KR100697077B1 - Multi Air-conditioner Center Control System and Operating method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a central control system of a multi-air conditioner and a method of operating the same, wherein priority is set to at least one central controller and at least one individual controller, and when control command data is input at the same time, according to the set priority. By performing the operation in order to prevent the collision of each control command data received at the same time to perform the normal operation according to the control command, and includes a buffer for temporarily storing the data transmitted and received, so The response speed of each multi-air conditioner can be greatly improved.

Central controller, individual controller, indoor unit, outdoor unit, multi air conditioner

Description

 Multi-air conditioner central control system and its operation method {Multi Air-conditioner Center Control System and Operating method}

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a multi-air conditioner central control system according to the present invention;

2 is a flowchart illustrating a data flow of a multi-air conditioner central control system according to the present invention;

3 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of a multi-air conditioner central control system according to the present invention;

4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a multi-air conditioner central control system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of a multi-air conditioner central control system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating a multi-air conditioner central control system according to the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols on main parts of the drawings>

100: central controller 200: multi air conditioner

210: outdoor unit 220: indoor unit

120, 211, 221: control unit 130, 212, 222: memory

217: transmission buffer 218: reception buffer

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a central control system of a multi-air conditioner and a method of operating the same. In particular, a priority is given to at least one central controller and an individual controller to control the operation of the multi-air conditioner from each of the central or individual controllers. When data is input at the same time, the present invention relates to a central control system of a multi-air conditioner and a method of operating the same so that corresponding operations are sequentially performed according to a set priority.

In recent years, as the use of air conditioners has increased greatly, indoor units have been provided in each room of a home or in a building, and multi-type air conditioners composed of outdoor units connected to each indoor unit provided are installed.

The central control system of the multi-air conditioner according to the prior art includes a plurality of indoor units installed in each room, a few outdoor units shared with each indoor unit to control the distribution and circulation of the refrigerant, and the indoor units and the outdoor unit and the network network. Is connected through is configured to include a central controller for integrated control of the operation of each multi-air conditioner.

That is, the outdoor unit constituting the multi-air conditioner grasps an operating state of each indoor unit and transmits it to the central controller, and the central controller controls a condensation degree of the refrigerant by reading or analyzing the received operating state data. By transmitting the to the outdoor unit it is possible to control the operation of each indoor unit or outdoor unit.

In this case, the central controller for centrally controlling the multi-air conditioner may be variously implemented according to a connection state or an implementation type, and a plurality of central controllers may be provided to separately control each of the multi-air conditioners from each central controller. .

However, in the central control system of a multi-air conditioner having a plurality of central controllers as described above, when control command data is simultaneously transmitted from each central controller to the multi-air conditioner, data collision occurs and the input operation does not operate normally. There is a problem that can not be.

In particular, since each of the central controllers have different transmission speeds of the control command data generated according to the connection type, even when a control command is issued from a specific central controller, the control command data reaching the multi-air conditioner is received from another central controller. It can be reached simultaneously with the transmitted control command.

That is, in the central control system of the multi-air conditioner configured as described above, since the outdoor unit and each indoor unit transmit and receive data through the RS-485 communication method through a cable, the speed is basically different based on the outdoor unit. In general, the general communication method through Ethernet shows faster transmission speed than the serial port or RS-485 communication method.

Therefore, when the control command for the operation of the multi-air conditioner is first issued from the central controller connected by the RS-485 method among the central controllers, and then the control command is issued from the central controller connected via Ethernet, the RS is transmitted to the outdoor unit. -485 type data and Ethernet type data arrive simultaneously and data conflict occurs.

In addition, in some cases, a problem arises in that the Ethernet type data arrives earlier than the RS-485 type data first issued, and thus the operation is performed in the indoor unit.

In addition, when the control command data reaching the outdoor unit is different from each other, the multi-air conditioner may repeatedly perform different control operations according to the control command data, thereby causing a problem of waste of resources due to unnecessary operations.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, the priority is set to each of the at least one central controller and the individual controller for controlling the operation of the multi-air conditioner control command data corresponding to the set priority It is an object of the present invention to provide a central control system of a multi-air conditioner and a method of operating the same, which can be executed first to prevent data collision and to prevent unnecessary repetition.

The central control system of a multi-air conditioner according to the present invention for solving the above problems includes a multi-air conditioner provided with at least one outdoor unit and an indoor unit, and at least one central controller for centrally controlling the operation of the multi-air conditioner. The central controller is characterized in that the priority is set for each central controller.

In addition, the central control system of the multi-air conditioner according to the present invention includes a multi-air conditioner having at least one outdoor unit and an indoor unit, at least one central controller for centrally controlling the operation of the multi-air conditioner, and directing a control command to each indoor unit. At least one individual controller for inputting, wherein the central controller and the individual controllers are set in priority, including each of the central controller and each of the individual controllers, and the individual controllers have priority over the central controller. The ranking is set.

In a method of operating a multi-air conditioner central control system according to the present invention, the method of operating a central control system of a multi-air conditioner is provided with at least one central controller for centrally controlling the operation of the multi-air conditioner consisting of at least one indoor unit and an outdoor unit, Prioritizing each of the central controllers; transmitting control command data received from the central controller to the outdoor unit sequentially to the indoor unit according to the priority; and receiving the control command data according to the priority. It characterized in that it comprises a step of performing an operation corresponding to.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a multi-air conditioner central control system according to the present invention.

The central control system of the multi-air conditioner according to the present invention is connected to a plurality of multi-air conditioner 200 consisting of a plurality of outdoor unit 210 and the indoor unit 220, and connected to each of the multi-air conditioner 200 through a network network 210 and the central controller 100 for controlling the operation of the indoor unit 220 is configured to include.

The multi-air conditioner 200 is an air conditioning facility that is connected to at least one indoor unit 220 to one outdoor unit 210 to meet the heating and cooling capacity of the building, the indoor unit 220 is a ceiling type, wall-hung type The outdoor unit 210 controls the circulation of the refrigerant according to a control command transmitted from the indoor unit 220 or from the central controller 100. Allow air conditioning of each chamber located.

The central controller 100 is a device that individually or integrally controls the operation of each of the multi-air conditioners 200, and is basically connected to the multi-air conditioners 200 through a network to transmit and receive data, and input from the outside. If the device can transmit the control command to the corresponding multi-air conditioner 200 and output the state information data transmitted from each of the multi-air conditioner 200 to the outside can be used as the central controller (100).

In addition, the central controller 100 includes a simple central controller 100c capable of centrally controlling 16 air conditioners, an advanced central controller 100a capable of centrally controlling 256 air conditioners, and 4096 units according to the number of controllable multi-air conditioners. The air conditioner may be classified into a controllable PC central controller 100b and the like.

In this case, the simple central controller 100c may be implemented in the form of an LCD-type panel capable of monitoring the state of each of the multi-air conditioners and basic operation control. The advanced central controller 100a may be a home server. The web pad may be mounted on and detached from a functioning internet refrigerator and may issue an operation control command to the internet refrigerator and a plurality of home appliances (including multi air conditioners) connected thereto.

Particularly, in the central control system of the multi-air conditioner according to the present invention, in which each of the central controllers 100 is provided with one or more, or one or more types of central controllers, the central controllers 100 are basic. Priority is set according to an input or a user setting, and when control command data is simultaneously received from a plurality of central controllers 100, the control command data is sequentially executed according to the priority of each preset central controller 100. do.

2 is a diagram illustrating a data flow of a multi-air conditioner central control system according to the present invention.

That is, when the central controller 100 of the multi-air conditioner central control system according to the present invention intends to transmit the input control command to the outdoor unit 210, as shown in FIG. The control command packet D _P including the rank data is generated by the multi-air conditioner protocol method and transmitted to the outdoor unit 210.

At this time, the outdoor unit 210 has a transmission buffer 217 for temporarily storing the control command data received from the central controller 100, and a reception buffer 218 for temporarily storing the result data received from the indoor unit 220. It is configured to include).

The transmission buffer 217 may be formed in a predetermined size, and the received control command data may be stored in a FIFO (Final In, Final Out) manner by a predetermined number, for example, the control processed in the transmission buffer 217. When the command data is the N-th command, the result data stored in the reception buffer 218 is the result data for the N-th command, so that the outdoor buffer 210 determines whether the command of the controller is normally performed. At 218, the Nth result data is in a waiting state until it is stored, and the time required is called a dead time.

Therefore, since the priority information is stored in the control command packet D _P generated by the multi-air conditioner protocol method, when a plurality of control command packets D _P are received at the same time, the transmission buffer ( The control command data is stored at 217, and the control command data is transmitted to the indoor unit 220 according to the stored order.

In addition, when a control panel P is directly connected to the indoor unit 220 and controls the operation of the indoor unit 220, a control command input from the control panel P is directly transmitted to the indoor unit 220. The priority setting process as described above is not required because it arrives first.

3 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of a multi-air conditioner central control system according to the present invention.

In the multi-air conditioner central control system according to the present invention for operating as described above, the central controller 100 is a memory 130 for storing the priority data set according to the basic setting or the user input, and each of the multi-air conditioner The controller 120 outputs the state information data transmitted from the apparatus 200 to the outside, and generates a control command packet D _P including the priority data when the control command is inputted to the outdoor unit 210. It is configured to include.

In addition, the central controller 100 includes a UI 110 for interfacing with a user to input and output predetermined data, and a communication module 140 for transmitting and receiving data with the outdoor unit 210. do.

The memory 130 may include a priority storage unit 132 in which the priority data is stored, and an air conditioner DB 131 in which product information or status information for each of the multi-air conditioners 200 is stored. have.

The outdoor unit 210 is a communication module 213 for transmitting and receiving data to and from each of the central controller 100 and the indoor unit 220, and a control command received from each of the central controllers 100 through the communication module 213. the control command data included in the packet _(P D) that is configured to include a controller 211 for generating control signals to be performed sequentially according to the priority of the packet _(P D).

In addition, the outdoor unit 210 includes a memory 212 for storing data transmitted from each of the central controller 100 or the indoor unit 220, the memory 212 from the central controller 100 A transmission buffer 217 in which received control command packets D _P are temporarily stored in order of priority, and a reception buffer 218 temporarily storing result data performed by control command data transmitted to the indoor unit 220. It may be configured to include).

At this time, the communication module 213 of the outdoor unit further receives a conversion module (not shown) for converting the packet to RS-485 communication method when receiving the control command packet D _P from the central controller 100 connected by Ethernet. It can be configured to include.

Meanwhile, a preferred embodiment of the multi-air conditioner central control system basically constructed and operating as described above is as follows. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a multi-air conditioner central control system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

That is, in general, the multi-air conditioner 200 is configured to further include a separate controller (P, R) for inputting a control command directly in order to control the operation of one indoor unit (220).

As the individual controllers P and R, a control panel P connected to the indoor unit 220 and a serial port to transmit directly input control command data, and a control command wirelessly spaced apart from the indoor unit 220. Remote control (R) can be used, and when the control panel (P) and the remote control (R) is used at the same time when the control command data is simultaneously input to the indoor unit 220 and the case of each of the central controller (100) Similarly, data collisions can occur.

Therefore, priority should also be set to the individual controllers P and R, which are provided in plurality, wherein the individual controllers P and R are given priority to the respective central controllers 100.

5 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of a multi-air conditioner central control system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The central control system of the multi-air conditioner according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention is the same as the above-described configuration except for the configuration of the indoor unit 220 in which control command data is directly input from the individual controllers P and R. Detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Therefore, the indoor unit 220 receives a communication command from the individual controller (P, R) and the communication module 223 to transmit and receive data with the outdoor unit 210, and the communication module 223 And a control unit 221 which classifies the control command data received through the priority and reads and executes the high priority data first.

At this time, the control unit 221 includes a ranking determination unit 225 for determining and classifying the priority of each received control command data, and generates a control signal for performing an operation according to the control command data to the indoor unit ( And transmits the state information data of the indoor unit 220, which is varied according to the transmitted control signal, to the outdoor unit 210.

In addition, the indoor unit 220 includes a memory 222 that stores data transmitted and received with the outdoor unit 210 and the individual controllers (P, R), the memory 222 is the outdoor unit (210) And a buffer 226 for temporarily storing the respective control command data in order to determine the priority of the control command data received from the individual controllers P and R.

Looking at the operation of the present invention configured as described above are as follows. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating a multi-air conditioner central control system according to the present invention.

Centrally controls the operation of the multi-air conditioners and sequentially sets and inputs priorities to each central controller equipped with a plurality of units.

The multi-air conditioner is composed of an indoor unit and an outdoor unit, and when a plurality of individual controllers for directly inputting operation commands of the indoor unit are provided, the central controller and the individual controllers are integrated and set in order of priority.

At this time, the individual controller is directly transmitted to the indoor unit, unlike the case of the central controller in which the input control command reaches the indoor unit via the outdoor unit, the priority of the individual controller is set higher than the priority of the central controller. S1)

Next, when a control command is input from each of the central controllers, priority data set in the process together with the control command data are transmitted to the outdoor unit (S2).

The plurality of control command data received by the outdoor unit are sequentially stored in the transmission buffer according to the priority data received together, and the control command data having high priority is first transmitted to the indoor unit according to the stored order. S4)

The control command data transmitted to the indoor unit is read and performs a corresponding operation. In the case where a plurality of control command data is received in the indoor unit, the operation of the control command data received from the individual controller having a high priority is performed. First, the resultant data is transmitted to the outdoor unit, and then the operation of the control command data received from the central controller is executed. (S5, S6)

As described above, the central control system of the multi-air conditioner and the operation method thereof according to the present invention have been described with reference to the illustrated drawings, but the present invention is not limited by the embodiments and drawings disclosed herein, and a plurality of controllers The technical idea of the present invention to set a priority when first provided to perform a command received from a controller having a high priority may be easily applied by those skilled in the art within a protected range.

The central control system of the multi-air conditioner and its operation method according to the present invention configured as described above are set to priorities when a plurality of controllers are provided to perform a command received from a controller having a high priority first. At the same time, the control command data can be prevented from being collided so that the operation according to the control command can be normally performed. Also, a buffer for temporarily storing data to be transmitted / received can be included to greatly increase the response speed of each multi-air conditioner to the input control command. There is an effect that can be improved.

Claims (14)

A multi-air conditioner having at least one outdoor unit and an indoor unit; At least one central controller for centrally controlling the operation of the multi-air conditioner, The central controller is a central control system of a multi-air conditioner, characterized in that the priority is set for each central controller. The method of claim 1, And the central controller transmits a control command packet including control command data and preset priority data for controlling the indoor unit to the outdoor unit. (delete) The method of claim 2,  The central controller may include a memory in which the set priority data is stored; And a controller for outputting the state information data transmitted from each of the multi-air conditioners to the outside, and generating the control command packet including the priority data when the control command is input and transmitting the generated control command packet to the outdoor unit. Central control system of multi-air conditioner. The method of claim 4, wherein The memory includes a priority storage unit for storing the priority data; And an air conditioner DB in which product information or status information for each of the multi air conditioners is stored. The method of claim 1, The outdoor unit may include a memory in which data transmitted from each of the central controllers or the multi-air conditioners is stored; And a controller configured to generate a control signal and transmit the control signal to the indoor unit so that the control command data included in the packet may be sequentially executed according to the priority included in the control command packet received from the central controller. Central control system of multi-air conditioner. The method of claim 6, The memory includes a transmission buffer in which control command packets received from the central controller are temporarily stored in order of priority; And a reception buffer for temporarily storing the result data performed by the control command data transmitted to the indoor unit. A multi-air conditioner having at least one outdoor unit and an indoor unit; At least one central controller for centrally controlling the operation of the multi-air conditioner; At least one individual controller for directly inputting a control command to each indoor unit, The central controller and the individual controller are each of the central controller, and each of the individual controller including the priority is set, the individual controller is prioritized to the central controller is set priority of the multi-air conditioner Central control system. The method of claim 8, The individual controller includes a control panel connected to the indoor unit and a serial port to transmit directly input control command data; And a remote controller spaced apart from the indoor unit to remotely input a control command. The method of claim 8, The indoor unit includes a memory for storing control command data received from the outdoor unit and the individual controller; Central control of the multi-air conditioner characterized in that it comprises a control unit for determining the priority of each control command data stored in the memory to execute the control command data of the highest priority, and then transmit the state data to the outdoor unit accordingly. system. In the operation method of the central control system of the multi-air conditioner is provided with at least one central controller for centrally controlling the operation of the multi-air conditioner composed of at least one indoor unit and outdoor unit, Prioritizing the central controller; Transmitting control command data received from the central controller to the outdoor unit sequentially to the indoor unit according to the priority; And performing an operation corresponding to the control command data received according to the priority. The method of claim 11, When at least one individual controller connected to the indoor unit is further included, The priority is set by including each of the central controller and each of the individual controller, and the individual controller is set to a higher priority than the central controller. The method of claim 12, When control command data of the central controller and control command data of the individual controller are simultaneously received to the indoor unit, control command data of the individual controller is performed in preference to the control command data of the central controller according to the priority. A method of operating a multi-air conditioner central control system. The method of claim 13, And the priority data is transmitted together with the control command data.

Images