JP2010091144A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air conditioner capable of properly controlling a room without degrading indoor comfort. <P>SOLUTION: This air conditioner includes a housing having an air suction opening and an air supply opening, a heat exchanger disposed in the housing, a blast fan sucking the indoor air from the air suction opening and supplying the air from the air supply opening through the heat exchanger, a lateral wind direction plate disposed on a supply air trunk of the blast fan, a vertical wind direction plate, and an infrared ray detecting device having an infrared ray sensor, and estimating the presence or absence of a person staying in the room while dividing the room into a plurality of regions. A plurality of prescribed tentative determination sections are set in a determination section for determining the presence or absence of person and a presence region, the presence or absence of person and the presence region are tentatively determined, the presence or absence of person and the presence region are finally determined on the basis of results of the plurality of prescribed tentative determinations when a value based on the output of the infrared ray sensor of the tentative determination section is not over a prescribed threshold value, and the result of the tentative determination of the tentative determination section is applied as the final determination when the value based on the output of the infrared ray sensor of the tentative determination section is over the prescribed threshold value. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioner equipped with an infrared sensor, and more particularly to improvement of a human detection function.

  An air conditioner circulates indoor air through a heat exchanger, adjusts it by heating, cooling, dehumidifying functions, and the like, and blows the air into the room to air condition the room. At this time, if an air-conditioned airflow can be sent to the position of the occupant, the occupant can avoid the troublesome operation one by one, the satisfaction of the occupant increases, and only the surroundings of the occupant are comfortable. Therefore, energy saving of the air conditioner can be achieved.

  As one of them, an infrared sensor is installed in the air conditioner, the position of the occupant is detected, and the method of increasing / decreasing the wind direction, air volume, cooling / heating capacity, etc. according to the position of the occupant can be considered. Various ideas have been devised to make it easier. As this type of prior art, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-124883, Japanese Patent Publication No. 02-021756, Japanese Patent No. 0348471, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-101893 are known.

  Patent Document 1 discloses that a human body detection device includes an infrared light projector, a reflected infrared light receiver, a means for integrating the number of pulses corresponding to a change in the output of the light receiver every predetermined time, and the number of accumulated pulses is continuous a certain number of times. If it is equal to or greater than the set value, it comprises means for outputting a human body detection signal. As a result, when the sunlight is reflected and received by the receiver, or when infrared light reflected by the snow is received by the receiver, the cumulative number of pulses does not continuously exceed the set value for a certain number of times. A human body detection device that can prevent a human body detection signal from being output, can detect a normal walking person, and can detect even a stationary person is described.

  Patent Document 2 filters a detection result of radiant energy with a predetermined frequency characteristic, a detection circuit for a change in the positive or negative direction of the filter, a holding circuit activated by an output of the detection circuit, a detection circuit and a holding circuit, And a counter circuit that generates an alarm signal when the detection circuit detects a change in the positive or negative direction again while the holding circuit is in operation, and the change in the same direction continues for a short time Judge as intrusion. Thus, even when electrical noise or noise due to thermal airflow occurs, a radiation energy detector that separates these noises and signals from moving objects and prevents malfunctions due to these noises is described. ing.

  In Patent Document 3, when the power switch of the sub-remote control is turned on, the counter is reset / started. When the on signal output from the human detection sensor is input, the measurement of the time t1 is started and the counter is turned off. While the time t2 is being measured, the ON signal whose time t2 is a certain time or more is counted. When the count value C reaches 3 times within a predetermined time, it is determined that a person has been detected. A human detection determination method and an air conditioner that perform efficient air conditioning based on such accurate human detection are described.

  Patent Document 4 divides a region to be air-conditioned into a plurality of regions by a plurality of human body detection sensors according to the position of a person in the region to be air-conditioned, sets region characteristics of each region according to the frequency of people, A determination condition indicating the presence of a person is set in each region characteristic in accordance with the reaction result of the human body detection sensor over time, and the presence or absence of a person in each region is estimated in accordance with the set determination condition. Thus, a position estimation method for a person who efficiently estimates the position of a person in an area to be air-conditioned using a plurality of human body detection sensors and efficiently performs an air-conditioning operation, and an air conditioner employing the method are described. .

JP 61-124883 A Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 02-021756 Japanese Patent No. 0344471 JP 2008-101893 A

  Currently, home air conditioners are required to be environmentally friendly, and resource and energy savings are strongly demanded. In addition, the appearance is also emphasized, and a product that does not disturb the indoor atmosphere when not in use is desired.

  In Patent Document 1, reflection of light emitted from a projector is received by a light receiver and processed in synchronization, and continuous light such as sunlight is utilized by utilizing the fact that the light from the projector is not pulsed and continuous. Therefore, a projector, its driving circuit, a synchronization processing circuit, etc. are required, and the number of parts increases, the structure becomes complicated and the cost increases. There is no description about grasping the amount of activity.

  Since Patent Document 2 is for intrusion warning, there is no slow movement and no description of a method for detecting a stationary person, so it is quietly relaxed indoors when used for air conditioning purposes. Sometimes it is inconvenient because it is considered absent. There is no mention of the amount of activity of the resident.

  Patent Document 3 is a method of ignoring detection when a person is moving in order not to air-condition an area that only passes by a person, and the distance between the detection beams of the sensor and the relative position between the sensor and the moving part. Therefore, even if the sensitivity of the sensor is adjusted, the detection result will change if the direction of movement and the speed of movement change, so there is no generality. The effectiveness is poor. According to this method, when the air conditioner is operated and quietly relaxed in a comfortable room, it is regarded as absent, which is inconvenient. There is no mention of the amount of activity of the resident.

  In Patent Document 4, area characteristics must be set for each detection area in advance, and this function cannot be confirmed by a trial run immediately after installation, which gives the user anxiety. In addition, since the presence / absence determination condition must also be set in the region characteristics, the development burden of the control software is large and the development cost increases. Furthermore, there is no mention of the amount of activity of the occupants.

  An object of the present invention is to make the occupants comfortable without any troublesome operations while being suitable for resource saving and having a structure that blends into the atmosphere of the room.

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an air conditioner that reliably and quickly determines a region where a person is present and appropriately controls without impairing indoor comfort.

Problems to be solved by the present invention include a housing having an air inlet and an air outlet, a heat exchanger disposed in the housing, and sucking indoor air from the air inlet and passing through the heat exchanger. A blower fan that blows out from the air outlet, a left and right wind direction plate provided in the blower air passage of the blower fan, a vertical wind direction plate, and an infrared sensor, and the room is divided into a plurality of areas. In an air conditioner equipped with an infrared detector that estimates the presence or absence of
A predetermined plurality of provisional determination sections are defined in the determination section for determining the presence / absence and presence area of a person, and the presence / absence and presence area of a person are provisionally determined,
When the value based on the output of the infrared sensor in the provisional determination section does not exceed a predetermined threshold, based on the result of the predetermined plurality of provisional determination, finally determine the presence / absence of the person and the presence area,
When the value based on the output of the infrared sensor in the temporary determination section exceeds a predetermined threshold, the result of the temporary determination in the temporary determination section is set as the final determination.

  The air conditioner according to claim 2 is the air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the region is a region divided by a sum, an exclusive sum, a difference, or a product of detection areas of the plurality of infrared sensors, and the person The provisional determination of the presence / absence and the presence area is made according to the output time within a predetermined time of the activity pulse digitally output based on the output of the infrared sensor related to the configuration of the area.

  The air conditioner according to claim 3 is the air conditioner according to claim 2, wherein a digital output based on the output of the infrared sensor is read at a constant cycle, and the number of detections of the activity pulse within the predetermined time is a threshold value. The presence of a person according to the combination of the number of times of detection of the activity pulse based on the output of the infrared sensor based on the output of the infrared sensor related to the configuration of the region. This is a provisional determination of whether or not there is an existing area.

The air conditioner according to claim 4 is the air conditioner according to claim 3,
When the number of times of detection within the predetermined time is equal to or less than a prompt decision threshold set larger than the presence threshold,
Based on the predetermined plurality of provisional determination results and the previous final determination result, the presence / absence of the current person and the presence area are finally determined,
When the number of detections within the predetermined time exceeds the prompt decision threshold,
The result of the temporary determination in the temporary determination section is the final determination of the presence / absence of the current person and the existing area.

  The air conditioner according to claim 5 is the air conditioner according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the blower fan is a cross-flow type blower fan, and one of the left and right wind direction plates and the upper and lower wind direction plates. The at least one wind direction plate is configured to rotate about an axis substantially parallel to the axis of the blower fan to serve as a shielding plate for the infrared sensor, and the shielding plate is the majority of the region in the room when the operation is stopped. When the presence / absence or presence area of a room occupant is detected, the area is rotated stepwise to shield the area in a plurality of stages, and the area is further divided into a plurality of subdivided areas. is there.

  An air conditioner according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is the air conditioner according to the fifth aspect, wherein a horizontally long airflow fan is provided in a horizontally long casing, and the center axes of the plurality of infrared sensors are developed in a horizontal direction. The wind direction plate serving as the shielding plate is an up-and-down wind direction plate, and the region is shielded in a plurality of stages by stepwise rotation of the up-and-down wind direction plate, and the region is divided into a plurality of sub-regions from a far region to a near region. It divides into the conversion area.

The air conditioner according to a seventh aspect is the air conditioner according to the fourth aspect, wherein the step of the magnitude of the activity amount of the person in the area is determined according to the number of detection times and the area of the activity pulse within the predetermined time. Divided by the magnitude of the activity threshold
When the number of detections is less than or equal to the prompt decision threshold,
In accordance with the number of times of detection, for each provisional determination section, a step of the magnitude of the activity amount of the person is provisionally determined, and a step of the magnitude of the activity amount is finally determined based on the plurality of predetermined provisional determination results. And
When the number of detections exceeds the prompt decision threshold,
The result of the provisional judgment in the provisional judgment section is the final judgment at the stage of the amount of activity.

  The air conditioner according to claim 8 is the air conditioner according to claim 7, wherein the presence / absence of the person and the final determination result of the presence area, and the final determination result of the stage of the amount of activity of the person in the presence area. According to the above, at least one of the compressor, the refrigerant circuit control device, the blower fan, the left and right wind direction plates, the vertical wind direction plate, and the display device is controlled.

  An air conditioner according to a ninth aspect of the present invention is the air conditioner according to the seventh aspect, wherein the presence threshold, the prompt decision threshold, and the activity amount threshold are changeable.

  The air conditioner according to claim 10 is the air conditioner according to claim 8, wherein the predetermined time for detecting the activity pulse is shorter than the provisional determination interval of the presence / absence of the person and the presence area, and the detection of the activity pulse is performed. The apparatus includes a control device that swings the up-and-down wind direction plate serving as the shielding plate at a time other than the predetermined time.

  An air conditioner according to an eleventh aspect is the air conditioner according to any one of the first to tenth aspects, wherein the infrared sensor is a pyroelectric infrared sensor.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, a region where a person is present is determined reliably and quickly, and is appropriately controlled without impairing indoor comfort.

  According to the second aspect, the existing area is appropriately selected according to the combination of the outputs of the infrared sensor.

  According to the third aspect, the presence / absence is appropriately provisionally determined, and the presence area is appropriately selected.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the time until the final determination is shortened as necessary and the air conditioner is controlled in a timely manner while maintaining the comfort in the room with normal gentle control.

  According to the fifth aspect, the indoor atmosphere is not disturbed, it is suitable for resource saving, the room is further subdivided, and gentle air conditioning is realized according to the position of the occupant.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, a horizontally long air conditioner having a large quantity is subdivided into a detection area at low cost by using a driving mechanism of the upper vertical wind direction plate, and gentle air conditioning is performed according to the position of the occupant. Realize.

  According to the seventh aspect, the air conditioner is controlled according to the amount of activity of the occupants to realize comfort improvement, energy saving operation and the like, and usually the indoor comfort is maintained by gentle control. However, if necessary, the time until the final determination is shortened, and the air conditioner is controlled in a timely manner.

  According to claim 8, comfortable driving and energy-saving driving are automatically performed according to the state of the occupant.

  According to the ninth aspect, the responsiveness of the control is adjusted according to the installation environment of the air conditioner and the intention of the user, and energy saving or satisfaction is enhanced.

  According to the tenth aspect, indoor comfort is maintained even during the cooling / dehumidifying operation while performing the human detection operation.

  According to the eleventh aspect, it is resistant to disturbance and the manufacturing cost is reduced.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The same reference numerals in the drawings indicate the same or equivalent.

  First, the whole structure of an air conditioner is demonstrated using FIGS. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an air conditioner according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the indoor unit of the air conditioner. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the outdoor unit of the air conditioner. FIG. 4 is a refrigerant circuit diagram of the air conditioner, (a) is a diagram showing the flow direction of the refrigerant during the cooling / dehumidification operation, and (b) is a diagram showing the flow direction of the refrigerant during the heating operation.

  The air conditioner 1 connects the indoor unit 2 and the outdoor unit 6 with a connection pipe 8 to air-condition the room. In the indoor unit 2, an indoor heat exchanger 33 is placed at the center of the casing base 21, and a cross-flow fan type indoor fan 311 having a length substantially equal to the width of the heat exchanger 33 is provided downstream of the heat exchanger 33. The dew tray 35 and the like are attached, these are covered with the decorative frame 23, and the front panel 25 is attached to the front surface of the decorative frame 23. The decorative frame 23 is provided with an air inlet 27 for sucking in indoor air and an air outlet 29 for blowing air with adjusted temperature and humidity. An indoor air blower fan 311 is provided downstream of the air flow of the indoor heat exchanger 33. When the indoor air blower fan 311 rotates, indoor air flows from the air inlet 27 provided in the indoor unit 2 to the indoor heat exchanger 33, the indoor air blower fan. 311 passes through a blowout air passage 290 having a width substantially equal to the length of the indoor blower fan 311, and the left and right airflow direction plates 295 arranged in the middle of the blowout air passage 290 deflect the airflow in the left-right direction. The up and down airflow direction plates 291 and 292 arranged in the airflow deflect the airflow in the vertical direction and blow it out indoors.

  Basic internal structures such as an indoor fan 311, filters 231 and 231 ', an indoor heat exchanger 33, a dew tray 35, vertical wind direction plates 291 and 292, and left and right wind direction plates 295 are attached to the housing base 21. These basic internal structures are included in a casing 20 including a casing base 21, a decorative frame 23, and a front panel 25 to constitute the indoor unit 2.

  The outdoor unit 6 includes a base 61 on which a compressor 75, an outdoor heat exchanger 73, and the like are mounted. The outdoor unit 6 is covered with an outer box 62. The outdoor fan 63 causes the outside air to flow to the outdoor heat exchanger 73 and exchanges heat with the refrigerant flowing inside. Then, the air is blown out through the blower cover 635.

  At the time of cooling / dehumidifying operation, as shown in FIG. 4A, the refrigerant is converted into a compressor 75, a refrigerant flow path switching valve 72, an outdoor heat exchanger 73, a cooling / heating throttle device 74, a dehumidifying heater 332, a dehumidifying throttle device 34, and dehumidifying cooling. 333 and the refrigerant flow switching valve 72 are flowed in this order and returned to the compressor 75, and the cooling / dehumidifying throttle device 74 and the dehumidifying throttle device 34 are appropriately throttled or opened in accordance with the cooling / dehumidifying operation to control the refrigerant. 75, the outdoor blower 63 and the indoor blower fan 311 are operated at an appropriate number of revolutions to perform a known cooling / dehumidifying operation.

  Further, during the heating operation, as shown in FIG. 4B, the refrigerant flow path switching valve 72 is switched to flow the refrigerant in the reverse direction, and the well-known heating operation is similarly performed.

  In addition, a display device 397 for displaying an operation status and a light receiving unit 396 for receiving an infrared operation signal from a separate remote controller 5 are disposed on the lower side of the front panel 25.

  An air outlet 29 formed on the lower surface of the decorative frame 23 is disposed adjacent to the divided portion with the front panel 25 and communicates with the rear outlet air passage 290. The two up-and-down air direction plates 291 and 292 are configured to have a large curved surface continuous with the bottom surface of the indoor unit 2 while substantially concealing the blowing air passage 290 in a closed state. These up-and-down wind direction plates 291 and 292 are rotated by a required angle at the time of operation of the air conditioner 1 by a drive motor in response to an instruction from the remote controller 5 with the rotation shafts provided at both ends as fulcrums. The air outlet 29 is opened and held in that state. When the operation of the air conditioner 1 is stopped, the up-and-down air direction plates 291 and 292 are controlled so as to close the air outlet 29.

  The left and right wind direction plates 295 are rotated by a drive motor with a rotation shaft provided at the lower end portion as a fulcrum, and are rotated in accordance with an instruction from the remote controller 5 and held in that state. As a result, the blown air is blown out in the left and right desired directions. In addition, by instructing from the remote controller 5, the up and down wind direction plates 291 and 292 and the left and right wind direction plates 295 are periodically oscillated during the operation of the air conditioner 1, and the blown air is periodically sent over a wide range in the room. it can.

  The movable panel 251 is configured to be rotated by a drive motor with a rotation shaft provided at a lower portion as a fulcrum, and to open the front air suction portion 230 ′ when the air conditioner 1 is operated. As a result, the indoor air is also sucked into the indoor unit 2 from the front air suction portion 230 'during operation. When the air conditioner 1 is stopped, the front air suction portion 230 ′ is controlled to be closed.

  The indoor unit 2 includes a control board in an internal electrical component box, and a microcomputer is provided on the control board. The microcomputer receives signals from various sensors such as an indoor temperature sensor and an indoor humidity sensor, and also receives an operation signal from the remote controller 5 via the light receiving unit 396. Based on these signals, the microcomputer controls the indoor blower fan 311, the movable panel drive motor, the up / down wind direction plate drive motor, the left / right wind direction plate drive motor, and the like, and controls communication with the outdoor unit 6. To control.

  The filters 231 and 231 ′ are for removing dust contained in the sucked indoor air, and are arranged so as to cover the suction side of the indoor heat exchanger 33. The dew tray 35 is disposed below the lower ends of the front and rear sides of the indoor heat exchanger 33, and is provided to receive condensed water generated in the indoor heat exchanger 33 during cooling operation or dehumidifying operation. The condensed water received and collected is discharged to the outside through the drain pipe 37.

  Next, an up-and-down wind direction board is demonstrated using FIG. 5, FIG. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the indoor unit during the cooling / dehumidifying operation. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the indoor unit during heating operation.

  As described above, the vertical wind direction plate is composed of the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 and the lower vertical wind direction plate 292. In the present specification, the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 will be mainly described. Therefore, the upper vertical wind direction plate is simply referred to as the upper vertical wind direction plate, and the lower vertical wind direction plate is referred to when the lower vertical wind direction plate is described. .

  The vertical wind direction plate 291 is provided over the entire width of the upper part of the air outlet 29, and the vertical air direction plate driving motor (not shown) deflects the blown air downward or horizontal.

  When the operation is stopped without using the air conditioner, as shown in FIG. 2, the upper vertical wind direction plate 291, the lower vertical wind direction plate 292, and the movable panel 251 are controlled by the control device so as to close the air outlet 29. As a result, the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 is rotated and stored at a position in front of the upper enlarged portion 290e of the blowout air passage 290, shields the upper upward air flow portion 290e, and cooperates with the lower vertical wind direction plate 292. The outlet 29 is closed.

  An infrared detection device 14 to be described later is provided substantially at the center of the air path upper enlarged portion 290e.

  At this time, since the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 is located at the intersection of the front surface and the bottom surface of the air conditioner, the outer wind direction surface, which is the outer surface, is a smooth curved surface having a large curvature to match the outer shape of the air conditioner. By doing in this way, the upper up-and-down wind direction board 291 and the lower up-and-down wind direction board 292 can form the outer shape from the front to the bottom of the air conditioner continuously and smoothly with the wind direction surface as the outer surface.

  For this reason, when the air conditioner is not used, the infrared detecting device 14 that should also be referred to as the air conditioner's eye is also blindfolded by the upper vertical wind direction plate 291, and the appearance of the air conditioner is soft and calm without unnecessary irregularities. It becomes a shape and does not disturb the indoor atmosphere.

  When the air conditioner is in a cooling operation, as shown in FIG. 5, the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 and the lower vertical wind direction plate 292 are used in a posture substantially parallel to the upper wall 290a and the lower wall 290b of the blowout air passage 290 or in a horizontal direction. Is done. In addition, when the blown cold air directly hits the occupant and causes discomfort, the direction of the up-and-down air direction plates 291 and 292 and the left and right air direction plates 295 is changed with the remote controller 5 as appropriate. Keep it at a comfortable temperature and humidity.

  When performing extremely weak cooling or heating operation, the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 is slightly upward as shown in FIG. 20, and the lower vertical wind direction plate 292 is substantially closed as indicated by a broken line, and is provided downstream of the blowout air passage 290. The blown airflow is caused to flow through the upper enlarged portion 290e that expands upward. As a result, a part of the blown air becomes a very weak wind and gently diffuses through the upper enlarged portion 290e into the room to perform weak cooling or heating.

  Furthermore, the air conditioner such as a heat exchanger drying operation or a deodorizing operation inside the air conditioner is performed by performing a short circuit operation in which the blown wind is immediately sucked from the suction port 27 using the upper enlarged portion 290e. It is also possible to perform the maintenance operation.

  When heating the air conditioner, the up and down wind direction plates 291 and 292 are used in a substantially vertical posture as shown in FIG. By doing in this way, the warm air which flows through the blowing air path 290 blows out downward from an air conditioner, reaches | attains near a floor surface, warms near a foot | foot, and makes the room a comfortable environment.

  Next, an infrared sensor mounted on the air conditioner of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 is an external perspective view of the indoor unit. FIG. 8 is an external perspective view of the indoor unit with the up and down wind direction plate opened. FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of an infrared detection device built in the indoor unit. FIG. 10 is a layout diagram of the Fresnel lens of the detection device. FIG. 11 is a detection range diagram of the detection device. FIG. 12 is an external view of the detection device, (a) is a plan view, (b) is a front view, (c) is a side view, and (d) is an attached side view. FIG. 13 is a detection area diagram of the detection device. FIG. 14 is a circuit configuration diagram of the detection device.

  In general, when a human detection device is attached to an air conditioner, its main purpose is to save energy by operating or shutting down the air conditioner when there are no people in the room, and when there are few people in the air, The purpose is to save energy by carrying out a dedicated operation such as sending and avoiding troublesome operations associated with the movement of people.

  To achieve this, attach multiple human detection sensors using pyroelectric infrared sensors, etc. to divide the room into multiple areas and determine where the occupants are as viewed from the air conditioner. I try to detect it. In this case, installation is performed such that the detection areas of the human detection sensors overlap with each other so that a non-detection area is not formed between the detection areas of the human detection sensors.

  At this time, if the only human detection sensor reacts, it can be seen that there is a person in the detection area of the human detection sensor, but when multiple infrared sensors with overlapping detection areas react, they concentrate on the overlapping area. When there are people, when people are distributed in each other's exclusive area, when people are distributed in the overlapping area and one exclusive area, and when people are in the overlapping area and both exclusive areas In order to distinguish these areas, it is considered that the number of sensors is increased or other types of sensors are attached to complement each other's lack of capability.

  In the embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the infrared detecting device 14 is provided at the center in the longitudinal direction of the above-described blowing air channel upper enlarged portion 290e, and when the operation is stopped, the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 is shielded from the room as shown in FIG. I tried not to give the room a strange feeling.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the infrared detecting device 14 includes an infrared sensor 410 mounted on a substrate 416 via a pedestal 415 and covers a Fresnel lens 417.

  The infrared sensor 410 has a smooth light receiving surface 411, the direction in which the light receiving surface 411 faces is the main detection direction, and the central axis 412 from the center of the light receiving surface 411 toward the main detection direction is the direction with the best detection sensitivity. A detection range with good detection sensitivity spreads around.

  The left and right infrared sensors 410a and 410c are mounted by the pedestals 415 so that the direction of the central axis 412 is different, and naturally the main detection direction is also different, so that the detection range can be configured at a wide angle as shown in FIG. By mounting the detection device 14 with a depression angle as shown in FIG. 12D, most of the indoor floor surface can be accommodated in the visual field.

  The Fresnel lens 417 is molded to form a hemispherical surface as shown in FIG. 10, and the hemispherical surface is divided into a plurality of segments, and each segment collects infrared rays coming from a specific direction in the room at the center of the hemispherical surface. A small Fresnel lens is formed, and the light receiving surface 411 of the infrared sensor 410 is arranged at the center of the hemispherical surface.

  If the direction in which this small Fresnel lens collects infrared rays is shown by a plane parallel to the floor near the height of the face when sitting, the detection spot distribution as shown in FIG. 13 will be obtained. When several detection spots enter and exit, the infrared sensor 410 detects this. In the embodiment, assuming that the detection spot is used in a room at home, the size of one detection spot at a position 6 m away from the infrared sensor 410 is approximately equal to the size of a human body (width 0.3 to 0.5 m, high 1.6 to 1.8 m).

  In the embodiment, a pyroelectric infrared sensor is used as the infrared sensor 410. As shown in FIG. 14, the infrared detection device 14 includes a left person detection sensor 140a, a right person detection sensor 140c, and an arithmetic control unit 132. The left and right person detection sensors 140a, c are infrared sensors 410a, c, infrared sensors 410a, c. Amplifier 130, a bandpass filter for extracting human movement, a comparator 131 for converting the output into a digital signal, the pedestal 415, the Fresnel lens 417, and the like.

  In general, when a person is awake, he cannot remain physiologically stationary, and moves a part of his body such as hands, legs and face consciously or unconsciously within a few minutes.

  The infrared sensors 410a, c in the human detection sensors 140a, c detect this movement and output a signal. Outputs from the infrared sensors 410a, c are human detection sensors 140a, c, converted into a form suitable for processing in the arithmetic control unit 132, read into the arithmetic control unit 132, and air-conditioned according to the result of the arithmetic processing. The machine's ability, wind direction, etc. are controlled.

  As described above, if the infrared detector 14 is configured, the pyroelectric infrared sensors 410a and 410c output analog signals associated with the environment, the presence of the human body, and the activity of the human body, and are amplified by the amplifier 130. A signal around 1 Hz, which is mainly included in human activity, is extracted by the bandpass filter, and a minute signal or noise is removed by the comparator 131 and converted into a digitized activity pulse.

  The signal converted into the activity pulse is input to the calculation control unit 132 from the reading port of the calculation control unit 132 and is processed. As a result, conditioned air is blown by the indoor blower fan 311 with the vertical airflow direction plates 291 and 292 and the left and right airflow direction plates 295 facing or avoiding the area determined to have a human body.

  Next, changes in the signal from the infrared sensor 410 due to the movement of a person in the room will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing movement when a person enters the room. 16 is a waveform output of the human detection sensor in the case of FIG. 15, (a) is an analog waveform of the left infrared sensor output, (b) is a digital waveform of the left human detection sensor output, and (c) is an analog of the right infrared sensor output. Waveform (d) is a digital waveform of the right person detection sensor output. FIG. 17 is a detection area division diagram of the human detection sensor.

  As shown in FIG. 15, when a person 907 enters the room 902 from the position P and moves to the position S via the positions Q and R, the infrared sensor 410a of the person detection sensor 140a is analog as shown in FIG. Output a signal. The human detection sensor 140a processes the analog output by the amplifier 130, the comparator 131, etc. so that an activity pulse (Hi pulse in the embodiment) is output when the absolute value of the analog output exceeds a certain level. A digital waveform as shown in FIG. 16B is converted and output to the arithmetic control unit 132. This digital waveform is read in a constant cycle inside the arithmetic control unit 132 of the infrared detector 14 and the number of times that an activity pulse is detected is counted. When the number of detections during a predetermined time is equal to or greater than the presence threshold value indicating that there is a person, for example, when there is a person at positions Q and R, the arithmetic control unit 132 determines that the left person detection sensor 140a has detected a person. Similarly, the infrared sensor 410c and the right person detection sensor 140c also output signals as shown in FIGS. 16C and 16D. Similarly, when there is a person at the positions R and S, for example, the arithmetic control unit 132 is the right person. It is determined that the detection sensor 140c has detected a person.

  In the above description, for the sake of brevity, it is written as if there is a person at every moment when a person moves. In the embodiment, the predetermined time is set to 30 seconds. The response of only a few seconds between movements does not determine the presence of a person, but the reaction of detecting the natural movement after a person stops moving will determine the majority. As described above, by appropriately selecting the predetermined time, it is possible to greatly reduce the possibility of judging that there is a person and simply performing unnecessary control when only passing. In addition, by using two infrared sensors 410, the detection area is detected only by the left person detection sensor 140a, the area detected only by the right person detection sensor 140c, and the area detected by the left and right human detection sensors 140a, c. It can be divided into three.

  In the embodiment, the activity pulse is Hi pulse, but conversely, the output of the human detection sensor 140 when no person is present in the room is Hi, the output when the person is active is Lo, and Lo Of course, the number of detections of the activity pulse may be counted.

  The infrared detector 14 is attached to the indoor unit 2 and this detection area is lowered to the level of the floor for the sake of simplicity, and is represented as shown in FIG. 17, and the left and right human detection sensors 140a, 140c are independent of the room as described above. The detection areas 610A and C for detection and the left and right human detection sensors 140a and 140c are divided into detection areas 610AC for detection. In order to simplify the description, the region 610A may be abbreviated as (1), the region 610C may be abbreviated as (2), and the region 610AC may be abbreviated as (3).

  When only the left person detection sensor 140a detects, a human body exists in the detection area 610A, and when only the right person detection sensor 140c detects, a human body exists in the detection area 610C, and the left person detection sensor 140a and the right person When both detection sensors 140c detect, it is estimated that a human body exists in detection area 610AC or detection areas 610A, 610C, and 610AC.

  Here, the configuration of the region will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram of the area, (a) is the area of the sum of A and C, (b) is the area of the exclusive sum of A and C, (c) is the area of the difference excluding C from A, (d) Is a difference area excluding A from C, and (e) is a product area of A and C.

  In the embodiment, the region estimated to have a person from the output of the human detection sensor 140 is configured by the sum, exclusive sum, difference, or product of the detection areas of the left and right human detection sensors 140a and 140c. When the detection area A of the left person detection sensor 140a is indicated by symbol A and the detection area C of the right person detection sensor 140c is indicated by symbol C as shown in FIG. 18A, the sum of the area A and the area C is shown in FIG. ), The exclusive sum of areas A and C is the hatched area in FIG. 18 (b), the difference between areas A and C is the hatched area in FIG. 18 (c), and the difference between area C and area A is FIG. The hatched portion in (d), the product of the sections A and C, is defined as the hatched section in FIG. Such a definition can be easily inferred from group theory and is easy to understand.

  Next, the division of the indoor region in the vertical direction by the up and down wind direction plates will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram of dividing the detection area by the vertical wind direction plate. FIG. 20 is a far area detection state diagram by the up and down wind direction plates. FIG. 21 is a state detection state diagram of the middle region by the vertical wind direction plate. FIG. 22 is a near area detection state diagram by the up and down wind direction plate.

  In the embodiment, in addition to the above-described division of the detection area in the left-right room of the air conditioner, the detection area is also divided using the up / down wind direction plate 291 in the depth direction of the air conditioner. As described above, the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 has a function of guiding the blown airflow to the upper enlarged portion 290e that is provided downstream of the blowout air passage 290 and expands upward. When detecting the presence or absence of an occupant, the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 is rotated and stopped at a position that partially blocks the visual field of the human detection sensor 140. As shown in FIG. 19, the upper and lower wind direction plates 291 are stopped at positions i, j, k, and m attached to the tips of the upper upper and lower wind direction plates 291, respectively. They are called 491i, j, k, m.

  At the upper vertical wind direction plate position 491i, the entire field of view of the human detection sensor 140 is hidden by the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 and it is impossible to detect the presence or absence of a person in the room. Of the visual field of the human detection sensor 140, only the detection range 591j can be detected at the upper vertical wind direction plate position 491j, and only the detection range 591k can be detected at the upper vertical wind direction plate position 491k. At the upper vertical wind direction plate position 491m, the detection range 591m = the entire visual field can be detected.

  When the position of the occupant is to be detected using the upper vertical wind direction plate 291, first, the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 is stopped at the upper vertical wind direction plate position 491 j as shown in FIG. Detect the presence or absence of people in the room. If the occupant is detected at this time, it is understood that the occupant is in the detection range 591j.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 21, the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 is stopped at the upper vertical wind direction plate position 491k, and the presence / absence of a person in the room is detected by the human detection sensor 140. If the occupant is detected at this time, it is understood that the occupant is in the detection range 591k including the detection range 591j. Furthermore, when no person is detected in the detection range 591j in the previous detection operation, it is determined that there is a person in the range excluding the detection range 591j from the detection range 591k.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 22, the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 is stopped at the upper vertical wind direction plate position 491 m, and the presence / absence of a person in the room is detected by the human detection sensor 140. If the occupant is detected at this time, it is understood that the occupant is in the detection range 591m including the detection range 591k. Further, if no person is detected in the detection range 591k in the previous detection operation, it is understood that there is a person in the range excluding the detection range 591k from the detection range 591m.

  Next, a method for estimating the presence area in the depth direction from the presence or absence of a person in the room detected by the human detection sensor 140 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 23 is a detection area division diagram in the perspective direction by the vertical wind direction plate seen in the vertical plane. FIG. 24 is a detection area division diagram of the floor surface by the vertical wind direction plate. FIG. 25 is a detection area division diagram using the left and right infrared sensors and the vertical wind direction plate.

  When the results obtained by the above-described three detection operations are made to correspond to the depth direction of the room as viewed from the air conditioner, the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 stops at the upper vertical wind direction plate position 491j as shown in FIG. When the presence / absence of an occupant is detected, the field of view of the human detection sensor 140 is limited to the detection range 591j, and thus the occupant in the detection area 691J is detected.

  Further, when the presence of the occupant is detected by stopping the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 at the upper vertical wind direction plate position 491k, the field of view of the human detection sensor 140 extends to the detection range 591k. A room person will be detected.

  Further, when detecting the presence or absence of a room occupant by stopping the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 at the upper vertical wind direction plate position 491m, the visual field of the human detection sensor 140 is not obstructed at all and extends to the detection range 591m. Persons in the detection areas 691J, K, and M are detected.

  When the above detection area is viewed as being spread on the floor, it is as shown in FIG. 24, and the detection area can be divided in the depth direction of the room.

  Thus, by dividing the room in the left-right direction using the plurality of human detection sensors 140a, 140c shown in FIG. 11 and dividing the room in the front-rear direction using the upper vertical wind direction plate 291, FIG. As shown in Fig. 3, the room is divided into nine areas, cross detection areas 710JA to MC, front and rear, left and right, and the direction of the occupants and the depth range can be known, and this is used to control the air conditioner appropriately. can do.

  In the above description, for the sake of simplicity, the boundary of the detection region is placed at a position where the boundary of the detection range reaches the floor surface. However, in actuality, the human detection sensor 140 easily detects the human face and neck. The boundary line of the detection area cannot be determined strictly because of the difference in position, whether a person is standing up, sitting on a chair, sitting on the floor, or sleeping. However, it is possible to roughly classify people such as being far away in the room, being in the middle, or being close to the room. Therefore, the air conditioning according to the classification as described above can have a sufficient effect.

  Next, a human detection method will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 26 is a flowchart showing the main part of the detection procedure. FIG. 27 is an input signal count time chart.

  The air conditioner according to the embodiment estimates the position of a person in the room and controls the air conditioner so that appropriate air conditioning is performed according to the position. FIG. 26 is a flowchart for determining a position where a person is present. A method for estimating a position where a person is present will be described below with reference to this flowchart.

  In step S1, the infrared detection device 14 enters a detection period of a predetermined time for detecting a person in the room, and as described above, the input signal from the human detection sensor 140 to the arithmetic control unit 132 is read at a predetermined period, Count the number of times the output is Hi to determine the number of active pulse detections. In the embodiment, as shown in FIG. 27, reading is performed for 30 seconds in a cycle of 10 ms, and when the input signal from the left person detection sensor 140a is Hi, the number of times of Hi of the left person detection sensor is increased by one. In the drawing, the left person detection sensor 140a and the right person detection sensor 140c are abbreviated as a left sensor and a right sensor.

  Similarly, when the input signal from the right person detection sensor 140c is Hi, the Hi number of the right person detection sensor is incremented by 1, and the number immediately before the predetermined time elapses is set as the detection number of each person detection sensor. In the embodiment, the reading cycle is set to 10 ms. However, the appropriate range of this cycle changes depending on how much the resolution of the Fresnel lens and the moving speed of the person are assumed. With the following cycle, there is no problem in detecting a fast movement in the room. Even if the reading cycle is shorter than 10 ms, the accuracy of detecting a person's movement is almost the same as in the case of a period of 10 ms, and there is no problem in detecting the person's movement. Even if the amount becomes large and the period is shortened, there is no effect.

  Next, a method for specifying a position where a person is present will be described with reference to FIGS. 26 and 28 to 32. FIG. 28 shows a tentative area determination method. FIG. 29 is a correspondence diagram between the number of detections of activity pulses of the human detection sensor and the existing area A, (a) is absent, (b) is a person in the left area, (c) is a person in the right area This is the case. FIG. 30 is a table showing provisional determination of the existing area. FIG. 31 is an explanatory diagram of selecting a region when both human detection sensors are present. FIG. 31A illustrates a region (1) + (2) + (3) when a person is concentrated on the region (3). ) Is distributed and there are people. FIG. 32 is a correspondence diagram B of the number of activity pulses detected by the human detection sensor and the existing area. FIG. 32A shows a case where there are people concentrated in the central area, and FIG. Is the case.

  In step S2 of FIG. 26, the number of detections of the activity pulse of each person detection sensor 140 is compared with the presence threshold as shown in FIG. 28, and when the number of detection of the activity pulse of the left person detection sensor 140a is equal to or greater than the presence threshold, The left person detection sensor 140a recognizes that the person has been detected, and the right person detection sensor 140c recognizes that the person has been detected when the number of detections of the activity pulse of the right person detection sensor 140c is equal to or greater than the current threshold.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 29 (a), when the number of detections of the activity pulses of the left and right human detection sensors 140a and 140c is both less than the presence threshold, it is determined that no person is present in the room. In addition, as shown in FIG. 29B, when the number of detections of the activity pulse of the left person detection sensor 140a is equal to or greater than the current threshold and the number of detections of the activity pulse of the right person detection sensor 140c is less than the current threshold, there is a person present. Let the region be region 610A. In addition, as shown in FIG. 29C, when the number of detections of the activity pulse of the left person detection sensor 140a is less than the current threshold and the number of detections of the activity pulse of the right person detection sensor 140c is equal to or greater than the current threshold, there is a person. Let the region be a region 610C.

In addition, when the number of activity pulses detected by the left and right human detection sensors 140a and 140c is equal to or greater than a threshold value,
(I) There are people in the central region 610AC (ii) There are people in the region 610A and the region 610C (iii) There are people in the region 610A and the region 610AC (iv) There are people in the region 610AC and the region 610C (v) There are five cases where there are people in the area 610A, the area 610AC, and the area 610C. When this is summarized from the viewpoint of controlling the air conditioner, there is a case where a person is concentrated in the central area 610AC as shown in (i), and the narrow area may be air-conditioned in a spot manner (ii) ( iii) As in (iv) and (v), it can be divided into cases where people are widely dispersed in the room and there is a need to air-condition the entire room extensively. Hereinafter, these are represented by (i) the case where there are people in the central region 610AC and (v) the case where there are people dispersed in the regions 610A, 610AC, and 610C.

  The above relationship is summarized as shown in FIG. 30. When the left and right human detection sensors 140a and 140c detect a person, two areas emerge as human area candidates.

  Next, a method for selecting an existing area from the above two existing area candidates will be described. When there is a person in the area 610AC, the left and right human detection sensors 140a and 140c detect the movement of the same person, so that the left and right human detection sensors 140a and 140c exhibit substantially the same reaction as shown in FIG. Since the number of detections of the activity pulse is almost the same, the difference between the number of detections of the activity pulse of the left and right human detection sensors 140a, 140c is less than a predetermined difference (s) as shown in FIG. A region where a person is present is a region 610AC.

  In addition, when there are people dispersed in the area 610A, the area 610AC, and the area 610C, the left and right human detection sensors 140a and c detect the person, but the amount and time of the person's movement differ depending on the individual. As a matter of course, the results of detecting the movements of a plurality of different persons are different, and the difference in the number of detections of activity pulses is large. Therefore, when the difference in the number of detected activity pulses is equal to or greater than the predetermined difference (s) described above, the regions where people are present are defined as region 610A, region 610AC, and region 610C as shown in FIG.

  At this time, in addition to a simple difference in the number of detections of activity pulses, for example, when the number of detections of only the activity pulse of one human detection sensor 140 is less than a predetermined number, (a) there is a person in the central area 610AC. If it is greater than or equal to the predetermined value, (b) there may be a person in the area 610A, the area 610AC, and the area 610C.

  In this way, the outputs of the left and right human detection sensors 140a and 140c in a detection period of a predetermined time are read at a constant cycle, the number of times of Hi is counted, the number of detections of the activity pulse is obtained, and according to the number of detections, Determine the presence and area of people.

  As a result, the presence / absence of a person and the presence / absence area are shown in FIG. 29 (a), the area (1) in FIG. 29 (b), the area (2) in FIG. 29 (c), and the area (3) in FIG. ), And can be divided into five regions (1) + (2) + (3) in FIG.

  In this case, (1), (2), (3) are unit areas, and (1) + (2) + (3) is a combination of a plurality of unit areas (1) + (2), (1) + This region is representative of (3), (2) + (3), (1) + (2) + (3).

  Next, an outline of the final determination method of the existing area will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 33 is an explanatory diagram of a two-stage estimation method.

  A section from the start of the above-described detection section to the start of the next detection section is referred to as a temporary determination section, and the presence / absence and presence area of the person obtained in this detection section are referred to as a temporary determination result. This temporary determination section is repeated a predetermined number of times, and final determination is performed according to the temporary determination results. That is, as shown in FIG. 33, there is a detection section having a shorter predetermined time in the provisional determination section, and provisional determination is performed from the detection result in the detection section, and final determination is performed from the predetermined number of provisional determination results.

  For this reason, the final determination result reflects the detection result of a long time interval including these predetermined number of provisional determination sections, and the movement position of the person is captured in a long time, so that the position where the person is present is determined. The air conditioner is controlled according to the final determination result.

  This is because when maintaining the comfort of the room with an air conditioner, if the air conditioner is frequently changed, the control will not be stable and the occupants will often be uncomfortable. If it has changed, the change will be captured and the air will move to air conditioning centered on a new place with a natural feeling, and the control will be stabilized so that it will not change frequently.

  Next, detection of the amount of activity of the resident will be described with reference to FIGS. 26, 34, and 35. 34 is a provisional judgment method for the level of the amount of activity, (a) is when the person is in (1) or (2), (b) is when the person is in (3), (c) is the person Is in (1) + (2). FIG. 35 is a provisional determination result at the stage of the amount of activity. FIG. 35A shows a case where a person is in a single area, and FIG. 35B shows a case where a person is in a plurality of areas or is absent.

In step S2 of FIG. 26, in addition to the above-described presence / absence of the person and the provisional determination result of the area, the level of the amount of activity of the person in the room is obtained. The level of the amount of activity of people in the room is divided into three stages: small, medium, and large, and it should be determined as follows.
Stage of activity level “Large”: People are dispersed in (1) + (2) + (3)
Existence and great response. moving.
Stage of activity level “medium”: people are dispersed in (1) + (2) + (3)
Present and less responsive. In moderation
moving.
Or
A person is in (1), (2) or (3) ←
Present and responsive. moving.
Stage of activity size “Small”: A person is in (1), (2) or (3)
Present and less responsive. In moderation
moving.

  The level of the amount of activity is divided into three stages. The air conditioner for homes has the required cooling and heating capacity considering the general construction structure and the number of people in the room according to the size. Since it is simply calculated, the large-scale state of the amount of activity in which several people are moving in a wide range almost corresponds to the rated capacity of the air conditioner. On the other hand, there is a need for energy saving operation when the amount of activity is small. For this reason, the range in which the set temperature is raised or lowered is up to about 2 ° C. so as not to lose comfort. For these reasons, even if the activity level is divided into many stages, only the changes in the set temperature are subdivided, and there is no significant difference in the energy saving effect. For this reason, it is realistic to classify the level of the activity amount into about three levels so as not to complicate the control.

  In order to classify the level of the amount of activity of the person in the room as described above, the classification is performed as shown in FIG. 35 according to FIG. 34 according to the above-described provisional determination result of the existing area and the number of detections of the activity pulse.

  FIG. 34 (a) shows a case where the current area is (1) or (2), and when the number of times of detection of the activity pulses of the left and right human detection sensors 140a and 140c is less than the activity amount threshold 1, the activity amount is large. The level of the activity amount is set to “small”, and when the activity amount threshold is 1 or more, the size of the activity amount is set to “medium”.

  FIG. 34 (b) shows a case where the current area is (3), and when the average of the number of detections of the activity pulses of the left and right human detection sensors 140a and 140c is less than the activity amount threshold 1, the level of the activity amount is shown. “Small” is set, and when the activity amount threshold is 1 or more, the level of the amount of activity is set to “medium”.

  FIG. 34 (c) shows a case where the current area is (1) + (2) + (3), and the total number of activity pulses detected by the left and right human detection sensors 140a and 140c is less than the activity amount threshold value 2. The stage of magnitude of activity is set to “medium”, and the stage of magnitude of activity is set to “large” when the quantity of activity threshold is 2 or more. When there is no person, the lowest activity level is set, and the level of activity level is “small”.

  In summary, when the presence region is (1), (2), or (3) according to the presence / absence and presence region of the person and the number of detections of the activity pulses of the left and right human detection sensors 140a and 140c, FIG. A temporary determination result is obtained as shown in (a), and if the existing area is (1) + (2) + (3) or absent, a temporary determination result is obtained as shown in FIG.

  Next, a case where it is clear that there is a person in one temporary detection will be described with reference to FIGS. 26, 36, and 37. FIG. 36 shows a prompt decision method, (a) shows a case where a person is in a single area, and (b) shows a case where a person is in a plurality of areas. FIG. 37 is a summary view of the prompt decision results. FIG. 37A shows a case where the person is in a single area, and FIG. 37B shows a case where the person is in a plurality of areas or is absent.

  In step S3 of FIG. 26, it is determined whether or not the number of times of detection of the activity pulse in the temporary determination section matches the prompt decision condition. The prompt decision condition is a condition for surely identifying the area where the person is present from the temporary determination result of one time, and is determined depending on the above-described presence / absence of the person, the temporary determination result of the existing area, and the number of detections of the activity pulse. The determination is made according to 36 as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 36 (a) shows a case where the current area is (1), (2) or (3), and the prompt decision threshold value 1 is greater than the present threshold value in which the number of detections of the activity pulse of either the left or right human detection sensor 140a, c. If it exceeds, the prompt decision condition is established, and if it is less than the prompt decision threshold 1, the prompt decision condition is not established.

  FIG. 36B shows a case where the current area is (1) + (2) + (3), and the immediate decision threshold 2 in which the total number of detections of the activity pulses of the left and right human detection sensors 140a, 140c is larger than the immediate decision threshold 1. If it exceeds, the prompt decision condition is established, and if it is less than the prompt decision threshold 2, the prompt decision condition is not established.

  Summarizing the above, depending on the number of detections of the activity pulses of the existing area and the left and right human detection sensors 140a, c, when the existing area is (1), (2) or (3), as shown in FIG. Whether or not the prompt decision condition is met is determined. If the existing area is (1) + (2) + (3), it is determined whether or not the prompt determination condition is met as shown in FIG. In the absence, prompt decision conditions are not satisfied.

  If the prompt decision condition is satisfied, the process proceeds to step S7. If the prompt decision condition is not satisfied, the process proceeds to step S4.

  In step S4, it is determined whether N times (N = 4 in the case of the present embodiment), which is a predetermined number, have been executed. If the number of executions of the provisional determination is less than the predetermined number, the process returns to step S1, enters the next provisional determination section, and executes the provisional determination of the presence / absence of the person and the presence area again.

  If the number of executions of the provisional determination reaches a predetermined number in step S4, the provisional determination is terminated, and the process proceeds to step S5 to perform the final determination, and it is determined whether or not all the N temporary determination results are absent.

  If all the N temporary determination results are absent in step S5, the process proceeds to step S6, where there is a high possibility that the room will continue to be absent, the set temperature is greatly changed, and energy saving is further enhanced as described later. Energy saving operation control is performed, the process returns to step S1, enters the next determination section, and executes the detection operation in the first temporary determination section.

  If there is at least one tentative determination result of the current area in step S5, the process proceeds to step S8, where the presence / absence of the current person, the current area and the size of the activity amount are determined from N temporary determination results and the last final determination result. The final determination of the stage is performed, and the process proceeds to step S9.

  When the prompt determination condition is satisfied in step S3, the temporary determination result of the temporary determination section in which the prompt determination condition is satisfied in step S7 is adopted as the final determination result, and the process proceeds to step S9.

  In step S9, as described above, human detection is performed in a region in the depth direction of the room using the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 as a shielding plate of the infrared sensor 410, and the process proceeds to step S10.

  In step S10, as will be described later, the existing area history is updated, the air conditioner is controlled in accordance with the above-described final determination result, depth direction human detection result, existing area history, etc., and the process returns to step S1, Entering the next determination section, the detection operation in the first provisional determination section is executed.

  The above steps will be briefly described with reference to FIG. FIG. 38 is an explanatory diagram of repeated control.

  As shown in FIG. 38, the final determination of the position of the person is usually performed for each determination section having a fixed time, and the control of the air conditioner is updated or maintained every time the final determination is made.

  There are a plurality of predetermined (N: N = 4 in the embodiment) provisional determination sections in this determination section. In each provisional determination section, the human detection sensor 140 has a detection period of a predetermined time shorter than the provisional determination section. The output is read, the read data is processed, and the above-described provisional determination is performed.

  The temporary determination is performed for each temporary determination section, and the position where the person is present is finally determined according to the result of each temporary determination and the previous final determination result.

  In addition, when the output of the human detection sensor 140 in the temporary determination section that is the basis of the temporary determination is larger than usual, the subsequent temporary determination section is omitted as shown by the dotted arrow in FIG. The temporary determination result of the temporary determination section is adopted as the final determination result.

  Equipment to be controlled includes compressors built in air conditioners, refrigerant circuit control devices, blower fans, left and right wind direction plates, up and down wind direction plates, and display devices, as well as ventilators, air purifiers, and deodorizers. There are various devices such as devices, electrostatic atomizers, anion generators, humidifiers, oxygen enrichers, intrusion detectors, etc., depending on the presence or absence of people, operation / stop of equipment, change of capacity, heating / Switching between cooling / dehumidification, changing the direction of blown air, threatening / warning / reporting when an intruder is detected can be performed.

As described above, the air conditioner of the embodiment includes a housing having an air suction port and an air outlet, a heat exchanger disposed in the housing, and sucks room air from the air suction port. It has a blower fan that blows out from the air outlet after passing through a container, left and right wind direction plates provided in the blower air path of the blower fan, upper and lower wind direction plates, and an infrared sensor, and the room is divided into a plurality of regions. An infrared detector for estimating the presence or absence of a room person,
A predetermined plurality of provisional determination sections are defined in the determination section for determining the presence / absence and presence area of a person, and the presence / absence and presence area of a person are provisionally determined,
When the value based on the output of the infrared sensor in the provisional determination section does not exceed a predetermined threshold, based on the result of the predetermined plurality of provisional determination, finally determine the presence / absence of the person and the presence area,
When the value based on the output of the infrared sensor in the temporary determination section exceeds a predetermined threshold, the result of the temporary determination in the temporary determination section is determined as the final determination.

  As a result, a long determination interval is usually taken and a long-term change in the room is detected, so that malfunctions that are confused by short-term changes are eliminated. In addition, because the judgment section is divided into a plurality of provisional judgment sections and the provisional judgment is performed for each provisional judgment section to grasp the indoor situation, it is possible to capture the information accurately without any information bias by capturing the room information uniformly. be able to.

  In addition, since the data in the provisional determination section is used only for provisional determination, and only one result is selected in the provisional determination, the data of a plurality of provisional determination candidates antagonize in the provisional determination section, and the result of the provisional determination Even when changes sometimes, the final determination based on the results of a plurality of provisional determinations is stably maintained as a dominant provisional determination candidate even if it is slight.

  In addition, when the detection output in any temporary determination section clearly increases, the temporary determination section that follows the temporary determination section is omitted, and the final determination is made based on the output in the temporary determination section in which the detection output has clearly increased. Therefore, the time until the final determination is shortened, and the responsiveness of the control is ensured.

  In this way, the final determination is made at a time interval that usually balances a sufficient determination interval that allows reliable determination and a control interval that can ensure a gentle change without compromising indoor comfort, with emphasis on certainty. Thus, the comfort in the room is not impaired, and on the other hand, when the output of the provisional determination section obtained by dividing the determination section into a plurality of parts is obviously increased, the final determination is performed immediately, so that responsiveness is also ensured.

  For this reason, it is possible to provide an air conditioner that reliably and quickly determines a region where a person is present and appropriately controls without impairing indoor comfort.

  Further, the air conditioner of the embodiment is an area in which the area is divided by a sum, an exclusive sum, a difference, or a product of detection areas of the plurality of infrared sensors, and provisional determination of the presence / absence of the person and the presence area Is performed according to the output time within a predetermined time of the activity pulse digitally output based on the output of the infrared sensor related to the configuration of the region.

  As a result, a plurality of areas (including combinations of a plurality of areas) are defined in the detection areas of the plurality of infrared sensors, and each area is captured in the field of view (detection area) of one or a plurality of infrared sensors. In response, the output of an infrared sensor with a sensing area that is related to the formation of the boundary of the region changes. In this way, if a person continues to exist in an arbitrary area, even if the person is not particularly aware of the activity, the output of the infrared sensor related to the structure of the area is a physiological activity due to being there, It changes intermittently while there are people. By capturing the change in the output of the infrared sensor, a signal indicating activity is output from the infrared sensor. By calculating and analyzing the total length of activity pulses digitized from this, the above-mentioned person is present. It is possible to determine the presence / absence and area of a person in the room by capturing intermittent changes in the room.

  For this reason, the air conditioner which selects an existing area | region appropriately according to the combination of the output of an infrared sensor can be provided.

  Further, the air conditioner of the embodiment reads the digital output based on the output of the infrared sensor at a constant cycle, and if the number of detections of the activity pulse within the predetermined time exceeds the threshold value, The presence / absence of the person and the presence area are provisionally determined according to the combination of the number of detection times of the activity pulse based on the output of the infrared sensor related to the configuration of the area.

  Thereby, the sum total of the length of the above-mentioned activity pulse can be calculated | required by the frequency | count of detection, and a person's absence and presence can be distinguished. The presence / absence in each region can be distinguished by appropriately determining the number of times of detection for distinguishing the absence and presence of this person as the presence threshold. In addition, when there are multiple infrared sensors that output signals that result in exceeding the current threshold, the number of detections of the activity pulses based on the output of the multiple infrared sensors is analyzed, and further, the detection of the multiple infrared sensors is performed. An area can be divided into subdivided areas.

  Therefore, it is possible to provide an air conditioner in which presence / absence is appropriately provisionally determined and the existing area is appropriately selected.

In addition, the air conditioner of the example is
When the number of times of detection within the predetermined time is equal to or less than a prompt decision threshold set larger than the presence threshold,
Based on the predetermined plurality of provisional determination results and the previous final determination result, the presence / absence of the current person and the presence area are finally determined,
When the number of detections within the predetermined time exceeds the prompt decision threshold,
The result of the temporary determination in the temporary determination section is the final determination of the presence / absence of the person and the current area.

  As a result, the final determination of this time is normally performed in consideration of the final determination result of the previous time in addition to the temporary determination result of each temporary determination section, so that a reliable determination and a sudden change from the previous control are avoided. With the gently changing control, stable air-conditioning continues to be performed indoors and indoor comfort is maintained. On the other hand, the responsiveness when the output of the provisional determination section clearly increases is also ensured.

  Therefore, to provide an air conditioner that can control the air conditioner in a timely manner by reducing the time until the final judgment as necessary while maintaining the comfort of the room with normal gentle control. Can do.

In the air conditioner of the embodiment, the level of the activity amount of the person in the area is classified by the magnitude of the number of detections of the activity pulse within the predetermined time and the activity amount threshold determined according to the area. And
When the number of detections is less than or equal to the prompt decision threshold,
In accordance with the number of times of detection, for each provisional determination section, a step of the magnitude of the activity amount of the person is provisionally determined, and a step of the magnitude of the activity amount is finally determined based on the plurality of predetermined provisional determination results. And
When the number of detections exceeds the prompt decision threshold,
The result of the tentative determination in the tentative determination section is the final determination at the stage of the amount of activity.

  Thereby, by adjusting the capacity of the air conditioner according to the amount of activity, comfort can be improved by energy saving operation and quick control as needed. Also, normally, comfortable judgment and control according to the level of the amount of activity of the person gently maintain indoor comfort, while when the output of the provisional judgment section clearly increases, Responsive control ensures responsiveness to changing indoor conditions.

  For this reason, the air conditioner is controlled according to the amount of activity of the occupants, improving comfort and energy-saving operation, etc. It is possible to provide an air conditioner that shortens the time until the final determination as necessary, and controls the air conditioner in a timely manner.

  In the air conditioner of the embodiment, the infrared sensor is a pyroelectric infrared sensor.

  As a result, for example, when a specific area is exposed to sunlight or the heater is turned on / off, the detection output temporarily increases. However, since the infrared sensor is a pyroelectric type, it will soon be recognized as the background temperature. Therefore, it will not be detected and it will not be mistakenly determined that there is a person.

  Further, since it is not necessary to use an expensive sensor such as a thermopile, the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

  For this reason, it is possible to provide an air conditioner that is resistant to disturbances and has low manufacturing costs.

  Next, the final determination method will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 39 shows an example of presence area determination, and (b) shows a presence area weighting coefficient. FIG. 40 shows an example of stage determination of the amount of activity. FIG. 41 is an example of the stage determination result of the size of the current area / activity amount.

  In FIG. 39, the ◯ marks are the tentative areas temporarily determined in each tentative determination section, and the values in () are the weighting points given to the resident areas.

  As described above, the presence / absence of the air conditioner and the presence area of the air conditioner according to the embodiment are absent, and (5) (1), (2), (3), (1) + (2) + (3). Yes, for each provisional decision, a point weighted to the provisional decision result classification (area defined as an existing area or absence classification) is given. In the example of FIG. 39, α1 is given to the first temporary determination result area (1), α2 is given to the second temporary determination result area (3), and the third temporary determination result area (1) is given. .alpha.3, the fourth tentative determination result area (1) + (2) in the .alpha.4, fifth tentative determination result area (1), .alpha.5,..., the Nth tentative determination result area (1). αN points are given. Also, β points are given to the region (1) of the last final determination result.

  When a predetermined N number of tentative determination sections are completed, the points given for each of the presence / absence of the person and the division of the existing area are accumulated, and the total of the given points is the maximum (in this example, 30 points). (1) is finally determined to be the current area.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 39 (b), if the points given in each temporary determination are increased by a predetermined value every time, the latest temporary determination result is emphasized, and the control of the air conditioner is rational. Is done.

  In FIG. 40, the ◯ marks indicate the level of the amount of activity when the current area is the same as the current area (in this example, (1)) in each temporary determination section. It is the weighting point given to the stage of the magnitude of activity.

  Next, the stage of the magnitude of the activity amount in the area (1) which is the area where the final determination result described above is present is determined. As described above, the stage of the magnitude of the activity amount is divided into three stages, and a weighted point is given to the stage of magnitude of the activity amount at the time of provisional judgment in which each tentative judgment result of the existing area is the area (1). In the example of FIG. 40, points are given to the first, third, fifth,..., Nth stage of the amount of activity amount in which the temporary determination result of the existing area is the area (1). The first time is γ1, when the activity level is “Small” and the third time is also γ3 when the activity level is “Small”. The fifth time is γ5, when the activity level is “Middle”.・ ・ The Nth time gives γN points to the “small” stage of the magnitude of activity. Calculate the sum of the points given for each category of the level of activity level, and the level of activity level “Small” where the total of the given points is the maximum (27 in this example) is now It is finally determined that it is the stage of the magnitude of the activity amount.

  At this time, as in the case of the provisional determination of the existing area, the point given by each provisional determination is increased by a predetermined value every time, as in the case of the provisional determination of the existing area. Is reasonably controlled.

  In FIG. 41, the circles indicate the tentatively determined areas in each tentative determination section, the characters “medium” and “small” indicate the level of the amount of activity at the time of tentative determination, and the points are weighted points. It is.

  In FIG. 41, when N = 4 and the number of points is increased by one point for each provisional determination (α1 = γ1 = 1, α2 = γ2 = 2,...), The final determination of the presence / absence of the person and the presence area is performed. It is an example of the final judgment of the stage of the magnitude of activity. The existing area is maximum at 7 points in total, with the area (1) having 2 points at the previous point, 1 point in the provisional determination section 1, and 4 points in the provisional determination section 4, and is finally determined to the area (1).

  As for the stage of the magnitude of activity, the four points of the stage of activity magnitude “Middle” in the provisional judgment section 4 are the maximum in the area (1), and the final judgment is made at the stage of activity magnitude “Middle”. Is done.

  At this time, if the point given to the previous final determination result of the presence / absence of the person and the area is set to the middle of the point given to the current temporary determination result (β = 2 in the embodiment), the control becomes smooth and convenient. .

  Next, the determination of the far, middle and near in step S9 in FIG. 26 will be described with reference to FIGS. 19, 22, 42 and 43. FIG. FIG. 42 shows a far / middle / close determination method. FIG. 43 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the up-and-down wind direction plate portion during the cooling / dehumidifying operation of the indoor unit.

  In the detection section in each of the provisional determination sections described above, in order to detect the occupancy status of the entire room, from the human detection sensor 140 so that the position of the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 can be looked at from a position close to the far from the air conditioner. The distance is set at a close position which is the upper vertical wind direction plate position 491m in FIG.

  In step S9, the presence of the person in the detection ranges 591j and 591k is further detected by placing the position of the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 at a distant position and an intermediate position as the upper vertical wind direction plate positions 491j and 491k in FIG.

  If the final determination result is absent in step S8, the detection operation at a distant position or an intermediate position is omitted. This is because there is no person in the range from the near position to the far position, and it is useless even if the detection operation in the depth direction is performed.

  If it is determined in step S8 that there is a person in the room, the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 is rotated to a far position to perform a detection operation. When a person is detected by a detection operation at a far position, it is determined that there is a person in the distance, and the detection operation at the next intermediate position is omitted.

  This is because the air conditioner air-conditions the interior of a room, and when there are people in the distance, it is necessary to air-condition so that the distant people can be satisfied. Because the air conditioning is almost unsatisfactory for people in the middle or nearby, the same control can be performed regardless of whether there is a person in the middle or near, and the detection operation at the next middle position can be omitted. is there.

  When a person is not detected by a detection operation at a far position, a detection operation at an intermediate position is performed. If a person is detected by a detection operation at an intermediate position, it is determined that there is a person in the middle, and if no person is detected by a detection operation at an intermediate position, it is determined that there is a person nearby. .

  The above final judgment is briefly described as shown in FIG. 42. When a person is detected at a far position of the upper vertical wind direction plate 291, it is judged that the person is at a far position and no person is detected at a far position. If a person is detected at an intermediate position, it is determined that the person is at an intermediate position, and if no person is detected at a far position or an intermediate position, it is determined that the person is at a close position.

  The indoor blower fan 311 and the up-and-down air direction plates 291 and 292 are controlled to have appropriate strength and direction according to the final judgment of the position where the person is located far to close.

  In the cooling / dehumidifying operation, the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 is generally substantially parallel to the upper wall 290a and the lower wall 290b of the blowout air channel 290 as shown in FIG. In this case, during the human detection operation, it is necessary to lower the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 as shown in FIG. 22, and the vertical wind direction changes. In the embodiment, in order to reduce this influence, the length of the detection section (= predetermined time) is shortened to 30 seconds with respect to the length of the provisional determination section of 5 minutes. In a short time of 30 seconds, the refrigeration cycle of the air conditioner does not show a significant change due to its own heat capacity, and the change in the cooling and dehumidifying capacity in the room is not large. In addition, the effect on the room temperature determined by the thermal equilibrium with the outside air is small, and in the case of variable capacity air conditioners that have increased in recent years, the cooling and dehumidifying capacity is compensated according to the heat load, so There is no impact and comfort is maintained.

  On the other hand, since the vertical wind direction is disturbed during this period, it slightly affects the occupants, but since the time is short, it is a light change equivalent to or less than the swing control of the automatic wind direction plate that is generally performed, and comfort Will not be disturbed. Further, since there is no restriction on the position of the upper vertical wind direction plate 291 during the time other than the detection section in the provisional determination section, it can be directed in an arbitrary direction or automatically swung, which impairs convenience. There is nothing.

  As described above, in the air conditioner of the embodiment, the blower fan is a cross-flow type blower fan, and at least one of the left and right wind direction plates and the upper and lower wind direction plates is the blower fan. The shield plate of the infrared sensor is configured to rotate about an axis substantially parallel to the axis of the infrared sensor, and the shield plate hides most of the area in the room when operation is stopped, and the presence / absence of occupants in the room Alternatively, when detecting the existing region, the region is rotated stepwise to shield the region in a plurality of steps, and the region is further divided into a plurality of subdivided regions.

  Thereby, in addition to the division of the region by the plurality of human detection sensors (for example, the division in the left-right direction), the direction perpendicular to the region (for example, the depth direction) can also be divided. It becomes possible to control the air direction, air volume, cooling / heating capacity, etc. of the air conditioner according to the position.

  When the operation is stopped without using the air conditioner, as shown in Fig. 2, the upper vertical wind direction plate, the lower vertical wind direction plate, and the movable panel close the air outlet by the control device. It is not visible and does not disturb the indoor atmosphere.

  In addition, by using the upper vertical wind direction plate as a shielding plate that distinguishes the field of view of the infrared sensor in order to detect the position of the occupant, a dedicated shielding mechanism and a shielding plate driving unit are not required, thus saving resources. Therefore, mass and cost can be reduced.

  Therefore, it is possible to provide an air conditioner that does not disturb the indoor atmosphere, is suitable for resource saving, further subdivides the room, and realizes gentle air conditioning according to the position of the occupant.

  In addition, the air conditioner of the embodiment includes a horizontally long airflow fan in a horizontally long housing, and the plurality of infrared sensors are installed so that the central axis extends in the left-right direction, and serves as the shielding plate. The wind direction plate is a vertical wind direction plate, the region is shielded in a plurality of steps by stepwise rotation of the vertical wind direction plate, and the region is divided into a plurality of subdivided regions from a far region to a near region.

  Thereby, the visual field of the infrared sensor can be shielded stepwise by the upper and lower wind direction plates, and the perspective position of the occupant can be subdivided and detected, and a dedicated shielding mechanism and a shielding plate driving unit are not required, thus saving resources.

  For this reason, it is an air conditioner with a large number of horizontally long air conditioners that uses the drive mechanism of the upper vertical wind direction plate to subdivide the detection area at low cost and realizes gentle air conditioning according to the position of the occupant. Machine can be provided.

  Further, the air conditioner according to the embodiment includes a compressor, a refrigerant circuit, according to the final determination result of the presence / absence of the person and the presence area and the final determination result of the stage of the amount of activity of the person in the presence area. Control at least one of the control device, the blower fan, the left and right wind direction plates, the upper and lower wind direction plates, or the display device.

  As a result, the temperature setting can be saved when the capacity of cooling / heating is adjusted according to the occupant's condition, the humidity setting for dehumidification is changed, or when there is no occupant for a predetermined time. The air conditioner is stopped when the absence continues, the spot air conditioning is focused on the existing area, the air is blown away from the existing area, the air conditioning capacity is increased, the air is blown It is possible to control the normal operation of an air conditioner, such as adjusting the strength of the air conditioner, without bothering humans, and automatically displaying according to changes in these operating conditions The air conditioner has excellent operability and convenience.

  Therefore, it is possible to provide an air conditioner that automatically performs comfortable operation or energy saving operation according to the state of the occupant.

  In addition, the air conditioner according to the embodiment is configured such that the predetermined time for detecting the activity pulse is shorter than the provisional determination interval of the presence / absence of the person and the area, and the shielding is performed at a time other than the predetermined time for detecting the activity pulse. It has a control device that swings an up-and-down wind direction plate as a plate.

  As a result, even when the up / down wind direction plate serving as a shielding plate during cooling / dehumidifying operation is directed to a position that obstructs the field of view of the infrared sensor, the above-described up / down air direction plate must be directed to a position not suitable for cooling / dehumidifying operation. Can be completed in a short time, and for most of the time, the up-and-down wind direction plate can be kept at an appropriate position.

  In this case, since the detection result of a part of the tentative determination section is the result of the tentative determination section, there is a possibility that the state of the tentative determination section is not correctly reflected. However, as described above, a plurality of provisional determination sections are determined, and the results of the provisional determinations of the plurality of provisional determination sections are combined to make a final determination. The state of the determination section can be reflected almost correctly in the determination.

  This is because, as described above, when maintaining the comfort of the room with an air conditioner, if the state of the air conditioner is frequently changed, the control will not be stable and the occupants will often be uncomfortable. Avoid changing control at short time intervals.

  In addition, there are waves in human activities, but the type of action (watching TV, reading, cleaning, cooking, talking, having flexible exercises, playing ping-pong, standing, sitting Depending on the type of these actions, it is well known to calculate the heat load by the occupants of the air conditioner.

  When a person in the room is doing something, it applies to one of these behavior types, but the behavior type changes in part (for example, a person standing is around 20 seconds (some In the meantime, the main types of actions continue, for example, watching TV, reading, cleaning, and ping-pong every 5 minutes. There is no such thing as changing the type of action without hesitation.

  The duration of the main action type lasts for 20 minutes or more, which is a so-called (one break) feeling. In this way, the determination interval is set to one or more times (20 minutes in the embodiment), the temporary determination interval is not set to a time (5 minutes in the embodiment), and the detection interval is set to a short time (30 seconds in the embodiment) or more. By setting to, the state of the determination section can be reflected almost correctly in the final determination.

  Therefore, it is possible to provide an air conditioner that maintains indoor comfort even during cooling and dehumidifying operations while performing a human detection operation.

  Next, the past area history in step S10 will be described with reference to FIG. 44A and 44B show a determination method of past area history, FIG. 44A shows an example of accumulated past data, and FIG. 44B shows an example of ranking of areas where people are present.

  In step S10, the latest final determination results for a plurality of existing areas are accumulated, and the existing areas are ranked by the number of accumulations. As shown in FIG. 44 (a), every time the final determination result of the existing area is output, the oldest data of the accumulated data of the final determination result of the existing area multiple times (255 times in the embodiment) in the past. Is discarded, and the final judgment result of this time is added and updated. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 44 (b), the number of accumulations is counted for each area, the areas are ranked by the number of accumulations, and the area having the largest number of accumulations is set to be the first. At this time, it can be said that the characteristic of this area is “always where you are”. The area where the number of times of accumulation is the smallest is No. 4, and the characteristic is “a place where there is not always”.

  This makes it possible to know where there are always people and where there are no people, and when you start driving on-timer, even if there are no people, you can send wind to the highest ranking place, When it is desired to avoid hitting, it is possible to automatically perform driving such as sending wind toward a place with a low rank excluding the place where it is now, and there is no troublesomeness.

  Next, application examples of human detection will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 45 shows a change sequence of the wind direction. FIG. 46 shows an example of energy saving control based on the level of the amount of activity. FIG. 47 shows an example of the blowing direction, (a) is left corner blowing, (b) is right corner blowing, (c) is front blowing, and (d) is wide blowing.

  In FIG. 45, using the human detection result, a spot air-conditioning operation for directing the wind in the direction of the person and an air-conditioning operation for the entire room that sends the wind over a wide area of the room are alternately repeated.

  This is to meet the need to concentrate on the cold and hot air when entering the room from the outside non-air-conditioned space.

  At this time, the time to receive the wind is set short, so if you want to extend the time to hit the wind, shake the hand toward the air conditioner, etc. In the final determination of the existing area, the time to hit the wind can be extended. On the contrary, if you set the time to receive the wind for a long time, you have already hit the wind, so even if you want to return to the air conditioning of the whole room, if you move to escape from the wind, the movement will be detected Then, the wind is chasing and you can't escape, you just have to operate the remote control to change the direction of the wind, or just wait for the time to elapse.

  Further, instead of sending the wind over a wide area of the room, the wind may be directed in a direction other than the direction in which the person is present. In this case, as directions other than the direction in which the person is present, when the wind is directed to the area where the standing is low next to the area where the person is present, the wind engulfed toward the adjacent area or the wind hitting the wall Comfort is maintained even when soft wind such as reflection is received indirectly and wind is not received directly.

  In FIG. 46, by using the result of the magnitude level of the activity amount, the energy saving operation is automatically performed according to the magnitude level of the activity amount, thereby performing the control that balances the comfort and the energy saving. is there.

  This is to save energy by changing the indoor set temperature and set humidity according to the stage of the amount of activity of the occupants when the user sets the operation in the energy saving mode. The lower the set temperature, the lower the active temperature level (in the example, the maximum is 2 degrees lower), and the lower the active level, the higher the level of the activity level (in the example, the maximum 2 degrees). ), And when dehumidifying, the set humidity is increased (in the embodiment, increased by 15% at the maximum) as the level of the amount of activity is smaller.

  Thus, during heating operation, the lower the room temperature, the lower the room temperature, the lower the room temperature, the lower the room temperature, the lower the room temperature and the lower the room temperature. To balance. During cooling operation, the lower the amount of activity and the lower the amount of heat generated by the human body, the higher the room temperature. The higher the amount of activity and the amount of heat generated by the human body, the lower the range of the increased room temperature to balance energy saving and comfort. . During dehumidifying operation, the lower the amount of activity and the lower the amount of heat generated by the human body, the higher the humidity. The higher the amount of activity and the greater the amount of heat generated by the human body, the lower the range of humidity to balance energy saving and comfort. .

  In step S6 in FIG. 26, as the absence energy-saving operation control performed when the absence continues, the control is performed according to the stage of the largest activity amount during heating, and the smallest activity during cooling and dehumidification. If the control is performed according to the stage of the quantity, it is suitable for energy saving as standby air conditioning when the occupant is relatively long in the middle, and when the occupant returns, the air conditioning is turned on for a short time. The room can be changed to a comfortable space, and the satisfaction of the occupants is not impaired.

  In the example, when the absence time (second predetermined time) continues for 20 minutes, this absence energy-saving operation control is performed.

  FIG. 47 shows an example of the wind direction when the indoor unit 2 is viewed from above when the wind direction is changed according to the final determination result of the existing area. For example, when the wind direction is directed to the area (1), FIG. The left and right wind direction plates 295 are controlled as shown in (a), the area (2) is (b), the area (3) is (c), and the area (1) + (2) + (3) is (d). The left and right wind direction plates 295 are controlled.

  In addition, if it is configured so that the present threshold value, prompt decision threshold value 1, 2 and activity amount threshold value 1, 2 used in the above description can be changed by a special operation of the remote controller 5, it would be more energy-saving driving, When there is a user's intention to place more emphasis on comfort, these threshold values can be changed, and the control responsiveness can be adjusted according to the user's intention to save energy or satisfy the user. Can be increased.

  The same effect can be obtained by storing this threshold value in a removable storage device and changing the threshold value by replacing the removable storage device. In this case, it goes without saying that the control can be changed not only for the threshold value but also for various environments.

  As described above, the air conditioner of the embodiment is configured to be able to change the presence threshold value, the prompt decision threshold value, and the activity amount threshold value.

  Accordingly, for example, these threshold values are stored in a removable storage device or a storage device rewritable from the operation unit, and the threshold values are changed by exchanging the removable storage device or rewriting the rewritable storage device. . By doing this, if there is a user's intention of wanting more energy-saving driving or more emphasis on comfort, the size of the room, the number of people in the room, The above-mentioned threshold value can be changed when the aspect ratio of the room, the arrangement of furniture, the length of usage time, etc. are different and the usage pattern of the air conditioner is special. If the threshold value is changed to a larger value, the detection sensitivity becomes dull, and frequent operation changes of the air conditioner are suppressed.If the threshold value is changed to a smaller value, the detection sensitivity becomes sharper and the air conditioner The frequency of operation changes increases.

  For this reason, it is possible to provide an air conditioner that adjusts control responsiveness according to the installation environment of the air conditioner or the user's intention, thereby improving energy saving or satisfaction.

  Next, Example 2 in which the number of infrared sensors is increased will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 48 is a detection range diagram of the infrared detection device according to the second embodiment. FIG. 49 is a detection area division diagram of the detection apparatus. FIG. 50 is a region estimation diagram of the detection device, (a) is a schematic diagram of region classification, (b) is a region when the difference between a and b is large, and (c) is when the difference between a and b is small. It is the existing area.

  In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 48, the number of infrared sensors 410 in the first embodiment is increased from two to three, and the left person detection sensor 140a, the middle person detection sensor 140b, and the middle person detection sensor 140b adjacent to each other. The detection ranges of the right person detection sensor 140c and the right person detection sensor 140c are arranged so that the detection ranges of the left person detection sensor 140a and the right person detection sensor 140c at both ends do not overlap.

  FIG. 49 is a sectional view of the detection area in this case, and the detection area is increased from 3 areas to 5 areas in the first embodiment, and the position where the person is present can be further divided and detected.

  The temporary determination of the existing area in the case where only one or two human detection sensors 140a to 140c detect a person may be performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

  FIG. 50 shows the relationship between the number of detections of activity pulses and the existing area when all three human detection sensors 140a to 140c detect a person. In order to simplify the description, the detection number of the activity pulse of the left person detection sensor 140a is a, the detection number of the activity pulse of the middle person detection sensor 140b is b, and the detection number of the activity pulse of the right person detection sensor 140c is c. The area 610A is represented as A, the detection area 610AB is represented as AB, the detection area 610B is represented as B, the detection area 610BC is represented as BC, and the detection area 610C is represented as C.

  When the two human detection sensors 140a and 140c detect a person in the first embodiment, s is temporarily determined to be the overlapping area (3) or the entire area (1) + (2) This is a predetermined difference when the provisional determination of + (3) is made based on the difference in the number of detections of the active pulse.

  By tentatively determining the existing area for each of the three human detection sensors 140a to 140c in the same manner as in the first embodiment, the difference between a and b is predetermined as shown in FIG. When the difference s exceeds, the existing area is A + B + C + AB + BC when the difference between b and c exceeds the predetermined difference s, and the existing area is A + B + AB + BC when the difference between b and c is equal to or smaller than the predetermined difference s.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 50C, when the difference between a and b is equal to or less than the predetermined difference s, when the difference between b and c exceeds the predetermined difference s, the current area is B + C + AB + BC, and the difference between b and c is When the difference is equal to or less than the predetermined difference s, the existing area is defined as AB + BC.

  As described above, when all of the three human detection sensors 140a to 140c detect a person, whether the person is dispersed in the entire room or the person is dispersed on the left side, It can be distinguished whether people are distributed to the right or whether they are distributed in the center.

  In this way, the air conditioner can be controlled in the same manner as in the first embodiment by further subdividing the area where the person is present.

  Next, a third embodiment in which the arrangement of the three infrared sensors is changed will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 51 is a schematic diagram of a detection region of the infrared detection device according to the third embodiment. FIG. 52 is a detection area division diagram of the detection apparatus. FIG. 53 is a region estimation diagram of the detection device, (a) is a schematic diagram of region segmentation, (b) is a region when the difference between a and b is large, and (c) is when the difference between a and b is small. It is the existing area.

  51, the arrangement of the human detection sensors 140a to 140c of the second embodiment is changed as shown in FIG. 51. The left human detection sensor 140a, the middle human detection sensor 140b, the middle human detection sensor 140b, and the right person are adjacent to each other. The detection ranges of the detection sensors 140c are partially overlapped, the detection ranges of the left person detection sensor 140a and the right person detection sensor 140c at both ends are also partially overlapped, and all the person detection sensors 140a to 140c are further overlapped. These detection ranges are also arranged so as to partially overlap. Further, the central human detection sensor 140b is directed downward from the central axes of the left human detection sensor 140a and the right human detection sensor 140c at both ends, and the central human detection sensor 140b is used to make the air conditioner more It is designed to focus on the area near the center and the central area where the wind is easily accessible.

  FIG. 52 is a sectional view of the detection area in this case. The detection area is increased from 5 areas to 7 areas in the second embodiment, and the position where the person is present can be further divided and detected.

  The temporary determination of the existing area in the case where only one or two human detection sensors 140a to 140c detect a person may be performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

  FIG. 53 shows the relationship between the number of detections of activity pulses and the existing area when all three human detection sensors 140a to 140c detect a person. In order to simplify the explanation, the same abbreviations as those of the second embodiment are used, and the detection area 610AC is represented as AC and the detection area 610ABC is represented as ABC.

  By tentatively determining the existing area for each of the three human detection sensors 140a to 140c in the same way as in the first embodiment, the difference between a and b is predetermined as shown in FIG. 53 (b). When the difference s exceeds, the difference between b and c exceeds the predetermined difference s, and when the difference between b and c is less than or equal to the predetermined difference s, the difference between c and a exceeds the predetermined difference s. Is A + B + C + AB + BC + AC + ABC, which is the entire area.

  Further, when the difference between a and b exceeds the predetermined difference s, and the difference between b and c is equal to or less than the predetermined difference s, the existing area is set to A + B + AB + BC + AC + ABC when the difference between c and a is equal to or less than the predetermined difference s.

  As shown in FIG. 53C, when the difference between a and b is less than or equal to the predetermined difference s, and the difference between b and c exceeds the predetermined difference s, the difference between c and a exceeds the predetermined difference s. Occasionally, the existing region is A + B + C + AB + BC + AC + ABC, which is the entire region.

  Further, when the difference between a and b is equal to or less than the predetermined difference s, and the difference between b and c exceeds the predetermined difference s, the current area is defined as B + C + AB + BC + AC + ABC when the difference between c and a is equal to or less than the predetermined difference s.

  When the difference between a and b is equal to or less than the predetermined difference s, and the difference between b and c is equal to or less than the predetermined difference s, the existing area is set to A + C + AB + BC + AC + ABC when the difference between c and a exceeds the predetermined difference s.

  Further, when the difference between a and b is equal to or less than the predetermined difference s, and the difference between b and c is equal to or less than the predetermined difference s, the current area is set to AB + BC + AC + ABC when the difference between c and a is equal to or less than the predetermined difference s.

  As described above, when all the three person detection sensors 140a to 140c detect a person by provisional determination, the person is dispersed in the entire room, the person is dispersed on the left side, or the person is on the right side. It is possible to roughly discriminate whether there are people dispersed in the area, people dispersed in the distance, or people in the central part.

  In this way, the air conditioner can be controlled in the same manner as in the first embodiment by further subdividing the area where the person is present.

  Next, application of the present invention to an air conditioner having a different shape will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 54 is a schematic view of a vertical air conditioner.

  In the description of the above embodiment, a wall-hanging air conditioner using a cross-flow fan is taken as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and an air conditioner provided with left and right wind direction plates and up and down wind direction plates. If so, the blower fan is not limited to a cross-flow fan but may be a turbo fan, a sirocco fan, a propeller fan, or the like, and the form is not limited to a wall-mounted type. That is, it can be applied regardless of the ceiling-mounted type, floor-mounted type, window-mounted type, etc., and partially shields the field of view of the infrared sensor with either or both of the left and right wind direction plates and the upper and lower wind direction plates, By performing the person detection operation, the presence / absence of the occupant and the position of the occupant can be estimated.

  As an example of this, the present invention can also be applied to an air conditioner as shown in FIG. 54 in which a cross flow fan is installed in the vertical direction. In this case, the detection of the left and right direction is performed by changing the position of the left and right wind direction plates, and The same effect can be realized by adding ingenuity such as performing detection with infrared sensors arranged vertically.

As described above, according to the air conditioner of the first aspect, the housing having the air suction port and the air blowing port, the heat exchanger disposed in the housing, and the room air is transferred to the air suction port. Blower fan that blows out through the heat exchanger and then blows out from the air outlet, left and right wind direction plates provided in the blower air path of the blower fan, upper and lower air direction plates, an infrared sensor, and a plurality of indoors An infrared detection device that divides into regions and estimates the presence / absence of occupants,
A predetermined plurality of provisional determination sections are defined in the determination section for determining the presence / absence and presence area of a person, and the presence / absence and presence area of a person are provisionally determined,
When the value based on the output of the infrared sensor in the provisional determination section does not exceed a predetermined threshold, based on the result of the predetermined plurality of provisional determination, finally determine the presence / absence of the person and the presence area,
When the value based on the output of the infrared sensor in the temporary determination section exceeds a predetermined threshold, the result of the temporary determination in the temporary determination section is determined as the final determination.

  As a result, a long determination interval is usually taken and a long-term change in the room is detected, so that malfunctions that are confused by short-term changes are eliminated. In addition, because the judgment section is divided into a plurality of provisional judgment sections and the provisional judgment is performed for each provisional judgment section to grasp the indoor situation, it is possible to capture the information accurately without any information bias by capturing the room information uniformly. be able to.

  In addition, since the data in the provisional determination section is used only for provisional determination, and only one result is selected in the provisional determination, the data of a plurality of provisional determination candidates antagonize in the provisional determination section, and the result of the provisional determination Even when changes sometimes, the final determination based on the results of a plurality of provisional determinations is stably maintained as a dominant provisional determination candidate even if it is slight.

  In addition, when the detection output in any temporary determination section clearly increases, the temporary determination section that follows the temporary determination section is omitted, and the final determination is made based on the output in the temporary determination section in which the detection output has clearly increased. Therefore, the time until the final determination is shortened, and the responsiveness of the control is ensured.

  In this way, the final determination is made at a time interval that usually balances a sufficient determination interval that allows reliable determination and a control interval that can ensure a gentle change without compromising indoor comfort, with emphasis on certainty. Thus, the comfort in the room is not impaired, and on the other hand, when the output of the provisional determination section obtained by dividing the determination section into a plurality of parts is obviously increased, the final determination is performed immediately, so that responsiveness is also ensured.

  For this reason, it is possible to obtain an air conditioner that reliably and quickly determines a region where a person is present and appropriately controls without impairing indoor comfort.

  According to the air conditioner of claim 2, the region is a region divided by the sum, exclusive sum, difference, or product of detection areas of the plurality of infrared sensors, and the presence / absence of the person The provisional determination of the region is made according to the output time within a predetermined time of the activity pulse that is digitally output based on the output of the infrared sensor related to the configuration of the region.

  As a result, a plurality of areas (including combinations of a plurality of areas) are defined in the detection areas of the plurality of infrared sensors, and each area is captured in the field of view (detection area) of one or a plurality of infrared sensors. In response, the output of an infrared sensor with a sensing area that is related to the formation of the boundary of the region changes. In this way, if a person continues to exist in an arbitrary area, even if the person is not particularly aware of the activity, the output of the infrared sensor related to the structure of the area is a physiological activity due to being there, It changes intermittently while there are people. By capturing the change in the output of the infrared sensor, a signal indicating activity is output from the infrared sensor. By calculating and analyzing the total length of activity pulses digitized from this, the above-mentioned person is present. It is possible to determine the presence / absence and area of a person in the room by capturing intermittent changes in the room.

  For this reason, the air conditioner which selects an existing area | region appropriately according to the combination of the output of an infrared sensor can be obtained.

  According to the air conditioner according to claim 3, when the digital output based on the output of the infrared sensor is read at a constant cycle, and the number of detections of the activity pulse within the predetermined time exceeds the existing threshold value, The presence / absence of the person and the presence region are determined according to the combination of the number of detections of the activity pulse based on the output of the infrared sensor related to the configuration of the region. Temporarily judge.

  Thereby, the sum total of the length of the above-mentioned activity pulse can be calculated | required by the frequency | count of detection, and a person's absence and presence can be distinguished. The presence / absence in each region can be distinguished by appropriately determining the number of times of detection for distinguishing the absence and presence of this person as the presence threshold. In addition, when there are multiple infrared sensors that output signals that result in exceeding the current threshold, the number of detections of the activity pulses based on the output of the multiple infrared sensors is analyzed, and further, the detection of the multiple infrared sensors is performed. An area can be divided into subdivided areas.

  For this reason, it is possible to obtain an air conditioner in which presence / absence is appropriately provisionally determined and the existing area is appropriately selected.

Moreover, according to the air conditioner of Claim 4,
When the number of times of detection within the predetermined time is equal to or less than a prompt decision threshold set larger than the presence threshold,
Based on the predetermined plurality of provisional determination results and the previous final determination result, the presence / absence of the current person and the presence area are finally determined,
When the number of detections within the predetermined time exceeds the prompt decision threshold,
The result of the temporary determination in the temporary determination section is the final determination of the presence / absence of the person and the current area.

  As a result, the final determination of this time is normally performed in consideration of the final determination result of the previous time in addition to the temporary determination result of each temporary determination section, so that a reliable determination and a sudden change from the previous control are avoided. With the gently changing control, stable air-conditioning continues to be performed indoors and indoor comfort is maintained. On the other hand, the responsiveness when the output of the provisional determination section clearly increases is also ensured.

  For this reason, it is possible to obtain an air conditioner that can control the air conditioner in a timely manner by reducing the time until the final determination as necessary while maintaining the comfort of the room with normal gentle control. it can.

  According to the air conditioner of claim 5, the blower fan is a cross-flow type blower fan, and at least one of the left and right wind direction plates and the upper and lower wind direction plates is the wind direction plate. It is configured to rotate around an axis substantially parallel to the axis of the blower fan, and serves as a shielding plate for the infrared sensor. The shielding plate hides most of the area in the room when operation is stopped, and When detecting the presence / absence or presence area, the presence / absence or presence area is rotated stepwise to shield the area in a plurality of stages, and the area is further divided into a plurality of subdivided areas.

  Thereby, in addition to the division of the region by the plurality of human detection sensors (for example, the division in the left-right direction), the direction perpendicular to the region (for example, the depth direction) can also be divided. It becomes possible to control the air direction, air volume, cooling / heating capacity, etc. of the air conditioner according to the position.

  When the operation is stopped without using the air conditioner, as shown in Fig. 2, the upper vertical wind direction plate, the lower vertical wind direction plate, and the movable panel close the air outlet by the control device. It is not visible and does not disturb the indoor atmosphere.

  In addition, by using the upper vertical wind direction plate as a shielding plate that distinguishes the field of view of the infrared sensor in order to detect the position of the occupant, a dedicated shielding mechanism and a shielding plate driving unit are not required, thus saving resources. Therefore, mass and cost can be reduced.

  For this reason, it is possible to obtain an air conditioner that does not disturb the indoor atmosphere, is suitable for resource saving, further subdivides the room, and realizes gentle air conditioning according to the position of the occupant.

  Further, according to the air conditioner according to claim 6, the horizontally long airflow fan is provided in the horizontally long casing, and the plurality of infrared sensors are installed so that the central axis is expanded in the left-right direction, The wind direction plate that serves as a shielding plate is an up / down wind direction plate, and the region is shielded in a plurality of steps by stepwise rotation of the up / down wind direction plate, and the region is divided into a plurality of sub-regions from a far region to a near region. .

  Thereby, the visual field of the infrared sensor can be shielded stepwise by the upper and lower wind direction plates, and the perspective position of the occupant can be subdivided and detected, and a dedicated shielding mechanism and a shielding plate driving unit are not required, thus saving resources.

  For this reason, it is an air conditioner with a large number of horizontally long air conditioners that uses the drive mechanism of the upper vertical wind direction plate to subdivide the detection area at low cost and realizes gentle air conditioning according to the position of the occupant. You can get a chance.

According to the air conditioner of claim 7, an activity amount threshold value determined in accordance with the number of times the activity pulse has been detected within the predetermined time and the region is set as the level of the activity amount of the person in the region. According to the size of
When the number of detections is less than or equal to the prompt decision threshold,
In accordance with the number of times of detection, for each provisional determination section, a step of the magnitude of the activity amount of the person is provisionally determined, and a step of the magnitude of the activity amount is finally determined based on the plurality of predetermined provisional determination results. And
When the number of detections exceeds the prompt decision threshold,
The result of the tentative determination in the tentative determination section is the final determination at the stage of the amount of activity.

  Thereby, by adjusting the capacity of the air conditioner according to the amount of activity, comfort can be improved by energy saving operation and quick control as needed. Also, normally, comfortable judgment and control according to the level of the amount of activity of the person gently maintain indoor comfort, while when the output of the provisional judgment section clearly increases, Responsive control ensures responsiveness to changing indoor conditions.

  For this reason, the air conditioner is controlled according to the amount of activity of the occupants, improving comfort and energy-saving operation, etc. An air conditioner that controls the air conditioner in a timely manner can be obtained by shortening the time until the final determination as necessary.

  Further, according to the air conditioner according to claim 8, compression is performed according to the final determination result of the presence / absence of the person and the presence area and the final determination result at the stage of the amount of activity of the person in the presence area. Controlling at least one of a machine, a refrigerant circuit control device, a blower fan, left and right wind direction plates, up and down wind direction plates, or a display device

  As a result, the temperature setting can be saved when the capacity of cooling / heating is adjusted according to the occupant's condition, the humidity setting for dehumidification is changed, or when there is no occupant for a predetermined time. The air conditioner is stopped when the absence continues, the spot air conditioning is focused on the existing area, the air is blown away from the existing area, the air conditioning capacity is increased, the air is blown It is possible to control the normal operation of an air conditioner, such as adjusting the strength of the air conditioner, without bothering humans, and automatically displaying according to changes in these operating conditions The air conditioner has excellent operability and convenience.

  For this reason, the air conditioner which performs a comfortable driving | operation or an energy-saving driving | operation automatically according to a resident's state can be obtained.

  According to the air conditioner of the ninth aspect, the presence threshold value, the prompt decision threshold value, and the activity amount threshold value can be changed.

  Accordingly, for example, these threshold values are stored in a removable storage device or a storage device rewritable from the operation unit, and the threshold values are changed by exchanging the removable storage device or rewriting the rewritable storage device. . By doing this, if there is a user's intention of wanting more energy-saving driving or more emphasis on comfort, the size of the room, the number of people in the room, The above-mentioned threshold value can be changed when the aspect ratio of the room, the arrangement of furniture, the length of usage time, etc. are different and the usage pattern of the air conditioner is special. If the threshold value is changed to a larger value, the detection sensitivity becomes dull, and frequent operation changes of the air conditioner are suppressed.If the threshold value is changed to a smaller value, the detection sensitivity becomes sharper and the air conditioner The frequency of operation changes increases.

  For this reason, it is possible to obtain an air conditioner that adjusts control responsiveness according to the installation environment of the air conditioner or the intention of the user, and saves energy or enhances satisfaction.

  According to the air conditioner of claim 10, the predetermined time for detecting the activity pulse is shorter than the provisional determination interval of the presence / absence of the person and the area, and other than the predetermined time for detecting the activity pulse. It has a control device that swings the vertical wind direction plate that becomes the shielding plate over time.

  As a result, even when the up / down wind direction plate serving as a shielding plate during cooling / dehumidifying operation is directed to a position that obstructs the field of view of the infrared sensor, the above-described up / down air direction plate must be directed to a position not suitable for cooling / dehumidifying operation. Can be completed in a short time, and for most of the time, the up-and-down wind direction plate can be kept at an appropriate position.

  In this case, since the detection result of a part of the tentative determination section is the result of the tentative determination section, there is a possibility that the state of the tentative determination section is not correctly reflected. However, as described above, a plurality of provisional determination sections are determined, and the results of the provisional determinations of the plurality of provisional determination sections are combined to make a final determination. The state of the determination section can be reflected almost correctly in the determination.

  This is because, as described above, when maintaining the comfort of the room with an air conditioner, if the state of the air conditioner is frequently changed, the control will not be stable and the occupants will often be uncomfortable. Avoid changing control at short time intervals.

  In addition, there are waves in human activities, but the type of action (watching TV, reading, cleaning, cooking, talking, having flexible exercises, playing ping-pong, standing, sitting Depending on the type of these actions, it is well known to calculate the heat load by the occupants of the air conditioner.

  When a person in the room is doing something, it applies to one of these behavior types, but the behavior type changes in part (for example, a person standing is around 20 seconds (some In the meantime, the main types of actions continue, for example, watching TV, reading, cleaning, and ping-pong every 5 minutes. There is no such thing as changing the type of action without hesitation.

  The duration of the main action type lasts for 20 minutes or more, which is a so-called (one break) feeling. In this way, the determination interval is set to one or more times (20 minutes in the embodiment), the temporary determination interval is not set to a time (5 minutes in the embodiment), and the detection interval is set to a short time (30 seconds in the embodiment) or more. By setting to, the state of the determination section can be reflected almost correctly in the final determination.

  For this reason, it is possible to obtain an air conditioner that maintains indoor comfort even during cooling and dehumidifying operations while performing a human detection operation.

  According to the air conditioner of the eleventh aspect, the infrared sensor is a pyroelectric infrared sensor.

  As a result, for example, when a specific area is exposed to sunlight or the heater is turned on / off, the detection output temporarily increases. However, since the infrared sensor is a pyroelectric type, it will soon be recognized as the background temperature. Therefore, it will not be detected and it will not be mistakenly determined that there is a person.

  Further, since it is not necessary to use an expensive sensor such as a thermopile, the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

  For this reason, it is possible to obtain an air conditioner that is resistant to disturbance and has a low manufacturing cost.

The block diagram of the air conditioner of an Example. Sectional drawing of the indoor unit of the air conditioner. Sectional drawing of the outdoor unit of the air conditioner. The refrigerant circuit figure of the air conditioner. Sectional drawing at the time of the air_conditioning | cooling and dehumidification driving | running of the indoor unit. Sectional drawing at the time of the heating operation of the indoor unit. The external appearance perspective view of the indoor unit. The external appearance perspective view which opened the up-and-down wind direction board of the indoor unit. The block diagram of the infrared rays detection apparatus incorporated in the indoor unit. The Fresnel lens arrangement | positioning of the same detection apparatus. The detection range figure of the same detection apparatus. FIG. The detection area figure by the detection device. The circuit block diagram of the same detection apparatus. The figure which shows a motion when a person enters a room. The waveform output of the human detection sensor in the case of FIG. The detection area division figure of a human detection sensor. Explanatory drawing of an area | region. Explanatory drawing which divides a detection area | region with the same up-and-down wind direction board. The far area detection state figure by the same up-and-down wind direction board. The middle region detection state figure by the same up-and-down wind direction board. The near field detection state figure by the same up-and-down wind direction board. FIG. 3 is a detection area division diagram in a perspective direction by an up-and-down wind direction plate viewed from a vertical plane. The detection area division figure of the floor surface by the same up-and-down wind direction board. The detection area division figure by a right-and-left infrared sensor and an up-and-down wind direction board. The detection procedure principal part flowchart. Input signal count time chart. Temporary determination method for region. The correspondence diagram A of the number of times of detection of the activity pulse of the human detection sensor and the existing area. The table | surface which shows the temporary determination of a presence area. The area | region selection explanatory drawing in case both human detection sensors exist. The correspondence figure B of the detection frequency of an activity pulse of a human detection sensor, and an existing area. Explanatory drawing of a two-stage estimation method. Temporary judgment method of the level of the amount of activity. Temporary judgment result at the stage of magnitude of activity. Prompt decision method. FIG. Explanatory drawing of repeated control. Location determination example. An example of stage determination of the amount of activity. Example of stage determination result of the size of the current area / activity. Far / Near / Near Judgment Method. The up-and-down wind direction board part expanded sectional view at the time of air_conditioning | cooling and dehumidification operation | movement of an indoor unit. Judgment method of past location history. Wind direction change sequence. An example of energy-saving control based on the level of the amount of activity. The example of a ventilation direction. The detection range figure of the infrared rays detection apparatus of Example 2. FIG. The detection area division figure of the same detection apparatus. A region estimation diagram of the detection device. FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a detection region of the infrared detection device according to the third embodiment. The detection area division figure of the same detection apparatus. A region estimation diagram of the detection device. Schematic of vertical air conditioner.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Air conditioner 2 Indoor unit 5 Remote control 6 Outdoor unit 8 Connection piping 10 Control apparatus 14 Infrared detector 20 Case 21 Case base 23 Cosmetic frame 25 Front panel 27 Air inlet 29 Air outlet 33 Indoor heat exchanger 34 Dehumidification Throttle device 35 Dew tray 37 Drain pipe 61 Base 62 Outer box 63 Outdoor fan 72 Refrigerant flow path switching valve 73 Outdoor heat exchanger 74 Air conditioner throttle device 75 Compressor 130 Amplifier 131 Comparator 132 Operation control unit 140 Human detection sensor 140a Left person detection Sensor 140 b Middle person detection sensor 140 c Right person detection sensor 190 Upper and lower wind direction plate control unit 191 Upper upper and lower wind direction plate motor 192 Lower upper and lower wind direction plate motor 194 Left and right wind direction plate control unit 195 Left and right wind direction plate motors 230 and 230 ′ Air suction unit 231 231 ′ Filter 251 Movable panel 290 Blowing air path 2 90a Blowing air channel upper wall 290b Blowing air channel lower wall 290e Blowing air channel upper enlarged portion 291 Upper vertical wind direction plate 292 Lower vertical wind direction plate 295 Left and right wind direction plate 311 Indoor fan 332 Dehumidification heater 333 Dehumidification cooler 396 Light receiving unit 397 Display device 410 Infrared sensor 410a-c Infrared sensor ac
411 Light receiving surface 412 Center axis 415 Base 416 Substrate 417 Fresnel lens 491i-m Upper vertical wind direction plate position im
510a-c Detection range a-c
591j to m Detection range j to m
610A Detection area A ((1))
610AB Detection area AB
610ABC detection area ABC
610AC detection area AC ((3))
610B Detection area B
610BC detection area BC
610C detection area C ((2))
635 Blower cover 691J-M Detection area J-M
710JA-MC Intersection detection area JA-MC
902 Room 907 Person A to C Area A to C
P ~ S People position P ~ S

Claims (11)

A housing having an air inlet and an air outlet, a heat exchanger disposed in the housing, and a blower fan that sucks indoor air from the air inlet and blows out from the air outlet after passing through the heat exchanger And an infrared detector that has left and right wind direction plates provided in the blowout air path of the blower fan, upper and lower wind direction plates, and an infrared sensor, and divides the room into a plurality of regions to estimate the presence or absence of a person in the room, In an air conditioner equipped with
A predetermined plurality of provisional determination sections are defined in the determination section for determining the presence / absence and presence area of a person, and the presence / absence and presence area of a person are provisionally determined,
When the value based on the output of the infrared sensor in the provisional determination section does not exceed a predetermined threshold, based on the result of the predetermined plurality of provisional determination, finally determine the presence / absence of the person and the presence area,
When the value based on the output of the infrared sensor in the temporary determination section exceeds a predetermined threshold, the result of the temporary determination in the temporary determination section is set as the final determination.   The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the region is a region divided by a sum, an exclusive sum, a difference, or a product of a plurality of detection areas of the infrared sensors, and the provisional determination of the presence / absence of the person and the presence region is performed. An air conditioner characterized in that it is performed according to an output time within a predetermined time of an activity pulse that is digitally output based on the output of the infrared sensor related to the configuration of the region.   The air conditioner according to claim 2, wherein a digital output based on the output of the infrared sensor is read at a constant period, and when the number of detections of the activity pulse within the predetermined time exceeds a threshold, the number of detections is The presence of the person and the presence area are tentatively determined according to the combination of the number of times of detection of the activity pulse based on the output of the infrared sensor related to the configuration of the area. A featured air conditioner. In the air conditioner of Claim 3,
When the number of times of detection within the predetermined time is equal to or less than a prompt decision threshold set larger than the presence threshold,
Based on the predetermined plurality of provisional determination results and the previous final determination result, the presence / absence of the current person and the presence area are finally determined,
When the number of detections within the predetermined time exceeds the prompt decision threshold,
An air conditioner characterized in that the result of the temporary determination in the temporary determination section is the final determination of the presence / absence of the person and the current area.   5. The air conditioner according to claim 3, wherein the blower fan is a cross-flow type blower fan, and at least one of the left and right wind direction plates and the upper and lower wind direction plates is the blower. The infrared sensor is shielded so as to rotate around an axis substantially parallel to the fan axis, and the shield shields most of the area in the room when the operation is stopped, and the presence of occupants. An air conditioner characterized in that when detecting a no or present area, the air conditioner is rotated stepwise to shield the area in a plurality of stages and further divide the area into a plurality of subdivided areas.   6. The air conditioner according to claim 5, wherein a horizontally long airflow fan is provided in a horizontally long casing, and the plurality of infrared sensors are installed such that a central axis thereof extends in the left-right direction, and the wind direction serving as the shielding plate The plate is a vertical wind direction plate, the region is shielded in a plurality of steps by stepwise rotation of the vertical wind direction plate, and the region is divided into a plurality of subregions from a far region to a near region. Air conditioner. 5. The air conditioner according to claim 4, wherein the level of the activity amount of the person in the area is classified according to the magnitude of the number of detections of the activity pulse within the predetermined time and an activity threshold value determined according to the area. ,
When the number of detections is less than or equal to the prompt decision threshold,
In accordance with the number of times of detection, for each provisional determination section, a step of the magnitude of the activity amount of the person is provisionally determined, and a step of the magnitude of the activity amount is finally determined based on the plurality of predetermined provisional determination results. And
When the number of detections exceeds the prompt decision threshold,
The air conditioner characterized in that the result of the provisional judgment in the provisional judgment section is the final judgment at the stage of the amount of activity.   8. The air conditioner according to claim 7, wherein the compressor and the refrigerant circuit control are performed according to a final determination result of the presence / absence of the person and the presence area and a final determination result of a stage of the amount of activity of the person in the presence area. An air conditioner characterized by controlling at least one of a device, a blower fan, left and right wind direction plates, up and down wind direction plates, or a display device.   8. The air conditioner according to claim 7, wherein the presence threshold value, prompt decision threshold value, and activity amount threshold value are changeable.   9. The air conditioner according to claim 8, wherein the predetermined time for detecting the activity pulse is shorter than the provisional determination interval of the presence / absence of the person and the presence area, and the shielding plate at a time other than the predetermined time for detecting the activity pulse. An air conditioner having a control device that swings the vertical wind direction plate.   The air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the infrared sensor is a pyroelectric infrared sensor.

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