KR100613509B1 - Air conditioner central control system and operational method of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an air conditioner central control system and a method of operating the same, and an air conditioner system in which a plurality of air conditioners are connected through a network, and a control program connected to the air conditioner system through a gateway and interfacing with a user. When the setting information of the air conditioner is input, the central controller for editing the data of the cell unit, the upper or lower data of the edited cell is interlocked and automatically edited, and in particular, the indoor unit of the plurality of air conditioning system through the control program / The setting information of the air conditioner such as outdoor unit information, network information, etc. are automatically stored as the default value, and when the user inputs or changes the setting information of the air conditioner system, the upper or lower data is automatically linked according to the change or input. According to the setting information Can shorten the time required for the change.

Air conditioner, multi air conditioner, central control, setting information

Description

Air conditioner central control system and operational method of the same             

1 is a view showing a central air conditioner control system according to the prior art,

2 is a configuration diagram of a central control system of an air conditioner according to the present invention;

3 is a view showing a screen of the control program according to the present invention;

4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating a central control system of an air conditioner according to the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols on main parts of the drawings>

100: outdoor unit 200: indoor unit

300: air conditioner 400: central controller

410: gateway 420: database unit

The present invention relates to an air conditioner central control system and a method of operating the same, and more particularly, to a central controller in which a control program is driven to integrally control a plurality of air conditioner systems, wherein the control program includes indoor / outdoor unit information and a network of the air conditioner system. The setting information of the air conditioner, such as information, is automatically entered as the default value, and the upper or lower data is automatically linked according to the input when editing the setting information of the air conditioning system, thereby reducing the data input time for managing a plurality of air conditioners. The present invention relates to an air conditioner central control system and a method of operating the same.

As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional air conditioner central control system includes a plurality of air conditioners including an outdoor unit 10 that controls distribution and circulation of a refrigerant and an indoor unit 20 that is shared with the outdoor unit and discharges air to each room ( 30) and a central controller 40 capable of central control by connecting the plurality of air conditioners.

However, the initial air conditioner central control system could not control the detailed functions of the air conditioner because the control program for individually controlling the plurality of air conditioners 30 was not provided separately, and simply turned on / off the power or set one cooling temperature. Since it was applied to all air conditioners there was a problem that the efficiency is lowered.

In order to solve this problem, the user inputs the air conditioner setting information such as the network information of each air conditioner 30 and the device information of the outdoor unit / indoor unit in advance, thereby controlling the operation of the air conditioner according to the input setting information. This is implemented in the central controller 40.

Recently, as the performance of the outdoor unit 10 and the indoor unit 20 is improved, a larger number of indoor units 20 are shared and connected to the outdoor unit 10 to increase the number of air conditioners constituting the multi-air conditioner system 30.

As such, when the scale of the multi-air conditioner system 30 increases, the user has to directly input setting information such as network information, outdoor unit / indoor type and model, and maximum power consumption of each air conditioner to the central controller 40.

Therefore, a manager of a joint building consisting of more than a few tens to hundreds of air conditioners connected through a communication line to form a multi-air conditioner system 30 had to enter a large amount of air conditioner setting information data alone, which was inefficient and inefficient. .

In addition, the control program is implemented to simply list the setting information of all the air conditioners 30, so that when the setting information of any air conditioner is changed or there is an error in the input setting information, the user may select an air conditioner in which data is incorrectly input. There was a lot of difficulty in managing data by passively exploring.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems of the prior art, the purpose of the air conditioner setting information, such as indoor unit / outdoor unit information, network information to the central controller for the integrated control of the air conditioning system connected to a plurality of air conditioner default As a control program is automatically inputted as a value and a control program for automatically changing input by interlocking with upper or lower data when the setting information data is edited, the data management time is shortened and the work efficiency of the manager is improved. It is to provide a central control system and its operation method.

According to a feature of the air conditioning central control system of the present invention for solving the above problems, a plurality of air conditioners and interconnected via a network; A central control system of an air conditioner, comprising a central controller connected to a network with the plurality of air conditioners through a gateway and operating a control program for interfacing with a user, wherein the central controller defaults when inputting setting information through a touch panel. When the data is automatically input by default, and the data is edited in units of cells, the lower data dependent on the edited cell and the upper data including the edited cell are linked and automatically changed.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of operating an air conditioner central control system, comprising: a first step of default input of default data for network setting of each air conditioner as a control program of a central controller is executed; A second step of editing data on a cell-by-cell basis in a display window on which input setting information is displayed; A third step of interlocking and automatically editing lower data dependent on the edited data and upper data including the edited data; And the fourth step in which the edited data is stored in the database and the setting information is displayed.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The air conditioner central control system according to the present invention can be applied regardless of the type and the connection method of the air conditioner, the present specification will be described by taking an example of a multi-air conditioner connected to a plurality of indoor units in one outdoor unit.

2 is a diagram of a central control system of an air conditioner according to the present invention, which includes an outdoor unit 100 for controlling distribution and circulation of a refrigerant and one or more indoor units 200 which are shared with the outdoor unit and discharge air to each chamber. The configured air conditioner 300 is connected through a communication network to form an air conditioner system (S).

The air conditioner system S is connected to the central controller 400 through a gateway 410, and when the setting information of each air conditioner is input to the central controller, data of a cell unit is edited, upper or lower of the edited cell. A control program for interlocking data is automatically driven to interface with the user.

The central controller 400 is connected to the gateway 410 to enable signal transmission and reception through each of the multi-air conditioners 100 and a communication network. The gateway may be connected internally or externally. The gateway 410 is a device capable of transmitting and receiving information between communication networks by interconnecting the same or different communication networks.

Here, the communication network to which the air conditioner system (S) and the central controller 400 are connected is a local area network (LAN) represented by Ethernet, a telephone exchange network basically provided in the building, and data through a low voltage power line of 100V to 220V band. It is possible to use a power line communication network and the like to communicate by loading a high frequency signal of several hundred kHz to several tens of MHz.

When the setting information of each air conditioner is input, the central controller 400 implements a control program for automatically editing the data of the cell unit and interlocking the upper or lower data of the edited cell with a user environment (UI, User Interface). ), Which is shown in FIG. 3.

First, referring to FIG. 3A, the control program basically provides data set as default by a simple button operation before data input for a plurality of air conditioners is initially performed.

That is, if a user presses the [Default Input] button before the data input by the user, the gateway information such as the gateway 410 number, the network address, etc. to which the multi-air conditioners 100 of the air conditioner system S are connected, and the outdoor unit connected to the gateway Provides a screen in which the number, outdoor unit name, outdoor unit type and model, and maximum power consumption information are inputted, and provides a screen in which indoor unit information such as the type and model of the indoor unit connected to each outdoor unit and maximum power consumption are input. As such, the control program of the present invention implements a basic input function in which basic setting information is automatically input as a default value.

Each data displayed in the basic input setting window as shown in FIG. 3A is displayed in a cell unit C1 having a row / column structure. That is, the control program enables data editing directly on the display window as shown in FIG. 3A and selects data in units of cells.

To this end, the central controller 400 is provided with an input unit such as a keyboard or a mouse. In particular, when a control program is implemented to enable data editing in units of cells, a user can easily edit data by touching a cell on a screen. You can do it. Therefore, the input unit of the central controller 400 of the present invention may be configured to be integrated with the input / output unit by mounting a touch panel on the screen.

Data can be edited according to the input through the keyboard, mouse, or touch panel, and each cell can be individually selected or dragged to activate the cell.

In addition, the central controller 400 is configured to include a database unit 420, the default value by the producer is stored, the data edited by the user is updated and stored.

In the case of editing data in a cell unit by the control program, the control program of the present invention is updated in conjunction with the data in which the upper and lower data are currently edited, which is illustrated in FIGS. 3B and 3C.

That is, when the gateway number 1 is changed to 2 and inputted, setting information about the outdoor unit subordinate to the gateway number 1 is automatically changed and stored. Thus, the gate number of C2 shown in FIG. 3A is changed to C22 shown in FIG. 3C and stored. As the upper or lower data is automatically linked and updated, the user's information input error can be reduced and the input time can be shortened.

In addition, the control program performs a function of automatically searching the upper data of the data currently being edited, which is illustrated in FIG. 3D. When the gateway number input in FIG. 3B is 0 and 1, the user wants to input the gateway number by changing the gateway number to 3 (C3). The control program automatically searches for higher level data to determine an incorrect input. Therefore, if 3 is inputted, an error message is output to request re-entry, or if re-entry is not performed, the input gateway number 3 is not stored in the database unit 420.

Therefore, when a new air conditioner is additionally connected or replaced in an existing multi-air conditioner system, and a change of setting information is required, the user simply changes the setting information of the corresponding air conditioner, and the upper or lower data corresponding thereto is automatically changed, and the input data amount is changed. Will be reduced.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an air conditioner central control system according to the present invention.

First, as the control program of the central controller is executed in the first step, setting information for network connection of each air conditioner is automatically input as a default data value (S1).

In this case, the setting information includes the gateway number to which each air conditioner is connected, the upper setting information regarding the network address, the outdoor unit number connected to the gateway, the name, the outdoor unit type and model, the outdoor unit information of the maximum power consumption value, and the plurality of outdoor units connected to the outdoor unit. It consists of sub-setting information consisting of indoor unit type and model, indoor unit information of the maximum power consumption value.

In the second step, data in cell units is edited in the display window in which the setting information input in the first step is displayed (S2). That is, when some or all of the basic input setting information is different from the actual setting information, data editing is required, or when the air conditioner is newly connected or replaced to edit the setting information of the corresponding air conditioner, the mouse, keyboard, and Editable by touch panel input. At this time, the selected cell is activated and is converted into an editable state.

In the third step, the upper or lower data of the edited setting information is linked and automatically edited (S3). The third step may include a first process of automatically searching the upper data of the edited data, and if the edited data of the search result is dependent on the upper data, input the data normally, and if the data is not dependent on the upper data, input again. Including the requesting second process.

In other words, if the parent data is edited, the child data dependent on it is automatically changed, and if the child data is edited, the updated data is saved only if the edited data matches the parent data. Print a message to request re-entry.

In the fourth step, the edited data is stored in the database unit (S4), and the updated setting information is displayed (S5).

As described above with reference to the illustrated air conditioner central control system and its operation method according to the present invention, the present invention is not limited by the embodiments and drawings disclosed herein, the technical spirit of the present invention is protected It can be applied by those skilled in the art in the range.

 The air conditioner central control system of the present invention configured as described above and a method of operating the same by default inputting the setting information of each air conditioner to the central controller for central control of a plurality of air conditioning systems, the setting information is edited by the user As the control program for interlocking and storing the upper or lower data dependent thereon is driven, the user's convenience is increased by reducing the input time of the setting information regarding the plurality of air conditioners.

Claims (7)

A plurality of air conditioners interconnected via a network; In the central control system of the air conditioner is connected to the plurality of air conditioners via a gateway, the central control system of the air conditioner comprising a central controller for driving a control program for interfacing with the user, When the setting information is input through the touch panel, the central controller automatically inputs default data, and when the data is edited in units of cells, lower data dependent on the edited cell and upper data including the edited cell are displayed. Central control system of the air conditioner, characterized in that the automatic change. The method of claim 1, The central controller is a central control system of an air conditioner, characterized in that it comprises an input unit for inputting the setting information of the air conditioner and a touch panel integrated with a display window for displaying the default data and the edited data. The method of claim 1, The control program includes a basic input mode for inputting default data into a selected setting input window; A central control system for an air conditioner, comprising: a cell edit mode capable of directly editing data in a display window on which data is displayed, and selecting data on a cell basis. The method of claim 2, In the cell edit mode, when the upper data is edited, the dependent lower data is automatically changed, and the upper / lower data is interlocked and edited by automatically searching the upper data when the lower data is input. system. The method of claim 1, The air conditioner central control system further comprises a database unit for storing setting information of each air conditioner. In the operating method of the central control system of the air conditioner comprising a plurality of air conditioners connected via a network, and a central controller connected to the plurality of air conditioners through a gateway, the control program for interfacing with the user is driven, comprising: A first step of default input of default data for network setting of each air conditioner as a control program of the central controller is executed; A second step of editing data on a cell-by-cell basis in a display window on which input setting information is displayed; A third step of interlocking and automatically editing lower data dependent on the edited data and upper data including the edited data; And a fourth step in which the edited data is stored in a database and setting information is displayed. The method of claim 6, The third step may include a first step of automatically searching for upper data of the edited data; And a second process of inputting the edited data as normal when the search result is dependent on the upper data, and requesting re-entry when the data is not dependent on the upper data. .

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