JPH07318145A - Dehumidifier on/off type environment apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide energy conservation by a suitable operation by improving the operability of a dehumidifier for an environment testing unit. CONSTITUTION:An environment testing unit has an evaporator 2 for cooling the air to be fed to a testing room 1, a dehumidifier 3 provided in a bypass dehumidifying system, a humidifier 4, a heater 5, a blower 7, and temperature and humidity sensors 8, 9. As temperature and humidity controllers, a consol 14, a dehumidifier controller 3c, humidifier and heater controllers 4b, 5a for controlling the dehumidifier corresponding to the humidifying output at the time of dehumidifier zone control, stable humidity corresponding to the set values at the time of altering the humidification control of the humidifier and temperature and humidity set values are provided. Thus, since the humidification output corresponding control is conducted in addition to the zone control, the dehumidifier is automatically suitably operated/stopped, the operability is improved, and energy conservation is made.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an object to be tested in an environmental chamber,
An environmental testing device that puts in the objects to be treated and maintains or changes the humidity in the environment room at least to create the desired environmental conditions,
The present invention relates to environmental devices such as constant temperature / humidity devices and heat treatment devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, as a conventional environmental test apparatus for maintaining the temperature and humidity in a test chamber at a predetermined value, a bypass for returning a part of the air in the test chamber to a dehumidifier to dehumidify it and then returning it to an air-conditioned room In addition to providing a dehumidifying system, a humidifier, cooler, and heater are provided in the air-conditioned room to control the amount of humidification of the humidifier and control the amount of heating of the heater to dehumidify, humidify, and cool the circulating air. There is a type in which the test chamber is heated to have an appropriate temperature and humidity and supplied to the test chamber to maintain the target temperature and humidity in the test chamber. In such an environment test device, an evaporator of a refrigerator is usually used to realize a low temperature environment. In this case, since the circulating air cooled by the evaporator reaches the dew point, the evaporator has a dehumidifying ability. However, when the test chamber is in a low-temperature and low-humidity environment or the like, the dehumidifier as described above is provided as an auxiliary dehumidifier because it cannot be sufficiently dehumidified by the evaporator alone.

Conventionally, such a dehumidifier is operated by a manual switch of ON / OFF, or an operating zone is determined corresponding to a set temperature and humidity, and the dehumidifier operates when the temperature and humidity are set within the range. The method of being done was adopted.
However, in the manual driving, the driver has to operate the switch by looking at the instruction manual every time the operating condition is set, and the operation is troublesome. Further, in zone control, it is difficult to accurately define the boundaries of the zones, so in the operation area near the boundaries, the dehumidifier is operated unnecessarily to waste humidification energy, or conversely, the dehumidifier is operated. Therefore, the dehumidification of the refrigerator becomes excessive, the cooling air temperature lowers accordingly, and the electric power of the heater for reheating increases, which causes a problem that energy saving operation cannot be performed. Furthermore, even with such control, even when there is a water load that is generated from the DUT or that is introduced by ventilation, it consists of water vapor and minute water droplets (hereinafter referred to as "water"), it is possible to cope with the fluctuation. In some cases, the dehumidifier could not be operated properly and the dehumidification in the refrigerator was excessive.

As a control of the dehumidifier alone, a dehumidifying device has been proposed which calculates a target dehumidifying amount and controls so that the dehumidifying amount by the dehumidifying means reaches a target value (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-32).
2267).

[0005]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above problems in the prior art and provides an environmental device having good operability and energy saving by operating the dehumidifier properly. The task is to do.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises a cooling means for cooling a gas sent to an environment chamber, a dehumidifying means for dehumidifying the gas, and a humidifying means for humidifying the gas to control the amount of humidification by the humidifying means. In the environmental device by which the environmental chamber to set the humidity, the comparing unit for comparing the limit humidity of the environmental chamber determined by the capacity of the cooling unit and the set humidity of the set environmental chamber, the set humidity is When the humidity is lower than the limit humidity, the dehumidifying means is activated, and when the humidity is higher, the dehumidifying means is stopped and the set value corresponding control means is controlled, and when the humidification output for controlling the humidification amount exceeds an upper predetermined value, the dehumidification is performed. Humidification output corresponding control means for stopping the operation of the means and controlling the dehumidification means to operate when the humidification output becomes lower than the predetermined lower value than the predetermined value. To.

[0007]

According to the cooling means for cooling the gas, the temperature of the portion of the gas in contact with the cooling pipe or the like becomes below the dew point depending on the degree of cooling, so that the water vapor in the gas is liquefied and the gas is dehumidified. . When the evaporator of the refrigerator is used as the cooling means, the cooling pipe and the like drop to a temperature sufficiently lower than the dew point of the gas containing water vapor, and the amount of dehumidification increases. However, when the relative humidity of the gas (hereinafter simply referred to as “humidity”) is low, the amount of dehumidification by the cooling means decreases, so that it is not possible to achieve a low humidity condition of a certain degree or less only by the cooling means. Therefore, the environmental device includes a dehumidifying unit that dehumidifies the gas as an auxiliary device. On the other hand, a humidifying means for humidifying the gas is also provided in order to realize a high humidity condition or to control the environment chamber to have a set humidity.

In such an environment device, first, the comparing means for comparing the limit humidity of the environment chamber determined by the capacity of the cooling means with the set humidity, and the dehumidifying means are operated or stopped depending on the relationship between the set humidity and the limit humidity. Since the set value corresponding control means is provided, when the set humidity is changed, the dehumidifying means is immediately turned on / off as needed, and the difference between the current humidity in the environment room and the set humidity is reduced. If so, the set humidity can be reached quickly, and when the low humidity condition is set, the dehumidifying means operates to realize a low humidity environment that cannot be reached only by the cooling means. In this case, the limit humidity of the environmental chamber, which is determined by the capacity of the cooling means, can be known by experiments or the like. For example, after the environmental device is manufactured, the cooling means is operated while the dehumidifying means and the humidifying means are stopped, the gas is cooled and sent to the environmental chamber, and the humidity of the reached environmental chamber is measured, and the constant value is obtained. The limit humidity can be determined in consideration of the margin and the amount of humidification for humidification control. When the environmental device has operating conditions within a certain temperature range, such limiting humidity is obtained for a plurality of temperatures within the temperature range.

Next, since the humidifying output-corresponding control means for stopping or operating the operation of the dehumidifying means at a predetermined upper and lower value of the humidifying output for controlling the humidifying amount is provided, the dehumidifying means is surely operated only when necessary and wasteful. Reheating after proper humidification or cooling can be prevented. That is, when the humidification output is higher than the upper predetermined value, the operation of the dehumidifying means is stopped, so that the humidification output does not increase any more and wasteful humidification energy is not consumed while dehumidifying. On the other hand, when the humidification output is lower than the lower predetermined value, the dehumidifying means operates, so that the cooling means does not excessively dehumidify and waste of reheating energy is prevented. Accordingly, the dehumidifier is properly operated by the humidification output corresponding control means even in the vicinity of the dehumidifier operation / stop boundary in the control by the set value corresponding control means.
It also becomes possible to deal with the case where there is a moisture load that raises the humidity in the environment room.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration including a temperature / humidity control system of an environmental testing device which is an example of an environmental device. The environmental test apparatus includes an evaporator 2 as a cooling unit that cools circulating air that is a gas to be sent to a test chamber 1 as an environmental chamber, and a dehumidifier 3 that is provided in a bypass dehumidifying system as a dehumidifying unit that dehumidifies the circulating air. A humidifier 4 as a humidifying means for humidifying the circulating gas
And a heater 5, a blower 7 for circulating air between the test chamber 1 and the air conditioning chamber 6, temperature and humidity sensors 8, 9,
A partition plate 10 for partitioning the two chambers, an air flow guide 11, bypass dehumidification system inlet and outlet dampers 12 and 13, a refrigerator 2a for sending a refrigerant to the evaporator 2, and the like are provided. The dehumidifier 3 of this embodiment is
Honeycomb rotor 3a and motor 3 for rotating it
b, the air passing therethrough is dehumidified by the rotation of the rotor 3a in accordance with the rotation of the rotor 3a, and the dehumidification capacity is regenerated in the quarter of the rotation. However, it goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to an environmental device equipped with another type of dehumidifier.

As a temperature / humidity control device of the environmental test device,
Control means for controlling the humidification amount of the humidifier and comparing the limit humidity of the test chamber 1 determined by the capacity of the evaporator 2 with the set humidity, when the dehumidifier 3 is operated when the set humidity is lower than the limit humidity When the humidifying output for controlling the humidifying amount of the humidifier 4 exceeds the upper predetermined value, the operation of the dehumidifier 3 is stopped and the lower predetermined value is lower than the upper predetermined value. In this case, a humidification output corresponding control means for controlling the dehumidifier is operated, and an operation control panel 14 with a built-in microcomputer for controlling the heating amount of the heater 5 is provided. The control signal is sent to the dehumidifier controller 3c that controls the on / off of the motor 3b of the dehumidifier 3 and the controllers 4b and 5a that controls the electric power supplied to the heater 4a and the heater 5 of the humidifier 4. The operation control panel 14 includes a temperature setting unit 14a and a humidity setting unit 14 so that the temperature and humidity inside the test chamber 1 can be set.
b is arranged on the surface thereof. By such a control device, the humidification amount of the humidifier 4, the heating amount of the heater 5, and the on / off of the dehumidifier 3 are controlled, and the temperature and humidity in the test chamber 1 are maintained at the set values.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the state on the moist air diagram of the circulating air in each part of the apparatus when the above control is performed, and (a) and (b) show the dehumidifier 3 respectively.
The figure shows the case where is stopped and operated. As for the position of each part in the apparatus, as shown in FIG. 1, A is the inlet of the test chamber 1, B is the outlet, C is the position after being humidified by the humidifier 4, and D is the position.
Is the position after the air dehumidified by the dehumidifier 3 is mixed, E
Is the outlet of the evaporator 2, and F is the outlet of the heater 5. The inclined curve at the left end shows a line of 100% humidity.

When the dehumidifier 3 does not operate, the air at the position A, which is air-conditioned and blown into the test chamber 1, rises in temperature at a constant absolute humidity due to heat generated from the DUT in the chamber, and the outlet B
Then, the humidifier humidifies the temperature and absolute humidity to rise to the state of position C, the evaporator 2 of the refrigerator cools and dehumidifies to the position E, and the heater 5 heats it again. Then, the heat of the blower 7 is absorbed, the temperature rises a little, and the air is blown again to the position A in the test chamber 1. At this time, the dampers 12 and 13 are closed.

When the dampers 12 and 13 are opened to operate the dehumidifier 3 in order to keep the inside of the test chamber 1 in a low humidity state, as shown in FIG. The air at the position D ′, which has been dehumidified and heated by the bypass dehumidification system, is mixed to reduce the humidity, and the state of the position D is reached. As a result, the humidity of the air blown to the test chamber 1 at the A position can be reduced.

When the dehumidifier 3 is not operated as shown in FIG. 2A and only the dehumidifying capacity of the evaporator 2 is used, there is a limit that the humidity in the test chamber does not drop to a certain degree or less. FIG. 3 shows an example of such a limiting humidity and dehumidifier operating zone which is compared with the set humidity for control by the setpoint corresponding control means in the operation control panel 14.

After the environmental test apparatus is manufactured, the humidity in the test chamber 1 is set to 95% under various temperature conditions as an initial state, the dehumidifier 3 and the humidifier 4 are stopped, and the evaporator 2 and the heater 5 are heated.
When the air is circulated between the test chamber 1 and the air-conditioning chamber 6 by using the and, the inside of the test chamber 1 reaches a humidity as shown by a solid line L in FIG. To do. Since it takes a certain amount of time to reach the solid line L and the dehumidifier installed is used effectively, the limit humidity for comparing with the set value by the comparison means is as shown in FIG. It is desirable to adopt the solid line L ′ in FIG. 9B, which is a humidity of FIG. By performing such an experiment in a trial run after the completion of the apparatus and setting a limiting humidity curve in the microcomputer of the operation control panel 14, this curve is used for comparison by the comparison means and control by the set value correspondence control means. be able to. Then, the range indicated by the diagonal lines below the solid line L'in FIG. 7B is set as the dehumidifier operating zone Z, and the set value correspondence control means, in principle, when the temperature and humidity are set within this range, the dehumidifier 3 is in principle provided. Control to drive. In addition, in the same figure (b), the part enclosed by the two-dot chain line above the solid line L'shows a dehumidifier stop zone.

The limiting humidity can be obtained by calculation or the like without performing the above experiment. When the operation using only the dehumidifying capacity of the evaporator 2 is performed as described above, the humidity decreases with the temperature between the positions D and E before and after the evaporator 2.
When this stepwise indicate to the elapsed time on the diagram psychrometric, as shown in FIG. 4, D ₁ the absolute humidity is greatly reduced
From the state of -E ₁ , the decrease of absolute humidity becomes small D-E
Changes to the state of. D− consisting of temperature / humidity E at the outlet state determined corresponding to temperature / humidity D at the inlet state of such an evaporator
The E line can be estimated by calculation from the temperature and humidity conditions at the inlet and the capacity of the evaporator 3. If the degree of decrease in absolute humidity is below a certain level, it will take time for the humidity to decrease. Therefore, the humidity at the position A corresponding to the humidity at the evaporator outlet E in such a state. Can be the limiting humidity. This determination may, for example, i / i ₀ in FIG. (I and i ₀ are respectively cooled only and cooling + dehumidification enthalpy change due) sensible heat ratio represented by (cooling capacity / refrigeration capacity = cooling capacity / (cooling Capacity + dehumidification capacity)), and the humidity at point A when this value becomes 0.9 is the limit humidity. And, such a limit humidity,
Calculate various temperatures in advance on the moist air diagram.

Temperature / humidity setting sections 14a, 1 of the operation control panel 14
4b, the temperature and humidity are changed, and as shown in FIG. 5A, from the current value of point P (original setting value) to the setting value of point Q (new setting value).
Even when the humidity is increased to 1, if the new set value is within the range of the dehumidifier operating zone Z, the set value corresponding control means maintains the operating state of the dehumidifier 3 in principle. However,
Assuming that a new set value is reached in the test chamber by controlling the humidification output while operating the dehumidifier, as shown in FIG.
It takes a long time t to reach the new set value SV from the current value PV of humidity. On the other hand, when the operation of the dehumidifier is stopped once when the set value is increased and the operation control of the dehumidifier thereafter is performed by the humidification output corresponding control means, FIG.
As shown in (c), the new set value can be quickly reached in the test chamber in a short time t '. However, in this case, as shown in the figure, the humidity in the test chamber may be disturbed by turning on / off the dehumidifier. Further, when the increase range of the set value is not so large, it does not take a long time to reach the new set value even if the dehumidifier is turned on. Therefore, only when the change range of the set value in the dehumidifier operation zone Z is equal to or more than a certain value, it is desirable to turn off the dehumidifier once. However, when it is necessary to prevent the occurrence of such a disturbance, the dehumidifier is not turned off, and only the basic set value corresponding control is performed.

FIG. 6 shows the dehumidifier 3 using the operation control panel 14 and the like.
6 is a flowchart showing an example of on / off control of the above. When the environmental test equipment is operated and the dehumidifier control routine is started,
The difference (absolute value) between the current value PV of temperature and humidity and the set value SV is compared with a predetermined value X (S-1). When the temperature / humidity setting units 14a and 14b of the operation control panel 14 are operated, the set value is changed, so that the difference becomes larger than the predetermined value X at that time. At this time, the flow for changing the settings on the left side of the drawing is executed. The predetermined value X is, for example, converted from temperature and humidity into absolute humidity,
It is about 0.03 kg / kg '.

In the flow of changing the setting, the limit value obtained by the method shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is compared with the set value to determine whether the set value is within the dehumidifier operating zone lower than the limit value. (S-2) When it is in the dehumidifier operation zone, in this control flow, it is judged whether or not the absolute humidity increase when it is further set is the threshold value A or more (S-3). At some time, as described above, the dehumidifier is turned off even in the dehumidifier operating zone in order to quickly reach the set value (S-4). If it is A or less, such a need is not necessary, so the dehumidifier is turned on in principle (S-5).

In the above, the threshold value A is determined from the balance between the time required to reach the new set value and the occurrence of control disturbance. For example, the absolute humidity is 0.05 kg / k.
g ' The temperature and humidity are set by the humidity (relative humidity) and the temperature, but if the setting change is temperature drop + humidity increase or temperature increase + humidity drop, it should be dehumidified by itself as a result. Since it cannot be determined whether or not it should be performed, the threshold values X and A should be converted into absolute humidity once and then compared as described above. However, instead of absolute humidity, dew point temperature or water vapor partial pressure can be used.

When the set value is outside the dehumidifier operating zone,
Although the dehumidifier is originally turned off, it is determined whether the measured rate of change in humidity is less than or equal to the threshold value B in consideration of the case where the water load in the test room is large. S-6), turning on / off the dehumidifier (S-5,
4). That is, even if the humidity setting is changed within the range other than the dehumidifier operating zone, if a large moisture load is generated, the humidity decrease only with the evaporator will not slow down the humidity or reach the set value. Therefore, turn on the dehumidifier at this time. As a result, even if a moisture load occurs, the set humidity state can be quickly and reliably realized. In the above, the threshold value B is, for example, a rate of change in humidity (relative humidity) of 0.5% per minute (0.5% RH).
/ Mim).

The difference between the current value PV and the set value SV is a predetermined value X.
When it is smaller, the control flow for stabilizing or reaching the temperature and humidity is reached, and it is determined whether or not the humidification output, which is a control signal for controlling the electric power supplied to the humidification heater 4a, is equal to or lower than a threshold value C which is a lower predetermined value. If (S-7) and the threshold value C or less, it is necessary to increase the humidification amount in order to maintain the controllability of the humidification heater, so the dehumidifier 3 is turned on (S-7).
-8). As a result, when there is a water load,
The dehumidifier is turned on even outside the dehumidifier operating zone, and the evaporator 2
The effect of preventing excessive dehumidification due to is also produced. If it is not below the threshold value C, it is judged whether it is above the threshold value D which is the upper predetermined value (S-9). If it is above the threshold value D, the humidification output is large and wasteful humidification is performed. Therefore, the dehumidifier 3 is turned off (S-10). If the humidification output is between the thresholds C and D, the dehumidifier is operating properly, so the current operating state of the dehumidifier is maintained (S-11). As the humidification output, for example, in the operation control panel 14, the measured value of the humidity sensor 9 and the operation control panel 14 are used.
The deviation from the set humidity set in step 1 is calculated, and an output of 0 to 100% is transmitted at fixed intervals corresponding to the value.

In the above, the threshold value C is set to, for example, about 10% from the viewpoint of ensuring control stability and saving energy. The threshold value D is also preferably as small as possible from the viewpoint of energy saving, but it needs to be determined so as not to cause control disturbance such as repeated on / off of the dehumidifier. That is, even if the humidification amount decreases when the dehumidifier is turned off, it is necessary to prevent the threshold value C or less from being reached. Therefore, for example, assuming that the dehumidifying capacity of the dehumidifier is 20% of the humidifying capacity of the humidifier, the threshold value C is 10%.
The value obtained by adding% becomes the minimum value of the threshold value D, and the threshold value D is set to 40 to 50% with an allowance.

In addition to the zone control at the time of changing the setting, if control is performed by such a humidification output, the dehumidifier can be operated properly in various usage states of the environmental test device, and wasteful humidification in the humidifier and the heater. And heating is prevented.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the dehumidifier can be operated / stopped by the set value-corresponding control means and the humidification output-corresponding control means, the manual operation is not required and the operability of the environmental device is eliminated. In addition, the dehumidifier is properly operated at a required time, and unnecessary reheating due to useless humidification or excessive dehumidification by the cooling means is prevented, and energy saving of the environmental device can be achieved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of an environment test apparatus of an example.

FIG. 2 is a moist air diagram showing the operating state of the above device,
(A) and (b) show the state which did not operate a dehumidifier, and the state which operated, respectively.

FIG. 3 is a curve diagram for determining an operation zone of the dehumidifier of the above apparatus, (a) shows a reach range of temperature and humidity by dehumidifying only the evaporator, and (b) shows an operation zone of the dehumidifier.

FIG. 4 is a curve diagram for defining an operation zone of the dehumidifier of the above apparatus, showing a change state before and after the evaporator on the moist air diagram due to dehumidification of only the evaporator.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram when the set humidity rises within the dehumidifier operating range, in which (a) shows a changed state of humidity, and (b) or (c) shows a state where the dehumidifier is operated or stopped at this time. .

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of controlling temperature and humidity of the above device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Test Room (Environmental Room) 2 Evaporator (Cooling Means) 3 Dehumidifier (Dehumidifying Means) 3c Dehumidifier Controller (Set Value Corresponding Control Means,
Humidification output corresponding control means) 4 Humidifier (humidification means) 4b Controller (set value correspondence control means, humidification output correspondence control means) 14 Operation control panel (comparison means, set value correspondence control means, humidification output correspondence control means)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An environment chamber is set by controlling a humidification amount by the cooling means for cooling gas sent to the environment chamber, a dehumidifying means for dehumidifying the gas, and a humidifying means for humidifying the gas. In the environmental device having the specified humidity, comparing means for comparing the set humidity of the environment room and the set humidity of the set environment room determined from the capacity of the cooling means, and when the set humidity is lower than the set humidity When the dehumidifying means is operated and the dehumidifying means is stopped when the temperature is high, the set value corresponding control means, and when the humidifying output for controlling the humidifying amount exceeds an upper predetermined value, the operation of the dehumidifying means is stopped and the humidifying is performed. A humidification output corresponding control means for controlling to operate the dehumidifying means when the output becomes lower than the lower predetermined value lower than the predetermined value, the environmental device.