JP5846422B2 - Air conditioner control device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention controls an air conditioner having a forgetting-off timer function that operates when a consumer who uses electricity in a time-charged lamp contract forgets to turn off the air-conditioning unit and prevents a long-time useless operation. It relates to the device.

Electricity unit prices (electricity charges) determined by electric power companies include a “substantial lamp” contract with a fixed charge regardless of the time of day, and a “time charging lamp” contract where the charge changes depending on the time of day.
Many consumers who use electric water heaters, etc., save the electricity bill by using the latter time charging lamp contract and heating the water heater at night when the electricity bill is cheap.

The unit price of electricity for hourly charging lamp contracts is, for example, about 9 yen / kWh at night from 23:00 to 7:00, about 23 yen / kWh at 7am to 10am and from 17:00 to 23:00 from 10am to 17pm The daytime is set at about 31 yen / kWh in the summer and about 28 yen / kWh in the summer.
It should be noted that the time zone classifications and charges of this electricity unit price are slightly different depending on the electric power company.

As mentioned above, the time charging lamp contract is very cheap, with the unit price of electricity at night being less than half the normal price, but it is about 1.5 times more expensive in the daytime. If you forget to turn off the drive and go out, etc., you will drive for a long time at an expensive electricity unit price, and the total for one day may be higher than the pay-per-use light contract.
In order to prevent such forgetting to cut, there is an air conditioner having the following automatic operation stop function.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an automatic operation stop function for preventing forgetting to turn off a conventional air conditioner (air conditioner) (Patent Document 1).
According to this flowchart, when processing of the remote control is started in step 198, it is confirmed in step 200 whether or not the air conditioner has started operation. Is reset / started, the measurement of the non-operation time t of the remote control is started, and the routine proceeds to step 204. If the air conditioner has not started operation (N), the routine proceeds to step 214 and ends.

  In step 204, it is confirmed whether or not the remote control is operated and an operation signal is input from the operation unit. When the operation signal is input (Y), it means that there is a person in the room. Therefore, it is determined that the air conditioner has not been forgotten to be turned off, and the process returns to step 202. Start measuring time t. When the operation signal is not input for a predetermined time (N), the process proceeds to step 206.

  In step 206, it is confirmed whether or not the air conditioner is stopped. For example, when the previous operation signal is a signal for stopping the operation and the air conditioner is stopped (Y), the process proceeds to step 208, the forgetting to cut timer is stopped, and this flow is ended. When the air conditioner is not stopped (N), the routine proceeds to step 210.

In step 210, the non-operation time t measured by the forgetting to cut timer is compared with a preset set time T to determine whether or not the non-operation time t has reached the set time T.
Here, when the air conditioner has not been operated for a set time T (for example, 12 hours or more), it is determined that the air conditioner is being operated with no one in the room.

  For this reason, when it is determined in step 210 that the non-operation time t has exceeded the set time T (for example, the 12 hours described above) (Y), the process proceeds to step 212 and an operation signal instructing to stop the air conditioner is output. Then, after stopping the operation of the air conditioner, the process proceeds to step 208 to stop the forgetting to cut timer and terminate this flow. In step 210, when the non-operation time t does not exceed the set time T (N), the process returns to step 204.

  As described above, when the non-operation time t after the last remote control operation exceeds the set time T, it is determined that there is no one in the room and the air conditioner operation is stopped. Even if you forget it is set, it will automatically stop driving.

JP-A-10-96548.

The above air conditioners are considered to be nobody when operating for a long period of time without any operation, and stop operation, but always stop only under a single set condition. Therefore, there is a problem that the conditions are not always appropriate in an environment where electricity is used in the contract of the above-mentioned time charging lamp. For example, if you start the air conditioner at a time when the electricity bill is cheap in the morning, and you forget to turn it off and go out to work, etc., the conventional air conditioner will not stop unless there is a long operation. For this reason, there has been a case in which the operation is continued even in the daytime when the electricity bill is high from the morning time, and the electricity bill is expensive.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and provides an air conditioner control device having an operation stop function when forgetting to turn off under an appropriate condition in accordance with a power charge system of a time-charging lamp contract. It is intended to do.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, in an air conditioner operated based on an operation signal from a remote controller, setting means for setting a unit price of electricity for each time zone divided into a plurality of days, and a time counting for measuring time A means for forgetting to turn off the operation of the air conditioner after a predetermined time has elapsed since the start of timekeeping, and a determination for determining whether or not a time zone in which the electricity bill is increased from the time measured by the timekeeping means Means for operating the forgetting to cut timer means when it is determined that it is time to increase the unit price of electricity.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the control device for an air conditioner according to the first aspect, the operation signal detecting means for detecting whether or not an operation signal for a remote control is input and the forgetting-off timer means are in operation. When the operation signal detecting means detects that the operation signal has been input, the operation signal detecting means resets the timing of the forgetting to turn off timer means and restarts the forgetting to turn off timer means.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the air conditioner is started to operate in a time zone where the unit price of electricity in the morning is low and switched from the morning time zone section to a day time zone where the unit price of electricity is high. Because the forgetting-off timer means is activated and the air conditioner is shut down for a preset time (for example, 1 hour), it is possible to prevent forgetting to turn off if you forget to turn it off and go out to work, etc. By shortening the set time until the power is stopped, it is possible to further suppress an increase in the cost of electricity.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the operation signal detecting means for detecting whether or not the operation signal of the remote controller has been input, and the timing of the forgetting-off timer means when the operation signal is input while the forgetting-off timer is operating. The signal input determining means for resetting the timer and restarting the forgetting-off timer means is provided, so that it is determined that a person is present based on the input of the operation signal, and the time for the forgetting-off timer is activated. Since the resetting operation is performed again, there is an effect that the trouble of the operation start operation after the operation stop by the forgetting to cut timer can be saved. In addition, it can be seen that when the user is in the room and the operation is stopped by the forgetting to cut timer means, the time is switched to a time zone in which the unit price of electricity is high, and the consciousness of suppressing the electricity bill is raised.

It is a flowchart explaining the process of the control apparatus of the air conditioner by this invention. It is a block diagram of the air conditioner provided with the control apparatus of the air conditioner by this invention. It is a front view of the example of the operation button of the remote control in FIG. The screen displayed on the display part of a remote control is shown, (a) is a figure which shows a function setting screen, (b) is a figure which shows the selection screen of the contract form in electricity bill unit price setting, (c) is an electricity bill unit price. It is a figure which shows the screen which sets an electricity bill unit price for every contract form with which the setting was selected. It is a flowchart which shows the conventional automatic forgetting to stop turning off of an air-conditioner.

  In an air conditioner that is operated based on an operation signal from a remote controller, a setting unit that sets a unit price of electricity for each time zone divided into a plurality of days, a clock unit that clocks time, and a clock start A forgetting-off timer means for stopping the operation of the air conditioner after elapse of a predetermined time, and a determination means for determining whether or not a time zone in which the electricity unit price increases from the time measured by the time measuring means is provided, Is configured to activate the forgetting to cut timer means when it is determined that it is time to increase the unit price of electricity.

Next, an embodiment of a control device for an air conditioner of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an air conditioner equipped with a forget-off timer means for automatically stopping the operation when the operation of the present invention is forgotten to be turned off. The remote control 3 is used.
The indoor unit 1 is provided with a control unit 4 that controls each part of the indoor unit 1 and the outdoor unit 2. The control unit 4 includes a remote control receiving unit 5 that receives an operation signal from the remote controller 3, a timer unit 6 that starts resetting by the control signal from the control unit 4, and a program and data related to the control of the air conditioner , And a control signal from the storage unit 7 and the control unit 4 for storing data such as a time zone of a time-charging lamp contract and a setting time of the forgetting to cut timer, which will be described later, and the outdoor unit 2 The communication unit 8 that receives the driving information from the control unit 2 and sends the information to the control unit, the notification unit 9 that notifies the user of various information based on the control signal from the control unit 4, and the control signal from the control unit 4 Based on this, a driving unit 10 that performs an actual air conditioning operation in cooperation with the outdoor unit 2 is connected. Although not shown in the figure, the control unit 4 includes a determination unit and an operation signal detection unit that determine whether or not it is a time zone in which the unit price of electricity increases.
The timer unit 6 includes a timer 6a for forgetting to turn off the operation of the air conditioner after elapse of a preset time using a timer for measuring time and a clock 6b for measuring time.

  The remote control 3 includes a remote control unit 11 that controls each part in accordance with user operations, a storage unit 12 that stores programs and data related to the control of the remote control 3 and the current set values of the air conditioner, and the like. An operation key unit 13 that receives an operation, a display unit 14 that displays various types of information to the user, and a transmission unit 15 that transmits an operation signal to the remote control reception unit 5 of the indoor unit 1 according to the user's operation.

Next, the configuration of the remote controller 3 will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 3 is a front view of the remote controller 3, which includes a display unit 14 disposed above and an operation key unit 13 disposed below. The display unit 14 includes a dot matrix type liquid crystal panel or the like. .
An operation / stop button 23 for starting and stopping the operation of the air conditioner is arranged at the upper center of the operation key unit 13, and an operation switching for switching operation modes such as cooling, heating, air blowing, and dehumidification is provided on the upper left side. A button 24, a good night timer button 25 for easily setting a stop time at bedtime, an air volume button 26 for increasing / decreasing the set air volume, and a temperature button 28 for increasing / decreasing the set temperature on the upper right side, an operation start time and a stop time A timer button 29 for starting detailed setting is arranged, and a wind direction button 27 for setting the wind direction is arranged below the operation / stop button 23.

  A function button 30 for starting a function setting mode (to be described later) for performing various settings and the like is disposed slightly below the center of the operation key unit 13 in the vertical direction. The upper button 31, the lower button 32, the left button 33, and the right button 34 for operating the screen displayed on the display unit 14 are arranged, and the right, left, right, and left buttons 31, 32, 33, and 34 are selected on the right side. An enter button 35 for selecting and determining an item and a cancel button 36 for canceling the selected and determined item and returning to the previous screen in the function setting mode are arranged.

Next, the control and operation of the air conditioner having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, a function for setting a unit price of electricity in a time-charging lamp contract, which is a part of the function according to the function setting mode of the remote controller 3, will be described.
When the air conditioner is stopped, nothing is displayed on the display unit 14 of the remote controller 3. When the air conditioner is operating, the current time, the set operation mode, the setting status of the sleep timer are set. The air volume, wind direction, temperature, timer setting status, etc. are displayed (not shown).

  When the function button 30 of the remote controller 3 is pressed, the screen is switched to the function setting mode screen as shown in FIG. 4A regardless of the operating condition of the air conditioner. “Function setting” is displayed in the mode display area 41. The setting items that can be selected in the setting area 42 and the current set values are displayed as “electricity unit price: all day”, “energy saving fan: off”, “automatic power: on”, etc., and the currently selected item is indicated by the cursor ( It is displayed surrounded by a frame. As buttons that can be operated in the lower first guidance area 43, an up button 31, a down button 32, a confirm button 35, and a cancel button 36 for moving the cursor are displayed. A brief description of the setting item being selected is displayed in the second guidance area 44 above it.

  From this screen, the up button 31 and the down button 32 are pressed to move the cursor to an item to be set, for example, “electricity unit price: all day”, and the confirm button 35 is pressed. When the function setting is to be stopped, the original screen is restored when the cancel button 36 is pressed.

In FIG. 4A, when “Electricity unit price: All day” is selected, as shown in FIG. 4B, the screen switches to a screen for selecting the contract form of the electric energy charge, and “Electricity cost” is displayed in the mode display area 41. “Unit price setting” is displayed, “All day” of the metered light contract according to the setting area 42, “Day / Night” and “Day / Night / Morning / evening” when the charge is different between night and day of the time charging lamp contract are displayed. .
To set the unit price of electricity when the time charging lamp contract is “Day / Night / Morning / Evening”, press the upper button 31 or the lower button 32 from this screen and align the cursor with “Day / Night / Morning / Evening”. Press button 35. When canceling the electricity unit price setting, the cancel function button 36 is pressed to return to the “function setting” screen shown in FIG.

When “day / night / morning / evening” is selected, as shown in FIG. 4 (c), the screen switches to a screen for setting the time zone classification of the time charging lamp contract and the unit price in each classification, and the operation key is displayed in the mode display area 41. The mode name of “Electricity unit price setting” selected by the section 13 is displayed, and fields for inputting the time zone classification and unit price of “daytime”, “night”, and “morning and evening” are displayed in the setting area 42.
As buttons that can be operated in the first guidance area 43, a left button 33 for moving the field, a right button 34, an upper button 31 for changing the setting value, a lower button 32, a confirmation button 35, and a cancel button 36 are displayed.

On this screen, the left button 33 and the right button 34 are pressed to move the cursor to the field whose setting value is to be changed, and the value is increased by the upper button 31 and decreased by the lower button 32.
When the set value is changed, the change button 35 is pressed to fix the changed value.
When the input of the set value is stopped, if the cancel button 36 is pressed, the changed value is discarded and the screen returns to the screen of FIG.

In this example, as described above, it was set to daytime; 10: 00 to 17:00; 31 yen / kWh, night; 23: 00 to 7:00; 9 yen / kWh, morning and evening; other than the above; 23 yen / kWh Shall.
The storage unit 7 of the indoor unit 1 stores an automatic stop time T from when the forgetting to cut timer means 6a starts until it automatically stops when forgetting to cut. The automatic stop time T may be fixed, or may be set freely by the user using the remote controller 3. In the following example, it is assumed that the time is set to one hour.

Next, control and operation of the air conditioner with the above configuration and settings will be described based on the flowchart of FIG. Note that all normal operating conditions other than the automatic stop time, such as the cooling heating operation mode, temperature, and air volume, have been set.
(S1) Start.
(S2) As described above, the time of each time zone and the electricity unit price in each time zone are set by the function mode of the remote controller 3.

(S3) When an operation start signal is sent from the remote controller 3 to the indoor unit 1 (S3-Yes), the operation of the air conditioner is started. At this time, data set by the remote controller 3 and stored in the storage unit 12 is sent to the storage unit 7 of the indoor unit 1. If the operation start signal is not sent (S3-No), it stands by as it is.
(S4) The control unit 4 acquires the electricity unit price r0 at the operation start time stored in the storage unit 7, and continues the operation.
(S5) The control unit 4 obtains the current electricity unit price r1 stored in the storage unit 7.

(S6) The electricity bill unit prices r0 and r1 are compared to determine whether the electricity bill unit price has increased. Alternatively, it may be determined whether the electricity unit price increases, specifically, the time for switching from night to morning (7 o'clock) or the time for switching from morning to noon (10 o'clock).
When the electricity unit price does not increase (S6-No) returns to (S5), (S5) and (S6) are repeated in a loop, and the electricity unit price increases at the time when the time zone division is switched (S6-). If yes, the process proceeds to the next step (S7).
(S7) The forgetting to cut timer means 6a is reset / started, and measurement of the forgetting to cut time t is started.
(S8) After starting the forgetting-off timer means 6a in (S7), the control unit 4 determines whether or not an operation signal for the indoor unit 1 is input from the remote controller 3. When an operation signal is input (S8-Yes), the process proceeds to (S10), and when no operation signal is input (S8-No), the process proceeds to (S9).

(S9) When there is no operation signal (S9-No), the measurement time t of the forgetting to cut timer means 6a is compared with the set forgetting to cut stop time T (1 hour), and the forgetting to cut measurement time t is set to the forgetting to cut stop time T. It is determined whether or not the number is exceeded. When the forgetting to cut measurement time t of the forgetting to cut timer means 6a has not reached the forgetting to cut stop time T, the process returns to (S8), and the loop of (S8) and (S9) is repeated.
When the forgetting to cut measuring time t of the forgetting to cut timer means 6a reaches a preset forgetting to cut to cut time T (S9-Yes), the process proceeds to the next step (S11).
(S10) When an operation signal is input in (S7) (S8-Yes), it is determined whether the operation signal is an operation stop signal for the indoor unit 1, and if it is not an operation stop signal (S10-No) ( Returning to S7), the loop of forgetting to cut off is reset / started (S7), (S8), and (S9). When the operation signal is an operation stop signal (S10-Yes), the process proceeds to (S11).
(S11) When (S9-Yes) or (S10-Yes), the operation of the air conditioner is stopped. After the operation is stopped, the indoor unit 1 returns to (S3) and waits until the next operation start signal is input.

  Next, a specific time will be described. Hereinafter, the forgetting to cut stop time is assumed to be 1 hour.

When the operation of the air conditioner is started at 9:00 in the morning at (S4) (S4-Yes), the electricity cost unit price is increased by comparing the electricity cost unit prices r0 and r1 at (S6) while continuing the operation. Or the time when the electricity bill increases, specifically, the time to switch from night to morning (7 o'clock) or the time to switch from morning to noon (10 o'clock).
When the electricity unit price does not increase, the loops of (S5) and (S6) are repeated until the electricity unit price increases, and the timer unit 6a is switched off when the electricity unit price increases at 10 o'clock when the time zone division is switched. Start (S7) and start measurement of the forgetting to cut time t.

In (S8), when the operation signal is input to the indoor unit 1 during the loop and the operation signal is an operation stop signal of the air conditioner, the air conditioner is stopped in (S11).
When the operation signal is input to the indoor unit 1 and the operation signal is not the stop of the air conditioner, the process returns to (S7) to reset / start the forgetting-off timer means 6a and start measuring the forgetting-off time t. .
When there is no operation signal input in (S8) (S8-No), and the measurement time t of the forgetting to cut timer means 6a reaches the forgetting to cut automatic stop time T and the time is up, the air conditioner is stopped (S11) and the process goes to (S3). Return and wait until the next operation start signal is input.
The same applies to the case where the operation of the air conditioner starts at 6 o'clock in the night time zone and switches to the time zone in which the electricity bill is increased at 7 o'clock.

As described above, when the air conditioner starts to operate in the morning when the electricity bill is cheap, and when the morning time zone is switched to the daytime when the electricity bill is high, Since the air conditioner is turned off in a preset time (for example, 1 hour), it prevents forgetting to turn off when you forget to turn off and go out to work, etc. By shortening the set time, it is possible to further suppress an increase in the cost of electricity.
Further, when the user is in the room, it can be seen that the operation is stopped by the forgetting-off timer, so that it is switched to a time zone in which the electricity bill unit price is high, and the consciousness of suppressing the electricity bill is raised.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Indoor unit, 2 ... Outdoor unit, 3 ... Remote control, 4 ... Control unit of indoor unit, 5 ... Remote control receiving unit, 6 ... Timer unit, 6a ... Forgetting to cut timer means, 6b ... Clock, 7 ... Storage unit, 8 ... Communication unit, 9: Notifying unit, 10: Driving unit, 11: Control unit of remote control, 12 ... Storage unit of remote control, 13 ... Operation key unit, 14 ... Display unit, 15 ... Transmission unit, 23 ... Run / stop button, 24 ... Operation switching button, 25 ... Good night button, 26 ... Air volume button, 27 ... Air direction button, 28 ... Temperature button, 29 ... Timer button, 30 ... Function button, 31 ... Up button, 32 ... Down button, 33 ... Left button , 34 ... right button, 41 ... title area, 42 ... setting area, 43 ... first guidance area, 44 ... second guidance area.

Claims (2)

In an air conditioner that is operated based on an operation signal from a remote control,
A setting means for setting a unit price of electricity for each time period divided into a plurality of days,
A time measuring means for measuring time;
Forget-off timer means for stopping the operation of the air conditioner after a predetermined time has elapsed since the start of timing,
Determination means for determining whether or not it is a time zone in which the electricity unit price increases from the time measured by the time measuring means,
The air conditioner control device according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit activates the forgetting to cut timer unit when it is determined that it is a time zone in which the electricity unit price increases. Operation signal detection means for detecting whether or not an operation signal of the remote control is input;
2. The operation signal detection unit, when the operation signal detection unit detects that the operation signal has been input while the operation unit forgets to turn off is reset, resets the time count of the operation unit for forgetting switching and restarts the operation unit for forgetting to turn off. The control apparatus of the air conditioner described.

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