JP6932002B2 - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly to an air conditioner provided with a laundry drying function.

The refrigerant circuit of the air conditioner consists of an indoor heat exchanger installed in the indoor unit, a compressor installed in the outdoor unit, an outdoor heat exchanger, a four-way valve for switching the flow path of the refrigerant, and an expansion valve for reducing the pressure of the refrigerant. Have. Further, in the vicinity of the indoor heat exchanger and the outdoor heat exchanger, an indoor blower fan and an outdoor blower fan that promote heat exchange between the air and the refrigerant flowing in the heat exchanger are provided, respectively. The compressor, four-way valve, expansion valve, indoor blower fan, and outdoor blower fan are controlled by the control unit according to various operating conditions.

The compressor starts in response to an operation command from the indoor unit from the stopped state, and the refrigerant discharged from the compressor passes through the four-way valve, condenses in the indoor heat exchanger during heating, and passes through the expansion valve. The pressure is reduced, and it evaporates in the outdoor heat exchanger and returns to the compressor. During cooling, the four-way valve is switched to reverse the flow direction of the refrigerant from that during heating, so the refrigerant discharged from the compressor passes through the four-way valve, is condensed by the outdoor heat exchanger, decompressed by the expansion valve, and exchanges indoor heat. Evaporate in the vessel and return to the compressor.

When starting the heating operation from the stopped state of the air conditioner, it is desired to operate the compressor, the indoor blower fan, and the outdoor blower fan to raise the temperature of the indoor heat exchanger quickly. However, if the indoor blower fan is operated while the temperature of the indoor heat exchanger is low, cold air that has not been warmed is blown into the room from the indoor unit, so that the user feels chilly and the comfort is impaired.

Therefore, the conventional air conditioner is provided with an indoor heat exchanger temperature sensor that detects the temperature of the indoor heat exchanger, and when the compressor is started at the start of the heating operation or at the restart after the defrosting operation is completed. In some cases, the rotation speed of the indoor blower fan is increased from extremely low rotation to low rotation after the detection value of the indoor heat exchange temperature sensor reaches a predetermined value or more. This prevents the blowing of cold air caused by the operation of the indoor blower fan before the temperature of the indoor heat exchanger rises sufficiently, and improves the comfort at the start of the heating operation of the air conditioner. .. Such control is called cold air prevention control. (See, for example, Patent Document 1)

It is also known that the drying time is shortened when the wet clothes are exposed to the wind. It is thought that this is because the high humidity air around the clothes can be blown off by blowing air. Then, from the viewpoint of using the air conditioner as a dryer, there is an air conditioner equipped with a clothes drying mode for drying laundry and the like.

Specifically, if the air conditioner having an indoor blower fan and a compressor has different wind direction and swing control depending on the mode such as clothes drying mode, cooling operation mode, blower operation mode, and heating operation mode based on the command from the operation unit. The drying operation method of the air conditioner is described. With this configuration, the laundry is dried efficiently. (See, for example, Patent Document 2)

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-174450 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-279027

In these conventional air conditioners, since the drying operation takes into consideration both indoor comfort and drying of clothes, it takes a considerable amount of time for the laundry to dry even when operated in the clothes drying mode. Therefore, it was necessary to further shorten the drying time.

In order to solve the above problems, the configuration is particularly configured to include a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, an outdoor blower fan, an outdoor unit equipped with an expansion valve, an indoor heat exchanger, an indoor blower fan, and a vertical wind direction. and an indoor unit that includes a horizontal louver for varying, an indoor heat exchange sensor that detects the temperature of the indoor heat exchanger, and control means for controlling the outdoor unit and the indoor unit, an operation unit for performing oPERATION operation The control means starts the compressor at the start of the heating operation, starts detecting the indoor heat exchange sensor, and after starting the compressor, the detection value of the indoor heat exchange sensor is a predetermined temperature. When the above occurs, the air conditioner that starts the rotation of the indoor blower fan has a clothes drying mode in which the operation unit selects a laundry drying operation, and the clothes drying mode is selected. Is provided with a control means for forcibly starting the indoor blower fan at a predetermined rotation speed while starting the compressor at the start of the heating operation, and has a swing mode for swinging the horizontal louver. At the time of selection and when the heating operation is selected, the horizontal louver swings at a fixed cycle after stopping at the lowermost position for a predetermined time, and when the swing mode is selected and the clothes drying mode is set. When selected, the horizontal louver does not stop at the lowermost position and swings at regular intervals.

According to the present invention, when the clothes drying mode is selected, the compressor is started at the start of the heating operation, and the indoor blower fan is forcibly started at a predetermined rotation speed to dry the laundry. The drying time can be shortened by giving the highest priority to shortening the time .
Also, having a swing mode for swinging the horizontal louvers, in during a swing mode is selected, and when the heating operation is selected, the horizontal louvers at a predetermined period after a predetermined time stops at extreme positions of the downward It swings, and when the swing mode is selected and the clothes drying mode is selected, it swings at a fixed cycle without stopping at the lowermost position of the horizontal louver, so that during heating operation, By stopping the horizontal louver at the end position in the downward direction, warm air is efficiently circulated indoors to improve comfort, and during the clothes drying operation, the horizontal louver swings without pausing. The indoor air can be efficiently agitated to further shorten the drying time.

A perspective view of an indoor unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. The schematic diagram which shows the whole structure. The flowchart figure at the start of the heating operation. The graph which shows the compressor rotation speed, the room heat exchange temperature, and the room blower fan rotation speed at the start of the normal heating operation. A graph showing the compressor rotation speed, indoor heat exchange temperature, and indoor blower fan rotation speed at the start of heating operation in the same clothes drying mode. Explanatory drawing which shows the rotation position of the horizontal louver.

Next, an embodiment of the air conditioner of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
Reference numeral 1 denotes an indoor unit of a separate type air conditioner, in which a housing is formed by a back plate 2 and a front front cover 3, and a horizontally long slit-shaped suction port 4 is provided in the center of the upper surface of the front cover 3. An open panel 5 is provided in the center of the front surface of the front cover 3, and can be freely opened and closed in front of the front cover 3 with shafts (not shown) provided on the left and right of the upper portion of the open panel 5 as fulcrums. A horizontally long air outlet 6 is provided on the bottom surface of the front cover 3, and the indoor air sucked from the suction port 4 is temperature-controlled inside the indoor unit 1 and blown out from the air outlet 6.

A fin tube type indoor heat exchanger 7 that is horizontally long and bent in multiple stages is provided between the suction port 4 and the air outlet 6, and a cross-flow type indoor blower fan 8 is provided downstream of the indoor heat exchanger 7. Is placed. The blower fan 8 rotates at a speed of about 600 to 1,400 rpm during normal operation, sucks indoor air from the suction port 4, and blows out heat-exchanged air from the air outlet 6. A drain dish (not shown) integrally molded with a resin foam material is provided below the indoor heat exchanger 8 to receive dew condensation water and to guide the air blown by the indoor blower fan 8 to the air outlet 6. Also serves as. Further, an indoor air filter 9 is formed between the suction port 4 and the air outlet 6, and an air filter (not shown) for removing dust mixed in the suction air is inside the suction port 4 of the air flow path 9. Has.

Reference numeral 10 denotes an indoor blower motor for driving the indoor blower fan 8, which is composed of a DC motor or the like whose rotation speed can be arbitrarily changed according to a command from the indoor control unit 10. In this embodiment, 600 rpm (B1) and 800 rpm. Five stages of rotation speeds of (B2), 1,000 rpm (B2), 1,200 rpm (B4), and 1,400 rpm (B5) are set.

The outlet 6 is provided with a horizontal louver 11 that adjusts the direction of the blown wind in the vertical direction during operation and automatically closes the outlet 6 when stopped, and has drive shafts 12 at both ends of the horizontal louver 11. The horizontal louver 11 is rotated by the louver motor 13 connected to the drive shaft 12. The louver motor 13 is composed of a step motor, and as shown in FIG. 6, the horizontal louver 11 opens from the operation stop position C0 (the position where the air outlet 6 is closed by the horizontal louver 11) to a predetermined angle from C1 to C6 as a reference angle. It rotates stepwise in the direction.

Reference numeral 14 denotes an indoor heat exchange sensor, which detects the temperature of the refrigerant pipe 15 connected to the surface of the indoor heat exchanger 7 and the vicinity of the inlet and outlet of the indoor heat exchanger 7, and blows out when the normal heating operation is started. In order to prevent the user from feeling chilly and uncomfortable due to cold wind blowing from 6, the indoor control unit 16 sets the start timing and rotation speed of the blower fan 8 according to the degree of temperature rise of the indoor heat exchange sensor 14. Control and adjust. Reference numeral 17 denotes a room temperature sensor, which is attached to an indoor air passage 9 in the vicinity of the suction port 4 and is sucked from the suction port 4 to detect the temperature of the indoor air.

Reference numeral 18 denotes an outdoor unit, which includes a compressor 19, an outdoor heat exchanger 20, a four-way valve 21 for switching the flow path of the refrigerant, and an expansion valve 22 for reducing the pressure of the refrigerant. The exchanger 7, the expansion valve 22, the outdoor heat exchanger 20, and the four-way valve 21 are sequentially connected by the refrigerant pipe 15 to form the refrigeration circuit 23.

The compressor 19 is a variable capacity compressor whose operating capacity can be changed between 20 rps and 100 rps by being driven by a motor (not shown) whose rotation speed is controlled by an inverter. The outdoor heat exchanger 20 is a fin tube type heat exchanger that exchanges heat by blowing outside air through an outdoor blower fan 23 arranged on the leeward side. The outdoor blower fan 23 is composed of a propeller fan and is rotationally driven by an outdoor blower motor 24. The four-way valve 21 by switching the direction of refrigerant flowing through the refrigeration circuit 15, which switches the heating operation and the cooling operation, in the direction of the solid arrows shown in FIG. 2 in heating operation, the direction of the broken arrows in cooling operation Switch the flow direction of the refrigerant to. The expansion valve 22 is an electronic expansion valve, and the opening degree is freely adjusted in response to an opening degree command from the outdoor control unit 25. 26 detects the outdoor temperature with the outdoor air temperature sensor and periodically notifies the outdoor control unit 25. Reference numeral 27 denotes an outdoor heat exchange sensor, which detects the temperature of the refrigerant pipe 15 connected to the surface of the outdoor heat exchanger 20 and the vicinity of the inlet and outlet of the outdoor heat exchanger 20 to cause frost formation during heating operation. The outdoor control unit 25 grasps the state of the above and performs the defrosting operation.

Reference numeral 28 denotes a remote controller, which emits an operation signal to the indoor control unit 16 of the indoor unit 1, and has a display unit 29 that displays various operation conditions, timer times, etc. on the liquid crystal screen, and an operation for performing an operation operation. It has a part 30. The operation unit 30 is provided with an operation switch 31 for operating / stopping, an operation mode switch 32 for setting an operation mode such as heating operation / cooling operation / dry operation, a room temperature setting switch 33 for setting the room temperature, and a timer operation setting. It has a large number of button switches such as a timer switch 34 for performing the operation, a clothing drying switch 35 for selecting the clothing drying mode, and a louver switch 36 for changing the blowing direction of the horizontal louver 11 and selecting the swing mode.

Next, the operation at the start of the heating operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6. In S1, the operation switch 31 of the remote controller 28 is pressed to start the operation of the air conditioner. The heating operation is started on the assumption that the previous operation was the heating operation. Next, the process proceeds to S2 to determine whether the clothes drying mode is ON. The clothes drying mode is selected by the clothes drying switch 35 of the remote controller 28. Laundry drying is the highest priority when operating in the clothes drying mode, and since it is assumed that the room is unmanned during the clothes drying mode, indoor comfort is not considered.

If "No" in S2, the process proceeds to S3 to perform the normal heating operation, and if "Yes" in S2, the process proceeds to S16 to start the clothes drying operation in the heating operation. First, from the normal heating operation, the compressor 19 is started in S3. The rotation speed of the compressor 19 is the set value of the room temperature set by the room temperature setting switch 32 and the room temperature detected by the room temperature sensor 17. Although it is determined by the temperature difference, since the temperature difference is large at the start of the heating operation, the temperature gradually increases toward the maximum rotation speed of 100 rps. It takes about 2 minutes to reach the maximum number of revolutions. This is because the rotation speed of the compressor 19 is regulated by the fluctuation speed of the rotation speed so that the refrigerant mixed with the refrigerating machine oil in the refrigeration cycle follows the rotation speed.

Next, the process proceeds to S4 to start reading the indoor heat exchange sensor 14. Since the compressor 19 is rotating, the indoor heat exchange sensor 14 also gradually rises. Then, in S5, it is determined whether the temperature (A) of the indoor heat exchange sensor 14 exceeds 28 ° C. (A1), and if it exceeds, the indoor blower fan 8 is started at 600 rpm (B1), and the horizontal louver 11 is set to the previous time. The air outlet 6 is opened by rotating at an angle during operation. This prevents the blowing of cold air caused by the operation of the indoor blower fan 8 before the temperature of the indoor heat exchanger 7 rises sufficiently, and improves the comfort at the start of the heating operation. Further, when the previous operation is a swing operation, the horizontal louver 11 swings between the angles of C1 and C5, but at the position of C5, it pauses for about 6 seconds and repeats the swing. As a result, the warm air that is blown out is blown out relatively downward, so that the warm air is efficiently circulated indoors to improve comfort.

Next, in S7, it is determined whether the temperature (A) of the indoor heat exchange sensor 14 further rises and exceeds 29.5 ° C. (A2). When it exceeds, the indoor blower fan 8 is raised to 800 rpm (B2). (S8) Thereby, the rotation speed of the indoor blower fan 8 can be gradually increased without giving a feeling of cold air to the user in the room.

Next, in S9, it is determined whether the temperature (A) of the indoor heat exchange sensor 14 further rises and exceeds 31.5 ° C. (A3). When it exceeds, the indoor blower fan 8 is raised to 1,000 rpm (B3). (S10)

Next, in S11, it is determined whether the temperature (A) of the indoor heat exchange sensor 14 further rises and exceeds 34 ° C. (A4). When it exceeds, the indoor blower fan 8 is raised to 1,200 rpm (B4). (S12)

Next, in S13, it is determined whether the temperature (A) of the indoor heat exchange sensor 14 further rises and exceeds 40 ° C. (A5). When it exceeds, the indoor blower fan 8 is raised to 1,400 rpm (B4). (S12) In this way, in S9 to S14, the same operation as in S7 and S8 is repeated, and the indoor blower fan 8 reaches the maximum rotation speed of 1,400 rpm (B5), so that the air conditioner exhibits the maximum output. .. As a result, the rotation speed of the indoor blower fan 8 can be gradually increased to reach the maximum rotation speed without giving a feeling of cold air to the user in the room.

Next, it takes more than ten minutes from the start of heating operation (S1) to the maximum output (S14), but if the maximum output is continued in S15 and the room temperature rises to the set room temperature, the current room temperature The number of revolutions of the compressor 19 and the indoor blower fan 8 is lowered accordingly, and the operation is performed with an appropriate heating output.

If "Yes" in S2, the process proceeds to S16 to start the clothes drying operation in the heating operation. In the clothes drying operation of S16, both the compressor 19 and the indoor blower fan 8 are started aiming at a predetermined rotation speed near the maximum rotation speed regardless of the indoor heat exchange temperature A. The horizontal louver 11 rotates to the position of C6 below C5, which is the lower limit position of the horizontal louver 11 in the normal heating operation, assuming that the laundry is arranged downward. As a result, the laundry can be dried more quickly by actively blowing air to the laundry to lower the humidity around the laundry. Further, when the previous operation is a swing operation, the horizontal louver 11 swings between the angles of C1 and C6, but at the position of C5, the swing is repeated without pausing. As a result, the air in the room can be agitated more efficiently, so that the laundry can be dried even faster.

Next, if the maximum output is continued in S15 and the room temperature rises to the set room temperature, the rotation speed of the compressor 19 and the indoor blower fan 8 decreases according to the current room temperature, and the operation is performed with an appropriate heating output, but the horizontal louver 11 The angle C6 and the swing range (C1 to C6) of are unchanged. As a result, the air in the room can be agitated more efficiently, so that the laundry can be dried even faster.

In this way, when the clothes drying mode for drying the laundry is selected, the compressor 19 is started at the start of the heating operation, and the indoor blower fan 8 is forcibly started at a predetermined rotation speed near the maximum rotation speed. By doing so, it is possible to shorten the drying time by giving the highest priority to shortening the drying time of the laundry. Further, when the clothes drying mode is selected, the drying time can be further shortened by setting the movable range of the horizontal louver 11 to be larger in the downward direction than the movable range during the normal heating operation. Further, when the swing mode for swinging the horizontal louver 11 is selected and the clothes drying mode is selected, the swing range of the horizontal louver 11 is set downward from the swing range during normal heating operation. By setting a large value, the drying time can be further shortened. Further, in the swing mode during the normal heating operation, the horizontal louver 11 swings at a fixed period after stopping at the lowermost position for a predetermined time, and in the swing mode during the operation in the clothes drying mode, the horizontal louver 11 is in the downward direction. The drying time can be further shortened by swinging at a constant cycle without stopping at the end position of.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other embodiments, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are also included in the scope of the invention described in the claims and the equivalent scope thereof.

For example, although the position of the horizontal louver 11 in S16 is set to C6, the angle of the horizontal louver 11 at the time of the previous operation may be set instead of C6.

Further, a maximum time or a set time may be set in the clothes drying mode, and after the time expires, the normal heating operation may be automatically performed.

1 Indoor unit 2 Front cover 6 Blowout 7 Indoor heat exchanger 8 Indoor blower fan 10 Indoor blower motor 11 Horizontal louver 13 Louver motor 14 Indoor heat exchange sensor 16 Indoor control unit 19 Compressor 27 Remote control 31 Operation mode switch 34 Clothes drying switch 35 Louver switch

Claims (1)

A compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, an outdoor blower fan, an outdoor unit equipped with an expansion valve,
An indoor unit equipped with an indoor heat exchanger, an indoor blower fan, and a horizontal louver that changes the wind direction in the vertical direction.
An indoor heat exchange sensor that detects the temperature of the indoor heat exchanger,
A control means for controlling the outdoor unit and the indoor unit ,
And an operating unit that performs the luck rolling operation,
The control means starts the compressor at the start of the heating operation and starts the detection of the indoor heat exchange sensor.
In the air conditioner that starts the rotation of the indoor blower fan when the detected value of the indoor heat exchange sensor reaches a predetermined temperature or higher after starting the compressor.
The operation unit has a clothes drying mode for selecting a laundry drying operation.
When the clothes drying mode is selected, the compressor is started at the start of the heating operation, and a control means for forcibly starting the indoor blower fan at a predetermined rotation is provided.
It has a swing mode that swings the horizontal louver, and has a swing mode.
When the swing mode is selected and the heating operation is selected, the horizontal louver swings at a fixed period after stopping at the lowermost position for a predetermined time.
An air conditioner characterized in that when the swing mode is selected and the clothes drying mode is selected, the horizontal louver does not stop at the lowermost position and swings at a constant cycle.

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