JP3858154B2 - Air conditioning system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioning system in which an outdoor unit and an indoor unit are connected and controlled by communication, and is particularly suitable for reducing the cost of installing a transmission line for communication.

In the conventional air conditioning system, the method of communicating between the outdoor unit and the indoor unit via a dedicated transmission line is the mainstream, but in order to reduce the transmission line, data is transmitted and received between the outdoor unit and the indoor unit via the power line. For example, it is described in Patent Document 1.
In addition, it is known to exchange signals between the outdoor unit and the indoor unit by wireless communication, which is described in Patent Document 2, for example.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-140961

JP 2000-304335 A

In large-capacity air conditioners such as commercial packaged air conditioners, outdoor units often have a three-phase power source and indoor units have a single-phase power source. In such cases, the power line of the outdoor unit and the power line of the indoor unit are directly connected. Therefore, the method of superimposing the communication signal of the air conditioner on the power line as described in Patent Document 1 is difficult.
In addition, when communicating between outdoor units and indoor units using wireless communication, low power wireless that is currently cheap and easy to use can be used when there are obstacles between communication stations or when the distance between communication stations is large. In many cases, communication was impossible, and the installation of air conditioners had to be within a very limited range.

  The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and enable communication between the outdoor unit and the indoor unit even in an air conditioning system in which the power line connected to the outdoor unit and the indoor unit is not directly connected. Therefore, it is easy to lay down and enable highly reliable communication.

  Another object of the present invention is to ensure transmission and reception of signals between the outdoor unit and the indoor unit even when an obstacle exists between the indoor unit and the outdoor unit or the installation location is far away. Is not to be routed over long distances.

In order to solve the above object, the present invention provides an outdoor unit equipped with transmission line communication means for transmitting and receiving transmission line signals via a transmission line, and a power line communication means for transmitting and receiving power line superimposed signals via a power line. and a mounted indoor unit, in an air conditioning system control is performed while transmitting and receiving signals between the chambers outboard motor and the chamber machine, a first converter for converting the heat Ochsen signal to a radio signal, no line and a second converter for converting the signal or et power lines superimposed signal, chamber outboard motor of the first transducer to transmit and receive signals through the heat Ochsen, chamber unit and the second transducer send and receive signals through the tooth power line, the first transducer and the second transducer signals between I Ri chamber outboard motor and chamber machine to send and receive non-line signal by the wireless communication controlling transmitted and received is performed, the first converter converts the radio signal by adding additional information for communication control to the transmission line signals The second converter is obtained so as to convert to the power line superimposed signal by deleting the communication control additional information added from the wireless signal.

  According to the present invention, the signal between the outdoor unit and the indoor unit can be used even in an air conditioning system in which the power line connected to the outdoor unit and the indoor unit is not directly connected and the power line superimposed signal cannot be directly transmitted and received between the outdoor unit and the indoor unit. Can be ensured, and the transmission line can be prevented from being routed over a long distance.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an air conditioning system, which includes an outdoor unit 1, an indoor unit 2, a first converter 7, and a second converter 8. The indoor unit 2 is usually the first floor, 2 of a building such as a building. Like the floor, each floor is partitioned and arranged by a ceiling or floor, and the outdoor unit 1 is placed on the rooftop. The outdoor unit 1 includes a control unit 3 and a transmission line communication unit 4-1 inside, and the first converter 7 is connected to the transmission line communication unit 4-1 through the transmission line 10.
However, since one second converter 8 is installed on one power line, when there are a plurality of power lines that supply power to a plurality of indoor units 2 installed on a certain floor, the same number of second converters 8 as the number of power lines. It is necessary to install the converter 8 on the floor.
The indoor unit 2 includes a control unit 5 and a power line communication unit 6 inside, and a second converter 8 is connected to the power line communication unit 6 via a power line 9. Further, each power line 9 is supplied with power that is stepped down from a high-voltage trunk line via a transformer 11.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the first converter 7 includes a first transmission / reception terminal 12, a transmission line communication unit 4-2, a first control unit 16, a wireless communication unit 15-1, and a third transmission / reception terminal 14-1. The transmission line signal and the radio signal are mutually converted and transmitted / received.
Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the second converter 8 includes a second transmission / reception terminal 13, a power line communication unit 6, a second control unit 17, a wireless communication unit 15-2, and a third transmission / reception terminal 14-2. It has a function of transmitting and receiving signals and radio signals by converting them to each other.
Moreover, all the 1st converters 7 and all the 2nd converters 8 partition each floor of a building like the wall of the same direction of the building where an air-conditioning system is installed, and the vertical hole where an elevator goes up and down. Install in a place where there is no obstacle such as ceiling or floor and the line of sight between each converter is clear.

The operation of the air conditioning system configured as described above will be described.
When a signal is transmitted from the outdoor unit 1 to the indoor unit 2, the outdoor control unit 3 outputs a transmission signal to the transmission line communication unit 4-1. The communication unit 4-1 converts the transmission signal into an electric signal that can be propagated through the transmission line and outputs it to the transmission line 10. The output signal is transmitted through the transmission line 10 and input from the first transmission / reception end 12 of the first converter 7 to the transmission line communication means 4-2, where it is converted into an ON / OFF signal etc. that can be decoded by the control means 16. And input to the control means 16.
The control means 16 of the converter adds additional information for communication control necessary for wireless communication so that the received signal can be transmitted and received by wireless communication. As shown in FIG. 4, the additional information for communication control includes a signal sequence number, a code indicating whether or not to perform retransmission processing, a source converter address, a destination converter address, and the like.
If the code indicating whether or not to execute the retransmission process is other than 0, it indicates that the retransmission process is performed, and the response signal from the transmission destination converter even if a certain time elapses after the transmission source converter transmits the radio signal If the wireless signal cannot be received, it is determined that the previously transmitted wireless signal has not been normally transmitted to the transmission destination converter, and the same wireless signal is transmitted again. As a result, the data can be reliably sent to the transmission destination. If the code indicating whether or not to execute the retransmission process is 0, the retransmission process is not executed. In this case, a response signal is not waited after the radio signal is transmitted, and the process proceeds to the next signal transmission process.

  Further, a different value is assigned to each wireless signal as the sequence number. When the retransmission process is executed, the transmission destination converter sets the same value as the sequence number in the received radio signal in the response signal and transmits it to the transmission source converter. This makes it possible to determine which radio signal the received response signal corresponds to when the transmission source converter continuously transmits radio signals having different sequence numbers.

  The second converter 8 adds a transmission source address and a transmission destination address to the power line superimposed signal and converts it to a radio signal. The second converter 8 adds a signal sequence number and a retransmission processing code to the power line superimposed signal and converts the signal into a radio signal.

Next, the control unit 16 outputs a signal to the wireless communication unit 15-1, converts the signal output from the control unit into a wireless signal by the communication unit 15-1, and then passes through the third transmission / reception terminal 14-1. Sent. The transmitted signal propagates in the air, is received by one or more second converters 8 from the third transmitting / receiving terminal 14-2, and can be decoded by the control means 17 from the radio signal in the radio communication means 15-2. After being converted into a proper on / off signal, it is input to the control means 17.
The control means 17 deletes the additional information for communication control necessary for wireless communication from the received signal and outputs it to the power line communication means 6. The communication means 6 converts the transmission signal into an electric signal that can propagate on the power line, and outputs it to the power line 9 from the second transmission / reception end 13. The output signal travels through the power line 9 and reaches the power line communication means 6 of the indoor unit 2, where it is converted into an on / off signal or the like that can be decoded by the control means 5 and then input to the control means 5. Thus, communication between the outdoor unit 1 and the indoor unit 2 is performed when the signal output from the outdoor control unit 3 reaches the indoor control unit 5. Further, when a signal is transmitted from the indoor unit to the outdoor unit, the signal output from the indoor control unit 5 is input to the outdoor control unit 3 by passing through the reverse path.

The block diagram which shows the air-conditioning system by one embodiment of this invention. The block diagram which shows the 1st converter by one Embodiment. The block diagram which shows the 2nd converter by one Embodiment. 1 is a data structure of a radio signal according to an embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Outdoor unit, 2 ... Indoor unit, 3 ... Outdoor control means, 4 ... Transmission line communication means, 5 ... Indoor control means, 6 ... Power line communication means, 7 ... 1st converter, 8 ... 2nd converter, 9 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS ... Power line, 10 ... Transmission line, 11 ... Transformer, 12 ... First transmission / reception end, 13 ... Second transmission / reception end, 14 ... Third transmission / reception end, 15 ... Wireless communication means, 16 ... First control means, 17 ... Second Control means.

Claims (5)

An outdoor unit equipped with transmission line communication means for transmitting and receiving transmission line signals via the transmission line, and an indoor unit equipped with power line communication means for transmitting and receiving power line superimposed signals via the power line, the outdoor unit And an air conditioning system in which control is performed while transmitting and receiving signals between the indoor units, a first converter that converts the transmission line signal into a radio signal, and a second converter that converts the radio signal into the power line superimposed signal A converter, wherein the outdoor unit and the first converter transmit and receive signals via the transmission line, the indoor unit and the second converter transmit and receive signals via the power line, and first transducer and the second transducer the control transmits and receives signals between the indoor unit and the outdoor unit is performed by transmitting and receiving radio signals by the wireless communication, said first transducer Communication control is applied to the transmission line signal. By adding use additional information converted into the radio signal, the second transducer and converting to remove the communication control additional information added by the radio signal to the power line superimposed signal Air conditioning system.   2. The air conditioning system according to claim 1, wherein the outdoor unit and the indoor unit are installed in a building, and the second converter is arranged on each floor of the building.   2. The air conditioning system according to claim 1, wherein the first converter adds a transmission source address and a transmission destination address to the transmission line signal and converts the transmission line signal into the radio signal.   2. The air conditioning system according to claim 1, wherein the first converter adds a signal sequence number and a retransmission processing code to the transmission line signal and converts the transmission line signal into the radio signal. The said 1st converter adds the additional information for communication control to the said transmission line signal, and converts it into the said radio signal, The said 2nd converter is added to the said radio signal, The said 2nd converter is added to the said radio signal An air conditioning system, wherein additional information for communication control is deleted and converted into the power line superimposed signal.

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