JP2755031B2 - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air conditioner having a function of automatically changing a blowing direction of blowing air into a room.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a temperature distribution state is detected by detecting indoor infrared rays, and a flow rate, a wind direction, and a blowout temperature of an air conditioner are controlled based on the distribution state, so that a place where a person is present and a wall surface or the like are controlled. Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 1-147241 discloses that air conditioning is always performed comfortably in consideration of the influence of radiant heat from a floor or the like.

[0003]

However, it is possible to distinguish between a person and the temperature of a wall, a floor or the like by an infrared sensor for detecting a person's position and a temperature distribution state based on the infrared intensity from each area in the room. However, it has not been possible to distinguish between a human and a heat source such as a television equivalent to a human body. For this reason, there has been a problem that reliability is reduced due to erroneous detection.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, and has as its object to discriminate between a person and a heat source such as a television to reduce false detections and improve the reliability of human position detection. An object of the present invention is to provide an air conditioner capable of achieving the following.

[0005]

Therefore, an air conditioner according to the present invention is an air conditioner which scans each area obtained by dividing the whole room and detects the position of a person by means of an infrared sensor 15 to perform appropriate wind direction control. In the harmony device, a heat source determining unit 31 that calculates a temperature difference between both adjacent regions to determine whether the heat source is a human body equivalent heat source, and a signal from the heat source determining unit 31 that determines that the heat source is a human body equivalent heat source. It is characterized in that a person detecting means 32 for detecting the temperature of the area for a predetermined time and judging that the person is a person when there is a temperature change is provided.

[0006]

In the air conditioner of the above construction, as shown in FIG. 1, a signal from the infrared sensor 15 detects the temperature of a certain area, and then detects the temperature of an adjacent area.
The temperature difference between the two areas is calculated, and the heat source determining means 31 determines whether the temperature difference is large or small, whether it is a background temperature of a wall or the like or a heat source equivalent to a human body. If it is determined that the heat source is equivalent to a human body, the temperature of that area is further detected for a predetermined time, and if there is a temperature change within this predetermined time, it is regarded as a temperature change due to a subtle movement of the human body, and the temperature change is completely If not, the human detection means 32 determines that the heat source is a heat source such as a television.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, a specific embodiment of the air conditioner of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First, FIG.
1 shows a state in which an air conditioner main body 1 as a wall-mounted indoor unit of an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention is mounted on one wall surface. The air conditioner body 1 has an inlet 2 formed on a front panel thereof, and an outlet 3 formed below the inlet 2. The outlet 3 is provided with a vertical flap 4 and a horizontal flap 5 which are formed by arranging a plurality of thin plate-shaped deflection plates in parallel.

A step motor (not shown) is connected to each of these flaps 4 and 5, and by operating each step motor, the vertical flap 4 changes its deflection angle as shown in FIG. The horizontal flap 5 is, for example, in a range of 40 degrees left and right from a direction perpendicular to the air conditioner main body 1 (deflection angle 0 degree) and the horizontal direction (deflection angle 0 degree) as shown in FIG. Thus, for example, they are formed so as to be variable in a range of a downward direction (deflection angle 90 degrees).

The vertical flap 4 is designed so that the whole quantity can be appropriately divided at an arbitrary position as described later, and the direction of the wind direction can be controlled by changing the deflection angle. The air blown from the outlet 3 is blown in a direction corresponding to the deflection angle position of each of the flaps 4 and 5.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, the air conditioner main body 1 has an infrared detecting device 10 at a side position of the suction port 2 therein. FIG. 7 and FIG.
0 is shown. As shown in the figure, the substantially box-shaped casing 11 can be controlled to rotate in the horizontal and vertical directions by two step motors 12 and 13 for horizontal scanning and vertical scanning, respectively.

The front surface of the casing 11 has a wavelength of 9 μm.
A light collector 14 made of, for example, a Fresnel lens made of polyethylene, through which front and rear infrared rays are transmitted, is mounted. The infrared rays from the optical axis direction of the light collector 14 are focused on the light receiving surface of a thermoelectric infrared sensor 15 disposed in the casing 11 through the light collector 14. The infrared sensor 15 may be a thermoelectric sensor or a pyroelectric sensor with a chopper.

The light condensing area of the light condensing plate 14 is designed to have an area sufficiently smaller than the indoor floor surface, so that light is radiated from the indoor floor surface, wall surfaces, furniture, etc. according to the temperature. Of the infrared rays, only infrared rays from an infrared radiator located in a local area in the room within the focusing range, that is, a detection area, are focused on the light receiving surface of the infrared sensor 15.

The horizontal scanning step motor 12
5, the detection region moves in the left-right direction substantially parallel to the installation wall surface of the air conditioner body 1 in FIG. Also, a vertical scanning step motor 13
Is activated, the detection area becomes the air conditioner body 1
Move in the direction orthogonal to.

That is, a detection area having a horizontal direction detection angle φ and a vertical direction detection angle θ as shown in the drawing is removed from the area immediately below the air conditioner body 1 by the operation of the step motors 12 and 13. It is possible to move, that is, scan, over almost the entire area of the indoor floor, and to output a voltage corresponding to the temperature of the infrared radiant located in each detection area from the infrared sensor 15 sequentially. It is configured.

FIG. 16 shows the vertical and horizontal flaps 4,5.
Is a control block diagram for controlling the wind direction of the air blown out from the outlet 3 by operating the air conditioner. In FIG. 1, the operation of each of step motors 12 and 13 for scanning the detection area over substantially the entire area of the indoor floor surface is controlled by a wind direction control device 20 provided in the air conditioner main body 1. The output voltage from the infrared sensor 15 at this time is sequentially input to the wind direction control device 20.

The air conditioner body 1 is connected to a remote controller for operation operation having an operation switch 21 operated by a user and a desired room temperature setting switch 22, and the indoor air near the intake port 2. A room temperature detection sensor 23 for detecting the temperature as room temperature is provided.

When the operation switch 21 is turned on by a user, the operation switch 21 is installed in an outdoor unit (not shown) so that the room temperature detected by the room temperature detection sensor 23 approaches the room temperature set by the desired room temperature setting switch 22. When the compressor is started to operate, the refrigerant in the heat exchanger of the air conditioner main body 1 functions as an evaporator during cooling, and the indoor fan in the air conditioner main body 1 is operated to cool the heat exchanger. The operation of blowing cold air into the room through the vessel is performed by an operation control device (not shown).

However, the operation signal of the operation switch 21, the room temperature Td set by the desired room temperature setting switch 22 and the room temperature Ta detected by the room temperature detection sensor 23 are also inputted to the wind direction control device 20. Hereinafter, general control in the wind direction control device 20 based on these signals will be described with reference to a control flowchart in FIG. 9 for convenience in cooling operation. In addition, the control of the judgment of the person of the present invention or the judgment of the heat source such as a television will be described after the general wind direction control.

When the operation switch 21 is turned on, the processing shown in FIG. 9 is started. First, in step S1, the time counting of the first timer tm1 is started. Next, in step S2, the detected room temperature Ta
Is compared with the reference temperature difference ΔTα, and in step S3, it is determined whether or not the time t1 measured by the first timer tm1 has reached the first set time tα. The temperature difference is equal to the reference temperature difference ΔTα.
And the processing of steps S4 to S6 is repeated until the time tα elapses after the start of operation. That is, the human position detection work is performed in step S4, and this work is performed as follows.

First, as described above, each step motor 12,
13 is controlled to scan the detection area over substantially the entire area of the indoor floor, and to perform signal correction such as signal amplification and emissivity correction on the output voltage from the infrared sensor 15 during this time. The temperature signals are converted into temperature signals corresponding to the amount of incident infrared rays from the detection area, and these temperature signals are stored in the storage unit 24 in correspondence with the coordinate plants of each detection area, that is, the horizontal direction detection angle φ and the vertical direction detection angle θ. Store sequentially.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a change in the output voltage from the infrared sensor 15 at this time corresponding to the floor in the room.
FIG. 11 shows a temperature change in a scanning region substantially parallel to the installation wall of the air conditioner main body 1 when the horizontal direction detection angle φ is sequentially changed when α is set.

As shown in the figure, when a local protruding point occurs in this temperature change, it is determined that a person is present in the detection area (θα, φα) corresponding to the protruding point, and the detection is performed. The coordinates (θα, φα) of the area are stored in the memory of the human position detection device in the storage unit 24.

That is, when a person exists in the detection head area,
Since the surface temperature of the human body is higher than the ambient temperature, the incident intensity of infrared rays from the detection area, that is, the intensity including the radiated infrared rays from the human body surface, is higher than the incident intensity from the floor where no person is located. Therefore, by detecting a region where the detected temperature locally protrudes as described above, that region can be set as a human presence region.

By performing these operations over the entire floor, the position and number of people can be easily detected.

After performing the above-described human detection operation, then, in step S5 in FIG. 9, vertical and horizontal directions for directing the blowing direction of the blowing air from the air conditioner main body 1 to the area where the person is detected. The deflection angles of the flaps 4 and 5 are calculated, and in step S6, the respective flaps 4 and 5 are actuated so as to have the deflection angles. Control, so-called wind direction control of spot blowing in the human direction.

Then, the process returns to step S2, and thereafter, the temperature difference obtained by subtracting the set room temperature Td from the detected room temperature Ti becomes smaller than the reference temperature difference ΔTα, or the elapsed time after the start of operation is the first set time tα Until
The processing of steps S4 to S6 is repeated.

At the start of the operation, spot blowing toward the human detection area as described above is performed, so that it is possible to quickly give the user a cool air feeling without waiting for the room temperature to reach the set room temperature. Become. In addition, since the spot blowing is performed based on the result of the sequential detection operation of the position of the person, the movement automatically follows the movement of the person in the room, and thus does not restrict the movement of the person, thereby providing more comfort. The air-conditioning control at the time of startup that gives a sense of feeling is performed.

While the above-described spot blowing control is continued, it is determined in step S2 that the detected room temperature Ta decreases and approaches the set room temperature Td, and the temperature difference becomes smaller than the reference temperature difference ΔTα. If it has been determined, or if it has been determined in step S3 that the duration of the spot blowing after the start of operation has reached the first set time tα, the flow proceeds to step S7 to measure the time by the second timer tm2. After the start, the measurement operation of the bed temperature distribution is performed in step S8.

In the operation of measuring the floor temperature distribution, the operation of each of the step motors 12 and 13 is controlled in the same manner as described above to scan the detection area over almost the entire area of the indoor floor surface.
The temperature signal corresponding to the output voltage from the infrared sensor 15 during this time is stored in the storage unit 2 in association with the coordinate value of each detection area.
4 sequentially.

Next, in step S9, the average temperature Tmean of the detected temperatures for each of the detection areas is calculated.
In step S10, the average temperature Tmean is calculated from the detected room temperature Ti (i = 1 to n: n is the number of detection areas) for each detection area, and the temperature difference ΔTi exceeds the reference temperature difference ΔTβ. It is determined whether or not there is something.

In this case, the region where the temperature is locally protruded due to the presence of a person is excluded from the above calculation. Alternatively, the floor surface temperature of the area where the person exists may be obtained from the average temperature of the detected temperatures around the floor, and the above calculation may be performed.

If there is a detection area exceeding the above ΔTβ, then in step S11, the time t2 measured by the second timer tm2 is compared with the second reference time tβ, and until the time t2 reaches tβ, In step S12, the blowing direction of the blowing wind from the air conditioner main body 1 is set to the above Δ
The respective deflection angles of the vertical and horizontal flaps 4 and 5 for moving to the detection region exceeding Tβ are calculated.

In step S13, the flaps 4 and 5 are set so as to have these deflection angles, and the air blown from the air conditioner main body 1 is directed to a high temperature region exceeding the above ΔTβ. After the temperature is controlled to be equalized, the process returns to step S8.

When it is determined in step S11 that the second set time tβ has elapsed, the process proceeds to step S14, in which the temperature equalizing wind direction control is temporarily interrupted, and the air conditioner main body 1 is stopped. Flaps 4 and 5 so that the blowing direction of the blowing air from
Is switched to the so-called wide-blow control in which the deflection angle is set.

In step S15, when the time t2 of the second timer tm2 reaches the third set time tγ, the process returns to step S7, and the second timer tm2 is reset to restart its time counting operation. The process is restarted, and the processes from step S8 are repeated. Therefore, if the temperature unevenness cannot be resolved even if the temperature uniformized wind direction control blowing toward the high temperature area is continued for tβ, the air in the entire room is once agitated by performing the wide blow wind direction control. Done.

In other words, when only the above-mentioned temperature uniforming wind direction control is to be continued forever, the room air in the area other than the blowing direction is left in a state close to the stagnation state, and the cooling feeling in this area is impaired. Therefore, the temperature distribution in the room is made uniform while eliminating the above-mentioned problems by appropriately performing wide blowing.

As described above, when the elapsed time after the start of operation has reached the set time tα (for example, 20 minutes) or before the detected room temperature Ta has almost reached the set room temperature Td, the spot blowing is started. By automatically switching from the wind direction control to the temperature uniformed wind direction control for equalizing the temperature distribution in the entire room, the user who has reduced the perceived temperature due to the above-described spot blowing can be informed of the case where the blown wind directly hits the human body. By keeping the room indoors at a substantially uniform temperature without discomfort due to flu, the air conditioner automatically switches to an air-conditioning state that can provide a comfortable cooling sensation at any place even when the user moves in the room. Change.

In step S10, the average temperature Tm is calculated from the detected temperature Ti (i = 1 to n) for each detection area.
If it is determined that all of the temperature differences ΔTi (i = 1 to n) obtained by subtracting “ean” are within the reference temperature difference ΔTβ, the process proceeds to step S16 to set the wide blowing.

Thereafter, the process returns to the step S7, in which the second timer tm2 is reset once,
The time measurement by the second timer tm2 is restarted, and step S
8 and below are performed. Therefore, when the temperature distribution in the room is substantially uniform, steps S7 to S10 and step S16 are repeated, and while the second timer tm2 is reset in step S7, the wind direction control of wide blowing in step S16 is continued. The Rukoto.

When it is newly detected in step S10 that temperature unevenness has occurred in the state where the room temperature distribution is almost uniform, the second timer in step S7 immediately before the detection time point The processing of steps S8 to S15 is performed based on the start time of the clocking operation of tm2.

FIGS. 12 to 15 are explanatory diagrams of an example of the above-mentioned wind direction control. For example, as shown in FIG.
A1 divided into three areas in the left and right direction
The case where A6 is set will be described as an example.

At the start of the cooling operation, first, the vertical flap 4 is controlled by the above-mentioned spot wind direction control so that the blown wind is directed to a region where a person is detected, for example, A6 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 13B, the horizontal flap 5 is set so that its deflection angle is set to about 40 to 60 degrees, or swings in this angle range.

The spot wind direction control is stopped, for example, for 20 minutes after the start of the operation, or when the temperature difference between the detected room temperature and the set room temperature reaches, for example, 2 ° C. or less. When the temperature distribution in the room at this time is substantially uniform as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4 (b), the deflection angle of the vertical flap 4 is set to 40 degrees on the left side and 45 degrees on the right side so that the horizontal blowing direction extends over the range of 40 degrees left and right of the air conditioner body 1 as shown in FIG. The wide blowing is performed. At this time, the horizontal flap 5 is made substantially horizontal (deflection angle 0 degree) as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, FIG. 15A shows an example of a case where the temperature distribution in the room has temperature unevenness. In this case, the average temperature calculated as a whole is 28 ° C. A1 and A4 are extracted as areas where the temperature difference between the two is greater than or equal to a reference temperature difference (for example, 4 ° C.). As a result, as shown in FIGS.
1. A wind direction control is performed in which the deflection angles of the vertical flap 4 and the horizontal flap 5 are set such that the blown wind is directed to A4.

Next, the gist of the present invention will be described. As described above, if there is a heat source such as a person, it can be easily detected by the output voltage of the infrared sensor 15, but if there is a heat source such as a television, the heat source is erroneously determined as a heat source equivalent to a human body. Therefore, in the present invention, it is determined whether the heat source is a human body heat source or a heat source of a television or the like corresponding to the human body heat source.

Here, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for determining the position of a person, FIG. 3 (a) shows the temperature distribution in the room in an analog manner, and FIG. 3 (b) shows the temperature distribution in the room in a digital manner. It is shown. FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of the control for determining the position of the person, and the operation will be described based on FIG.

First, in step S1, the infrared sensor 15 is driven by the step motor, and in step S2, the temperature of the area 1 shown in FIG. 2 is detected. Next, the temperature of the adjacent area 2 is similarly detected, and in step S3, the temperature difference between the area 2 and the area 1 is calculated. Whether the temperature difference is large or small, it is determined whether the temperature is a background temperature of a wall or the like or a heat source equivalent to a human body.

That is, if the temperature difference is smaller than the preset value t in step S4, the temperature is detected over the entire area of the floor surface as in step S11. If the temperature difference is large, the timer is started in step S5, and the temperature of the area 2 is detected (step S6).
If there is a temperature change, this area 2 is determined in step S8.
Is stored as the person position in the storage unit 24.

If there is no temperature change in step S7, the process is repeated until the timer overflows as shown in step S9. If the timer is cleared (step S10), this temperature detection is performed over the entire area. After detecting the temperature of the entire area of the floor surface, step S12 is performed.
To calculate the person position and perform the wind direction control as described above (step S13).

As described above, in steps S4 to S10, if the heat source is equivalent to a human body, the temperature of the area is further detected for a predetermined time, and if there is a temperature change within the predetermined time, as shown in FIG. If there is no temperature change, it is considered that the source is a heat source such as a floor or a television. Therefore, by repeating this control over the entire area of the floor, the position of the person can be quickly and reliably detected.

[0051]

As described above, the air conditioner of the present invention has the following features.
In an air conditioner that scans each area obtained by dividing the entire room and detects the position of a person with an infrared sensor and performs appropriate wind direction control, the temperature difference between both adjacent areas is calculated and a heat source equivalent to the human body is calculated. A heat source determining means for determining whether or not the temperature of the area is detected for a predetermined time based on a signal from the heat source determining means which determines that the heat source is a human body. Since a person detecting means is provided, a signal from an infrared sensor is used to detect the temperature of a certain area, and then the temperature of an adjacent area is detected to calculate the temperature difference between the two areas. The heat source determining means determines whether the temperature of the background of a wall or the like or a heat source equivalent to a human body is large or small, and when it is determined that the heat source is a human body equivalent, further detects the temperature of the region for a predetermined time, Temperature within this predetermined time If there is a change in temperature, it is regarded as a temperature change due to the subtle movement of the human body, and if there is no temperature change, it can be determined by the human detection means that the heat source is a TV or other heat source. Easily ?
, It is possible to reduce the number of erroneous detections and improve the reliability of human position detection.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram in the case of detecting the same person position.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a temperature distribution in the same room.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart in the case of detecting the same person position.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a state where the air conditioner is mounted on a wall surface.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are explanatory diagrams of variable ranges of deflection angles of vertical and horizontal flaps of the air conditioner of the above.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the infrared detection device of the above.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the infrared detection device of the above.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing wind direction control by the same person detection.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating an output voltage of the infrared sensor according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a temperature distribution on a floor surface by the infrared sensor according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a detection area according to the embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram at the time of spot blowing according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of blowing control when the temperature distribution in the room is substantially uniform.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram of blowing control when there is uneven temperature in the room.

FIG. 16 is a control block diagram of the above.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Air conditioner main body 15 Infrared sensor 31 Heat source judgment means 32 Person judgment means

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A temperature difference between two adjacent areas in an air conditioner that scans each area obtained by dividing the whole room and detects a human position by an infrared sensor (15) and performs appropriate wind direction control. And a heat source judging means (31) for judging whether the heat source is a heat source equivalent to a human body, and a signal from the heat source judging means (31) judging that the heat source is a human body equivalent to determine the temperature of the area for a predetermined time. An air conditioner comprising a person detecting means (32) for detecting a person and judging a person when there is a temperature change.