JPH0577934B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a fan control device for an air conditioner, and more specifically, the present invention relates to a fan control device for an air conditioner. The present invention relates to a fan control device suitable for an air conditioner that controls various actuators of other indoor units using control signals from one unit.

<Prior Art> Conventionally, one outdoor unit drives a plurality of indoor units, and one indoor unit transmits control signals to other indoor units using a two-wire multiplex transmission method. An air conditioner system was provided that controlled the actuators of indoor units.

In such an air conditioner Siltem, 1
If the signal transmission between this indoor unit and other indoor units is not performed normally, the necessary control signals will not be transmitted, and the operation of the other indoor units will not continue based on the set conditions. Therefore, when a transmission abnormality occurs, the operations of other indoor units are stopped. If the heating operation is selected, the fans are also uniformly stopped.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> In an air conditioner system that performs fan control as described above, an auxiliary electric heater for heating indoor air used for heating is attached to the indoor unit, Moreover, if a transmission abnormality occurs, if heating operation is selected, the power to the heater is immediately cut off, but since the heater itself has a considerable heat capacity, the temperature of the heater increases as the power is cut off. It takes a considerable amount of time for the amount to drop sufficiently.

However, since the operation of the fan is immediately stopped, the heater itself becomes overheated, and the heat contained in the heater itself is dissipated only inside the indoor unit, and almost no heat is emitted to the outside of the indoor unit. However, there are problems in that the durability of the heater itself is impaired and the internal temperature rises rapidly, resulting in a lack of safety.

<Purpose of the Invention> This invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and when a transmission abnormality occurs between one indoor unit and another indoor unit, power is turned off to the heater when heating mode is selected. The purpose is to prevent abnormal temperature rise in a shut-off state.

<Means for Solving the Problems> In order to achieve the above object, the fan control device for an air conditioner of the present invention detects abnormality in signal transmission between one indoor unit and another indoor unit. a transmission state determining means for determining whether or not the signal is present; a heater control signal determining means for determining the type of signal for controlling the heater; heater drive means for forcibly cutting off electricity to the heater when the heater control signal from the means is a heater drive signal; and heater control signal discriminator receiving a signal indicating abnormality in signal transmission from the transmission state discriminator as input. The fan driving means forcibly drives the fan to rotate for a predetermined period of time based on a signal indicating that the heater control signal immediately before the signal transmission abnormality occurs is the heater drive signal.

<Operation> With the fan control device having the above configuration, when one indoor unit drives multiple indoor units, the control signal is transmitted from one indoor unit to the remaining indoor units using the two-wire multiplex transmission method. When the above-mentioned indoor unit 1 controls the operation of other indoor units, if the transmission state determining means determines that the signal transmission is abnormal, this signal transmission abnormality is indicated. A signal is input to the heater drive means, and in this case, when the heater control signal from the heater control signal determination means is a heater drive signal, the power supply to the heater is forcibly cut off, and a signal indicating a signal transmission abnormality is also generated. is input to the fan drive means, the heater control signal immediately before this signal transmission abnormal state occurs is the heater drive signal, and when the ON signal is input to the fan drive means, the fan drive means forcibly performs a predetermined signal. The heater can be cooled by rotating the fan for a certain amount of time.

<Examples> Hereinafter, examples will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings showing examples.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the air conditioner system, which includes indoor units 1 and 2, an outdoor unit 3,
It is composed of a remote control unit 4.

The outdoor unit 3 is similar to the indoor unit 1,
This system supplies refrigerant to the indoor units 1 and 2, and performs air conditioning in the rooms in which the indoor units 1 and 2 are installed.

The remote control unit 4 is connected to the indoor unit 1 via a two-wire multiple signal transmission line 5, and is used to set various data for comfortable air conditioning.

The indoor unit 1 operates as a master station, and is connected to the indoor unit 2 and outdoor unit 3 via two-wire multiplex signal transmission lines 6 and 7, respectively, and is configured by the remote control unit 4. Among various types of data, this is used to transmit the data necessary for each unit.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the heater section of the indoor unit 2, in which indoor air is guided to the heater 22 by a fan 21 for heat exchange, and then blown into the room again.

Note that 23 is a heat exchanger for cooling and dehumidifying operations, 24 is a drain tank, 25 is a float switch, and 26 is a drain pump.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the main parts that control the indoor unit 2, in which a signal transmitted through the two-wire multiplex signal transmission line 6 is input to a transmission state determining section 61 constituting a transmission state determining means. , is inputted to a fan driving section 62 constituting a fan driving means for driving the fan 21, inputted to a heater control signal discriminating section 63 constituting a heater control signal discriminating means, and further inputted to various actuators (not shown).
The signal is input to a control unit 64 for driving the . Then, the signal from the transmission status determining section 61 and the signal from the heater control signal determining section 63 are input to the heater driving section 65 constituting the heater driving means, and if the signal transmission is being performed normally, ,
The heater 22 is energized or de-energized in accordance with the type of heater control signal input to the heater control signal discriminator 63, and if signal transmission becomes abnormal, the heater 22 is energized. I am trying to force a shutdown.

Further, the signal from the transmission status determining section 61 and the signal from the heater control signal determining section 63 are also input to the fan driving section 62, and if the signal transmission is performed normally, the indoor unit 1
High-speed rotation and low-speed rotation are selectively performed based on the fan control signal transmitted from I'm trying to make it rotate.

Further, by inputting the signal from the transmission status determination section 61 to the control section 64, various actuators can be controlled based on the control signal transmitted from the indoor unit 1 only when the signal transmission is being performed normally. is controlled, and when transmission becomes abnormal, the operations of the various actuators are stopped.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation when controlling the fan with the above configuration.
In step, the transmission status determining section 61 performs, for example, a parity check on the transmitted data to determine whether or not a transmission abnormality has occurred. If it is determined that the signal transmission is being performed normally, then in step the heater control signal determining section 63 determines whether the transmitted signal from the indoor unit 1 is a signal indicating that the heater 22 should be energized. If the signal indicates that the heater 22 should be energized, the heater 22 is
In step, the fan 21 is rotated by the fan driving section 62 at a rotation speed corresponding to the rotation speed instruction signal transmitted from the indoor unit 1. Conversely, if the signal does not indicate that electricity should be applied, the heater 22 is turned off in step
Cut off the power to fan 2 in step
Stop 1. Further, after the above step or processing of the step is performed, the determination and processing of the step and subsequent steps are performed again.

If it is determined in the above step that the signal transmission is abnormal, the step determines whether the type of the heater control signal immediately before the signal transmission abnormality occurs is a signal indicating that the heater 22 should be energized. If the signal indicates that the heater 22 should be energized, the fan 21 is rotated for a predetermined period of time at a rotation speed lower than the low speed rotation (a rotation speed that is hardly felt by the human body). , if the signal does not indicate that the heater 22 should be energized, the rotation of the fan is stopped in step. here,
If it is determined that the signal transmission is abnormal, although it is not specifically shown in the flowchart, the heater 2
Even if 2 is in the energized state, the energization is immediately cut off.

In summary, if signal transmission is performed normally, comfortable heating can be achieved by controlling the rotation of the fan 21 and the power supply to the heater 22 based on the control signal from the indoor unit 1. If the signal transmission is not performed normally, the fan 21 will not be rotated at a lower speed than the low speed only if the heater 22 has been energized immediately before the signal transmission abnormality occurs, and the indoor unit 2 will be turned off. Abnormal temperature rise can be prevented.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments; for example, the rotation speed of the fan for cooling the heater may be set to the above-mentioned low-speed rotation or high-speed rotation instead of being lower than the low-speed rotation. Although it is possible, from the viewpoint of preventing cold draft, it is most preferable to set the speed lower than the above-mentioned low speed rotation. Further, it is possible to use a watchdog timer or the like as a means for determining the transmission state, and various design changes can be made within the scope of the invention.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, the present invention forcibly cuts off the current when the heater is energized when the transmission of the control signal becomes abnormal, and also prevents the heater from being energized immediately before the transmission abnormality occurs. On the condition that it is hot,
Since the fan is rotated for a predetermined period of time, it has the unique effect of reliably preventing an abnormal temperature rise in the indoor unit in the event of a transmission abnormality.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the main parts that control the indoor unit, Fig. 2 is a flowchart explaining the operation when controlling the fan, and Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the heater section of the indoor unit. , FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an air conditioner system. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 2...Indoor unit, 3...Outdoor unit, 6...2-wire multiple signal transmission line, 21...Fan, 22...Heater, 61...Transmission state determination section, 62...Fan drive section, 63...Heater control signal determination unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A plurality of indoor units are driven by one outdoor unit, and the control signal transmission between one indoor unit and the remaining indoor units is performed by two-wire multiplex transmission, and the control signal is transmitted by the above-mentioned one indoor unit. In an air conditioner configured to control the operation of other indoor units, a transmission state determining means for determining whether or not signal transmission between the first indoor unit and the other indoor unit is abnormal;
A heater control signal discriminating means for discriminating the type of signal for controlling the heater, and a signal indicating a signal transmission abnormality from the transmission state discriminating means are input, and the heater control signal from the heater control signal discriminating means is a heater drive signal. At a certain time, the heater drive means forcibly cuts off the power supply to the heater, and the signal indicating the signal transmission abnormality from the transmission state determination means is input, and the signal from the heater control signal determination means immediately before the occurrence of the signal transmission abnormality is input. 1. A fan control device for an air conditioner, comprising: fan drive means for forcibly driving the fan to rotate for a predetermined period of time based on a signal indicating that the heater control signal is a heater drive signal.