in, a humidity detecting unit for detecting the humidity in the room, and a control device for performing various controls according to the results detected by the humidity detecting unit, the detected humidity is at a certain level. If this is the case, by temporarily stopping the application of high voltage, the leakage current increases due to the decrease in resistance due to the humidity of the dust attached to the electrode to which the high voltage is applied, and the air purifying function is achieved by the protective operation by detecting excessive leakage current. Can be avoided in advance.

  In the second aspect of the invention, when the predetermined humidity amount is detected by the humidity detector, the immediate air cleaning function is not prohibited from the control operation, but the high humidity state continues for a certain period of time. The air cleaning operation is prohibited only when the humidity is high.

In the third invention, even if the high humidity continuous detection time is a predetermined time and the air cleaning operation is prohibited, if the detected humidity falls below a predetermined value, the air cleaning operation prohibition is canceled at that time and the air cleaning operation is performed. The control is to resume, and the original air cleaning performance is sufficiently exhibited.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the application of the high voltage of the air cleaning function is resumed when the detected room humidity is continuously below a predetermined value for a certain period of time.

(Embodiment 1)
Fig.1 (a) is a schematic block diagram of the air purifying system in Embodiment 1 of this invention, (b) is a schematic block diagram. In the present embodiment, it is configured by a humidity detector 9 that detects the humidity in the room and an electronic control unit 7 that controls not only the air conditioner but also the air purifier based on the detection result. The display device 2 has a function of notifying the user of the operating state of the air conditioner. When the operation of the air cleaning function is instructed by a remote controller or the like, the display device 2 notifies the user of that fact.

  Here, when indoor humidity becomes high, the dust which floated in the air and the dust which grew on the electrode part 4 absorb the moisture in the air. At this time, the resistance value per unit volume of the lump of dust decreases due to moisture absorbed, and the leakage current also increases in proportion. Therefore, when the humidity increases, the trigger for stopping the air cleaning function due to the increased leakage current detection increases, and as a result, the possibility that the basic function of air cleaning cannot be provided to the user increases.

  In this embodiment, therefore, the high voltage output of the high voltage generator 3 is stopped when the humidity detector 7 that detects the relative humidity of the room and the detected relative humidity reach a predetermined value. That is, even if the operating condition of the air purifying function is satisfied, the high voltage output is not performed. As a result, it is possible to reduce the detection of abnormality due to an increase in leakage current and the generation of abnormal sound due to arc discharge, and the possibility of an increase in anxiety due to abnormality to the user can be reduced.

(Embodiment 2)
In the first embodiment, when a predetermined humidity amount is detected by the humidity detection unit, the immediate high voltage output is stopped. However, in order to reduce the resistance value per unit deposition because the dust accumulated in the electrode unit 4 absorbs moisture, Moisture or moisture absorption time proportional to the volume of dust is required. Therefore, it can be estimated that a certain time is required for the air cleaning function to stop and display the abnormality by detecting arc discharge or abnormal leakage current.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the time when the humidity of a predetermined amount or more is detected is counted, and when the air cleaning function operation condition is established, the high humidity detection is performed and the high humidity continuous detection time is traced back from the time when the air cleaning function operation condition is established. Is a high voltage output stop when a predetermined continuous time is satisfied. As a result, it is possible to minimize the loss of the original air cleaning performance as the air cleaning function operation is stopped more than necessary.

(Embodiment 3)
In this embodiment, even if the high humidity continuous detection time is a predetermined time and the high voltage output is stopped, if the detected humidity falls below the predetermined value, the high voltage output stop is canceled at that time and the air cleaning operation is performed. The control is to resume, and the original air cleaning performance is sufficiently exhibited.

(Embodiment 4)
In the third embodiment, the high-voltage output stop is canceled when the indoor humidity becomes a certain value or less. However, the dust that has once absorbed moisture and is in a low resistance state is dried and becomes the original resistance value. It takes time proportional to the volume of dust deposited on the surface. Therefore, if immediate high voltage output is started at the time of detecting the indoor humidity drop, an excessive leakage current may occur.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, even if low humidity is detected, the high voltage is not immediately released. Low humidity is controlled so that the high voltage output stop is canceled and the air cleaning operation is resumed only after the continuous detection time reaches the predetermined time, and the original air cleaning performance is fully demonstrated.

  The air conditioner according to the present invention can also be applied to an air purifier of an air conditioner other than an air conditioner that uses a humidity detector that detects the relative humidity in the room.

Schematic of the air conditioner in Embodiment 1 of the present invention Schematic diagram of air conditioner in the prior art

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Air filter part 2 Display apparatus 3 High voltage generation part 4 Electrode part 5 Fan 6 Heat exchanger 7 Electronic control part 8 Current detection part 9 Humidity detection part

Claims (4)

Electric air that keeps indoor air clean by applying high voltage between the electrodes provided in the indoor unit to charge the dust floating in the room and adsorbing the dust to the filter installed in the indoor unit In an air conditioner having a cleaning function, a humidity detector that detects humidity in the room, and a control device that performs various controls according to the results detected by the humidity detector, a high voltage is detected if the detected humidity is above a certain level. An air conditioner characterized in that application is temporarily stopped. The high voltage application is temporarily stopped when the humidity detector continues the humidity at a constant height for a certain period of time and the humidity is high even when the air cleaning operation condition is established. The air conditioner described. 3. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein when the in-room humidity detected by the humidity detection unit becomes equal to or lower than a predetermined value, the high voltage application of the air cleaning function is resumed. 3. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein when the in-room humidity detected by the humidity detection unit is continuously below a predetermined value for a certain period of time, the high voltage application of the air cleaning function is resumed.

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