JP2014202383A - Air conditioning system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately detect an indoor state, suppress unnecessary operation of an air conditioner, and improve comfort right after entry to an indoor space.SOLUTION: An air conditioning system 1 controls an air conditioner 100 including a plurality of indoor units 102A and 102B to operate, and comprises: illuminance sensors 20A and 20B installed in respective air conditioning target areas A and B of the indoor units 102A and 102B, and detecting brightnesses of the air conditioning target areas A and B; human detection sensors 30A and 30B installed in the respective air conditioning target areas A and B of the indoor units 102A and 102B, and detecting whether people are present in the air conditioning target areas A and B; operation setting means 11 setting operation modes of the respective indoor units 102A and 102B according to the brightnesses detected by the illuminance sensors 20A and 20B and changes in presence/absence of people detected by the human detection sensors 30A and 30B; and operation control means 12 individually controlling the respective indoor units 102A and 102B in the operation modes set by the operation setting means 11.

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioning system that automatically controls the operation of an air conditioner.

  The conventional air conditioner performs a preset schedule operation so as not to perform the operation during a period when there is no person such as a nighttime or a holiday so as to prevent unnecessary operation of the apparatus. In addition, in a room used irregularly such as a conference room, the user manually operates the remote controller to operate the air conditioner. At this time, even when no one is present, the operation of the air conditioner may continue to be performed unless the user performs an operation or the like, which may waste energy. Here, it has been proposed to automatically control a room by detecting the indoor situation regardless of the user's operation or the like (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Patent Document 1 discloses an air cleaning device in which an illuminance sensor and a human sensor are installed in a room, and the operation is automatically controlled based on detection of the illuminance sensor and the human sensor.

JP 2012-97955 A

  Incidentally, an air conditioner installed in a building or the like has a configuration in which a plurality of indoor units are arranged on one floor, and there is an air conditioning system in which a plurality of air conditioners are collectively managed by a centralized controller. Even in such an air conditioning system, it is conceivable to perform operation control by detecting the motion and illuminance of an indoor person as in Patent Document 1. However, as long as people are continuously detected at one place, if all the air conditioners are operated, they may continue to operate day and night in areas where there are no people, and wasteful energy consumption occurs.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide an air conditioning system capable of improving the operation efficiency of the entire system.

  The air conditioning system of the present invention is an air conditioning system that controls the operation of an air conditioner having a plurality of indoor units, and is installed for each air conditioning area of each indoor unit and detects the brightness of the air conditioning area Installed in each air-conditioning area of each indoor unit, a human sensor that detects whether or not a person is present in the air-conditioned area, the brightness detected by the illuminance sensor, and the person detected by the human sensor There is provided an operation setting means for setting the operation mode of each indoor unit in accordance with a change in presence or absence, and an operation control means for individually controlling each indoor unit in the operation mode set by the operation setting means.

  According to the air conditioning system of the present invention, it is possible to operate an air conditioner that also pays attention to a change in illuminance in a room that cannot be grasped by presence / absence control using only a commonly used human sensor, and a waste air conditioner can be operated. The effect of suppressing the operation and the effect of improving the comfort immediately after occupancy are obtained.

It is a system configuration figure of the air harmony system concerning Embodiment 1 of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the mode setting table of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example of the air conditioning system of FIG.

Embodiment 1. FIG.
Hereinafter, embodiments of an air conditioning system of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an air-conditioning system 1 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The air conditioning system 1 of FIG. 1 manages operation | movement of the air conditioner 100 installed in the building etc. in the centralized controller 10, for example. The air conditioner 100 includes an outdoor unit 101 and a plurality of indoor units 102A and 102B that constitute a refrigerant cycle circuit, and each of the indoor units 102A and 102B is installed indoors and performs heating and cooling of indoor air. In particular, the indoor units 102A and 102B perform heating and cooling for different air conditioning areas A and B, respectively. The centralized controller 10 has a function of monitoring the state of the air conditioner 100 and performing various operation controls, and has a function of individually controlling the operations of the indoor units 102A and 102B.

  The air conditioning system 1 also includes illuminance sensors 20A and 20B that detect the brightness of the air-conditioning areas A and B as illuminance information, and human sensors 30A and 30B that detect the presence of people. The illuminance sensors 20A and 20B are made of, for example, photodiodes and the like, and detect the brightness by converting the light in the air-conditioning areas A and B into currents. Human sensor 30A, 30B consists of an infrared sensor etc., for example, and detects the occupancy and absence of a person in each air-conditioning area A, B. The illuminance sensors 20A and 20B and the human sensors 30A and 30B are installed for the air conditioning areas A and B of the indoor units 102A and 102B, respectively. The illuminance sensors 20A and 20B and the human sensors 30A and 30B may be built in the indoor units 102A and 102B, or are disposed in the air conditioning areas A and B as separate members from the indoor units 102A and 102B. Also good.

  The centralized controller 10 has a function of automatically switching the operation of the air conditioner 100 based on information detected by the illuminance sensors 20A and 20B and the human sensors 30A and 30B. Specifically, the centralized controller 10 includes an operation setting unit 11 and an operation control unit 12. The operation setting unit 11 sets an operation mode, and the operation control unit 12 operates in the operation setting unit 11. Each indoor unit 102A, 102B is controlled to execute the mode.

  The operation setting means 11 sets the operation mode of the air conditioner 100 according to the occupancy information and the illuminance information from the illuminance sensors 20A and 20B and the human sensors 30A and 30B. First, the operation setting unit 11 determines light and dark from the illuminance values detected by the illuminance sensors 20A and 20B. Specifically, when the illuminance value detected by the illuminance sensors 20A and 20B is larger than the set threshold value, it is determined as “bright”, and when the illuminance value is equal to or less than the set threshold value, it is determined as “dark”. Note that the setting threshold value set in the operation setting unit 11 when performing the light / dark determination may be arbitrarily set by the user. Moreover, although the case where the driving setting means 11 determines the illuminance information is illustrated, the illuminance information is determined on the illuminance sensors 20A and 20B side, and the determination result is received by the driving setting means 11. Also good.

  Further, the operation setting means 11 determines that the presence sensor 30A, 30B detects a person and determines that the user is in the room, and determines that the person is not present when the person is not detected. Furthermore, the driving setting means 11 has a function of detecting seasonal information during driving such as “summer season” and “winter season”. For example, the driving setting means 11 stores seasonal information corresponding to the date and time, and acquires the date and time information during driving to determine the seasonal information.

  And the operation setting means 11 sets the operation mode of each indoor unit 102A, 102B according to the illumination intensity information, occupancy information, and season information mentioned above using the mode setting table MT. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the mode setting table MT. As shown in FIG. 2, a mode setting table MT suitable for the season is set for each season information, and an operation mode is set for each combination of illuminance information and occupancy information in the mode setting table MT. For example, when the illuminance information is “dark”, the operation stop is set as the operation mode regardless of whether the occupancy information is “occupied” or “absent”. When the illuminance information is “dark”, automatic control is not performed even if the human sensors 30A and 30B detect “in-room”.

  In addition, when the illuminance information is “bright” and the occupancy information is “absent”, the air blowing operation is set as the operation mode, and the illuminance information is “bright” and the occupancy information is “occupied”. Is set to the cooling mode as the operation mode. In the mode setting table MT of FIG. 2, when the illuminance information is “bright” and the occupancy information is “occupied”, the operation may be performed in the operation mode set by the user. However, when the season information is “winter season”, a heating operation may be set instead of the cooling operation.

  The operation setting means 11 in FIG. 1 sets the operation mode in accordance with the change in the status of each air-conditioning area A and B detected by the illuminance sensors 20A and 20B and the human sensors 30A and 30B, and the operation control means 12 The operation is switched in accordance with the operation mode set by the operation setting means 11. For example, when the illuminance information is “bright” and the occupancy information is “in-room” and the cooling operation is performed, when a person goes out of the air-conditioning areas A and B and switches to “absence”, The air conditioner 100 automatically switches the operation mode from the cooling operation to the air blowing operation.

  In the mode setting table MT, not only one operation mode described above but also a combination of a plurality of operation controls may be stored as the operation mode. For example, if the illuminance information is “bright” and the occupancy information is “absent”, not only the air blow operation is stored as the operation mode but also the operation is performed when the “absence” state continues for a predetermined period of time. A series of controls for stopping may be stored. Thereby, the automatic control of the air conditioner 100 suitable for the conditions of the air-conditioning areas A and B can be performed.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the air conditioning system 1, and an operation example of the air conditioning system 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. In addition, although the air-conditioning area A is illustrated and demonstrated below, the same control is performed also about the air-conditioning area B. FIG. Further, it is assumed that a predetermined operation mode (for example, cooling operation) is performed by a command from the user or automatic control, the illuminance information is “bright”, and the occupancy information is “occupied”. The detection of illuminance information by the illuminance sensor 20A and the detection of occupancy information by the human sensor 30A are always performed while the air conditioner 100 is in operation. When the illuminance information becomes “dark” (step ST1), the air conditioner 100 is controlled to stop operation regardless of whether the occupancy information is “resident” or “absent” (step ST2). ). This is because when the air-conditioning area A is dark, no person is active in the air-conditioning area A, and there is no need to operate the air conditioner 100.

  On the other hand, when the illuminance information is “bright” and the occupancy information is “occupied” (step ST3), the air conditioner 100 performs cooling operation (heating operation in winter) so that the air-conditioning area A approaches the set temperature. ) Is controlled (step ST4). Note that, as described above, when the cooling operation or the air blowing has already been performed, control is performed so that the set operation mode is maintained. When the illuminance information is “bright” and the occupancy information is “absent” (step ST3), the operation mode is set to the air blowing mode and the air blowing operation is performed (step ST5). Furthermore, when this state continues for a predetermined time or longer (step ST6), the air conditioner 100 stops (step ST7).

  In this way, wasteful operation of the air conditioner 100 is reduced by automatically switching the operation mode of the air conditioner 100 using the illuminance information and the occupancy information detected by the illuminance sensor 20A and the human sensor 30A. Therefore, it is possible to improve the operation efficiency and save energy. In particular, when the brightness sensor 20A changes the brightness of each air-conditioning area A from “dark” to “bright”, and when the detection of the human sensor 30A detects the absence of a person, a blowing operation was performed in summer. When it is recognized that the air-conditioning areas A and B will be used later, the comfort when a person enters the room can be improved.

  The embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, although FIG. 1 illustrates the case where it is installed in a facility such as a building, it can also be applied to an air conditioner 100 set in a home. Moreover, in the air conditioning system 1 of FIG. 1, although illustrated about the case where the one air conditioner 100 is connected to the centralized controller 10, even if the several air conditioner 100 is connected. Good. Even in this case, control is performed based on the illuminance information and the occupancy information for each of the plurality of indoor units 102A and 102B of each air conditioner 100.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Air conditioning system, 10 Centralized controller, 11 Operation setting means, 12 Operation control means, 20A, 20B Illuminance sensor, 30A, 30B Human sensor, 100 Air conditioner, 101 Outdoor unit, 102A, 102B Indoor unit, A, B Air conditioning area, MT mode setting table.

Claims (5)

An air conditioning system for controlling the operation of an air conditioner having a plurality of indoor units,
An illuminance sensor that is installed for each air conditioning area of each indoor unit and detects the brightness of the air conditioning area;
A human sensor that is installed for each air conditioning area of each indoor unit and detects whether a person is present in the air conditioning area;
Operation setting means for setting the operation mode of each indoor unit according to the brightness detected by the illuminance sensor and the change in presence or absence of a person detected by the human sensor;
An air conditioning system comprising: an operation control unit that individually controls the indoor units in an operation mode set by the operation setting unit.   2. The air conditioning system according to claim 1, wherein the operation setting unit has a function of detecting a season during operation as season information, and sets the operation mode different depending on the season information. .   The operation control means controls the indoor unit so that a blowing operation is performed as an operation mode when the brightness of the room is larger than a set threshold value and a person in the room is absent. The air conditioning system according to claim 1 or 2.   The air conditioning system according to claim 3, wherein the operation control unit stops the indoor unit when a predetermined time has elapsed from the start of the air blowing operation.   2. The operation control means stops the operation of the indoor unit regardless of a detection result of the human sensor when the brightness of the illuminance sensor is not more than a set threshold value. The air conditioning system of any one of -4.

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