JP6576566B2 - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioner that can reduce power consumption when a compressor is stopped.

  Conventionally, a compressor provided in an outdoor unit of an air conditioner has a large amount of refrigerant liquefied in the compressor lubricating oil when the outside air temperature is low, such as below freezing, and the refrigerant staying inside the compressor condenses and liquefies. There is a problem that so-called refrigerant stagnation occurs.

  When the heating operation is started with the air conditioner, the compressor starts immediately and starts to compress the refrigerant. At the time of starting, the compressor temperature is close to the outside air temperature, and the compressor temperature is Until the temperature rises sufficiently, the temperature of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor does not rise. When it takes time to increase the temperature of the refrigerant, it takes time to increase the temperature of the indoor heat exchanger, so that it takes time for the indoor temperature to rise to a predetermined temperature, and there is a problem that rapid heating cannot be performed.

  As a method of solving the above problem, that is, as a method of realizing rapid heating and suppressing refrigerant stagnation inside the compressor at a low outside air temperature, a heater is provided in the compressor, and the compressor is stopped. It is conceivable to always energize the heater to heat the compressor. However, when the compressor is heated by always energizing the heater during the operation stop of the compressor as in this method, the power consumption of the heater increases, and the power consumption at the time of operation stop of the compressor, so-called standby power. There is a problem that increases.

  Then, the air conditioning apparatus which can reduce standby | standby electric power by reducing the power consumption in a control apparatus, preventing the refrigerant stagnation inside a compressor is proposed (for example, refer patent document 1). .

  In Patent Document 1, the temperature of the compressor is taken in the detection mode, and the change rate of the temperature of the compressor when the compressor is stopped is calculated using the taken-in temperature of the compressor, and according to the calculation result. Thus, the period for operating in the sleep mode, which consumes less power than the detection mode, is varied. And it supplies with electricity to a heating means according to the temperature of the compressor taken in at the time of detection mode. Therefore, by appropriately heating the compressor by the heating means, it is possible to reduce power consumption in the control device while suppressing refrigerant stagnation inside the compressor.

JP 2013-204979 A

  In Patent Document 1, the sleep mode time in which the power consumption is lower than that in the detection mode is lengthened in accordance with the rate of change in the temperature of the compressor when the compressor is stopped, thereby reducing the power consumption. However, there is a problem that power is supplied to the outdoor unit even in the sleep mode and power is consumed accordingly.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an air conditioner with improved energy saving performance.

  An air conditioner according to the present invention includes an outdoor unit having a compressor and an outdoor temperature detector that detects an outdoor temperature, an outdoor control device that performs restraint energization according to the outdoor temperature, and a power ON signal to the outdoor control device An indoor control device for transmitting the compressor, and when the compressor is stopped, the outdoor control device has a storage unit for storing the outdoor air temperature detected by the outdoor air temperature detector at regular intervals, and When the power supply ON signal is received from the indoor control device, the power supply to the outdoor unit is turned on, and it is determined whether or not the compressor needs to be heated according to the current outside air temperature and the outside air temperature stored in the storage unit. When it is determined that heating of the compressor is necessary, and when it is determined that heating of the compressor is necessary, restraint energization is performed, and when it is determined that heating of the compressor is not necessary, power supply to the outdoor unit is stopped It is.

  According to the air conditioner of the present invention, when the outdoor unit receives the power supply ON signal from the indoor control device when the outdoor unit is turned off, the outdoor unit turns on the power supply to the outdoor unit and needs to heat the compressor. If NO is determined and it is determined that heating of the compressor is not necessary, power supply to the outdoor unit is turned off. Therefore, the power supply to the outdoor unit can be turned off until the power supply ON signal is received from the indoor control device, and the energy saving performance can be improved.

It is a refrigerant circuit figure of the air harmony device concerning an embodiment of the invention. It is a functional block diagram of the air conditioning apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a 1st figure which shows the timing of the restraint electricity supply at the time of the operation stop of the compressor of the air conditioning apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and outdoor unit electric power feeding. It is a 2nd figure which shows the timing of restraint electricity supply at the time of the operation stop of the compressor of the air conditioning apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and outdoor unit electric power feeding. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the process of the compressor heating control by the side of the outdoor control apparatus at the time of the driving | operation stop of the compressor of the air conditioning apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the compressor heating control by the side of the indoor control apparatus at the time of the operation stop of the compressor of the air conditioning apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described below. Moreover, in the following drawings, the relationship of the size of each component may be different from the actual one.

Embodiment.
FIG. 1 is a refrigerant circuit diagram of an air-conditioning apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, the air conditioning apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes an indoor unit 1 and an outdoor unit 2.
The indoor unit 1 includes an indoor heat exchanger 5, and has a function of cooling or heating an air-conditioning target space such as a room by using heat or cold supplied from the outdoor unit 2.
The indoor heat exchanger 5 functions as an evaporator during the cooling operation, and functions as a condenser or a radiator during the heating operation, and performs heat exchange between the refrigerant and the air.

The outdoor unit 2 includes a compressor 3, a flow path switching valve 4, a throttle device 6, an outdoor heat exchanger 7, and an outside air temperature detector 8, and supplies hot or cold heat to the indoor unit 1. It has a function.
The compressor 3 compresses the sucked refrigerant into a high temperature / high pressure state. The flow path switching valve 4 switches the refrigerant flow between the cooling operation and the heating operation. Although the flow path switching valve 4 is illustrated as a four-way valve, it may be configured by combining a two-way valve or a three-way valve.

  The expansion device 6 functions as a pressure reducing valve or an expansion valve, and decompresses the refrigerant to expand it. The outdoor heat exchanger 7 functions as a condenser or a radiator during cooling operation, functions as an evaporator during heating operation, and performs heat exchange between air supplied from a blower (not shown) and refrigerant. It is. The outside air temperature detector 8 is, for example, a thermistor or an infrared temperature sensor, and detects the outside air temperature.

  The air conditioner 100 according to the present embodiment includes a compressor 3, a flow path switching valve 4, an indoor heat exchanger 5, an expansion device 6, and an outdoor heat exchanger 7, which are sequentially connected by piping. It has a refrigerant circuit through which the refrigerant circulates. The air conditioner 100 can perform a cooling operation or a heating operation by circulating the refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit.

The indoor unit 1 includes an indoor control device 10, and the outdoor unit 2 includes an outdoor control device 20.
The indoor control device 10 and the outdoor control device 20 are, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit, a central processing device, a processing device, an arithmetic device, a microprocessor, a microcomputer, (Also called a processor).

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the air-conditioning apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 2, the indoor control device 10 includes an indoor communication unit 11 that communicates with the outdoor control device 20 and an indoor measurement unit 12 that measures time.

  The outdoor control device 20 includes an outdoor communication unit 21 that communicates with the indoor control device 10, a power management unit 22 that turns on or off the power supply to the outdoor unit 2, and an outdoor temperature signal detected by the outdoor temperature detector 8. And a measuring unit 23 to be acquired. Further, the storage unit 24 that stores the outside air temperature acquired by the measuring unit 23, the current outside air temperature acquired by the measuring unit 23, and the past outside air temperature stored in the storage unit 24 are predicted for a certain period of time. And a calculation unit 25 that calculates an outside temperature after the lapse (hereinafter referred to as a predicted outside temperature). Further, the determination unit 26 determines whether the predicted outside air temperature calculated by the calculation unit 25 is larger than the current outside air temperature acquired by the measurement unit 23, and the determination unit 26 determines that the predicted outside air temperature is the current outside air temperature. When it determines with it being larger than this, the drive part 27 which performs restraint electricity supply, and the outdoor measurement part 28 which measures time are provided. In addition, restraint energization is to energize the compressor 3 to electrically heat the compressor 3.

The outdoor control device 20 has a power supply system different from the other configurations of the outdoor unit 2, and can communicate with the indoor control device 10 even when the power supply to the outdoor unit 2 is turned off. .
In the present embodiment, the outdoor control device 20 is provided in the outdoor unit 2. However, the configuration is not limited thereto, and the outdoor control device 20 may be configured separately from the outdoor unit 2.

Next, operation | movement of the air conditioning apparatus 100 which concerns on this Embodiment is demonstrated using FIG.
During the cooling operation, the flow path switching valve 4 is switched to the cooling operation side, that is, the discharge side of the compressor 3 and the outdoor heat exchanger 7 are connected as shown by the solid line in FIG.
The high-temperature and high-pressure gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor 3 passes through the flow path switching valve 4 and is heat-exchanged with the outdoor air blown by a blower (not shown) in the outdoor heat exchanger 7 to be condensed and liquefied. The condensed and liquefied refrigerant is decompressed to a low pressure by the expansion device 6, and then is heat-exchanged with indoor air in the indoor heat exchanger 5 to be evaporated and gasified. Then, the refrigerant in a gas state is sucked into the compressor 3 through the flow path switching valve 4.

During the heating operation, the flow path switching valve 4 is switched to the heating operation side, that is, the suction side of the compressor 3 and the outdoor heat exchanger 7 are connected as indicated by the broken line in FIG.
The high-temperature and high-pressure gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor 3 passes through the flow path switching valve 4 and is heat-exchanged with indoor air in the indoor heat exchanger 5 to be condensed and liquefied. The condensed and liquefied refrigerant is decompressed to a low pressure by the expansion device 6. The decompressed refrigerant is heat-exchanged with outdoor air blown by a blower (not shown) in the outdoor heat exchanger 7 to be evaporated and gasified. Then, the refrigerant in a gas state is sucked into the compressor 3 through the flow path switching valve 4.

  FIG. 3 is a first diagram illustrating the timing of restraint energization and outdoor unit power supply when the compressor 3 of the air-conditioning apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention is stopped, and FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the implementation of the present invention. It is a 2nd figure which shows the timing of the restraint electricity supply at the time of the operation stop of the compressor 3 of the air conditioning apparatus 100 which concerns on the form of, and outdoor unit electric power feeding.

  The air conditioner 100 according to the present embodiment performs energization restraint in accordance with the outside air temperature in order to suppress the refrigerant stagnation inside the compressor 3 when the operation of the compressor 3 is stopped. Specifically, when the outside air temperature tends to rise and a rise in the outside air temperature is predicted, restraint energization is performed, otherwise restraint energization is not performed.

The air-conditioning apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment determines whether or not to perform restraint energization based on the heating necessity determination described below.
As shown in FIG. 3, the air conditioner 100 acquires the outside air temperature every predetermined time (N minutes in the present embodiment) and stores it in the storage unit 24 each time. Then, from the current outside air temperature and the past outside air temperature, for example, the outside air temperature before N minutes and before 2N minutes, the outside air temperature after N minutes is calculated as the predicted outside air temperature by an approximate expression. Then, if the calculated predicted outside air temperature is larger than the current outside air temperature, it is predicted that the outside air temperature tends to rise, and the energization is turned on. On the other hand, if the calculated predicted outside air temperature is not higher than the current outside air temperature, it is predicted that the outside air temperature does not tend to increase, and no energization is performed.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the air conditioner 100 turns off the power supply to the outdoor unit 2 when no restraint energization is performed. Thereafter, the indoor unit 1 measures the time after the outdoor unit 2 turns off the power supply, and transmits a power supply ON signal to the outdoor unit 2 at every timing for determining whether heating is necessary, that is, every N minutes. Turn on the power supply of 2. And whenever power supply of the outdoor unit 2 is turned ON, the outdoor unit 2 determines whether heating is necessary. That is, the outdoor unit 2 repeatedly performs heating necessity determination every N minutes.

  As described above, the air-conditioning apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment can turn off the power supply to the outdoor unit 2 during a period in which no restraint energization is performed, and thus can improve energy saving performance.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing of compressor heating control on the outdoor control device 20 side when the operation of the compressor 3 of the air-conditioning apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention is stopped. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the compressor heating control by the side of the indoor control apparatus 10 at the time of the driving | operation stop of the compressor 3 of the air conditioning apparatus 100 which concerns on embodiment of invention.

Next, compressor heating control processing when the operation of the compressor 3 of the air-conditioning apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is stopped will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.
As illustrated in FIG. 5, the measurement unit 23 of the outdoor control device 20 acquires a signal of the outside temperature detected by the outside temperature detector 8 (Step S <b> 101). Note that the outside air temperature acquired by the measurement unit 23 is stored in the storage unit 24. Moreover, the process in which the measurement part 23 acquires the signal of outside temperature is performed for every fixed time, and the acquired outside temperature is memorize | stored in the memory | storage part 24 each time.

After step S <b> 101, the calculating unit 25 predicts the outside air temperature after a predetermined time from the current outside temperature acquired by the measuring unit 23 and the past outside temperature stored in the storage unit 24 by an approximate expression. (Step S102).
After step S102, the determination unit 26 performs heating necessity determination to determine whether the predicted outside air temperature calculated by the calculation unit 25 is higher than the current outside air temperature (step S103).

  When the determination unit 26 determines that the predicted outside air temperature is higher than the current outside air temperature, that is, when it is predicted that the outside air temperature tends to increase (Yes in step S103), the outdoor measurement unit 28 measures time. Starting (step S108), the drive unit 27 turns on the restraint energization (step S109).

  After step S109, when the measurement time of the outdoor measurement unit 28 has elapsed for a certain period of time, that is, when the constraint energization ON time has elapsed for a certain period of time (Yes in step S110), the process returns to step S101. A signal of the outside air temperature detected by the detector 8 is acquired (step S101).

  On the other hand, when the determination unit 26 determines that the predicted outside air temperature is not higher than the current outside air temperature, that is, when the outside air temperature is predicted not to increase (No in step S103), the outdoor communication unit 21 A power supply OFF signal is transmitted to the indoor communication unit 11 of the indoor control device 10 (step S104), and the power management unit 22 turns off the power supply to the outdoor unit 2 (step S105). At this time, the drive unit 27 is turned off if the restraint energization is turned on.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, when the indoor communication unit 11 receives a power supply OFF signal from the outdoor communication unit 21 (Yes in step S201), the indoor measurement unit 12 starts measuring time (step S202).
After step S202, if the measurement time of the indoor measurement unit 12 has elapsed for a certain period of time, that is, if a certain period of time has elapsed since the power supply to the outdoor unit 2 was turned off (Yes in step S203), the indoor communication unit 11 A power ON signal is transmitted to the outdoor communication unit 21 of the control device 20 (step S204), and the process returns to step S201.

  As shown in FIG. 5, after step S105, when the outdoor communication unit 21 receives a power supply ON signal from the indoor communication unit 11 (Yes in step S106), the power management unit 22 supplies power to the outdoor unit 2. It turns ON (step S107), it returns to step S101, and the measurement part 23 acquires the signal of the outside temperature which the outside temperature detector 8 detected again (step S101).

  As described above, according to the air conditioner 100 according to the present embodiment, when the compressor 3 is stopped, the outdoor control device 20 acquires the current outside air temperature and stores the current outside air temperature and the storage unit 24. The predicted outside air temperature which is the future outside air temperature is calculated from the past outside air temperature. When the predicted outside air temperature is larger than the current outside air temperature, that is, when it is predicted that the outside air temperature tends to increase, the outdoor control device 20 starts measuring time and turns on the energization. On the other hand, when it is predicted that the predicted outside air temperature is not higher than the current outside air temperature, that is, the outside air temperature does not tend to increase, the outdoor control device 20 transmits a power supply OFF signal to the indoor control device 10 and the outdoor unit 2 Turn off the power supply. The indoor control device 10 starts measuring time when a power supply OFF signal is received from the outdoor control device 20, and transmits a power supply ON signal to the outdoor control device 20 when the measurement time has passed for a certain time. When the outdoor control device 20 receives a power supply ON signal from the outdoor control device 20, the outdoor control device 20 turns on the power supply to the outdoor unit 2 and acquires the current outdoor temperature again.

  As described above, the outdoor control device 20 turns off the power supply to the outdoor unit 2 during a period when the compressor 3 is not heated, and receives the power supply ON signal from the indoor control device 10 when the outdoor unit 2 is turned off. In this case, the power supply to the outdoor unit 2 is turned on, the necessity of heating of the compressor 3 is determined, and when it is determined that the compressor 3 is not required to be heated, the power supply to the outdoor unit 2 is turned off. Therefore, the power supply to the outdoor unit can be turned off until the power supply ON signal is received from the indoor control device 10, and the energy saving performance can be improved.

  1 indoor unit, 2 outdoor unit, 3 compressor, 4 flow path switching valve, 5 indoor heat exchanger, 6 expansion device, 7 outdoor heat exchanger, 8 outdoor temperature detector, 10 indoor control device, 11 indoor communication unit, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 Indoor measurement part, 20 Outdoor control apparatus, 21 Outdoor communication part, 22 Power supply management part, 23 Measurement part, 24 Storage part, 25 Calculation part, 26 Determination part, 27 Drive part, 28 Outdoor measurement part, 100 Air conditioning apparatus.

Claims (4)

An outdoor unit having a compressor and an outside air temperature detector for detecting outside air temperature;
An outdoor control device that performs energization restraint according to the outside air temperature;
An indoor control device that transmits a power ON signal to the outdoor control device,
When the compressor is shut down,
The outdoor control device includes:
A storage unit for storing the outside air temperature detected by the outside air temperature detector at regular intervals;
When the power supply ON signal is received from the indoor control device, the power supply to the outdoor unit is turned on, and whether or not the compressor needs to be heated according to the current outside air temperature and the outside air temperature stored in the storage unit. To determine whether heating is necessary,
An air conditioner that performs restraint energization when it is determined that heating of the compressor is necessary, and stops power supply to the outdoor unit when it is determined that heating of the compressor is not necessary. The indoor control device
When the outdoor control device receives a power supply OFF signal that is transmitted when power supply to the outdoor unit is OFF, time measurement is started, and a power supply ON signal is transmitted to the outdoor control device after a predetermined time has elapsed. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1. The outdoor control device includes:
A communication unit that receives a power ON signal from the indoor control device;
A power management unit that turns on power feeding to the outdoor unit when the communication unit receives a power feeding ON signal;
A measurement unit for acquiring a signal of the outside air temperature detected by the outside air temperature detector;
The storage unit for storing the outside air temperature acquired by the measurement unit;
A calculation unit that calculates a predicted outside air temperature after a predetermined time has elapsed from the outside air temperature acquired by the measurement unit and the past outside air temperature stored in the storage unit;
A determination unit that performs the heating necessity determination to determine whether the predicted outside air temperature is greater than the outside air temperature acquired by the measurement unit;
A drive unit that turns on restraint energization when the determination unit determines that the predicted outside air temperature is greater than the outside air temperature acquired by the measurement unit;
The power supply management unit is configured to turn off the power supply to the outdoor unit when the determination unit determines that the predicted outside air temperature is equal to or lower than the outside air temperature acquired by the measurement unit. The air conditioning apparatus described. The outdoor control device includes:
The air conditioning apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein time measurement is started when restraint energization is ON, and the necessity of heating is determined after a predetermined time has elapsed.

Images