JP2010276231A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air conditioner capable of improving comfort and air-conditioning efficiency by controlling an airflow according to a height of an obstacle. <P>SOLUTION: An indoor unit of the air conditioner is provided with a wind direction changing blade for changing a direction of the air supplied from a supply opening, and an obstacle detecting device for detecting the presence or absence of the obstacle, and the obstacle is sectioned into two or more parts according to its height from a floor surface, and the wind direction changing blade is controlled according to the height. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioner in which an indoor unit is provided with an obstacle detection device that detects the presence or absence of an obstacle, and a wind direction changing blade is controlled based on a detection result of the obstacle detection device.

  The conventional air conditioner is provided with a human position detecting means and an obstacle position detecting means in the indoor unit, and controls the air direction changing means based on the detection signals of both the human position detecting means and the obstacle position detecting means to improve the air conditioning efficiency. Has improved.

  In this air conditioner, when heating operation starts, it is first determined whether there is a person in the room by the person position detecting means, and if there is no person, whether there is an obstacle by the obstacle position detecting means If there is no obstacle, the wind direction changing means is controlled so that the conditioned air spreads throughout the room.

  In addition, when an obstacle that can be avoided is detected but no person is present, the wind direction changing means is controlled in a direction in which there is no obstacle. On the other hand, if an obstacle that cannot be avoided is detected, air conditioning is performed directly on the obstacle. The wind direction changing means is controlled so that the wind does not hit and the conditioned air spreads throughout the room (for example, see Patent Document 1).

Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 3-72249

  There are high and low obstacles in the air-conditioned space, especially in areas close to indoor units, by sending airflow over obstacles to low obstacles. While comfortable air conditioning can be performed, comfort is improved by performing airflow control that avoids obstacles for tall obstacles.

  However, in the case of the air conditioner described in Patent Document 1, there is still room for improvement in terms of comfortable air conditioning or air conditioning efficiency because airflow control according to the height of an obstacle is not considered.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems of the prior art, and an air conditioner that can improve comfort or air conditioning efficiency by performing airflow control according to the height of an obstacle. The purpose is to provide.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an indoor unit with a wind direction changing blade that changes the direction of air blown from an outlet and an obstacle detection device that detects the presence or absence of an obstacle. An air conditioner that performs air-conditioning operation by controlling a wind direction change blade based on a detection result of a detection device, and provides at least three threshold values for height from the floor, and at least obstacles according to the height The wind direction changing blade is controlled according to the height of the obstacle.

  According to the present invention, since the wind direction changing blade is controlled according to the height of the obstacle, the range of air flow control is widened, and comfort or air conditioning efficiency can be improved.

The front view of the indoor unit of the air conditioner which concerns on this invention 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the indoor unit of FIG. The longitudinal cross-sectional view of the indoor unit of FIG. 1 with the movable front panel opening the front opening and the upper and lower blades opening the outlet. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the indoor unit in FIG. 1 in a state where the lower blades constituting the upper and lower blades are set downward. Schematic which shows the person position discrimination area detected by the sensor unit which comprises the human body detection apparatus provided in the indoor unit of FIG. Flowchart for setting region characteristics for each region shown in FIG. The flowchart which finally determines the presence or absence of a person in each area | region shown by FIG. Timing chart showing the presence / absence determination of people by each sensor unit Schematic plan view of a residence where the indoor unit of FIG. 1 is installed The graph which shows the long-term accumulation result of each sensor unit in the residence of FIG. Schematic plan view of another residence where the indoor unit of FIG. 1 is installed The graph which shows the long-term accumulation result of each sensor unit in the residence of FIG. Sectional drawing of the obstacle detection apparatus provided in the indoor unit of FIG. Schematic showing the obstacle position determination area detected by the obstacle detection device Block diagram showing the drive circuit of the ultrasonic sensor constituting the obstacle detection device Configuration diagram of the latch circuit that constitutes the drive circuit of the ultrasonic sensor Timing chart showing the state of each signal in the drive circuit of the ultrasonic sensor in FIG. Flow chart showing distance measurement to an obstacle at the start of operation of the air conditioner FIG. 15 is a timing chart showing noise detection processing by the ultrasonic sensor drive circuit of FIG. Schematic showing the ultrasonic reach distance for the time corresponding to the distance number indicating the distance from the ultrasonic sensor to the position P FIG. 15 is a timing chart showing reception processing by the ultrasonic sensor driving circuit of FIG. Flow chart showing distance measurement to the obstacle when the air conditioner is shut down Schematic elevation of the indoor unit installation space when the mask time for detecting the presence or absence of obstacles is set according to the distance from the indoor unit Another schematic elevation view of the indoor unit installation space when the mask time is set according to the distance from the indoor unit Yet another schematic elevation view of the indoor unit installation space when the mask time is set according to the distance from the indoor unit Schematic elevation of the indoor unit installation space when the masking time when the installation height of the indoor unit is low is set according to the distance from the indoor unit Schematic elevation of the indoor unit installation space when the mask time when the indoor unit installation height is high is set according to the distance from the indoor unit Flow chart for selecting mask time according to indoor unit installation height and room temperature Schematic elevation of indoor unit installation space when masking time for high obstacle detection and masking time for low obstacle detection are set in the short distance area Another schematic elevation view of the indoor unit installation space when the high obstacle detection mask time and the low obstacle detection mask time are set in the short distance area Another schematic elevation view of the indoor unit installation space when the high obstacle detection mask time and the low obstacle detection mask time are set in the short distance area Schematic elevation of the indoor unit installation space when the high obstacle detection mask time and low obstacle detection mask time are set in the short-distance area when the indoor unit installation height is low Another schematic elevation view of the indoor unit installation space when the high obstacle detection mask time and the low obstacle detection mask time are set in the short distance area when the indoor unit installation height is low Another schematic elevation view of the indoor unit installation space when the high obstacle detection mask time and the low obstacle detection mask time are set in the short-distance area when the indoor unit installation height is low Schematic elevation of indoor unit installation space when high obstacle detection mask time and low obstacle detection mask time are set in a short distance area when the indoor unit installation height is high Another schematic elevation view of the indoor unit installation space when the high obstacle detection mask time and low obstacle detection mask time are set in the short-distance area when the indoor unit installation height is high Another schematic elevation view of the indoor unit installation space when the high obstacle detection mask time and the low obstacle detection mask time are set in the short-distance area when the indoor unit installation height is high Flow chart showing learning control for obstacle detection The flowchart which shows the modification of learning control of obstacle detection Schematic showing the definition of the wind direction at each position of the left and right blades constituting the left and right blades Timing chart showing operation of ultrasonic sensor Schematic showing the operation pattern of the ultrasonic sensor when two indoor units are installed in one room Schematic showing another operation pattern of the ultrasonic sensor when two indoor units are installed in one room Schematic which shows another operation pattern of an ultrasonic sensor at the time of installing two indoor units in one room Schematic which shows another operation pattern of an ultrasonic sensor at the time of installing two indoor units in one room Schematic which shows another operation pattern of an ultrasonic sensor at the time of installing two indoor units in one room

  1st invention provides an indoor unit with the wind direction change blade | wing which changes the direction of the air which blows off from a blower outlet, and the obstruction detection apparatus which detects the presence or absence of an obstruction, and the detection result of an obstruction detection apparatus An air conditioner that performs air-conditioning operation by controlling the wind direction changing blade based on the obstacle, dividing the obstacle into at least two according to the height from the floor, and the wind direction changing blade according to the height To control.

  With this configuration, the range of airflow control is widened, and comfort or air conditioning efficiency can be improved.

  The second invention is such that the number of obstacle heights varies depending on the distance from the indoor unit, and the number of regions in which the air flow control is particularly affected is increased, and the number of regions in the region having less influence is increased. The memory used can be reduced by reducing.

  In the third aspect of the invention, the number of obstacle height sections is increased in the region closer to the indoor unit, and comfortable air conditioning in the region close to the indoor unit that is easily affected by airflow control can be achieved.

  In the fourth aspect of the invention, addresses determined by the vertical and horizontal angles seen from the indoor unit are set in the indoor unit installation space, and obstacle detection is performed for each address by the number of obstacle height categories at each address. By doing so, the time required to scan the obstacle can be suppressed as much as possible, and the life of the obstacle detection device can be extended.

  In the fifth aspect of the invention, by providing at least three thresholds with respect to the height from the floor and dividing the height of the obstacle, the width of the air flow control is further expanded, and comfort or air conditioning efficiency is improved. Can do.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
<Overall configuration of air conditioner>
An air conditioner used in a general home is composed of an outdoor unit and an indoor unit that are usually connected to each other by refrigerant piping. FIGS. 1 to 4 show the indoor unit of an air conditioner according to the present invention. ing.

  The indoor unit has a main body 2 and a movable front panel (hereinafter simply referred to as a front panel) 4 that can freely open and close the front opening 2a of the main body 2, and the front panel 4 is the main body 2 when the air conditioner is stopped. While the front opening 2a is closed in close contact with the front, the front panel 4 moves in a direction away from the main body 2 to open the front opening 2a during operation of the air conditioner. 1 and 2 show a state where the front panel 4 closes the front opening 2a, and FIGS. 3 and 4 show a state where the front panel 4 opens the front opening 2a.

  As shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, inside the main body 2, a heat exchanger 6 that exchanges heat between indoor air taken in from the front opening 2 a and the upper opening 2 b, and heat exchange by the heat exchanger 6. The indoor fan 8 for transporting the air that has been transported, and the up-and-down air direction change blades (hereinafter simply referred to as “ (Upper and lower blades) 12 and left and right wind direction changing blades (hereinafter simply referred to as “left and right blades”) 14 for changing the air blowing direction to the left and right, and heat exchange with the front opening 2a and the upper opening 2b A filter 16 for removing dust contained in room air taken from the front opening 2a and the top opening 2b is provided between the container 6 and the container 6.

  Further, the upper part of the front panel 4 is connected to the upper part of the main body 2 via two arms 18 and 20 provided at both ends thereof, and a drive motor (not shown) connected to the arm 18 is driven and controlled. Thus, during operation of the air conditioner, the front panel 4 moves forward and obliquely upward from the position when the air conditioner is stopped (closed position of the front opening 2a).

  Further, the upper and lower blades 12 are composed of an upper blade 12a and a lower blade 12b, and are respectively attached to the lower portion of the main body 2 so as to be swingable. The upper blade 12a and the lower blade 12b are connected to separate drive sources (for example, stepping motors), and are independently controlled by a control device (first board 48, for example, a microcomputer described later) built in the indoor unit. Angle controlled. As is clear from FIGS. 3 and 4, the changeable angle range of the lower blade 12b is set larger than the changeable angle range of the upper blade 12a.

  A method for driving the upper blade 12a and the lower blade 12b will be described later. In addition, the upper and lower blades 12 can be composed of three or more upper and lower blades. In this case, at least two (particularly, the uppermost blade and the lowermost blade) can be independently angle-controlled. Is preferred.

  In addition, the left and right blades 14 are configured by a total of 10 blades arranged five by left and right from the center of the indoor unit, and are respectively swingably attached to the lower portion of the main body 2. The left and right five blades are connected to separate drive sources (for example, stepping motors) as a unit, and the left and right five blades are independently angle-controlled by a control device built in the indoor unit. . A method for driving the left and right blades 14 will also be described later.

<Configuration of human body detection device>
As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of (for example, three) fixed sensor units 24, 26, and 28 are attached to the upper portion of the front panel 4 as a human body detection device. , 28 are held by a sensor holder 36 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

  Each of the sensor units 24, 26, and 28 includes a circuit board, a lens attached to the circuit board, and a human body detection sensor mounted inside the lens. The human body detection sensor is composed of a pyroelectric infrared sensor that detects the presence or absence of a person by detecting infrared rays radiated from the human body, for example, and outputs in accordance with a change in the amount of infrared rays detected by the infrared sensor. The presence or absence of a person is determined by the circuit board based on the pulse signal. That is, the circuit board acts as presence / absence determination means for determining the presence / absence of a person.

<Human position estimation by human body detection device>
FIG. 5 shows human position determination areas detected by the sensor units 24, 26, and 28. The sensor units 24, 26, and 28 can detect whether or not a person is in the next area.
Sensor unit 24: area A + B + C + D
Sensor unit 26: Area B + C + E + F
Sensor unit 28: area C + D + F + G

That is, in the indoor unit of the air conditioner according to the present invention, the areas that can be detected by the sensor units 24, 26, and 28 are partially overlapped, and a smaller number of sensor units than the number of the areas A to G are used. Thus, the presence or absence of a person in each of the areas A to G is detected. Table 1 shows the relationship between the output of each sensor unit 24, 26, and 28 and the presence determination area (area determined to have a person). In Table 1 and the following description, the sensor units 24, 26, and 28 are referred to as a first sensor 24, a second sensor 26, and a third sensor 28.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart for setting region characteristics to be described later in each of the regions A to G using the first to third sensors 24, 26, and 28. FIG. 7 illustrates the first to third sensors. It is a flowchart which determines whether there exists a person in the area | regions A-G using the sensors 24, 26, and 28, and a person's position determination method is demonstrated below, referring these flowcharts.

  In step S1, the presence / absence of a person in each area is first determined at a predetermined period T1 (for example, 5 seconds). In this determination method, the presence / absence of a person in areas A, B, and C is determined. An example will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 8, when all of the first to third sensors 24, 26, and 28 are OFF (no pulse) in the period T1 immediately before the time t1, there are people in the regions A, B, and C at the time t1. It is determined that there is no yes (A = 0, B = 0, C = 0). Next, during the period from time t1 to time t2 after period T1, only the first sensor 24 outputs an ON signal (with a pulse), and when the second and third sensors 26 and 28 are OFF, at time t2. It is determined that there is a person in the area A and there are no persons in the areas B and C (A = 1, B = 0, C = 0). Further, when the first and second sensors 24 and 26 output ON signals from time t2 to time t3 after the period T1, and the third sensor 28 is OFF, a person is in area B at time t3. It is determined that there are no people in the areas A and C (A = 0, B = 1, C = 0). Hereinafter, the presence / absence of a person in each of the areas A, B, and C is similarly determined for each period T1.

  Based on the determination result, each of the areas A to G is classified into a first area where people are good (place where they are good), a second area where people are short (area where people simply pass through, areas where stay time is short). And a third area (a non-living area where people hardly go, such as walls and windows). Hereinafter, the first region, the second region, and the third region are referred to as a life category I, a life category II, and a life category III, respectively, and the life category I, the life category II, and the life category III are respectively a region characteristic I. It can also be referred to as a region of region characteristic II, region of region characteristic II, and region of region characteristic III. Further, the life category I (region characteristic I) and the life category II (region characteristic II) are combined into a life region (region where people live), while the life category III (region characteristic III) is changed to a non-life region ( The area of life may be broadly classified according to the frequency of the presence or absence of a person.

  This determination is performed after step S3 in the flowchart of FIG. 6, and this determination method will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 9 shows a case where the indoor unit of the air conditioner according to the present invention is installed in an LD of 1 LDK comprising one Japanese-style room, an LD (living room / dining room) and a kitchen, and is indicated by an ellipse in FIG. The area shows the well-placed place where the subject reported.

  As described above, the presence / absence of a person in each of the regions A to G is determined for each period T1, and 1 (with a reaction) or 0 (without a reaction) is output as a reaction result (determination) in the period T1. Is repeated a plurality of times, and in step S2, all sensor outputs are cleared.

  In step S3, it is determined whether or not the cumulative operation time of a predetermined air conditioner has elapsed. If it is determined in step S3 that the predetermined time has not elapsed, the process returns to step S1. On the other hand, if it is determined that the predetermined time has elapsed, two reaction results accumulated in the predetermined time in each region A to G are obtained. Each region A to G is determined as one of the life categories I to III by comparing with the threshold value.

  More specifically with reference to FIG. 10 showing the long-term accumulation result, the first threshold value and the second threshold value smaller than the first threshold value are set, and in step S4, the long-term accumulation results of the regions A to G are obtained. It is determined whether or not it is greater than the first threshold value, and the region determined to be greater is determined to be the life category I in step S5. If it is determined in step S4 that the long-term cumulative result of each region A to G is less than the first threshold value, whether or not the long-term cumulative result of each region A to G is greater than the second threshold value in step S6. The region determined to be large is determined to be the life category II in step S7, while the region determined to be small is determined to be the life category III in step S8.

  In the example of FIG. 10, the areas C, D, and G are determined as the life category I, the areas B and F are determined as the life category II, and the areas A and E are determined as the life category III.

  Moreover, FIG. 11 shows the case where the indoor unit of the air conditioner according to the present invention is installed in another 1 LDK LD, and FIG. 12 discriminates each region A to G based on the long-term accumulation result in this case. Results are shown. In the example of FIG. 11, the areas B, C, and E are determined as the life category I, the areas A and F are determined as the life category II, and the areas D and G are determined as the life category III.

  Note that the above-described determination of the region characteristics (life classification) is repeated every predetermined time, but the determination result hardly changes unless the sofa, the table, or the like arranged in the room to be determined is moved.

  Next, the final determination of the presence / absence of a person in each of the regions A to G will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  Steps S21 to S22 are the same as steps S1 to S2 in the flowchart of FIG. In step S23, it is determined whether or not a predetermined number M (for example, 15 times) of reaction results in the period T1 has been obtained. If it is determined that the period T1 has not reached the predetermined number M, the process returns to step S21. If it is determined that the period T1 has reached the predetermined number M, in step S24, the total number of reaction results in the period T1 × M is used as the cumulative reaction period number, and the cumulative reaction period number for one time is calculated. This calculation of the cumulative reaction period is repeated a plurality of times, and it is determined in step S25 whether or not the calculation result of the cumulative reaction period has been obtained for a predetermined number of times (for example, N = 4). When the determination is made, the process returns to step S21. On the other hand, when it is determined that the predetermined number of times has been reached, in step S26, the person in each of the areas A to G is determined based on the already determined area characteristics and the predetermined number of accumulated reaction periods. Presence or absence of is estimated.

  In step S27, by subtracting 1 from the number of times (N) for calculating the cumulative reaction period and returning to step S21, the calculation of the number of cumulative reaction periods for a predetermined number of times is repeatedly performed.

Table 2 shows a history of reaction results for the latest one time (time T1 × M). In Table 2, for example, ΣA0 means the number of cumulative reaction periods for one time in the region A.

  Here, the cumulative reaction period number of one time immediately before ΣA0 is ΣA1, and the previous cumulative reaction period number of ΣA0 is ΣA2,... , .SIGMA.A2, .SIGMA.A1), for life category I, it is determined that there is a person if the cumulative reaction period is one or more. In addition, for life category II, if there are two or more cumulative reaction periods in the past four histories, it is determined that there is a person, and for life category III, the past four histories Among them, if the cumulative reaction period number of 2 times or more is 3 times or more, it is determined that there is a person.

  Next, after the time T1 × M from the above-described determination of the presence / absence of the person, the presence / absence of the person is similarly estimated from the past four histories, life categories, and cumulative reaction period times.

  That is, in the indoor unit of the air conditioner according to the present invention, the presence / absence of a person is estimated using a smaller number of sensors than the number of the discrimination areas A to G. Since there is a possibility that the position is incorrect, avoiding human position estimation in a single predetermined period regardless of whether it is an overlapping area, the region characteristics obtained by accumulating the region determination results for each predetermined period over a long period, and for each predetermined period The region determination results are accumulated N times, and the location of the person is estimated from the past history of the accumulated reaction period times of each region obtained, thereby obtaining the position estimation result of the person with high probability.

Table 3 shows the time required for the presence estimation and the time required for the absence estimation when the presence / absence of the person is determined as described above and T1 = 5 seconds and M = 12.

  Thus, after the area to be air-conditioned by the indoor unit of the air conditioner according to the present invention is divided into the plurality of areas A to G by the first to third sensors 24, 26 and 28, each area A to G Area characteristics (life categories I to III) are determined, and the time required for presence estimation and the time required for absence estimation are changed according to the area characteristics of the areas A to G.

  In other words, since it takes about 1 minute for the wind to reach after changing the air conditioning setting, changing the air conditioning setting in a short time (for example, a few seconds) will not only impair comfort, but will also make people short. For such a place, it is preferable not to perform air conditioning so much from the viewpoint of energy saving. Therefore, the presence / absence of a person in each of the areas A to G is first detected, and the air conditioning setting in the area where the person is present is optimized.

  More specifically, with the time required to estimate the presence / absence of an area determined as life category II as a standard, in the area determined as life category I, there is a person at a shorter time interval than the area determined as life category II. In contrast, when there are no more people in the area, the absence of the person is estimated at a longer time interval than the area identified as Living Category II, thereby shortening the time required for the presence estimation. The time required for estimation is set to be long. On the other hand, in the area determined to be life category III, the presence of a person is estimated at a longer time interval than the area determined to be life category II. By estimating the absence of a person at a time interval shorter than the area determined as II, the time required for the presence estimation is set longer, and the time required for the absence estimation is set shorter. Furthermore, as described above, the life division of each region changes depending on the long-term accumulation result, and accordingly, the time required for the presence estimation and the time required for the absence estimation are variably set.

<Configuration of obstacle detection device>
As shown in FIG. 1, an obstacle detection device 30 is provided at the lower part of one side (left side when viewed from the front) of the main body 2, and the obstacle detection device 30 will be described with reference to FIG. . As used herein, the term “obstacle” refers to all objects that are blown out from the air outlet 10 of the indoor unit and impede the flow of air to provide a comfortable space for residents. It is a collective term for non-residents such as furniture such as sofas, televisions, and audio.

  The obstacle detection device 30 includes an ultrasonic distance sensor (hereinafter simply referred to as “ultrasonic sensor”) 32 as a distance detection means, a spherical support 34 that rotatably supports the ultrasonic sensor 32, and an ultrasonic wave. A horn 36 formed on the support 34 positioned in the sound wave exit direction of the sensor 32, and a distance detection direction changing means (driving means) for changing the distance detection direction by changing the direction of the ultrasonic sensor 32 are provided. Yes. The horn 36 is for improving the sensitivity of the ultrasonic wave transmitted by the ultrasonic sensor 32 and enhancing the directivity to improve the obstacle detection accuracy.

  Further, the support 34 has a horizontal (horizontal) rotating shaft 40 and a vertical (vertical) rotating shaft 42 extending in a direction orthogonal to the horizontal rotating shaft 40, and the horizontal rotating shaft 40 is The horizontal rotation motor 44 is connected to and driven, and the vertical rotation shaft 42 is connected to and driven by the vertical rotation motor 46. That is, the distance detection direction changing means includes a horizontal rotation motor 44, a vertical rotation motor 46, and the like, and can change the direction angle of the ultrasonic sensor 32 two-dimensionally and be directed to the ultrasonic sensor 32. The direction angle can be recognized.

Next, the operation of the ultrasonic sensor 32 as a distance detection means will be described.
The ultrasonic sensor 32 according to the present embodiment serves as both an ultrasonic transmitter and a receiver. The ultrasonic sensor 32 transmits an ultrasonic pulse. When the ultrasonic pulse hits an obstacle or the like, the ultrasonic sensor 32 reflects the reflected wave. Received by the ultrasonic sensor 32. When the time from this transmission to reception is t and the sound speed is C, the distance D from the ultrasonic sensor 32 to the obstacle is represented by D = Ct / 2. In addition, even when the ultrasonic transmission unit and the reception unit of the ultrasonic sensor 32 are separate, there is no change in principle or function, and the ultrasonic sensor 32 can be adopted in the present embodiment.

  The ultrasonic sensor 32 is usually installed at a height of H = about 2 m, where H is the height from the floor.

  Further, the direction in which the ultrasonic sensor 32 is directed by the distance detection direction changing means is changed to a vertical angle (a depression angle, an angle measured downward from the horizontal line) α, a horizontal angle (a reference on the left side when viewed from the indoor unit). It can be recognized as a line β (for example, an angle measured rightward from the front to the left by 80 degrees) β. Here, when the distance D to the obstacle in a certain direction is D = H / sin α, it can be seen that the obstacle is on the floor surface, and the ultrasonic sensor 32 can see the floor surface in that direction. become.

  Therefore, the position of the person or the object in the living space is recognized by changing the vertical angle α and the horizontal angle β at predetermined angular intervals and causing the ultrasonic sensor 32 to perform a detection operation (scanning). Can do.

In the present embodiment, the floor surface of the living space is subdivided as shown in FIG. 14 by the ultrasonic sensor 32 based on the vertical angle α and the horizontal angle β, and each of these areas is obstructed. It is defined as a position determination area or “position”, and it is determined which position an obstacle is present. Note that all the positions shown in FIG. 14 substantially coincide with all the areas of the human position determination area shown in FIG. 5, and the area boundary in FIG. 5 is substantially coincident with the position boundary in FIG. By making it correspond as follows, the air conditioning control described later can be easily performed, and the memory to be stored is reduced as much as possible.
Area A: Position A1 + A2 + A3
Area B: Position B1 + B2
Area C: Position C1 + C2
Area D: Position D1 + D2
Area E: Position E1 + E2
Area F: Position F1 + F2
Area G: Position G1 + G2

  In the area division of FIG. 14, the number of position areas is set to be larger than the number of areas of the human position determination area, and at least two positions belong to each of the human position determination areas. Although the areas are arranged on the left and right as viewed from the indoor unit, the air conditioning control can be performed by dividing the area so that at least one position belongs to each person position determination area.

  In addition, in the area division of FIG. 14, each of the plurality of human position determination areas is divided according to the distance to the indoor unit, and the number of positions belonging to the human position determination area in the area close to the indoor unit The number of positions belonging to the person position determination area is set larger than the number of positions belonging to the person position determination area, but the number of positions belonging to each person position determination area may be the same regardless of the distance from the indoor unit.

<Detection operation and data processing of obstacle detection device>
As described above, the air conditioner according to the present invention detects the presence or absence of a person in the regions A to G by the human body detection device, and detects the presence or absence of an obstacle in the positions A1 to G2 by the obstacle detection device. Based on the detection signal (detection result) of the human body detection device and the detection signal (detection result) of the obstacle detection device, driving and controlling the upper and lower blades 12 and the left and right blades 14 which are wind direction changing means provides a comfortable space. I am doing so.

  While the human body detection sensor can detect the presence or absence of a person by detecting infrared rays emitted from the human body, for example, the obstacle detection device receives a reflected wave of the transmitted ultrasonic wave to Since the distance of an object is detected, it is impossible to distinguish between a person and an obstacle.

  If a person is mistaken as an obstacle, the area in which the person is present may not be air-conditioned, or air-conditioning airflow (airflow) may be applied directly to the person, resulting in inefficient air-conditioning control or air-conditioning control that causes discomfort to the person. There is a risk of becoming.

  Therefore, the obstacle detection apparatus detects only an obstacle by performing data processing described below.

First, a method for driving the ultrasonic sensor 32 will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 15, the main body 2 includes three boards 48, 50, and 52 that are electrically connected to each other, and includes a front panel 4, upper and lower blades 12, and left and right blades attached to the main body 2. The movable parts such as 14 are controlled by the first substrate 48, and the third substrate 52 is mounted integrally with the ultrasonic sensor 32.

  The second substrate 50 is provided with a sensor input amplification unit 54, a band amplification unit 56, a comparison unit 58, and a latch circuit unit 60, and an ultrasonic transmission signal output from the first substrate 48. Is input to the sensor input amplifying unit 54, voltage amplified by the sensor input amplifying unit 54, and then input to the third substrate 52. The ultrasonic sensor 32 transmits an ultrasonic wave toward each address to be described later based on the input signal, receives the reflected wave, and outputs it to the band amplifying unit 56. As the ultrasonic transmission signal, for example, a 50 kHz signal with 50% duty that repeats ON / OFF at 10 μs is used, and the band amplification unit 56 amplifies a signal in the vicinity of 50 kHz.

  The output signal of the band amplification unit 56 is input to the comparison unit 58 and compared with a predetermined threshold set in the comparison unit 58. The comparison unit 58 outputs an L level (low level) signal to the latch circuit unit 60 when the output signal of the band amplifying unit 56 is larger than the threshold value, whereas the comparison unit 58 outputs H when the output signal of the band amplifying unit 56 is smaller than the threshold value. A level (high level) signal is output to the latch circuit unit 60. Further, the first substrate 48 outputs a reception mask signal for separating noise to the latch circuit unit 60.

  Note that FIG. 15 shows the ultrasonic sensor 32 having a transmission / reception integrated type, but it is of course possible to use a transmitter and a receiver separately.

FIG. 16 shows a latch circuit unit 60 configured by RS (reset set) flip-flops. Table 4 shows two inputs (input from the comparison unit 58 (RESET input) and from the first substrate 48. The output (Q) from the latch circuit unit 60 determined based on the input (SET input) is shown. In Table 4, H ^* indicates whether the output is H level when both the RESET input and the SET input are at the L level, and which is the H level first when both the RESET input and the SET input are at the H level. The output level is different.

  FIG. 17 is a schematic timing chart showing the state of each signal. As shown in FIG. 17, when the operation of the air conditioner is started, the comparison circuit 58 sends an H level signal to the latch circuit 60. A signal is input. In addition, when an ultrasonic transmission signal is output from the first substrate 48 to the sensor input amplification unit 54 of the second substrate 50 and a signal from the sensor input amplification unit 54 is input to the third substrate 52, the ultrasonic wave is output. The sensor 32 transmits an ultrasonic wave toward the set address.

  In addition, there is a possibility of being affected by noise from the surrounding environment immediately after transmission of the ultrasonic transmission signal, and when there is an influence of noise, it is input to the comparison unit 58 via the band amplification unit 56. The comparison unit 58 compares the input signal with a preset threshold value, and outputs an L level signal to the latch circuit unit 60 if it is greater than the threshold value. However, since the signal input to the comparison unit 58 at this time is not a signal generated by the ultrasonic sensor 32 receiving the reflected wave from the living space, a predetermined sensor output mask time from the transmission of the ultrasonic transmission signal is obtained. And the L level reception mask signal is output from the first substrate 48 to the latch circuit portion 60 of the second substrate 50 during the sensor output mask time.

  Therefore, the ultrasonic reception signal output from the latch circuit unit 60 to the first substrate 48 maintains the H level.

  On the other hand, the ultrasonic wave transmitted from the ultrasonic sensor 32 is reflected in the living space, and this reflected wave (first wave) is received by the ultrasonic sensor 32 and input to the comparison unit 58 via the band amplification unit 56. Similarly, when the signal is larger than the threshold value, an L level signal is output to the latch circuit unit 60. However, since the sensor output mask time is set to be shorter than the time interval from ultrasonic transmission to reception of the reflected wave, the reception mask signal at this time is at the H level. The ultrasonic reception signal output to one substrate 48 is at the L level.

  The time during which the ultrasonic reception signal is maintained at the H level means the time t until the ultrasonic sensor 32 transmits the ultrasonic wave and receives the reflected wave (first wave). As described above, the distance D from the ultrasonic sensor 32 to the obstacle is obtained by applying the time t and the speed of sound C to D = Ct / 2.

  When predetermined measurement and calculation are completed at a certain address, the first substrate 48 transmits an ultrasonic sensor horizontal drive signal to the horizontal rotation motor driver 62 to drive the horizontal rotation motor 44 and The address to be measured is changed by transmitting the sound wave sensor vertical drive signal to the vertical rotation motor driver 64 and driving the vertical rotation motor 46.

I and j in Table 5 indicate addresses to be measured, and the vertical angle and the horizontal angle are the above-described depression angle α and the angle β measured rightward from the left reference line when viewed from the indoor unit. Each is shown. That is, when viewed from the indoor unit, each address is set in the range of 5 to 80 degrees in the vertical direction and 10 to 170 degrees in the horizontal direction, and the ultrasonic sensor 32 measures each address and scans the living space. .

Note that the entire scanning of the living space by the ultrasonic sensor 32 is performed separately when the operation of the air conditioner is started and when the operation is stopped, and Table 6 shows the scanning order of the ultrasonic sensor 32.

  That is, at the start of the operation of the air conditioner, distance measurement (obstacle position detection) is performed in this order at each address from address [0, 0] to address [32, 0], and then the address [32, 1 ] To the address [0, 1], the distance is measured in this order, and the scanning at the start of the operation of the air conditioner is completed.

  On the other hand, when the operation of the air conditioner is stopped, distance measurement is performed in this order at each address from address [0, 2] to address [32, 2], and then from address [32, 3] to address [0, 3 ] Are measured in this order at each address up to], and when this is repeated and the distance measurement at address [0, 15] is completed, the scanning when the operation of the air conditioner is stopped is completed.

  The reason why the entire scanning of the living space by the ultrasonic sensor 32 is performed separately when the operation of the air conditioner is started and when the operation is stopped is to efficiently determine whether there is an obstacle. That is, when the operation is stopped, all the movable elements such as the compressor are stopped, and it is less susceptible to noise than when the air conditioner is started. If the entire scanning of the living space is performed only when the operation of the air conditioner is stopped, the ultrasonic sensor 32 does not react at all when the operation is started, which not only causes distrust to the resident, but also the scanning time after the operation stops. Because it becomes longer.

  The reason why the scanning at the start of the operation of the air conditioner is limited to the depression angle within 10 degrees is that there is a high possibility that there is a person at the start of the operation of the air conditioner, that is, there is a high possibility that the person will not be detected. This is because the measurement data can be used effectively by scanning the area where the wall is located (since the person is not an obstacle, the data of the area where the person is present is not used as described later).

  Next, distance measurement to an obstacle at the start of operation of the air conditioner will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step S31, the horizontal rotation motor 44 and the vertical rotation motor 46 that drive the ultrasonic sensor 32 are initialized. In the initialization process, the address [0, 0] is set to the origin position, the address [16, 0] is set to the center position, the horizontal rotation motor 44 and the vertical rotation motor 46 are reset at the origin position, This is the control to stop at the center position.

  In addition, since the three substrates 48, 50, and 52 are respectively connected by lead wires, in the next step S32, an ultrasonic sensor for determining whether or not there is an abnormality such as a disconnection or incorrect connection of the lead wires. When the self-diagnosis process of 32 is performed and it is determined in step S33 that there is no abnormality, the process proceeds to step S34, whereas when it is determined that there is an abnormality, the distance measurement flow is terminated.

  In step S34, the horizontal rotation motor 44 and the vertical rotation motor 46 are set to target initial positions ([i, j] = [0,0]). In the next step S35, the motors 44 and 46 are set. It is determined whether the target position is set. If it is determined that the target position is set in step S35, the process proceeds to step S36. If it is determined that the target position is not set, the horizontal rotation motor 44 and the vertical rotation motor are determined in step S37. After performing the driving process 46, the process returns to step S35.

  In step S36, it waits for a predetermined time (for example, 1 second) so that the ultrasonic sensor 32 can maintain a steady state, and noise detection processing is performed in step S38. That is, since the ultrasonic sensor 32 is easily affected by acoustic noise, vibration, and electromagnetic noise, the presence or absence of noise influence from the surrounding environment is determined, and the process proceeds to the distance measurement operation.

This noise detection process will be described with reference to the timing chart of FIG.
Noise detection is performed when the ultrasonic transmission signal is at L level (therefore, the output of the comparison unit 58 is at H level). Before transmitting the ultrasonic transmission signal, predetermined sound wave reception that detects noise from the surrounding environment is performed. A period (for example, 100 ms) is provided.

  In addition, by providing a predetermined mask time (for example, 12 ms) before noise detection, the H level of the ultrasonic reception signal at the start of noise detection is ensured, and noise detection is started after the mask time has elapsed and the predetermined time ( For example, noise is detected every 4 ms), and the comparison unit 58 compares the set threshold with the detected noise. Furthermore, in order to prevent erroneous determination, an ultrasonic reception signal when a predetermined time (for example, 100 ms) has elapsed from the start of noise detection is read twice, and when the reading is twice and coincides with H level (noise is less than the threshold), “ While “no noise” is determined, if one of the signals is at L level (noise is equal to or greater than a threshold value), it is determined that “noise is present”.

  Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 18, in the next step S39, it is determined whether or not there is noise. If it is determined that there is no noise, the process proceeds to step S40. If it is determined that there is noise, the process proceeds to step S41. To do.

  In step S40, data is acquired eight times at the same address, and it is determined whether distance measurement based on the acquired data is completed. If it is determined that distance measurement is not completed, step S42 is performed. After performing the transmission process, a reception process is performed in step S43, and the process returns to step S40. Conversely, if it is determined in step S40 that the distance measurement has been completed, a distance number determination process is performed in step S44.

  Since these processes are performed on the first substrate 48 and the second substrate 50, the first substrate 48 and the second substrate 50 function as an obstacle position detecting unit.

  When the distance number determination process in step S44 is completed, it is determined whether or not the address for which the distance number determination process is performed in step S45 is the final address ([i, j] = [0, 1]). After the initialization process of the horizontal rotation motor 44 and the vertical rotation motor 46 that drives the ultrasonic sensor 32 is performed in step S46, the program ends. Since this initialization process is the same as the initialization process performed in step S31, the description thereof is omitted.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S45 that it is not the final address, in step S47, the horizontal rotation motor 44 and the vertical rotation motor 46 are driven to move the ultrasonic sensor 32 to the next address, and step S35. Return to.

  If it is determined in step S39 that there is noise, the measurement data at the current address cannot be used. Therefore, in step S41, the previous distance data stored in the first substrate 48 is replaced with the current distance. The data is confirmed (measurement data is not updated), and after waiting for a predetermined time (for example, 0.8 s) in step S48, the process proceeds to step S47.

  That is, by determining whether or not to update the determination result of the obstacle position detection means based on the noise presence / absence determination result, it is possible to accurately measure the distance to the obstacle. However, the air-conditioning efficiency can be improved by controlling the wind direction changing means so as to avoid the obstacle.

  The reason why the waiting time is provided in step S48 is to make the total consumption time at each address substantially constant. That is, when there is noise, the processing in steps S40, S42, S43, and S44 is not performed. Therefore, if no waiting time is provided, the consumption time is shortened compared to the case where there is no noise, and the ultrasonic sensor 32 This is because the operation becomes unnatural. Further, the occupant can be provided with a sense of security by scanning the entire obstacle position determination area and controlling the obstacle detection device so that the total consumption time at each address is substantially constant.

  Next, the transmission process in step S42, the reception process in step S43, and the distance number determination process in step S44 will be described in order, but the term “distance number” will be described first.

The “distance number” means an approximate distance from the ultrasonic sensor 32 to the position P where the living space is located. As shown in FIG. 20, the ultrasonic sensor 32 is installed 2 m above the floor surface, Assuming that the distance from the ultrasonic sensor 32 to the position P is “ultrasonic arrival distance corresponding to the distance number”, the position P is expressed by the following equation.
X = reach distance × sin (90−α)
Y = 2m−reach distance × sin α

  Assuming that obstacles such as tables and sofas that block air flow are at a height of 0.4 to 1.2 m from the floor, the position of the obstacle is the angle α and the distance from the indoor unit. It can be determined based on the number (distance information).

Further, the distance number is an integer value from 2 to 12, and the ultrasonic propagation round-trip time corresponding to each distance number is set as shown in Table 7.

  Table 7 shows the position of the position P corresponding to each distance number and the depression angle α, and the portion with a vertical line shows a position where Y is a negative value (Y <0) and bites into the floor. ing. The settings in Table 7 apply to an air conditioner with a capacity rank of 2.2 kW, and this air conditioner is installed exclusively in a 6 tatami room (diagonal distance = 4.50 m). , Distance number = 6 is set as a limit value (maximum value X). That is, in a 6 tatami room, the position corresponding to the distance number ≧ 7 is a position that exceeds the wall of the room with a diagonal distance> 4.50 m (a position outside the room), and is a distance number that has no meaning at all. Yes, with horizontal lines.

Incidentally, Table 8 applies to an air conditioner with a capability rank of 6.3 kW, and this air conditioner is installed in a 20 tatami room (diagonal distance = 8.49 m). Number = 12 is set as the limit value (maximum value X).

Table 9 shows the limit value of the distance number set according to the capability rank of the air conditioner and the vertical position j of each address.

Since the ultrasonic wave propagation time corresponding to the distance number has a width, the actual distance corresponding to the distance number has a certain width (error). Table 10 shows the recognized distance number and the actual distance. It shows the relationship with the distance.

  Next, the transmission process in step S42 and the reception process in step S43 will be described with reference to the timing chart of FIG.

  As the ultrasonic transmission signal, for example, as described above, a 50 kHz duty signal of 50 kHz is transmitted for 2 ms, and after 100 ms, the ultrasonic transmission signal is transmitted again, and this is repeated for a total of eight ultrasonic transmissions at each address. Send a signal. The reason why the measurement interval is set to 100 ms is that the time interval of 100 ms is a time in which the influence of the reflected wave by the previous transmission process can be ignored.

  The output mask time is set to 8 ms, for example, and an L level reception mask signal is output 8 ms before the output of the ultrasonic transmission signal to ensure the H level of the ultrasonic reception signal at the time of transmission. Noise such as a reverberation signal is removed by outputting a reception mask signal until 8 ms has passed since the output of the sound wave transmission signal. Further, the input process of the ultrasonic reception signal (output from the latch circuit unit 60) is performed, for example, every 4 ms, similarly to the noise detection process described above.

  Further, when the ultrasonic transmission signal is transmitted, the signal level is read a plurality of times every 4 ms, and in order to prevent erroneous determination due to noise or the like, the value obtained by subtracting 1 from the count number N when the read level is twice and coincides with L level ( N-1) is a distance number (ultrasonic propagation round-trip time). In the example of FIG. 21, after the ultrasonic transmission signal is transmitted, the output signal of the comparison unit 58 is L level between N = 5 and N = 6 (the reception mask signal is H level). The ultrasonic reception signal is at the H level when N = 0 to 5, and at the L level when N = 6 and 7, and when the reading is coincident twice and the L level is N = 7, the distance number is N−1. = 6, and the distance number equivalent time is 6 × 4 ms = 24 ms.

Next, the distance number determination process in step S44 will be described.
As described above, a limit value is set for the distance number in accordance with the capability rank of the air conditioner and the vertical position j of each address. Even when the ultrasonic reception signal is N> maximum value X, it is twice. If the reading coincides and the level is not L, distance number = X is set.

  The distance number for 8 times is determined at each address [i, j], the three distance numbers are removed in order from the largest and the three distance numbers are removed in order from the smallest, and the average value of the remaining two distance numbers is taken. Confirm the number. The average value is rounded up to the nearest integer value, and the ultrasonic propagation round-trip time corresponding to the distance number thus determined is as shown in Table 7 or Table 8.

  In this embodiment, eight distance numbers are determined at each address, except for three distance numbers, each taking the average value of the remaining two distance numbers, and the distance number is determined. The distance number determined by each address is not limited to eight, and the distance number taking an average value is not limited to two.

  Further, the distance measurement to an obstacle such as furniture is performed when the operation of the air conditioner is stopped, and the distance measurement to the obstacle when the operation of the air conditioner is stopped will be described next with reference to the flowchart of FIG. To do. Note that the flowchart of FIG. 22 is very similar to the flowchart of FIG. 18, so only different steps will be described below.

  At the start of the operation of the air conditioner, the horizontal rotation motor 44 and the vertical rotation motor 46 are set to the target initial positions ([i, j] = [0, 0]) in step S34, whereas the air conditioner When the operation is stopped, the horizontal rotation motor 44 and the vertical rotation motor 46 are set to the target initial positions ([i, j] = [0, 2]) in step S54.

  Similarly, at the start of the operation of the air conditioner, in step S45, it is determined whether the address on which the distance number determination process has been performed is the final address ([i, j] = [0, 1]). When the operation of the air conditioner is stopped, it is determined in step S66 whether or not the address on which the distance number determination process has been performed is the final address ([i, j] = [0, 15]).

  The distance measurement to the obstacle when the operation of the air conditioner is stopped is most different from that at the start of operation in step S60. If it is determined in step S59 that there is no noise, in step S60, the current address [i , J], if it is determined that there is no person in the area (any one of the areas A to G shown in FIG. 5), the process proceeds to step S61, whereas if it is determined that there is a person, The process proceeds to step S62. That is, since the person is not an obstacle, the address corresponding to the area determined to have a person uses the previous distance data without performing distance measurement (does not update the distance data), and determines that there is no person. The distance is measured only at the address corresponding to the designated area, and the newly measured distance data is used (distance data is updated).

  That is, when performing the presence / absence determination of an obstacle in each obstacle position determination area, an obstacle in each obstacle position determination area is determined according to the result of the presence / absence determination of a person in the person position determination area corresponding to each obstacle position determination area. By determining whether or not to update the determination result of the object detection device, the presence / absence determination of an obstacle is efficiently performed. More specifically, in the obstacle position determination area belonging to the human position determination area determined that there is no person by the human body detection device, the previous determination result by the obstacle detection device is updated with a new determination result, In the obstacle position determination area belonging to the human position determination area determined that there is a person by the human body detection device, the previous determination result by the obstacle detection device is not updated with a new determination result.

  Note that the previous distance data is used in step 41 in the flowchart of FIG. 18 or step 62 in the flowchart of FIG. 22, but there is no previous data immediately after the installation of the air conditioner. When the determination in each obstacle position determination area is performed for the first time, the default value is used, and the limit value (maximum value X) described above is used as the default value.

  Further, in the flowchart of FIG. 18 or the flowchart of FIG. 22, it is assumed that the obstacle is at a height of 0.4 to 1.2 m from the floor surface, and the position of the obstacle is the depression angle α from the indoor unit. Although the determination is made based on the distance information (distance number), the distance information is not necessarily required when only the presence or absence of an obstacle is detected at each address.

Therefore, instead of the distance measurement process and the distance number determination process in steps S40 and S44 of the flowchart of FIG. 18 and steps S61 and S65 of the flowchart of FIG. 22, the mask time is set according to the distance from the indoor unit, The case of determining the presence or absence of will be described with reference to FIG. 23 and Tables 11 to 13.

  That is, two threshold values (0.4 m, 1.2 m) are set for the height from the floor, and the default mask time corresponding to the two threshold values is set for each address according to the distance from the indoor unit. Two are set as shown in Table 11 (far distance), Table 12 (medium distance), and Table 13 (short distance), and the mask signal is set with the mask period as the mask period before the mask time t1 and after the mask time t2 longer than this. Output to the obstacle detection device. Furthermore, the period between the mask time t1 and the mask time t2 is defined as a receivable period (non-mask period), and only when there is a reaction in the receivable period (when the ultrasonic sensor 32 receives a reflected wave), It is assumed that there is an obstacle at that position, and a total of eight ultrasonic transmission signals are transmitted at each address, and it is determined that there is an obstacle when there is a predetermined number or more of reactions within the receivable period.

The terms “long distance”, “medium distance”, and “short distance” used here are defined as follows based on the distance from the indoor unit.
Short distance: Area A
Medium distance: Regions B, C, D
Long distance: Regions E, F, G

Further, as described above, the distance D from the ultrasonic sensor 32 to the obstacle is D = Ct / 2 (1)
The sound speed C depends on the temperature. When the temperature is T, the sound speed C in 1 atm is
C = 331.5 + 0.61T
It is represented by Therefore, when the two mask times set according to the depression angle α are changed according to the temperature and the presence / absence of the obstacle is determined, the obstacle detection accuracy is further improved.

Incidentally, the mask times shown in FIG. 23 and Tables 11 to 13 are those when the room temperature (suction temperature of the indoor unit) T is 10 ° C. ≦ T ≦ 30 ° C. The mask time when T <10 ° C. is 24 and Tables 14 to 16, and the mask time when T> 30 ° C. can be set as shown in FIG. 25 and Tables 17 to 19.

Furthermore, the sound speed C also depends on the atmospheric pressure, and Table 20 shows the relationship between the atmospheric pressure and the distance error when the distance from the ultrasonic sensor to the object is 1 to 8 m. Here, if the atmospheric pressure is P, an error of about 53.75 (1-P) cm per meter is generated from the ultrasonic sensor to the object, so the mask calculated using the equation (1). Obstacle detection accuracy is further improved by adding the error to the time and correcting the sound speed according to the atmospheric pressure.

  In addition, the obstacle detection accuracy is also affected by the installation height of the indoor unit (actually, the ultrasonic sensor 32), and the obstacle detection accuracy is further improved by considering the installation height of the indoor unit. That is, if the mask time is set assuming that the installation height of the indoor unit is 2 m from the floor, if the indoor unit is installed at a position lower than 2 m from the floor, an obstacle such as a groove on the floor On the other hand, when the indoor unit is installed at a position higher than 2 m from the floor surface, it may be impossible to detect an obstacle at all.

  Therefore, “standard”, “lower”, “higher” indoor unit height switching means (buttons, switches, etc.) are provided on the remote controller (remote control device) or the indoor unit body for remotely controlling the air conditioner. By switching the indoor unit height switching means according to the height at the time of installation, it is possible to prevent erroneous detection due to the installation height of the indoor unit.

23, 24, and 25 show the case where the installation height of the indoor unit is 2 m from the floor surface, the indoor temperature T is 10 ° C. ≦ T ≦ 30 ° C., and the installation height of the indoor unit is the floor surface. To 1.7 m, the mask time is set as shown in FIG. 26 and Tables 21 to 23, and when the installation height of the indoor unit is 2.4 m from the floor, the mask time is set as shown in FIG. 27 and Tables 24 to 26. Can be set as follows. In addition, when T <10 ° C. or T> 30 ° C., it is set according to the variation of the sound speed based on the temperature change.

  Therefore, the mask time when the installation height of the indoor unit is 2 m ± 0.2 m, 1.7 m ± 0.2 m, 2.4 m ± 0.2 m from the floor is set in the indoor unit height switching means. Corresponding to “standard”, “lower”, and “higher” respectively, it is possible to eliminate false detection caused by the installation height of the indoor unit.

  In Tables 21 to 26, a depression angle in which the mask time t1 and the mask time t2 are set to the same time means that obstacle detection is not performed.

  Also, because indoor units are often installed at a “standard” height, the “standard” height uses mask times based on the room temperature, while the “lower” and “higher” heights. Now, the case where T <10 ° C. or T> 30 ° C. is ignored as the room temperature, and a mask time of 10 ° C. ≦ T ≦ 30 ° C. may be used.

  FIG. 28 shows a flowchart for selecting the mask time when the mask time is set in this way and the influence of the atmospheric pressure is ignored.

  In step S71, the room temperature is detected before the initialization process, and in step S72, it is determined whether or not the installation height of the indoor unit set by the remote controller is “standard”. On the other hand, if it is not “standard”, the process proceeds to step S78.

  In step S73, it is determined whether the room temperature T is 10 ° C. ≦ T ≦ 30 ° C. If 10 ° C ≦ T ≦ 30 ° C., the mask time of FIG. If T ≦ 30 ° C., it is determined in step S75 whether T <10 ° C. If T <10 ° C., the mask time of FIG. 24 is selected in step S76. If T <10 ° C., the room temperature T is T> 30 ° C., so in step S77, FIG. Select the mask time.

  In step S78, it is determined whether the installation height of the indoor unit set by the remote controller is “lower”. If “lower”, the mask time of FIG. 26 is selected in step S79, while If it is not “lower”, the installation height of the indoor unit set by the remote controller is “higher”, and therefore the mask time of FIG. 27 is selected in step S80.

  Here, paying attention to the height of the obstacle, in the airflow control, it is important to determine the height of the obstacle, particularly for a short distance region. For example, in the case of an obstacle with a low height during heating, comfortable air conditioning can be performed by setting the upper and lower blades 12 upward slightly from normal automatic wind direction control (described later) and sending an airflow over the obstacle. On the other hand, when there is a high obstacle, if the upper and lower blades 12 are set upward to avoid the obstacle, the airflow may not reach the floor or the resident's face may be warmed. Since the occupants may feel uncomfortable, it is more effective to swing the left and right blades 14 (described later) when avoiding a high-height obstacle. Thus, by determining the height of the obstacle present in the room, the width of the air flow control is widened, and a comfortable air-conditioned space can be realized.

  Therefore, three thresholds (for example, 0.4 m, 0.7 m, and 1.2 m) are provided for the height from the floor surface, and an obstacle with a height of 0.7 to 1.2 m from the floor surface is designated as “high”. Obstacles and obstacles with a height of 0.4 to 0.7m from the floor are defined as "low obstacles". For short-range areas, high obstacle detection mask time and low obstacles It is also possible to perform two-stage detection by setting a mask time for object detection.

Specifically, for the long-distance area and the medium-distance area, one obstacle height section (0.4 to 1.2 m) is used, and the mask time of FIGS. 23 to 27 is used for each address. While a total of eight ultrasonic transmission signals are transmitted to determine the presence or absence of an obstacle (see FIG. 21), for the short distance area, there are two obstacle height categories, and each address in the short distance area Then, using the mask time shown in FIG. 29 or Table 27, a total of eight ultrasonic transmission signals are transmitted to determine the presence or absence of a high obstacle, and then using the mask time shown in Table 28, A total of eight ultrasonic transmission signals are transmitted to determine whether there is a low obstacle.

  In addition, for the long distance area and the middle distance area, the obstacle height is divided into two, and the mask time for high obstacle detection and the mask time for low obstacle detection are set to perform two-stage obstacle detection. If done, the range of airflow control is further expanded. Here, if the height limit of “High Obstacle” and the height limit of “Low Obstacle” are not particularly required, the height threshold may be one or two instead of three. Absent.

  It is also possible to set four or more threshold values for the height from the floor and divide the height of the obstacle into three or more, but the number of obstacle height categories increases as the area is closer to the indoor unit. It is preferable to do this.

Incidentally, the mask times in FIG. 29, Table 27 and Table 28 show the case where the installation height of the indoor unit is “standard” and the room temperature T is 10 ° C. ≦ T ≦ 30 ° C., and the room temperature T is T When <high obstacle> is detected at each address in the short distance region at <10 ° C., the presence or absence of the high obstacle is determined using the mask time shown in FIG. The presence / absence of a low obstacle is determined using the mask time shown in FIG.

In addition, when “high obstacle” is detected at each address in the short distance area when the room temperature T is T> 30 ° C., the mask time shown in FIG. 31 or Table 31 is used. The presence / absence determination is performed, and then the presence / absence determination of the low obstacle is performed using the mask time shown in Table 32.

When the installation height of the indoor unit is “lower”, when the indoor temperature T is 10 ° C. ≦ T ≦ 30 ° C., the mask time of FIG. 32, Table 33, and Table 34 is set, and the indoor temperature T is T < When the temperature is 10 ° C., the mask times shown in FIGS. 33, 35, and 36 are used. When the room temperature T is T> 30 ° C., the mask times shown in FIGS. 34, 37, and 38 are used.

Further, when the installation height of the indoor unit is “high”, when the room temperature T is 10 ° C. ≦ T ≦ 30 ° C., the mask time of FIG. 35, Table 39, and Table 40 is set, and the room temperature T is T < When the temperature is 10 ° C., the mask times shown in FIGS. 36, 41, and 42 are used. When the room temperature T is T> 30 ° C., the mask times shown in FIGS. 37, 43, and 44 are used.

  In FIGS. 29 to 37 or Tables 27 to 44, the high obstacle detection receivable period and the low obstacle detection receivable period are set so as not to overlap, but the obstacle detection learning control described later is used. According to the above, if obstacles are detected by separating high obstacles and low obstacles in one position, it may be determined that there are no obstacles even though there are obstacles in that position. The low obstacle detection mask time t1 may coincide with the high obstacle detection mask time t1. In this case, the low obstacle is determined only as a low obstacle, and the high obstacle is determined as a high obstacle as well as a low obstacle.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 23 to FIG. 37, when two mask times are set for the address to be measured and an obstacle at a height of 0.4 to 1.2 m is detected from the floor surface, The depression angle measured at (1) overlaps with the depression angle measured at a long distance or a short distance, and at the depression angle corresponding to the middle distance area, the mask time is changed at each address and scanning is performed twice.

  In this embodiment, the obstacle detection is performed separately when the air conditioner is started and stopped. However, during operation of the compressor and the indoor fan, electrical noise and ambient noise are excessive. Since there is a possibility that the sound wave sensor 32 may be adversely affected, obstacle detection by the ultrasonic sensor 32 at all addresses may be performed when the operation of the air conditioner is stopped.

  Further, the remote control may be provided with time setting means, and obstacle detection by the ultrasonic sensor 32 may be started at the time set by the time setting means. In this case, when the air conditioner is operating at the time set by the time setting means, the compressor or the indoor fan 8 stops at the time set by the time setting means without starting the obstacle detection. If it is, it is preferable to start obstacle detection.

  Further, in addition to the obstacle detection at the timing described above, in order to reflect the detection result of the ultrasonic sensor 32 in the operation of the air conditioner, all the noises in the surrounding environment are ignored and all the Obstacle detection at the address can also be started.

  Note that the ultrasonic sensor 32 transmits ultrasonic waves using air as a medium and receives the reflected waves. Since there is a possibility that the position of an obstacle cannot be detected correctly where there is an airflow, the indoor fan When obstacle detection is performed during the operation of No. 8, the setting angle of the left and right blades 14 is changed according to each address shown in Table 5.

  More specifically, when the obstacle is detected by the ultrasonic sensor 32 at each address where the horizontal angle β is 10 degrees to 55 degrees during the operation of the indoor fan 8, the left and right blades 14 are moved from the indoor unit regardless of the depression angle α. In the case of the leftward setting (detection direction of the ultrasonic sensor 32), the left and right blades 14 are changed to the front direction, and when the left and right blades 14 are set to the front or right direction, the setting direction of the left and right blades 14 is not changed.

  In addition, when the obstacle is detected by the ultrasonic sensor 32 at each address with the horizontal angle β of 60 degrees to 115 degrees, the left and right blades 14 are set to face front as viewed from the indoor unit regardless of the depression angle α (ultrasonic sensor). 32 detection direction), the left and right blades 14 are changed to the left or right. When the left and right blades 14 are set to the left or right, the setting direction of the left and right blades 14 is not changed.

  Furthermore, when the obstacle is detected by the ultrasonic sensor 32 at each address where the horizontal angle β is 120 degrees to 170 degrees, the left and right blades 14 are set to the right when viewed from the indoor unit regardless of the depression angle α (ultrasonic sensor 32). The left and right blades 14 are changed to the front direction, and when the left and right blades 14 are set to the left or front direction, the setting direction of the left and right blades 14 is not changed.

Note that the human position determination areas shown in FIG. 5 are the left area (areas A, B, E), the central area (areas A, C, F), and the right area (areas A, D) as viewed from the indoor unit. , G), the obstacle position determination area shown in FIG. 14 includes a left area (positions A1, B1, B2, E1, E2) and a central area (positions A2, C1, C2) as viewed from the indoor unit. , F1, F2) and the right area (positions A3, D1, D2, G1, G2), and the horizontal angle ranges described above correspond to the following areas, respectively.
Angle β: 10 ° to 55 ° → Left region Angle β: 60 ° to 115 ° → Center region Angle β: 120 ° to 170 ° → Right region

  That is, when the left and right blades 14 are facing the detection direction of the ultrasonic sensor 32 during operation of the indoor fan 8, the direction of the left and right blades 14 is changed to a direction different from the detection direction of the ultrasonic sensor 32. The influence of the airflow on the obstacle detection by the ultrasonic sensor 32 is reduced as much as possible. More specifically, when the area to be air-conditioned is divided into a plurality of left and right areas when viewed from the indoor unit, when the left and right blades 14 face the detection area of the ultrasonic sensor 32, the left and right blades 14 Is directed to a region adjacent to the detection region of the ultrasonic sensor 32.

  When the left and right blades 14 are set to the left when viewed from the indoor unit when detecting the obstacle in the left region by the ultrasonic sensor, or when detecting the obstacle in the right region by the ultrasonic sensor, the left and right blades 14 are If the right and left blades 14 are changed to the right or left, and the direction of the left and right blades 14 is changed to an area farthest from the detection area of the ultrasonic sensor, the influence of the airflow can be further reduced.

  In addition, although the comfort is slightly reduced by prioritizing the obstacle detection by the ultrasonic sensor in the blowing direction of the air conditioning wind, the obstacle detection by the ultrasonic sensor 32 is finished when the setting direction of the left and right blades 14 is changed. At the time, by returning the direction of the left and right blades 14 to the direction before the change, it is possible to suppress a decrease in comfort as much as possible.

  Furthermore, every time the air conditioner is operated, if obstacle detection is performed in the entire area as shown in Table 6, the obstacle detection performance of the ultrasonic sensor 32 may be deteriorated. Can be performed only once after the first operation and after a memory reset (second memory reset described later), and the second and subsequent detections can be made into 1/3 region per time.

  That is, the second detection is performed at positions A1, B1, B2, E1, and E2 belonging to the left region, and the third detection is performed at positions A2, C1, C2, F1, and F2 belonging to the central region. Is detected at positions A3, D1, D2, G1, and G2 belonging to the right area, and obstacle detection is similarly performed in the 1/3 area after the fifth time.

Specifically, one full area detection and one 1/3 area detection are performed in the following order.
All area detection: E1->E2->B1->B2->A1->F1->F2->C1->C2->A2->G1->G2->D1->D2-> A3
Left 1/3 area detection: E1->E2->B1->B2-> A1
Center 1/3 region detection: F1->F2->C1->C2-> A2
Right 1/3 area detection: G1->G2->D1->D2-> A3

  The human position determination area shown in FIG. 5 can be divided into three areas, left, center, and right when viewed from the indoor unit, but the human position determination is performed according to the number of sensor units constituting the human body detection device. The area can be divided into two areas, left and right as viewed from the indoor unit, or four or more areas. In this case, the second and subsequent detections are performed in 1/2 area or 1 / R area ( R ≧ 4).

  Moreover, the fall of the obstruction detection performance of the ultrasonic sensor 32 can also be further suppressed by lowering the obstruction detection frequency in the region where the frequency of people is low.

  That is, there is a person for a predetermined period (for example, one week) until the region characteristic (or life category) is determined based on the flowchart of FIG. 6 or until the obstacle detection learning control (described later) is stabilized. Obstacle detection is sequentially performed for each one-third region regardless of the frequency, and after a predetermined period has elapsed, for example, thinning detection can be performed based on region characteristics.

  That is, when the smallest area characteristic among the area characteristics of a plurality of human position determination areas included in the three areas of the left, center, and right when viewed from the indoor unit is the area characteristic of the area, the area is the area characteristic III. In this case, the obstacle position detection in the area is performed by thinning out at a rate of once every plural times (for example, five times).

  For example, in the left area, when the area characteristics of the area A, the area B, and the area E are all III, the smallest area characteristic is III, so the left area is the area characteristic III, and the area between the center area and the right area When the characteristic is I or II, the following decimation detection is performed. Note that the number of scans until the region characteristics before the thinning detection is determined is set to seven.

  Wall (7th) → Left (7th) → Center (7th) → Right (7th) → Wall (8th) → Center (8th) → Right (8th) → Wall (9th) →… → Wall surface (11th) → Center (11th) → Right (11th) → Wall (12th) → Left (8th) → Center (12th) → Right (12th) →…

Further, in the central area, for example, when the area A is the area characteristic III, the area C is the area characteristic II, and the area F is the area characteristic III, the smallest area characteristic is II. Do not do.
<Learning control for obstacle detection>
The ultrasonic sensor 32 can usually measure accurately when the angle formed by the irradiation direction and the surface of the object is around 90 degrees, but the reflected wave gradually returns to the ultrasonic sensor 32 as the angle decreases. The possibility of failure in obstacle detection increases.

  As an example, when a table such as a table with a flat upper surface is considered, if there is nothing on the table, there is a possibility that a transmission wave from the ultrasonic sensor 32 is reflected by the upper surface of the table and returns to the ultrasonic sensor 32. It is extremely low and it is difficult to determine the position of the table. On the other hand, if there are household items (tableware, remote control, books, newspapers, tissue boxes, etc.) on the table, the transmitted wave from the ultrasonic sensor 32 is reflected by the table and household items. As a result, the table returns to the ultrasonic sensor 32, and the table position can be easily determined.

  Therefore, in this learning control, the obstacle detection is performed using not only the obstacle but also an interaction with a surrounding accessory in the vicinity of the obstacle. However, the furniture that is actually placed in the room (in fact, the daily necessities placed on the furniture rather than the furniture) is likely to change every day, the angle of the obstacle, Since the interaction of surrounding accessories in the vicinity of the obstacle changes, it is possible to reduce detection errors as much as possible by repeatedly performing the obstacle detection. In this learning control, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 38, the obstacle position is learned based on the scanning result of each time, the location of the obstacle is judged from the learning control result, and airflow control described later is performed. It is.

  FIG. 38 is a flowchart showing the obstacle presence / absence determination. This obstacle presence / absence determination is sequentially performed for all positions (obstacle position determination regions) shown in FIG. Here, the position A1 will be described as an example.

  When the obstacle detection operation is started by the ultrasonic sensor 32, first, in step S81, the detection operation (scanning) is performed by the ultrasonic sensor 32 at the first address of the position A1, and in step S82, the above-described obstacle presence / absence determination ( The presence or absence of a reaction at time t1 to t2) is performed. If it is determined in step S82 that there is an obstacle, in step S83, "1" is added to the first memory provided on the third substrate 52, while if it is determined that there is no obstacle, In step S84, “0” is added to the first memory.

  In step S85, it is determined whether or not the detection at the final address of position A1 has been completed. If the detection at the final address has not been completed, a detection operation is performed by the ultrasonic sensor 32 at the next address in step S86. Return to step S82.

  On the other hand, when the detection at the final address is completed, in step S87, the numerical value recorded in the first memory (the total of the addresses determined as having obstacles) is divided by the number of addresses at position A1 ( In the next step S88, the quotient is compared with a predetermined threshold value. If the quotient is larger than the threshold value, it is temporarily determined in step S89 that there is an obstacle at position A1, and in step S90, “5” is added to the second memory. On the other hand, if the quotient is less than the threshold value, it is temporarily determined in step S91 that there is no obstacle at position A1, and in step S92, “−1” is added to the second memory (“1”). Subtract).

In addition, since the obstacle detection by the ultrasonic sensor 32 is difficult as the distance from the ultrasonic sensor 32 to the obstacle increases, the threshold value used here is, for example, as follows according to the distance from the indoor unit: Is set.
Short distance: 0.4
Medium distance: 0.3
Long distance: 0.2

  Further, since this obstacle detection operation is performed every time the air conditioner is operated, “5” or “−1” is repeatedly added to the second memory. Therefore, the numerical value recorded in the second memory has the maximum value set to “10” and the minimum value set to “0”.

  Next, in step S93, it is determined whether or not the numerical value (total after addition) recorded in the second memory is greater than or equal to a determination reference value (for example, 5). While it is finally determined that there is an obstacle at position A1, if it is less than the determination reference value, it is finally determined at step S95 that there is no obstacle at position A1.

  The first memory can be used as a memory for an obstacle detection operation at the next position by clearing the memory when the obstacle detection operation at a certain position is completed. However, the second memory is an air conditioner. Since the added value at one position is accumulated each time the machine is operated (however, maximum value ≧ total ≧ minimum value), the same number of memories as the number of positions are prepared.

  In the obstacle detection learning control described above, “5” is set as the determination reference value, and when it is finally determined that there is an obstacle in the first obstacle detection at a certain position, “5” is stored in the second memory. Is recorded. In this state, when it is finally determined that there is no obstacle in the next obstacle detection, the value obtained by adding “−1” to “5” is less than the determination reference value. It will not exist.

  However, when it is finally determined that there is an obstacle in the next obstacle detection, a value “10” obtained by adding “5” to “5” is recorded in the second memory, and the total value is equal to or greater than the determination reference value. Therefore, there is an obstacle at that position, and even if it is determined that there is no obstacle after five obstacle detections, the value obtained by adding “−1 × 5” to “10” is “5”. So there are still obstacles in that position.

  In other words, this obstacle detection learning control determines the final presence / absence determination of an obstacle based on a plurality of cumulative addition values (or addition / subtraction cumulative values), and adds a value to be added when it is determined that there is an obstacle. A characteristic is that the number is set sufficiently larger than the value to be subtracted when it is determined that there is no obstacle. By setting in this way, the result that there is an obstacle is easily obtained.

  In addition, by setting the maximum value and the minimum value to the numerical values recorded in the second memory, even if the position of the obstacle changes greatly due to moving or redesigning, the change can be followed as soon as possible. If there is no maximum value, the sum will gradually increase each time it is judged that there is an obstacle, the position of the obstacle will change due to moving etc., and there will be no obstacle in the area that is judged every time there is an obstacle However, it takes time to fall below the criterion value. Further, when the minimum value is not provided, the reverse phenomenon occurs.

  FIG. 39 shows a modification of the obstacle detection learning control shown in the flowchart of FIG. 38, and only steps S110, S112, and S113 are different from the flowchart of FIG. To do.

  In this learning control, when it is temporarily determined in step S109 that there is an obstacle at position A1, "1" is added to the second memory in step S110. On the other hand, if it is temporarily determined in step S111 that there is no obstacle at position A1, “0” is added to the second memory in step S112.

  Next, in step S113, the total value recorded in the second memory on the basis of the past ten obstacle detections including the current obstacle detection is compared with a determination reference value (for example, 2), and the determination reference value is determined. If it is above, it is finally determined in step S114 that there is an obstacle at position A1, whereas if it is less than the criterion value, it is finally determined in step S115 that there is no obstacle in position A1. Determined.

  In other words, the obstacle detection learning control described above is finally determined that there is an obstacle if it can be detected twice even if it cannot be detected eight times in the past ten obstacle detections at a certain position. It will be. Therefore, this learning control is characterized in that the number of obstacle detections (here, 2) that is finally determined to be an obstacle is set to a number sufficiently smaller than the past number of obstacle detections to be referred to. Yes, by setting in this way, it is easy to get the result that there is an obstacle.

  Note that a button for resetting data recorded in the second memory may be provided on the indoor unit main body or the remote control, and the data may be reset by pressing this button.

  Basically, the position of obstacles and wall surfaces that greatly affect airflow control is unlikely to change, but changes in the indoor unit installation position due to moving, etc., and changes in the furniture position due to redesign of the room, etc. In such a case, it is not preferable to perform airflow control based on the data obtained so far. This is because, depending on the learning control, the control is eventually suitable for the room, but it takes time to reach the optimal control (particularly when the obstacle disappears in the region). Therefore, if the relative positional relationship between the indoor unit and the obstacle or wall surface is changed by providing a reset button, improper air conditioning based on past incorrect data is performed by resetting the previous data. Can be prevented, and by resuming the learning control from the beginning, the control suitable for the situation can be made earlier.

<Obstacle avoidance control>
Based on the presence / absence determination of the obstacle, the upper and lower blades 12 and the left and right blades 14 as the wind direction changing means are controlled as follows during heating.

  In the following description, the terms “block” and “field” are used. These terms will be described first.

Regions A to G shown in FIG. 5 belong to the next block, respectively.
Block N: Region A
Block R: Regions B and E
Block C: Regions C and F
Block L: Regions D and G

Regions A to G belong to the following fields, respectively.
Field 1: Area A
Field 2: Regions B and D
Field 3: Region C
Field 4: Regions E and G
Field 5: Region F

Table 45 shows the target setting angles at the positions of the five left blades and the five right blades constituting the left and right blades 14, and the symbols attached to the numbers (angles) are as shown in FIG. A case where the left blade or the right blade is directed inward is defined as a plus (+, no sign in Table 45) direction, and a case where the left blade is directed outward is defined as a minus (−) direction.

In Table 45, “heating B area” refers to a heating area in which obstacle avoidance control is performed, and “normal automatic wind direction control” refers to wind direction control in which obstacle avoidance control is not performed. Here, the determination as to whether or not to perform the obstacle avoidance control is based on the temperature of the indoor heat exchanger 6. When the temperature is low, the wind direction control is not applied to the occupant, and when the temperature is too high, In the case of wind direction control and moderate temperature, wind direction control to the heating B area is performed. In addition, “temperature is low”, “too high”, “wind direction control that does not apply wind to the occupant”, and “wind direction control at the maximum airflow position” have the following meanings.
-Low temperature: The temperature of the indoor heat exchanger 6 is set to the skin temperature (33 to 34 ° C) as the optimum temperature, and a temperature that can be lower than this temperature (for example, 32 ° C).
-Too high temperature: for example, 56 ° C or higher-Wind direction control that does not direct wind to the occupant: Wind direction control that causes the wind to flow along the ceiling by controlling the angle of the upper and lower blades 12 so as not to send the wind to the living space -Wind direction control at the maximum airflow position: When the air conditioner bends the airflow with the upper and lower blades 12 and the left and right blades 14, resistance (loss) is always generated, so the maximum airflow position is the wind direction where the loss is close to zero. Control (in the case of the left and right blades 14, it is a position facing directly in front, and in the case of the upper and lower blades 12, it is a position facing downward 35 degrees from the horizontal)

Table 46 shows target setting angles in the fields of the upper and lower blades 12 when the obstacle avoidance control is performed. In Table 46, the upper blade angle (γ1) and the lower blade angle (γ2) are downward angles (decline angles) measured from the horizon.

  Next, the obstacle avoidance control according to the position of the obstacle will be described in detail. The terms “swing operation”, “position stop operation”, and “block stop operation” used in the obstacle avoidance control will be described first.

  The swinging motion is a swinging motion of the left and right blades 14, and basically swinging with a predetermined left-right angle width around one target position and having no fixed time at both ends of the swing. is there.

In addition, the position stop operation means correction of Table 47 with respect to a target set angle (an angle in Table 45) of a certain position, which is set to the left end and the right end, respectively. As the operation, the left end and the right end each have a wind direction fixing time (time for fixing the left and right blades 14). For example, when the wind direction fixing time elapses at the left end, it moves to the right end and the wind direction fixing time elapses at the right end. The wind direction at the right end is maintained, and after the fixed time of the wind direction has passed, it moves to the left end and repeats it. The wind direction fixing time is set to 60 seconds, for example.

  In other words, if there is an obstacle at a certain position and the target setting angle of that position is used as it is, the hot air always hits the obstacle. It is possible to reach the position where there is.

Further, in the block stop operation, the set angles of the left and right blades 14 corresponding to the left end and the right end of each block are determined based on, for example, Table 48. The operation has a fixed wind direction at the left and right ends of each block.For example, when the fixed wind direction has elapsed at the left end, it moves to the right end and maintains the right wind direction until the fixed wind direction has elapsed at the right end. Then, after the elapse of the wind direction fixing time, it moves to the left end and repeats it. The wind direction fixing time is set to 60 seconds, for example, similarly to the position stop operation. Since the left end and the right end of each block coincide with the left end and the right end of the person position determination area belonging to the block, the block stop operation can be said to be a stop operation of the person position determination area.

  In addition, position stop operation and block stop operation are properly used according to the size of the obstacle. When the obstacle in front is small, the position is stopped around the position where there is an obstacle, and it avoids the obstacle and blows, whereas the obstacle in front is large, for example, in front of the whole area where people are When there is an obstacle, the air is blown over a wide range by performing a block stop operation.

  In the present embodiment, the swing operation, the position stop operation, and the block stop operation are collectively referred to as the swing operation of the left and right blades 14.

  Hereinafter, a control example of the upper and lower blades 12 or the left and right blades 14 will be described in detail. However, when it is determined by the human body detection device that a person is only in a single region, it is determined by the human body detection device that there is a person. When the obstacle detection device determines that there is an obstacle in the obstacle position determination area located in front of the human position determination area, the air flow control is performed to control the upper and lower blades 12 to avoid the obstacle from above. ing. In addition, when the obstacle detection device determines that there is an obstacle in the obstacle position determination region belonging to the human position determination region determined that there is a person by the human body detection device, the person position determination determined that there is a person. It is determined that there is a person with the first airflow control that swings the left and right blades 14 within at least one obstacle position determination region belonging to the region and does not provide the fixing time of the left and right blades 14 at both ends of the swing range. The left and right blades 14 are swung within at least one obstacle position determining region belonging to the person position determining region or the human position determining region adjacent to the region, and fixed times of the left and right blades 14 are provided at both ends of the swing range. One of the two airflow controls is selected.

  In the following description, the control of the upper and lower blades 12 and the control of the left and right blades 14 are separated, but the control of the upper and lower blades 12 and the control of the left and right blades 14 are appropriately combined depending on the position of the person and the obstacle. Is called.

A. Upper and lower blade control (1) When there is a person in any of the regions B to G and there are obstacles at positions A1 to A3 in front of the region where the person is present, ) Is corrected as shown in Table 49, and airflow control is performed with the upper and lower blades 12 set upward.
(2) When there is a person in any of the areas B to G and there is no obstacle in the area A in front of the area in which the person is present (other than (1) above)
Usually performs automatic wind direction control.

B. Left and right blade control B1. When there is a person in the area A (short distance) (1) When there is one obstacle-free position in the area A The first airflow control is performed by swinging left and right around the target setting angle of the position without the obstacle. . For example, when there are obstacles at positions A1 and A3 and there are no obstacles at position A2, the position A2 is basically air-conditioned by swinging left and right around the target setting angle of position A2. Since there is no guarantee that there are no people at positions A1 and A3, an air flow is distributed to positions A1 and A3 by adding a swing motion.
More specifically, since the target setting angle and the correction angle (swing angle at the time of the swing operation) of the position A2 are determined based on Table 45 and Table 47, both the left blade and the right blade have 10 degrees. It continues to swing (swing) without stopping in the center at an angle range of ± 10 degrees. However, the timing of swinging the left and right blades to the left and right is set to be the same, and the swinging motions of the left and right blades are linked.
(2) When there are two obstacle-free positions in the area A and they are adjacent (A1 and A2 or A2 and A3)
The first airflow control is performed by swinging the target setting angles of two positions without obstacles at both ends to basically air-condition a position without obstacles.
(3) When there are two positions that are not obstructed in the area A and are separated (A1 and A3)
The second airflow control is performed by operating the block stop with the target set angles of two positions having no obstacles at both ends.
(4) When there are obstacles at all positions in the area A Since it is unclear where to aim, the block N is operated in a block stop and the second airflow control is performed. This is because the block stop operation is more directional and can reach far away than the entire area, and there is a high possibility of avoiding obstacles. That is, even when obstacles are scattered in the area A, there is usually a gap between the obstacles, and the air can be blown through the gap between the obstacles.
(5) When there are no obstacles in all positions in the area A The normal automatic wind direction control in the area A is performed.

B2. When there is a person in any of the areas B, C, D (medium distance) (1) When there is an obstacle only in one of the two positions belonging to the person's area The first airflow control is performed by swinging left and right. For example, when there is a person in the region D and there is an obstacle only at the position D2, the swing operation is performed to the left and right around the target setting angle of the position D1.
(2) When there are obstacles in both of the two positions belonging to the area where the person is present The block including the area where the person is present is operated to stop the block and the second air flow control is performed. For example, when there is a person in the area D and there are obstacles in both the positions D1 and D2, the block L is operated while being stopped.
(3) When there are no obstacles in an area where people are present Normal normal wind direction control is performed in areas where people are present.

B3. When there is a person in any of the areas E, F, G (far distance) (1) When there is an obstacle only in one of the two positions belonging to the middle distance area in front of the area where the person is present (example: area E There is an obstacle at position B2 and there is no obstacle at position B1)
(1.1) When there are no obstacles on both sides of a position where there are obstacles (eg, there are no obstacles at positions B1 and C1)
(1.1.1) When there is no obstacle behind the position where there is an obstacle (eg, there is no obstacle at position E2)
The second airflow control is performed by stopping the position around the position where the obstacle is located. For example, if there is a person in the area E and there is an obstacle at the position B2, and there are no obstacles on either side of the obstacle, the air current can be sent to the area E while avoiding the obstacle at the position B2 from the side. .
(1.1.2) When there is an obstacle behind the position where there is an obstacle (eg, there is an obstacle at position E2)
The first airflow control is performed by performing a swing operation around the target setting angle in a position where there is no obstacle in the middle distance region. For example, if there is a person in the area E and there is an obstacle at the position B2 and there are no obstacles on both sides, but there are obstacles behind it, it is advantageous to send airflow from the position B1 without the obstacles. .
(1.2) When there is an obstacle on either side of the position where there is an obstacle and there is no obstacle on the other side, the first airflow control is performed by swinging around the target setting angle of the position where there is no obstacle . For example, if there is a person in the area F, there is an obstacle in position C2, there is an obstacle in position D1 of both sides of position C2, and there is no obstacle in C1, the obstacles from position C1 to position C2 where there is no obstacle Airflow can be sent to area F while avoiding objects.
(2) When there is an obstacle in both of the two positions belonging to the middle distance area in front of the area where the person is present The block including the area where the person is present is operated in block stop to perform the second air flow control. For example, when there is a person in the area F and there are obstacles in both the positions C1 and C2, the block C is operated in a block stop state. In this case, since there is an obstacle ahead of the person and there is no way to avoid the obstacle, the block stop operation is performed regardless of whether there is an obstacle in the block adjacent to the block C.
(3) When there are no obstacles in both of the two positions belonging to the middle distance area in front of the area where the person is present (example: there is a person in the area F and there are no obstacles in the positions C1 and C2)
(3.1) When there is an obstacle only in one of the two positions belonging to the area where the person is present The first airflow control is performed by swinging around the target setting angle of the other position where there is no obstacle. For example, if there is a person in the area F, there are no obstacles in the positions C1, C2, and F1, and there is an obstacle in the position F2, the front of the area F in which the person is present is open. Considering this, air conditioning is performed around the far-off position F1 without an obstacle.
(3.2) When there are obstacles in both of the two positions belonging to the area where the person is present The block including the area where the person is located is put into block stop operation and the second air flow control is performed. For example, if there is a person in the area G, there are no obstacles in the positions D1 and D2, and there are obstacles in both the positions G1 and G2, the front of the area G in which the person is present is open. Since there is an obstacle and it is unclear where to aim, block L is put into block stop operation.
(3.3) When there are no obstacles in both of the two positions belonging to the area where people are present Normal normal wind direction control is performed in areas where people are present.

  In this obstacle avoidance control, the upper and lower blades 12 and the left and right blades 14 are controlled based on the presence / absence determination of the person by the human body detection device and the presence / absence determination of the obstacle by the obstacle detection device. It is also possible to control the upper and lower blades 12 and the left and right blades 14 based only on the presence / absence determination of an obstacle by the detection device.

<Obstacle avoidance control based only on the presence / absence determination of obstacles>
This obstacle avoidance control is basically for avoiding an area determined to be an obstacle by the obstacle detection device and blowing air toward the area determined to be no obstacle. An example will be described.

A. Upper and lower blade control (1) When there is an obstacle in area A (short distance) When warm air is sent with the upper and lower blades 12 directed to the lowest direction in order to suppress warm air that becomes lighter and rises during heating, the obstacle is applied to area A. If there is, there is a possibility that warm air accumulates behind the obstacle (on the indoor unit side) or that the warm air hits the obstacle and does not reach the floor.

  Therefore, when an obstacle is detected directly below or in the vicinity of the indoor unit, the set angle of the upper and lower blades 12 is corrected as shown in Table 49 with respect to the normal field wind direction control (Table 46), and the airflow with the upper and lower blades 12 set upward. Control and air conditioning over obstacles. To avoid the obstacles, if the entire airflow is raised too much, the warm air directly hits the resident's face, giving uncomfortable feeling, while lifting the warm air with the lower blade 12b to avoid the obstacles, The upper blade 12a prevents the lift.

B. Left and right blade control (1) When there is an obstacle in any of the areas B, C, D (medium distance), air conditioning is focused on the direction where there is no obstacle. For example, when an obstacle is detected in the area C (center of the room), the block including the areas B and D on both sides having no obstacle is alternately operated to stop the block so that there is no obstacle (= the presence of a person) Air conditioning can be focused on areas that are likely to

  Further, when an obstacle is detected in the area B or D (the corner of the room), the blocks including the areas C and D or the areas B and C are operated in a block stop state. In this case, if the areas C and D or the areas B and C are block-stopped at a rate of once every plural times (for example, 5 times), the left and right blades 14 are swung toward the area B or D. In addition to being able to air-condition around areas where people are more likely to be present, it is effective in terms of air-conditioning of the entire room.

  Further, the position (obstacle position determination area) for determining the presence or absence of an obstacle may be subdivided as shown in FIG. 14 regardless of the capability rank of the air conditioner, but is set according to the capability rank. Since the room sizes are also different, the number of divided areas may be changed. For example, when the ability rank is 4.0 kw or more, the area is divided as shown in FIG. 14, and when the ability rank is 3.6 kw or less, the short-distance area is divided into three without providing the long-distance area. May be divided into six.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 14, when a room is recognized radially and divided into near / medium / far distances from the indoor unit at equal intervals, the area increases as the distance from the indoor unit increases. Therefore, by increasing the number of discriminating areas as the distance from the indoor unit increases, the size of each area can be made substantially uniform, and airflow control is facilitated.

  In addition, the entire scanning of the living space is performed by the ultrasonic sensor 32 transmitting ultrasonic waves toward each address shown in Table 5, but the angle at the time of scanning according to the distance from the indoor unit to the discrimination area The interval can also be increased.

  Here, if the detection small area corresponding to each address is expressed in terms of “cells”, the detection accuracy improves as the number of detection cells in each area increases, but the scanning time becomes longer. It is preferable to consider the balance between scanning time and scanning time. Therefore, for example, at each address corresponding to a short distance (a depression angle α: 25 degrees to 80 degrees), both the horizontal direction and the vertical direction are scanned in units of 10 degrees, and each address corresponding to a medium distance (an depression angle α: 15 degrees). -30 degrees) and each address corresponding to a long distance (a depression angle α: 5 degrees to 20 degrees), by scanning both in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction in increments of 5 degrees, the number of detection cells in each region is substantially equal (approximately Around 20).

  In Tables 5 and 6, the ultrasonic sensor 32 is scanned in the range of 5 to 80 degrees in the vertical direction, but the mask time for detecting the presence or absence of an obstacle is shown in FIGS. 29 to 37, since the obstacle detection is not performed in the region where the depression angle α is 70 degrees to 80 degrees, the obstacle avoidance control is performed in the range where the depression angle α is 70 degrees or less. .

<Operation timing when two or more indoor units are installed in one room>
When two or more indoor units of an air conditioner are attached to one room, it is considered that these air conditioners usually stop operating almost simultaneously. When the obstacle detection by the ultrasonic sensor 32 is performed when the operation of the air conditioner is stopped, if the operation timing of the obstacle detection in each air conditioner is uniform, the possibility of mutual interference increases. That is, when two or more indoor units are installed in a range where the transmission sound from each ultrasonic sensor 32 can be detected, one ultrasonic sensor 32 receives an ultrasonic wave transmitted from another ultrasonic sensor 32. Then, it is erroneously recognized as a reflected wave of its own transmission wave.

  This mutual interference can be prevented by shifting the operation timing of each ultrasonic sensor 32, and the mutual interference prevention control stores the operation patterns of two or more ultrasonic sensors 32 in the first substrate 48. At the same time, operation pattern switching means (buttons, switches, etc.) is provided on the remote control or the indoor unit main body, and the operation pattern switching means is appropriately switched to select one of two or more operation patterns.

  As a specific example, two operation patterns A and B are provided, and one ultrasonic sensor 32 is set to the operation pattern A among the two indoor units installed in one room. The case where the ultrasonic sensor 32 of one indoor unit is set to the operation pattern B will be described as an example.

  FIG. 41 shows the operation timing of the ultrasonic sensor 32, and FIG. 41 shows an example of the time required for each operation. FIG. 42 shows a case where the operation pattern A adopts the operation timing of FIG. 41 and the operation pattern B changes (longens) the stabilization waiting time (step S36 in FIG. 18 or step S56 in FIG. 22). .

  As shown in FIG. 42, the air conditioner of the operation pattern A in which the operation timing is not changed and the air conditioner of the operation pattern B in which the operation timing is changed by changing the stabilization waiting time are stopped almost at the same time. When obstacle detection is performed by the sonic sensor 32, immediately after the air conditioner is stopped, the time required for the distance measurement by the ultrasonic sensor 32 of the operation pattern A is shifted from the time required for the distance measurement by the ultrasonic sensor 32 of the operation pattern B. Thus, mutual interference can be avoided. However, as the distance measurement is repeated at each address, the time required for the distance measurement of the operation pattern A and the time required for the distance measurement of the operation pattern B may partially overlap, and mutual interference may occur.

  In FIG. 43, the operation pattern A adopts the operation timing of FIG. 41, and the operation pattern B has a slightly changed time (first waiting time or waiting time at the first address) until the start of scanning (for example, 1 ms longer). Shows the case. In this case, if the scanning of the ultrasonic sensors 32 in the two indoor units starts simultaneously, the time required for the distance measurement of the operation pattern A and the time required for the distance measurement of the operation pattern B do not overlap at all addresses. Mutual interference can be avoided.

  However, when the air conditioner set in the operation pattern B stops before the air conditioner set in the operation pattern A, the obstacle detection by the ultrasonic sensor 32 in the operation pattern B is detected by the ultrasonic sensor 32 in the operation pattern A. This is ahead of the obstacle detection by, and there is a possibility that mutual interference occurs.

  FIG. 44 shows a case where the operation pattern A adopts the operation timing of FIG. 41, and the operation pattern B sets the time (first waiting time) until the start of scanning significantly longer (for example, 20 minutes). Specifically, in the operation pattern B, the time until the start of scanning is set longer than the total operation time from the start to the end of the operation pattern A. That is, the first waiting time difference between the operation patterns A and B is set longer than the total operation time from the start to the end of each operation pattern. In this case, mutual interference can be almost avoided, but the operations of the ultrasonic sensors 32 of the two indoor units are greatly different.

  FIG. 45 employs the operation timing of FIG. 41 as the operation pattern A and the operation pattern B, and if it is determined that there is noise in step S39 of FIG. 18 or step S59 of FIG. The ultrasonic transmission is stopped. In this configuration, since the ultrasonic transmission from the air conditioner that is initially determined to be noisy is stopped, obstacle detection in another air conditioner is performed as usual, and mutual interference can be avoided. it can.

  In addition, if the ultrasonic transmission from the ultrasonic sensor 32 is stopped halfway and the presence or absence of an obstacle is determined in the area to which the cell belongs using the data before the transmission stop, the data after the transmission stop is lost. Therefore, the existence probability of the obstacle in the area is low, and it is easy to be erroneously recognized if there is no obstacle. Therefore, it is possible to avoid misrecognition by discarding all newly acquired data in the obstacle area including the missing data and referring to the past data regarding the area.

  In the process of scanning from a long distance area to a medium distance area to a short distance area, the data is used for an area where data acquisition has already been completed, and past data is used for an area where data acquisition has not been completed. Can be used. For example, if noise is detected while scanning a cell in the middle distance area, the ultrasonic transmission after that cell is stopped, the presence / absence of an obstacle only in the far distance area is determined, and the middle distance area and the near distance area are determined. For the past data is used.

  46 employs the operation timing of FIG. 41 as both the operation pattern A and the operation pattern B, and when it is determined that there is noise in step S39 of FIG. 18 or step S59 of FIG. 22, the ultrasonic sensor 32 at that time Mutual interference is avoided by canceling ultrasonic transmission from, and performing noise detection processing again with a slight delay (for example, 0.8 ms).

  In the example of FIG. 46, even if the noise detection process is performed again after a delay, if it is determined that there is noise, the ultrasonic transmission from the ultrasonic sensor 32 at that address is stopped and the process proceeds to the next address. It may be.

  In the present embodiment, an ultrasonic distance sensor is used as the distance detecting means, but a photoelectric distance sensor may be used instead of the ultrasonic distance sensor.

  Since the air conditioner according to the present invention can improve comfort or air conditioning efficiency by performing airflow control according to the height of an obstacle, various air conditioners including general household air conditioners Useful as.

2 indoor unit body, 2a front opening, 2b top opening, 4 movable front panel,
6 heat exchanger, 8 indoor fan, 10 air outlet, 12 upper and lower blades,
14 Left and right blades, 16 Filter, 18, 20 Front panel arm,
30 obstacle detection device, 32 ultrasonic distance sensor, 34 support, 36 horn,
38 distance detection direction changing means, 40 horizontal rotation axis, 42 vertical rotation axis,
44 horizontal rotation motor, 46 vertical rotation motor, 48 first substrate,
50 second substrate, 52 third substrate, 54 sensor input amplification unit,
56 band amplification unit, 58 comparison unit, 60 latch circuit unit,
62 Motor driver for horizontal rotation, 64 Motor driver for vertical rotation.

Claims (5)

The indoor unit is provided with a wind direction changing blade that changes the direction of the air blown from the outlet and an obstacle detection device that detects the presence or absence of an obstacle, and the wind direction change is performed based on the detection result of the obstacle detection device. An air conditioner that performs air conditioning operation by controlling blades,
An air conditioner characterized in that an obstacle is divided into at least two according to the height from the floor, and the wind direction changing blade is controlled according to the height. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the number of obstacle height sections varies depending on the distance from the indoor unit. The air conditioner according to claim 2, wherein the number of obstacle height sections is larger in a region closer to the indoor unit. An address determined by the vertical and horizontal angles seen from the indoor unit is set in the indoor unit installation space, and obstacle detection is performed at each address by the number of obstacle height categories. The air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the air conditioner is characterized. The air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the height of the obstacle is divided by providing at least three threshold values with respect to the height from the floor surface.