JPH07318149A - Apparatus and method for controlling air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an apparatus and a method for controlling an air conditioner in which the error of wirings between remote operating means like a remote board and a controller in an outdoor unit is prevented and the number of the wirings can be reduced. CONSTITUTION:A controller for controlling an air conditioner is constructed to connect a plurality of indoor units to one outdoor unit, to supply refrigerant from the outdoor unit to the indoor units to operate them. The controller comprises remote operating means 30 for sending a designation signal DS for indicating only the presence or the absence of a demand signal to a control unit in the outdoor unit, and set switch means 40 for selectively setting a desired control content from a plurality of control contents regarding the range of the capacity of the compressor of the outdoor unit upon reception of the designation signal in the control unit in the outdoor unit, wherein the number of wirings from the means 30 to the means 40 is set to two, thereby eliminating the error of the wirings.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device for an air conditioner and a method for controlling an air conditioner, and more particularly, an error in wiring between a remote control means such as a remote panel and a control section in an outdoor unit. The present invention relates to an air conditioner control device and an air conditioner control method capable of preventing the above and reducing the number of wires.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an air conditioner, a so-called single-multi type air conditioner in which a plurality of indoor units are connected to one outdoor unit is known.

In this type of air conditioner, a single outdoor unit supplies a refrigerant to a plurality of indoor units for cooling and heating.

Some outdoor units of an air conditioner have a variable capacity compressor, that is, a compressor capable of controlling the capacity. Examples of the compressor of this type of outdoor unit include an inverter type model and a pole number conversion type model.

By the way, in a building such as a building in which an air conditioner is installed, the electric power consumption may exceed at the peak of the electric power usage in the summer, so that it becomes necessary to adjust the operating capacity of the air conditioner.

[0006] As an example, when the compressor capacity of the outdoor unit of the air conditioner is operated at 50% or 75% or the power consumption exceeds, 0%
Then you need to stop.

When changing the capacity of such a compressor, in the conventional air conditioner as shown in FIG.
From the remote control unit 2 of the outdoor unit, both the demand signal and the control content signal as the external control input signal from the remote panel 1 are transmitted. Therefore, in order to transmit the signal indicating the control content, at least three or more signal lines 3
Need. When performing demand control by giving this demand signal, the operating range of the compressor of the outdoor unit is controlled according to the request from the indoor unit and the state of power consumption in response to the user's request. .

[0008]

However, since at least three signal lines 3 are required as described above, an error in the wiring of the signal lines is likely to occur. In addition, when a plurality of indoor units are connected to a plurality of outdoor units using the single-multi type air conditioner described above, in the case of configuring a so-called double-multi type air conditioner, the total number of signal lines is considerably large. turn into.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and prevents wiring errors between remote control means such as a remote panel and a control unit in an outdoor unit, and reduces the number of wires. An object is to provide an air conditioner control device and an air conditioner control method that can reduce the number of air conditioners.

[0010]

A control device for an air conditioner according to a first aspect of the present invention connects a plurality of indoor units to one outdoor unit, and supplies a refrigerant from one outdoor unit to a plurality of indoor units. In a control device for controlling an air conditioner that is configured to operate in the same manner, a remote control unit that sends an instruction signal indicating only the presence or absence of a demand signal to a control unit in the outdoor unit, and a control unit in the outdoor unit. In response to the instruction signal, the setting switch means can select and set desired control contents from a plurality of control contents relating to the range of the compressor capacity of the outdoor unit.

Further, in the air conditioner control method of the second invention, one outdoor unit is connected to a plurality of indoor units, and a refrigerant is supplied from one outdoor unit to a plurality of indoor units to operate. In the control method for controlling the air conditioner configured as described above, to the control unit in the outdoor unit from the remote operation means, send an instruction signal indicating only the presence or absence of the demand signal, in the control unit in the outdoor unit, Upon receiving the instruction signal, a desired control content is selected from a plurality of control content related to the range of the compressor capacity of the outdoor unit.

[0012]

In the first aspect of the present invention, the remote operation means may send only the instruction signal indicating only the presence or absence of the demand signal to the control section in the outdoor unit. With the setting switch means, desired control contents can be selected from a plurality of control contents and set. As a result, the signal line from the remote control means to the control section in the outdoor unit need only be a pair of positive and negative, and wiring errors are unlikely to occur.

Further, in the second invention, only the instruction signal indicating only the presence or absence of the demand signal is sent from the remote control means to the control section in the outdoor unit, and the setting switch of the control section is received in response to the instruction signal. With the means, desired control content can be selected and set from a plurality of control content. As a result, the signal line from the remote control means to the control section in the outdoor unit need only be a pair of positive and negative, and wiring errors are unlikely to occur.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an air conditioner provided with a control device for an air conditioner according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, one outdoor unit 10
Is connected to the plurality of indoor units 12 by a refrigerant pipe 14, supplies the refrigerant from the one outdoor unit 10 to the plurality of indoor units 12, and operates the plurality of indoor units 12. By doing so, the heating and cooling of each room is performed.

A control unit 20 is mounted in the outdoor unit 10. The control unit 20 is preferably an outdoor board 22 and a relay relay board (hereinafter referred to as a relay board) 24.
It consists of The outdoor board 22 is electrically connected to each indoor unit 12.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the outdoor substrate 22
Is a board separate from the relay board 24 and is electrically connected to the relay board 24. The remote operation means 30 of FIG. 1 is a remote board, and the relay relay board 2 of the control unit 20.
4, it is electrically connected by two demand signal lines D1 and D2 for transmitting an instruction signal regarding the presence (presence / absence) of the demand signal. The control unit 20 is provided with setting switch means 40 as described later.

FIG. 2 shows a specific example of the remote board 30 and the control section 20.

First, the remote board 30 will be described.

The remote panel 30 has a demand switch 5
0, in addition, the outdoor alarm signal 30a, the indoor alarm signal 30b, the indoor unit operation signal 30c, the collective operation switch 3
1, a collective stop switch 32, a heating / cooling changeover switch 33, a central / individual switch 34, and the like.

On the other hand, the outdoor board 22 constituting the control section 20 of FIG. 3 has a relay board 24 with predetermined signal lines 24a and 2a.
It is connected by 4b. The relay board 24 includes various terminal portions 6P-1 to 6P-6 and 11P-1 to 11P-.
Have ten.

The relay board 24 is provided with setting switch means 40 for selecting a desired control content from a plurality of control content relating to the range (operating range) of the capacity of the compressor 19 of the outdoor unit 10. This setting switch means 4
As 0, a switch such as a rotary switch or a DIP switch can be used.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the remote control means 3
Two demand signal lines D1 and D2 for transmitting only the instruction signal DS indicating only the presence (presence or absence) of the demand signal are connected between 0 and the relay board 24. One of the demand signal lines D2 is a common line.

In the remote control means 30, the demand switch 88 is connected to the two demand signal lines D1 and D2.
And a DC 24V DC power source 89 are connected to form a demand circuit section 91.

When the demand switch 88 is turned on, the two demand signal lines D1 and D2 send an instruction signal DS indicating the presence or absence of a demand signal (demand control signal) as shown in FIG. It is designed to be sent to the relay board 24 side.

An instruction signal D indicating the presence of this demand signal
S is a compressor 1 in the outdoor unit 10.
9 is a signal sent from the remote control means 30 to the side of the relay board 24 for instructing to limit the operating range of No. 9.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a plurality of control contents for controlling the operating range (shown by%) of the compressor in the outdoor unit 10.

The setting switch means 40 set in the relay board 24 of FIG. 3 has only three control contents (setting P) in the state X of FIG. 4 in which the instruction signal DS is given to the relay board 24 side. , Setting Q, setting R), it is possible to selectively switch to one of the control contents.

With setting P, the operating range of the compressor 19 of FIG. 1 can be set up to 50%, and with setting Q, the compressor 19 of FIG.
The operating range of can be set up to 75%, and in the setting R,
The operating range of the compressor 19 of FIG. 1 can be set up to 100%.

The instruction signal DS shown in FIG.
In the state Y of FIG. 4 which is not given to the side, the setting switch means 40 cannot switch to three setting states. Moreover, for example, in the state Y in which the instruction signal DS is not given to the relay board 24 side, the compressor 1
The operating range of 9 is set to 0%, and the compressor 19 is stopped.

Next, an operation example in the above embodiment will be described.

An instruction signal DS indicating that there is a demand signal shown in FIG. 4 is sent from the remote control means 30 shown in FIG. 3 to the relay board 24 side in accordance with the power consumption amount or the request from the indoor unit. Then (state X), the installer or user of the apparatus sets the setting switch means 40 shown in FIG.
When switched to, the operating range of the compressor 19 becomes 50%.

When the setting switch means switches to the setting Q, the operating range of the compressor 19 becomes 75%, and when the setting switch means switches to the setting R, the compressor 19
The operating range is 100%.

That is, only the presence / absence of the demand signal DS needs to be transmitted from the remote control means 30 of FIG. 3 to the relay board 24, and the air can be supplied in accordance with the power situation or the request from the indoor unit. The installer or user of the harmony machine changes the operation range of the compressor 19, that is, the capacity by changing desired control contents from a plurality of control contents on the relay board 24 side by the setting switch means 40. You can

Next, another embodiment of the control device for the air conditioner of the present invention will be described.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, an external power source 90 is used for the relay board 24 as a power source instead of the DC 24V power source.
Are connected via a connector 70 for external power supply connection. The other parts of the embodiment of FIG. 5 are similar to the corresponding parts of the embodiment of FIG.

As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, the air is arranged such that one outdoor unit is connected to a plurality of indoor units, and the refrigerant is supplied from one outdoor unit to the plurality of indoor units to operate. In the harmony machine, the operation control of the outdoor unit is performed according to the instruction signal DS indicating the presence (presence or absence) of the demand control signal from the remote operation means, and the given instruction signal DS is transmitted from the remote operation means to the outside of the room. The operating range of the compressor of the outdoor unit can be controlled only by being given to the control unit of the unit, and in particular by a plurality of control contents (for example, settings P, Q, R) which are operation mode setting signals.

In this way, since the instruction signal DS need only be given from the remote control means to the control section of the outdoor unit, the demand signal lines D1 and D2 need only be a pair of positive and negative,
Wiring errors are unlikely to occur.

By the way, the present invention can be variously modified without departing from the scope of the claims.

For example, unlike the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 5, as shown in FIG. 6, the control unit 2 in the outdoor unit 10 is
For example, a remote board and a relay board can be used without being separated from each other, such as 00. Further, by applying the air conditioner of the present invention, as shown in FIG.
1, 102, 103 include a plurality of indoor units 111 to
In an air conditioner such as a so-called double multi type that operates 133, the remote control means 30 and the outdoor unit 10 are further added.
The number of wirings between 1 to 103 can be reduced. Indoor units 111, 112, 1 with a high operation priority in advance
If the demand setting (75%) of No. 13 is set higher than the demand setting (0%) of the indoor units 131, 132, 133 having lower priority, these demand signals can be sent by one instruction signal from the remote control means. Demand can be set.
(Piping is omitted in FIG. 7.)

[0042]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, the remote operation means may send only the instruction signal indicating only the presence or absence of the demand signal to the control section in the outdoor unit. Upon receiving this instruction signal, the setting switch means of the control unit can select and set desired control contents from a plurality of control contents. As a result, the number of signal lines from the remote control means to the control unit in the outdoor unit need only be a pair of positive and negative, the number of wirings can be reduced, and wiring errors are less likely to occur.

Further, in the second invention, only the instruction signal indicating only the presence or absence of the demand signal is sent from the remote control means to the control section in the outdoor unit, and the setting switch of the control section is received in response to the instruction signal. With the means, desired control content can be selected and set from a plurality of control content. As a result, the number of signal lines from the remote control means to the control unit in the outdoor unit need only be a pair of positive and negative, the number of wires can be reduced, and wiring errors are less likely to occur.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an air conditioner including an embodiment of a control device for an air conditioner of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing two demand signal lines connected between a remote panel of the control device of the air conditioner and a relay board in the outdoor unit.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a remote board, a relay board, setting switch means set in the relay board, and an outdoor board.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an operating range of a compressor and a control example thereof.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the control device of the air conditioner of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the control device for an air conditioner of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the control device for the air conditioner of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing three or more demand signal lines and a signal line for transmitting control content, which are connected between a remote panel of a control device for a conventional air conditioner and a control unit in an outdoor unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Outdoor Unit 12 Indoor Unit 20 Control Unit of Outdoor Unit 22 Relay Board 24 Outdoor Board 40 Setting Switch Means

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A control device for controlling an air conditioner in which a plurality of indoor units are connected to one outdoor unit, and sends an instruction signal indicating only the presence or absence of a demand signal to a control unit in the outdoor unit. An air comprising remote control means and setting switch means for receiving a command signal and selecting and setting desired control content from a plurality of control content relating to the range of the compressor capacity of the outdoor unit. Harmonic controller. 2. A control method for controlling an air conditioner in which a plurality of indoor units are connected to one outdoor unit, wherein only the presence / absence of a demand signal is sent from a remote operation means to a control unit in the outdoor unit. A method for controlling an air conditioner, comprising: sending a command signal indicating the desired signal; and selecting a desired control content from a plurality of control contents related to the range of the capacity of the compressor of the outdoor unit when the instruction signal is received.