JP2011002124A - Ultrasonic output device and air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ultrasonic output device capable of improving a comfortable sensation by a hypersonic effect.SOLUTION: The ultrasonic output device includes: a human body detecting means 11 that detects human; an ultrasonic wave generation means 12 that generates ultrasonic wave including the frequency from 20 to 100 kHz; an orientation adjustment means 20 that adjusts the output direction of ultrasonic wave generated by the ultrasonic wave generation means 12 to a direction of human detected by the human body detecting means 11; and an ultrasonic power means 14 that outputs the ultrasonic wave generated by the ultrasonic wave generation means 12 in the direction adjusted by the orientation adjustment means 20.

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultrasonic output device that outputs ultrasonic waves including frequencies from 20 kHz to 100 kHz, and an air conditioner using the same.

  In the air conditioner, air that has been conditioned in temperature is blown into the room to keep the room at a comfortable temperature and humidity, and to improve the user's comfort and remove foreign matter such as dust and dirt in the room. There are some which improve the comfort of the user by keeping the indoor air clean by blowing clean air into the room. In recent years, air conditioners with humidity control, deodorization, negative ion generation, airflow control, etc. have been proposed in addition to temperature adjustment and air purification functions. It is a space.

  Furthermore, natural environment sounds that contain many high-frequency components of 20 kHz or more that exceed the human audible sound range have an effect of activating the brain's key parts compared to sounds that exclude them, and high-frequency components are obtained. It is known that the hypersonic effect due to abundant sounds improves comfort (for example, see Patent Document 1 and Non-Patent Document 1).

  Moreover, in order to improve a user's comfort by a hypersonic effect, the air conditioner provided with an ultrasonic wave generation element is also proposed (for example, refer patent document 2, patent document 3).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-111261 JP 2004-3791 A JP 2003-314844 A

Ohashi et al., “Hypersonic Effect”, IEICE Technical Report, pp 96-112

  By the way, it is known that the hypersonic effect that high-frequency components exceeding the human audible range draw out is not recognized by the brain as an auditory stimulus, but is expressed by the transmission from the body surface. In order to obtain a feeling-improving effect, it is necessary to output a sound containing a high-frequency component toward the human body. Ultrasonic waves have a strong directivity.

  However, conventional air conditioners simply output ultrasonic waves or diffuse ultrasonic waves over a wide area such as an air-conditioned space, and ultrasonic waves as high-frequency components that the occupants receive on the body surface. There is a high possibility that the amount of As described above, the conventional air conditioner has a problem that it is difficult to expect the improvement effect of comfort due to the hypersonic effect.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic output device and an air conditioner that can improve the comfort due to the hypersonic effect.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an ultrasonic output device, a human body detecting means for detecting a person, an ultrasonic generating means for generating an ultrasonic wave including a frequency from 20 kHz to 100 kHz, and an ultrasonic wave The direction adjusting means for adjusting the output direction of the ultrasonic wave generated by the generating means to the direction of the person detected by the human body detecting means, and the ultrasonic wave generated by the ultrasonic generating means in the direction adjusted by the direction adjusting means. Ultrasonic output means for outputting. Moreover, this ultrasonic output device can also be applied to an air conditioner.

  As described above, in the present invention, since the ultrasonic wave generated by the ultrasonic wave generation unit is output toward the person detected by the human body detection unit, many ultrasonic waves as high-frequency components are applied to the person. Can do. This makes it possible to provide an ultrasonic output device and an air conditioner that can improve the hypersonic effect.

1 is a block diagram of an air conditioner including an ultrasonic output device according to Embodiment 1. FIG. Schematic diagram when the indoor unit 1 of FIG. 1 is viewed from the front Schematic diagram when the remote controller 3 of FIG. 1 is viewed from the front. Functional block diagram of the air conditioner of FIG. Schematic view when the indoor unit 1 according to Embodiment 2 is viewed from the front FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an ultrasonic output device according to the second embodiment.

  The present invention is an ultrasonic output device, which is a human body detecting means for detecting a person, an ultrasonic generating means for generating an ultrasonic wave including a frequency from 20 kHz to 100 kHz, and an ultrasonic wave generated by the ultrasonic generating means. Direction adjusting means for adjusting the output direction to the direction of the person detected by the human body detecting means, and ultrasonic output means for outputting the ultrasonic waves generated by the ultrasonic wave generating means in the direction adjusted by the direction adjusting means. I have. Thus, this ultrasonic output device can effectively output ultrasonic waves as a high-frequency component toward the human body, and can improve the hypersonic effect.

  The ultrasonic output device preferably includes a plurality of direction adjusting means and ultrasonic output means, and the plurality of direction adjusting means and the plurality of ultrasonic output means can be controlled independently of each other. Thereby, it becomes possible to output an ultrasonic wave toward a person without being affected by obstructions or blind spots. In addition, by making both controllable independently, it is possible to output ultrasonic waves toward each person even when a plurality of persons are detected.

  The ultrasonic output device preferably further includes ultrasonic control means for changing the sound pressure and / or frequency of the ultrasonic waves generated by the ultrasonic generation means. By changing the sound pressure and / or frequency of the sound wave, it is possible to output a sound close to an ultrasonic wave included in a more natural sound.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the ultrasonic control means swings the sound pressure and / or frequency of the ultrasonic wave generated by the ultrasonic wave generating means in an unsteady fluctuation. Thereby, it is possible to output a sound close to the ultrasonic wave included in the natural sound.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the ultrasonic wave generation unit includes a recording unit that records a natural sound including ultrasonic waves in a frequency band, and a reproduction unit that reproduces the natural sound recorded in the recording unit. By recording and playing back natural sounds, it is possible to output sounds containing abundant high-frequency components, and to improve the comfort of the user more stably.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the ultrasonic output device further includes notification means for notifying the operation state of the ultrasonic output device. The user can easily determine whether ultrasonic waves are output.

  Moreover, it is preferable that an ultrasonic output apparatus is further provided with the estimation means which estimates a person's psychological state, and the presentation means which shows the estimation result of an estimation means to a user. In this way, by notifying the person's psychological state, the user can feel whether he / she is feeling comfortable.

  The ultrasonic output device further includes biological information detection means for detecting a human heart rate, body temperature or blood flow, and the estimation means is based on the heart rate, body temperature or blood flow detected by the biological information detection means. It is preferable to estimate a person's psychological state. As a result, it is possible to estimate the state of the user's independent nerve activity, the stress state, the physical condition, and the like.

  Another aspect of the present invention is an air conditioner, which is a human body detection unit that detects a person in an air-conditioned space, an ultrasonic generation unit that generates an ultrasonic wave including a frequency from 20 kHz to 100 kHz, and an ultrasonic wave The direction adjusting means for adjusting the output direction of the ultrasonic wave generated by the generating means to the direction of the person detected by the human body detecting means, and the ultrasonic wave generated by the ultrasonic generating means in the direction adjusted by the direction adjusting means. Ultrasonic output means for outputting and air blowing means for sending air heat-exchanged toward the air-conditioned space are provided. Thus, since this air conditioner can effectively output an ultrasonic wave as a high frequency component toward the human body, the hypersonic effect can be improved.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the air blowing means, the ultrasonic wave generating means, the direction adjusting means, and the ultrasonic wave output means can be operated independently of each other. According to this, since the ultrasonic wave can be output regardless of the operation of the blowing means, the convenience for the user can be enhanced.

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

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an air conditioner including an ultrasonic output device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. 2 is a schematic diagram when the indoor unit 1 shown in FIG. 1 is viewed from the front, and FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram when the remote controller 3 of FIG. 1 is viewed from the front. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the ultrasonic output device according to the present embodiment.

  First, in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, an air conditioner is a device that blows conditioned air that has undergone temperature adjustment into a room and harmonizes the indoor air. Generally, the air conditioner is an indoor unit 1 and an outdoor unit. 2 and a remote controller 3. The indoor unit 1 is attached to an indoor wall surface as a typical example of an air-conditioned space, and the outdoor unit 2 is installed outdoors. The indoor unit 1 and the outdoor unit 2 are connected by refrigerant tubes 4a and 4b filled with refrigerant.

  The indoor unit 1 generally includes a casing 5, an indoor heat exchanger 6, and an indoor fan 7. The indoor fan 7 sucks indoor air from the suction port 8 and blows the air heat-exchanged by the indoor heat exchanger 6 from the blower port 9 into the room. The blowout port 9 is provided at the front lower side of the indoor unit 1, and a drive type flap 10 is installed in the blowout port 9. The air blowing direction of the heat exchanged air is adjusted by the position of the flap 10.

  As clearly shown in FIG. 2, a human body detecting unit 11 having an infrared sensor and a notifying unit 16 for notifying the user of the presence / absence of an ultrasonic wave are attached to the front surface of the indoor unit 1. For example, the notification unit 16 includes an LED (Light Emitting Diode).

  In addition, an ultrasonic output means 14 that outputs an ultrasonic wave including a frequency component of 20 kHz to 100 kHz and a direction adjusting means 20 that is a drive-type flap are attached to the outlet 9 below the ultrasonic output means 14. Yes.

  In FIG. 1, the outdoor unit 2 includes an outdoor heat exchanger 28, a compressor 29, a fan 30, a fan motor 31, and electrical components (not shown) housed in a casing (not shown). . Since the outdoor unit 2 is irrelevant to the characteristics of the present embodiment, the description will be limited to this level.

  Further, as clearly shown in FIG. 3, the remote controller 3 gives various instructions to the air conditioner or displays the operating state of the air conditioner. For this purpose, the remote controller 3 includes a display means 22 for displaying the operating state of the air conditioner and the current room temperature, an air conditioner operation switch 23 for operating and stopping the air conditioner, an ultrasonic output switch 24, an air conditioner. A machine operation changeover switch 25 is provided.

  As clearly shown in FIG. 4, the ultrasonic output device includes the human body detection means 11, the ultrasonic output means 14, the notification means 16, and the direction adjustment means 20 as well as the oscillation circuit 18, 20 kHz to 100 kHz. Ultrasonic wave generation means 12 including an ultrasonic wave generation element 17 that oscillates ultrasonic waves including frequency components and an ultrasonic wave control means 19, and direction adjustment means 20 that changes the output direction of the ultrasonic wave generated by the ultrasonic wave generation means 12. And a control means 26. 4 generally includes the heat exchanger 6, the indoor fan 7, the suction port 8, the blowout port 9, the flap 10 and the like shown in FIG.

  The operation and action of the air conditioner configured as described above will be described. As an example of the operation state, operations and effects during cooling operation will be described.

  When the user inputs the operation switch 23 of the remote controller 3, the air conditioner starts operation. When the operation is started, warm air in the room is sucked from the suction port 8 by the indoor fan 7 provided in the indoor unit 1, and the heat in the sucked air is absorbed by the refrigerant in the indoor heat exchanger 6, and the cooled air is It is sent into the room from the outlet 9. The blowing direction into the room can be adjusted by the direction of the flap 10 and air cooled in an arbitrary direction can be sent. The flap 10 may be adjusted by the user or automatically. The heat absorbed by the refrigerant is sent to the outdoor unit 2 through the refrigerant pipe 4b, and the heat absorbed by being compressed by the compressor 29 can be radiated to the outside air.

  Next, the operation and action when the user operates the ultrasonic output switch 24 of the remote controller 3 will be described. The ultrasonic output can be performed independently of the operation of the air conditioner main body, and the ultrasonic output operation can be performed even when the temperature adjustment function as the air conditioner is not used. Furthermore, the presence or absence of the ultrasonic output in use as an air conditioner can be arbitrarily selected by the user.

When the ultrasonic output switch 24 is operated, it outputs that the ultrasonic output switch 24 is turned on. In response to a signal from the ultrasonic output switch 24, the oscillation circuit 18 oscillates at a frequency of 20 KHz to 100 kHz, and a voltage of the oscillation frequency is input to the ultrasonic wave generation element 17. A quartz vibrator or the like can be used as the ultrasonic wave generating element 17, and the ultrasonic wave generating element 17 expands and contracts at the input frequency, so that vibration is generated, and the voltage is converted and output as vibration. The direction of irradiation of the ultrasonic wave generated by the ultrasonic wave generation unit 12 toward the space is adjusted by the direction adjustment unit 20 and is output from the ultrasonic output unit 14 to the indoor space. At this time, the human body detecting means 11 detects the living position of the human body living indoors by the infrared sensor, and communicates the position of the human body to the control means 26.

  When an infrared sensor is used as the human body detection means 11, the infrared sensor can detect infrared rays radiated from the human body, and can detect a living position of the human body based on a change in the amount of infrared rays detected by the infrared sensor.

  The direction adjustment means 20 is controlled by the control means 26, and drives the direction adjustment means 20 as the direction adjustment means 20 so that the ultrasonic wave is presented in the direction in which the human body is detected as detected by the human body detection means 11. The direction to output ultrasonic waves is adjusted. In addition, when the ultrasonic wave is output, the notification unit 16 notifies the user of the state of the ultrasonic wave presentation, so that the user can easily determine whether the ultrasonic wave is being presented.

  The ultrasonic wave output toward the human body changes the frequency and magnitude of the voltage input to the ultrasonic wave generating element 17 by the ultrasonic wave control means 19, thereby making the sound close to the ultrasonic wave included in the natural sound. Can be presented.

  As an ultrasonic wave output toward the human body, it is desirable to approximate a high-frequency component that is naturally included in order to obtain a hypersonic effect more effectively. The sound pressure of the output ultrasonic wave is in the range of 20 to 80 dB. It is desirable that one or both of the frequency and the sound pressure form an unsteady fluctuation by the ultrasonic control means 19. As an ultrasonic control method in the ultrasonic control means 20, for example, a method such as 1 / f fluctuation control by chaos control can be used.

  Thus, by adjusting the output direction of the ultrasonic wave so as to present the ultrasonic wave generated by the ultrasonic wave generating unit 12 toward the direction of the human body detected by the human body detecting unit 11, as a high frequency component toward the human body. It is possible to effectively present the ultrasonic wave, and it is possible to obtain an effect of improving comfort by presenting a sound including a high frequency component.

  Further, by changing one or both of the sound pressure and / or frequency of the ultrasonic wave output by the ultrasonic control means 19 and changing the fluctuation to unsteady fluctuation, it is close to the ultrasonic wave included in the natural sound. Sound can be output.

  As for the display during operation, whether or not ultrasonic waves are being displayed by visually displaying whether or not ultrasonic waves are being output by the LED serving as the notification means 16 in the indoor unit 1 or other places. Can be easily determined visually. (Since the ultrasonic wave has a frequency that exceeds the audible range, the human body cannot recognize it as sound, so whether or not it is presented is meaningful for the user to recognize it with an LED or the like).

  In addition, since the operation of the air conditioning means and the operation of the ultrasonic output means can be performed independently, the ultrasonic waves can be presented regardless of the operation of the air conditioning means, and the convenience of the user can be improved. Can be increased.

  In the present embodiment, the ultrasonic control means 19 changes the frequency or sound pressure of the output ultrasonic wave and outputs a sound close to the ultrasonic wave included in the natural sound. As shown, the ultrasonic wave generating means 11 has a recording unit that records natural sound and an ultrasonic reproducing unit. It is also possible to improve the user's comfort more stably by recording and reproducing the natural sound to present the user with a sound rich in high frequency components.

Further, in the present embodiment, the configuration in which the ultrasonic output means 14 is provided in the main body of the indoor unit 1 is shown. However, by providing the ultrasonic output means 14 in the remote controller 3, ultrasonic waves can be generated from a close distance of the user. It can be presented and can be easily carried, and ultrasonic waves can be output even in a room away from the room where the air conditioner is installed.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram when the indoor unit 1 of the air conditioner according to the second embodiment is viewed from the front, and FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the ultrasonic output device according to the second embodiment. is there. 5 and FIG. 6, the same reference numerals are assigned to the components corresponding to those in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4, and the description thereof is omitted or simplified.

  First, in FIG. 5, in addition to what was demonstrated with reference to FIG. 2 in the front surface of the indoor unit 1, the biometric information detection means 32 is additionally provided. In addition, instead of the direction adjustment unit 20 and the ultrasonic output unit 14, direction adjustment units 34 a and 34 b and ultrasonic output units 35 a and 35 b are provided on the front surface of the indoor unit 1.

  The biological information detection means 32 is composed of a microwave Doppler heart rate sensor that detects the heart rate of the user without contact. The direction adjusting means 34a and 34b are drive type flaps attached below the ultrasonic output means 35a and 35b that respectively output ultrasonic waves including frequency components of 20 kHz to 100 kHz, and change the output direction of each ultrasonic wave. .

  The ultrasonic output device includes an estimation means 33 in addition to those already described. The estimation means 33 estimates the state of the user based on the biological information detected by the biological information detection means 32. This estimation result is displayed on the display means 22 of the remote controller 3, for example.

  Next, the operation and action of the air conditioner configured as described above will be described.

  The operation and action when the user operates the ultrasonic output switch 24 of the remote controller 3 will be described. The human body detection unit 11 detects the position of the user in the air-conditioned space and communicates the detection result to the control unit 26.

  The biological information detection means 32 detects the user's biological information, and the estimation means 33 estimates the state of the human body. As the biological information here, the heart rate detected by the microwave Doppler heart rate sensor can be used. The microwave Doppler sensor detects the heart rate from the frequency of the reflected Doppler signal of the microwave irradiated toward the human body, and can detect biological information non-invasively. It is also possible to enhance the convenience of the user by detecting biological information non-invasively.

  In response to the operation of the ultrasonic output switch 24, the ultrasonic generator 12 generates ultrasonic waves, and the ultrasonic waves from the ultrasonic generator 12 are irradiated toward the space by the direction adjusting units 34a and 34b. The direction is adjusted and presented to the indoor space from the ultrasonic output means 35a, 35b.

  The direction adjusting means 34 a and 34 b are controlled by the control means 26 and adjust the output direction of the ultrasonic waves so that the ultrasonic waves are output in the direction detected by the human body detecting means 11. Here, the plurality of ultrasonic output means 35a, 35b and the direction adjusting means 34a, 34b are configured to be independently controllable, so that they are not affected by obstructions or blind spots, and are superfluous to the conditioned space. Sound waves can be presented. Further, by making each controllable independently, even when there are a plurality of users in the air-conditioned space, it is possible to output ultrasonic waves separately.

As a method for estimating the state of the human body by the estimating means 33, a method for calculating fluctuations in heart rate and heartbeat interval, frequency analysis of time series data of heartbeat intervals, and a relaxed or excited state from low frequency components and high frequency components. The state of the autonomic nerve can be estimated. Furthermore, by displaying the state of the user estimated by the estimation unit 22 on the display unit 22 of the remote controller 3, it is possible to numerically and visually notify a change in state due to ultrasonic output. (Improved comfort is difficult to realize as subjective, and it is meaningful to display and notify the state of the body numerically and visually).

  In the present embodiment, the biological information detection means 32 uses a method of detecting a heart rate with a non-invasive microwave Doppler heart rate sensor for the purpose of reducing user's restraint. A heart rate can be obtained by a method of providing a detector (not shown) and detecting a pulse wave with an optical sensor or a method using a piezoelectric sensor, and the same effect can be obtained.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the case where the heart rate is used as the biological information has been described. However, the body temperature and blood flow detection means are used as the biological information detection means 32, and the body temperature and blood flow volume are used as the biological information. Even in this case, since the state of the autonomic nerve is reflected in the body temperature and the blood flow volume in the peripheral portion, the effect of improving the comfort can be expressed numerically and visually.

  The air conditioner according to the present invention relates to an air conditioner that uses the hypersonic effect to improve comfort, and can be applied to an air conditioner, an air purifier, or the like that adjusts the indoor air quality environment. .

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Indoor unit 2 Outdoor unit 11 Human body detection means 12 Ultrasonic generation means 14, 35a, 35b Ultrasonic output means 16 Notification means 17 Ultrasonic generation element 18 Oscillation circuit 19 Ultrasonic control means 20, 34a, 34b Direction adjustment means 3 Remote Operating device 22 Display means 23 Air conditioning operation switch 24 Ultrasonic output switch 25 Operation switching switch 26 Control means 27 Air conditioning means 32 Biological information detection means 33 Estimation means

Claims (10)

An ultrasonic output device,
Human body detecting means for detecting a person;
An ultrasonic wave generating means for generating an ultrasonic wave including a frequency from 20 kHz to 100 kHz;
Direction adjusting means for adjusting the output direction of the ultrasonic wave generated by the ultrasonic wave generating means to the direction of the person detected by the human body detecting means;
An ultrasonic output means for outputting the ultrasonic wave generated by the ultrasonic wave generating means in the direction adjusted by the direction adjusting means;
An ultrasonic output device comprising: The plurality of direction adjusting means and the plurality of ultrasonic output means are provided, and the plurality of direction adjusting means and the plurality of ultrasonic output means can be controlled independently of each other. The ultrasonic output device described in 1. The ultrasonic wave according to claim 1, wherein the ultrasonic wave output device further includes an ultrasonic wave control unit that changes a sound pressure and / or a frequency of the ultrasonic wave generated by the ultrasonic wave generation unit. Output device. 4. The ultrasonic output apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the ultrasonic control means causes the sound pressure and / or frequency of the ultrasonic wave generated by the ultrasonic wave generation means to fluctuate unsteadyly. The ultrasonic wave generating means includes
Recording means for recording natural sound including ultrasonic waves in the frequency band;
Reproducing means for reproducing the natural sound recorded in the recording means;
The ultrasonic output device according to claim 1, comprising: The ultrasonic output apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the ultrasonic output apparatus further includes notification means for notifying an operation state of the ultrasonic output apparatus. The ultrasonic output device further includes
An estimation means for estimating a person's psychological state;
Presenting means for presenting the estimation result of the estimating means to the user;
The ultrasonic output device according to claim 1, comprising: The ultrasonic output device further includes biological information detection means for detecting a human heart rate, body temperature or blood flow,
8. The ultrasonic output apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the estimation unit estimates a human psychological state based on a heart rate, a body temperature or a blood flow detected by the biological information detection unit. An air conditioner,
A human body detecting means for detecting a person in the air-conditioned space;
An ultrasonic wave generating means for generating an ultrasonic wave including a frequency from 20 kHz to 100 kHz;
Direction adjusting means for adjusting the output direction of the ultrasonic wave generated by the ultrasonic wave generating means to the direction of the person detected by the human body detecting means;
An ultrasonic output means for outputting the ultrasonic wave generated by the ultrasonic wave generating means in the direction adjusted by the direction adjusting means;
Blower means for sending air heat-exchanged toward the air-conditioned space;
An air conditioner comprising: The air conditioner according to claim 9, wherein the air blowing unit, the ultrasonic wave generating unit, the direction adjusting unit, and the ultrasonic wave output unit can be operated independently of each other.