JP2020034183A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an air conditioner that can execute an air-cooling operation having further improved comfort for a user.SOLUTION: When an air conditioner is in air-cooling operation while a temperature difference between a room temperature and a set temperature is smaller than a predetermined value (YES in S1) and a compressor operates at a rotation speed that is lower than a predetermined rotation speed (YES in S2), if indoor humidity becomes higher than a first threshold (YES in S3), the air conditioner performs control for lowering the rotation speed of an indoor fan (S4).SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioner.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an air conditioner, operation control (rotation speed control) of a compressor is performed based on a detection result of a room temperature sensor or the like in order to enhance user comfort. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a control in which when a room temperature reaches a set temperature during operation of an air conditioner, the compressor is stopped to switch to a blowing mode.

JP 2014-145561 A

  The control for stopping the compressor (or reducing the rotation speed) when the room temperature reaches the set temperature, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, prevents the room temperature from dropping too low by reducing the operating capacity of the air conditioner. Is what you do.

  On the other hand, when the compressor is stopped or the rotation speed is reduced, the dehumidifying capacity of the air conditioner also decreases, so that even if the room temperature is maintained near the set temperature, the indoor humidity may increase. is there. In particular, when the air conditioner is used in a room having high heat insulation performance or when the set temperature of the room temperature is high, the operation in which the rotation speed of the compressor is suppressed is continued for a long time, and the indoor humidity is reduced. A problem arises that the user is discomforted by rising.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide an air conditioner that can execute a cooling operation with more enhanced user comfort.

  In order to solve the above problems, the air conditioner of the present invention has a structure in which, during the cooling operation, the temperature difference between the room temperature and the set temperature is lower than a predetermined value, and the rotation speed of the compressor is lower than a predetermined rotation speed. When the indoor humidity is higher than the first determination threshold value in a state where the number of rotations of the indoor fan is higher than the first threshold value, a control is performed to reduce the rotation speed of the indoor fan.

  According to the above configuration, even when the room temperature is close to the set temperature and the rotational speed of the compressor is low, the dehumidifying ability can be maintained by reducing the rotational speed of the indoor fan, and Cooling operation that further enhances the user's comfort can be executed.

  Further, the air conditioner may be configured to acquire the humidity from another electronic device including a humidity sensor.

  According to the above configuration, even if the air conditioner itself does not include the humidity sensor, it is possible to control the rotational speed of the indoor fan based on the humidity.

  In addition, after performing the control to reduce the rotation speed of the indoor fan, the air conditioner may control the rotation speed of the indoor fan when the indoor humidity becomes higher than a second determination threshold larger than the first determination threshold. Can be controlled.

  According to the above configuration, when the indoor humidity does not decrease even when the dehumidifying capacity is increased by lowering the rotation speed of the indoor fan, the indoor heat exchanger (in the cooling operation, It is possible to prevent the temperature of the air outlet near the evaporator) from dropping too low, and to prevent the problem that dew condensation water generated in places other than the indoor heat exchanger drops into the room.

  The air conditioner of the present invention maintains the dehumidifying capacity by lowering the rotation speed of the indoor fan in a state where the rotation speed of the compressor is reduced due to the room temperature being close to the set temperature and improving the comfort of the user. There is an effect that a higher cooling operation can be performed.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an air conditioner according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a control system of the air conditioner according to Embodiment 1. 4 is a flowchart showing the control of the number of revolutions of the indoor fan based on the humidity in the air conditioner according to Embodiment 1. 13 is a flowchart illustrating rotation speed control of an indoor fan based on humidity in the air conditioner according to Embodiment 3.

[Embodiment 1]
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  Hereinafter, Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an air conditioner 10 according to Embodiment 1 and shows a refrigeration cycle applied to the air conditioner 10.

  The air conditioner 10 includes an indoor unit 100 and an outdoor unit 110. On the path of the refrigeration cycle in the air conditioner 10, an indoor heat exchanger 101 is provided on the indoor unit 100 side, and a compressor 111, an outdoor heat exchanger 112, a four-way valve 113 and an expansion valve are provided on the outdoor unit 110 side. 114 are provided. Further, the indoor unit 100 is provided with an indoor fan 102 for sending out the air heat exchanged by the indoor heat exchanger 101 into the room, and the outdoor unit 110 is for sending air to the outdoor heat exchanger 112. Outdoor fan 115 is provided.

  The four-way valve 113 switches the direction of circulation of the refrigerant in accordance with the heating / cooling operation of the air conditioner 10 (FIG. 1 shows a state during the cooling operation). During the cooling operation, the refrigerant circulates in the order of the compressor 111, the four-way valve 113, the outdoor heat exchanger 112, the expansion valve 114, the indoor heat exchanger 101, the four-way valve 113, and the compressor 111. That is, during the cooling operation, the outdoor heat exchanger 112 functions as a condenser, and the indoor heat exchanger 101 functions as an evaporator.

  Further, the air conditioner 10 has a room temperature sensor 121 and a humidity sensor 122 near the indoor heat exchanger 101. The room temperature sensor 121 detects the temperature of the intake air in the indoor heat exchanger 101 as room temperature. The humidity sensor 122 detects the humidity of the intake air. Although the air conditioner 10 has various sensors for controlling the air conditioner 10 in addition to the room temperature sensor 121 and the humidity sensor 122, illustration and description of other sensors are omitted here. I do.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a control system of the air conditioner 10. However, FIG. 2 shows only a configuration related to the rotation speed control of the compressor 111 and the indoor fan 102 based on the room temperature and the humidity. In the air conditioner 10, the control unit 20 controls the rotation speed of the compressor 111 and the rotation speed of the indoor fan 102. The control unit 20 includes a main control unit 201, a compressor rotation speed table 202, and a fan rotation speed. A table 203 is provided.

  The air conditioner 10 performs, as basic control of the compressor 111, operation control of changing the rotation speed of the compressor 111 according to a temperature difference between room temperature and a set temperature. In this operation control, the current room temperature detected by the room temperature sensor 121 is input to the main control unit 201, and the main control unit 201 obtains a temperature difference between the room temperature and the set temperature. Further, the main control unit 201 obtains the required rotation speed of the compressor 111 using the temperature difference as an input parameter to the compressor rotation speed table 202, and sets the compressor 111 so that the rotation speed of the compressor 111 becomes the required rotation speed. Control. That is, the compressor speed table 202 stores the temperature difference between the room temperature and the set temperature and the required speed of the compressor 111 in association with each other.

  By the above operation control using the compressor rotation speed table 202, in the air conditioner 10, when the temperature difference between the room temperature and the set temperature is large, the operation capacity of the air conditioner is increased to quickly bring the room temperature close to the set temperature. When the temperature difference between the room temperature and the set temperature is small, the room temperature is maintained near the set temperature by reducing the operation capacity of the air conditioner.

  Similarly, the air conditioner 10 performs, as basic control of the indoor fan 102, the compressor rotation speed calculated based on the temperature difference between the room temperature and the set temperature (that is, the compressor rotation speed calculated by the compressor rotation speed table 202). An operation control for changing the rotation speed of the indoor fan 102 according to the (required rotation speed) is performed. In this operation control, the main control unit 201 obtains the required rotation speed of the indoor fan 102 using the required rotation speed of the compressor 111 as an input parameter to the fan rotation speed table 203, and determines that the rotation speed of the indoor fan 102 is equal to the required rotation speed. The indoor fan 102 is controlled in such a manner as to achieve the above. That is, the fan speed table 203 stores the required speed of the compressor 111 and the required speed of the indoor fan 102 in association with each other. Note that, when the user sets the air volume of the air conditioner 10 to a desired size (for example, “strong”, “medium”, or “weak” air volume), the rotation speed of the indoor fan 102 The rotation speed is controlled according to the setting. Therefore, the basic control using the fan rotation speed table 203 is performed when the air volume of the air conditioner 10 is set to “automatic”.

  In the air conditioner 10, by performing the above-described basic control of the compressor 111, when the room temperature becomes close to the set temperature, the rotation speed of the compressor 111 is reduced, and the room temperature is prevented from falling too much. On the other hand, when the rotation speed of the compressor 111 is reduced, the dehumidifying ability of the air conditioner 10 is also reduced, and the indoor humidity is increased, which may impair the comfort of the user.

  For this reason, in the air conditioner 10 according to Embodiment 1, not only the rotation speed control of the compressor 111 based on the detection result of the room temperature sensor 121 but also the rotation speed control of the indoor fan 102 based on the detection result of the humidity sensor 122 In addition, the air-conditioning control for further improving the comfort of the user is performed. Specific control will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, when the air conditioner 10 starts the cooling operation, the main control unit 201 determines whether the temperature difference between the room temperature and the set temperature is lower than a predetermined value (that is, whether the room temperature is near the set temperature). Is determined (S1). If YES in S1, it is subsequently determined whether or not the rotation speed of the compressor 111 is within a predetermined rotation speed (S2). If YES in S2, the air conditioner 10 is in a state where the operating capacity is reduced to maintain the room temperature near the set temperature. In this case, since the dehumidifying ability of the air conditioner 10 has also been reduced, the process proceeds to S3. When the load on the room is high with respect to the capacity of the air conditioner 10, for example, when the set room temperature is low, the room temperature is maintained while the compressor 111 is kept rotating at a high speed by the integral control based on the temperature difference between the room temperature and the set temperature. May be stable. In such a case, even if S1 is YES, S2 becomes NO, and the dehumidifying ability of the air conditioner 10 is also maintained.

  In S3, the main control unit 201 compares the indoor humidity detected by the humidity sensor 122 with a first threshold (first determination threshold; for example, 60%) and determines whether the humidity is higher than the first threshold. I do. If YES in S3, it is determined that the indoor humidity is increasing because the rotation speed of the compressor 111 is reduced and the dehumidifying ability of the air conditioner 10 is reduced. Therefore, if YES in S3, the main control unit 201 performs control to reduce the rotation speed of the indoor fan 102 (S4).

  In the air conditioner 10, the dehumidifying ability can be increased by lowering the rotation speed of the indoor fan 102. This is because when the rotation speed of the indoor fan 102 is reduced, the temperature of the evaporator (the indoor heat exchanger 101 during the cooling operation) in the air conditioner 10 is reduced, and dew condensation (that is, dehumidifying action) in the evaporator is more easily generated. That's why. Thereby, the air conditioner 10 according to Embodiment 1 can maintain the dehumidifying capacity even when the room temperature is close to the set temperature and the rotational speed of the compressor 111 is low. It is possible to execute the cooling operation in which the comfort of the user is further enhanced. At this time, since the room temperature is near the set temperature, the rotation speed of the compressor 111 is reduced, but the rotation of the compressor 111 is not stopped (so-called thermo-off).

  Regarding the control for reducing the rotation speed of the indoor fan 102 in S4, the method is not particularly limited, but the following first or second method is given as an example. The first method is a method of reducing the rotation speed of the indoor fan 102 by a predetermined rotation speed (rpm). For example, when the air volume of the air conditioner 10 is set to “automatic”, the rotation speed may be reduced by a predetermined rotation speed from the required rotation speed obtained from the fan rotation speed table 203. The second method is a method of reducing the number of revolutions of the indoor fan 102 by a predetermined ratio (%). For example, when the air volume of the air conditioner 10 is set to “automatic”, the rotation speed may be reduced by a predetermined ratio with respect to the required rotation speed obtained from the fan rotation speed table 203. If the user sets the air volume of the air conditioner 10 to a desired size (for example, “strong”, “medium”, or “weak” air volume), the rotation according to the setting is performed. A process of reducing the number of rotations by a predetermined number of times or by a predetermined ratio may be performed.

  After the control of S4 is performed, the main control unit 201 compares the indoor humidity detected by the humidity sensor 122 with a second threshold (for example, 50%) smaller than the first threshold, and determines that the humidity is the second threshold. It is determined whether it is lower (S5). If YES in S5, it is determined that the indoor humidity has been sufficiently reduced, and thus the main control unit 201 performs control to return the rotation speed of the indoor fan 102 to the original (S6). That is, the rotation speed of the indoor fan 102 is increased by the rotation speed reduced by the control in S4.

[Embodiment 2]
In the first embodiment, the configuration in which the air conditioner 10 itself includes the humidity sensor 122 in order to control the rotation speed of the indoor fan 102 based on the indoor humidity has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The air conditioner 10 itself does not include a humidity sensor, and receives humidity information from another electronic device in the same room to control the rotation speed of the indoor fan 102 described above. It is also possible to do.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent IoT (Internet of Things) home appliances, electronic devices are usually connected to a cloud to operate via the Internet or to exchange information between different electronic devices. That is, the air conditioner 10 according to Embodiment 2 can acquire humidity information from another electronic device by using such IoT technology.

  For example, when there is another electronic device (for example, a humidifier) having a humidity sensor in the same room as the air conditioner 10, the air conditioner 10 acquires humidity information from the other electronic device via the cloud, The rotation speed control of the indoor fan 102 described with reference to FIG. 3 can be performed.

  In this case, the air conditioner 10 and another electronic device that provides humidity information are paired in advance. Also, this pairing setting needs to be canceled, for example, when another electronic device is moved to another room. At this time, the pairing setting may be released by the user himself, but in order to prevent forgetting to release, it is preferable that the pairing setting is automatically released when another electronic device is moved. . As an example, a configuration in which the pairing setting is canceled when the power plug is unplugged from the outlet to move another electronic device can be considered.

  The method by which the air conditioner 10 acquires the humidity information from another electronic device is not limited to the above-described cloud, and for example, a method in which the humidity information is directly transmitted and received by wireless or infrared communication between the devices. It may be.

[Embodiment 3]
In the third embodiment, a modified example regarding the control of the rotation speed of the indoor fan 102 based on the indoor humidity will be described. Specific control will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  In the control of FIG. 4, the contents of S1 to S6 are the same as the control of FIG. 3. However, in the control of FIG. 4, when the result of S5 is NO, the humidity of the room becomes the third threshold higher than the first threshold. (Second determination threshold value; for example, 65%) to determine whether the humidity is higher than the third threshold value (S7). Then, if NO in S7, the process returns to S5, and if YES in S7, the main control unit 201 performs control to return the rotational speed of the indoor fan 102 to the original speed (S6).

  Here, YES in S7 means that the indoor humidity is too high and the indoor humidity does not decrease even if the rotational speed of the indoor fan 102 is reduced to increase the dehumidifying capacity. In such a case, if the operation with the rotation speed of the indoor fan 102 reduced is continued for a long time, not only the temperature of the indoor heat exchanger 101 but also the temperature of the air outlet near the indoor heat exchanger 101 becomes too low. Condensation may occur in places other than 101, and a problem may occur such that the condensed water drops into the room.

  In order to prevent such a problem, in the control of FIG. 4, when the result of S7 is YES, the rotation speed of the indoor fan 102 is returned to the original value, thereby preventing the temperature of the air outlet and the like from dropping, and preventing the condensation. Water dripping can be prevented. If it is determined in S7 that the humidity is higher than the third threshold value, the rotation number of the indoor fan 102 is not returned to the original value at the same time as the detection, but a predetermined time (for example, 30 minutes) elapses from the detection. The rotation speed of the indoor fan 102 may be returned later.

  The embodiment disclosed this time is an example in all respects, and is not a basis for restrictive interpretation. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention is not interpreted only by the above-described embodiments, but is defined based on the description of the claims. In addition, all changes within the meaning and scope equivalent to the claims are included.

Reference Signs List 10 air conditioner 100 indoor unit 101 indoor heat exchanger 102 indoor fan 110 outdoor unit 111 compressor 112 outdoor heat exchanger 113 four-way valve 114 expansion valve 115 outdoor fan 121 room temperature sensor 122 humidity sensor 20 control unit 201 main control unit 202 compression Machine speed table 203 Fan speed table

Claims (3)

During cooling operation, in a state where the temperature difference between the room temperature and the set temperature is lower than a predetermined value, and the compressor is operating at a rotation speed lower than the predetermined rotation speed,
An air conditioner that performs control to reduce the number of rotations of an indoor fan when indoor humidity becomes higher than a first determination threshold. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein
An air conditioner wherein the humidity is obtained from another electronic device provided with a humidity sensor. The air conditioner according to claim 1 or 2,
After performing the above control to lower the rotation speed of the indoor fan, if the indoor humidity becomes higher than a second determination threshold larger than the first determination threshold, control to increase the rotation speed of the indoor fan is performed. And air conditioner.

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