JPH0714730Y2 - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to an air conditioner.

[Conventional technology]

As is well known, a conventional air conditioner sucks indoor air in an indoor unit and cools or heats the air by a heat exchanger to cool or heat the room. Such an operation of the air conditioner is always performed in a room close to a closed space with a small gap for efficient air conditioning in the room. But,
Since the air in the room is not sufficiently replaced, the oxygen concentration in the room may decrease due to human respiration, and the gas concentrations of carbon dioxide and harmful carbon monoxide may increase.

[Problems to be solved by the device]

In the conventional technique, the oxygen concentration in the room may decrease, and the concentration of harmful gas may increase. Therefore, it is necessary to improve this. For this reason, a means for preventing the decrease of the oxygen concentration by supplying the air enriched with oxygen from the outdoor air with a separation membrane to the room has been considered, but this is merely to supply the oxygen. However, no measures have been taken to prevent an increase in the harmful gas concentration in the room, and it has not been sufficient to provide a suitable indoor environment.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks and deficiencies of the prior art, prevents the decrease of indoor oxygen concentration, and has the function of removing harmful gas in the room and suppressing the increase in its concentration, which is beneficial to health. Is to provide a machine.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

The present invention solves the above problems and relates to an air conditioner having the following features.

(1) Air consisting of an indoor unit that adjusts the indoor air temperature and an outdoor unit that discharges heat absorbed from the indoor air to the outside or absorbs heat from the outdoor air when adjusting the indoor air temperature The air conditioner shall be equipped with a gas separation device that introduces indoor air, separates it, supplies oxygen to the room, and discharges gases other than oxygen to the outside.

(2) In the air conditioner according to the preceding paragraph, a detection means for detecting the oxygen concentration is provided in the room, and the output signal of the detection means controls the operation / stop of the gas separation device or the increase / decrease in the air treatment amount. Providing control means.

[Action]

Since the present invention has the above-described structure, when oxygen is consumed due to human breathing or the like in a room close to a closed space and the concentration thereof decreases and the concentration of harmful gas of carbon monoxide increases, Air is separated into a specific gas such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen by a gas separation device and oxygen, and the specific gas is discharged to the atmosphere, while oxygen is supplied indoors. This prevents a decrease in the oxygen concentration in the room and suppresses an increase in the concentration of harmful gas.

When the oxygen concentration in the room is detected by the sensor and the oxygen concentration falls below the set value, the gas separation device is automatically operated, or the air throughput of the gas separation device is increased to identify the air in the room. The gas is separated and removed, and oxygen is supplied to the room. On the other hand, when the oxygen concentration exceeds the set value, the gas separation device is automatically stopped or the air treatment amount of the gas separation device is reduced. As a result, the inside of the room is always maintained at a predetermined oxygen concentration, and the rise in harmful gas concentration is suppressed.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an air conditioner equipped with a gas separation device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an indoor unit that sucks indoor air, cools or heats it, and blows it out indoors, and 2 indicates that when the indoor unit cools or heats indoor air, it exhausts heat to the outside or absorbs heat from the outside air. An outdoor unit, 3 is a refrigerant pipe that constitutes a refrigeration cycle by connecting the indoor unit 1 and the outdoor unit 2, 4 is a wall of a building through which the refrigerant pipe passes, and 6 is an outdoor unit 2. A gas separation device that is installed side by side to separate oxygen in the air and a specific gas other than oxygen, that is, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, etc., 7 is a suction pipe for introducing indoor air,
Reference numeral 8 is a purge pipe for discharging a specific gas into the atmosphere, and 9 is a supply pipe for supplying oxygen into the room. The supply pipe 9 is piped together with the refrigerant pipe 3 through the wall 4 of the building and is guided into the indoor unit 1.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of essential parts showing an installed state of the indoor unit 1. In the figure, 10 is an air inlet of the indoor unit 1, 11 is a heat exchanger in the unit, 12 is a fan in the unit, 13 is an air outlet of the unit, and 14 is the above-mentioned symbols 10 to 13. It is a ventilation path that is formed. The supply pipe 9 is fixed in the same ventilation passage at a position where its tip is open. An oxygen concentration sensor 30 is provided in the room to detect the oxygen concentration in the indoor air.

FIG. 3 is a system diagram of the gas separation device and the controller thereof in the above embodiment. In the figure, 6 indicates the range of the gas separation device. 16 and 17 are tanks, 15 is an adsorbent filled in each of the above tanks, 7 is a suction pipe, 18 is a blower connected to the suction pipes and sends air to the tanks 16 and 17, and 19 is each tank 1
Vacuum pump for discharging harmful gas, connected to 6,17
Is a purge pipe connected to the same vacuum pump, and 9 is a supply pipe connected to each of the above tanks and supplying oxygen into the chamber. Tank in this system
16 and 17 are connected in parallel between the suction pipe 7 and the supply pipe 9. A, B, C, D, E and F are the inlets of the above tanks,
This is a valve provided at the outlet.

In the gas separation device 6 described above, Na-X type zeolite is used as the adsorbent 15.
Increasing the pressure inside 17 selectively adsorbs moisture, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and specific gases in the air.
It has the property of releasing the adsorbed specific gas when the pressure in 6, 17 is lowered. When the valves A, B and F are opened and the valves C, D and E are closed and the blower 18 is activated, the air in the room is sucked through the suction pipe 7 and passes through the tank 16 so that carbon monoxide, nitrogen, etc. While the specific gas is adsorbed by the adsorbent 15, oxygen is not adsorbed and is supplied indoors through the supply pipe 9 and the indoor unit 1. Next, when the adsorption capacity of the adsorbent 15 reaches saturation, the valves A, B, F are closed, the valves C, D, E are opened, and the vacuum pump 19 is started. The specific gas present is released and released from the purge pipe 8 to the atmosphere. On the other hand, in the tank 17, as described above, the specific gas in the air sucked by the blower 18 from the room is the adsorbent.
While being adsorbed by 15, oxygen is not adsorbed and is supplied into the room through the supply pipe 9. In this way, the gas separation device 6 is adapted to continuously adsorb and remove a specific gas in the air in the room and supply oxygen to the room by switching and using the tanks 16 and 17.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 31 denotes a range of the controller that controls the gas separation device 6, and dotted lines show paths of signals in and from the controller to the gas separation device. Reference numeral 30 is an oxygen concentration sensor for detecting the oxygen concentration in the room, 33 is a setting means for setting a reference value of the oxygen concentration, 32 is a comparing means for comparing the detected oxygen concentration with the set oxygen concentration, and 34 is a signal output means.

In the air conditioner having the above configuration, the oxygen concentration in the room detected by the sensor 30 is input to the comparison means 32 of the controller 31 and compared with the set concentration input from the setting means 33 here. When the oxygen concentration is less than the set concentration, the blower 18 and the vacuum pump 19 are activated by the command of the output means 34, and the operation of the gas separation device 6 is started. Then, the air in the room is sucked into the device 6, the specific gas in the air is selectively separated and discharged to the outside of the room, and oxygen is supplied to the room. Then, since the specific gas is removed by the device 6 and the pressure in the room becomes equal to or lower than the atmospheric pressure, the amount of fresh air corresponding to the removal amount of the specific gas is supplied to the room from the outside. Due to the above, the oxygen concentration in the room rises, and when this oxygen concentration exceeds the set concentration, the blower is instructed by the output means 34.
18 and the vacuum pump 19 are stopped, and the operation of the gas separation device 6 is stopped. As described above, not only is the room adjusted to have a predetermined oxygen concentration range, but the rise in the concentration of harmful gases such as carbon monoxide is suppressed, and a comfortable indoor environment can be obtained.

FIG. 4 is a system diagram of the controller of the gas separation device in the air conditioner of the second embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 6a is a gas separation device of the present embodiment which is used in place of the gas separation device 6 of the first embodiment. This gas separating device differs from the gas separating device of the first embodiment in that a damper 41 capable of continuously changing the opening degree is provided on the suction pipe 7 connected to the blower 18, and a controller described later. 31
The opening of the damper is controlled by the signal from a, and the blower used in the first embodiment is controlled.
18 and the vacuum pump 19 are not controlled.
Reference numeral 31a is a controller used in place of the controller 31 in the first embodiment. This controller is different from the controller of the first embodiment in that 32a is a comparison means capable of stepless or multistage comparison, and 34a is an output means capable of stepless or multistage output. Further, 33a is a setting means selected corresponding to the type of the comparison means, which is different from that of the first embodiment. The parts other than the differences described above are the same as the corresponding parts of the first embodiment.

In the air conditioner of the present embodiment, the oxygen concentration in the room detected by the sensor 30 is input to the comparison means 32a of the controller 31a and compared with the set concentration input from the setting means 33. The damper 41 is PID-controlled via the output means 34a according to the amount of deviation between the oxygen concentration and its set concentration, the opening degree of the damper 41 is increased or decreased, and the amount of air sucked from the room by the blower 18 is adjusted. As a result, the amount of air processed by the gas separation device 6a is changed to keep the oxygen concentration in the room at the set concentration at all times, and the harmful gas in the indoor air is removed to suppress the increase in the harmful gas concentration.

The number of operating gas separators may be increased or decreased according to the value of the oxygen concentration in the room, for example, by installing a plurality of gas separators, not limited to the above-described embodiments. Further, in each of the above embodiments, the gas separation device is shown to have two tanks 16 and 17, respectively, but this is only for the continuous separation of air, and the tank is specified as one. Similar effects can be obtained by performing a batch operation in which a gas adsorption operation and a gas desorption operation are alternately performed. Further, the oxygen separated by the gas separation device does not necessarily need to be supplied to the room through the indoor unit, and the supply pipe 9 is arranged so as to open to the room so that the oxygen is directly supplied to the room. You may do it.

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, the gas concentration device for separating the indoor air and removing the specified gas other than oxygen to the outside is provided, so that the oxygen concentration in the room close to the closed state is lowered, and further the monoxide is reduced. Even if the concentration of harmful gas such as carbon rises, the air in the room is separated into specific gas such as harmful gas and oxygen by the gas separation device, so that the decrease of the oxygen concentration in the room is prevented and the concentration of harmful gas The rise is suppressed and a comfortable indoor environment can be obtained. In addition, since a sensor for detecting the oxygen concentration in the room is provided and the gas separation device is started or stopped based on the signal of this sensor or the air treatment amount by this device is increased or decreased, the room is always maintained at the predetermined oxygen concentration and Since an increase in the concentration of harmful gas is suppressed, it is possible to provide an air conditioner that is beneficial to health.

[Effect of device]

The air conditioner of the present invention is equipped with a gas separation device that introduces indoor air, separates it to supply oxygen to the room, and discharges gases other than the oxygen to the outside of the room, or further, to the room. A detector for detecting the concentration is provided, and the output signal of the detector is used to start / stop the gas separation device.
Alternatively, since the control means for controlling the increase / decrease of the air treatment amount is provided, it is possible to prevent the decrease of the oxygen concentration in the room and remove the harmful gas in the room to suppress the increase of the concentration.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the outer appearance of an air conditioner according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the installed state of an indoor unit of the same embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a system diagram of the apparatus and its controller, and FIG. 4 is a system diagram of the gas separation apparatus and its controller of the second embodiment of the present invention. 1 ... Indoor unit, 2 ... Outdoor unit, 3 ... Refrigerant pipe, 4
... building wall, 6,6a ... gas separator, 7 ... intake pipe, 8 ... purge pipe, 9 ... supply pipe, 10 ... air inlet, 11 ... heat exchanger,
12 ... Fan, 13 ... Air outlet, 14 ... Ventilation passage, 15 ... Adsorbent, 16,17 ... Vessel, 18 ... Blower, 19 ... Vacuum pump, 30 ... Concentration sensor, 31, 31a ... Controller, 32, 32a ... Comparison means,
33, 33a ... Setting means, 34, 34a ... Output means, 41 ... Damper.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Creator Yokoyama Kominori Aichi Prefecture Nishi-Kasugai-gun Nishibiwajima-cho, Asahi-cho 3-chome Asahi-cho, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. Air Conditioner Factory (72) Iwasaki Hiroshi Aichi Prefecture Nishi-bashijima-cho 3-1, Asahi-cho, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. Air Conditioning Factory (72) Creator Tokichi Kai Kai 1-1, Atsunoura-machi, Nagasaki-shi, Nagasaki Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. Nagasaki Shipyard Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An indoor unit for controlling the indoor air temperature, and an outdoor unit for discharging the heat absorbed from the indoor air to the outside or absorbing the heat from the outdoor air when adjusting the indoor air temperature. In the air conditioner, an air conditioner equipped with a gas separation device that introduces indoor air, separates it, supplies oxygen to the room, and discharges gas other than the oxygen to the outside of the room. 2. A detection means for detecting the oxygen concentration is provided in the room, and a control means for controlling the operation / stop of the gas separation device or the increase / decrease of the air treatment amount is provided by the output signal of the detection means. The air conditioner according to claim 1, which is characterized.