JPS62186152A - Control device of air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a device capable of controlling an air conditioner without a remote controller, by constituting the control unit in such a manner that a microcomputer gives a trigger signal to an ultrasonic wave generating circuit, measures a period of time up to the returning of an output from the ultrasonic wave generating circuit, and causes a memory to store the measured time. CONSTITUTION:When a trigger signal is given from a microcomputer 10 to an ultrasonic wave generating circuit 8 in a state where no resident is in a room in which an indoor unit 5 is installed, the ultrasonic wave generating circuit 8 sends out an ultrasonic wave to a direction where the room exists. Since the microcomputer 10 measures a time from emitting of the trigger signal to the ultrasonic wave generating circuit 8 to the receipt of the output signal from an ultrasonic wave receiving circuit 9, and the data is written in a memory 11. When a resident enters the room, the ultrasonic wave hits against the resident and returns back rapidly, and hence the ultrasonic wave is not coincident with the data of the memory 11. The microcomputer 10 recognizes the presence of the resident in the room by the incoincidence, and puts the air conditioner into an operational state. Thus, whether the resident is in the room or not is automatically recognized and the air conditioner can be automatically operated and stopped.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an operation control device for an air conditioner.

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional general household heat pump type air conditioner (hereinafter referred to as an air conditioner) has an outdoor unit 1, an indoor unit 2, and a remote control (remote control switch hereinafter referred to as remote control) 3, as shown in Fig. 2. and a communication line 4 that electrically connects the outdoor unit 1 and the indoor unit 2.

When operating the air conditioner, first send a signal to the indoor unit 2 by operating the switch on the remote control 3.
Furthermore, signals were transmitted to the outdoor unit 1 through the communication line 4 for control.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention These conventional configurations are no longer able to meet the diversifying demands of users in recent years.

For example, in an air conditioner that can detect indoor and outdoor temperatures and automatically determine whether to use cooling or heating, the remote control
Its role is only to start or stop operation. Providing the remote control 3 only for this function has the problem of high cost.

The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a device that can control an air conditioner without a remote control.

Means for Solving the Problem In order to solve this problem, the present invention provides an ultrasonic generation circuit that generates ultrasonic waves in response to a trigger signal, and a reflected wave of the ultrasonic waves generated by this ultrasonic generation circuit. an ultrasonic receiving circuit for receiving the ultrasonic wave; a time measuring means for measuring the time it takes for the ultrasonic wave generated by applying a trigger signal to the ultrasonic wave generating circuit to reflect back to the ultrasonic receiving circuit; The air conditioner control device has a configuration that includes a memory for storing measured times, a memory operating means for reading and writing this memory, and a time comparison means for comparing the measured time values stored in the memory. .

Function: With this configuration, the microcomputer gives a trigger signal to the ultrasonic generator circuit and measures the time until the output is returned from the ultrasonic receiver circuit. The measurement time is stored in memory.

The ultrasonic generation circuit responds to the trigger signal from the microcomputer.
Sends out ultrasonic waves in all directions within the room. The ultrasonic receiving circuit receives reflected ultrasonic waves and outputs them to the microcomputer. As is well known, the speed of sound in air at 20°C is approximately 340 m.
/sec, the size of the room can be calculated from the time data in the memory.

EXAMPLE An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 6 denotes an indoor unit of the air conditioner, which is electrically connected to the outdoor unit 6 through a connecting line 7. The indoor unit 6 is this indoor unit 6
An ultrasonic generation circuit 8 that sends out ultrasonic waves in response to a trigger signal from the microcomputer 10 toward the room where the ultrasonic wave generation circuit 8 is installed, and receives reflected waves of the ultrasonic waves sent out from the ultrasonic generation circuit 8. and measuring the time from when a trigger signal is output to the ultrasonic receiving circuit 9 that outputs an output signal to the microcomputer 1o and the ultrasonic generating circuit 8 until receiving and receiving the output signal from the ultrasonic receiving circuit 9, Write to memory 11, write to memory 11
The microcomputer 10 reads data from the memory 11 and the memory 11.

In the above configuration, when the microcomputer 10 gives a trigger signal to the ultrasonic generation circuit 8 when no one is present in the room where the indoor unit 6 is installed, the ultrasonic generation circuit 8 moves in the direction of the room. sends out ultrasonic waves to Since there is no occupant in the room, the ultrasonic waves hit the floor, walls, etc. and are reflected, and some of them return to the ultrasonic receiving circuit 9. As a result, the ultrasonic receiving circuit 9 immediately outputs an output signal to the microcomputer 1o. The microcomputer 10 measures the time from issuing a trigger signal to the ultrasonic generating circuit 8 to receiving an output signal from the ultrasonic receiving circuit 9, and writes the data into the memory 11.

In this way, the direction in which the ultrasonic waves are sent out is changed little by little, and the data obtained by measuring the time it takes for the reflected ultrasonic waves to return in each direction is written in the memory 11.

As described above, the state of the room with no occupants is stored in the memory 11, and the microcomputer 10 scans in each direction of the room in the same direction as described above and sends out ultrasonic waves.
The time it takes for the reflected wave to return is measured and stored in the memory 1.
Check against the data in 1 to see if they match. This verification will always match as long as there is no occupant in the room, but when a occupant enters the room, the ultrasonic waves will hit the occupant and return faster, so the reflected waves in that direction will return. If the time is short υ, the data will no longer match the data in the memory 11. Based on this discrepancy, the microcomputer 10 recognizes that there is a resident in the room and turns on the air conditioner. Conversely, the air conditioner is stopped when the data in the memory 11 and the scanned data match.

In this way, it is possible to automatically recognize whether there is a person in the room or not, and automatically start and stop the air conditioner.

Currently, microcomputers commonly used in air conditioners etc. are capable of measuring several hundred microseconds, but if this time is 5500 microseconds, the speed of sound in air at 20°C is approximately 340 m/sea, so 340 x 500 x 1
This means that it is possible to detect the ultrasonic wave traveling a distance of 0 = 0.17 m. This can be said to be sufficient for general household use. In other words, the air conditioner is generally 0.17 m or more away from the floor, wall, etc., and if a person stands between the air conditioner and the floor or wall, the distance is 0.17 m or more from the air conditioner.
, the presence of a human can be detected if the distance is 17 meters or more.

As is clear from the description of the embodiments above, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically recognize whether or not a resident is in the room without a person operating the remote control, and the air conditioner can automatically start and stop. As the name suggests, the above-mentioned conventional problems can be solved, the air conditioner can be controlled even without a remote control, and an air conditioner can be provided at a low cost.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control device for an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a conventional air conditioner. 5...Indoor unit, 8...Ultrasonic generation circuit, 9...Ultrasonic receiving circuit, 10...Microcomputer-111... ·memory. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person No. 1
Figure 5 - Murotori (Fig. 2)

Claims (1)

[Claims] an ultrasonic generation circuit that generates ultrasonic waves in response to a trigger signal; an ultrasonic reception circuit that receives reflected waves of the ultrasonic waves generated by the ultrasonic generation circuit; and a trigger signal that is applied to the ultrasonic generation circuit. A time measuring means for measuring the time taken for the generated ultrasonic waves to reflect back to the ultrasonic receiving circuit, a memory for storing the measured time, a memory operating means for reading and writing the memory, and a memory for reading and writing the memory. A control device for an air conditioner comprising time comparison means for comparing stored measured time values.