JP2009002611A - Air conditioning system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air conditioning system capable of sharing information on abnormality detection by a simple configuration. <P>SOLUTION: In the air conditioning system having a plurality of air conditioners 40 constituted by electrically connecting indoor units 20 and outdoor units 10 with each other, the indoor units 20 have an indoor abnormality detecting means 30 for detecting an indoor abnormal state and an indoor abnormality informing means 31 for informing that an abnormal state occurs. The outdoor units 10 are connected with each other via a communication means 11 so as to enable communications. When the indoor abnormality detecting means 30 of one of the air conditioners 40 detects an abnormal state, an abnormality signal is output to the indoor abnormality informing means 30 of the other air conditioners 40. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioning system, and more particularly, to a technology for connecting a plurality of air conditioners so that they can communicate with each other and sharing abnormality information detected by a specific air conditioner.

  In recent years, due to the revision of the Fire Service Law, it has been required to install fire alarms in ordinary houses, so the demand for fire alarms is expected to increase further.

  In general, a fire alarm is configured such that a heat detector or a smoke detector for detecting a fire is provided on the ceiling of a room, and these detectors are connected to a fire alarm. However, for example, when such a fire alarm is installed in a general house, there is a problem that installation work is required and the burden of equipment costs increases.

  On the other hand, an air conditioner having a function of detecting a fire in addition to an air conditioning function is known. According to this, for example, air that has become hot due to the occurrence of a fire can be sucked in from the air suction port, and smoke and temperature changes in the air can be detected by the sensor. (See Patent Document 1). As described above, according to the air conditioner having the fire detection function, it is possible to reduce the labor and cost of the construction accompanying the installation of the fire alarm.

JP 2001-324191 A

  Incidentally, in the air conditioner of Patent Document 1, each air conditioner functions as a single unit and does not have a function of sharing each other's information. Therefore, for example, when the air conditioner disclosed in Patent Document 1 is installed in each room of a general house, a notification means for notifying other rooms that a fire has occurred is necessary.

  Conventionally, for example, as a multi-type air conditioner, a system is known in which a plurality of air conditioners are connected to one centralized control device, and the air conditioning operation of each air conditioner is centrally controlled. By using this air conditioner control system, it is possible to share abnormal information such as the occurrence of a fire among multiple air conditioners. In this case, however, a centralized control device must be installed. Are problematic in terms of installation location and equipment costs.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an air conditioning system that can share information of abnormality detection with a simple configuration.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an air conditioning system having a plurality of air conditioners in which an indoor unit and an outdoor unit are electrically connected, and the indoor unit detects an abnormal state in the room. The air conditioner is connected to the outdoor unit so that they can communicate with each other via the communication means, and the abnormality detection means of one air conditioner is provided with the air conditioner. When an abnormal state is detected, an abnormal signal is output to a notification unit of another air conditioner.

  Thus, by connecting a plurality of air conditioners so as to be able to communicate with each other, information on the occurrence of an abnormality can be shared by the plurality of air conditioners without using a centralized control device. This simplifies the facility and can realize space saving and a reduction in facility cost. Moreover, when adding an air conditioner, since it is only necessary to connect outdoor units via a communication means, the burden of construction can be reduced and the economical efficiency can be improved.

  In this case, when the air conditioner has a function of detecting a fire, a fire detection sensor that detects the occurrence of an indoor fire can be used as the abnormality detection means.

  Furthermore, a fire detection sensor that detects the occurrence of a fire by detecting at least one of the temperature, smell, and smoke of the air sucked by the indoor unit can be used as the abnormality detection means. According to this, the detection sensitivity of fire occurrence can be increased.

  On the other hand, when the air conditioner has a home crime prevention function, a human detection sensor that detects a person entering the room can be used as the abnormality detection means.

  The communication means may output an abnormality signal to another receiving means in addition to the notifying means when the abnormality detecting means of one air conditioner detects an abnormal state. According to this, for example, the communication means is configured by a wireless LAN, and abnormality information can be notified to a predetermined receiving means such as a portable terminal via the Internet line.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to share abnormality detection information with a simple configuration.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

  FIG. 1 is an example of a configuration diagram of an air conditioning system to which the present invention is applied.

  As shown in the figure, in the air conditioning system of the present embodiment, three air conditioners 40a to 40c are connected to each other by communication means 11a to 11c so as to communicate with each other. Each of the air conditioners 40a to 40c includes indoor units 20a to 20c, outdoor units 10a to 10c, and a remote controller (not shown). An indoor unit 20 is installed in each room, while an outdoor unit 10 is installed outside the room.

  The indoor unit 20 is provided with an indoor abnormality detection means 30 and an indoor abnormality notification means 31. The indoor abnormality detection means 30 includes, for example, a fire detection sensor 21 such as a gas sensor or a temperature sensor, and a human detection sensor 22 such as an infrared sensor or a sound wave sensor. In this embodiment, an example in which both the fire detection sensor 21 and the human detection sensor 22 are provided is shown, but only one of them may be provided as necessary. On the other hand, the room abnormality notification means 31 includes a light emitting device 23 that uses illumination such as an LED or a lamp, and a sound generation device 24 that uses a speaker or a buzzer. In this embodiment, an example in which both the light emitting device 23 and the sound producing device 24 are provided is shown, but only one of them may be provided as necessary.

  The fire detection sensor 21 is configured, for example, such that a sensor unit is installed inside the air suction port of the indoor unit 20 and detects at least one of the temperature, smell, and smoke of the indoor air sucked from the suction port. It is preferable.

  Communication units 11a to 11c are installed in the outdoor units 10a to 10c, respectively. The communication unit 11 may be wired or wireless (such as a wireless LAN or a short-range wireless). In the case of a wired connection, as shown in the figure, the outdoor units 10a to 10c are electrically connected via the communication line 12 so that they can communicate with each other.

  The indoor abnormality detection means 30 and the indoor abnormality notification means 31 of the indoor unit 20 are electrically connected to the outdoor unit 10, respectively. For example, the abnormality information detected by the indoor abnormality detection means 30 is transmitted to the outdoor unit 10 and the communication means. 11, an abnormality signal is output to the room abnormality notification means 31 of the other air conditioner 40.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the air conditioning system of the present embodiment will be described with a specific example.

  First, when a fire 60 occurs in the room where the air conditioner 40c on the second floor is installed, and the fire detection sensor 21c detects the occurrence of the fire, the light emitting device 23c lights or blinks, and the sound producing device 24c generates a warning sound. Let Here, with the sounding device 24c using a speaker, for example, an announcement may be made by voice such as “Fire has occurred! Please evacuate”.

  At the same time that the series of indoor abnormalities are notified, the detection information of the fire 60 and the position information of the air conditioner 40c that has detected the fire 60 are sent from the indoor unit 20c to the outdoor unit 10c as electrical signals, It transmits to the other air conditioners 40a and 40b via the communication means 11c provided in the outdoor unit 10c.

  Here, since air conditioner 40a, 40b shows the same structure and operation | movement, below, operation | movement of the air conditioner 40a is demonstrated. The fire detection information and the position information transmitted from the communication unit 11c are received by the communication unit 11a, and the received information is transmitted to the indoor abnormality notification unit 31 of the indoor unit 40a as an electrical signal via the outdoor unit 10a. The same notification operation as that of the air conditioner 40c that detects the fire 60 is performed. At that time, if the sound generation device 24a uses a speaker, for example, “Fire has occurred on the second floor! Please check the surroundings”. May be.

  Next, a case where an intruder is detected instead of the occurrence of a fire will be described as an example.

  For example, when the intruder 70 enters the room where the air conditioner 40b on the first floor is installed, and the human detection sensor 22b detects the presence of the intruder 70, the light emitting device 23b is turned on or blinked, and the sound generator 24b is Generate a warning sound. Here, in the case of the sound generation device 24b using a speaker, for example, “Intruder has been detected!

  At the same time that this series of indoor abnormalities is reported, the detection information of the intruder 70 and the position information of the air conditioner 40b that has detected the intruder 70 are sent as electrical signals from the indoor unit 20b to the outdoor unit 10b. Subsequently, it transmits to the other air conditioners 40a and 40c via the communication means 11b with which the outdoor unit 10b was equipped.

  Here, since the air conditioners 40a and 40c exhibit the same configuration and operation, the operation of the air conditioner 40a will be described below. The fire detection information and position information transmitted from the communication unit 11b are received by the communication unit 11a, and the received information is input to the indoor abnormality notification unit 31 of the indoor unit 40a as an electrical signal by the outdoor unit 10a. The same notification operation as that of the air conditioner 40b that has detected the intruder 70 is performed. At that time, if the sound generation device 24a uses a speaker, for example, it may be switched to the announcement content that informs the detection location of the intruder 70, for example, “There is an intruder on the first floor! Good.

  Unlike when detecting a fire, when an intruder 70 is detected, an indoor abnormality notification operation is not always performed, but an indoor abnormality notification operation is performed in advance from the outside such as a remote controller. It can also be set as a mechanism that can be freely set.

  Next, in this Embodiment, the contact method to the arbitrary receiving means different from the air conditioner 40 is demonstrated.

  When an abnormality is detected by the indoor abnormality detection means 30, in addition to transmitting abnormality information to another air conditioner 40, it may be configured to be able to transmit to an arbitrarily set contact 50. For example, the communication means 11 that can communicate with each other is configured by a wireless LAN, and by using an Internet line, abnormal information is sent to the mobile terminal of the owner of a general house, the manager of a building, and the owner of a store. Can be sent. In this case, it is possible to simultaneously contact a plurality of contacts.

  As described above, according to the air conditioning system of the present embodiment, the abnormality occurrence information detected in any one of the air conditioners 40 can be shared by the plurality of air conditioners 40. By adding the added value of indoor anomaly detection means and indoor anomaly notification means to products that are primarily intended for air conditioners, it is possible to create new fire alarms and human feelings. Since there is no need to separately install home security equipment such as sensors and a centralized control device, the equipment is simplified, and space saving and reduction in equipment costs can be realized.

  In addition, when the air conditioner 40 is additionally installed, it is only necessary to connect the outdoor units 10 to each other via the communication means 11, so that the burden of construction is reduced and the economy can be improved. In this case, for example, if the communication unit 11 is attached to the outdoor unit 10 in a cartridge type, it becomes possible to more easily cope with the addition in both wired and wireless.

It is a lineblock diagram showing an example of an air harmony system formed by applying the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Outdoor unit 11 Communication means 12 Communication line 20 Indoor unit 21 Fire detection sensor 22 Human detection sensor 23 Light-emitting device 24 Sound generation device 30 Indoor abnormality detection means 31 Indoor abnormality notification means 40 Air conditioner 50 Arbitrarily set contact 60 Fire 70 Intruder

Claims (5)

In an air conditioning system having a plurality of air conditioners in which an indoor unit and an outdoor unit are electrically connected,
The indoor unit includes an abnormality detection unit that detects an abnormal state in a room and a notification unit that notifies that the abnormal state has occurred.
The air conditioner is connected so that the outdoor units can communicate with each other via communication means, and when the abnormality detection means of one air conditioner detects an abnormal state, the other air conditioner An air conditioning system that outputs an abnormal signal to the notification means.   The air conditioning system according to claim 1, wherein the abnormality detection means is a fire detection sensor that detects the occurrence of an indoor fire.   2. The fire detection sensor according to claim 1, wherein the abnormality detection unit is a fire detection sensor that detects a fire by detecting at least one of a temperature, smell, and smoke of air sucked into the indoor unit. Air conditioning system.   The air conditioning system according to claim 1, wherein the abnormality detection unit is a human detection sensor that detects a person entering the room.   The communication means outputs the abnormality signal to another receiving means in addition to the notifying means when the abnormality detecting means of one air conditioner detects an abnormal state. 4. The air conditioning system according to any one of 4.

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