KR100855000B1 - Air conditioner and control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

An air conditioner and a control method thereof are provided to exactly distinguish an object from a human body by determining the existence and position of the human body in a corresponding space based on variation in distance and temperature information in each space. An air conditioner comprises a distance detector and a temperature detector. The distance detector detects a distance to an obstacle in indoor space. The temperature detector detects the temperature of the indoor space. A rotating unit(24) rotates the distance and temperature detectors. A controller(20) detects and stores distance and temperature information in each space divided based on the rotation direction of the distance and temperature detectors, and determines the existence and position of a human body in each corresponding space based on variation in the stored distance and temperature information.

Description

Air conditioner and its control method {AIR CONDITIONER AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF}

1 is a perspective view of an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a side cross-sectional view of an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a control block diagram of an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a view for explaining a distance value and a temperature value in each space area in an indoor space divided into a plurality of space areas in an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for describing a table of distance information and temperature information stored in the storage of FIG. 3.

6 is a control flowchart illustrating a control method of an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a table for explaining determining the presence or absence of a human body in each spatial region of FIG. 6.

* Description of the symbols for the main functions of the drawings *

17a: infrared distance sensor 17b: infrared temperature sensor

18: motor 19a: left and right louvers

19b: up and down louver 20: control unit

21: storage unit 22: fan drive unit

23: louver driving unit 24: rotating unit

25: compressor driving unit 26: compressor

The present invention relates to an air conditioner and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to an air conditioner and a control method capable of detecting the presence or absence of a human body in an indoor space.

In general, an air conditioner includes a compressor, a four-way valve, an outdoor heat exchanger, an outdoor expansion device, and a refrigerant circulating therein in a cooling / heating cycle in which an indoor expansion device and an indoor heat exchanger are connected to a refrigerant pipe to form a closed circuit. It is a device that cools or heats the surroundings by using endothermic action and exothermic action.

Recently, the air conditioner grasps the presence or absence of the human body on the indoor space and controls the wind direction and the amount of air accordingly, thereby cooling and heating the indoor space to an optimal state desired by the user.

Korean Patent Publication No. 0166933 sequentially detects the distance between an object or a human body in various directions by dividing the rotational direction range of the left and right louvers at a predetermined angle using a sound wave sensor installed to work with the left and right louvers. In addition, it is disclosed to determine the presence or absence of the human body in each direction and the position of the human body based on the detected amount of change in the distance, and to adjust the wind direction and the amount of wind based on the identified information.

However, it is difficult to distinguish between an object and a human body in the past because the object depends only on a change in distance from the obstacle whether the object is an object or a human body.

The present invention is to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an air conditioner and a control method that can determine the presence of the human body and the position of the human body faster and more accurately by improving the human body detection performance. .

The air conditioner of the present invention for achieving the above object is a distance sensing unit for detecting the distance to the obstacle of the indoor space, a temperature sensing unit for sensing the space temperature of the indoor space, and the rotation of the distance sensing unit and the temperature sensing unit During the rotation of the eastern part and the distance sensing unit and the temperature sensing unit, distance information and temperature information are sensed for each spatial region divided into a plurality of regions with respect to the rotation direction and sequentially stored for each spatial region, and the stored distance information and temperature information It characterized in that it comprises a control unit for determining the presence of the human body and the position of the human body for each spatial region based on the rate of change.

In addition, the control method of the air conditioner of the present invention in the control method of the air conditioner for rotating the sensor for detecting the distance to the obstacle of the indoor space and the sensor for detecting the space temperature of the indoor space, the sensor is rotated and During the rotation of the sensors, the sensor detects distance information and temperature information for each spatial area divided into a plurality of areas in the rotation direction, sequentially stores the detected distance information and temperature information for each spatial area, and for each corresponding spatial area. And determining the presence or absence of the human body and the position of the human body in the corresponding spatial region based on the stored distance information and the rate of change of the temperature information.

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

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a box-shaped cabinet 11 having an open front face and a front panel 12 covering an open front face of the cabinet 11. The main body 10 is provided. It is installed inside the main body 10 and includes a heat exchanger 13 for heat exchange and a blower fan 14 for blowing air.

First and second air inlets 15 are formed on both sides of the lower part of the main body 10 to suck the indoor air into the main body 10. A discharge port 16 for discharging back to the indoor space is formed.

An infrared distance sensor 17a and an infrared temperature sensor 17b are installed on the lower side of the discharge port 16 so as to reciprocate from side to side in a predetermined angle range. The infrared distance sensor 17a and the infrared temperature sensor 17b are rotated by the motor 18. The infrared distance sensor 17a detects the distance to the obstacle in the indoor space of the rotating direction. The infrared temperature sensor 17b detects the space temperature in the rotating direction.

Inside the discharge port 16, left and right louvers 19a for guiding the direction of the discharged air from side to side and up and down louvers 19b for guiding up and down are provided.

The heat exchanger 13 inside the main body 10 is installed to have a predetermined slope inside the upper space so that heat passing through the inside may be exchanged while passing. And the blower fan 14 is installed in the inner lower space of the main body 10, the air sucked into the main body 10 through the inlet 15 on both sides through the heat exchanger 13 of the upper discharge port 16 Blow into the air. Reference numeral 19 is a fan casing which forms a ventilation flow path inside the main body 10.

The configuration of the air conditioner is that the air sucked into the main body 10 through the inlet 15 when the blower fan 14 operates is heat exchanged through the heat exchanger 13 in the upper part of the main body 10 In order to cool the indoor air, the air is supplied to the indoor space through the upper discharge port 16.

As shown in FIG. 3, the air conditioner according to the embodiment of the present invention having the above-described configuration includes a control unit 20 for performing overall control.

An infrared distance sensor 17a and an infrared temperature sensor 17b are electrically connected to an input side of the controller 20. The infrared distance sensor 17a and the infrared temperature sensor 17b are rotated by the motor 18. The infrared distance sensor 17a detects a distance between an obstacle in an indoor space in a rotating direction, and includes a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit, and measures infrared rays by returning infrared rays after being reflected by the obstacle. The infrared temperature sensor 17b is for detecting the spatial temperature in the rotating direction. The infrared temperature sensor 17b includes a lens, a thermopile, and a built-in signal processor. Measure

On the output side of the control unit 20, a fan driver 22 for driving the blower fan 14, a louver driver 23 for driving the left and right louvers 19a and the upper and lower louvers 19b, an infrared distance sensor 17a, The rotating part 24 which drives the motor 18 which rotates the infrared temperature sensor 18b, and the compressor drive part 25 which drives the compressor 26 are electrically connected.

In addition, the controller 20 electrically stores a storage unit 21 which sequentially stores the distance information and the temperature information for each spatial region detected by the infrared distance sensor 17a and the infrared temperature sensor 17b for each spatial region. It is connected.

The controller 20 reciprocates the infrared ray distance sensor 17a and the infrared ray temperature sensor 17b through the rotation unit 24, and as shown in FIG. 4, the infrared ray distance sensor 17a and the infrared ray temperature sensor 17b. During the reciprocating rotation of), measure the distance value and temperature value of the obstacle in the space area in each direction at regular intervals. The measured distance value and temperature value in each space area are stored in the storage unit 21 for each corresponding space area. FIG. 5 illustrates a pattern in which a temperature value and a distance value are stored for each space region when the indoor space is divided into n space regions.

For example, if the infrared distance sensor 17a and the infrared temperature sensor 17b rotate from the G1 space area to the Gn space area, the first distance value Y1 with an obstacle in the G1 space area while passing through the G1 space area (Y1). -1) and the temperature value (X1-1) are measured and stored, and the first distance value (Y2-1) and the first temperature value (X2-1) with the obstacle in the G2 space area while passing through the G2 space area. ) Is measured and stored in the same way for the remaining space area, and finally the first distance value (Yn-1) and temperature value (Xn-1) in the Gn space area are measured and stored. Then, when the infrared distance sensor 17a and the infrared temperature sensor 17b rotate in opposite directions, the second distance value Yn-2 and the temperature value Xn-2 in the Gn space region are measured and stored. While passing through the Gn-1 space area, the second distance value (Yn-1-2) and the second temperature value (Xn-1-2) from the obstacle in the Gn-1 space area are measured and stored. After performing the same for the remaining space area, the second distance value (Y1-2) and the temperature value (X1-2) in the G1 space area are measured and stored. This process is continuously performed in the same manner while the infrared distance sensor 17a and the infrared temperature sensor 17b rotate. At this time, each temperature value (X0-1 to Xn-0) in the G1 space region to the Gn space region is an initial value that is stored in advance, and may be an object, a human body, or a heat source that may be in each space region of the indoor space before the air conditioner is operated. This value is used to determine the existence of.

If there is no obstacle in the space area, the transmitted infrared rays are reflected back to the wall, and if there is an obstacle, the infrared rays are returned to the obstacle. Therefore, there is a time difference in which infrared rays return depending on the presence or absence of an obstacle, and the controller 20 determines whether or not there is an obstacle in the corresponding spatial area based on the change of the previous distance value and the current distance value. Determine the location of obstacles in. In addition, when there is an obstacle, if there is no distance change between the current distance and the previous distance, it may be determined that the obstacle is an object, and if the current distance is shorter than the previous distance, the obstacle may be determined as the human body. However, if a person is sleeping in the space area before the air conditioner is operated, there is little movement because there is little movement, and there is a possibility that the object is wrong even though the obstacle is a human body. Therefore, it is difficult to accurately determine whether the obstacle is an object or a human body only by the change of the distance change rate, and only the existence of the obstacle and the location of the obstacle can be known accurately. In this case, the previous distance may be the immediately preceding distance or an average value of the total distances up to the previous distance.

Therefore, in the present invention, not only the change of the distance change rate in the space area but also the temperature change rate in the space area is grasped. If there is no person in the space, the temperature in the space is low, but if there is a person, the temperature is measured relatively high due to body temperature. Especially for non-human heat sources, temperature values are measured higher. Therefore, the controller 20 may determine the presence or absence of the human body in the corresponding space area by comparing the present temperature with the previous temperature. At this time, the human body and the heat source can be easily distinguished because the deviation of the measured temperature value is large. In this case, the previous temperature may be a temperature immediately before or may be an average value of the entire temperatures up to the previous temperature.

As described above, the control unit 20 has a distance change in a direction in which the current distance is shorter than a previous distance and a temperature change in a direction in which the current temperature is higher than the previous temperature with respect to a specific space region. There is a new obstacle, which is judged as a human body or a heat source. In the case of the heat source, since the temperature value is measured higher than that of the human body, if the deviation of the temperature change is greater than or equal to the reference value, it is determined as the heat source, and if it is less than the reference value, the human body is determined.

In addition, the controller 20 has only a change in the direction in which the current distance is shorter than the previous distance and there is no change in the direction in which the current temperature is higher than the previous temperature. Determine the obstacle as an object.

In addition, the controller 20 has no change in distance in the direction in which the current distance is shorter than the previous distance and there is only a change in temperature in the direction in which the current temperature is higher than the previous temperature. Since there is a heat source or the human body, if the deviation of the temperature change is more than the reference value, it is determined that there is a heat source, and if it is less than the reference value, it is determined that there is a human body. The human body at this time is a human body with almost no movement.

In addition, the controller 20 has only a change in distance in a direction in which the current distance is shorter than the previous distance and there is no change in temperature in a direction in which the current temperature is higher than the previous temperature. Judge that there is no human body, object or heat source.

On the other hand, the control unit 20 adjusts the left and right louvers (19a) to the space area in which the human body exists, and the upper and lower louvers (19b) are adjusted upward as the position of the human body is farther from the body (10). Adjust the upper and lower louvers (19b) according to the position.

Hereinafter, the operation of the control unit 20 will be described with reference to FIG. 6. First, the control unit 20 performs a cooling operation or a heating operation in step 100.

In addition, the control unit 20 rotates the infrared ray distance sensor 17a and the infrared ray temperature sensor 17b through the rotation unit 24 in step 110.

The controller 20 rotates the infrared distance sensor 17a and the infrared temperature sensor 17b, and then transmits infrared rays to each spatial region in steps 120 and 130, and then receives infrared rays reflected back to each other in the corresponding spatial region. Sensing distance and temperature

In step 140, the controller 20 stores the detected distance information for each spatial region and temperature information for each spatial region through the storage 21.

Then, the control unit 20 determines the presence of the human body and the position of the human body for each spatial region in step 150. That is, as shown in Figure 7, if only the distance change in the direction that the current distance is shorter than the previous distance and the temperature change in the direction that the current temperature is higher than the previous temperature, there is a new obstacle into the corresponding space area This obstacle is judged as a human body or a heat source. In the case of the heat source, since the temperature value is measured higher than that of the human body, if the deviation of the temperature change is greater than or equal to the reference value, it is determined as the heat source, and if it is less than the reference value, the human body is determined. In addition, if there is only a distance change in a direction in which the current distance is shorter than a previous distance and there is no temperature change in a direction in which the current temperature is higher than the previous temperature, there is an obstacle newly introduced into the corresponding space region, and the obstacle is determined as an object. In addition, if there is no distance change in the direction in which the current distance is shorter than the previous distance, and there is only a temperature change in the direction in which the current temperature is higher than the previous temperature, there is no new obstacle into the corresponding space area, but there is a heat source or a human body from the beginning. If the deviation of the temperature change is more than the reference value, it is determined that there is a heat source, and if it is less than the reference value, it is determined that there is no human body. In addition, if there is no distance change in the direction in which the current distance is shorter than the previous distance and no temperature change in the direction in which the current temperature is higher than the previous temperature, no obstacles are introduced into the corresponding space area or there is no human body, object, or heat source at first. To judge.

In addition, the control unit 20 adjusts the left and right louvers 19a to the space area in which the human body exists in step 160, and adjusts the upper and lower louvers 19b upward as the position of the human body is farther from the main body 10 in the corresponding space area. Adjust the upper and lower louvers (19b) to fit the human body position.

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, while rotating the sensor for detecting the distance to the obstacle of the indoor space and the temperature sensor for detecting the space temperature of the indoor space for each spatial region divided into a plurality of regions in the rotation direction Detects and stores distance information and temperature information, and determines whether human body exists and its position in the relevant spatial area based on the change of stored distance information and temperature information. Even without the human body can be determined quickly and accurately. Therefore, there is an effect to improve the comfort of the human body by concentrating or avoiding cold or warmth in the human body in accordance with the user's preference.

In addition, according to the present invention, since the use of a distance sensor and a temperature sensor of a relatively fast detection speed has an effect that can determine the presence of the human body in real time.

Further, according to the present invention, instead of interlocking the rotational motion of the infrared distance sensor and the temperature sensor with the relatively slow left and right louvers, the rotational speed can be increased by using an independent rotation means. It is effective to make the existence judgment more quickly.

Claims (14)

A distance detecting unit detecting a distance from an obstacle in an indoor space; A temperature sensing unit sensing a space temperature of the indoor space; A rotating part for rotating the distance detecting part and the temperature detecting part; During the rotation of the distance sensing unit and the temperature sensing unit, distance information and temperature information are sensed for each spatial region divided into a plurality of regions with respect to the rotation direction, and sequentially stored for each spatial region, and the change rate of the stored distance information and temperature information An air conditioner including a control unit for determining the presence of the human body and the position of the human body based on the corresponding space area. The air conditioner of claim 1, wherein the distance detecting unit comprises an infrared distance sensor. The air conditioner of claim 1, wherein the temperature sensing unit comprises an infrared temperature sensor. The air conditioner of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to determine that a human body or a heat source exists in the space area when the current distance to the obstacle is shorter than the previous distance and the current temperature is higher than the previous temperature in the corresponding space area. The method of claim 4, wherein the controller determines that a heat source is present in the space region when the current temperature is higher than the preset temperature in the corresponding space region, and when the current temperature is lower than the preset temperature, the human body is placed in the space region. Air conditioner judged to exist. The air conditioner of claim 1, wherein the controller determines that a human body or a heat source is present in the space region when there is no change in distance between the current distance and the previous distance from the obstacle in the space region and the current temperature is higher than the previous temperature. group. The method of claim 6, wherein the controller determines that a heat source exists in the space region when the current temperature is higher than the preset temperature in the corresponding space region, and if the current temperature is lower than the preset temperature, movement is performed in the space region. An air conditioner that judges the absence of a human body. The air conditioner of claim 1, wherein the controller determines that an object exists in the space region when the current distance to the obstacle is shorter than the previous distance and there is no temperature change between the current temperature and the previous temperature in the space region. In the control method of the air conditioner for rotating the sensor for detecting the distance to the obstacle of the indoor space and the sensor for detecting the space temperature of the indoor space, Rotate the sensors, While the sensors rotate, sensing distance information and temperature information for each spatial region divided into a plurality of regions with respect to the rotation direction, Stores the detected distance information and temperature information sequentially for each spatial area, A control method of an air conditioner comprising determining the presence of the human body and the position of the human body in the spatial region based on the rate of change of distance information and temperature information stored for each spatial region. The control method of claim 9, wherein when the current distance from the obstacle in the space area is shorter than the previous distance and the current temperature is higher than the previous temperature, it is determined that a human body or a heat source exists in the space area. The method of claim 10, wherein if the current temperature is higher than the preset temperature in the space area, it is determined that a heat source is present in the space area, and if the current temperature is lower than the preset temperature, the human body is present in the space area. Judgment method of air conditioner. The control of the air conditioner according to claim 9, wherein if there is no change in distance between the current distance and the previous distance from the obstacle in the space area and the current temperature is higher than the previous temperature, the air conditioner determines that a human body or a heat source exists in the space area. Way. The method of claim 12, wherein if the current temperature is higher than the preset temperature in the space area, it is determined that a heat source exists in the space area. If the current temperature is lower than the preset temperature, the human body having no movement in the space area is determined. A control method of an air conditioner which is judged to exist. The control method of an air conditioner according to claim 9, wherein if the current distance to the obstacle is shorter than the previous distance in the space area and there is no temperature change between the current temperature and the previous temperature, it is determined that an object exists in the space area.

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