JPH04281146A - Centralized control device for air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to control a plurality of air conditioners operating in different control codes by means of a single type of terminal control section and moreover select different types of control codes automatically, in correspondence with the air conditioners. CONSTITUTION:Terminal control sections 2a to 2c, which are connected from a central control section 1 by way of each line so as to transmit signals from the central control section 1 which controls remote controllers 5a to 5c which operate separately the air conditioners 3a to 3c and each of the air conditioners 3a to 3c in a centralized fashion, are provided with a plurality of control codes to transmit the aforesaid signals to the main body control sections 4a to 4c and select codes proper to the connected air conditioners 3a to 3c so as to transmit.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a centralized control device for air conditioners, and in particular, it is capable of controlling the operation settings of a plurality of air conditioners individually and centrally controlling them. This invention relates to a centralized control device for air conditioners.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional centralized control device for this type of air conditioner, there is a technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 89745/1983.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing a conventional centralized control device for an air conditioner disclosed in the above-mentioned publication.

In the figure, 1 is a central control unit that performs centralized control; 2a, 2b, and 2c are terminal control units each connected to the central control unit 1; 3a, 3b, and 3c are air conditioners; 4a,
4b, 4c are main body control units built in each air conditioner 3a, 3b, 3c; each main body control unit 4, 4a, 4b
, 4c are connected to terminal control units 2a, 2b, and 2c, respectively. 5a, 5b, 5c are respective terminal control units 2a, 2b, 2
This is a remote controller that is connected to the air conditioner c and operates each air conditioner 3a, 3b, and 3c individually.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a terminal control section of a conventional centralized control device for an air conditioner, which is also shown in the above-mentioned publication, and shows an enlarged view of one of the plurality of terminal control sections. It is a diagram.

In the figure, 2 is a terminal control section, 3 is an air conditioner, 4 is a main body control section of the air conditioner 3, and 5 is a remote controller connected to the terminal control section 2. 6a, 6
A transistor b is connected between the remote controller 5 and the main body control section 4, and turns on/off transmission of signals from the remote controller 5. Transistors 7a and 7b are located between the central control section 1 and the main body control section 4, and transmit signals from the terminal control section 2. Reference numeral 8 denotes a signal line, which connects the signal line extending from the remote controller 5 to the main control unit and the central control unit 1.

Next, the operation of the central control device for an air conditioner having the above configuration will be explained.

[0008] The air conditioners 3, 3a are controlled by the central control unit 1.
, 3b, 3c, the central control unit 1 selects the terminal control unit 2, 2a, 2b, 2c connected to the air conditioner 3, 3a, 3b, 3c to be set. , sends a signal to the transistors 7a, 7b inside the terminal control units 2, 2a, 2b, 2c to turn on the transistors 7a, 7b. After that, the driving details are sent to the terminal control units 2, 2a, 2b, 2c, and
A predetermined control code is transmitted from 2a, 2b, and 2c to the main body controllers 4, 4a, 4b, and 4c. The main body controllers 4, 4a, 4b, 4c control each part of the air conditioners 3, 3a, 3b, 3c according to the sent settings.

On the other hand, the remote controllers 5, 5a, 5
When setting the operation of the air conditioners 3, 3a, 3b, 3c using b, 5c, the transistors 6a, 6b inside the terminal control units 2, 2a, 2b, 2c selected by the central control unit 1 are It is necessary to turn it on with a signal from the control section 1. Therefore, if the transistors 6a and 6b are turned off by the central control unit 1, operation settings by the remote controllers 5, 5a, 5b, and 5c are impossible. When the transistors 6a, 6b are in the on state, the remote controllers 5, 5a, 5b, 5c change the operation setting contents to the main body controllers 4, 4a, 4b, 5c using the control code.
4c, perform operation settings, and air conditioners 3 and 3a.
, 3b, 3c. At this time, the signal line 8 is connected to the central control unit 1, and the remote controllers 5, 5a, 5
Since the signals transmitted from the remote controllers 5, 5c are also transmitted to the central controller 1, the central controller 1 transmits the signals from the remote controllers 5,
The settings made by 5a, 5b, and 5c can be monitored.

[0010] Another technique related to a central control device for an air conditioner is the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-239791. This technology has a changeover switch in the terminal control unit, and by transmitting the control code selected by the changeover switch to the main body control unit of the air conditioner,
It controls the air conditioner. Further, as other techniques related to a central control device for air conditioners, there are techniques disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-253298 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-10995.

[0011]

However, in the conventional centralized control device for air conditioners as described above, if the same terminal control unit is used as the terminal control unit connected to each air conditioner, the same control code is generated. It was only possible to control the operation of air conditioners that operated at Further, when the terminal control unit has a plurality of control codes, a changeover switch is required, and the changeover switch must be used to make settings suitable for the air conditioner to be connected. Furthermore, when installing a plurality of air conditioners having different types of control codes, there is a risk that the settings of the changeover switches may be easily set incorrectly.

[0012] Therefore, the present invention provides a terminal control unit that can control a plurality of air conditioners with different control codes using one type of terminal control unit and that can automatically select a plurality of different control codes depending on the air conditioners. The purpose of this project is to provide a centralized control device for air conditioners.

[0013]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention includes a plurality of air conditioning means, a remote control means for operating and operating each of the air conditioning means individually, and a centralized control means for centrally controlling each of the air conditioning means. A control code that is connected to the central control means via a line and transmitted to the main body control unit of each air conditioning means in order to transfer signals from the control means and the central control means and the remote control means to the main body control unit of each air conditioning means. and terminal control means for selecting and transmitting a code suitable for the connected air conditioning means from the control codes.

[0014]

[Operation] In the air conditioner centralized control device of the present invention, signals from the remote control means for individually operating a plurality of air conditioning means and the central control means for centrally controlling each of the air conditioning means are transmitted. In order to transmit the data to the main body control unit of each air conditioner, the terminal control unit connected from the centralized control means through the respective lines has a plurality of control codes to be transferred to the main body control unit, and the connected air conditioner Since the code suitable for the means is selected from the control codes and transmitted, one type of terminal control unit can control multiple air conditioners with different control codes, and also allows multiple different control codes to be transmitted to the air conditioners. It can be automatically selected and controlled according to the situation.

[0015]

[Examples] Examples of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing a centralized control device for an air conditioner, which is an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same reference numerals and symbols as those in the conventional example are the same or corresponding components as in the conventional example, and since this figure is common to the conventional example, the explanation will be omitted here.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a terminal control section of a central control device for an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is an enlarged view of one terminal control section among a plurality of terminal control sections. be.

In the figure, 2n is a terminal control unit, 2n+1
3n is an air conditioner, 4n is a main body control section of the air conditioner 3n, and 5n is a remote controller connected to the terminal control section 2n. 9n
is a signal input/output circuit connected to the central control unit 1 and also to the terminal CPU 11n in the terminal control unit 2n, and 10n is a signal input/output circuit connected to the remote controller 5n and the terminal CPU.
11n is the central part of the terminal control unit 2n, and the terminal C performs various arithmetic processing.
PU, 12n is a transmitting circuit that connects the terminal CPU 11n and the main body control section 4n of the air conditioner 3n. The terminal control unit 2n includes the signal input/output circuit 9n and the remote control receiving circuit 1.
0n, a terminal CPU 11n, and a transmission circuit 12n, and the terminal CPU 11n has a control code storage means 13n.
and remote control code determination means 14n.

Next, the operation of the air conditioner centralized control device having the above configuration will be explained according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of a central control device for an air conditioner, which is an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, first, the remote controller 5n corresponding to each air conditioner 3n is connected to the terminal control unit 2n.
When connected to the remote controller 5n, a signal is transmitted from the remote controller 5n, and in step S1 the terminal CPU of the terminal control unit 2n
11n reads the signal through the remote control receiving circuit 10n. Then, in step S2, the remote control code determining means 14n of the terminal CPU 11n measures the time from the start to the end of the reading signal, and determines the type of signal code from the remote controller 5n. Step S
3, the type of remote control code is terminal CPU11n.
is stored in the control code storage means 13n. Thereby, from next time onwards, the received signals input from the remote control receiving circuit 10n and the signal input/output circuit 9n are transmitted to the main body control section 4n of the air conditioner 3n using the predetermined type of control code through signal conversion processing.

[0022] Here, a case will be described in which the central control unit 1 sets the operation of the air conditioner 3n. In this case, the terminal control unit 2 corresponding to the air conditioner 3n to be set
n is selected by the central control unit 1, and the driving details are transmitted to the corresponding terminal control unit 2n. Therefore, if it is determined in step S4 that there is a signal from the central control unit 1, the terminal CPU 11n transmits the signal through the signal input/output circuit 9n in step S5. Read the signal. This read signal is used in step S
6, signal conversion is performed according to the control content, and step S
At step 7, the terminal control section 2n sends the main body control section 4 using the control code determined by the processing from step S1 to step S3.
sent to n. Thereby, the main body control section 4n controls each section of the air conditioner 3n according to the sent setting contents.

On the other hand, when the remote controller 5n is used to set the operation of the air conditioner 3n, a signal is sent from the remote controller 5n and there is no signal from the central control section 1, so in step S4, the signal is sent from the central control section 1. It is determined that there is no signal from the terminal CPU1 in step S8.
It is determined whether or not there is a remote control signal read through the remote control receiving circuit 10n. When it is determined that there is a remote control signal, the code is transmitted to the main body control unit 4n without converting the signal content in step S9, and the necessary data is taken out to the central control unit 1 in step S10, and the data is sent to the central control unit 1. 1, the converted signal is transmitted from the terminal control unit 2n to the central control unit 1 in step S11. Thereby, the main control unit 4n controls each part of the air conditioner 3n according to the sent settings, and the central control unit 1 monitors the settings set by the remote controller 5n. In this way, when the transmission to the main body control section 4n and the central control section 1 is completed, the terminal control section 2n enters a waiting state for a received signal input from the next remote control receiving circuit 10n or signal input/output circuit 9n, and returns to step S4. Return to

As described above, the air conditioner centralized control device of this embodiment controls the plurality of air conditioners 3, 3a, 3b, 3
c, 3n (air conditioning means), and each of the air conditioners 3, 3
Remote controllers 5, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5 for individually operating the a, 3b, 3c, 3n (air conditioning means)
n (remote control means), and each of the air conditioners 3, 3a, 3
a central control section 1 (centralized control means) that centrally controls the air conditioners b, 3c, and 3n (air conditioning means), and the central control section 1 (centralized control means) and remote controllers 5, 5a, and 5b.
, 5c, 5n (remote control means) to the main body control units 4, 4a, 4b, 4c, 4n of each air conditioner 3, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3n (air conditioning means),
Each air conditioner 3 has a plurality of control codes connected from the central control unit 1 (centralized control means) via signal lines 8 and transferred to the main body control units 4, 4a, 4b, 4c, and 4n. Terminal control units 2, 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2n (terminal control means) that select and transmit codes suitable for 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3n (air conditioning means) from the control codes are provided.

That is, the air conditioner central control device of this embodiment includes remote controllers 5, 5a, 5b, 5c,
When 5n is connected, the terminal control units 2, 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2n read signals from the remote controllers 5, 5a, 5b, 5c, and 5n, and based on the length of the read signals, the connected air conditioners 3, 3a, By automatically selecting and storing the control code suitable for 3b, 3c, and 3n, from next time onwards,
Remote controllers 5, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5n and central control unit 1 to terminal control units 2, 2a, 2b, 2c, 2
The signal input to n is the connected air conditioner 3, 3a.
, 3b, 3c, 3n with a control code suitable for air conditioner 3.
It is transmitted to the main body control section 4n of the controller 4n.

[0026] Therefore, the terminal control units 2, 2a, 2b,
Remote controllers 5, 5a connected to 2c, 2n
, 5b, 5c, 5n can be handled even if they have different codes, and one type of terminal control unit 2, 2a, 2b, 2c, 2
Multiple air conditioners 3, 3a, 3 with different control codes in n
Since b, 3c, and 3n can be controlled, the scope of use is expanded and versatility is increased. Moreover, since multiple different control codes can be automatically selected and controlled according to the air conditioners 3, 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3n, there is no need for a changeover switch, etc. as in the past, and different types of control codes can be used. Even when installing a plurality of air conditioners 3, 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3n, it is possible to prevent problems caused by incorrect designation of the changeover switch, thereby improving reliability.

By the way, in the above embodiment, the central control section 1
Although the terminal control sections 2, 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2n are wired in a one-to-one manner, the present invention can be similarly applied to a case where the terminal control sections 2, 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2n are connected in a one-to-one manner. Also,
In the above embodiment, the remote controllers 5, 5a
, 5b, 5c, and 5n are connected by wiring through a signal line 8. However, instead of wiring, the remote controllers 5, 5 are of a so-called wireless type and are transmitted by optical signals or the like.
It can also be used for a, 5b, 5c, and 5n.

[0028]

As explained above, the central control device for air conditioners of the present invention includes an air conditioning means, a remote control means, a central control means, and a terminal control means, and is capable of controlling a plurality of air conditioners. In order to transfer signals from the remote control means for individually operating the means and the central control means for centrally controlling each of the air conditioning means to the main body control section of each air conditioning means, a line is connected from the central control means to the main body control section of each air conditioning means. The terminal control unit connected via the main unit has multiple control codes to be transferred to the main body control unit,
By selecting and transmitting a code suitable for the connected air conditioning means from the control codes, one type of terminal control unit can control multiple air conditioners with different control codes, expanding the range of use. In addition to increasing versatility, multiple different control codes can be automatically selected and controlled according to the air conditioner, eliminating the need for a changeover switch, preventing malfunctions caused by incorrectly specifying a changeover switch, and increasing reliability. Improves sex.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention and a conventional centralized control device for an air conditioner.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a terminal control section of a central control device for an air conditioner which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of a central control device for an air conditioner which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing a terminal control section of a conventional central control device for an air conditioner.

[Explanation of symbols]

1
Central control unit 2, 2a, 2b, 2c, 2n
Terminal control unit 3, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3n Air conditioner 4, 4a, 4b, 4c, 4n Main unit control unit 5, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5n Remote controller 9n
Signal input/output circuit 10n
Remote control receiving circuit 1
1n
Terminal CPU12n
Transmission circuit 13n
Control code storage means 14n
Remote control code determination means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of air conditioning means, a remote control means for individually operating each of the air conditioning means, a centralized control means for centrally controlling each of the air conditioning means, and a In order to transfer the signal from the remote control means to the main body control section of each air conditioning means, it has a plurality of control codes that are connected via lines from the central control means and transferred to the main body control section, and the connected air conditioner has a plurality of control codes. 1. A centralized control device for an air conditioner, comprising terminal control means for selecting and transmitting a code suitable for the conditioning means from the control codes.