JPH05256490A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To conduct an effective energy conservation by designating a time for holding an upper limit value of an input current when the value of the current is designated. CONSTITUTION:An upper limit value ISO and a time zone T0 are designated by a remote controller 18. Timer means 20 outputs a timer signal ST when it enters the zone TO. Upper limit value switching means 21 outputs the value ISO as a set value IS while inputting the signal ST. Power source current monitoring means 17 compares the value IS with a detected input current value I, and outputs an upper limit value excess signal SE in the case of I>IS. Inverter control means 14 outputs, when inputting the signal SE, a value obtained by subtracting a frequency of one step (e.g. 5Hz) from a frequency decision signal fS as an inverter frequency command value F to an inverter 4. Thus, the detected value I can be suppressed to the value ISO or less.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air conditioner capable of suppressing a current supplied from a power source to a certain value or less.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Since an air conditioner (air conditioner) consumes a large amount of electric power as compared with other electric devices, a power breaker may operate during its operation.

Therefore, in order to prevent such an operation of the power breaker, an air conditioner capable of suppressing the supply current from the power supply, that is, the input current, to a certain value or less has been conventionally proposed. This is to operate the input current upper limit setting button provided on the operation panel of the indoor unit to set the input current upper limit to a desired level below the operating level of the power breaker. According to this, when the input current exceeds the upper limit value during operation, the output frequency of the inverter is immediately reduced by a predetermined level, so that the operation of the power breaker is prevented.

[0004]

However, whether or not the power breaker operates depends on whether or not the total current of the air conditioner and other electric equipment exceeds the allowable current of the power breaker. There is usually a tendency that the time when the total current reaches the peak value is concentrated in a certain specific time zone for each home or each building. Therefore, if the upper limit value of the input current is set regardless of such a time zone, the power breaker may still operate, or conversely, an unnecessary upper limit value may be set. is there.

From the standpoint of an electric power company, on the other hand, the peak time of electric power demand tends to be concentrated in a specific time zone. For example, in the middle of summer, the demand for electric power is peaked from about 1 pm to about 3 pm, and there is a danger of a power shortage during this time. The main cause is that the air conditioners in each home and each building are in full operation.

Therefore, in order to avoid such a power shortage, it is necessary for individual users in each home and each building to finely set the upper limit of the input current according to the time zone.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the set value of the upper limit value of the input current can be switched according to the time zone, so that energy saving can be effectively practiced. The purpose is to provide an air conditioner.

[0008]

As a means for solving the above problems, the present invention converts electric power supplied from an AC power supply by an inverter and supplies the electric power to a compressor motor, and the compressor at a rotation speed corresponding to an air conditioning load. In an air conditioner that drives a motor, it corresponds to a current detection unit that detects an AC power supply current, a time-current setting unit that sets an upper limit value of the AC current with time, and a time set in the time-current setting unit. And a control means for controlling the output frequency of the inverter so that the current detected by the current detection means does not exceed the upper limit value set in the time-current setting means. It is a feature.

[0009]

In the above structure, the control means compares the set upper limit value with the detected value from the current detecting means when the time set by the time-current setting means comes. Then, when the detected value exceeds the upper limit value, the output frequency of the inverter is immediately reduced so that the detected value becomes equal to or less than the upper limit value.
Therefore, the AC power supply current is suppressed below a certain level.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of this embodiment.

In FIG. 1, AC power from an AC power supply 1 is supplied to a compressor motor 6 via an inverter 5 composed of a converter unit 2, a smoothing capacitor 3, and an inverter unit 4. The compressor motor 6 is driven at a variable speed by the inverter control of the inverter 5.

A compressor 7 is connected to the rotary shaft of the compressor motor 6. Then, for example, during cooling, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 7 is sent to the outdoor heat exchanger 9 via the four-way valve 8, further sent to the indoor heat exchanger 11 via the expansion valve 10, and then again. It returns to the suction side of the compressor 7 through the four-way valve 8. 1
Reference numeral 2 is an outdoor fan, and 13 is an indoor fan.

The inverter control of the inverter 5 is performed by turning on / off the transistors forming the inverter section 4 based on the inverter frequency command signal F from the inverter control means 14. The frequency determining signal f _s from the frequency determining circuit 15 is input to the inverter control means 14, and the inverter frequency command signal F is calculated based on this frequency determining signal f _s . Incidentally, as determined in accordance with the temporal change of the temperature difference and the temperature difference between the set temperature T _s output of the remote control to be described later detects the temperature T _a of the temperature sensor (not shown) of the frequency determining circuit 15, the determined frequency Then, the frequency determination signal f _s corresponding to is output. Further, a current detector 16 is provided between the AC power source 1 and the inverter 5, and the determination signal I thereof is sent to the power source current monitoring means 17.

On the other hand, the transmission signal from the remote controller 18, which is an operating device, is received by the indoor unit receiving section 19, and the upper limit value I _{so of the} current set by the user is output to the upper limit value switching means 20 and the upper limit value is changed. The information T _{o of the} time zone in which the value I _so should be held is output to the timer means 20. Then, the timer means 20 outputs enters the time zone of this information T _o a timer signal S _T to the upper limit value switching means 21. The upper limit value switching means 21 outputs the upper limit value signal I _s to the power supply current monitoring means 17 with the designated upper limit value _Iso as the set value while the timer signal S _T is being input.

The power supply current monitoring means 17 detects the detection signal I,
The upper limit value signal I _s is compared, and when I> I _s , the upper limit value excess signal S _E is output. Inverter control means 14
When the upper limit value excess signal S _E is input, the value of the inverter frequency command signal F is reduced to a level at which the detected current I does not exceed the upper limit value signal I _s .
That is, the upper limit current switching means 21, the timer means 20,
The upper limit value of the alternating current is set with time by the indoor receiving unit 19 and the remote controller 18, and these parts correspond to the time-current setting unit 35, and the power supply current monitoring unit 17 and the inverter control unit 14 detect the current detecting unit. It corresponds to the control means 36 for controlling the output frequency of the inverter so that the generated current does not exceed the upper limit value set in the time-current setting means 35.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing the arrangement of the operation buttons of the remote controller 18. As shown in this figure, on the operation plate, the run / stop button 22, the temperature button 2
3, a mode button 24, a current selection button 25, a timer button 26, an “on” button 27, an “off” button 28, a reservation button 29, and a cancel button 30 are provided, and the liquid crystal display section is on the left side of these buttons. 31 is provided.
A transmitter 32 for reflecting an optical signal toward the indoor unit receiver 19 is provided on the head of the remote controller 18.

With such a remote controller 18, for example, the indoor set temperature is 26 ° C., the mode is cooling, and the current upper limit value is 15.
An operation for setting the time zone for holding the amperage and the current upper limit value from 9:00 to 15:00 will be described.

First, the user operates the temperature button 23 while observing the display on the display unit 31 to change the value of "set temperature" to "2."
6 ”. Then, the mode button 24 is pressed to change the display on the display unit 31 to "cooling". Then, the current selection button 25 is pressed to change the display on the display unit 31 to "15A". The display on the display unit 31 is normally 20 A, and each time the current selection button 25 is pressed, the value is reduced by 1 ampere.

Then, the timer button 26 is operated to set the display of the arrival time on the display unit 31 to "09:00",
Press the “ON” button 27. After that, timer button 2 again
6 to change the display of the off time on the display unit 31 to “15: 0
"0" and press the "OFF" button 28.

Then, the user confirms the display content of the display section 31 again and then presses the reservation button 29. As a result, an optical signal relating to the display content is emitted from the transmitting unit 32 to the indoor unit receiving unit 19. After that, by pressing the start / stop button 22, the air conditioner is operated according to the reserved conditions. To cancel the reserved contents, the cancel button 30 may be pressed before the operation / stop button 22 is pressed.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to the flow charts of FIGS. 3 and 4. The transmission control circuit in the remote controller 18 uses the reservation button 2
It is determined whether or not 9 is pressed (step 1), and if it is pressed, the timer time To from the designated time T _o
(6 hours from 9 o'clock), the current upper limit value I _so (15A), and the other information described above are transmitted from the transmission unit 32 (step 2). After that, the operation / stop button 22 is pressed to start the operation.

On the other hand, on the main body side, the indoor unit receiver 19 receives the transmission signal from the remote controller 18, and determines whether or not the transmission signal includes the timer time T _o and the upper limit current value I _so ( Step 3). Then, the timer time T _o
And the upper limit current value I _so is included, the timer time T _o
And the upper limit current value Iso _is stored and at the same time the timer time T
_The internal timer corresponding to _o is operated (step 4). On the other hand, when the transmission signal does not include the timer time T _o and the upper limit current value I _so , step 4 is not executed and the timer operation is not executed.

Next, the air conditioning load is calculated based on the detected room temperature of the room temperature sensor (not shown) and the set temperature sent from the remote controller, and the inverter output frequency f _s based on this air conditioning load.
Is determined (step 5).

[0024] Then, performs reading of the detected current value I from the current detector 16 (Step 6), the current time to determine whether the relevant during timer time T _o set in the remote controller (step 7 ). As a result of the determination, if the timer is operating, I _so, for example, 15 A is set as the upper limit setting value I _s (step 8). If the timer is not operating, 20 A, which is the upper limit value of the device, is set to the set value I _s of the upper limit value (step 9).

After that, the current value I read from the current detector 16 and the set value I _{s of the} upper limit value are compared (step 10). If I> I _{s as} a result of the comparison, the output frequency of the inverter is lowered by one step from the current output frequency F and set to a new frequency (step 1
1). For example, 1 Hz or 5 Hz can be considered for this one step.

On the other hand, as a result of comparison in step 10, I ≦ I _s
In this case, the frequency f _s based on the air conditioning load set in step 5 is set as the output frequency F of the new inverter (step 12). Then, the inverter is caused to output at the new frequency F set in step 11 or step 12 (step 13).

As a result of sequentially repeating this flow, I>
In the case of I _s , the output frequency of the inverter is reduced by one step every time the flow makes one round, and finally I ≦ I _s
The frequency is repeatedly decreased until the state of.

[0028] Therefore, from the remote control timer time T _o
If the upper limit current value I _so is set, the current consumption of the air conditioner can be limited to a desired value at that time.

In this way, when the upper limit value of the input current of the air conditioner is set by the operation of the operating device and the operation is attempted at a current within this upper limit value, the time zone for holding this upper limit value is also designated. Therefore, the energy-saving operation can be effectively performed.

In the above embodiment, although the indoor fan control is not particularly mentioned, it is preferable to increase the rotation speed of the indoor fan 13 when the inverter frequency command value F is decreased (step 11). .. According to this, the decrease in the cooling capacity of the compressor 7 can be compensated for to some extent by the increase in the air volume by the indoor fan 13.

Further, when the setting operation of the remote controller 18 is performed, it is necessary to operate many buttons such as the current selection button 25 and the timer button 26 in FIG. 2, but some typical patterns are set as the “recommended mode”. It can also be stored in the program. According to this, the mode button 24
By simply pressing the reservation button 29 and the timer button T _o and the upper limit value I _so can be reserved according to the usage conditions of each user or the desire of the electric power company.

In the above embodiment, the operating device is a remote controller (remote operating device), but the operating device may be attached to the indoor unit body.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the upper limit value of the current supplied from the AC power supply is set, the time zone in which the set upper limit value is held can be designated. It is possible to perform fine control such that the upper limit value is switched for each time zone when the circumstances are different, so that effective energy saving operation can be practiced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an arrangement state of operation buttons of the remote controller in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 alternating current power source 5 inverter 6 compressor motor 14 inverter control means 17 supply the current monitoring means 18 operating device (remote control) 20 timer means 21 limit value switching means 35 h - current setting unit 36 control unit I _so the upper limit value T _o time zone S _E Upper limit value exceeded signal F Inverter frequency command signal

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An air conditioner for converting electric power supplied from an AC power supply by an inverter and supplying the converted electric power to a compressor motor to drive the compressor motor at a rotation speed according to an air conditioning load. Current detection for detecting an AC power supply current. Means, a time-current setting means for setting the upper limit value of the alternating current with time, and whether or not the time set in the time-current setting means is discriminated. An air conditioner comprising: control means for controlling the output frequency of the inverter so that the current does not exceed the upper limit value set in the time-current setting means.