JP2007255846A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air conditioner activating immune activity of a living body. <P>SOLUTION: This air conditioner comprises an air conditioning means comprising an indoor unit and an outdoor unit for conditioning the indoor air, and a controller comprising an operation control portion and a fluctuation control portion. An indoor heat exchanger of the indoor unit, a compressor of the outdoor unit, a four-way switch valve, an outdoor heat exchanger and an expansion valve are successively connected to constitute a refrigerant circuit of a vapor compression type refrigerating cycle. The operation control portion controls an operation of the air conditioning means, conditions the indoor air to a prescribed temperature by the indoor heat exchanger of the indoor unit, and supplies the air indoors. An operation capacity of the compressor is controlled to change the indoor temperature within a temperature fluctuation range of 26.5-28°C every half-hour cycle. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

    The present invention relates to operation control of an air conditioner.

Conventionally, as shown in Patent Document 1, for example, an air conditioner that performs indoor air conditioning is known. Such an air conditioner performs the air conditioning operation so that the room temperature becomes a predetermined set temperature set by an occupant in the room, thereby improving the comfort of the occupant.
JP 2001-296095 A

    However, in the conventional air conditioner, because the comfort of the living body is emphasized and the operation is performed to keep the room in a steady thermal environment desired by the living body, it is not possible to give an appropriate stimulus to the living body. There was a problem that the immune activity was lowered.

    This invention is made | formed in view of this point, and it aims at providing the air conditioning apparatus which activates the immune activity of a biological body.

    1st invention is an air conditioning apparatus provided with the air-conditioning means (2) for air-conditioning a room | chamber (R), Comprising: In order to activate the biological activity of a living body, the said body temperature of a living body by the said air-conditioning means (2) And a control means (52) for controlling the air conditioning means (2) so that the thermal factor related to the air temperature fluctuates.

    In the first aspect of the invention, the control means (52) controls the air conditioning means (2) by the air conditioning means (2) so that the thermal factor related to the temperature sensed by the living body varies. Examples of the thermal factor related to the body temperature of the living body include room (R) temperature, airflow, humidity, and radiation. That is, since the control means (52) controls the air conditioning means (2), the temperature, airflow, humidity, radiation, etc. of the room (R) fluctuate. Immune activity is activated.

    That is, it is known that a living body has a self-protection mechanism called an immune system that attacks and eliminates foreign substances such as pathogens that have entered the living body.

    As shown in FIG. 5, this immune system is classified into an innate innate immune system and an acquired acquired immune system acquired by infecting an antigen. Cells of the innate immune system include cells that have been damaged by pathogens, natural killer cells that destroy infected cells, macrophages that digest pathogens that have entered the body, and present information to T cells of the acquired immune system, etc. The cells of the acquired immune system include T cells and B cells that produce antibodies in response to commands from helper T cells that are one of the T cells.

    This immune system is known to change or increase or decrease in activity under the influence of the stress on the living body or the environment surrounding the living body. In addition, analysis of genetic markers of immune cells, analysis of markers of proteins biosynthesized from the genes, and measurement of the number and activity of immune cells are performed.

    That is, the immune activity of a living body changes under the influence of the environment to which the living body is exposed. Therefore, when the room is air-conditioned by an air conditioner, the living body's immune activity is It will be affected by the air conditioning operation by the harmony device.

    The inventor of the present application pays attention to the above-described phenomenon, and changes the thermal factor related to the sensible temperature in the room by the air conditioning means (2).

    In the first invention, the living body refers to humans and other animals. That is, the room (R) refers to an indoor space where people and animals live and an indoor space where animals are raised.

    In a second aspect based on the first aspect, the air conditioning means (2) is configured to supply conditioned air into the room (R).

    In the second aspect of the invention, the control means (52) causes the air conditioning means (2) to change the temperature, humidity, air volume, etc. of the conditioned air supplied to the room (R) by the air conditioning means (2). To control the thermal factor related to the temperature of the body.

    In a third aspect based on the first aspect, the thermal factor is a room temperature.

    This third invention is an example of the thermal factor, and the control means (52) controls the air conditioning means (2) by the air conditioning means (2) so that the room temperature varies.

    In a fourth aspect based on the third aspect, the control means (52) controls the air conditioning means (2) so that the room temperature varies within a temperature fluctuation range within a comfortable range of the thermal environment.

    In the fourth invention, the comfortable range of the thermal environment refers to a temperature range in which the comfort of the living body is satisfied. That is, the control means (52) controls the air conditioning means (2) so that the room temperature varies within a temperature range where the comfort of the living body is satisfied.

    For example, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning (hereinafter referred to as ASHRAE) defines the comfortable range of the thermal environment as an environment that satisfies more than 90% of the residents, and the temperature within this comfortable range is Is about 23 ° C. to about 26 ° C., and winter is about 20 ° C. to about 23.5 ° C. Further, ASHRAE has a temperature fluctuation range of 1.1 ° C. or less and a fluctuation rate of 2.2 ° C./hr or less when the temperature is fluctuated within the comfort range.

    Therefore, in the fourth invention, the control means (52) may set the room temperature to a temperature fluctuation range of 1.1 ° C. and a fluctuation rate of 2.2 ° C./hr within the comfortable range of the thermal environment. Furthermore, the comfort range of the thermal environment and the temperature fluctuation range that allows comfort are different depending on the type and individual differences of the living body to be air-conditioned, so within the comfort range of the thermal environment set appropriately according to the living body to be air-conditioned. You may make it fluctuate by. Further, in order to save energy in addition to comfort, a fluctuation range larger than the temperature fluctuation range (for example, 1.5 ° C.) may be used.

    In a fifth aspect based on the third aspect, the control means (52) controls the air conditioning means (2) such that the room temperature periodically varies within a predetermined temperature fluctuation range.

    In the fifth aspect of the invention, the control means (52) controls the air temperature means (2) so that the room temperature fluctuates regularly.

    According to the present invention, since the control means (52) causes the thermal factor related to the temperature of the living body to fluctuate by the air conditioning means (2), an appropriate stimulus can be given to the living body. Thereby, the biological activity of the living body can be activated. That is, the self-protection mechanism against pathogenic bacteria in the living body can be enhanced.

    Further, according to the second aspect, since the air conditioning means (2) supplies the conditioned air to the room (R), the living body can be changed by changing the temperature, humidity, air volume, etc. of the conditioned air. The thermal factor related to the perceived temperature can be reliably varied.

    Further, according to the third aspect, since the thermal factor is the room temperature, the living body can be reliably stimulated by varying the room temperature.

    According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the room temperature is varied within the temperature fluctuation range within the comfortable range of the thermal environment, the living body can feel comfort even when the living body is stimulated to vary the thermal factor. Can be met.

    According to the fifth aspect of the invention, since the room temperature is periodically changed within a predetermined temperature fluctuation range, the room temperature is regularly changed and the control is facilitated.

    Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

    As shown in FIG. 1, the air conditioner (1) of this embodiment includes an indoor unit (3), an outdoor unit (4), and a controller (50). The indoor unit (3) and the outdoor unit (4) constitute air conditioning means (2) for air conditioning the room (R).

    The indoor unit (3) is attached to the wall surface of the room (R) and is connected to the outdoor unit (4) arranged outside the room by a refrigerant pipe (5).

    As shown in FIG. 2, the outdoor unit (4) includes a compressor (6), a four-way switching valve (7), an outdoor heat exchanger (8), and an expansion valve (9). The compressor (6) has a variable operating capacity. In the outdoor unit (4), an outdoor fan (10) for taking in outside air is provided in the vicinity of the outdoor heat exchanger (8). The indoor unit (3) includes an indoor heat exchanger (11) and an indoor fan (12) disposed in the vicinity of the indoor heat exchanger (11).

    The compressor (6), the four-way switching valve (7), the outdoor heat exchanger (8), the expansion valve (9), and the indoor heat exchanger (11) are connected in order by the refrigerant pipe (5), and the vapor compression This constitutes the refrigerant circuit (13) of the refrigeration cycle.

    As shown in FIG. 3, the indoor unit (3) houses an indoor heat exchanger (11) and an indoor fan (12) inside a casing (20).

    In the casing (20), a suction port (21) is formed from the upper front surface to the upper surface, and an air outlet (22) is formed in the lower front surface. The blower outlet (22) is provided with a wind vane (22a). The inside of the casing (20) is formed in an air passage (23) that communicates from the suction port (21) to the air outlet (22).

    The indoor heat exchanger (11) is a cross-fin type heat exchanger, and includes a first heat exchange part (24) positioned on the front side in the casing (20) and an upper part on the rear side of the casing (20). It is formed in an inverted V shape by the second heat exchange part (25) positioned. The first heat exchange section (24) and the second heat exchange section (25) include a large number of plate-shaped heat transfer fins (31) and heat transfer tubes (32) penetrating the heat transfer fins (31). It has.

    With such a configuration, the indoor unit (3) exchanges heat between the indoor air sucked from the suction port (21) and the refrigerant to generate conditioned air of a predetermined temperature, and the indoor unit (R) ).

(controller)
The controller (50) controls the operation of the air conditioning means (2), and includes an operation control unit (51) and a fluctuation control unit (52).

    The operation control unit (51) drives the compressor (6) and the fans (10, 12), and appropriately switches the four-way switching valve (7) and controls the opening of the expansion valve (9). Thus, the cooling operation and heating operation of the air conditioning means (2) are controlled.

    The fluctuation control unit (52) is configured to change the room temperature, which is a thermal factor related to the temperature of the living body, by the air conditioning unit (2) in order to activate the immune activity of the living body, and is configured as a control unit. ing. That is, the fluctuation control unit (52) has an operation control unit (52) so that the room temperature fluctuates periodically (for example, 30 minutes per cycle) within a predetermined temperature fluctuation range (for example, within 1.5 ° C.). This corrects the control of 51). Specifically, the fluctuation control unit (52) controls the operating capacity of the compressor (6) during the operation of the air conditioning means (2) by the operation control unit (51), thereby controlling the indoor heat exchanger (11). The evaporating temperature and the condensing temperature are controlled, and the temperature of the conditioned air supplied to the room (R) is varied.

-Driving action-
In the air conditioner (1), the operation control unit (51) switches between the cooling operation and the heating operation by switching the four-way switching valve (7) of the air conditioning means (2). Here, the description will focus on the cooling operation.

    In the cooling operation, the operation control unit (51) causes the four-way switching valve (7) to be in the solid line state of FIG. 2, and the compressor (6) and the fans (10, 12) are driven. As a result, the refrigerant circulates in the direction of the solid arrow in FIG. 2, and heat exchange between the refrigerant and the outside air or room air is performed in each heat exchanger (8, 11).

    In the outdoor unit (4), the refrigerant discharged from the compressor (6) becomes a liquid refrigerant that is radiated and condensed to the outside air in the outdoor heat exchanger (8), expands in the expansion valve (9), and expands in the indoor unit ( Introduced in 3). In the indoor heat exchanger (11), the expanded refrigerant absorbs heat from the indoor air taken into the casing (20) by the indoor fan (12) and evaporates to generate the indoor air as conditioned air at a predetermined temperature. . The evaporated refrigerant is introduced into the outdoor unit (4), sucked into the compressor (6), and compressed.

    That is, as shown in FIG. 3, in the indoor unit (3), the indoor fan (12) rotates to suck indoor air into the casing (20) from the suction port (21), and the indoor air is exchanged with the indoor heat. It passes through the vessel (11), is generated as conditioned air at a predetermined temperature, and is supplied into the room (R) from the outlet (22).

    Here, as a feature of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4, the fluctuation control unit (52) corrects the control of the operation control unit (51), and the air-conditioning means (2) sets the room temperature to a predetermined temperature. The air-conditioning means (2) is controlled so as to change periodically (with a cycle of 30 minutes) with a fluctuation range (1.5 ° C.).

    Specifically, the fluctuation control unit (52) uses the temperature within the comfortable range of the thermal environment as a reference, 26.5 ° C., and the room temperature gradually increases from 26.5 ° C. to 28 ° C. over 15 minutes. The air-conditioning means (2) is controlled so as to repeat the fluctuation gradually decreasing from 28 ° C. to 26.5 ° C. over 15 minutes at a cycle of 30 minutes. That is, the fluctuation control unit (52) gradually reduces the operating capacity of the compressor (6) 15 minutes after the start of operation (0 minutes) to reduce the evaporation temperature of the refrigerant in the indoor heat exchanger (11). By gradually increasing, the temperature of the conditioned air is gradually increased from 26.5 ° C. to 28 ° C. On the other hand, the fluctuation control unit (52) gradually increases the operation capacity of the compressor (6) 30 minutes after the start of operation 15 minutes to gradually decrease the refrigerant evaporation temperature in the indoor heat exchanger (11). Thus, the temperature of the conditioned air is gradually lowered from 28 ° C. to 26.5 ° C. And the said fluctuation | variation control part (52) repeats control which makes the operating capacity of a compressor (6) small or enlarge every 15 minutes after that. Thus, since the said fluctuation | variation control part (52) controls so that room temperature may be fluctuate | varied by an air-conditioning means (2), moderate irritation | stimulation is given to living bodies, such as a person who lives in room (R).

    In addition, as a standard in which comfort is allowed, a temperature fluctuation range of 1.1 ° C. or less and a fluctuation rate of 2.2 ° C./hr or less may be used, but in this embodiment, the temperature fluctuation range is 1.5 ° C. or less, Using the fluctuation rate of 1.5 ° C./15 minutes or less as a reference, the operation was performed at the maximum value. This is because the energy saving performance is improved when the room temperature is close to the outside air temperature. Therefore, by setting the upper limit temperature of the temperature fluctuation range to be a little higher, moderate comfort is achieved and energy saving is also achieved. As a result, the room temperature can provide comfort that is substantially the same as when the vehicle is operated at the set temperature of 26.5 ° C., and can also save energy.

    On the other hand, during the heating operation, the four-way selector valve (7) switches to the wavy line side in FIG. Thereby, in the indoor heat exchanger (11), the refrigerant discharged from the compressor (6) dissipates heat to the indoor air and condenses, and heats the indoor air to generate conditioned air. Then, the condensed refrigerant is expanded by the expansion valve (9), absorbs heat from the outside air when flowing through the outdoor heat exchanger (8), evaporates, and then is sucked into the compressor (6) again and compressed. Even during the heating operation, the fluctuation control unit (52) controls the operation capacity of the compressor (6), thereby controlling the condensation temperature of the refrigerant in the indoor heat exchanger (11). Vary the temperature.

-Effect of the embodiment-
In the air conditioner (1), the fluctuation control unit (52) causes the air conditioning means (2) to change the indoor temperature, which is a thermal factor related to the temperature of the living body. Appropriate stimulation can be given. Thereby, since the immunity activity of a biological body can be activated, the self-protection mechanism with respect to the pathogenic microbe etc. of a biological body can be improved.

    In addition, the air conditioner (1) is configured to supply the conditioned air to the room (R) by the air conditioning unit (2), so that the temperature of the conditioned air is changed, thereby reliably changing the room temperature. be able to.

    In addition, since the fluctuation of the room temperature is changed with a temperature fluctuation width of 1.5 ° C. with 26.5 ° C. as a reference, appropriate comfort can be obtained and energy saving can be achieved.

<< Other Embodiments >>
About the said embodiment, it is good also as the following structures.

    In the above-described embodiment, the room temperature is changed so as to gradually increase and then gradually decrease in a predetermined cycle. However, for example, the room temperature may be controlled to change in a rectangular wave or sine wave manner. Further, the fluctuation cycle and the temperature fluctuation width are not particularly limited. For example, the temperature may be varied within a temperature variation range of 1.1 ° C. or less and a variation rate of 2.2 ° C./hr or less as defined by ASHRAE. When emphasis is placed on immune activity activation rather than comfort, the temperature may be varied within a temperature fluctuation range exceeding the comfort range.

    Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the thermal factor in connection with body temperature was made into room temperature, the said thermal factor is good also as airflow. Specifically, the air flow may be changed by changing the rotation speed of the indoor fan (12), or the air direction blade (22a) of the outlet (22) may be moved to change the air direction. Furthermore, when the room temperature is changed, the conditioned air having the same temperature as the target room temperature is not supplied as in the above embodiment, but the supply amount (air volume) of the conditioned air at a constant temperature is changed. The room temperature may be varied. In this case, the airflow fluctuates in addition to the room temperature.

    Further, the air conditioner is not limited to the air conditioner shown in the above embodiment, and may be one that performs humidification or dehumidification of the room (R), or indoor (R) by floor heating or radiation from the ceiling. ) May be air conditioned. That is, since humidity and radiation also affect the temperature of the living body, appropriate stimulation can be given to the living body by changing these.

    In addition, the above embodiment is an essentially preferable illustration, Comprising: It does not intend restrict | limiting the range of this invention, its application thing, or its use.

    As described above, the present invention is useful for an air conditioner.

It is a schematic block diagram which shows the air conditioning apparatus of embodiment. It is a piping distribution diagram of the refrigerant circuit of the air harmony device of an embodiment. It is side surface sectional drawing which shows the structure of the indoor unit of embodiment. It is a figure which shows the fluctuation | variation control of the indoor temperature of embodiment, and the horizontal axis shows the passage of time and the vertical axis | shaft has shown indoor temperature. It is a table | surface which shows the classification of an immune cell.

Explanation of symbols

1 Air conditioner
2 Air conditioning means
52 Fluctuation controller (control means)
R room

Claims (5)

An air conditioner comprising air conditioning means (2) for air conditioning the room (R),
It comprises control means (52) for controlling the air conditioning means (2) so that the air temperature means (2) fluctuates the thermal factor related to the temperature of the living body in order to activate the immune activity of the living body. Air conditioner. In claim 1,
The air conditioner (2) is configured to supply conditioned air into the room (R). In claim 1,
The air conditioning apparatus, wherein the thermal factor is a room temperature. In claim 3,
The air conditioner is characterized in that the control means (52) controls the air conditioning means (2) so that the room temperature fluctuates within a temperature fluctuation range within a comfortable range of the thermal environment. In claim 3,
The air conditioner is characterized in that the control means (52) controls the air conditioning means (2) such that the room temperature fluctuates periodically within a predetermined temperature fluctuation range.

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