JPH05240488A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent errors in detection, in a system where an IR sensor scans each of regions into which the inside of a room as a whole is divided and locates the occupant and accordingly the direction of the current of air is controlled, by providing a means of judgment which calculates the difference in temperature between adjoining regions and judges whether a source of heat is an equivalent of a human body or not. CONSTITUTION:An air conditioner 1 is equipped with an IR sensor 15 for scanning each of regions into which the inside of a room as a whole is divided and by locating the occupant of the room on the basis of the output of the IR sensor the air conditioner 1 controls the direction of the current of air it sends. This air conditioner is also equipped with a heat source-judging means 31 which, in accordance with signals from the IR sensor 15, detects the temperature of one of the regions and also the temperature of an adjoining region and, on the basis of the difference in temperature between the two regions, judges whether the temperature is due to a constituent of the background, such as a wall, or due to a source of heat equivalent to a human body. When the source of heat is judged to be an equivalent of a human body, an occupant-detective means (judging means) 32 keeps detecting the temperature of the region having the source of heat for a specified period of time; a change in the temperature, if it occurs, is regarded as caused by subtle movements of a human body; if the temperature does not change, the source of heat is judged to be a television set or the like.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air conditioner having a function of automatically changing the blowing direction of blown air into a room.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, by detecting infrared rays in a room to detect a temperature distribution state, and controlling the air volume, the wind direction, and the blowout temperature of an air conditioner based on the distribution state, a place where a person is present, a wall surface, or the like. JP-A-1-147241 discloses that the air conditioning is always performed in consideration of the effect of radiant heat from the floor surface and the like.

[0003]

However, it is possible to distinguish between the temperature of a person and the temperature of a wall or floor in an infrared sensor that detects the position of a person and the temperature distribution state based on the intensity of infrared rays from each area in the room. However, it was not possible to distinguish between a human and a heat source such as a television equivalent to a human body. Therefore, there is a problem that reliability is lowered due to erroneous detection.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, and its purpose is to discriminate between a person and a heat source such as a television to reduce erroneous detection and improve reliability of human position detection. It is to provide an air conditioner capable of achieving the above.

[0005]

Therefore, the air conditioner of the present invention is an air conditioner which scans each divided area of the entire room and detects the person's position by the infrared sensor 15 to appropriately control the wind direction. In the harmony machine, based on signals from the heat source judging means 31 for calculating the temperature difference between the two adjacent regions and judging whether or not the heat source is equivalent to the human body, and the heat source judging means 31 for judging that the heat source is equivalent to the human body. It is characterized in that a person detecting means 32 is provided which detects the temperature of the area for a predetermined time and judges a person when there is a temperature change.

[0006]

In the air conditioner having the above structure, as shown in FIG. 1, the temperature of a certain area is detected by the signal from the infrared sensor 15, and then the temperature of the adjacent area is detected.
The temperature difference between the two regions is calculated, and the heat source determining means 31 determines whether the temperature of the background such as a wall or a heat source equivalent to a human body is determined depending on whether the temperature difference is large or small. When it is determined that the heat source is equivalent to the human body, the temperature of the area is further detected for a predetermined time, and if there is a temperature change within this predetermined time, it is regarded as a temperature change due to a subtle movement of the human body, and the temperature change is completely eliminated. If not, the person detecting means 32 determines that it is a heat source such as a television.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, specific embodiments of the air conditioner of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Figure 5
FIG. 1 shows a state in which an air conditioner main body 1 as a wall-mounted indoor unit of an air conditioner in one embodiment of the present invention is attached to one wall surface. The air conditioner body 1 is provided with a suction port 2 on its front panel and a blow-out port 3 below the suction port 2. The outlet 3 is provided with a vertical flap 4 and a horizontal flap 5, which are respectively formed by arranging a plurality of thin plate-shaped deflecting plates in parallel.

A step motor (not shown) is connected to each of the flaps 4 and 5, and the vertical flap 4 has its deflection angle as shown in FIG. 6 (a) by operating each step motor. From the direction orthogonal to the air conditioner body 1 (deflection angle of 0 degree), for example, in the range of 40 degrees to the left and right, and the horizontal flap 5 is in the horizontal direction (deflection angle of 0 degree) as shown in FIG. 6B. Therefore, it is formed so as to be variable in the range of, for example, a direction directly below (deflection angle of 90 degrees).

As will be described later, the vertical flaps 4 are configured so that the total quantity can be appropriately divided at arbitrary points and the deflection angle can be varied to control the direction of the wind direction. The air blown out from the air outlet 3 is blown out in a direction corresponding to the deflection angle position of each of the flaps 4 and 5.

On the other hand, in the air conditioner main body 1, as shown in FIG. 5, an infrared detecting device 10 is installed at a side position of the suction port 2. This infrared detecting device 1 is shown in FIGS.
The structure of 0 is shown. As shown in the figure, the substantially box-shaped casing 11 is configured so that it can be rotated and controlled in the horizontal and vertical directions by two step motors 12 and 13 for horizontal scanning and vertical scanning, respectively.

On the front surface of the casing 11, a wavelength of 9 μm
A light condensing plate 14 made of, for example, a Fresnel lens made of polyethylene, through which infrared rays in the front and rear are transmitted, is mounted. Infrared rays from the optical axis direction of the condenser plate 14 are condensed through the condenser plate 14 onto the light receiving surface of a thermoelectric infrared sensor 15 arranged in the casing 11. The infrared sensor 15 may be a thermoelectric sensor or a pyroelectric sensor with a chopper.

The light condensing area of the light condensing plate 14 is configured to be sufficiently smaller than the floor surface in the room. Therefore, it is radiated from the floor surface, wall surface, furniture, etc. in the room according to its temperature. Among the infrared rays present, only the infrared rays from the infrared radiation object located in the local area in the room within the light collection range, that is, the detection area are focused on the light receiving surface of the infrared sensor 15.

Then, the horizontal scanning step motor 12 is used.
5 causes the detection region to move in the left-right direction substantially parallel to the installation wall surface of the air conditioner body 1 in FIG. Also, the vertical scanning step motor 13
By operating the
Move in the direction orthogonal to.

That is, the detection area having the horizontal detection angle φ and the vertical detection angle θ as coordinate values as shown in the figure is removed by the operation of each of the step motors 12 and 13 except under the air conditioner body 1. It is possible to move, that is, to scan over almost the entire area of the indoor floor surface, and the infrared sensor 15 sequentially outputs a voltage corresponding to the temperature of the infrared radiator located in each detection area. It is configured.

FIG. 16 shows the vertical and horizontal flaps 4, 5 described above.
Is a control block diagram for controlling the wind direction of the air blown from the air outlet 3 by operating the. In the figure, the wind direction control device 20 provided in the air conditioner body 1 controls the operation of the step motors 12 and 13 for scanning the detection area over almost the entire area of the indoor floor, and The output voltage from the infrared sensor 15 at this time is sequentially input to the wind direction control device 20.

The air conditioner main body 1 is connected to a remote controller for operation having an operation switch 21 operated by the user and a desired room temperature setting switch 22, and the indoor air near the suction port 2 is closed. A room temperature detection sensor 23 that detects the temperature as room temperature is provided.

When the operation switch 21 is turned on by the user, the room temperature detecting sensor 23 is installed in an outdoor unit (not shown) so as to bring the detected room temperature close to the room temperature set by the desired room temperature setting switch 22. The heat exchange of the heat exchanger of the air conditioner main body 1 is performed by circulating the refrigerant that causes the heat exchanger of the air conditioner main body 1 to function as an evaporator during cooling and operating the indoor fan in the air conditioner main body 1. An operation control device (not shown) performs an operation of blowing cold air into the room through the device.

However, the operation signal of the operation switch 21, the room temperature Td set by the desired room temperature setting switch 22 and the room temperature Ta detected by the room temperature detection sensor 23 are also input to the wind direction control device 20. Therefore, hereinafter, general control in the wind direction control device 20 based on these signals will be described with reference to the control flow chart of FIG. 9 taking the cooling operation as an example for the sake of convenience. The control for determining whether the person is a heat source such as a television as the gist of the present invention will be described after general wind direction control.

When the operation switch 21 is turned on, the processing shown in FIG. 9 is started, and first, in step S1, the time counting of the first timer tm1 is started. Next, in step S2, the detected room temperature Ta
The temperature difference obtained by subtracting the set room temperature Td from the reference temperature difference ΔTα is compared, and in step S3, it is determined whether or not the time t1 counted by the first timer tm1 has reached the first set time tα. That is, the temperature difference is the reference temperature difference ΔTα.
Is larger than the above, and the processing of steps S4 to S6 is repeated until the time tα elapses after the start of operation. That is, the person position detection work is performed in step S4, and this work is performed as follows.

First, as described above, each step motor 12,
By controlling the operation of 13 to scan the detection area over almost the entire area of the indoor floor surface, and performing signal amplification such as signal amplification and emissivity correction on the output voltage from the infrared sensor 15 during this time, The temperature signals are converted into temperature signals according to the amount of incident infrared rays from the detection areas, and these temperature signals are stored in the storage unit 24 in association with the coordinate set of each detection area, that is, the horizontal direction detection angle φ and the vertical direction detection angle θ. Store sequentially.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing an example of changes in the output voltage from the infrared sensor 15 at this time in correspondence with the floor surface in the room, and from the output voltage, the vertical detection angle is θ.
FIG. 11 shows the temperature change in the scanning region substantially parallel to the installation wall surface of the air conditioner body 1 when the horizontal detection angle φ is sequentially changed when α is set.

As shown in the figure, when a local protruding point is generated in this temperature change, it is assumed that a person is present in the detection area (θα, φα) corresponding to this protruding point, and the above detection is performed. The coordinates (θα, φα) of the area are stored in the person position detecting device memory in the storage unit 24.

That is, when a person is present in the detection head area,
Since the surface temperature of the human body is higher than the ambient temperature, the incident intensity of infrared rays from the detection area, that is, the intensity including the infrared radiation emitted from the human body surface is higher than the incident intensity from the floor surface on which the person is not located. Therefore, by detecting the region where the detected temperature is locally projected as described above, the region can be made to be a human presence region.

By performing these operations over the entire floor surface, it is possible to easily detect the position and number of people.

After performing the person detecting operation as described above, then in step S5 of FIG. 9, vertical and horizontal directions for directing the blowing direction of the blowing air from the air conditioner body 1 to the area where the person is detected. The deflection angles of the flaps 4 and 5 are calculated, and in step S6, the flaps 4 and 5 are operated so as to achieve these deflection angles, whereby the air blown out from the air conditioner body 1 is detected by the human detection area. The so-called wind direction of the spot blowing in the direction of the person is performed.

Then, the process returns to step S2, and thereafter, the temperature difference obtained by subtracting the set room temperature Td from the detected room temperature Ti becomes smaller than the reference temperature difference ΔTα, or the elapsed time after the start of operation is the first set time tα. Until
The processes of steps S4 to S6 are repeated.

As a result of the spot blowing toward the human detection area as described above at the start of operation, it is possible to provide the user with a quick sensation of cool air without waiting for the room temperature to reach the set room temperature. Become. In addition, since this spot blowing is performed based on the result of the operation of detecting the position of the person, which is performed successively, it automatically follows the movement of the person in the room, and therefore does not restrict the movement of the person, which makes it more comfortable. The air conditioning control at the time of start-up that gives a feeling is performed.

It is determined in step S2 that the detected room temperature Ta decreases to approach the set room temperature Td and the temperature difference becomes smaller than the reference temperature difference ΔTα while continuing the above-described spot blowing control. If it is determined, or if it is determined in step S3 that the duration of the spot blowing after the start of operation has reached the first set time tα, the process proceeds to step S7 and the second timer tm2 measures the time. After the start, the measurement operation of the bed temperature distribution is performed in step S8.

In the measurement operation of the floor temperature distribution, the operation of the step motors 12 and 13 is controlled in the same manner as described above to scan the detection area over almost the entire area of the indoor floor surface, and
During this period, the temperature signal corresponding to the output voltage from the infrared sensor 15 is associated with the coordinate value of each detection area and stored in the storage unit 2.
4 is sequentially stored.

Next, in step S9, the average temperature Tmean of the detected temperatures for each of the detection areas is calculated.
Then, in step S10, the average temperature Tmean is calculated from the detected room temperature Ti (i = 1 to n: n is the number of detection areas) for each detection area, and the reference temperature difference ΔTβ is exceeded among these temperature differences ΔTi. It is determined whether or not there is any.

In this case, the local temperature protrusion region due to the presence of a person is excluded from the above calculation. Alternatively, the floor surface temperature of the area where the person is present may be obtained from the average temperature of the detected temperatures around the person, and the above calculation may be performed.

If there is a detection area exceeding ΔTβ, then in step S11, the time t2 measured by the second timer tm2 is compared with the second reference time tβ, and until t2 reaches tβ, In step S12, the blowing direction of the blowing air from the air conditioner body 1 is set to Δ
The deflection angles of the vertical and horizontal flaps 4 and 5 for moving to the detection area exceeding Tβ are calculated.

Then, in step S13, the flaps 4 and 5 are set so as to have these deflection angles, and the air blown from the air conditioner main body 1 is directed to a high temperature region exceeding ΔTβ. After the temperature-equalizing wind direction control is performed to blow the air, the process returns to step S8.

When it is determined in step S11 that the second set time tβ has elapsed, the process proceeds to step S14, and the temperature equalizing wind direction control is temporarily interrupted, and the air conditioner body 1 Flaps 4 and 5 so that the direction of the air blown from
The control is switched to so-called wide blowing control in which the deflection angle is set.

When the time t2 of the second timer tm2 reaches the third set time tγ in step S15, the process of returning to step S7 is performed to reset the second timer tm2 to perform the new time counting operation. The process is restarted and the processes of step S8 and subsequent steps are repeated. Therefore, if temperature uniformity cannot be eliminated even if the temperature-uniforming wind direction control that blows toward a high temperature region is continued for tβ, once the wide-blowing wind direction control is performed, the air in the entire room is agitated. Done.

That is, when only the temperature equalizing wind direction control is continued forever, the room air in the region other than the blowing direction is left in a state close to the staying state, and the cooling feeling in this region is impaired. Therefore, wide blowing is appropriately performed so that the temperature distribution inside the room is made uniform while eliminating the above-mentioned problems.

As described above, when the elapsed time after the start of operation reaches the set time tα (for example, 20 minutes), or before the detected room temperature Ta almost reaches the set room temperature Td, the spot blowing is performed. By automatically switching from the wind direction control to the temperature equalization wind direction control that equalizes the temperature distribution in the entire room, it is possible to avoid It does not cause discomfort due to the fluence, and maintains an almost uniform temperature throughout the room, so that even when the user moves around the room, the air conditioner can automatically provide a comfortable cooling feeling at any place. Change.

In step S10, the average temperature Tm is calculated from the detected temperature Ti (i = 1 to n) of each detection area.
When it is determined that the temperature differences ΔTi (i = 1 to n) obtained by subtracting ean are all within the reference temperature difference ΔTβ, the process proceeds to step S16, and the wide blowing is set.

After that, the process returns to the step S7, in which the second timer tm2 is once reset,
This second timer tm2 is restarted and the step S
The following processing is performed. Therefore, when the temperature distribution in the room is substantially uniform, steps S7 to S10 and step S16 are repeated, and while the second timer tm2 is reset in step S7, the wide-blowing wind direction control in step S16 is continued. The Rukoto.

When it is newly detected in step S10 that temperature unevenness has occurred from the state where the room temperature distribution is almost uniform as described above, the second timer in step S7 immediately before the detection time is detected. The processes of steps S8 to S15 are performed based on the start time of the timing operation of tm2.

FIGS. 12 to 15 are explanatory views of an example of the wind direction control. For example, as shown in FIG. 12, the detection area is set in the direction of 2 from the wall surface on which the air conditioner main body 1 is installed.
A1 is divided into 3 areas in the left-right direction.
The description will be given by taking the case of ~ A6 as an example.

At the start of the cooling operation, the spot wind direction control first controls the vertical flaps 4 so that the blowing air is directed to the area where a person is detected, for example, A6, as shown in FIG. 13 (a). At this time, the horizontal flap 5 is set such that its deflection angle is set to about 40 to 60 degrees, or is controlled to swing in this angle range, as shown in FIG. 13B.

The spot wind direction control is stopped for 20 minutes after the operation is started, or when the temperature difference between the detected room temperature and the set room temperature reaches within 2 ° C., the spot wind direction control is stopped. When the temperature distribution in the room at this time is almost uniform as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4 (b), the deflection angle of the vertical flap 4 is set to 40 ° on the left side and 45 ° on the right side so that the horizontal blowing direction covers the range of 40 ° to the left and right of the air conditioner body 1. The wide blow is performed. Further, the horizontal flap 5 at this time is made substantially horizontal (deflection angle 0 degree) as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, FIG. 15 (a) shows an example in which the temperature distribution in the room has temperature unevenness, and the average temperature of the whole calculated in this case is 28 ° C. Two regions A1 and A4 are extracted as regions in which the temperature difference between and is equal to or greater than the reference temperature difference (for example, 4 ° C.). As a result, as shown in FIGS.
1, the wind direction control is performed by setting the deflection angles of the vertical flap 4 and the horizontal flap 5 so that the blown wind is directed to A4.

Next, the gist of the present invention will be described. As described above, if there is a heat source such as a person, it can be easily detected by the output voltage of the infrared sensor 15, but even if there is a heat source such as a television, it is erroneously determined as a heat source equivalent to the human body. Therefore, in the present invention, it is determined whether the heat source of the human body or the heat source of the television or the like corresponding to the heat source of the human body.

Here, FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram for judging the position of a person, FIG. 3 (a) shows the temperature distribution in the room in an analog manner, and FIG. 3 (b) shows the temperature distribution in the room in a digital manner. It is shown. FIG. 4 shows a flow chart of the person position determination control, and the operation will be described based on FIG.

First, in step S1, the infrared sensor 15 is driven by the step motor, and in step S2, the temperature of the area 1 shown in FIG. 2 is detected. Next, the temperatures of the adjacent regions 2 are similarly detected, and the temperature difference between the regions 2 and 1 is calculated in step S3. Whether the temperature of the background of the wall or the like or the heat source equivalent to the human body is determined depending on whether the temperature difference is large or small.

That is, in step S4, if the temperature difference is smaller than the preset value t, the temperature is detected over the entire area of the floor surface as in step S11. If the temperature difference is large, the timer is started in step S5, and the temperature of region 2 is detected (step S6).
If there is a temperature change, this area 2
The angle is stored in the storage unit 24, where is the person position.

If there is no temperature change in step S7, the process is repeated until the timer overflows as shown in step S9. If the timer is cleared (step S10), this temperature detection is performed over the entire area. Then, after the person positions in the entire area of the floor surface have been determined, the person positions are calculated in step S12, and the wind direction control as described above is performed (step S13).

As described above, in steps S4 to S10, if the heat source is equivalent to the human body, the temperature of the region is further detected for a predetermined time, and if there is a temperature change within the predetermined time, the human body is delicate as shown in FIG. If there is no temperature change, it is considered to be the heat source of the floor or TV. Therefore, by repeating this control over the entire area of the floor surface, it becomes possible to detect the person position quickly and reliably.

[0051]

As described above, the air conditioner of the present invention is
In an air conditioner that scans each area that divides the entire room and detects the person's position with an infrared sensor to perform appropriate wind direction control, calculates the temperature difference between both adjacent areas and heat source equivalent to the human body The temperature of the area is detected for a predetermined time by a signal from the heat source determining means that determines whether or not the heat source is determined to be a heat source equivalent to the human body, and if there is a temperature change, it is determined to be a person. Since the human detecting means is provided, the temperature of a certain area is detected by the signal from the infrared sensor, and then the temperature of the adjacent area is detected to calculate the temperature difference between the two areas. Whether the temperature of the background of the wall or the like or the heat source equivalent to the human body is determined by the heat source determination means, if it is determined that the heat source is equivalent to the human body, the temperature of the area is further detected for a predetermined time, Temperature within this predetermined time If there is a change in temperature, it can be considered as a temperature change due to a subtle movement of the human body, and if there is no temperature change, it can be judged by the human detection means that it is a heat source such as a TV. It is possible to easily discriminate, and it is possible to reduce erroneous detection and improve reliability of human position detection.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for detecting a person position in the above.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a temperature distribution in the room of the above.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for detecting a person position in the above.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a state in which the above air conditioner is attached to a wall surface.

6 (a) and 6 (b) are explanatory views of variable ranges of deflection angles of vertical and horizontal flaps of the air conditioner, respectively.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the above infrared detecting device.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the above infrared detecting device.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing wind direction control by detecting a person in the above.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing an output voltage of the infrared sensor of the above.

FIG. 11 is a view showing a temperature distribution on the floor surface by the infrared sensor of the above.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a detection area of the above.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of the same spot blowing out.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of blowout control when the temperature distribution in the room is substantially uniform.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram of blowout control when there is temperature unevenness in the room in the same as above.

FIG. 16 is a control block diagram of the above.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Air conditioner main body 15 Infrared sensor 31 Heat source judging means 32 Person judging means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An air conditioner in which an infrared sensor (15) detects a person's position to appropriately control the wind direction by scanning each area divided from the entire room, and the temperature difference between the two adjacent areas. And a heat source determination means (31) for determining whether the heat source is equivalent to a human body and a heat source determination means (31) determined to be a heat source equivalent to a human body to determine the temperature of the area for a predetermined time. An air conditioner provided with a person detecting means (32) for detecting and judging a person when there is a temperature change.