JPS61228246A - Control system for air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To suppress the occurrence of interference by sending only single control signal to a signal line even when units are plural by using a system in which control signals for other units are sent out in a given order from the main controller provided in any of the units and control signals are sent out to a transmitter recording to the control signal by the controller. CONSTITUTION:In the control system, plural indoor units 2 and 3 are provided for one outdoor unit 1, and remote controllers 4 and 5 corresponding to the units 2 and 3 are provided in the air conditioner. In such an air conditioner, the outdoor unit 1, the indoor units 2 and 3, and remote controllers 4 and 5 are connected to the same signal line 6. Control signals are sent out to the controllers of the other units in given orders from the main controller provided to any of the units. In the control system, control signals are sent out to the signal line according to the control signals. During the period when control signals are sent out and received between the two units, control signals are not sent out to the other units. For this reason, no plural control signals are sent out to the same signal line. The occurrence of interference can thus be prevented in control signals, and therefore, the transmission and receiving of control signals can be exactly made.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (A) Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to the control of a multi-type air conditioner that includes one outdoor unit and a plurality of indoor units.
In particular, it relates to the transmission and reception of data signals between each unit.

(b) Conventional technology In general, the conventional control method for air conditioners is
There was one described in Japanese Patent No. 7-70343.

This publication states that control signals are transmitted and received between a single outdoor unit, a single indoor unit, and a single remote controller through a pair of control signal lines, respectively. In this system, each unit was provided with an address, and this address was designated to transmit and receive control signals between the units.

G-1 Problems to be Solved by the Invention In such an air conditioner control method, control signals may be output from each unit at the same time, and interference may occur between the respective control signals. Furthermore, when the total number of each unit is small, the influence of interference is small, but when the number of indoor units or remote controllers is increased, the number of times that control signals are generated from each unit increases, and the influence of interference increases. Furthermore, there was a problem that this interference caused noise, making it impossible to lengthen the signal line.

In view of these problems, the present invention provides an air conditioner control method that reduces interference and allows the number of units to be easily increased.

B) Means for Solving the Problems The control method of the present invention is applicable to an air conditioner that has one outdoor unit and a plurality of indoor units, and has a remote control corresponding to each of the indoor units. Connect the outdoor unit, indoor unit, and remote control to the same signal line, and output control signals from the main control section of each unit to the control section of each other unit in a predetermined order. The control signal is output to the signal line according to the control signal.

(e) Effect In the control method of the present invention as described above, when two units are transmitting and receiving control signals, other units do not transmit control signals, so multiple control signals are sent to the same signal line. is not output. In other words, control signals can be reliably transmitted and received without interference between control signals. Furthermore, since control signals are transmitted and received between each unit in a predetermined order, even if the number of units is added, it can be easily handled by simply increasing the number of steps for transmitting and receiving control signals.

(to) Examples Below, examples of the present invention will be explained based on the drawings. First, Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an air conditioner using the present invention.
1) is the outdoor unit, (2) and (3) are the indoor unit A
%B, (4), (5) are remote control a, b, (61 is a signal line. Figure 2 is an operation explanatory diagram showing the main operations of the main control section of the unexpected unit (1). Yes, first of all, remote control a (4
) and causes the contents operated by remote controller a(4) to be returned as a control signal. Next, remote control b (5)
is specified as an address, and the contents operated with remote control b (5) are sent back as a control signal. Next, indoor unit) A (2
) A control signal specifying the head address is transmitted, and indoor unit A (2) returns a control signal indicating the operating status of this unit. Next, indoor unit B (sends a control signal specifying the address to 31, indoor unit) B ta+
A control signal indicating the operating status of this unit is sent back from the unit. In this way, after receiving the control signals from each unit (2) to (51), the operation of the entire air conditioner is controlled based on the main program.For example, the outdoor unit 1)K
It controls the rotation speed when using a compressor with variable rotation speed, the flow rate of refrigerant flowing to indoor units A and B (23, (3)), and defrost control during heat-bon operation.

Figure 3 is a flowchart showing the main operations of the control section of remote controllers a and b (41, (5)), which operate as follows.First, this control section always scans the keys on the remote control's operation panel. When there is a key operation, the operation contents are stored in the memory element.In addition, when there is no key operation, the previous contents are stored as they are.During this time, the outdoor unit (
When a control signal is sent from 1), the address sent with this control signal is stored by interrupt processing. In the next step, if this address value matches the address set in the remote control, the content of the key operation stored in this memory element is returned as a control signal.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing the main operations of controlling the indoor units A, B (21, (3)), and the operations are as follows.First, this control section checks the operating status of the indoor units at predetermined intervals. The information is sensed and stored in a storage element.

The operating conditions include the temperature of the conditioned air, the temperature of the heat exchanger, the air volume of the blower, and the state of the display. If a control signal is transmitted from the outdoor unit (1) during this time, this control signal and address are stored by interrupt processing. In the next step, if this address value matches the address set in the remote control, this control signal is input as data, and the above operating status is returned as a control signal from the indoor unit.

When operating an air conditioner configured in this way, the outdoor unit (1) first specifies the address of the remote control a (4) and inputs the content of the key operation as a control signal. The content of the operation is input as a control signal.Indoor unit A (2), indoor unit) B1
After sequentially inputting control signals from 31, the outdoor unit (
After the calculation is performed by the main control section of II, the rotation speed of the compressor and the air volume of the blower are determined and operation is started. At this time, since only the units addressed from the outdoor unit (11) transmit control signals to the signal line (6), there is no interference between control signals.Furthermore, even if indoor units and remote controllers are added, It is sufficient to increase the input slap of the control signal without changing the main program of the main control section.

(G) Effects of the Invention As described above, the control method of the present invention can be applied to an air conditioner that has one outdoor unit and a plurality of indoor units, and has a remote control corresponding to each of the indoor units. The outdoor unit, indoor unit, and remote controller are connected to the same signal line, and the main control section installed in one of each unit outputs control signals for the other units in a predetermined order, and this control section receives this control signal. Since the control signal is output to the signal line in accordance with the signal line, even if there are a plurality of units, only a single control signal is sent to the signal line, and interference can be suppressed. Furthermore, since control signals are transmitted and received in a predetermined order based on the operation of the main control section, increasing the number of control signal transmission and reception steps can easily accommodate an increase in the number of indoor units and remote controllers. Furthermore, since only the control section of the unit whose address is specified by the main control section outputs the control signal, the control signal at this time does not require an address, and the program for the branch control section and the control section can be easily configured. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an air conditioner using an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the main operations of the main control section of the outdoor unit shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the main operations of the control section of the outdoor unit shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. The figure is the first
3 is a flowchart showing the main operations of the control section of the indoor unit shown in the figure. (1)...Outdoor unit, (2), +31...Indoor unit, (4), +57...Remote control, (6)
··Signal line.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In an air conditioner that has multiple indoor units for one outdoor unit and has a remote control corresponding to each indoor unit, these outdoor units,
The indoor unit and the remote control are connected to the same signal line, and the main control section installed in one of each unit outputs a control signal to the control section of each other unit in a predetermined order, and this control section receives this control signal. 1. A method for controlling an air conditioner, comprising outputting a control signal to a signal line in response to a signal line.