JP2011247498A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air conditioner, capable of determining the cause of failure thereof resulting from instantaneous service interruption or the like, by storing the information upon restoration of power.SOLUTION: The air conditioner 1 includes an indoor unit 3 and an outdoor unit 2, and a refrigerant circuit 6 is constituted in the air conditioner 1. The air conditioner 1 is provided with a controller 20 of the outdoor unit 2. The controller 20 has a RAM 55 as a memory unit, and as operating state of the outdoor unit 2 in restoration of power after power failure, for example, the temperature and the pressure of the refrigerant circuit 6 and the operating states of a compressor 12, an electric expansion valve 17 and an electromagnetic stop valve 19 are recorded in the RAM 55 and can be read from the RAM 55.

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioner having a refrigerant circuit including an indoor unit and an outdoor unit, and particularly to an instantaneous power failure.

  Conventionally, in an outdoor unit of an air conditioner, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a storage device such as a ROM, a RAM, and the like are arranged in the control unit, and a control program is read from the CPU or ROM, and the outdoor unit and the indoor unit Drive control is performed.

  In this case, when the main power supply of the air conditioner fails for some reason, it is required to operate under the same conditions as before the power failure after the power recovery. Therefore, conventionally, a non-volatile storage device is provided in the control means, and information related to the operation control of the outdoor unit, that is, operation conditions are stored, so that the same operation can be performed without resetting operation when power is restored after a power failure. (See, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 10-47734 A

  When the operation of the air conditioner is stopped due to a power failure, the control up to that point is interrupted, and the refrigerant circuit stops in the middle of the control. In particular, in the case of a gas heat pump type air conditioner, the compressor is operated using the driving force of the gas engine. However, when the operation of the gas engine is stopped due to a power failure, Control also stops halfway. Normally, there is no standby power supply circuit for power failure, so the gas engine and refrigerant circuit of the outdoor unit will gradually return to the initial state depending on their physical characteristics. To prepare for reboot. In the case of a power failure, the electric expansion valve that constitutes the refrigerant circuit has been adapted to gradually return to the initial opening degree depending on the refrigerant process.

  However, even in the case of a momentary power failure that immediately returns to the state of recovery from a power outage due to a power failure, the control device loses control information such as the temperature and pressure up to that point and other valve opening and valve opening / closing status due to the power failure. Therefore, initial processing is performed regardless of the control state at the time of power failure. For this reason, for example, even when the solenoid valve constituting the refrigerant circuit is opened at a predetermined opening degree, the valve opening degree is rapidly reduced by the initial processing, so that the reaction due to the refrigerant pressure or the low temperature until then. When the high-temperature refrigerant suddenly flows into the heat exchanger that has been used, a heat shock or the like of the pipe may occur, causing a failure.

  Even if the cause of the failure is due to frequent instantaneous power failures, it is difficult to track the cause of these failures because it is actually unknown whether the instantaneous power failures occurred. It was. In other words, even if the failure location is scrutinized based on a warning that a failure has occurred, it is not possible to analyze, for example, the valve opening / closing status, pressure, temperature, etc. at the time of the failure. It was difficult to investigate.

  The present invention has been made to solve the conventional technical problem, and by storing information at the time of power recovery, it is possible to investigate the cause of a failure caused by an instantaneous power failure or the like. Provide a machine.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, an air conditioner of the present invention includes an indoor unit and an outdoor unit, and a refrigerant circuit is configured. The air conditioner includes an outdoor unit control unit, and the control unit includes a storage unit. And the operation state of the outdoor unit at the time of power recovery after a power failure is recorded in the storage means and can be read out.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the above, the operation state of the outdoor unit recorded in the storage means is at least one of the temperature and pressure of the refrigerant circuit, the state of the compressor, the electric valve, and the electromagnetic valve constituting the refrigerant circuit. It is characterized by including one.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the above inventions, the compressor constituting the refrigerant circuit is driven by the gas engine, and the operating state of the outdoor unit recorded in the storage means is the operating state of the gas engine, the gas engine It includes at least one of the states of the switch related to.

  The invention of claim 4 is characterized in that, in each of the above inventions, the control means comprises a display means for reading out the operating state of the outdoor unit recorded in the storage means.

  According to the present invention, in an air conditioner including an indoor unit and an outdoor unit and having a refrigerant circuit, the outdoor unit control means includes the storage means, and the control means has storage means at the time of power recovery after a power failure. Stores the operating state of the outdoor unit, for example, the temperature and pressure of the refrigerant circuit, the state of the compressor, the motor operated valve, the electromagnetic valve, the operating state of the gas engine, and the state of the switch related to the gas engine. Even if there is a momentary power failure that immediately returns to the state of recovery from a shutdown due to a power failure, the outdoor unit's control means is able to restore power (when power is restored after a momentary power failure). ) Can be stored.

  In the case of an instantaneous power failure, the operating state at the time of power recovery is almost the same as the operating state at the time of a power failure, so when a failure occurs after a power failure such as the instantaneous power failure, the outdoor recorded in the storage means By grasping the operation state from the display means for reading out the operation state of the unit, it becomes easy to investigate the specific cause of the failure.

It is a schematic block diagram of a gas heat pump type air conditioner. 2 is a control block diagram of the air conditioner 1. FIG.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of an air conditioner 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a gas heat pump type air conditioner 1 in the present embodiment, in which a refrigerant circuit is indicated by a solid line and an electric circuit is indicated by a chain line.

  A gas heat pump type air conditioner 1 according to the present embodiment includes, for example, a wall-mounted indoor unit provided outdoors and an indoor unit 2 provided indoors and provided with an indoor heat exchanger (use side heat exchanger) 15. 3, both of which are connected by a refrigerant pipe (liquid pipe 4 </ b> A and gas pipe 4 </ b> B) via a service valve (not shown) to constitute a refrigerant circuit 6.

  The outdoor unit 2 includes a compressor 12 that constitutes the refrigerant circuit 6, a generator 30, a gas engine 10 that drives the compressor 12 and the generator 30, and a control device 20 that serves as a control unit for the outdoor unit 2. Yes.

  The refrigerant circuit 6 includes a compressor 12 disposed in the outdoor unit 2, a four-way valve 13, an outdoor heat exchanger (heat source side heat exchanger) 14, an electromagnetic open / close valve (electromagnetic valve) 19, and a receiver tank 16. And an electric expansion valve (electric valve) 17 serving as a pressure reducing means, an indoor heat exchanger (use side heat exchanger) 15 disposed in the indoor unit 3, and an accumulator 18.

  An accumulator 18 is connected to the suction side of the compressor 12, and a four-way valve 13 is connected to the discharge side. The outdoor heat exchanger 14 and the receiver tank 16 are sequentially connected to the side to which the four-way valve 13 is connected. In this embodiment, a refrigerant pipe that connects the discharge side of the compressor 12 and the refrigerant outlet side of the outdoor heat exchanger 14 is provided, and an electromagnetic on-off valve 19 is interposed in the refrigerant pipe. . And the electric expansion valve 17 and the indoor side heat exchanger 15 are sequentially connected through the liquid pipe 4A provided with the service valve. A gas pipe 4 </ b> B provided with a service valve is connected to the refrigerant outlet side of the indoor heat exchanger 15, and the gas pipe 4 </ b> B is connected to the four-way valve 13. Thereby, the annular refrigerant circuit 6 is configured.

  In the vicinity of the outdoor heat exchanger 14 disposed in the outdoor unit 2, an outdoor blower 21 that blows air to the outdoor heat exchanger 14 is disposed. Further, in the vicinity of the indoor heat exchanger 15 provided in the indoor unit 3, an indoor fan 22 for supplying air to the indoor heat exchanger 15 is provided, and an electric flap 23 for adjusting the wind direction is provided. It has been.

  The compressor 12 is connected to a gas engine 10 having an electromagnetic clutch (transmission means) 14 so as to be able to contact and separate, and can be driven by the gas engine 10 and circulates in the refrigerant circuit 6 by the driving force. Compress the refrigerant.

  The gas engine 10 provided in the outdoor unit 2 is operated by the fuel gas supplied from the fuel supply system. That is, a fuel supply pipe 25 is connected to the gas engine 10, and a fuel cutoff valve (electromagnetic valve) 26, a zero governor 27 and a fuel adjustment valve 28 are sequentially connected to the fuel supply pipe 25.

  The fuel shut-off valve 26 is selectively closed or fully opened to selectively control the shutoff and flow of the fuel gas. The zero governor 27 adjusts the fuel supply to the gas engine 10 at a constant pressure on the fuel adjustment valve 28 side even if the fuel cutoff valve 26 side causes a pressure fluctuation in the fuel supply pipe 25 due to the open / close control. The fuel adjustment valve 28 optimally adjusts the air-fuel ratio of the mixed gas generated by mixing the fuel gas and air.

  The gas engine 10 is provided in the outdoor unit 2 and burns the gas supplied from the fuel supply system to generate a driving force, and the compressor 12 is driven by the driving force. Waste heat generated by the combustion of gas is cooled by circulating engine cooling water. That is, the cooling water path 31 of the gas engine 10 includes a cooling water pump 32 that circulates the engine cooling water and a radiator 33 that causes the engine cooling water to dissipate heat. The radiator is provided with a radiator fan 34 for cooling.

  As a result, the cooling water pump 32 is always operated while the gas engine 10 is being driven, so that the engine cooling water circulates through the cooling water passage 31 through the gas engine 10, the cooling water pump 32, and the radiator 33 in order. As a result, the gas engine 10 is cooled.

  Further, a generator 30 is attached to the gas engine 10, and power is generated by an excess driving force transmitted by the gas engine 10 that drives the compressor 12. A grid interconnection inverter 36 is connected to the generator 30 via an AC line 35. This grid interconnection inverter 36 rectifies the three-phase AC power generated by the surplus driving force from the gas engine 10 by the generator 30 through an AC / DC converter and converts it into DC power, and outputs a constant output. For example, the voltage is increased to 300V. Thereafter, the boosted DC power is converted into 100 / 200V AC power of a specified frequency, for example, 50 Hz or 60 Hz, and output to the commercial system 38 to which the commercial power supply 39 is connected via the AC line 37.

  Next, the control device of the air conditioner 1 will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. In the indoor unit 3, an indoor control device 40 is provided as control means for the indoor unit 3. As shown in FIG. 2, the indoor side control device 40 includes a CPU 41, input / output interfaces 42 and 43, ROM (storage means) 44, RAM (storage means) 45, EEPROM (nonvolatile storage device) 46, and the like. ing.

  The input interface 42 of the indoor unit 3 includes a room temperature sensor 47 that detects the room temperature, and first and second refrigerant temperature sensors that detect the refrigerant temperatures on the inlet side and the outlet side during the cooling operation of the indoor heat exchanger 15. 48, 49, a remote control unit 50 (input system) and the like are connected. The output interface 43 of the indoor unit 3 is connected to the electric expansion valve 17, the indoor fan 22, the electric flap 23, the remote control unit 50 (display system), and the like.

  In the outdoor unit 2, an outdoor control device 20 is provided as control means for the outdoor unit 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the outdoor control device 20 includes a CPU 51, input / output interfaces 52 and 53, a ROM (storage means) 54, a RAM (storage means) 55, an EEPROM (nonvolatile storage device) 56, and the like. ing.

  On the other hand, the input interface 52 of the outdoor unit 2 is connected to a pressure sensor 57 that detects the refrigerant pressure on the discharge side of the compressor 12, an outside air temperature sensor 58 that detects the outside air temperature, a control panel 60 (input system), and the like. Yes. In addition, the output interface 53 of the outdoor unit 2 includes a compressor 12, a four-way valve 13, an electromagnetic on-off valve 19, an outdoor blower 21, a gas engine 10, a fuel cutoff valve (electromagnetic valve) 26, a zero governor 27, and a fuel adjustment valve 28. The cooling water pump 32, the radiator blower 34, the control panel 60 (display means; display unit 60A) and the like are connected. And the indoor side control apparatus 40 and the outdoor side control apparatus 20 are connected by the bus line, and send and receive a signal mutually.

  With the above configuration, the gas heat pump type air conditioner 1 is switched between the cooling operation / heating operation / defrosting operation by the remote controller 50, so that the outdoor control device 20 controls the four-way valve 13 and the electromagnetic on-off valve 19. The flow of the refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit 6 is controlled by switching.

  During the cooling operation, when the four-way valve 13 is switched to the cooling operation side with the electromagnetic on-off valve 19 closed, the refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit 6 is discharged from the compressor 12 and then functions as a condenser. After flowing into the outer heat exchanger 14 and radiating heat, it is depressurized by the electric expansion valve 17 through the receiver tank 16, and flows into the indoor heat exchanger 15 acting as an evaporator to evaporate and cool. After demonstrating the action, it returns to the compressor 12.

  Here, the indoor side control device 40 controls the number of rotations of the indoor side blower 22 based on the deviation between the indoor set temperature set in advance and stored in the RAM 45 and the temperature detected by the room temperature sensor 47. In addition, the deviation between the inlet side refrigerant temperature and the outlet side refrigerant temperature of the indoor heat exchanger 15 detected by the first and second refrigerant temperature sensors 48, 49 is set to a predetermined value (also input in advance and set). , The valve opening amount of the electric expansion valve 17 (the number of steps of the valve body driving step motor) is controlled so as to be the value stored in the RAM 45 (the degree of superheat). Thereby, the room which becomes an air-conditioned space is cooled to a predetermined cooling temperature.

  The outdoor control device 20 performs frequency control of the compressor 12, rotation speed control of the outdoor blower 21, and control of the gas engine 10 in accordance with the cooling load required from the indoor control device 40.

  On the other hand, when the four-way valve 13 is switched to the heating operation side with the electromagnetic on-off valve 19 closed, the refrigerant enclosed in the refrigerant circuit 6 is discharged from the compressor 12 and then functions as a condenser. After flowing into the heat exchanger 15 to dissipate heat, the pressure is reduced by the electric expansion valve 17, flows into the outdoor heat exchanger 14 acting as an evaporator, evaporates, and then returns to the compressor 12. Thereby, the room is heated by the indoor heat exchanger 15. In the defrosting operation, the outdoor control device 20 causes the high temperature refrigerant to flow into the outdoor heat exchanger 14 by switching the four-way valve 13 to the heating operation side with the electromagnetic on-off valve 19 opened. Perform defrosting.

  Next, control during power recovery after a power failure will be described. When the main power supply of the air conditioner 1 fails for some reason, the outdoor side control device 20 and the indoor side control device 40 stop the operation control as described above. After the stop, the refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit 6 is no longer compressed by the compressor 12, so that the refrigerant pressure in the refrigerant circuit 6 gradually shifts to the initial state before power-on so that the refrigerant pressure in the refrigerant circuit 6 is balanced by the physical characteristics. At this time, the opening degree of the electric expansion valve 17 varies depending on the pressure fluctuation of the refrigerant, and shifts to the opening degree in the initial state.

  When power is restored after a power failure, that is, when power supply to the outdoor control device 20 is resumed, the outdoor control device 20 writes (stores) the operation state at that time in the RAM 55 as a storage unit. Specifically, the operating state at that time is the operating state of the outdoor unit 2, the discharge-side refrigerant pressure of the compressor 12 detected by the pressure sensor 57 connected to the outdoor control device 20, and the outdoor air temperature sensor 58. There are the detected outside air temperature, the operating frequency of the compressor 12, the switching state of the four-way valve 13, the opening / closing state of the electromagnetic on-off valve 19, and the rotational speed of the outdoor blower 21. The operating state of the outdoor unit 2 includes the gas engine. 10, the ON / OFF state of the clutch 14, the operating state of the cooling water pump 32, the rotational speed of the radiator blower 34, the open / close state of the fuel cutoff valve (electromagnetic valve) 26, the fuel adjustment valve 28 The ON / OFF state of the switch related to the gas engine 10 including the adjustment opening and other heaters is included.

  In addition to this, in the operation state of the outdoor unit 2, the air-conditioned space detected by the room temperature sensor 47 that can be detected by the indoor control device 40 that is communicably connected to the outdoor control device 20. Temperature, refrigerant temperature on the inlet side and outlet side of the indoor heat exchanger 15 detected by the first and second refrigerant temperature sensors 48, 49, the opening of the electric expansion valve 17, the number of rotations of the indoor blower 22, The position state of the electric flap 23 and the time at the time of power recovery are also included. Note that the operation state of the outdoor unit 2 is not limited to the one described above, and if it indicates the operation state of the refrigerant circuit 6 or indicates the operation state of the gas engine, it is similarly stored in the outdoor control device 20. You may do it. Further, the present invention is not limited to storing all the operation states described above, and may include at least one.

  Here, when a predetermined time has elapsed since the power failure, that is, when the time required for shifting to the initial state has elapsed, the operation state as described above is almost the initial state. On the other hand, in the case of an instantaneous power failure immediately after a power failure, the operation state input to the outdoor control device 20 or input from the indoor control device 40 to the outdoor control device 20 is: It is an approximation of the operating state during a power outage.

  Therefore, when a failure occurs after a power failure such as an instantaneous power failure, the operation state of the outdoor unit 2 stored in the RAM 55 of the outdoor control device 20 at the time of power recovery is displayed by operating the control panel 60 as a display means. By reading and displaying in the unit 60A, the maintenance worker can grasp the operation state at the time of power recovery after an instantaneous power failure.

  As described above, the operation state at the time of power recovery after the instantaneous power failure is the operation state immediately after the power failure, so it is almost similar to the operation state at the time of the power failure. It becomes easy to perform. Specifically, by reading the opening degree of the electric expansion valve 17 at the time of power recovery and the pressure of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 12, it can be understood that an instantaneous power failure has occurred, and the electric expansion valve at the time of power recovery Analysis that the opening degree of 17 is large and the valve opening degree is suddenly reduced by the initial processing by the indoor side control device 40, thereby causing a reaction due to the refrigerant pressure and causing the failure of the electric expansion valve 17 Can be done after the fact. In addition to this, for example, the indoor heat exchanger 15 is at a low temperature at the time of power recovery from the detected temperatures of the first and second refrigerant temperature sensors 48 and 49 at the time of power recovery. It becomes possible to analyze that the heat shock of the piping has been caused by the rapid flow of the high-temperature refrigerant by the processing.

  In this way, by storing information at the time of power recovery after a power failure in the outdoor control device 20, the reason for failure at each location can be analyzed afterwards, and the specific cause of failure can be investigated. Thus, it becomes possible to make use for countermeasures for subsequent failures.

  The operating state of the outdoor unit 2 stored in the RAM 55 of the outdoor control device 20 is erased when the power is turned off, and is newly rewritten when the power is turned on. Therefore, the operation state of the outdoor unit 2 stored in the outdoor control device 20 in the state where the power is on is always the state at the time of the current power-on.

  In the present embodiment, the gas heat pump type air conditioner 1 is described as an example of an air conditioner, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the air conditioner is operated by supplying power directly from a commercial power source. Even in the case of a machine, the same effect is achieved. Moreover, although the electromagnetic on-off valve 19 as mentioned above employ | adopts the thing for defrost operation, it is not limited to this, If the state of the refrigerant circuit 6 is shown, it will be the outdoor unit 2 similarly. The same effect can be obtained by treating it as an indication of the operating state.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Gas heat pump type air conditioner 2 Outdoor unit 3 Indoor unit 4A, 4B Refrigerant piping 5 Indoor side heat exchanger (use side heat exchanger)
6 Refrigerant circuit 10 Gas engine 12 Compressor 13 Four-way valve 14 Outdoor heat exchanger (heat source side heat exchanger)
15 Indoor heat exchanger (use side heat exchanger)
17 Electric expansion valve (motorized valve)
19 Solenoid valve (solenoid valve)
20 Outdoor control device (control unit for outdoor unit)
21 Outdoor blower 22 Indoor blower 26 Fuel shut-off valve (solenoid valve)
27 Zero governor 28 Fuel adjustment valve 32 Cooling water pump 34 Blower for radiator 40 Indoor side control device (control unit for indoor unit)
41, 51 CPU
42, 52 Input interface 43, 53 Output interface 44, 54 ROM (storage means)
45, 55 RAM (storage means)
46, 56 EEPROM (non-volatile storage device)
47 Room temperature sensor 48, 49 Refrigerant temperature sensor 50 Remote control 57 Pressure sensor 60 Control panel 60A Display section (display means)

Claims (4)

In an air conditioner having a refrigerant circuit comprising an indoor unit and an outdoor unit,
An air unit comprising a control means for the outdoor unit, the control means having a storage means, wherein the operation state of the outdoor unit at the time of power recovery after a power failure is recorded in the storage means and can be read out. Harmony machine.   The operation state of the outdoor unit recorded in the storage means includes at least one of the temperature and pressure of the refrigerant circuit, and the states of a compressor, a motor operated valve, and an electromagnetic valve constituting the refrigerant circuit. The air conditioner according to claim 1.   The compressor constituting the refrigerant circuit is driven by a gas engine, and the operation state of the outdoor unit recorded in the storage means includes the operation state of the gas engine and the state of a switch related to the gas engine. The air conditioner according to claim 1 or 2, comprising at least one of the following.   The air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the control means includes a display means for reading an operation state of the outdoor unit recorded in the storage means.

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