JPH09113011A - Indoor-outdoor split type air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to automatically reoperate by the previous setting at the time of resetting a main power source even if the main power source is cut OFF during operating by using an element (EEPROM) which makes it possible to hold storage information even if the power source is cut OFF. SOLUTION: Air conditioners 1, 2 are started to be operated according to an operation command from a remote controller 4. In this case, temperature setting, operating mode (cooling or heating) and air volume setting are transmitted, and the set values are stored in an EEPROM 8 in an electronic controller 6. The set values are altered in the data in the EEPROM 8 at each time of transmitting the altering signal by the controller 4. Normally, thus, the operation and stop are conducted. At the time of operating, if a main power source 14 is interrupted due to power interruption, the conditioners 1, 2 and the controller 6 are stopped, but the data in the EEPROM 8 are continuously held even if no power exists.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an inside / outside separated air conditioner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, air conditioners have been widely used in each home, but most of them are indoor / outdoor separated air conditioners, and it is common to perform setting by a wireless remote controller. In this case, if the main power is cut off due to a power failure,
In the conventional technique, since the setting at the time of driving is not stored, it is impossible to know which setting should be used for automatic recovery. There is also a method of driving the electronic control device itself with a rechargeable battery or the like, and a method of automatically sending a signal from the wireless remote controller at a constant interval to reconfirm the setting each time.

A first example of a conventional indoor-outdoor air conditioner will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing an electrical configuration of a conventional air conditioner for separating inside and outside which is capable of cooling operation. In the figure, an indoor / outdoor separation type air conditioner includes an indoor unit 1, an outdoor unit 2, and an indoor / outdoor connecting electric wire 3 for electrically connecting them to each other, and a wireless remote controller (hereinafter, remote controller) for operating / stopping, temperature setting, etc. ) 4. In the indoor unit 1, 5 is a main body switch, 6 is an electronic control unit, 20 is a rechargeable battery for supplying DC power to the electronic control unit 6, 19 is a circuit for charging the rechargeable battery at normal time, 12 is an indoor fan motor, and 11 is A relay 10 for controlling energization of the indoor fan motor is a main relay controlled by the electronic control unit 6. Further, in the outdoor unit 2, 15 is an outdoor fan motor such as an induction motor, 16 is a capacitor for an outdoor fan motor, 17 is a compressor, and 18 is a compressor capacitor.

[0004] The interrelationship and operation of the above components will be described below. The indoor unit 1 is connected to the commercial power supply 14, and when the main body switch 5 is turned on, electric power is supplied to the electronic control unit 6 to start the control operation, and waits for an instruction. Here, when the user inputs an instruction to start the operation with the remote controller, the indoor electronic control unit 6 controls the main relay 10 to bring it into the connected state, and the commercial power supply 14 is switched to the indoor fan motor 1.
2 and the outdoor unit 2. At this time, the indoor fan motor 12 is rotated to start circulation of indoor air through an indoor heat exchanger (not shown), the commercial power source 14 is also connected to the compressor 17 to start rotation, and the outdoor fan motor 1
5 is also energized to start feeding the outside air into the outdoor heat exchanger (not shown). Similarly, when the temperature control and the air volume control are transmitted by the remote controller 4, the electronic control unit 6 can control the relays 10 and 11 in accordance therewith. Here, since the electronic control unit 6 is backed up by the rechargeable battery 20, the set value remains in the electronic control unit 6 even if the main power supply 14 is cut off, and when the power supply 14 is restored, the original set value is restored. It will be possible to restart.

Next, the second of the conventional air conditioners for separating inside and outside
Examples will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing an electrical configuration of a conventional air conditioner for separating inside and outside which can perform a cooling operation. In the figure, the configuration is almost the same as in the first example of FIG. 3, so only the differences will be described. After the operation switch is pressed, the remote controller 4 continuously transmits the set value by the remote controller 4 at a constant interval until the stop switch is pressed. Reference numeral 7 is a transformer that supplies low voltage power to the electronic control unit 6.

Hereinafter, the mutual relationship and operation of the above-mentioned components will be described, but the same parts as those of the first example of the conventional example will be omitted here. In the case of this conventional example, the set value is always transmitted from the remote controller 4 at a constant interval, and is continuously transmitted even while the main power source 14 is cut off, and when the power source 14 is restored, it is transmitted from the remote controller 4 at that time. The operation can be restarted with the set settings.

[0007]

In the case of the conventional example 1 as described above, the rechargeable battery 20 is required to back up the electronic control unit 6, and the circuit 19 for charging the rechargeable battery 20 is also required. This circuit also requires control such as overcharge prevention, which makes the circuit complicated and expensive. Furthermore, the electronic control unit contains not only electronic elements but also a relay that consumes a lot of power, and is not suitable for holding the electronic control unit for a long time. Will increase the capacity of the battery,
There are problems such as an increase in cost and an increase in size of the control device.

Further, in the case of the conventional example 2, the remote control 4 continues the transmission even when the main power supply 14 is cut off, and the battery life of the remote control 4 is shortened. Furthermore, the remote controller 4 must always be in a range where it can send signals and be received by the air conditioner body.
The place where the remote control and the main body are placed is limited, and if there is an obstacle on the remote control, the main body cannot receive and cannot restart after the power is restored.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and even when the main power supply is shut off for some reason, the operation is automatically restarted at the original setting when the power is restored without the user's operation. It is an object of the present invention to provide an inside / outside separated air conditioner capable of performing the above.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an electronic element (hereinafter referred to as “E”) capable of storing a written value in an electronic control unit of an indoor unit even when power is cut off.
EPROM) is used to rewrite the value in the EEPROM every time the operation set value is changed by the remote controller. Also, if time comes, stop driving,
It includes a timer setting control that can start the operation. When the main power supply is cut off, the timer information of the timer setting control is not stored but is reset. Further, when the main power supply is cut off and restored during operation, the operation is restarted after a fixed time plus a random time due to random number generation. Further, the electronic control device is provided with a switch capable of invalidating the control.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION According to the present invention, in the above structure, the operation is restarted based on the value written in the EEPROM at the time of restoration even if the power is cut off. At that time, the timer function is canceled and the operation is restarted. At the time of restoration, it does not always return at the same time, but it always returns at a slightly deviated time.If the automatic restoration function causes a problem, the automatic restoration function is disabled, and the air conditioner automatically resumes operation when returning after the power is cut off. It is something that can be done even if it cannot be done.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the air conditioner for separating inside and outside the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing the electrical configuration of this embodiment. Note that the electronic controller 6 differs from the conventional example shown in FIG.
The M8 is installed. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the control of this embodiment.

The mutual relationship and operation of the above components will be described below. At the very beginning, temperature settings such as operation OFF, air volume settings, etc. are input as initial values at factory shipment. Next, even if the main power supply 14 is turned on, the operation is turned off as an initial value.
Therefore, the air conditioner is not operated. The operation of the air conditioner is started by the operation command from the remote controller 4. At that time, the temperature setting, the operation mode (cooling or heating, etc.), the air volume setting, etc. are also transmitted and the set values are stored in the EEPROM 8. The data in the EEPROM 8 is changed every time a signal for changing the set value is transmitted by the remote controller 4. Normally, the operation and stop are performed in this way. When the main power supply 14 is cut off due to a power failure or the like during operation, the air conditioner and the electronic control unit 6 are stopped, but the data in the EEPROM 8 continues to be held even if there is no power supply. Next main power 1
When 4 is restored, first, after stopping for a certain period of time, the data of the EEPROM 8 is read and the operation is restarted with the set value.

In addition, although there are many separation type air conditioners in which a remote controller has a timer function, the present embodiment has a timer function, and the EEPROM 8 stores data relating to the timer even when the timer is set. Instead, the timer function is canceled when the main power supply 14 is restored.

Next, after the main power supply 14 is stopped for a certain period of time after being restored, a random number is generated to set a time in the range of several seconds to several tens of seconds, and a control for setting the time as the duration for continuing the main body stop is incorporated. It is also possible.

Further, the data in the EEPROM 8 can be always turned off by the switch 9 on the electronic control unit 6, in which case the main power supply 14 is shut off during the operation and then the main power supply 14 is restored. However, the operation of the air conditioner will not be restarted. This is equivalent to disabling the function of the EEPROM 8.

[0017]

As is apparent from the above-described embodiments, the present invention is a separation type air conditioner which is equipped with an electronic control unit having an EEPROM in an indoor unit and is operated by a wireless remote controller. A switch that can disable the EEPROM function is provided above, and since it has a random operation delay control within a certain range when the power is restored, the main power supply is cut off during a power failure during operation. After that, when the power is restored, the user can automatically restart the operation with the previous settings without operating the remote controller with the inexpensive and simple circuit.

Next, even in the case of an air conditioner having a timer function, the timer function is canceled when the main power supply is cut off and restored, so that the timer setting time does not deviate due to the main power supply cutoff time.

Further, normally, in the compressor part of the refrigeration cycle inside the air conditioner, if there is a pressure difference between the suction side and the discharge side at the time of stop, a start failure may occur, and the time from stop to restart of the compressor Is 2 to 3 as the time until the pressure difference disappears
It is normal to take an aliquot. Therefore, even in the conventional example and the present example, delay control of 2 to 3 minutes is provided at the time of restart, but when several air conditioners having the same control are installed in the same power line, when recovering from a power failure All air conditioners will start up at the same time. Since a large current flows as a starting current at the time of starting the compressor, when a plurality of air conditioners are started at the same time, the voltage of the power supply line drops due to the sum of the starting currents, which causes the starting failure of the compressor.
However, in the present embodiment, since the control for randomly shifting the delay time required for the recovery is incorporated, it does not start at the same time, the voltage drop of the power supply line hardly occurs, and the damage to the equipment can be avoided.

Further, depending on the user or the environment in which the user is used, there may be a case where it is desired to disable the automatic return. In that case, however, in this embodiment, the switch on the electronic control unit can select whether the automatic return function is valid or invalid. The range of use will be further expanded.

Since the present invention has the effects as described above, it is possible to install an unmanned air conditioner in a computer room and a weekly timer or a monthly timer which can be used by the user opening and closing the main power source, which cannot be used conventionally. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing an electrical configuration of an embodiment of an inside / outside separation type air conditioner of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of control of an embodiment of the air conditioner for separating inside and outside of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing an electrical configuration of an inside / outside separation type air conditioner of Conventional Example 1.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing an electrical configuration of an inside / outside separated air conditioner of Conventional Example 2.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Indoor unit 2 Outdoor unit 6 Indoor electronic control unit 8 EEPROM

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An indoor / outdoor separation type air conditioner comprising an indoor unit equipped with an electronic control unit and a wireless remote controller for operating mode selection, room temperature control, air volume control, etc., wherein the electronic control unit is powered off. Is also equipped with an element capable of holding stored information (hereinafter referred to as EEPROM), and the EEPROM can be operated even if the main power is cut off during the operation of the air conditioner.
An internal / external separation type air conditioner that uses M to memorize the setting status until the main power is cut off and restarts the operation with the same setting as the operating status until the main power is cut off after a certain time . 2. The wireless remote controller includes a timer setting control that can stop the driving or start the driving when the time comes, and the timer information of the timer setting control is stored when the main power is cut off. The inside / outside separated air conditioner according to claim 1, further comprising a control for resetting the air conditioner. 3. The internal / external separation according to claim 2, wherein when the main power supply is cut off and restored during operation in the inside / outside separation type air conditioner, the operation is restarted after a fixed time plus a random time due to random number generation. Type air conditioner. 4. The inside / outside separation type air conditioner according to claim 1, further comprising an electronic control device provided with a switch capable of invalidating the control.