JPH0791722A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the comfort during sleeping by a method wherein whether or not a user is asleep is judged from the brightness in a room, the time, a sleeping timer that has been set when the user goes to bed, and others, and controls of a fan motor are performed in 'fluctuation mode A' when the user is awake and in 'fluctuation mode B', by which more silent operation can be performed, when the user is asleep. CONSTITUTION:A controller of an indoor unit is equipped with a brightness judging device which judges the brightness in a room, a memory for bedtime period, a memory for fluctuation modes A and B, a fluctuation mode decision device, an 1/f fluctuation signal generator, and others. When a sleeping timer is set while an air conditioner is in operation, a fan motor is operated in the 'fluctuation mode B' of ST 5. When an operation stop time is set and a cut-off timer is in action, the brightness in the room is judged at ST 3. When the room is bright, operation is performed in the 'fluctuation mode A' of ST6. When the room is dark, whether or not the set time of the cut-off timer is within the bedtime band is judged at ST 4. The fan motor is operated in the 'fluctuation mode B' of ST 5 when it is within the bedtime beriod, and in the 'fluctuation mode A' of ST 6 when it is out of the bedtime period.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly to control of a blower installed in an indoor unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an indoor unit of an air conditioner, there is a blower (cross flow fan) for sending the air that has been heat-exchanged by a heat exchanger to the room. This blower is controlled by a control unit on the indoor unit side, and this control unit, based on a command from a remote control, operates in an air conditioner, for example, operating / stopping, cooling, heating, dehumidifying, blowing, air volume, wind direction. In addition to setting the room temperature, determining a timer, and controlling the indoor unit, a necessary operation command is issued to the outdoor unit based on the determined operation mode. By the way, the timer mode is a "off timer" mode for determining the operation stop time, and the set temperature is set to a predetermined value (for example, 0.5 ° C) every predetermined time (for example, 30 minutes)
There is a "sleep timer" mode that stops the operation of the air conditioner after a predetermined time (for example, 2 hours) has elapsed, and in the operation mode of the blower of the indoor unit, the rotation speed of the blower is periodically changed. Some have a mode of "1 / f fluctuation operation" (hereinafter referred to as fluctuation operation) in which the air volume is periodically changed by slowly ascending and descending.

[0003]

However, in the conventional air conditioner, "good night timer" and "fluctuation operation" are required.
The settings are made separately, so if you set only the "Good night timer" at bedtime and forget the setting of "Fluctuating operation", the blower will be operated in the specified blower mode, The noise that accompanies it makes us less comfortable at bedtime. In this way, when the setting of "fluctuation operation" is forgotten, the setting may be made again, but it is inconvenient when the remote control is not at hand after the light is turned off. Further, even if the "fluctuation operation" is set, the blowing noise may still be annoying. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an air conditioner that solves these problems.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and controls a motor drive section of a blower based on input signals from an optical sensor, a remote controller and the like. A brightness determining unit that determines the brightness of the room in the control unit, a first storing unit that stores a reference value for determining the brightness, a second storing unit that stores a good night time period, and a plurality of fluctuation modes. Is stored in the third storage means, a fluctuation mode determination means for determining a predetermined fluctuation mode from the determination result of the brightness determination means, and a timer mode set by the user, and the fluctuation mode determination means. Equipped with a fluctuation signal generator that outputs a 1 / f fluctuation signal corresponding to the determined fluctuation mode to the motor drive unit of the blower, and is quieter when the good night timer is set. , When the "Good night timer" is not set and only the "Off timer" is set, the brightness of the room is determined. When it is bright, the normal "fluctuation mode A" is used, and when it is dark, the "Off timer" setting time is as described above. It is determined whether or not it corresponds to the "good night time zone" stored in the first storage means, and if so, a quieter "fluctuation mode B"
Then, if not applicable, the blower is operated in the normal “fluctuation mode A”.

[0005]

[Advantage] With the above configuration, the blower can be driven in a quieter "fluctuation mode B" suitable for sleeping by setting the sleep timer, and the sleep timer is not set, only the off timer is set. When it is judged that it is day or night based on the brightness of the room, if it is judged that it is daytime, it is operated in the normal "fluctuation mode A", and if it is judged that it is night, the set time of the off timer is stored in the second storage means. "Good night time" (for example, from 11:00 pm to 6:00 am
It is determined whether or not the time period (up to the minute) is applicable, and if so, the fan is operated in quieter "fluctuation mode B", and if not, in normal "fluctuation mode A". Therefore, it is possible to drive appropriate fluctuations according to the situation.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 shows a control system of a blower for an indoor unit. Reference numeral 1 is an optical sensor for detecting the brightness of a room, 2 is a remote controller, and 3 is a control unit for controlling a blower 4. The control unit 3 includes an A / D converter 5 for A / D converting the detection signal of the optical sensor 1, a brightness determining unit 6 for determining the brightness of the room,
A first storage means 7 for storing a brightness determination reference value, a second storage means 8 for storing a good night time period, a third storage means 9 for storing fluctuation modes A and B, and a brightness determination means 6. Judgment result and instruction signal input through the light receiving unit 10 (timer mode such as sleep timer, off timer)
A fluctuation mode determining means 11 for determining an appropriate fluctuation mode from the above, and a 1 / f fluctuation signal corresponding to the fluctuation mode determined by the fluctuation mode determining means 11 is supplied to the motor driving section 13
It is provided with a fluctuation signal generator 12 for outputting to. The blower motor 4 incorporates a Hall element sensor for speed detection, and feedback control of the number of revolutions can be sequentially performed.

2A and 2B respectively show the difference in the change of the rotational speed when the blower motor 4 is operated in the "fluctuation mode A" and the "fluctuation mode B", that is, the fluctuation. (A) is a normal fluctuating operation, and (b) is a quieter fluctuating operation. The third storage means described above stores such two fluctuation modes A and B, and the "fluctuation mode B" is set when the sleep timer is set.
"Good night timer" is not set and "Off timer"
When setting only, the brightness of the room is determined, when it is bright, it is "fluctuation mode A", and when it is dark, it is determined whether the current time is within the preset "good night time", and "good night time""Fluctuation mode B" if there is "obi"
If not, drive the blower in "fluctuation mode A".

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the situation. In step ST1, it is judged whether or not "good night" is set, and if it is set, the process proceeds to step ST5 based on the fluctuation mode B. To drive. If the "Good night timer" is not set, it is judged whether or not the "Off timer" is set in step ST2. If it is not set, the process returns to step ST1, but if it is set, it is determined in step ST3 whether the room is dark. That is, it is determined whether it is day or night, and if it is dark, the process proceeds to step ST4, but if it is bright, the process proceeds to step ST6 to perform the operation based on the fluctuation mode A. When it is determined that the room is dark, it is determined in step ST4 whether or not the set time of the "off timer" corresponds to a good night time (preset bedtime), and if yes, the fluctuation mode is determined in step ST5. A quieter fluctuating operation based on B is performed, but if it is not applicable, it is still in the night, but it is a time zone when people are still awake
Normal fluctuation operation based on fluctuation mode A in 6 is performed.

[0009]

As described above, if the control function as described above is provided, the fluctuating operation can be started simply by setting the "good night timer", which is convenient, and the fluctuation degree is the same as that of the conventional one. Comfortable because the fluctuation is slower than fluctuation, and also "off timer"
When it is set, it is determined whether the user is awake or sleeping based on the brightness of the room, the time of day, etc., and the fluctuating operation is executed according to the situation, so the operation time is saved. It is convenient and convenient and always provides comfortable air conditioning.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control system required for fluctuation operation of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing changes in the rotation speed of a blower motor during 1 / f control according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a control example according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Optical Sensor 2 Remote Controller 3 Control Unit 4 Blower Motor 6 Brightness Discriminating Means 11 Fluctuation Mode Determining Means 12 1 / f Fluctuation Signal Generator 13 Motor Drive Unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A brightness discriminating means for discriminating the brightness of a room in a control portion configured to control a motor driving portion of a blower based on input signals from an optical sensor and a remote controller, and discriminating the brightness. First storage means for storing a reference value,
A predetermined fluctuation mode is selected from a second storage unit that stores a good night time period, a third storage unit that stores a plurality of fluctuation modes, a determination result of the brightness determination unit, and a timer mode set by the user. And a fluctuation signal generator for outputting a 1 / f fluctuation signal corresponding to the fluctuation mode determined by the fluctuation mode determining means to the motor drive unit of the blower, and a good night timer "Fluctuation mode B" that is quieter when set
When the "Good night timer" is not set and only "Off timer" is set, the brightness of the room is determined. When it is bright, the normal "fluctuation mode A" is set, and when it is dark, the "Off timer" setting time is set. Whether or not it corresponds to the "good night time" stored in the first storage means is determined, and if so, the quieter "fluctuation mode B" is used, and if not, the normal "fluctuation mode A" is used. An air conditioner characterized by being configured to operate a blower.