JP2019060539A - Air conditioning device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an air conditioning device that does not provide a discomfort feeling to a user while suppressing deterioration in state of an indoor unit that shows a sign of failure while maintaining indoor environment.SOLUTION: An air conditioning device includes: a plurality of indoor units 10a to 10f and 11a to 11f disposed in air-conditioning regions 13A, 13B; a failure sign detection part 31 for detecting a failure sign of each indoor unit; and a cooperative control part 32 for suppressing operation load on an indoor unit from which the failure sign detection part detects a failure sign, and performing cooperative control where the other indoor units make up for the suppressed operation load.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioner capable of detecting a sign of failure.

  The air conditioner has an indoor unit disposed indoors and an outdoor unit disposed outdoor.

  The indoor unit includes many components such as a motor that drives a blower fan that blows out air, a motor that rotates a wind direction plate that adjusts the wind direction, a motor drive circuit that drives each motor, and a heat exchanger that exchanges heat with refrigerant. Is mounted. Similarly, the outdoor unit is also equipped with many parts such as a motor and a heat exchanger. These parts deteriorate in quality and performance due to age deterioration as the air conditioner is used. Continued use of parts with reduced quality and performance under the same conditions of use tends to shorten the life of the parts.

  Conventionally, among a plurality of outdoor units, it is determined whether or not a broken outdoor unit is a slight failure that allows continuation of operation, and if slight failure is caused to continue operation, notification of a failure state of the broken outdoor unit is made An air conditioner designed to do this has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In addition, based on the detection values at the time of stable operation, an abnormality of each detected value is determined to enable operation in a state close to normal when various sensors fail, and the same type as the detected value determined as abnormal. There has also been proposed an air conditioner that operates a device by replacing the average value of the detected values with the detected value of a broken sensor as an estimated value (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

  Furthermore, a failure diagnosis device for a refrigeration cycle device capable of early detection of a sign of failure based on the state quantities of the entire refrigeration cycle device has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

  In addition, if the load on the panel deployment mechanism increases due to age-related deterioration and the panel opening / closing mechanism becomes difficult to operate, the driving force transmitted from the drive source is increased until the operation of the panel opening / closing mechanism is completed. An indoor unit of an air conditioner to be controlled is also proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 4).

JP 2007-178122 A JP-A-9-152175 JP, 2008-249234, A JP 2005-214562 A

  In the prior art described in Patent Documents 1 to 4, even if there is a broken part, the degree of failure is slight, and a slight failure which allows continuous operation of air conditioning or a failure of a part which does not disturb safe air conditioning operation. For example, if the air conditioning operation is possible, the operation of the entire system can be continued as it is, and the indoor environment can be maintained.

  However, by continuing the operation of the air conditioner, there is a risk that the progress from a minor failure to a failure requiring repair and inspection may be accelerated in individual parts, and failure may occur at different timings among the parts. There is a problem that the frequency of repair and inspection of the entire air conditioner may increase.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made focusing on the problems of the prior art described above, and while suppressing the progress of the state from a failure sign state of an indoor unit having a failure sign to a failure state while maintaining the indoor environment. An object of the present invention is to provide an air conditioner that can reduce the frequency of repair and inspection.

  One aspect of the air conditioner according to the present invention includes a plurality of indoor units disposed in the air conditioned area, a failure sign detection unit that detects a failure sign of each indoor unit, and a failure sign detection unit that detects a failure sign And a cooperative control unit that performs cooperative control to suppress the operation load of the indoor unit and to compensate the suppression of the operation load by the other indoor units.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, when a failure sign is detected in at least one of the plurality of indoor units arranged in the air conditioned area, the operating load of the corresponding indoor unit is suppressed, and Control to compensate for the suppression by other indoor units. For this reason, it is possible to suppress the progress of the state from the failure sign state to the failure state while maintaining the indoor environment required by the user.

It is a layout which shows the whole structure of the air conditioning apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a block diagram of the air conditioning apparatus of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the cooperation control processing procedure performed by the indoor unit control part of an indoor unit. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the management processing procedure performed with a management apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the support driving | operation processing procedure performed with a management apparatus.

  Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description of the drawings, the same or similar parts are denoted by the same or similar reference numerals. However, it should be noted that the drawings are schematic and may differ from actual ones. Therefore, specific components should be determined in consideration of the following description.

  In addition, the embodiments described below illustrate apparatuses and methods for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and the technical idea of the present invention includes the shape, structure, arrangement, and the like of components. It does not specify the following. The technical idea of the present invention can be variously modified within the technical scope defined by the claims described in the claims.

  Hereinafter, an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the air conditioner 1 is, for example, a multi-air conditioner for a building. The air conditioner 1 includes a plurality of, for example, two sets of a first outdoor unit 10 and a second outdoor unit 11, and a plurality of, for example, six indoor units 10a to 10f individually connected to the first outdoor unit 10. A first indoor unit group G1 and a second indoor unit group G2 including a plurality of, for example, six indoor units 11a to 11f (hatched in FIG. 1) individually connected to the outdoor unit 11 are provided. ing.

  The first outdoor unit 10 and the second outdoor unit 11 are disposed, for example, on the roof of a building. The indoor units 10a to 10f of the first indoor unit group G1 and the indoor units 11a to 11f of the second indoor unit group G2 are, for example, two air conditioned areas 13A and 13B divided by the partition wall 12 into one floor. It is arranged on the ceiling.

  In the air conditioned area 13A, as shown in FIG. 1, the indoor units 10a to 10c of the first indoor unit group G1 and the indoor units 11a to 11c of the second indoor unit group G2 are arranged in two rows in three rows. A total of six units are arranged in a zigzag form, and the indoor units of the second indoor unit group G2 are arranged adjacent to the indoor units of the first indoor unit group G1.

  Similarly, in the air conditioned area 13B, six indoor units 10d to 10f and six indoor units 11d to 11f are arranged in a zigzag form in a row in a row of three units, and the first indoor unit group G1 is The indoor units of the second indoor unit group G2 are disposed adjacent to the indoor units.

  The first outdoor unit 10 and the indoor units 10a to 10f of the first indoor unit group G1 are connected by a pair of gas (high pressure side) pipes and a liquid (low pressure side) pipe. In FIG. 1, the gas pipe and the liquid pipe are simplified and illustrated as a refrigerant pipe 15 a represented by a single line. Further, the indoor units 11a to 11f of the second outdoor unit 11 and the second indoor unit group G2 are similarly connected by a pair of gas pipes and liquid pipes, and in FIG. 1 these gas pipes and liquid pipes are simplified to be a refrigerant It illustrates in figure as piping 15b.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the first outdoor unit 10 and the second outdoor unit 11 and the indoor units 10 a to 10 f and 11 a to 11 f are connected to the management device 30 which is, for example, a cloud server via the network 16. It is possible to perform data communication with each other. Individual identification information is assigned to the first outdoor unit 10, the second outdoor unit 11, and the indoor units 10a to 10f and 11a to 11f.

  Each of the indoor units 10a to 10f and 11a to 11f includes a temperature sensor 21, a humidity sensor 22, a state detection sensor 23 for detecting the state of the air conditioner, a communication unit 24, a motor drive unit 25, a wind direction plate drive unit 26, and the like. An indoor unit controller 27 to control, an indoor fan motor 28 and a wind direction plate 29 are provided.

  The temperature sensor 21 detects the indoor temperature of each indoor unit. The humidity sensor 22 detects the indoor humidity of each indoor unit.

  The state detection sensor 23 detects the states of various components mounted in the indoor unit, and may be one or more of a refrigerant sensor, a current sensor, a sound sensor, a vibration sensor, an electric component temperature sensor, etc. It is configured.

  Here, the refrigerant sensor detects a small amount of leakage of the refrigerant. The current sensor detects a ripple current at the time of converting an alternating current to a direct current to detect a deterioration of an electrolytic capacitor for smoothing and a motor current of a motor drive unit to detect a clogging of a filter And a second current sensor that detects an increase in suction load due to the pressure sensor.

The sound sensor detects an abnormal sound due to deterioration of a bearing that constitutes the motor, and the vibration sensor detects an abnormal vibration. The electric component temperature sensor detects the temperature of the semiconductor element or the electric component provided in the motor drive unit 25, the wind direction plate drive unit 26, the indoor unit control unit 27 or the like, and detects the deterioration of the electric component.
The detection value detected by each of the sensors constituting the state detection sensor 23 is a state quantity representing the state of each component.

  The communication unit 24 performs data communication with the management device 30 via the network 16.

  The motor drive unit 25 drives and controls the indoor fan motor 28. The wind direction plate drive unit 26 controls the angle of the wind direction plate 29.

  The indoor unit control unit 27 includes an arithmetic processing unit such as a microcomputer. The indoor unit control unit 27 executes an air conditioning control process that brings the indoor temperature close to the set target temperature, communicates with the management device 30, and executes the cooperation control process shown in FIG.

  In the cooperative control process, as shown in FIG. 3, first, in step S1, the indoor unit control unit 27 determines whether or not the sensor information transmission request for the self has been received from the management device 30, and the sensor information transmission request is When it is received, the process proceeds to step S2.

  In this step S2, the indoor unit control unit 27 acquires each sensor information of the temperature sensor 21, the humidity sensor 22, and the state detection sensor 23 and transmits it to the management apparatus 30 together with its own identification information, and then the process returns to step 1.

  On the other hand, when the determination result of step S1 does not receive the sensor information transmission request, the indoor unit control unit 27 proceeds to step S3.

  In this step S3, it is determined whether the indoor unit control unit 27 receives an environmental information transmission request for itself from the management device 30, and when an environmental information transmission request is received, the process proceeds to step S4, and the temperature sensor 21 and the ambient temperature and humidity of the indoor unit detected by the humidity sensor 22 are transmitted to the management apparatus 30 together with identification information as environmental information, and then the process returns to step S1.

  On the other hand, when the determination result of step S3 does not receive the environmental information transmission request, the indoor unit control unit 27 proceeds to step S5.

  In this step S5, it is determined whether or not the indoor unit control unit 27 receives a driving load suppression command addressed to itself from the management device 30. When the determination result receives the driving load suppression command, the process proceeds to step S6, and the driving load according to the driving load suppression command is suppressed so that the current limiting process of the motor driving unit 25 or the wind direction plate driving unit 26 is performed. And delay the progress of the state from the failure sign state of the failure sign portion detected to the failure state, and then return to step S1.

  Further, when the determination result in step S5 is not received the driving load suppression command, the indoor unit control unit 27 proceeds to step S7.

  In step S7, it is determined whether the indoor unit control unit 27 receives a high load operation command addressed to itself from the management device 30, and when a high load operation command is received, the process proceeds to step S6, and the adjacent indoor unit It is determined that the machine 10i (i = a to f) or 11j (j = a to f) is in the state of suppression of the operation load, and high load operation is performed to compensate for the suppression of the operation load The process returns to step S1.

On the other hand, at the time of installation of the indoor units 10a to 10f and 11a to 11f, the management device 30 groups the indoor units 10a to 10c and 11a to 11c installed in the air conditioned area 13A as a first group GP1 and The indoor units 10d to 10f and 11d to 11f installed in the air conditioning area 13B are grouped as a second group GP2.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the management device 30 includes a failure sign detection unit 31, a coordination control unit 32, and an information storage unit 33.

  The failure sign detection unit 31 detects failure signs of the indoor units 10a to 10f and 11a to 11f individually, and includes an information collection unit 31a and a failure sign determination unit 31b.

  The information collecting unit 31a periodically and individually transmits a sensor information transmission request to each of the indoor units 10a to 10f and 11a to 11f, and detects them by the temperature sensor 21, the humidity sensor 22, and the state detection sensor 23. The sensor information is collected, and the collected sensor information is stored in the information storage area 33 in the information storage area divided for each identification information.

  Further, sensor information at the time of cooling and heating when the indoor units 10a to 10f and 11a to 11f do not have a failure sign is stored in advance in the reference sensor information storage unit of the information storage unit 33 as reference sensor information. This reference sensor information can use experimental values or use simulation calculated values.

  Alternatively, the sensor information of the initial operation of each of the indoor units 10a to 10f and 11a to 11f collected at the stage of installing the air conditioner 1 and completing the trial operation of the indoor units may be used as the reference sensor information. In this case, since the sensor information differs between the cooling operation and the heating operation as the reference sensor information, the reference sensor information of both the cooling operation and the heating operation is collected and stored.

  The failure sign determination unit 31b compares the normal collection time sensor information of each indoor unit 10a to 10f and 11a to 11f periodically collected by the information collection unit 31a with the reference sensor information stored in the information storage unit 33. It is determined whether the normal collection sensor information is within a preset allowable range with respect to the reference sensor information. There is no failure sign when the normal collection sensor information is within the allowable range of the reference sensor information and it is judged as a normal state, and there is a failure sign when the normal collection sensor information is out of the allowable range of the reference sensor information I will judge.

  This failure sign determination is executed for all the sensor information detected by the state detection sensor 23, and when any one sensor information determines that there is a failure sign, the identification information is stored as an indoor unit with a failure sign. It is stored in the failure sign appearance indoor unit storage area of the unit 33.

  The cooperative control unit 32 transmits the operation load suppression command to the indoor unit 10i (i = a to f) or 11j (j = a to f) determined to have the failure sign by the failure sign determination unit 31b. The high load operation command is output to the indoor unit adjacent to the indoor unit 10i or 11j determined to have a failure sign.

  Here, for example, the operating load reduction command operates at about 75% of the normal load calculated by the indoor unit control unit 27 of the indoor unit 10i or 11j determined to have a failure sign, or the upper limit value of the normal load. Is set to a low load operating condition where operation is limited to 75% of the maximum load. These limit values are an example and are not limited to 75%, and can be set to any value as long as the progress of the state from the failure sign state to the failure state can be suppressed.

  The high load operation command is an operation such that the temperature and humidity acquired by the temperature sensor 21 and the humidity sensor 22 become the target values for the indoor unit adjacent to the indoor unit 10i or 11j determined to have a failure sign. Instructs high load operation (high load operation) than (normal load operation). Specifically, the management apparatus 30 acquires sensor information of the temperature sensor 21 and the humidity sensor 22 of the indoor unit 10i or 11j determined to have a failure sign, so that the temperature and humidity become target values. The high load operation is instructed to the indoor unit adjacent to the indoor unit 10i or 11j determined to be present.

  The management device 30 executes the management process shown in FIG. 4 during operation of each indoor unit for each of the set first group GP1 and second group GP2. This management process is executed as a timer interrupt process for the main program every predetermined time. Since the same process is performed in the first group GP1 and the second group GP2, the first group GP1 will be described.

  First, in step S11, a sensor information transmission request is transmitted to each indoor unit 10a to 10c and 11a to 11c in the first group GP1 to collect operating sensor information and store it in the information storage unit 33 for each identification information. Then, the process proceeds to step S12, and it is determined whether there is an indoor unit having a failure sign in the first group GP1.

  This determination is performed by determining whether the collected in-operation sensor information is within the allowable range of the reference sensor information for each of the indoor units 10a to 10c and 11a to 11c, and the in-operation sensor information is the reference sensor When it is within the allowable range of the information, it is judged that there is no failure sign, and when the operation time sensor information is out of the allowable range of the reference sensor information, it is judged that there is a failure sign.

  Then, if there is no indoor unit having a failure sign in the first group GP1 as a result of the determination in the step S12, the timer interrupt processing is ended and the program is returned to the predetermined main program, and the failure in the first group GP1. If there is a signboard failure sign room unit, the process proceeds to step S13.

  In this step S13, one of the failure-free indoor units adjacent to each failure-predicted indoor unit can support the indoor environment of the air conditioning region of the indoor unit is selected as a support operation indoor unit and then step Transfer to S14. In step S14, after the support operation processing described later with reference to FIG. 5 is started for the indoor unit having a failure sign and the selected support operation indoor unit, the process proceeds to step S15. In the present embodiment, one support operation indoor unit is selected from the non-failure indoor units, but a plurality of support operation indoor units may be selected.

  In this step S15, it is determined whether or not the number of indoor units with a failure sign is equal to or more than a preset threshold, and when the number of indoor units with a failure sign is less than the threshold, the timer interrupt processing is ended and the predetermined The program returns to the main program, and when the number of indoor units with a failure sign is equal to or more than the threshold value, the process proceeds to step S16, and after an alarm notifying unit AR to alert the indoor unit with a failure sign End the timer interrupt processing and return to the main program.

  Here, the information collection unit 31a executes the process of step S11 in the management process of FIG. 4, the failure sign determination unit 31b executes the process of step S12, and the cooperation control unit 32 executes the processes of steps S13 to S16. .

  Further, in the support operation process activated in step S14, as shown in FIG. 5, first, in step S21, the indoor unit with a failure sign is associated with the support operation indoor unit selected in step S13 of the management process described above. After pairing is performed, the process proceeds to step S22.

  In this step S22, in order to delay the progress of the state from the failure sign state to the failure state to the failure sign presence indoor unit, an operation load suppression command to be operated in a state where the operation load is suppressed is transmitted.

  In this step S23, an indoor environment information transmission request is transmitted to the indoor unit with a failure sign so as to transmit the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 21 and the humidity detected by the humidity sensor 22 as indoor environment information, and then to step S24. Transition.

  In step S24, it is determined whether or not indoor environment information has been received from the indoor unit with a failure sign. If indoor environment information is not received, the process waits until reception, and if indoor environment information is received, the process proceeds to step S25. Do.

  In this step S25, the received indoor environment information is compared with the target value, and the comparison result shows that there is a failure sign. The support operation indoor unit compensates for the suppression of the operation load due to the operation load of the indoor unit being suppressed. Determine if it is necessary. When the determination result indicates that the support operation is not required, the process returns to step S23. When the support operation is required, the process proceeds to step S27.

In this step S27, a high load operation command for compensating the load suppression of the indoor unit with a failure sign is sent to the support operating indoor unit, and then the process proceeds to step S28.
In step S28, it is determined whether or not operation stop information has been received from the support operation indoor unit that has started the support operation. When the determination result indicates that the operation stop information of the support operation indoor unit has been received, that is, when the operation of the support operation indoor unit is stopped, the process proceeds to step S29.

In step S29, it is determined whether there is an alternative support operation indoor unit capable of support operation adjacent to the failure-predicted indoor unit to be supported by the stopped support operation indoor unit. If the result of the determination indicates that there is an alternative support operating indoor unit, the process returns to step S21, and if there is no alternative support operating indoor unit, the process proceeds to step S30.
In this step S30, a normal load operation command is transmitted to the failure-predicted indoor unit 30, and then the process proceeds to step S31 and an alarm indicating that there is no support operation indoor unit is output and then the operation support processing is ended. .

  Further, when the determination result in step S28 indicates that the operation stop information has not been received from the support operation indoor unit, the process proceeds to step S32, and whether or not the operation stop information is received from the indoor unit having a failure sign to be supported judge.

  When the judgment result indicates that the operation stop information has been received from the failure-predicted indoor unit, it is determined that the support target is no longer present, and the process proceeds to step S33 to transmit the normal load operation command to the support operation indoor unit. From step S34.

  In this step S34, it is determined whether or not the operation start information has been received from the failure-predicted indoor unit that has stopped operating, and when the operation start information is received from the failure-predicted indoor unit, the process returns to step S22 and the failure-predicted indoor unit If the operation start information has not been received, the process returns to step S23.

  Further, when the determination result in step S32 indicates that the operation stop information has not been received from the failure-predicted indoor unit to be supported, the process proceeds to step S35, and whether or not the failure-predicted indoor unit is in operation stop. Determine When the determination result indicates that the indoor unit with a failure sign is in operation stop, the process proceeds to step S34, and when the indoor unit with a failure sign is in operation, the process proceeds to step S36.

  In this step S36, an indoor environment information transmission request for requesting transmission of indoor environment information is transmitted to the indoor unit with failure indication, and then the process proceeds to step S37, and indoor environment information is received from the indoor unit with failure indication. It is determined whether the indoor environment information has not been received, and the process waits until reception, and when indoor environment information is received, the process proceeds to step S38.

  In this step S38, the deviation between the received indoor environment information of the failure-predicted indoor unit and the target value is calculated, and then the process proceeds to step S39 to determine whether the calculated deviation is within the allowable range. When it is outside the allowable range, the process returns to step S28, and when it is within the allowable range, the process proceeds to step S40.

  In this step S40, a high load operation continuation command for continuing the high load operation state in which the heat exchange amount is suppressed to the extent that the deviation between the indoor environment information and the target value can be maintained within the allowable range. Is sent back to step S28. In this case, the high load operation continuation command suppresses the heat exchange amount of the support operation indoor unit to be lower than the high load operation command to such an extent that the indoor environment information, the target value and the deviation can be maintained within the allowable range. Adjust to the value. The amount of heat exchange is, for example, reducing the number of rotations of the blower fan of the support operation indoor unit to be lower than the high load operation command, or reducing the amount of refrigerant flowing through the heat exchanger of the support operation indoor unit to be lower than the high load operation command. Can be adjusted.

  Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

  When each of the indoor units 10a to 10c and 11a to 11c is in the operating state, the cooperation control process shown in FIG. 3 is started in each of the indoor units 10a to 10c and 11a to 11c. At the same time, the management process shown in FIG.

  Therefore, in the management device 30, the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 21, the humidity detected by the humidity sensor 22, and the failure sign information detected by the state detection sensor 23 are configured for each of the indoor units 10a to 10c and 11a to 11c. The transmission request for the sensor information to be transmitted is transmitted to collect the sensor information (step S11). The collected sensor information is stored in the information storage unit 33 for each identification information.

  Then, for each of the indoor units 10a to 10c and 11a to 11c, the presence or absence of a failure sign is determined based on the collected sensor information. The presence or absence of the failure sign is, for example, calculated deviation between the detection values of various sensors constituting the state detection sensor 23 and reference sensor information stored in advance in the information storage unit 33, that is, normal values of various sensors When it is within the allowable range, it is judged that there is no failure sign. When it is out of the allowable range, it is judged that there is a failure sign.

  For example, as described above, when a minute leak of the refrigerant is detected by the refrigerant sensor, there is a concern that the life of the air conditioner may be shortened.

  In addition, when an increase in ripple current is detected by the current sensor, there is a concern that the electrolytic capacitor connected to the output side of the rectifier circuit may deteriorate, and when an increase in motor current is detected, the suction load may be There is a concern about the rise.

  In addition, when an abnormal sound is detected by a sound sensor or an abnormal vibration is detected by a vibration sensor, there is a concern that the bearing or the like in a rotating portion such as a motor or a fan may be deteriorated by wear or electrolytic corrosion.

  Furthermore, when an abnormal temperature is detected by the electric component temperature sensor, there is a concern that the IC constituting the motor drive circuit may deteriorate.

  By comparing the detection values of these state detection sensors 23 with the normal value, it is possible to detect a failure sign of each part, and when the deviation between the detected value and the normal value is out of the allowable range, it is judged that there is a failure sign. Ru.

  Therefore, when there is no failure indication indoor unit, the management processing is ended as it is, and when there is a failure indication presence indoor unit, the failure indication among the failure indication no indoor units adjacent to the failure indication presence indoor unit There is no failure sign that can support the indoor environment in the air conditioning area of the indoor unit, and the indoor unit is selected as a support operation indoor unit (step S13), and then the support operation processing is started (step S14).

  In this support operation process, a failure sign presence indoor unit and the selected support operation indoor unit are paired (step S21), and an operation load suppression command is transmitted to the failure sign presence indoor unit (step S22). A failure sign presence indoor unit that has received this operation load suppression command performs an operation to limit the operation load to, for example, 75% of the normal load or to perform the operation to suppress the upper limit load to, for example, 75% of the normal load. Delay the progress of the state from to

  When the indoor unit with a failure sign is in a state where the operation load is reduced, an indoor environment information transmission request is transmitted to the indoor unit with a failure sign (step S23), and the indoor environment information is received from the indoor unit with a failure sign. Occasionally (step S24), the received indoor environment information is compared with a target value to determine whether support operation is necessary (steps S25 and S26).

  If support operation is not required, monitoring of indoor environment information of the indoor unit with failure sign is continued, and when support operation is required, the operation load of the indoor unit with failure sign for the support operation indoor unit is A high load operation command to make the high load operation higher than the normal load is transmitted to compensate for the suppression of the operation load due to the suppression (step S27).

  The support operation indoor unit having received the high load operation command performs a high load operation in which the load is increased by, for example, 20% with respect to the normal load operation based on the detection values of its own temperature sensor 21 and humidity sensor 22 It becomes.

  Then, while the high load operation of the support operation indoor unit continues the operation of the support operation indoor unit and the failure target indoor unit to be supported, the temperature sensor 21 and the humidity sensor 22 of the failure input indoor unit are used. It is continued until the deviation between the detected value and the target value to be detected falls within the allowable range.

  Then, when the deviation between the detected value and the target value falls within the allowable range (step S39), the high load operation continuation command is transmitted to the support operation indoor unit, and the heat exchange amount of the support operation indoor unit is detected in the indoor environment information. Set the heat exchange amount smaller than the high load operation command so that the deviation between the value and the target value can maintain the allowable range, and continue the high load operation state where the load is higher than the normal load operation state ( Step S40). For example, the heat exchange amount of the support operation indoor unit set by the high load operation continuation command reduces the number of rotations of the blower fan of the support operation indoor unit or reduces the amount of refrigerant flowing to the heat exchanger of the support operation indoor unit. It can be adjusted by

  By transmitting this high load operation continuation command to the support operation indoor unit, it is possible to properly maintain the indoor environment around the indoor unit with a failure sign in the support operation indoor unit. Therefore, when the support operation indoor unit is performing the support operation by the high load operation continuation command, the deviation between the indoor environment information and the target value is maintained within the allowable range.

  Next, when the support operation is performed in the support operation indoor unit with respect to the indoor unit with a failure sign to be supported, the user stops the operation of the indoor unit with a failure precursor, for example, using a remote control device. Case will be described.

  In this case, operation stop information is transmitted to the management device 30 from the failure-prediction indoor unit. Therefore, in the operation support process of FIG. 5, when the operation stop information from the failure-predicted indoor unit is received, it is determined that there is no need for the support operation, and the normal load operation command is transmitted to the support operation indoor unit. Do. By receiving the normal operation load command, the support operating indoor unit returns from the high load operation state to the normal load operation state and interrupts the support operation.

  In the suspension state of the support operation, when the support operation indoor unit continues the operation state, the process proceeds to step S34 after step S28, step S32 and step S35 of FIG. It is determined whether or not the operation start information has been received. If the operation start information has not been received, the process returns to step S28 to monitor the operation start of the indoor unit with a failure sign.

  In this monitoring state, when the indoor unit with a failure sign is started by the user's operation of the remote control device, the operation start information is transmitted from the failure predicted indoor unit. When the driving start information is received, the process returns from step S34 to step S22 to restart the support driving process.

  Furthermore, when the support operation indoor unit is stopped by the user's operation of the remote control device while the support operation is performed by the support operation indoor unit, the stop information from the support operation indoor unit is sent to the management device 30. Will be sent.

  Therefore, in the support operation process of FIG. 5, when the operation stop information is received from the support operation indoor unit (step S28), there is an alternative support operation indoor unit capable of support operation adjacent to the indoor unit with failure sign to be supported. It is determined whether or not to do (step S29).

  At this time, if there is an alternative support operation indoor unit, the process returns to step S21 to perform pairing processing between the alternative support operation indoor unit and the failure prediction indoor unit, and continue the aforementioned operation support processing.

  However, if there is no alternative support operation indoor unit, the support operation of the indoor unit with a failure sign can not be performed, so a normal load operation command is transmitted to the indoor unit with a failure sign (step S30) There is a sign that the indoor unit is in normal load operation. As a result, the indoor environment around the indoor unit with a sign of failure is optimally maintained. In this case, the administrator is notified that the support operation can not be performed by outputting an alarm based on light, sound, display or the like indicating that the support operation indoor unit is not present (step S31).

  In addition, in the management apparatus 30, when a failure sign occurs in other indoor units without failure sign in the first group GP1 and a failure sign is present in the indoor unit, the adjacent unit without failure sign is selected to start the support operation. .

  Furthermore, if the support operation indoor unit during support operation becomes a failure sign indoor unit, select a support operation indoor unit newly for the failure target sign indoor unit to be supported and continue the support operation At the same time, a support operation indoor unit is selected from the indoor units without failure precursor that is adjacent to the indoor unit that has newly become a failure precursor.

  Furthermore, when the number of indoor units with a failure sign becomes equal to or more than a preset threshold, an alarm is notified from the alarm notification unit AR to prompt repair / inspection of the indoor unit with a failure sign (step S16).

  As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, by setting the operation load on the indoor unit having a failure sign with a failure sign among the plurality of indoor units to be reduced, the failure sign of the air conditioner having a failure sign It is possible to delay the progress of the condition from the condition to the failure condition.

  Then, when the indoor environment information around the indoor unit is out of the target value because the indoor unit with a failure sign is in a state where the operating load is reduced, the adjacent support operating indoor unit is in the high-load operating state, It is possible to compensate for the suppression of the load on the indoor unit with a failure sign and to keep the indoor environment close to the target value.

  Therefore, it is possible to delay the deterioration of the conditions in the plurality of indoor units arranged in the air conditioned areas 13A and 13B, and prolong the life of the indoor units, for example, repair every time the indoor unit breaks down. It is possible to reduce the frequency of repairs compared to when performing Therefore, the cost of repair and inspection can be reduced.

  Furthermore, when the deviation between the indoor environment information of the indoor unit with a failure sign to be supported and the target value falls within the allowable range, the deviation between the indoor environment information and the target value is within the allowable range. The high load operation continuance state in which the heat conversion amount is suppressed to the extent that the inside can be maintained. For this reason, the support operating indoor unit does not excessively continue the high load operating state where the heat exchange amount is high, and the load on the support operating indoor unit can be reduced.

  In addition, by connecting one indoor unit and an adjacent indoor unit to different outdoor units, if one indoor unit becomes a failure-predicted indoor unit, the failure-predicted indoor unit is supported. The adjacent support operation indoor unit to be connected is connected to the outdoor unit of another system.

  For this reason, it is possible to lower the refrigerant pressure of the outdoor unit with respect to the indoor unit which has become a failure sign, for example, due to leakage of the refrigerant, and to increase the refrigerant pressure of the other outdoor unit. Therefore, when the indoor unit having a failure sign is present, by coordinated controlling the entire air conditioner including the indoor unit and the outdoor unit, while maintaining the indoor environment, air conditioning with a warning sign is performed. It is possible to delay the progress of the condition from the machine's failure sign state to the failure state.

  Furthermore, by detecting the failure sign of each indoor unit by the failure sign detection unit 31 provided in the management device 30, there is no need to individually provide the failure sign detection unit 31 in each indoor unit, and failure indication detection in the management device 30 The cooperative control processing for performing processing and support operation can be managed collectively, and the burden on control processing of each indoor unit can be reduced.

  In the above embodiment, the case where two air conditioned areas 13A and 13B are disposed on one floor of a building has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and one or three or more air conditioned The present invention can also be applied when the harmonized region is arranged. In addition, the number of indoor units disposed in the air conditioned area can be set arbitrarily.

  Furthermore, although the case where adjacent indoor units are connected to different outdoor units has been described in the above embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of indoor units are connected to different outdoor units for each air conditioned area. You may do it.

  Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the case where the failure sign detection part 31 was provided in the management apparatus 30, it is not limited to this, A failure sign detection is each carried out to each indoor unit 10a-10f and 11a-11f. It is also possible to provide individual units, and when each failure sign detection unit detects that there is a failure sign, the management apparatus 30 is notified of it and the management apparatus performs selection of a support indoor unit and support operation processing. In addition, when the support indoor unit is selected, the support indoor unit side may acquire the indoor environment information of the indoor unit with a failure sign via the management device 30, and perform support processing.

  Furthermore, the management device 30 is omitted, and the indoor units 10a to 10f and 11a to 11f are connected by the network 16, and information communication is performed individually, whereby an indoor unit without a failure precursor that is adjacent to the indoor unit with a failure precursor May request support operation processing.

  Further, in the above embodiment, when there is a failure sign presence indoor unit, the case is described where one adjacent failure no sign reception indoor unit is selected to perform the support operation, but the failure sign presence adjacent unit is present When there are a plurality of indoor units with no failure sign that can be supported and operated, the support operation may be performed jointly by the plurality of indoor units without failure sign. In this case, the load increase per support operation indoor unit can be reduced, and the load on the indoor unit due to the support operation can be reduced. In this case, the number of indoor units without a failure sign may be reduced according to the increase in the number of indoor units with a failure sign.

  Furthermore, in the above embodiment, when the deviation between the sensor information of the state detection sensor 23 and the reference sensor information exceeds the allowable range, the case where the operation load is suppressed as an indoor unit with a failure sign has been described. It is not limited. That is, a plurality of allowable ranges for determining the deviation between the sensor information of the state detection sensor 23 and the reference sensor information are set, and the amount of suppression of the operation load in the state of suppressing the operation load according to the progress degree of the failure sign state May be increased. Similarly, the high load state is set in a plurality of stages for the indoor unit without failure sign to be supported, and the high load state is changed according to the progress of the failure sign of the indoor unit with failure target to be supported. May be

  Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the case where this invention was applied to the air conditioning apparatus 1 comprised with the multi-air-conditioner for buildings, it is not limited to this. That is, a plurality of multi air conditioners in which a plurality of indoor units are connected to one outdoor unit, and a plurality of air conditioners in which an outdoor unit and an indoor unit are connected one to one are arranged in one air conditioned area Even in the case where there are, it is possible to perform cooperative control by managing the indoor units with a common management device, or by managing the indoor units linked with each other in cooperation with one another.

  While the invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is not intended that the invention be limited by these descriptions. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternative embodiments of the present invention, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description of the invention. Therefore, it is to be understood that the claims cover these modifications or embodiments which fall within the scope and spirit of the present invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Air conditioning apparatus, 10 ... 1st outdoor unit, 10a-10f ... Indoor unit, 11 ... 2nd outdoor unit, 11a-11 f ... Indoor unit, 13A, 13B ... Air conditioned area, G1 ... 1st indoor unit group , 15: refrigerant piping, 16: network, 21: temperature sensor, 22: humidity sensor, 23: state detection sensor, 24: communication unit, 25: motor drive unit, 27: indoor unit control unit, 26: wind direction plate drive unit , 28: indoor fan motor, 29: wind direction plate, AR: alarm notification unit, 30: management device, 31: failure sign detection unit, 31a: information collection unit, 31b: failure sign determination unit, 32: cooperative control unit, 33 ... Information storage unit

Claims (6)

A plurality of indoor units disposed in the conditioned area;
A failure sign detection unit that detects a failure sign of each indoor unit;
And a cooperative control unit for performing cooperative control in which the operation load of the indoor unit whose failure sign is detected by the failure sign detection unit is suppressed and the suppression of the operation load is compensated by another indoor unit. Air conditioner.   The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cooperative control unit is connected to the plurality of indoor units via a network.   The failure sign detection unit is connected to the plurality of indoor units via a network, and an information collection unit that collects sensor information of a state detection sensor provided in each indoor unit via the network, and a failure sign An information storage unit provided with a reference sensor information storage unit that stores reference sensor information serving as a reference when making a determination, and comparison between the reference sensor information stored in the information storage unit and the newly collected sensor information The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a failure sign determination unit that determines a failure sign.   The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the failure sign detection unit is provided in each indoor unit.   A second indoor unit including a first indoor unit group including a plurality of indoor units connected to a first outdoor unit and a plurality of indoor units connecting to a second outdoor unit in the air conditioned area. The groups are arranged such that the indoor unit of one group and the indoor unit of the other group are adjacent to each other, and the indoor unit of either one of the first indoor unit group and the second indoor unit group is operated by an operating load. The air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the amount of suppression of the operating load is compensated for by the indoor unit of the other group when the state of (1) is suppressed.   The cooperative control unit continues the cooperative control until the number of air conditioners in which a failure sign is detected exceeds a threshold, and the number of air conditioners in which a failure sign is detected exceeds the threshold. The air conditioning apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a notification for prompting the user is performed.

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