JP3159516B2 - Air conditioner relay communication device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a relay communication device which is inserted into a transmission line of an air conditioner and connects a transmission line separated into two systems.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in a transmission line for performing cooperative control between devices, there is a need to increase the number of connected devices on the transmission line, extend the distance of the transmission line, or link transmission lines of different communication systems. A relay communication device for connecting two transmission paths has been proposed (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-123).
No. 240).

[0003] Hereinafter, an air conditioner configured using this conventional relay communication device will be described. FIG. 5 shows a conventional air conditioner. A is the first air conditioner on transmission line 1,
B is a second air conditioner on the transmission line 2, A11 and A12 are indoor units on the first air conditioner A side, and A13 is an outdoor unit. A21 and A22 are indoor units on the second air conditioner B side,
A23 is an outdoor unit.

[0004] D is a conventional relay communication device for connecting the first air conditioner A and the second air conditioner B, and includes an indoor unit A1.
1, A12 and the outdoor unit A13 are connected to the transmission line 1, and the indoor units A21, A22 and the outdoor unit A23 are connected to the transmission line 2. The transmission paths 1 and 2 are connected to the relay communication device D. A31 is a centralized control device that controls the air conditioner system collectively, and is connected to the transmission line 1.

FIG. 6 is a circuit block diagram of the relay communication device D in FIG. In the figure, D11 is a first receiving means for performing reception in communication with the first air conditioner A side.
Reference numeral 12 denotes a first transmission unit that performs transmission. D21 is a second receiving unit that performs reception in communication with the second air conditioner B side, and D22 is a second transmitting unit that performs transmission. D30
Are the first and second transmitting and receiving means D11, D12, D
21 and D22 are connected by a CPU. The signal from the first receiving unit D11 is connected to the second transmitting unit D22, and the signal from the second receiving unit D21 is connected to the first transmitting unit D12. And are interconnected with each other by the exchange means.

When the communication data on the transmission line 1 of the first air conditioner A is actually input from the first receiving means D11 to the exchange means D30 using the relay communication apparatus D having such a configuration, the data is transmitted. The communication data is transmitted on the transmission path 2 by the second transmission means D22. The communication data on the transmission line 2 of the second air conditioner B is transmitted from the second reception unit D21 via the exchange unit D30 to the transmission line 1 by the first transmission unit D12.
It is sent above.

In this case, the communication data on the transmission line 1 and the communication data on the transmission line 2 only need to have the same data configuration and content. If they are different, the transmission data is transmitted from one transmission line to the other transmission line. In such a case, the data structure and contents of the communication data must be converted to data on the other transmission path.
When performing this conversion, the exchange means D30 directly converts the received communication data into communication data on the other transmission line and transmits the data via the transmission means.

[0008]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional relay communication device for an air conditioner, the processing contents of the exchange means D30 each time one of the data structures of the communication data on the transmission line 1 or the transmission line 2 changes. Had to be changed.

In view of the above problems, the present invention is a relay communication device which is inserted into a transmission line of an air conditioner and connects a transmission line divided into two systems, and relays communication data on the two transmission lines. It is an object of the present invention to facilitate the transfer of communication data to a partner when performing the operation, and to enable the connected device on the transmission path to accurately grasp the operation state.

[0010]

In order to solve this problem, a relay transmission device for an air conditioner according to the present invention comprises a plurality of indoor units having transmission / reception means, an outdoor unit, and a centralized control device. In the air conditioner connected by a transmission line, the transmission line is separated into a first transmission line and a second transmission line.
A relay communication device for exchanging communication data between the transmission line and the second transmission line, wherein the relay communication device is connected to the first transmission line,
First transmission / reception means for transmitting / receiving a signal on a transmission path;
A first unit connected to the first transmission / reception unit for processing transmission / reception
A second transmission / reception means connected to the second transmission path for transmitting / receiving signals on the transmission path; a second CPU connected to the second transmission / reception means for processing transmission / reception signals; Both CPUs connected to the second CPU
And a relay memory capable of reading and writing communication data from the first transmission line and the second transmission line when exchanging communication data between the first transmission line and the second transmission line. When exchanging communication data, the first CPU converts a signal received from the first transmission / reception means into intermediate data that can be commonly decoded by both the first CPU and the second CPU, and converts the data into the intermediate data. Writing to the relay memory, the second CPU reads the written intermediate data, converts the intermediate data to match the signal on the second transmission path, and transmits the signal from the second transmission / reception means;
The communication data is exchanged from the second transmission path to the first transmission path in the same manner.

Further, the relay transmitting device is configured to allocate the data configuration of the relay memory to each of the indoor unit, the outdoor unit, and the centralized control device of the transmission path.

Further, the relay communication device is configured to periodically transmit data in the relay memory allocated to each of the indoor unit, the outdoor unit, and the centralized control device on the transmission line on the transmission line. .

[0013]

With the above arrangement, the relay communication device transmits a signal received from the first transmitting / receiving means to the second air conditioner when exchanging communication data on the transmission line of the first air conditioner on the transmission line of the second air conditioner. One CPU converts the received data into relay data once, writes the data into the memory, reads the data by the second CPU, converts the data to match the signal on the second transmission path, and transmits the signal from the second transmitting / receiving means. I do. Further, the same operation is performed when communication data is exchanged from the second transmission line to the first transmission line.

Thus, when the configuration of the data frame of the communication data on the first transmission path or the second transmission path changes, it is only necessary to change the processing of the CPU on the changed transmission path. Can be used as is.

By allocating the data configuration of the relay memory to each of the indoor unit, the outdoor unit, and the centralized control unit of the transmission path, it is possible to easily determine a device that needs transmission.

Furthermore, by periodically communicating the data of the relay memory on the transmission line, each connected device can easily grasp the state of each device of the indoor unit, the outdoor unit, and the centralized control device on the transmission line. Therefore, for example, the operating state of the indoor unit and the outdoor unit does not differ from the operating state of each indoor unit in the centralized control device.

[0017]

An air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an air conditioner according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram of a relay communication device of the air conditioner according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart illustrating the present embodiment. , FIG.
FIG. 3 is a storage state diagram of a relay memory in the relay communication device of the air conditioner of the present embodiment. The same components as those of the related art are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

In FIG. 1, A is the first air conditioner, B
Is a second air conditioner, and C is a relay communication device.

FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram of the relay communication device C in FIG. In the figure, C11 is first receiving means for receiving in communication on the transmission path 1 on the first air conditioner A side, and C12 is first transmitting means for transmitting. C2
Reference numeral 1 denotes second receiving means for performing reception in communication on the transmission path on the second air conditioner B side, and C22 denotes second transmitting means for performing transmission.

C10 is connected to the first receiving means C11 and the first transmitting means C12, and performs a first CP for performing communication on the transmission line 1.
U. C20 is a second CPU connected to the second receiving unit C21 and the second transmitting unit C22 and performing communication on the transmission path 2.
It is. C30 is a first CPUC10 and a second CPUC20.
And a memory for relay data that alternately exchanges received data.

The air conditioner of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described below with reference to FIGS. First, after the power is turned on, the relay communication device C receives communication data on the transmission line 1 and the transmission line 2 by the first receiving unit C11 and the second receiving unit C21 (STEP 1).

Next, the first CPU C1 receiving the communication data
0 converts the contents of the communication data into intermediate data and writes the intermediate data into the relay memory C30. FIG. 4 shows the contents of the written data. As shown in the figure, a memory for data is allocated for each address of the device, and the data is written therein as intermediate data, for example, in the case of heating, such as 22 codes (STEP 2).

The second CPUC20 reads the intermediate data written from the first CPUC10, and converts the intermediate data into communication data on the transmission line 2 for the device transmitting the data (STEP3).

This communication data is transmitted to the transmission path by the second transmission means C22. Similarly, the second C
This is also performed from the PUC 20 to the first CPU C10 (STEP 4).

Apart from the exchange of communication data, the relay communication device C reads the operation information of the devices connected on the transmission line from the relay memory C30, and updates the contents of the memory shown in FIG. Read (STEP
5).

The first CPUC10 and the second CPUC20 are:
The data read from the relay memory C30 is converted into transmission data and transmitted on the respective transmission lines 1 and 2 (S
TEP6).

The indoor units A11, A12, A21, A22,
The outdoor units A13, A23, and the centralized control device A31 read related information from the communication data transmitted at regular intervals, detect the state of the device to be controlled, and perform cooperative control between the devices. Do it.

When it is determined whether the communication data on the transmission path needs to be exchanged with the transmission path of the other party, the state of the connected device of the other transmission path stored in the relay memory C30 is read. Since the exchange can be performed when the connected device exists, only necessary communication data can be transmitted to the transmission path of the other party.

Further, the CPUs C10 and C20 can exchange communication data without knowing communication data on the transmission line of the other party by converting the communication data into relay data and transmitting it to the other party.

Further, since the exchange information memory is allocated to each device, the number of the device to be transmitted can be easily determined.

[0031]

As described above, the relay communication device for an air conditioner according to the present invention, when exchanging communication data between the first transmission line and the second transmission line, transmits the communication data from the first transmission line to the second transmission line. When exchanging communication data to the second transmission path, the first CPU converts a signal received from the first transmission / reception means into intermediate data which can be commonly decoded by both the first CPU and the second CPU, To the relay memory,
The second CPU reads the written intermediate data,
The signal is converted to match the signal on the second transmission line, the signal is transmitted from the second transmission / reception means, and the communication data is exchanged from the second transmission line to the first transmission line in the same manner. Since the configuration is such that the communication data configuration of the other party can be exchanged without being aware of the configuration, even if the configuration of one communication data is changed, it is only necessary to change the processing of the changed CPU. .

Further, the data structure of the relay memory is first
Is assigned to each component device of the second air conditioner, and the device that transmits the data is easily determined.

Further, by periodically communicating the data of the relay memory to the transmission line, there is an effect that each device can easily grasp the operation state of each of the indoor unit, the outdoor unit and the centralized control device on the transmission line. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an air conditioner to which an embodiment of an air conditioner relay device of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram of a relay communication device of the air conditioner of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the relay communication device of the air conditioner of the embodiment.

FIG. 4A is a diagram showing the storage state of a relay memory in a relay communication device of the air conditioner of the embodiment on the first CPU side. FIG. Memory state diagram

FIG. 5 is a system configuration diagram of a conventional air conditioner.

FIG. 6 is a block circuit diagram of a relay communication device of a conventional air conditioner system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A31 Centralized control device A11, A12, A21, A22 Indoor unit A13, A23 Outdoor unit C Relay communication device C10 First CPU C11 First receiving means C12 First transmitting means C20 Second CPU C21 Second receiving means C22 Second transmitting means C30 Relay memory

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of indoor units having transmitting / receiving means,
An outdoor unit and an air conditioner in which a centralized control device is connected by one transmission line, the transmission line is separated into a first transmission line and a second transmission line, and the first transmission line and the A relay communication device for exchanging communication data between second transmission lines, comprising: a first transmission / reception unit connected to the first transmission line for transmitting / receiving a signal on the transmission line; A first CPU connected to the second transmission line for processing a transmission / reception signal; a second transmission / reception unit connected to the second transmission line for transmitting / receiving a signal on the transmission line; A second CPU, the first CPU and the second CP
U, and a relay memory that can read and write communication data from both CPUs. When exchanging communication data between the first transmission path and the second transmission path, the first transmission When the communication data is exchanged from the first transmission path to the second transmission path, the first CPU receives a signal received from the first transmission / reception means, and converts the received data into intermediate data that can be commonly decoded by both the first CPU and the second CPU. And the data is written into the relay memory, the written intermediate data is read by the second CPU, converted to match the signal on the second transmission path, and a signal is transmitted from the second transmitting / receiving means. A relay communication device for an air conditioner, wherein communication data is exchanged from the second transmission line to the first transmission line in a similar manner. 2. The relay communication of an air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the relay communication device allocates the data configuration of the relay memory to each of the indoor unit, the outdoor unit, and the centralized control unit of the transmission path. apparatus. 3. The relay communication device periodically communicates data in a relay memory assigned to each of an indoor unit, an outdoor unit, and a centralized control unit on a transmission line on a transmission line. 3. The relay communication device for an air conditioner according to 2.