JPH07158943A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve a control accuracy and to reduce a cost by connecting an indoor unit to an outdoor unit via a connecting line, and providing an operation controller for controlling a device in the indoor unit and controlling an outdoor unit through the line at the indoor unit side. CONSTITUTION:Sensors and devices of an indoor unit 1 and an outdoor unit 3 are connected directly to an operation controller 26. The controller 26 has functions of both an indoor unit controller and an outdoor unit controller and directly controls all the devices. Accordingly, a cooperative control between both the units is eliminated, and compression of data is also obviated, and hence a control accuracy is improved. Further, controller modes of both the units are integrated, and power sources are formed in one unit, thereby reducing its cost.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a split type air conditioner having an indoor unit and an outdoor unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a split type air conditioner, each device in an indoor unit and an outdoor unit is controlled by a control circuit provided in each unit.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of such a conventional air conditioner. In this figure, the indoor unit 1 has an indoor unit control circuit 2 and the outdoor unit 3 has an outdoor control circuit 4.

Electric power supplied from an external power source is input to the indoor unit control circuit 2 and further input to the outdoor unit control circuit 4 via the power source connecting line 5. The outdoor unit control circuit 4 has an inverter circuit inside,
This inverter circuit controls the compressor motor 6 at a variable speed. The compressor 7 is rotationally driven by the compressor motor 6 and compresses the refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit circuit.

The refrigerant discharged from the compressor 7 is sent to the indoor heat exchanger 9 through the four-way valve 8, where heat is exchanged. The refrigerant that has completed heat exchange is sent to the outdoor heat exchanger through the capillary 10 that functions as an expansion valve, where heat exchange is performed again, and then circulates through the four-way valve 8 to the suction port of the compressor 7. To be done.

An indoor fan 13 driven by a motor 12 is provided near the indoor heat exchanger 9, and an outdoor fan 15 driven by a motor 14 is provided near the outdoor heat exchanger 11. Further, in the vicinity of the indoor heat exchanger 9, a temperature sensor 16 for detecting the indoor temperature Ta and a temperature sensor 1 for detecting the indoor heat exchanger temperature Tc.
7 is provided, and a temperature sensor 18 for detecting the outdoor heat exchanger temperature Te is provided near the capillary 10.

The switching of the refrigerant flow passage in the four-way valve 8 is performed by controlling the energization of the four-way valve coil 19 of the outdoor unit control circuit 4. A thermo switch 20 for detecting the temperature of the compressor oil is mounted in a case mounted near the bottom of the compressor 7, and is turned off when a temperature below a certain value is detected, and the compressor motor 6 It is designed to stop the operation of.

Various sensors 21 and various devices 22 other than those described above are connected to the indoor unit control circuit 2.
The exchange of control signals between the indoor unit control circuit 2 and the outdoor unit control circuit 4 is performed via the communication connection line 23. The connection between the indoor unit 1 side and the outdoor unit 3 side in the refrigerant circuit is made by the refrigerant pipe connecting portions 24 and 25 shown between the upper and lower arrows.

[0009]

As described above, in the split type air conditioner, the indoor unit 1 is controlled by the indoor unit control circuit 2 and the outdoor unit control circuit 4.
Each device of the outdoor unit 3 was controlled.

However, if the control circuits on the indoor unit 1 side and the outdoor unit 3 side are separate, complicated communication between both circuits becomes indispensable because it is necessary to perform coordinated control of both circuits, and the program is also required. It was complicated. Further, since complicated communication is used, it is necessary to compress the data of the data signal to be used, but the control accuracy is reduced by the amount of the compressed data.

Further, providing the control circuits separately is as follows.
Each had to have an independent power supply and noise prevention component, which was a factor that hindered the achievement of cost reduction.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a split type air conditioner capable of improving control accuracy and reducing costs.

[0013]

As means for solving the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 is an air conditioner comprising an indoor unit and an outdoor unit, and connecting the indoor unit and the outdoor unit. Line, and an operation control circuit that is provided on the indoor unit side and that controls the equipment inside the indoor unit and that controls the inside of the outdoor unit through the connection line. It is a thing.

According to a second aspect of the invention, in the air conditioner according to the first aspect, the operation control circuit includes an inverter circuit for performing variable speed control of the compressor motor.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the air conditioner according to the first or second aspect, at least one of a four-way valve and an outdoor fan is provided as a device in the outdoor unit controlled by the operation control circuit. Is included.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the air conditioner according to the third aspect, both the four-way valve and the outdoor fan are controlled by the operation control circuit, and a connection line common to both of them is provided. Is connected.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the air conditioner according to the third or fourth aspect, the output side of the inverter circuit is connected to the outdoor fan motor, and the correspondence relationship with the rotation speed of the compressor motor is provided. The outdoor fan motor is controlled at a variable speed by the number of rotations it has.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the air conditioner according to the fifth aspect, a three-phase motor is used for the compressor motor and the outdoor fan motor.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the air conditioner according to the sixth aspect, a compressor oil temperature detecting thermoswitch is provided for two phases of the three-phase inputs of the compressor motor, and the temperature of the compressor oil is predetermined. It is characterized in that both the compressor motor and the outdoor fan motor are stopped when the value drops below a value.

The invention according to claim 8 is the air conditioner according to any one of claims 2 to 7, characterized in that a shield wire is used as a connecting wire from the inverter circuit to the compressor motor. It is a thing.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the air conditioner according to any of the first to eighth aspects, an expansion valve is provided on the indoor unit side, and the expansion valve is connected to the indoor unit / outdoor unit connection portion. An outdoor heat exchanger temperature sensor is provided therebetween, and the operation control circuit inputs a detection signal from the temperature sensor.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the air conditioner according to the ninth aspect, an electronic expansion valve is used as the expansion valve, and the operation control circuit controls the electronic expansion valve. It is a thing.

[0023]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the operation control circuit is a circuit that has both functions of the conventional indoor unit control circuit and outdoor unit control circuit. Therefore, the conventional cooperative control is not necessary and the data compression for that is also unnecessary, and the control accuracy is improved accordingly.

Further, since both conventional control circuits are integrated, it is possible to reduce the number of power supply circuits and noise-preventing parts and reduce the cost.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the operation control circuit includes the inverter circuit for performing the variable speed control of the compressor motor, which is the most important device, so that the control accuracy is improved and the cost is further reduced. To be done.

In the third aspect of the invention, the control target equipment of the operation control circuit includes one or both of the four-way valve and the outdoor fan, so that the control accuracy is improved as in the case of the second aspect of the invention. The cost can be effectively reduced.

The invention according to claim 4 is a case where both the four-way valve and the outdoor fan are devices to be controlled by the operation control circuit. Since these have a common connecting line, the number of connecting lines connecting the indoor unit and the outdoor unit is reduced accordingly. Therefore, the wiring work when assembling the unit becomes easy.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, the outdoor fan motor is connected to the output side of the inverter circuit in addition to the compressor motor. The rotation speed of this outdoor fan motor has a correspondence relationship with the rotation speed of the compressor motor. That is, a control circuit dedicated to the outdoor fan motor is unnecessary. Therefore, the connection line for the outdoor fan motor can be reduced.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the compressor motor and the outdoor fan motor are three-phase motors. When an AC single-phase motor or the like is used as the outdoor fan motor, a running capacitor is required, but according to the present invention, such a capacitor is unnecessary. Therefore, the cost can be reduced accordingly.

In order to protect the compressor, the thermo switch is turned off to stop the compressor motor when the temperature of the compressor oil drops below a predetermined value. At this time, since the outdoor fan motor is also stopped at the same time, useless operation of the outdoor fan motor after the compressor motor is stopped is prevented.

According to the invention described in claim 8, it is possible to prevent a magnetic disturbance in the operation control circuit due to the flow of a large current.

According to the ninth aspect of the invention, since the outdoor heat exchanger temperature sensor is provided not in the outdoor unit but in the indoor unit, the number of connecting lines between both units can be reduced accordingly. Further, since the distance between the sensor and the control circuit is shortened, the detection accuracy is improved.

According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, since the electronic expansion valve is provided in the indoor unit, the expansion by the operation control circuit in the indoor unit is increased without increasing the number of connecting lines between both units. The valve can be controlled.

[0034]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. However, the same components as those in FIG. 8 will be assigned the same reference numerals and overlapping description will be omitted.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 1 is different from FIG. 8 in that the outdoor unit 3 is not provided with a control circuit, and only the indoor unit 1 is provided with an operation control circuit 26.

That is, this operation control circuit 26 is shown in FIG.
This is a circuit that has both the functions of the indoor unit control circuit 2 and the outdoor unit control circuit 4 in FIG. 1, and controls not only the equipment in the indoor unit 1 but also the equipment in the outdoor unit 3.

The communication connection line 23 in FIG. 8 is deleted, while the control connection lines 27, 28, 29 for the four-way valve coil 19, the outdoor fan motor 14, and the outdoor heat exchanger temperature sensor 18 are added. Has been done. Further, in the present embodiment, since the outdoor temperature sensor 30 for PMV (comfort level) control and the like is provided, the connection line 31 is further provided.

Since the outdoor fan motor 14 of this embodiment uses a single-phase single-phase induction motor, a running capacitor 32 is added.

According to the configuration of FIG. 1 described above, the sensors and devices of the indoor unit 1 and the outdoor unit 3 are directly connected to the operation control circuit 26. The operation control circuit 26 has both the functions of the indoor unit control circuit and the outdoor unit control circuit, and directly controls all the devices without paying particular attention to the difference between the units. Therefore, the coordinated control between both units, which is performed in the conventional device, is not required, and the data compression for that is also unnecessary, so that the program is simple and the control accuracy is improved.

Further, by integrating the control circuits of both units in the conventional apparatus into one operation control circuit 26, the power supply circuit can be made one unit,
It is also possible to reduce noise prevention parts. Therefore, it can greatly contribute to cost reduction.

Since the control circuit is eliminated in the outdoor unit 3, the outdoor unit 3 can be downsized as a secondary effect.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram according to the second embodiment of the present invention. 2 is different from FIG. 1 in that the capillary 10 is provided not on the outdoor unit 3 side but on the indoor unit 1 side, and the outdoor heat exchanger temperature sensor 18 is provided between the capillary 10 and the refrigerant pipe connecting portion 25. That is the point.

By disposing the capillary 10 on the indoor unit 1 side in this way, the outdoor heat exchanger temperature sensor 18 can also be mounted on the indoor unit 1 side. Then, the operation control circuit 26 in this embodiment has a function of estimating and calculating the outdoor temperature To based on the detection of the outdoor heat exchange temperature Te. Therefore, the connecting line 29 in FIG.
Not only that, the outdoor temperature sensor 30 and the connection line 31 are also unnecessary.

That is, according to the present embodiment, all the temperature sensors are attached to the indoor unit 1 side, and there is no temperature sensor attached to the outdoor unit 3 side.
Therefore, the distance between each temperature sensor and the operation control circuit 26 is uniformly short, so that the influence of noise is reduced and the detection accuracy is improved. Further, since the connecting lines 29 and 31 in FIG. 1 are also deleted, the wiring work at the time of installation becomes easier accordingly.

Although the capillary 10 is used as the expansion valve in the above embodiment, an electronic expansion valve (pulse motor valve) is used in place of the capillary 10 and is controlled by the operation control circuit 26. It can also be configured. In this case, since the electronic expansion valve is provided on the indoor unit 1 side, it can be implemented without adding a connecting line between both units.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram according to the third embodiment of the present invention. The difference between FIG. 3 and FIG. 2 is that the outdoor fan motor 14
The number of the control connecting lines 28 for is reduced from two to one. This is because one of the control connection lines 27 for the four-way valve coil 19 is commonly connected to both the four-way valve coil 19 and the outdoor fan motor 14 and shared. As a result, the number of connecting lines between the indoor unit 1 side and the outdoor unit 3 side can be further reduced, and the wiring work can be further facilitated.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. 4 is different from FIG. 3 in that the outdoor fan motor 14A is connected to the terminal of the connection line 5, that is, the inverter circuit side. This outdoor fan motor A is the single-phase outdoor fan motor 14 shown in FIG. Unlike three-phase induction motor. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide the running capacitor 32 as shown in FIG. And
The number of windings of the outdoor fan motor 14A is adjusted so that the rotation speed of the outdoor fan motor 14A becomes an appropriate maximum rotation speed at the maximum drive Hz of the compressor motor 6. FIG. 6 shows the drive frequency of the compressor motor 6 and the outdoor fan motor 14A.
FIG. 6 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship with the rotation speed of the. In the example of this characteristic diagram, the maximum drive frequency of the compressor motor 6 is 90H.
When z, the rotation speed of the outdoor fan motor 14A is 800 r
It is pm.

According to the structure of the fourth embodiment, the number of rotations of the outdoor fan 15 changes in accordance with the change in speed of the compressor motor 6, so that more efficient control becomes possible.
Moreover, since the connecting line 25 and the running capacitor 32 in FIG. 3 can be deleted, the cost can be reduced. In this embodiment, the three-phase outdoor fan motor 14A is used. The motor of can also be used.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. 5 is different from FIG. 4 in that the compressor motor 6
The point is that a thermoswitch 20A for detecting the temperature of the compressor oil is provided in two of the three-phase inputs.

According to this embodiment, when the compressor oil drops below a predetermined value, the thermoswitch 20A is turned off to protect the compressor 7 and the operation of the compressor motor 6 and the compressor 7 is stopped.
At this time, the outdoor fan motor 14A also stops at the same time. Therefore, useless operation of the outdoor fan motor 14A after the compressor motor 6 is stopped can be eliminated.

Next, the operation control circuit 2 in the above embodiment
A specific configuration of No. 6 will be described based on FIG. In addition, this FIG.
The operation control circuit 26 shown in FIG.
It corresponds to. Further, in FIG. 7, the control circuit for the indoor fan motor 12, the four-way valve coil 19 and the like is omitted for convenience of drawing space.

In FIG. 7, an operation signal from the remote controller 33 is input to the operation control circuit 26.
The remote controller 33 includes, for example, an air volume switching setting circuit 3
4, wind direction setting circuit 35, timer setting circuit 36, temperature setting circuit 37, mode conversion circuit 38, dry control setting circuit 3
Various setting circuits such as 9 are provided.

The detection signals from the humidity sensor 40, the radiation temperature sensor 41, and the room temperature sensor 16 are sent to the neuro arithmetic circuit 4.
It is designed to be input to 2. The detection signal from the indoor heat exchanger temperature sensor 17 is input to the air volume detection circuit 43, where the detected air volume q ₁ is calculated. Then, the air volume determination circuit 44 determines the air volume q ₁ ′ to be input to the neuro calculation circuit 42 based on the detected air volume q ₁ and the setting signal from the air volume switching setting circuit 3. Further, the louver control circuit 45 inputs the setting signal from the wind direction setting circuit 35 and outputs a signal for swing control for the louver to the neuro calculation circuit 42. The timer control circuit 46 sets the timer time based on the setting signal from the timer setting circuit 36, and turns the timer on and off.

The neuro operation circuit 2 includes a humidity sensor 40,
Neuro calculation is performed based on input of signals from the radiation temperature sensor 41, the room temperature sensor 16, the air volume determination circuit 44, and the louver control circuit 45. Then, the comfort degree calculation circuit 47 calculates the PMV value based on the calculation result.

The correction amount calculation circuit 48 includes a temperature setting circuit 37.
Based on the setting signal from, PMV value correction amount dPMVs
Is calculated. The correction circuit 49 corrects the PMV value from the comfort degree calculation circuit 47 based on the correction amount dPMV _s , and the corrected value PMV _c is used as the inverter frequency control circuit 50.
Output to.

The inverter frequency control circuit 50 determines the range of the inverter frequency obtained from the outputs of the mode change control circuit 51 and the dry control circuit 52 with reference to the operation table 53. Further, the inverter frequency control circuit 50 includes a temperature sensor 18 for detecting the temperature of the outdoor heat exchanger, a temperature sensor 54 for detecting the compressor oil of the thermoswitch 20A, and a current for detecting the output current I to the compressor motor 6. A detection signal from the sensor 55 and the sensor 56 for detecting the outdoor air volume q ₂ by the outdoor fan 15 is input.

The inverter frequency control circuit 50 determines the inverter frequency based on the inputs of the various signals described above, and operates the inverter circuit 57 at this frequency. The variable voltage / variable frequency AC power output from the inverter circuit is supplied to the compressor motor 6 and the outdoor fan motor 14A shown in FIG.

The inverter frequency control circuit 50
Has a function of estimating and calculating the outdoor temperature To based on the outdoor heat exchanger temperature Te from the temperature sensor 18. Further, the inverter frequency calculation circuit 50 calculates the deviation ΔT between the temperature T _{OIL of the} compressor oil and the temperature Te, and determines the inverter frequency so that this deviation ΔT does not fall below a certain level.

In each of the embodiments described above, an example in which no control circuit is provided in the outdoor unit 3 has been shown, but for some devices, the control circuit may be left in the outdoor unit 3. . For example, among the various circuits in the operation control circuit 26, only the inverter circuit 57 can be arranged in the outdoor unit 3.

A large frequency variable current is output from the inverter circuit 57. To prevent magnetic interference due to this large current, a shield wire should be used as the wiring material from the inverter circuit 57 to the compressor motor 6. Is preferred.

[0061]

As described above, according to the present invention, the control circuit for controlling the equipment on both the indoor unit side and the outdoor unit side is arranged in the indoor unit, so that the control accuracy is improved. At the same time, the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the frequency of the compressor motor 6 and the rotation speed of the outdoor fan motor 14A in FIG. 4 or FIG.

7 is a block diagram showing details of the configuration of an operation control circuit 26 in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of a conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Indoor unit 3 Outdoor unit 5, 27, 28, 29, 31 Connection line 6 Compressor motor 7 Compressor 8 Four-way valve 10 Capillary (expansion valve) 14, 14A Outdoor fan motor 15 Outdoor fan 18 Outdoor heat exchanger temperature sensor 19 Four-way valve Coil 20A Thermoswitch 25 Refrigerant piping connection (indoor unit / outdoor unit connection) 26 Operation control circuit 57 Inverter circuit

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. An air conditioner comprising an indoor unit and an outdoor unit, a connection line connecting the indoor unit and the outdoor unit, and a device provided in the indoor unit side for controlling equipment in the indoor unit. And an operation control circuit that controls the inside of the outdoor unit via the connection line, the air conditioner. 2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the operation control circuit includes an inverter circuit that performs variable speed control of a compressor motor. 3. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the equipment in the outdoor unit controlled by the operation control circuit includes at least one of a four-way valve and an outdoor fan. And an air conditioner. 4. The air conditioner according to claim 3, wherein both the four-way valve and the outdoor fan are controlled by the operation control circuit, and a common connection line is connected between them. An air conditioner characterized by. 5. The air conditioner according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the output side of the inverter circuit is connected to an outdoor fan motor, and the outdoor speed is set at a rotation speed corresponding to the rotation speed of the compressor motor. An air conditioner characterized by variable speed control of a fan motor. 6. The air conditioner according to claim 5, wherein a three-phase motor is used as the compressor motor and the outdoor fan motor. 7. The air conditioner according to claim 6, wherein a compressor oil temperature detection thermoswitch is provided in two of the three-phase inputs of the compressor motor, and the compressor oil temperature drops below a predetermined value. To
An air conditioner characterized in that both the compressor motor and the outdoor fan motor are stopped. 8. The air conditioner according to any one of claims 2 to 7, wherein a shield wire is used as a connection line from the inverter circuit to the compressor motor. 9. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein an expansion valve is provided on the indoor unit side, and the outdoor heat exchanger is provided between the expansion valve and the indoor unit / outdoor unit connection portion. An air conditioner provided with a temperature sensor, and the operation control circuit inputs a detection signal from the temperature sensor. 10. The air conditioner according to claim 9, wherein an electronic expansion valve is used as the expansion valve, and the operation control circuit controls the electronic expansion valve.