JP2023162877A - Automatic controller - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an automatic controller that enables a state quantity to be adjusted to a user's desired level, thereby enhancing a user comfort and also attaining an energy-saving effect.SOLUTION: An automatic controller includes a mixed gas sensor 1, and a controller 2 that performs strong notch operation to feedback control a blower 5 so that output from the mixed gas sensor 1 becomes smaller than a target value. If output from the mixed gas sensor 1 is greater than the target value when a first time period has elapsed after starting the strong notch operation, the controller 2 determines whether the output from the mixed gas sensor 1 is in a saturated state, remaining within a first range for a second time period or longer. If the output from the mixed gas sensor 1 is determined to be in the saturated state, a difference between the output from the mixed gas sensor 1 and a first reference value is determined. If the difference is greater than a first threshold, the strong notch operation is continued, but if the difference is smaller than the first threshold, the strong notch operation is stopped.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present disclosure relates to an automatic control device that controls a ventilation machine that ventilates a room.

In an automatic control device for a ventilation system that has the function of adjusting indoor air quality, a state quantity detection means detects a state quantity such as the concentration of miscellaneous gases or humidity in the room, and the ventilation system adjusts the state quantity so that the state quantity reaches the target value. is controlled. For example, when the indoor air becomes more polluted than the target value due to cigarette smoke, etc., the operation is started, the polluted indoor air is exhausted outside, and fresh outside air is introduced, so that the indoor air reaches a preset level of purity. Provide ventilation until the temperature is reached. However, the detection output of the state quantity by the state quantity detection means fluctuates depending on the detection ability of the state quantity detection means, the ability to adjust the state quantity of the controlled object, the installation environment, etc., so it tends to be difficult to converge to the target value, and the control There are cases where the target continues to be controlled in a way that deviates from the actual situation.

For example, a miscellaneous gas sensor that detects the degree of air pollution reacts to a wide variety of gas components contained in the air, and when the detection target is an odor component associated with smoking, for example, it actually detects Even if the output value has been reduced to the target value level, the output value that has not been reduced to the target value in response to other components will be outputted as detection information for a long time. That is, the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor hardly changes and falls into a saturated state where it does not converge to the target value for a long time. When saturation occurs, the controlled object continues to be controlled, and unlike the user's expectations, the control does not stop for a long time.

In order to solve such problems, Patent Document 1 determines whether the room is polluted when a set time has elapsed after starting the strong notch operation of the ventilation system, and determines whether the room is polluted. If it is determined that the output of the state quantity detection means is in a saturated state, a saturation determination process is performed to determine that the output of the state quantity detection means is in a saturated state. If the saturation determination is established, the strong notch operation is stopped and shifted to the weak notch operation, and if the saturation determination is not established, the strong notch operation is continued.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-310480

However, in Patent Document 1, even if the output of the state quantity detection means remains higher than the target value, if the saturation determination is established, the strong notch operation is stopped, so the state quantity cannot be adjusted from then on. There are challenges. In other words, if the detection target is, for example, an odor component associated with smoking, etc., even if there is a strong odor in the atmosphere, if the odor does not change, the odor reducing function will stop, so the strong odor atmosphere will be maintained. This will result in being exposed.

The present disclosure has been made in view of the above, and aims to provide an automatic control device that can adjust the state quantity to the amount expected by the user, improve user comfort, and obtain the effect of energy saving. purpose.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the objectives, the automatic control device of the present disclosure controls a ventilation machine that ventilates a first space that is an indoor room. The automatic control device includes a first detection section that detects and outputs the state quantity of airborne substances in the first space, and a first operation that feedback-controls the ventilation machine so that the output of the first detection section is smaller than a target value. A control unit that performs the following. The control unit is configured to control, if the output of the first detection unit is larger than the target value when a first time has elapsed after starting the first operation, the output of the first detection unit is within the first range for a second time or more. A first process is performed to determine whether or not the output of the first detection section is in a saturated state, and when it is determined that the output of the first detection section is in a saturated state, the difference between the output of the first detection section and the first reference value is calculated. When the difference is larger than the first threshold, the first operation is continued, and when the difference is smaller than the first threshold, the second operation is performed to stop the first operation.

According to the automatic control device of the present disclosure, the state quantity can be adjusted to the amount expected by the user, and it is possible to improve the user's comfort and achieve the effect of energy saving.

Block diagram showing the configuration of an automatic control device according to Embodiment 1 Flowchart showing the operation procedure of the control unit of the automatic control device according to Embodiment 1 Time chart for explaining control operation of the automatic control device according to Embodiment 1 Block diagram showing the configuration of an automatic control device according to Embodiment 2 Flowchart showing the operation procedure of the control unit of the automatic control device according to Embodiment 2 Block diagram showing the configuration of an automatic control device according to Embodiment 3 Flowchart showing the operation procedure of the control unit of the automatic control device according to Embodiment 3

Below, an automatic control device according to an embodiment will be described in detail based on the drawings.

Embodiment 1.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an automatic control device according to the first embodiment. The object to be controlled by the automatic control device of the first embodiment is a ventilation device having a ventilation function that can adjust state quantities including gas concentration and humidity in a certain room, which is a first space. The ventilation system includes a blower 5 that is a ventilation machine. The automatic control device is built into the ventilation system, and includes a miscellaneous gas sensor 1 as a first detection section that detects a state quantity, a control section 2 including a microcomputer, a strong notch operation drive circuit 3, and a weak notch operation drive circuit. A drive circuit including a circuit 4. The miscellaneous gas sensor 1 detects and outputs state quantities including indoor gas concentrations. The weak notch operation drive circuit 4 drives and controls the blower 5 to perform a weak notch operation. The strong notch operation drive circuit 3 drives and controls the blower 5 to perform strong notch operation, which is an operation with a stronger air volume than the weak operation. Strong notch operation by the strong notch operation drive circuit 3 corresponds to the first operation. The control unit 2 performs feedback control of the blower 5 using the drive circuit so that the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 becomes smaller than a preset target value.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the control unit 2 of the automatic control device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a time chart for explaining the control operation of the automatic control device according to the first embodiment. The vertical axis in the upper diagram of FIG. 3 is the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1, and the horizontal axis is time. The vertical axis in the lower diagram of FIG. 3 is the fan speed of the blower 5, and the horizontal axis is time. In FIG. 3, strong notch operation is abbreviated as strong operation, and weak notch operation is abbreviated as weak operation.

The control operation of the automatic control device in the first embodiment will be explained using FIGS. 2 and 3. The automatic control device has started automatic operation (step S100). For example, when smoke is generated indoors due to smoking, the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 reacts to the smoke and exhibits a steep increase in output (voltage) as shown in FIG. The control unit 2 receives the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1. When the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 becomes larger than a preset target value C1 (time t0, step S110: Yes), the control unit 2 causes the blower 5 to operate at a strong notch via the strong notch operation drive circuit 3 (step S120). If the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 is less than or equal to the target value C1 (step S110: No), the control unit 2 stops the blower 5 (step S115).

By operating the blower 5 at a strong notch, the indoor air is gradually purified, and the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 also decreases (time t0 to t1). The control unit 2 counts the elapsed time from when the blower 5 starts operating at a strong notch. When the elapsed time exceeds a preset first time T0 (step S130: Yes), the control unit 2 determines whether the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 is larger than the target value C1 (step S140). If the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 is smaller than the target value C1 (step S140: No), the control unit 2 causes the blower 5 to operate at a weak notch via the weak notch operation drive circuit 4, and then the set time is When the time has elapsed, the blower 5 is stopped (step S150). After this, the procedure moves to step S110.

If the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 is larger than the target value C1 (step S140: Yes), the control unit 2 performs a saturation determination to determine whether the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 is saturated (steps S160, S170). In the saturation determination, it is determined whether the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 has been within a first range between an upper limit value and a lower limit value for a preset second time T2 or longer.

For example, if the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 at time t1, when the first time T0 has elapsed since the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 exceeded the preset target value C1, is the value A, then A+α(V) is the saturation determination region. The upper limit value Amax is set, and A-α(V) is set as the lower limit value Amin of the saturation determination region. V is volt. α is a preset value, for example, 0.1. Thereafter, the control unit 2 controls the noise at time t2, time t3, and time t4, which are times at fixed time intervals T1 (e.g., 10 minutes) obtained by dividing the second time T2 (e.g., 30 minutes) into a plurality of periods. The output of the gas sensor 1 is stored in a memory (not shown) within the control unit 2. The control unit 2 determines that the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 is saturated if the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 at all times including time t1, time t2, time t3, and time t4 is within the range between the upper limit value Amax and the lower limit value Amin. (Step S170: Yes).

If it is determined that the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 is not saturated (step S170: No), the control unit 2 moves the procedure to step S110. Note that in the second and subsequent saturation determinations, the upper limit value Amax and lower limit value Amin of the saturation determination are reset and the saturation determination is executed. The processing from step S100 to step S170 corresponds to the first processing.

When the control unit 2 determines that the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 is saturated (step S170: Yes), it compares the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 with the determination reference value K (step S180). The determination reference value K corresponds to the first reference value. The determination reference value K is a value for determining whether there is still room for the indoor air to be purified. The control unit 2 stores the minimum output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 in the past (for example, within 24 hours) as the determination reference value K in the memory. As the determination reference value K, a past minimum output and a plurality of outputs close to the minimum output may be selected, and an average value of the plurality of selected outputs may be used.

When the saturation determination is established, the control unit 2 compares the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 at time t4, which is the last time in the saturation determination period, with the determination reference value K, and determines the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 at time t4. It is determined whether the difference from the reference value K is greater than or equal to a first threshold value, a threshold value C2 (step S190). If the difference is greater than or equal to the threshold value C2 (step S190: Yes), the control unit 2 determines that there is still room to purify the indoor air, and strengthens the blower 5 via the strong notch operation drive circuit 3. The notch operation is continued, and the strong notch operation is continued (step S200). On the other hand, if the difference is less than the threshold value C2 (step S190: No), the control unit 2 determines that there is no room for purifying the indoor air and turns the blower 5 to a weak level via the weak notch operation drive circuit 4. Switch to notch operation (step S210). After the process of step S200 or the process of step S210 is executed, the procedure moves to step S140. In this way, if the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 at time t4 is greater than the determination reference value K by the threshold value C2 or more, the control unit 2 determines that there is still room for the indoor air to be purified, Continue strong notch operation. The processing from step S170 to step S210 corresponds to the second processing.

At time t4 in FIG. 3, the difference between the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 and the determination reference value K is greater than or equal to the threshold value C2, so the strong notch operation is continued. Furthermore, at time t5, the difference between the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 and the determination reference value K is smaller than the threshold value C2, so the strong notch operation is switched to the weak notch operation.

In Patent Document 1, when the saturation determination is established, the blower 5 is always switched to weak notch operation, so the miscellaneous gas sensor output and fan speed in the period from time t4 to time t5 in FIG. 3 are as shown by the broken line. It had become. On the other hand, in the first embodiment, when the saturation determination is established, if there is room for the indoor air to be purified, strong notch operation is continued, and if there is no room for cleaning, weak notch operation is continued. It's switching.

In this way, in Embodiment 1, the state quantity of gas concentration can be adjusted to the amount expected by the user, thereby improving comfort. In addition, if there is no room to adjust the state quantity of gas concentration to the amount expected by the user, the energy saving effect can be obtained by lowering the operating notch.

Note that the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 may fluctuate or become difficult to converge due to the influence of the installation environment of the automatic control device, usage conditions, season, characteristics of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1, etc. As a result, the blower 5 of the ventilation system may not switch to weak notch operation for a long time, unlike the operation expected by the user. If there is no room, the operation can be switched to weak notch operation at an early stage.

Furthermore, if the detection target is an odor component associated with smoking, for example, a person who has been in the room for a long time may adapt to an atmosphere with a strong odor and no longer feel uncomfortable; People who enter the atmosphere often feel uncomfortable because they are not acclimated to the smell. In Embodiment 1, even if the system reaches a saturated state, the cleaning operation continues if there is room for cleaning, so it is also effective in such a case.

In the above description, it was assumed that the past minimum output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 stored in the memory was within 24 hours. This makes it possible to eliminate the influence of the installation environment of the automatic control device, usage conditions, season, etc. on the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1, but it also eliminates the influence of factors that cause the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 to fluctuate in units of several hours, for example. If you want to eliminate it, you can do so by changing the past minimum output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 stored in the memory to, for example, one within one hour.

To change how many hours in the past the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 to be stored in the memory is set, for example, a volume resistor or the like is installed in the control unit 2, and the user operates the volume resistor. This can be achieved by doing this. In this way, by allowing the user to change how many hours in the past the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 is to be stored in the memory, it is possible to realize an operation according to the user's preference.

In addition, in the above description, when the saturation determination is established and the control unit 2 determines that there is no room for cleaning the indoor air, the control unit 2 switches the blower 5 of the ventilation system from a strong notch to a weak notch. However, the blower 5 may be switched from operating to stopping.

In addition, the first time T0, second time T2, third time T3, target value C1, and threshold value C2 are set to appropriate values taking into consideration the ventilation capacity of the ventilation system and the indoor situation in which the ventilation system is installed. do it.

Further, in the above description, the ventilation device was used as an example, but the same effect can be obtained by controlling air purification that circulates and purifies indoor air in the same manner.

The automatic control device of the first embodiment also changes the state quantity detection means to a humidity sensor, temperature sensor, dust sensor, or CO2 sensor for control objects that have a function of adjusting state quantities such as humidity, temperature, dust, and carbon dioxide. You can respond by doing this. It is also possible to provide several types of state quantity detection means in parallel so that the state quantity detection can be switched and the combination can be selected by a switching means. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to control operations according to the user's preferences.

Embodiment 2.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an automatic control device according to the second embodiment. In the second embodiment, in addition to a miscellaneous gas sensor 1 that detects and outputs the state quantity of gas concentration in a room that is a first space, it is provided in a second space that is different from the first space to detect airborne substances in the second space. It has a miscellaneous gas sensor 6 that detects and outputs the state quantity of. The miscellaneous gas sensor 6 detects gas concentration in a hallway or outdoors, for example. The other configurations are the same as those in Embodiment 1, and redundant explanation will be omitted.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the control unit 2 of the automatic control device according to the second embodiment. The control operation of the automatic control device in the second embodiment will be explained using FIG. 5. The procedure from step S100 to step S170 in FIG. 5 is the same as the procedure from step S100 to step S170 in FIG. 2, and redundant explanation will be omitted.

When the saturation determination of the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 is established (step S170: Yes), the control unit 2 compares the current output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 with the current output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 6 (step S300), and determines the output. If the difference is greater than or equal to the threshold C3 (step S310: Yes), it is determined that there is still room for cleaning the indoor air, and the blower 5 is operated at a strong notch via the strong notch operation drive circuit 3. The notch operation is continued (step S320). On the other hand, if the difference is less than the threshold value C3 (step S310: No), the control unit 2 determines that there is no room for purifying the indoor air and turns the blower 5 to a weak level via the weak notch operation drive circuit 4. Switch to notch operation (step S330). The processing from step S170 to step S330 corresponds to the second processing.

After the process of step S320 or the process of step S330 is executed, the procedure moves to step S140.

According to the second embodiment, in order to determine whether there is still room to purify the air in the first space based on the state quantity of the gas concentration in the second space, which is different from the first space, Regardless of the time interval of factors that affect the outputs of the gas sensor 1 and the miscellaneous gas sensor 6, the state quantity of gas concentration can be adjusted to the amount expected by the user, thereby improving comfort. Note that there may be a difference in the output between the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 and the miscellaneous gas sensor 6 due to the difference in the environment between the first space and the second space. Adjustments can be made so that differences in space and environment do not become a problem.

Embodiment 3.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an automatic control device according to the third embodiment. In Embodiment 3, steps S180 to S210 of Embodiment 1 are controlled or performed in accordance with the number of times a person enters the first space, which is a room in which the state quantity of gas concentration is detected by miscellaneous gas sensor 1. It is determined whether or not to perform the control from step S300 to step S330 in the second embodiment. The other configurations are the same as those in Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2, and redundant explanation will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 6, in the automatic control device of the third embodiment, a room entry detection section 7 is added. The room entry detection unit 7 detects the number of times a person enters the room whose state quantity of gas concentration is detected by the miscellaneous gas sensor 1. The room entry detection unit 7 includes, for example, a human sensor that detects infrared rays emitted by a human body, and the control unit 2 connects to the human sensor by wire or wirelessly to obtain a signal output by the human sensor. Other methods include obtaining door and lock opening/closing information, obtaining surveillance camera information, and obtaining lighting or air conditioner operation information by connecting to an IoT (Internet of Things) network. .

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the control unit 2 of the automatic control device according to the third embodiment. The control operation of the automatic control device in Embodiment 3 will be explained using FIG. 7. The procedure from step S100 to step S170 and the procedure from step S300 to step S330 in FIG. 7 are the same as the procedure from step S100 to step S170 and the procedure from step S300 to step S330 in FIG. is omitted. In FIG. 7, the control method of Embodiment 2 is applied, but the control method of Embodiment 1 may also be applied.

When the saturation determination of the output of the miscellaneous gas sensor 1 is established (step S170: Yes), the control unit 2 determines whether the number of times of room entry detected by the room entry detection unit 7 is greater than or equal to the threshold value C4 (step S400). If the number of times the room has been entered is equal to or greater than the threshold C4 (step S400: Yes), the control unit 2 determines that the indoor air needs to be purified until there is no room for purification, and performs the steps S300 to S330 described above. Execute control up to.

On the other hand, if the number of times the room has been entered is less than the threshold C4 (step S400: No), the control unit 2 determines that there is no need to purify the indoor air, regardless of whether there is room for purification. Then, the blower 5 is switched to weak notch operation via the weak notch operation drive circuit 4 (step S330). The processes from step S170 and steps S300 to S330 correspond to the second process.

As described above, according to the third embodiment, even if there is room for the indoor air to be purified, if there are no or very few people entering the room, a person who was in an atmosphere with a weak odor will be able to purify the air with a strong odor. The situation where the user feels uncomfortable due to not being adapted to the odor when the odor enters the system does not occur or is extremely rare, so energy saving is prioritized without switching to the strong notch.

In addition, in the above, it was determined whether or not to perform control depending on whether the number of times of entering the room was equal to or higher than the threshold value C4, but it is also possible to determine the control method for the controlled object based on the frequency of entering the room, which is the number of times of entering the room per single time. You may decide.

The configurations shown in the embodiments described above are examples of the contents of the present disclosure, and can be combined with other known technologies, and the configurations can be modified without departing from the gist of the present disclosure. It is also possible to omit or change parts.

1, 6 Miscellaneous gas sensor, 2 Control unit, 3 Strong notch operation drive circuit, 4 Weak notch operation drive circuit, 5 Air blower, 7 Room entry detection unit.

Claims (5)

An automatic control device that controls a ventilation machine that ventilates a first space in a room,
a first detection unit that detects and outputs a state quantity of an airborne substance in the first space;
a control unit that performs a first operation of feedback controlling the ventilation machine so that the output of the first detection unit becomes smaller than a target value;
Equipped with
The control unit includes:
If the output of the first detection section is larger than the target value when a first time has elapsed after starting the first operation, the output of the first detection section is within the first range for more than two hours. performs a first process of determining whether or not it is in a saturated state,
When it is determined that the output of the first detection section is in the saturated state, the difference between the output of the first detection section and the first reference value is calculated, and when the difference is larger than the first threshold value, the difference between the output of the first detection section and the first reference value is determined. An automatic control device characterized in that one operation is continued, and when the difference is smaller than a first threshold value, a second process of stopping the first operation is performed. The automatic control device according to claim 1, wherein the first reference value is a value based on a stored past output of the first detection unit. The automatic control device according to claim 2, wherein the first reference value is the smallest value among the stored past outputs of the first detection unit. The first reference value is an output of a second detection unit that is provided in a second space different from the first space and that detects and outputs the state quantity of the airborne substance in the second space. The automatic control device according to claim 1. comprising a third detection unit that detects and outputs the number of times a person enters the first space,
When the control unit determines that the output of the first detection unit is in the saturated state, the control unit determines whether the output of the third detection unit is larger than a second threshold, and controls the output of the third detection unit. The automatic control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the second process is executed when the output is larger than the second threshold.

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