JP2019174082A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an air conditioner that can reduce possibility of making a user who is temporarily absent from a room installed with an air conditioner uncomfortable while maintaining energy saving property.SOLUTION: An air conditioner includes: an indoor unit; a human presence sensor for detecting a human presence and an RFID sensor for detecting article information on an article that the person possesses; an outing determination unit (steps S1 to S5) for determining whether the person detected by the human presence sensor goes out or not; and an operation control unit (step S6) for switching an operational state on the indoor unit when the outing determination unit determines that the person goes out.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioner.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an air conditioner has been proposed in which the presence or absence of a user in a room is detected by a human sensor and energy saving is achieved by switching the operation state according to the detection result. In such an air conditioner, for example, the operation of the air conditioner is stopped when it is detected that the unmanned state is continuously performed a predetermined number of times within a predetermined time based on the detection information of the human sensor. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

JP 2007-57106 A

However, in the conventional air conditioner, for example, the user temporarily moves to a room different from the room where the air conditioner is installed, or there is a visitor at the entrance and the air conditioner. The air conditioner may stop operating, for example, when the room where the is installed is temporarily left. Therefore, when you return to a room where an air conditioner is installed from another room that was temporarily moving, or when you return to a room where an air conditioner is installed after responding to a visitor Since the operation of the air conditioner is stopped, the user may feel uncomfortable.
The present invention has been made paying attention to the above-mentioned problems, and is uncomfortable when the user leaves the room where the air conditioner is temporarily installed and then returns to the room while maintaining energy saving performance. It aims at providing the air conditioner which can reduce giving.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, an indoor unit, detection means for detecting the presence of a person and article information of an article held by the person, and a person detected by the detection means have gone out. An air conditioner is provided that includes an outing determination unit that determines whether or not a person has gone out in the outing determination unit, and an operation control unit that switches an operation state of the indoor unit.

  According to one embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to reduce discomfort to a user who has temporarily left a room in which an air conditioner is installed while maintaining energy saving performance.

It is a schematic structure figure showing an example of an air harmony machine concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process sequence of the automatic stop control which concerns on 1st embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process sequence of the automatic stop control which concerns on 2nd embodiment of this invention.

The following detailed description includes all combinations of characteristic configurations described in the embodiments without being limited to specific configurations.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description of the drawings, the same portions are denoted by the same reference numerals.

First, the first embodiment will be described.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the air conditioner according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
The air conditioner 1 includes an indoor unit 2, an outdoor unit (not shown), a controller 3 that drives and controls the indoor unit 2, and a remote controller (hereinafter also referred to as a remote controller) 4.
The controller 3 includes a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, and a transmission / reception unit 13. The transmission / reception unit 13 transmits and receives setting information from the remote controller 4 and detection information of various sensors wirelessly.
The control unit 11 controls the indoor unit 2 based on detection information from various sensors and various setting information in the remote controller 4. In addition, the control unit 11 performs automatic stop control that automatically stops the indoor unit 2 when the presence of a person is no longer detected by the human sensor 22. The human sensor 22 is an array type thermopile sensor, for example, and can detect the presence / absence of a person, the number of people, and the direction.

  The control unit 11 includes, for example, detection information of the environment information detection sensor 21 for detecting various environmental information in the room in which the air conditioner such as a temperature sensor and a humidity sensor is installed, in the room in which the air conditioner is installed. Detection information of the human sensor 22 formed by a pyroelectric sensor or the like that detects whether or not a user exists is input. In addition, detection information of an RFID sensor (information acquisition unit) 24 that reads the article 25 information held by the article information holding tag 23 is input to the control unit 11. And the control part 11 controls the indoor unit 2 based on the detection information of the environmental information detection sensor 21, and the various setting information in the remote control 4. FIG. Further, the control unit 11 detects information (information on the item) of the tag 23 attached to the article 25 by the operation of the remote controller 4 by the RFID sensor 24 and stores the detection information in the storage unit 12. Then, the newly detected detection information and the detection information stored in the storage unit 12 are compared, and whether or not the operation state of the indoor unit 2 can be switched, specifically, the indoor unit 2 is stopped. It is determined whether or not it is allowed to. Then, when it is detected that the indoor unit 2 can be stopped, the control unit 11 stops the indoor unit 2. The human sensor 22 and the RFID sensor 24 constitute a detection means 26. The RFID sensor 24 is composed of an array type sensor or a plurality of directional sensors, and can detect the direction in which the tag 23 is present.

Here, the environment information detection sensor 21 is arranged in a room where an air conditioner is installed. The human sensor 22 is disposed at a position where a user existing in a room in which the air conditioner is installed can be sensed. The environmental information detection sensor 21, the human sensor 22, and the RFID sensor (information acquisition unit) 24 may be integrated with the indoor unit 2, for example.
The RFID sensor 24 is provided in the indoor unit 2 or a room where an air conditioner is installed. Further, the RFID sensor 24 does not use the short-distance wireless communication for the article information of the article 25 held by the tag 23 for all the articles 25 to which the tag 23 existing in the room where the air conditioner is installed is attached. It can be read by contact.

  The tag 23 is a wireless IC tag, for example, and is attached to the article 25 in advance. The tag 23 stores information for specifying the article 25 such as the article name, type, and number of the article 25 to which the tag 23 is attached. As the article 25 to which the tag 23 is attached, for example, a coat, a jacket, a hat, a glove, a muffler, a bag, or the like that the user wears when going out, or that the user carries when going out, etc. There is something that the person holds. Examples of the information specifying the article 25 include an identification number provided for each article 25.

The tag 23 is provided at a position where at least the RFID sensor 24 can read information on the article 25 of the tag 23 in a non-contact manner, such as an outer surface or an inner surface of the article 25. The tag 23 stores information about the article 25 by, for example, an article manufacturer and is attached to the article 25.
The remote controller 4 includes a transmission / reception unit 3a that performs transmission / reception with the controller 3, a display unit 3b, an input unit 3c for performing an input operation, and a control unit 3d that controls each unit. The user operates the input unit 3c to set various information for operating the air conditioner 1, such as setting of starting and stopping of the indoor unit 2 and setting of whether to perform automatic stop control. Do. The various set information is displayed on the display unit 3b and transmitted to the control unit 11 by the transmission / reception unit 3a via the control unit 3d.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure of automatic stop control executed by the control unit 11. Here, in order to explain the principle simply, the explanation will be given assuming that there is only one person.
When the execution of the automatic stop control is set, the control unit 11 executes the processing shown in FIG. 2 at a preset constant cycle while the indoor unit 2 is activated.

  The control unit 11 first reads detection information from the human sensor 22 and detection information from the RFID sensor 24 (step S1). The detection information includes information on the direction of the person and the tag 23. Subsequently, the control unit 11 determines whether the person and the tag 23 exist in the same direction (step S2). When the directions are the same (S2-Y), the process proceeds to step S3 to start the counter, and then proceeds to step S4. If they are not in the same direction (S2-N), the process proceeds to step S7. In step S2, it is determined whether the person has worn the article 25 to which the tag 23 is attached from the coincidence of the direction of the person and the tag 23. In step S4, it is determined whether the information on the article stored (registered) in the storage unit 12 matches the information on the article 25 obtained from the detection information. If they do not match (S4-N), the process proceeds to step S7. If they coincide with each other (S4-Y), the process proceeds to step S5, and it is confirmed from the detection information of the human sensor 22 whether it has become unattended before counting up for a predetermined time. When it becomes unattended (S5-Y), the process proceeds to step S6. In step S6, it is determined that the user has gone out, and the operation of the indoor unit 2 is stopped. If they do not match (S5-N), the process proceeds to step S7, and the counter is reset. Then, the process returns to step S1.

The storage unit 12 may store only information related to the article 25 registered and set by the user among information related to the article 25. In the registration setting, for example, a coat with a tag 23 to be worn when the user goes out may be performed by operating the input unit 3c of the remote controller 4.
Here, the process of steps S1 to S5 is a function of the outing determination unit, and the process of step S6 is a function of the operation control unit.
Further, when there are a plurality of people, a person in the same direction and the tag 23 may be associated with each other and the same operation as described above may be performed.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described.
The presence state of the user in the room where the air conditioner is installed is detected by the human sensor 22. The article 25 to which the tag 23 is attached in the room where the air conditioner is installed is detected by the RFID sensor 24. The detection information of the human sensor 22 and the detection information of the RFID sensor 24 are stored in the storage unit 12 by the control unit 11 while the user is in the room where the air conditioner is installed.
The control unit 11 determines from the information on each direction that the article 25 to which the tag 23 is attached is worn by a person. When a specific user in a room where an air conditioner is installed wears a coat or hat or has a bag in the room where the air conditioner is installed, information on the article 25 of the coat, the hat and the bag is RFID. Detected by sensor 24.

Since information related to the article 25 of the tag 23 attached to the coat, hat, or bag is already stored in the storage unit 12 as a thing that a person wears when going out, the control unit 11 stores the article 25 that is worn. The information of the article 25 in the section 12 is compared, and when they match, it is determined that the user is going out. Moreover, since it is detected by the human sensor 22 that the room where the air conditioner is installed is unattended within a predetermined time, the control unit 11 determines that the user has gone out.
And the indoor unit 2 is stopped and automatic stop control is complete | finished. Thereby, the indoor unit 2 can be stopped only when the user goes out.

Further, if the above-mentioned coat or the like is not detected, the indoor unit 2 continues to operate even if it is detected that the human sensor 22 is unattended. For example, when the indoor unit 2 temporarily moves to another room and returns. This can reduce the discomfort of the person as compared with the conventional technique in which only the absence is detected and stopped.
Further, for example, an imaging device may be used instead of the above-described human sensor 22 and RFID sensor. In that case, it recognizes by image-recognizing the shape and color of the articles | goods 25 which a user wears when going out, such as a coat, a hat, a bag, etc. from the image information of a captured image. In that case, the information on the article stored in the storage unit 12 may be image information, for example, and the determination of going out may be performed by comparing the images.

This illustration corresponds to steps S1 to S5 in the flowchart of FIG.
In the first embodiment, the case where the tag 23 is provided on the article 25 worn by the user when going out and the article 25 carried by the user when going out has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. It is not a thing. The present invention can be applied even when tags 23 are attached to all articles 25. In this case, the user registers in advance the type of the article 25 used for determining whether or not the user who was in the room where the air conditioner is installed has gone out, and uses the article 25 information in the tag 23 in advance. Only for the article 25 of the type registered by the person, the article 25 information may be stored in the storage unit 12, and it may be determined whether the user has gone out in the same procedure as described above.

  Further, instead of the information related to the article 25 registered and set by the user, for example, when the human sensor 22 detects that the user is unattended for a long time, the RFID sensor 24 detects the time before that. Information about the article 25 stored in advance in the storage unit 12, and in the control unit 11, whether the information about the article stored (registered) in the storage unit 12 matches the information on the article 25 obtained from the detection information By determining, it may be determined whether or not the user has gone out.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
In the second embodiment, the indoor unit 2 is stopped based on the change amount of the clothing amount per unit time. Since it is the same as that of the air conditioner 1 in said 1st embodiment except the process procedure of the control part 11 being different, the same code | symbol is provided to the same part and the detailed description is abbreviate | omitted.
In the second embodiment, the tag 23 is attached to each piece of clothing, and at least the amount of clothing of each piece of clothing is stored as information on the article 25. The amount of clothing is expressed in units of clo. 1 clo is comfortable in the air of 21.2 ° C, relative humidity of 50%, wind speed of 10cm / sec, and comfortably for a person sitting on a chair and maintaining an average skin temperature of 33 ° C Shows the thermal insulation value of the garment necessary to do it. The clothes to which the tag 23 is attached include all items that can be worn on the body, such as gloves, hats, and mufflers, as well as general clothing such as shirts, trousers, and ties.

The RFID sensor 24 is provided in the indoor unit 2 or in a room where an air conditioner is installed. Further, the RFID sensor 24 is configured to contact the information of the articles 25 held by the tags 23 in a short-range wireless communication with respect to all the articles 25 to which the tags 23 existing in the room where the air conditioner is installed are attached. Can be read.
In the control part 11, based on the detection information including the detection information of the human sensor 22 and the information on the direction of the RFID sensor, it is detected that the change in the change in the amount of clothing per unit time of a specific person is greater than or equal to the threshold value Thereafter, when the room where the air conditioner is installed becomes unattended, it is determined that the user who was in the room where the air conditioner is installed has gone out, and the indoor unit 2 is stopped. The threshold value is preset and stored in a predetermined storage area. When performing the automatic stop control, the control unit 11 reads the threshold value stored in the predetermined storage area and performs processing.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing procedure of the automatic stop control in the second embodiment.
When the execution of the automatic stop control is set, the control unit 11 executes the processing shown in FIG. 3 at a predetermined constant period while the indoor unit 2 is activated.
First, the control unit 11 reads detection information including information on the direction of the human sensor 22 and the RFID sensor 24 (step S11).
Next, it is determined whether the person and the tag 23 exist in the same direction (step S12). When the directions are the same (S12-Y), the process proceeds to step S13. When the directions are not the same (S12-N), the process returns to Step 11.

In step S13, the sum total of the amount of clothes is calculated by taking the sum of information on the amount of clothes of a specific person from the detection information of the plurality of articles 25 obtained from the RFID sensor 24, and the counter is started (step S14).
Subsequently, the control unit 11 determines whether or not the change amount of the clothing amount per unit time is greater than or equal to the threshold based on the detection information of the RFID sensor 24 (step S15). The amount of change in the amount of clothing per unit time is determined by the difference between the calculated total amount of clothing and the total amount of clothing stored in the storage unit 12. In addition, storage of the amount of clothes to the memory | storage part 12 is performed by step S18.

  When the change amount of the clothing amount per unit time is equal to or greater than the threshold value, it is determined that there is a possibility that the user in the room where the air conditioner is installed wears clothes, that is, there is a possibility of going out, step S16. Migrate to That is, since it is cold outdoors in winter, it is considered that clothes such as a coat and a muffler are put on before going out, that is, the amount of clothes is considered to increase. Therefore, when it is predicted that the amount of clothes per unit time changes relatively greatly and the clothes are worn, it can be determined that there is a possibility of going out. The unit time is set based on the time required for wearing clothes such as a coat and a muffler when going out, for example.

  In step S16, based on the detection information of the human sensor 22, it is determined whether or not the room in which the air conditioner is installed is unattended before counting up for a predetermined time. The process proceeds to step S17. In step S <b> 17, it is determined that clothes have been worn, and then, since the room in which the air conditioner is installed has become unattended, it is determined that the user who has been in the room in which the air conditioner is installed has gone out. Then, after stopping the indoor unit 2 and resetting the counter (step S19), the automatic stop control is terminated.

On the other hand, when the change amount of the clothing amount per unit time is smaller than the threshold value at step S15 (S15-N), and when the room where the air conditioner is installed is not unmanned at step S16 (S16-N). ) Proceeds to step S18.
In step S18, the detection information of the article 25 and the detection information of the human sensor 22 read in step S11 and the sum total of the clothing amounts obtained in step S15 are stored in the storage unit 12 in association with each other. Then, after resetting the counter in step S20, the process returns to step S11.
Here, the process of steps S11 to S16 is a function of the outing determination unit, and the process of step S17 is a function of the operation control unit.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be described.
The presence state of the person in the room where the air conditioner is installed is detected by the human sensor 22. Further, the RFID tag 24 detects the clothes tag 23 existing in the room where the air conditioner is installed. Information detected by the human sensor 22 and the RFID sensor 24 is stored in the storage unit 12 by the control unit 11.
The storage unit 12 stores detection information of the human sensor 22 and the RFID sensor 24 acquired at least in the previous execution cycle of the automatic stop control, and is stored in the previous execution cycle. The detection information from the human sensor 22 and the RFID sensor 24 is deleted from the storage unit 12 in order.

  For example, when a user in a room where an air conditioner is installed wears a hat and coat to go out, the RFID sensor 24 detects the tag 23 attached to the clothing worn by the user. (Step S11). Further, it is determined whether or not the article 25 of the tag 25 is worn by the person from the comparison between the direction of the person and the tag 23 (step S12). In the control part 11, the sum total of the amount of clothes is calculated from the information of the articles | goods 25 of the tag 23 (step S13). The description of the operation of the counter that counts the predetermined time is omitted here. Subsequently, since the user in the room where the air conditioner is installed wears a hat, a coat, etc. for going out, the amount of change in the amount of clothing per unit time increases and exceeds the threshold (step S15). . And since this user left the room where the air conditioner was installed, it is detected from the detection information of the human sensor 22 that the inside of the room where the air conditioner is installed is unmanned. Therefore, in the control part 11, it transfers to step S16 from step S15, and judges that the user who was in the room where the air conditioner was installed went out. And the indoor unit 2 is stopped and automatic stop control is complete | finished. Thereby, it can avoid operating the indoor unit 2 unnecessarily.

For example, it is assumed that a user in a room where an air conditioner is installed picks up an object in another room. A user in a room where an air conditioner is installed usually does not wear a coat or a hat to pick up things in another room, so the total amount of clothes does not change. Therefore, the process started from step S11 proceeds to step S18 via step S15, and the sum of the detection information and the clothing amount is stored in the storage unit 12. The indoor unit 2 is not stopped.
From this state, when a user who picks up an object in another room returns to the room where the air conditioner is installed, it is detected by the human sensor 22, but the total amount of clothing does not change. Thus, the process started from step S11 proceeds to step S18 via step S15, and the indoor unit 2 is continuously driven.

Therefore, in this case as well, the indoor unit 2 is not stopped while the user who is in the room where the air conditioner is installed picks up an object in another room, and temporarily air-conditions. Compared to the conventional technology, which detects only the absence and stops the possibility of discomfort to the user who has returned to the room where the air conditioner is installed because the room where the machine is installed is unmanned Can be reduced.
In the second embodiment, based on the amount of clothes stored in the tag 23, the change amount of the user's clothing amount per unit time is equal to or greater than the threshold value, and the user's clothing amount per unit time. However, the present invention is not limited to this, although it is determined that the user has gone out when the room in which the air conditioner is installed is unattended. For example, a change in the amount of clothing per unit time of a user can be obtained by installing an image capturing device such as a camera that captures the interior of a room where an air conditioner is installed to acquire image information and performing image recognition. The amount may be detected.

Moreover, although each said embodiment demonstrated the case where the human sensitive sensor 22 and the RFID sensor 24 which can acquire the information regarding a direction were provided in the room in which the air conditioner was installed, it is not restricted to this.
Since coats, hats, and the like are sometimes worn at the entrance, the human sensor 22 and the RFID sensor 24 are provided in the front door lighting, etc., and clothing is applied based on the detection information of the human sensor 22 and the RFID sensor 24 provided at the entrance. It is also possible to detect the type, amount, and outing, and stop the indoor unit 2 in the room where the air conditioner is installed. By doing so, it is not necessary for the human sensor 22 and the RFID sensor 24 to acquire information on the direction. Simple sensors such as detecting only the presence or absence of a person and receiving information from the tag 23 can be used.

  Moreover, in each said embodiment, although the case where only one user existed in the house in which the indoor unit 2 was provided, this invention is applied even when a some user exists. be able to. When there are a plurality of users, for example, an imaging device such as a camera that captures the inside of a room in which an air conditioner is installed is provided to acquire image information and perform image recognition so that a coat, a hat, etc. Associating a user who wears an air conditioner with a user who has moved to the outside where the air conditioner is installed, and based on this, determine whether the user in the room where the air conditioner is installed has gone out What should I do?

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, the said embodiment has illustrated the apparatus and method for materializing the technical idea of this invention, and the technical idea of this invention is a component. It does not specify the material, shape, structure, arrangement, etc. The technical idea of the present invention can be variously modified within the technical scope defined by the claims described in the claims.

1 Air conditioner 2 Indoor unit 3 Controller 4 Remote controller (remote controller)
11 Control unit 22 Human sensor 23 Tag 24 RFID sensor

Claims (6)

Indoor unit,
Detecting means for detecting the presence of the person and article information of the article held by the person;
An outing determination unit for determining whether or not the person detected by the detection means has gone out;
An operation control unit that switches an operation state in the indoor unit when the outing determination unit determines that the person has gone out;
An air conditioner comprising: A storage unit that stores specific article information in advance is provided.
The going-out determination unit compares the article information of the article held by the person with the specific article information stored in the storage unit, the comparison result is coincident, and then the detection means within a predetermined time 2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein when it is determined that the person does not exist, it is determined that the person has gone out, and the operation state of the indoor unit is switched by the operation control unit. The article is the person's clothing;
The going-out determination unit calculates a clothing amount, which is the amount of clothing, from the article information detected by the detection means, and a change amount of the clothing amount per unit time is equal to or greater than a threshold value, and thereafter within a predetermined time 2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein when the detection unit determines that the person does not exist, it is determined that the person has gone out, and the operation state of the indoor unit is switched by the operation control unit.   The air according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the operation control unit stops the operation of the indoor unit when the outing determination unit determines that the person has gone out. Harmony machine.   The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the detection means is a human sensor and an information acquisition unit.   The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit is an imaging device.

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