JPH0763396A - Forcible operation executing system for air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce a circuit board and to delete a cost by eliminating a special purpose switch as starting means for trially starting at the time of installation. CONSTITUTION:An inspection input terminal 16 for a board test and an inspection input terminal 17 for an indoor unit test are provided on an indoor unit circuit board 10. When a predetermined signal is applied to either the terminal 16 or 17, one of the board and indoor unit tests is conducted. When the signal is applied to the both terminals 16, 17, a trial operation mode is started. When no signal is applied to both the terminals 16, 17, an ordinary operation mode is selected. A circuit board of an outdoor unit is similar.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for forcibly operating an air conditioner for a trial run during installation work.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When an air conditioner is installed, it is necessary to perform a test run to check for construction errors and malfunctions of the device itself. At that time, the remote controller, which is a command input device, is not available at the installation site, and it is necessary to perform the trial run in various modes and conditions.Therefore, use the special switch prepared for the forced run instead of the remote controller to perform the trial run. It is generally done.

That is, a slide switch for switching between normal operation and forced operation and a circuit for transmitting the state of this switch to a control computer are mounted on the circuit boards of the indoor unit and the outdoor unit, respectively. By setting this slide switch to the position on the side of forced operation, a program for forced operation prepared in advance in the control computer is activated so that trial operation can be performed.

[0004]

The conventional forced operation method using the slide switch has an advantage that the operation at the time of trial operation is easy, but on the other hand, because of its ease, if the user accidentally inadvertently switches the switch to the wrong position. There is a problem that may be set.

Further, since the trial run is extremely rarely performed, it is desired to remove the dedicated switch and the additional circuit for such things from the circuit board if possible to reduce the board area and the cost. Strong demand.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to enable forced operation in an air conditioner without providing a special switch dedicated to forced operation as in the prior art, thereby contributing to reduction in the size of a circuit board and cost reduction. The purpose is to

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises at least two signal input terminals provided on a circuit board of an air conditioner, and means for determining a combination of signal values applied to these signal input terminals. In response to the result of this judgment, one of three or more predetermined operation modes including forced operation is set as one mode.
And a means for selectively executing one of the two. A method for forced operation execution of an air conditioner is provided.

[0008]

According to the combination of signals applied to at least two input terminals provided on the circuit board of the air conditioner, three or more kinds of operation modes can be selected, and forced operation can be selected as one mode. For example, in the preferred embodiment, there are four selectable modes: normal operation, board test, unit (indoor or outdoor unit) test, and forced operation.

All of these operation modes are necessary for the air conditioner, and it is not necessary to provide a special switch dedicated to forced operation other than the input terminals for selecting these operation modes.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the overall construction of an air conditioner to which an embodiment of the method of the present invention is applied. This is a very common air conditioner used in homes and the like, which includes an indoor unit 1 and an outdoor unit 2, both units being connected by a refrigerant pipe 3 and an electric cable 4.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a circuit board incorporated in the indoor unit 1, and FIG. 3 shows an example of a circuit board incorporated in the outdoor unit 2.

On the indoor unit circuit board 10 shown in FIG. 2, various circuit elements and switches that form an indoor unit control circuit are mounted. The switches include, for example, a model code setting switch 11, a capability code setting switch 12, a central control group address setting switch 1
3, there are a group control unit address setting switch, a multi-address setting switch 15 and the like, but a switch dedicated to forced operation as in the prior art is not provided.

The substrate 10 is also provided with two inspection input terminals (pins) 16 and 17. The first inspection terminal 16 is an input pin for activating a program for performing an operation test TEST of the circuit itself when the circuit is assembled on the substrate 10. Further, the inspection input terminal 17 operates the indoor unit itself (drives the blower fan, when the circuit board 10 is incorporated into the indoor unit,
Drain motor drive, flap drive, etc.) This is an input pin for activating a program for performing a test DISP. The two inspection input terminals 16 and 17 have been conventionally used only to perform the above-mentioned two types of tests TEST and DISP, but in the present embodiment, as will be described later, activation of a program for forced operation is started. Also used for.

The circuit board 20 for the outdoor unit shown in FIG. 3 is mounted with various circuit elements and switches constituting the outdoor unit compulsory circuit. The switches include, for example, a model code setting switch 21 and a capability code setting switch 22, but the conventional dedicated switch for forced operation is not mounted. Further, two inspection input terminals 23 and 24 are provided, the first terminal 23 is an input pin for an operation test TEST of the control circuit itself on this board 20, and the second terminal 24 is this board 20. It is an input pin for a test DISP of the operation (compressor drive, fan drive, valve switching, etc.) of the outdoor unit itself incorporating the.
These two inspection input terminals 23 and 24 are also used as input terminals for forced operation as described later.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the processing of the control computer on the indoor unit substrate 10 for switching the operation mode in accordance with the input signals from the inspection input terminals 16 and 17 on the indoor unit substrate 10. .

As shown in FIG. 4, when the power is turned on,
As one of the initial processing, signal values are taken in from the inspection input terminals 16 and 17 and checked (steps S1 and S).
2). At this time, if no external voltage is applied to both the inspection input terminals 16 and 17, the input signal value is determined to be 0, 0, and in that case, the normal operation mode is entered (step S
3). The normal operation mode is a mode in which the indoor unit 1 and the outdoor unit 2 are correctly connected and operation is performed in accordance with an input command from a user operation operator such as a remote controller.

In step S2, the first inspection input terminal 16
If the voltage above the specified level is applied to only
The input signal value is determined to be 1, 0, and in that case, the program for performing the operation test TEST of the indoor unit substrate 10 alone is started (step S4).

In addition, in step S2, when the voltage of the predetermined level or more is applied only to the second inspection input terminal 17, the program for performing the operation test DISP of the indoor unit 1 alone is started (step). S5).

On the other hand, in step S2, the inspection input terminal 1
When a voltage of a predetermined level or more is applied to both 6 and 17, the input signal value is determined to be 1, 1, and in that case, with the indoor unit 1 and the outdoor unit 2 properly connected, A program for performing forced operation for test operation is started (step S6).

Similarly, the control computer on the outdoor unit substrate 20 is also programmed to perform the initial processing as shown in FIG. 4, and is added to the inspection input terminals 23 and 24 when the power is turned on. The normal operation is selected from the board test TEST, the outdoor unit test DISP, and the forced operation depending on the combination of the signal values.

In this way, it is possible to perform a forced operation for a trial operation at the time of installation by using the input terminals for performing the board test TEST and the unit test DISP without a dedicated switch. In this case, the installation worker needs to use a device for applying a signal to the inspection input terminal, but the problem of erroneous switch setting as in the past is eliminated, and the circuit board inside and outside the unit is reduced and the cost is reduced. Can contribute to reduction.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention can be carried out in various different modes other than this embodiment without departing from the gist thereof.
For example, in the above embodiment, the signal value of the inspection input terminal is checked in the initial routine immediately after the power is turned on.
Even after the subsequent operation is started, the state of the inspection input terminals may be periodically checked so that the mode can be selected.
Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, four types of modes of normal operation, board test, unit test and forced operation are selected using two inspection input terminals, but the combinations of selectable modes are limited to these. However, the number of terminals may be increased so that more types of modes can be selected. Further, the forced operation selection function may be provided in only one of the indoor unit and the outdoor unit.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Dedicated to forced operation because three or more types of operation modes can be selected by combining input signals to two or more signal input terminals provided on the circuit board, and forced operation is provided as one mode among them. It is possible to reduce the size of the board and reduce the cost because it is not necessary to specially provide the hardware element of the above, and the problem of erroneous switch setting does not occur unlike the conventional case.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of an air conditioner to which the system of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the configuration of an outdoor unit substrate in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a configuration of an outdoor unit substrate in the same embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Indoor Unit 2 Outdoor Unit 10 Indoor Unit Substrate 26 Outdoor Unit Substrate 16,23 First Inspection Input Terminal 17,24 Second Inspection Input Terminal

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. At least two signal input terminals provided on a circuit board of an air conditioner, means for determining a combination of signal values applied to the signal input terminals, and 1 for receiving a result of the determination. Means for selectively executing one of three or more predetermined operation modes including forced operation as a mode, and a forced operation execution method for an air conditioner.