JP2015025574A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform a detailed wind direction control on the basis of the location of a part of a human body.SOLUTION: An air conditioner according to an embodiment includes a CMOS image sensor, human contour detection means, region identification means, and louver control means. The human contour detection means detects the contour of a person present in a room by the CMOS image sensor. The region identification means identifies a predetermined region in the contour of the person detected by the human contour detection means. The louver control means control the driving of a louver on the basis of the predetermined region identified by the region identification means.

Description

  Embodiments described herein relate generally to an air conditioner.

  For example, the air conditioner disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes means for detecting the position of a human body from acquired data, and performs air conditioning between a region where a person is detected and a region where a person is likely to move. . However, with this air conditioner, it is only possible to perform wind direction control based on the existence position of the entire person moving in the room, for example, a fine wind direction based on the existence position of a part of a person such as the head or foot. Control cannot be performed.

JP 2012-197985 A

  The present embodiment provides an air conditioner capable of performing finer wind direction control based on the position of a part of a person.

  The air conditioner of this embodiment includes a CMOS image sensor, a human contour detection unit, a part specifying unit, and a louver control unit. The person outline detecting means detects the outline of a person existing in the room by the CMOS image sensor. The part specifying unit specifies a predetermined part of the outline of the person detected by the human outline detecting unit. The louver control means controls the driving of the louver based on the predetermined part specified by the part specifying means.

External appearance perspective view which shows an example of the indoor unit which comprises the air conditioner which concerns on this embodiment The figure which shows an example of schematic structure of the unit cell with which a CMOS image sensor is provided Side view showing an example of a room where an indoor unit is installed The top view which shows an example of the room where the indoor unit was installed Block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an indoor unit FIG. 2 equivalent diagram showing an example of a human body contour pattern FIG. 2 equivalent diagram showing an example of a part contour pattern related to the head FIG. 2 equivalent diagram showing an example of a part contour pattern related to the foot FIG. 3 equivalent diagram showing an example of the indoor state during execution of the louver pointing control during cooling FIG. 4 equivalent diagram showing an example of the state of the room during execution of the louver pointing control during cooling FIG. 3 equivalent diagram showing an example of the indoor state during execution of the louver orientation control during heating FIG. 4 equivalent diagram showing an example of the state of the room during execution of the louver orientation control during heating FIG. 3 equivalent diagram showing an example of the indoor state during execution of louver pointing control at windbreak FIG. 4 equivalent diagram showing an example of the indoor state during execution of louver pointing control at windbreak

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of an air conditioner will be described with reference to the drawings. An air conditioner indoor unit 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes a CMOS image sensor 11. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the CMOS image sensor 11 has a plurality of unit cells C each including a photodiode and an amplifier. The CMOS image sensor 11 includes a noise canceller, a readout circuit, and the like. In this case, the CMOS image sensor 11 is provided in the upper part of the center of the front surface of the indoor unit 10. The installation position of the CMOS image sensor 11 can be changed as appropriate. In addition, the CMOS image sensor 11 may be one that has the highest visible light and infrared sensitivity.

An air inlet (not shown) is provided on the upper surface of the indoor unit 10, and an air outlet 12 is provided at the lower front of the indoor unit 10. Inside the indoor unit 10, an air passage that communicates the air inlet and the air outlet 12 is provided. A heat exchanger and a blower fan (not shown) are provided in the ventilation path. The air outlet 12 is provided with a plurality of upper and lower louvers 13 that extend in the lateral direction and a plurality of left and right louvers 14 that are located on the deeper side of the ventilation path than the upper and lower louvers 13 and extend in the vertical direction. The upper and lower louvers 13 are arranged so as to face each other in the vertical direction, and change the vertical direction of the wind blown from the air outlet 12 by swinging in the vertical direction. The left and right louvers 14 are arranged so as to oppose each other in the left-right direction, and change the direction of the air blown from the air outlet 12 in the left-right direction by swinging in the left-right direction.
For example, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the indoor unit 10 is installed on the upper wall surface of the room 100. Then, the indoor unit 10 sucks the air in the room 100 from the air suction port by the blowing action of the blower fan, exchanges heat with the heat exchanger, and the heat-exchanged air, that is, cold air or warm air. Wind is sent from the air outlet 12 into the room 100.

  As shown in FIG. 5, a control device 20 that controls the overall operation of the air conditioner is provided inside the indoor unit 10. The control device 20 controls the temperature of the CMOS image sensor 11 and the room 100. A temperature sensor 21 to detect, a humidity sensor 22 to detect the humidity of the room 100, a fan motor 23 to drive the sending fan, an upper and lower louver drive motor 24 to drive the upper and lower louvers 13, a left and right louver drive motor 25 to drive the left and right louvers 14, A communication module 26 that performs infrared communication with an external remote controller 30 is connected. The infrared signal transmitted from the remote controller 30 is, for example, a signal for instructing a change in the set temperature, a signal for instructing a change in the set humidity, a signal for instructing switching between the heating operation and the cooling operation, etc. It is.

Moreover, the control apparatus 20 virtually implement | achieves the person outline detection process part 41, the site | part specific process part 42, and the louver control process part 43 by software by running a control program in CPU which is not shown in figure. The processing units 41 to 43 may be realized by hardware as an integrated circuit, for example.
The person outline detection processing unit 41 is an example of a person outline detection unit, and detects the outline of a person existing in the room 100 by the CMOS image sensor 11. That is, when the contour obtained by the CMOS image sensor 11 matches a pre-stored human body contour pattern, the human contour detection processing unit 41 detects the contour as a “human contour”. As the human body contour pattern, for example, various patterns other than the pattern Pa shown in FIG. 6 can be set. Moreover, as a case where the contour obtained by the CMOS image sensor 11 matches the human body contour pattern, in addition to a case where both contours are completely matched, a case where both contours are substantially matched, for example, a case where the contours are approximately 80% to 90% match May also be set to include. Further, the human body contour pattern can be set more finely or more coarsely according to the number of unit cells C included in the CMOS image sensor 11.

  The part specifying processing unit 42 is an example of a part specifying unit, and specifies a predetermined part of the “human outline” detected by the human outline detection processing unit 41. In other words, when the “person outline” detected by the human contour detection processing unit 41 includes a part that matches the part pattern stored in advance, the part specification processing unit 42 specifies the part as a predetermined part. . In this case, as the part pattern, for example, a head part pattern Ph related to the human head shown in FIG. 7 and a foot part pattern Pf related to the human foot shown in FIG. 8 are stored, for example. Therefore, the part specification processing unit 42 specifies parts such as “head” and “foot” which are a part from the “person outline” detected by the person outline detection processing unit 41, that is, the outline of the whole person. be able to.

  Various patterns can be set as the head part pattern and the foot part pattern. In addition to the part patterns related to the head and the foot, various part patterns related to each part of the person such as the torso may be set. Moreover, as a case where a part that matches the part pattern is included in the “person outline” detected by the human outline detection processing unit 41, a part that completely matches the part pattern is included in the person outline. In addition, in a case where a part that roughly matches the part pattern is included in the outline of a person, for example, a part that matches about 80% to 90% may be included. The site pattern can be set more finely or more coarsely according to the number of unit cells C included in the CMOS image sensor 11.

  The louver control processing unit 43 is an example of a louver control unit, and controls the driving of the upper and lower louvers 13 and the left and right louvers 14 based on the human part specified by the part specifying processing unit 42. Here, a specific example of louver control by the louver control processing unit 43 will be described. 9, FIG. 11, and FIG. 13 show the person M in a standing state, and FIGS. 10, 12, and 14 show the person M in a sleeping state.

(Louver pointing control during cooling)
This cooling louver orientation control is a control executed by the louver control processing unit 43 during the cooling operation. That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 9 or FIG. 10, the louver control processing unit 43 has the upper and lower louvers 13 and left and right in the direction in which the “head” of the person M specified by the part specifying processing unit 42 exists during cooling operation. Control to direct the louver 14 is performed. As a result, the wind blown from the air outlet 12 is directed toward the “head” which is a part of the person M present in the room 100 as indicated by the white arrow in FIG. 9 or 10. .

(Louver-oriented control during heating)
This heating louver orientation control is a control executed by the louver control processing unit 43 during heating operation. That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 11 or FIG. 12, the louver control processing unit 43 has the upper and lower louvers 13 and left and right in the direction in which the “foot” of the person M specified by the part specifying processing unit 42 exists during heating operation. Control to direct the louver 14 is performed. As a result, the wind blown from the air outlet 12 is directed toward the “foot” which is a part of the person M existing in the room 100 as indicated by the white arrow in FIG. 11 or 12. .

(Winder louver pointing control)
This louver directing control at the time of windbreak is control executed by the louver control processing unit 43 when a so-called “windbreak” is set by the remote controller 30, for example, regardless of the type of operation such as cooling operation or heating operation. . That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 13 or FIG. 14, when “wind protection” is set, the louver control processing unit 43 sets “head” that is a part of the person specified by the part specification processing unit 42 or Control is performed to direct the upper and lower louvers 13 and the left and right louvers 14 in directions other than the direction in which the “foot” is present. As a result, the wind blown from the air outlet 12 is directed in the direction in which the “head” or “foot” of the person M does not exist, as indicated by the white arrow in FIG. 13 or FIG. Note that the orientation directions of the upper and lower louvers 13 and the left and right louvers 14 in this windbreak louver orientation control may be appropriately changed and set as long as the “head” or “foot” of the person M does not exist. it can.

  According to the air conditioner according to the present embodiment, a predetermined part is specified among persons existing in the room 100, and the driving of the upper and lower louvers 13 and the left and right louvers 14 is controlled based on the direction in which the specified part is present. The Thereby, it is possible to perform finer wind direction control based on the position of the presence of a part of the person rather than the wind direction control based on the position of the entire person.

  Further, according to the air conditioner according to the present embodiment, during the cooling operation, it is possible to concentrate the cold air in the direction in which the “head” is present among the people existing in the room 100. For example, in summer, there are many users who want to apply cold air to the upper body rather than the lower body, and when the user is cool, for example, they may want to avoid the cold air from directly hitting the lower body. is assumed. Therefore, according to the air conditioner according to the present embodiment that supplies the cold air while concentrating on the human “head” during the cooling operation, it is possible to realize such fine wind direction control according to the user's request. it can.

  Further, according to the air conditioner according to the present embodiment, during the heating operation, hot air can be supplied in a concentrated manner in the direction in which the “foot” is present among the people existing in the room 100. For example, in winter, there are many users who want to apply warm air to the lower body rather than the upper body, and when the user is cold, for example, they may want to warm the lower body that cools down. is assumed. Therefore, according to the air conditioner according to the present embodiment that supplies warm air while concentrating on a person's “foot” during heating operation, it is possible to achieve fine wind direction control according to such user requirements. Can do.

  Moreover, according to the air conditioner which concerns on this embodiment, the control which orient | assigns the upper-lower louver 13 and the left-right louver 14 to directions other than the direction where the specified person's site | part exists is also possible. Depending on the user, there may be a case where the user wants to avoid the cold air or the hot air from being concentrated directly on a part of the body. According to the air conditioner according to the present embodiment, such fine wind direction control according to the user's request can also be realized.

  Further, according to the air conditioner according to the present embodiment, the CMOS image sensor 11 is employed as a means for detecting a person, not a pyroelectric sensor or an expensive thermopile that is inexpensive but has low detection sensitivity. Thereby, the outline of the person existing in the room 100 can be detected based on the image, and the detection accuracy can be significantly improved. In addition, since the contour of a person can be detected with high accuracy, the accuracy of processing for specifying a predetermined portion of the person from the contour can be significantly improved. In recent years, relatively inexpensive CMOS image sensors have been provided. Therefore, by adopting such an inexpensive CMOS image sensor, it is possible to prevent the configuration from becoming expensive.

  The air conditioner according to the present embodiment includes a CMOS image sensor, a human contour detection unit, a part specifying unit, and a louver control unit. The person outline detecting means detects the outline of a person existing in the room by the CMOS image sensor. The part specifying unit specifies a predetermined part of the outline of the person detected by the human outline detecting unit. The louver control means controls the driving of the louver based on the predetermined part specified by the part specifying means. According to this configuration, it is possible to perform finer wind direction control based on the position of a part of a person.

  This embodiment is presented as an example and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The novel embodiment can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. This embodiment and its modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

  In the drawings, 11 is a CMOS image sensor, 41 is a human contour detection processing unit (human contour detection means), 42 is a part specifying processing part (part specifying means), and 43 is a louver control processing part (louver control means).

Claims (4)

A CMOS image sensor;
Human contour detection means for detecting the contour of a person existing in the room by the CMOS image sensor;
A part specifying means for specifying a predetermined part of the outline of the person detected by the human outline detecting means;
Louver control means for controlling the driving of the louver based on the predetermined part specified by the part specifying means;
Air conditioner equipped with. The part specifying means specifies the head as the predetermined part in the outline of the person detected by the human outline detecting means,
2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the louver control unit performs control to direct the louver in a direction in which the head specified by the part specifying unit exists during cooling operation. The part specifying means specifies a foot part as the predetermined part in the outline of the person detected by the human outline detecting means,
2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the louver control unit performs control of directing the louver in a direction in which the foot specified by the part specifying unit exists during heating operation.   The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the louver control means performs control to direct the louver in a direction other than a direction in which the predetermined part specified by the part specifying means exists.

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