JP5003162B2 - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioner having a function of cleaning dust such as an air purifier, a room air conditioner, and a dehumidifier.

  Currently, in automatic operation of air purifiers, operation control that switches the air volume to four levels, for example, “strong”, “standard”, “weak”, and “minimum” according to the amount of dust in the room (the degree of air contamination). Is going. In addition to this automatic operation, a large amount of dust is generated when smoking, when raising and lowering a futon, and when cleaning a room. There is a desire to do so called “maximum driving”. The automatic operation is set so that it cannot be switched to the “maximum operation”. This is because, when the air purifier is operated to the maximum, the operation sound becomes louder and the noise increases. In the automatic operation, the air flow is performed in the air volume range up to “strong” where the operation sound is not much of concern.

  In such a conventional air purifier, when the user wants to operate at the maximum air volume, the user performs a switching operation to the maximum air volume by the driving operation. This is because when the operation is performed with the maximum air volume, the operation sound increases, the noise increases, and the power consumption increases. When the maximum air volume operation is not necessary, the user needs to return to the operation mode before using the maximum air volume by the driving operation.

  Therefore, in order to solve this problem, a method of controlling the maximum operation time with a timer has been proposed. For example, Patent Document 1 shown below can be cited.

  This Patent Document 1 includes a control circuit that controls the rotation speed of a motor that drives a fan, and a maximum operation circuit that controls the motor to a maximum speed in preference to the control circuit by the operation of a manual switch. . The maximum operation circuit has a timer that operates only for a set time, and the motor is operated by the control circuit after the set time elapses.

Japanese Patent No. 3214919 (JP-A-6-91124)

  However, in this patent document 1, even if the indoor air is cleaned before the end of the set time of the timer and the maximum air volume is no longer necessary, the maximum operation is continued until the end of the timer. In addition, there is a problem that power consumption is wasted. In particular, since the maximum operation is continued from the start of the timer to the end of the timer regardless of the degree of dirt in the air, there is a problem that much loud noise is generated and power consumption is consumed more than necessary.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described conventional drawbacks, and its purpose is to perform operation control according to the degree of air pollution even when the operation is forced to increase the air volume. An object of the present invention is to provide an air conditioner that can suppress the maximum operation more than necessary and can efficiently perform the operation.

Therefore, in the air conditioner according to the first aspect of the present invention, the variable speed fan motor 18 that drives the fan 6, the filter 7 that cleans the air sucked by the fan 6, and the contamination of the air are detected. The sensor 12 that outputs a signal corresponding to the degree of dirt on the air and the fan motor 18 is controlled in accordance with the output value from the sensor 12 to correspond to the output value of the sensor 12 from a plurality of air flow levels. and a control unit 20 for cleaning the air by selecting a specific air volume level, further wherein the control unit 20, the operation signal from the user, further air flow rate than the air flow rate level corresponding to the output value from the sensor 12 an air conditioner for performing air amount increasing operation in the air volume level increased, if the air pollution level by the output value from the sensor 12 is lowered, stop the air volume increases operation , Characterized in that as it is returned to the original operation mode. The “air dirt” referred to here includes not only dust but also odor.

  In the air conditioner according to claim 2, in the air volume increasing operation, the air volume is operated at an air volume level obtained by increasing the air volume by two or three stages from the air volume level corresponding to the output value of the sensor 12. It is characterized by.

According to the air conditioner of the first aspect of the present invention, the air volume increasing operation is performed at the air volume level that is further increased from the air volume level according to the output value from the sensor 12 by the operation signal from the user. Therefore, all do not become the so-called maximum operation mode, so that each air volume level can be utilized efficiently, noise can be suppressed, and power consumption can be suppressed. Further, when the air pollution is reduced by the output value from the sensor 12, the air volume increasing operation is stopped and returned to the original operation mode. Thus, the normal operation without increasing the air volume is achieved, noise generation can be further suppressed, and power consumption can be further suppressed.

  According to the air conditioner of the second aspect, since the air flow level is increased by two or three steps, not all the so-called maximum operation mode is achieved. It can be utilized, noise generation can be suppressed, and power consumption can be suppressed. In addition, when the air volume level is increased by three stages, the air can be cleaned more quickly than when the air volume level is increased by two stages.

  Next, specific embodiments of the air conditioner of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an air cleaner 1 as an air conditioner, and FIG. 2 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of the air cleaner 1. A side suction port 2 is provided on each side surface of the air cleaner 1, and a blower outlet 4 is provided at the rear of the upper surface of the air cleaner 1. Reference numeral 5 denotes a front panel.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a fan 6 that is rotationally driven by a motor is disposed in the rear part of the air cleaner 1, and a filter 7 is referred to in the present application on the upstream side of the fan 6. As an example, a filter unit 7 is provided. Although not shown, the filter unit 7 includes, for example, a prefilter, a plasma ionization unit, a streamer discharge unit, a photocatalytic filter, a plasma catalytic filter, and the like.

  When the fan 6 is driven to rotate, indoor air is sucked in from the side suction port 2 and the lower suction port 3 on both sides, and the sucked air is cleaned by the filter unit 7 and blown out from the outlet 4. . When the air cleaner 1 is automatically operated, the air volume level by the fan 6 is set in four stages, and accordingly, for example, four stages of operation modes of “strong”, “standard”, “weak”, and “minimum” are set. If there is a lot of dust in the air in the room, it is controlled by strong operation, and it is controlled to be the standard operation, weak operation, and the quietest minimum operation according to the amount of dust in the air. The

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the air purifier 1, and the automatic operation is controlled by the control unit 20 including a microcomputer that controls the whole. A signal from the power switch 11 that turns the power on and off and a signal from the dust sensor 12 are input to the control unit 20, and a signal from the dust sensor 12 that changes according to the degree of indoor contamination (the amount of dust in the air) is received. As a result, the control unit 20 controls the motor driving unit 17 to change the rotation speed of the fan motor 18 that can be changed, thereby controlling strong operation, standard operation, weak operation, and minimum operation according to the rotation speed of the fan 6. I do. Further, the automatic operation mode and the like are displayed on the display unit 16 made of a light emitting diode or liquid crystal in accordance with a signal from the control unit 20.

  The dust sensor 12 irradiates indoor air with light, detects the amount of light that has been scattered by smoke, dust, pollen, and other particles contained in the air and reaches the light receiving element to detect dust, etc. The particle concentration can be measured.

  Here, in the present invention, when there is a lot of dust when smoking, raising and lowering a futon, cleaning a room, etc., the user's switch operation increases the air volume by two steps as compared with the case of the current automatic operation. I have to. For example, automatic operation is the minimum operation when there is not much dust in the current room, but in such a case, a strong operation with an air volume increased by two steps is performed, and in a standard operation, the strong operation is increased by two steps. Also, the maximum operation is performed with a high air flow level.

As a reference example, the air volume increasing operation time may be controlled by a timer , for example, so that the air volume increasing operation is performed for a predetermined time . In this case, as shown in FIG. 3, the air volume increasing operation operation unit 13 is turned on by the user to perform the air volume increasing operation, and the air volume increasing operation is performed for the time set by the timer unit 15. Done. Further, the air volume increasing operation time by the timer section 15 can be set by the user using the air volume increasing operation time setting operation section 14. Further, after the air volume increasing operation by the timer unit 15, normal automatic operation is performed. As shown in FIG. 3, data from the dust sensor 12 is temporarily stored in the storage unit 19 including a RAM and a ROM, and the automatic operation is performed according to the amount of dust (air pollution degree). .

  Next, operation control by the control unit 20 will be described. In FIG. 4, after the power switch 11 is turned on, the automatic operation mode is set, and a minimum operation or the like is performed by a signal (data) from the dust sensor 12. That is, after time t0, the operation is performed according to the amount of dust, and is initially performed, for example, at the minimum operation. When the dust gradually increases, the operation is automatically performed from the minimum operation → the weak operation → the standard operation → the strong operation. Therefore, the operation will increase the air flow level. And if dust is cleaned by strong operation, dust will decrease, so that the air volume level is automatically switched from strong operation to standard operation → weak operation → minimum operation. The increase or decrease of the air volume is performed by the control unit 20 controlling the motor driving unit 17 to increase or decrease the rotational speed of the fan motor 18.

  Next, when the user wants to forcibly increase the air volume at time t1, when the user turns on the air volume increasing operation operation unit 13, the current detection value from the dust sensor 12 is originally “minimum operation”. However, the air is cleaned by “standard operation” in which the air flow level is increased by two steps from this minimum operation (see the thick solid line in the figure). Although this standard operation is performed and the signal from the dust sensor 12 is originally “weak operation”, “strong operation” is performed by increasing the air flow level by two stages. Furthermore, after that, although “standard operation” is originally performed by a signal from the dust sensor 12, “maximum operation” in which the air volume level is increased by two stages is performed. Further, in the case of “strong operation” originally, even if an attempt is made to increase the air volume level by two steps, “maximum operation” is performed in which the maximum air flow level is increased by one step for “maximum operation”. By this maximum operation, the dust is rapidly cleaned and the dust in the indoor air is reduced.

  After that, since dust in the air decreases, the signal from the dust sensor 12 performs a two-step up operation corresponding to standard operation with low air volume, weak operation, etc., and the air volume from maximum operation to strong operation to standard operation There will be less driving. Here, the time is counted by the timer unit 15 from the time t1, the time is up at the time t2 when a preset time (for example, 30 minutes) is reached, and the air volume increasing operation is stopped at the time t2. And after time t2, it will be controlled by normal automatic driving.

  In the present invention, when the air volume increasing operation is forcibly performed, if there is a lot of dust to perform the standard operation from the time t1 to the time t2, all will be “maximum operation”, but at the beginning or before the time is up When there is little dust, since the air volume increase operation is performed by increasing the air volume level by two steps from the operation mode in the automatic operation, not all are “maximum operation”. Therefore, the maximum operation can be used efficiently, and the operation sound is not always loud, and the power consumption can be suppressed.

  In addition, the various operation modes in the case of the said automatic driving | operation or an air volume increase driving | operation are displayed on the display part 16, and it becomes easy for a user to recognize. Further, in the case of the air volume increasing operation, the elapsed time and the remaining time are displayed on the display unit 16, so that it is easy for the user to recognize.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 4, in the air volume increasing operation, in the timer control from the time t1 to the time t2, the air volume level is continuously increased by two stages from the time t1 to the time t2, so that the power consumption increases accordingly. And noise increases. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, when it is determined that the air pollution level has decreased in the air volume increasing operation, for example, when the pollution level has decreased to the original “minimum operation” level, (time t1 ') you actually control switch to the "minimum operation" from. Of course, the air volume level should be increased if air contamination is detected again.

  In such a case, in the case of FIG. 4, from time t1 'to time t2, the normal operation without increasing the air volume is performed, the operation sound is small, and the power consumption can be further suppressed.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment. In the previous embodiment, in the case of the air volume increasing operation, the air volume level is increased by two stages, but in this embodiment, it is increased by three stages as shown by a thick solid line. Since the control operation itself is the same as that of the previous embodiment, detailed description is omitted, but since the air volume level is increased by three stages, dust in the air can be cleaned early. In such a case, although a driving sound is louder than in the previous embodiment, it can be cleaned quickly. Further, when the air pollution is reduced, the operation of increasing the air volume is stopped at that time and returned to the original air volume level, so that the operation sound can be made quieter and the power consumption can be suppressed.

  Further, even when the operation is performed with the air volume level increased by three stages, as shown in FIG. 5, the “maximum operation” is not performed over the entire period from time t1 to time t2 (for example, 30 minutes). Compared to the example, the driving noise is small and the power consumption can be suppressed.

Note that in both embodiments of the above, although an example of using a dust sensor 12, as also shown in FIG. 3, in place of the dust sensor 12, or together with the dust sensor 12, the odor sensor 12a It is also possible to perform operation control similar to that of each embodiment. The odor sensor 12a can detect the presence or absence of reducing gas by resistance of an electric reaction and measure the odor intensity. Further, in the above-mentioned reference example , the air volume increasing operation for increasing the air volume is controlled by a timer for a predetermined time, so that it is easy to use and the air volume increasing operation is stopped after a certain time has elapsed. As a result, the driving noise is reduced and the power consumption can be reduced. Moreover, although the case of the air cleaner 1 was demonstrated in both previous embodiment, it can apply also to other air conditioners which mount a ventilation fan, such as a room air conditioner and a dehumidifier.

It is a perspective view of the air cleaner in embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic sectional drawing of the air cleaner in embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram in an embodiment of the invention. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing at the time of 2 steps | paragraphs up in embodiment of this invention. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing at the time of 3 stage up in embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Air cleaner 6 Fan 7 Filter unit 12 Dust sensor 18 Fan motor 20 Control part

Claims (2)

A variable speed fan motor (18) for driving the fan (6), a filter (7) for purifying the air sucked by the fan (6), and detecting the degree of air contamination to determine the degree of air contamination. A sensor (12) that outputs a corresponding signal, and the fan motor (18) is controlled in accordance with an output value from the sensor (12) to correspond to an output value of the sensor (12) from a plurality of airflow levels. air volume and a control unit to clean the air by selecting a specific air volume level (20), further control unit (20), the operation signal from the user, in accordance with the output value from the sensor (12) An air conditioner that performs an air volume increasing operation at an air volume level that is further increased from the air level, and stops the air volume increasing operation when the air pollution level is reduced by the output value from the sensor (12). And Air conditioner which is characterized in that so as to return to the operation mode.   The air volume increasing operation is performed at an air volume level obtained by increasing the air volume by two or three stages from the air volume level corresponding to the output value of the sensor (12). Air conditioner.