KR101446284B1 - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an air conditioner, in which a plurality of units included in an air conditioner are divided into a schedule group and a management group, and the schedule data is applied to the schedule group or the management group, The unit can set the schedule based on the schedule data so that the unit management and control of the air conditioner is easy, the schedule setting and the change are easy, and the convenience of the user is improved.

Air conditioner, remote controller, schedule, schedule group, schedule pattern

Description

Air conditioner

The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly, to an air conditioner in which a plurality of units included in an air conditioner are divided into a schedule group and a management group to control the operation in units of a schedule group or a management group and set a schedule.

Generally, an air conditioner is provided for cooling, heating, and purifying air, and is installed to discharge air of cold and hot into the room and purify the room air to create a more comfortable indoor environment for a human being. Such an air conditioner is controlled separately by an indoor unit constituted by a heat exchanger, an outdoor unit constituted by a compressor, a heat exchanger and the like, and controlled by a power source supplied to a compressor or a heat exchanger.

At least one of the plurality of outdoor units is driven corresponding to the number of the indoor units to be driven so that the refrigerant is supplied to the indoor unit in accordance with the requested operation state and the cooling / It is operated in heating mode.

The air conditioner further includes a remote controller for controlling a plurality of indoor units and outdoor units at a remote place.

However, in the conventional remote controller, when a plurality of indoor units are connected, it is possible to control only the units of the indoor units or the indoor units connected to the outdoor units so that the convenience of the indoor units is low, It is difficult to control the schedule because the user has to input them individually.

An object of the present invention is to provide an air conditioner in which a plurality of units included in an air conditioner are controlled in units of a schedule group or a management group and a schedule can be set on a schedule group or management group basis using schedule data, And to provide an air conditioner that improves convenience.

The air conditioner according to the present invention is an air conditioner including a plurality of outdoor units and a plurality of indoor units connected to the plurality of outdoor units, wherein the plurality of indoor units are classified into outdoor units connected to the respective indoor units, And a control unit configured to generate a schedule group for controlling at least one indoor unit of the plurality of indoor units to operate in the same schedule differently from the management group, And a remote controller for controlling the plurality of indoor units in units of a management group, wherein the remote controller sets the number of the schedule groups or the management groups so as not to exceed the number of the indoor units.

The air conditioner according to the present invention configured as described above divides and controls a plurality of units into a schedule group and a management group, thereby improving convenience of control, generating schedule data by patterning unit operations, By setting the schedule of the units included in each group, the convenience of the user according to the schedule setting is improved, so that the efficiency of control and management of the plurality of units is greatly improved.

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

1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1, the air conditioner according to the present invention includes at least one indoor unit I, I11 to I14, I21, I22 installed in the indoor unit, a single indoor unit I1 connected to the indoor unit I and including a compressor and a heat exchanger And a remote controller RC for monitoring and controlling the operation of the outdoor unit O1 and O2 and the indoor unit I and the outdoor unit O1 and O2. The air conditioner may further include a local controller for outputting an operation state of at least one indoor unit connected to and connected to the indoor unit, and for controlling operation of the indoor unit.

In addition to the indoor unit (I) and the outdoor unit (O1, O2), the air conditioner further includes a ventilation unit for discharging indoor air outdoors and for introducing outdoor air into the room to ventilate indoor air, A humidifying device for controlling the indoor air, an air purifying device for purifying the indoor air to remove pollution, and a heater for heating indoor air. These units are controlled via a remote controller (RC).

The outdoor units O1 and O2 and the indoor unit I are connected through a refrigerant pipe and perform cooling or heating operation according to the flow of the refrigerant according to the flow of the refrigerant between the outdoor units O1 and O2 and the indoor unit I, And transmits and receives mutual data.

The outdoor unit (O1, O2) includes a compressor for receiving and compressing refrigerant, an outdoor heat exchanger for exchanging heat between the refrigerant and outdoor air, an accumulator for extracting the gas refrigerant from the supplied refrigerant and supplying it to the compressor, And a four-way valve. The apparatus further includes a high-pressure pressure sensor for measuring the pressure of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor, and a low-pressure pressure sensor for measuring the pressure of the refrigerant supplied to the compressor, and further includes a plurality of sensors, valves and oil-

The indoor unit I includes an indoor heat exchanger, an indoor fan, an expansion valve for expanding the refrigerant supplied from the outdoor unit, and a plurality of temperature sensors.

Hereinafter, a detailed description of each unit will be omitted.

The remote controller RC receives and outputs the operation state of the indoor unit I and the outdoor units O1 and O2 by transmitting and receiving data according to a predetermined communication method with the indoor unit I and the outdoor units O1 and O2, , Generates a control command corresponding to the input user command, and transmits the control command to the indoor unit (I) and the outdoor unit (O1, O2) to perform a predetermined operation. Further, the remote controller monitors and controls the operation by transmitting and receiving data through units such as a ventilator, a humidifier, an air purifier, and a heater through a predetermined communication method.

At this time, the remote controller (RC) creates a schedule group or a management group for a unit of the air conditioner including a plurality of indoor units I11 to I14, I21, I22, and controls the operation in units of a schedule group or a management group do. Also, the remote controller RC generates schedule data for patterning the operation of the unit in units of a predetermined time and setting it as a schedule. At this time, the schedule data includes data for storing a schedule of a predetermined unit input by the user, and a schedule pattern set so that the predetermined unit is operated in any one of time, day, week, month, and year.

The remote controller (RC) sets schedule data on a schedule group or management group basis and controls it to operate according to a schedule of a unit included in a schedule group or a management group.

Here, the management group is set according to the relation with the actually connected unit or installed position, and can be automatically registered when the remote controller (RC) searches for and registers the connected unit. In some cases, some units included in the management group can be deleted.

In addition, the management group can be divided into a unit (UNIT), a group (GROUP), and a zone (ZONE) for units such as an indoor unit, an outdoor unit, a ventilation unit and an air cleaning unit. Here, a group is a set of units, and a zone is a set of groups. That is, when the first and second indoor units are connected to the first outdoor unit, the first and second indoor units are included in the first group for the first outdoor unit. However, in the case of a zone, it is possible to set the group to a predetermined group according to a user command, edit and delete the group, and delete a predetermined unit as in the case of a unit which is not operable even in a group.

At this time, the number of management groups does not exceed the total number of units. For example, when the second indoor unit is included in the first group, it can not be included in the second group, and when the first group is included in the first zone, it can not be included in another zone. In addition, the schedule group is a set of units for allowing at least one unit to operate on the same schedule, and is a unit of a predetermined unit according to a user command, regardless of the position of the actual unit or the connected device, As shown in FIG.

In addition, a schedule group may be formed on a management group basis on the basis of a management group. For example, the first group, the second group, and the fifth unit of the management group may be included in the first schedule group. Or the first zone and the third indoor unit may be included in the second schedule group. However, the number of schedule groups does not exceed the total number of units. For example, when the first indoor unit is included in the first schedule group, the first indoor unit is not included in another schedule group.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a remote controller according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2, the remote controller RC includes an input unit 40, a display unit 50, a control unit 10, a data unit 20, and a communication unit 30.

The input unit 40 applies the inputted user command to the control unit 10 and includes at least one button or touch input means.

The display unit 50 includes display means for outputting image or character data to the screen, and outputs the operation statuses of the indoor unit or the outdoor unit and the other units to the screen. In this case, the air conditioner may further include a speaker for outputting at least one of a predetermined sound effect, a warning sound, music, and voice in addition to the display unit 50, and a lamp for lighting or flickering.

The data unit 20 stores control setting values for controlling units such as an indoor unit I or an outdoor unit O indoor unit I, an outdoor unit O, a ventilation unit, a humidification unit, and an air cleaning unit as control data . At this time, the data unit 20 stores address data for data transmission / reception with the control data, the indoor unit, and the outdoor unit according to the control program of the remote controller, and stores data to be transmitted / received and processing data generated in a predetermined operation. The data unit 20 stores information of the set schedule group or management group for a plurality of units included in the air conditioner, and schedule information set in the schedule group or the management group is stored.

The communication unit 30 includes at least one communication module and transmits / receives data to / from the indoor unit or the outdoor unit, and processes the external connection through the Internet. Further, the control unit 10 transmits a control command through the data transmission / reception with the ventilation unit or the air cleaning unit, and receives the operation state data of each unit. At this time, the communication unit 30 can transmit and receive data in accordance with different communication methods in the indoor communication or the outdoor communication, the ventilation unit or the air cleaning unit, and the data communication through the external connection, and in some cases, And may further include a conversion unit.

The control unit 10 processes the data transmitted and received through the communication unit 30 and the input and output data through the input unit 30 and the display unit 50 and controls the remote controller RC A menu is displayed, or a predetermined operation is performed. The control unit 10 controls the operation of the indoor unit or the outdoor unit, the ventilation unit or the air cleaning unit by generating a control command corresponding to the user command input through the input unit 40 and transmitting the generated control command through the communication unit 30, So that the operating state of the display unit 50 is displayed.

In addition, the control unit 10 generates a schedule group including at least one of the plurality of units in response to a user command input through the input unit 40, and edits or deletes the previously created schedule group. At this time, the data for the generated schedule group is stored in the data unit 20.

The control unit 10 generates a schedule pattern for setting and patterning unit operations in units of time, day, week, month, and year in a predetermined time region according to an inputted user command or manually input schedule information as schedule data And stored in the data unit 20. [

The control unit 10 sets the schedule of units included in each group by applying at least one schedule data to the schedule group or the management group as described above. At this time, when the schedule menu is called through the input unit 40, the control unit 10 causes the display unit 50 to output a schedule menu for applying the schedule data to the schedule group or the management group. In addition, the control unit 10 provides a menu for editing a schedule group or a management group, and controls the schedule group to be newly created, deleted, or edited according to a user command.

3 is an exemplary diagram showing an example of a control screen of the remote controller of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, the remote controller RC causes the icon corresponding to the connected unit to be displayed on the screen of the display unit 50, and the operation state of each unit is outputted.

At this time, the control unit 10 of the remote controller RC displays information on each unit connected in the control screen as shown in FIG. 3A in a management group unit.

The control screen of the remote controller RC includes a plurality of control menu items D05 at the top and a UP button 11 for allowing the displayed management group to be changed to a unit, ) Button DB12. In addition, a list D10 of icons DZ01 corresponding to the respective management groups is displayed on the screen in accordance with the unit of the currently selected management group. When any one of the icons is selected, a status information menu D40 including status and setting data for the corresponding management group is displayed on either side of the screen. At this time, together with the status information menu D40, a control menu D30 for changing the setting for the selected management group is displayed together. That is, when an icon corresponding to one of the zones is selected, for example, when the icon DZ01 for 'zone 1' is selected, status information for zone 1 is displayed, and a corresponding control menu is displayed together.

Here, when the lower button DB12 is operated once by the input unit 40 in a state in which the management group for each zone is displayed, the remote controller RC displays a list of icons displayed on the control screen in the zone, And the unit of the management group to be displayed is changed. In addition, in the case of two operations, an icon is displayed on a unit-by-unit basis in the zone as shown in Fig. 3 (b). When the upper button DB11 is operated, the unit of the management group displayed in the unit as a group and the group as a zone is varied.

4 is an exemplary diagram showing an example of a schedule editing screen of the remote controller of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4, the remote controller RC causes the schedule editing screen to be output through the display unit 50 according to a user command inputted through the input unit 40.

The schedule editing screen displays a group menu DS10 on one side and a control menu DS30 on the other side for changing the settings for the unit and displays the schedule schedule And is displayed on the schedule information menu DS20.

The group menu DS10 is provided with selection tabs DS12 and DS13 for selecting a schedule group and a management group and a list DS11 of the schedule group or a list of the management group is displayed according to the selected tab. Further, an edit button (DS15) for providing an edit menu for each schedule group or management group, and an add button (DS14) for adding a new schedule group are included.

When a 'music room' schedule group is selected from a plurality of displayed schedule groups, the schedule set in the 'music room' schedule group is displayed in the schedule information menu DS20. At this time, the control setting for the selected schedule group 'music room' can be changed through the operation of the control menu DS30. At this time, the control menu DS30 may have different control menus according to the types of units.

At this time, when the selection tab DS12 of the management group is selected in the group menu DS10, the management group list DS16 is displayed. When one of the management groups is selected, the schedule for the selected management group is displayed on the schedule information menu DS20). When 'indoor unit 1' is selected in the management group, all schedules set in the indoor unit 1 are displayed in the schedule information menu DS20.

5 is an exemplary diagram showing a first embodiment of a schedule menu screen of the remote controller of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 5, the remote controller RC displays a schedule menu screen on the screen of the display unit 50 so as to set a schedule for the schedule group or the management group.

In the first embodiment of the schedule menu screen, a group selection menu (D50) in which a schedule group or a management group is displayed is displayed on one side of the screen, and a schedule pattern menu (D60) is displayed on the other side. An edit menu (D90) for manually editing the set schedule and a period setting menu (D80) for setting the application period for the selected schedule pattern among the schedule pattern menu (D60) are displayed. The schedule pattern, Is displayed on the schedule information menu D70. At this time, the schedule information menu D70 is divided into predetermined time zones and displayed.

If any one of the schedule group or the management group is selected in the group selection menu D50 and one of the schedule patterns in the schedule pattern menu D60 is selected, the schedule information menu D70 is selected in the selected schedule group or management group The schedule pattern is applied and displayed. At this time, for the selected schedule pattern, if the period is selected through the period setting menu D80, the schedule pattern is repeatedly displayed within the set period range. The schedule thus set can be edited through the edit menu.

For example, if the 'weekday general' schedule pattern including the schedule from Monday to Friday is applied to the office group of the schedule group, the schedule from Monday to Friday is displayed in the schedule information menu D70. If the period of the selected 'Weekday General' schedule pattern is set from 07-08-10 to 07-12-31, the schedule of the schedule group 'Office' is 'Weekday General' from 07-08-10 to 07-12-31 'Is applied to set a recurring schedule.

At this time, through the edit menu D90, it is possible to change to have a different schedule for a predetermined one of the periods from 07-08-10 to 07-12-31.

Fig. 6 is an exemplary diagram showing a second embodiment of the schedule menu screen of the remote controller of Fig. 2;

In the second embodiment of the schedule menu screen, as shown in Fig. 6, a group selection menu DS50 in which a schedule group or a management group is displayed on one side of the screen is outputted, and on the other side, a schedule pattern menu DS70 Is displayed. Also, a schedule information menu D70 for displaying the set schedule is provided. At this time, the schedule information menu D70 is divided into predetermined time zones and displayed.

The group selection menu DS50 is provided with selection tabs DS12 and DS13 for selecting a schedule group and a management group, and a list of schedule groups or a list of management groups is displayed according to the selected tabs. Further, an edit button (DS15) for providing an edit menu for each schedule group or management group, and an add button (DS14) for adding a new schedule group are included.

Also, the schedule menu screen is provided with a group addition button (DB01) for selecting a schedule group or a management group to set a schedule, a group exclusion button (DB02) for excluding a schedule group or management group included in the schedule, A schedule pattern addition button (DB04), and a schedule pattern exclusion button (DB03).

If one of the schedule groups is selected and the group addition button DB01 is operated through the operation of the input unit 40, the control unit 10 determines that an additional command for the schedule group or the management group has been input, To be applied to the selected schedule group or management group. At this time. When a plurality of schedule groups or management groups are added, the schedule currently set for all schedule groups or management groups is applied. At this time, either the schedule group or the management group is selected and the group exclusion button DB02 is input, and the control unit 10 receives the group exclusion command so that the selected schedule group or management group is excluded from the currently set schedule.

In addition, for the schedule pattern, the schedule pattern selected at the time of inputting the schedule pattern addition button (DB 04) is further applied. At this time, a plurality of schedule patterns can be applied.

However, if the schedule is overlapped with a plurality of schedule patterns, the schedule of the overlapping interval may be determined according to the selected schedule pattern, or the schedule may be determined according to the schedule pattern that is selected later. Or a guide message is output, and one of the schedules is set in accordance with the inputted user command.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary diagram showing a third embodiment of the schedule menu screen of the remote controller of FIG. 2;

As shown in Fig. 7A, in the third embodiment of the schedule menu screen, a group selection menu DI10 in which a schedule group or management group is displayed by an icon DI11 is output to one side of the screen, The pattern menu (DS70) is displayed. Further, the additional button DB11 and the extra button DB12 are displayed. At this time, at the bottom of the screen, an edit button (DB13) for providing an edit menu for a selected item among a schedule group or a management group and a schedule pattern, a mode setting button (DB14) for providing a control setting menu for the schedule, An OK button (DB15) to be applied, and a cancel button.

When any one of the schedule group or the management group is selected and one of the schedule patterns is selected and the add button DB11 is input, the control unit 10 displays the schedule pattern selected in the selected schedule group or management group as a schedule .

7 (b), when the icon corresponding to one of the schedule group or the management group is dragged and moved in a predetermined schedule pattern (DI12), the control unit 10 adds The schedule pattern is applied to the schedule group or the management group as in the case where the button is input.

In addition, when any one of the schedule patterns is dragged to either the schedule group or the management group, the control unit 10 applies the corresponding schedule pattern to the schedule group or the management group.

FIG. 8 is an exemplary diagram illustrating an example of setting a plurality of schedules in the third embodiment of the schedule menu screen of FIG. 7; FIG.

When a schedule pattern is applied to a schedule group or a management group through the drag or add / drop buttons DB11 and DB12 as in the third embodiment of the schedule menu screen described above, a plurality of schedule patterns are selected and dragged simultaneously , And when the add button DB11 is operated, a plurality of schedule patterns are applied to the selected schedule group or management group.

At this time, the schedule can be shortened through the operation of the drag or add button (DB11) while a plurality of schedule groups or management groups are also selected.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary diagram illustrating an example of copying a schedule in the remote controller of FIG. 2;

In the case where a plurality of schedule patterns are applied as described above, the remote controller RC determines whether the plurality of schedule patterns are redundant, as in the second embodiment described above, The schedule is set according to the schedule.

As shown in FIG. 9, the control unit 10 outputs a guide mesh according to the schedule overlap so that the user can recognize the overlap of schedules.

At this time, the controller 10 notifies that the schedule is duplicated through the guidance message, and sets the schedule to the schedule group or the management group when the schedule is manually edited according to the inputted user command.

In addition, the controller 10 allows any one schedule to be selected according to a user command for an overlapping schedule interval through a guidance message.

On the other hand, the control unit 10 sets a schedule according to a first selected schedule pattern for a redundant section without a separate guidance message, or determines a schedule based on a predetermined schedule. In addition, the control unit 10 sets a schedule according to a schedule pattern selected later or determines a schedule of a schedule group or a management group with a schedule that is input later.

At this time, it is possible to set whether or not to output the guide message, and the schedule can be determined according to the setting at the time of scheduling redundancy by storing set values for the schedule selected firstly or pre-set, and the schedule selected later and input.

As described above, the air conditioner according to the present invention has been described with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments and drawings disclosed in this specification, and can be applied within the scope of protection of technical ideas.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a remote controller according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary diagram showing an example of a control screen of the remote controller of FIG. 2,

4 is an exemplary diagram showing an example of a schedule editing screen of the remote controller of FIG. 2,

Fig. 5 is an exemplary diagram showing a first embodiment of a schedule menu screen of the remote controller of Fig. 2,

FIG. 6 is an exemplary diagram showing a second embodiment of the schedule menu screen of the remote controller of FIG. 2,

FIG. 7 is an exemplary diagram showing a third embodiment of a schedule menu screen of the remote controller of FIG. 2,

FIG. 8 is an exemplary diagram illustrating an example of setting a plurality of schedules in the third embodiment of the schedule menu screen of FIG. 7,

FIG. 9 is an exemplary diagram illustrating an example of copying a schedule in the remote controller of FIG. 2;

DESCRIPTION OF THE REFERENCE NUMERALS

I, I11 to I14, I21, I22: indoor unit O: outdoor unit

RC: remote controller 10: control unit

20: data part 30: communication part

40: input unit 50: display unit

Claims (10)

An air conditioner comprising a plurality of outdoor units and a plurality of indoor units connected to the plurality of outdoor units, Wherein the plurality of indoor units are classified into an outdoor unit connected to each indoor unit and at least one indoor unit connected to one outdoor unit is included in the same management group, And a remote controller for controlling the plurality of indoor units on the basis of the schedule group or the management group, Wherein the remote controller sets the number of the schedule group or the management group so as not to exceed the number of the plurality of indoor units. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the remote controller sets the management group by classifying the plurality of indoor units in units of indoor units, groups, and zones. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the remote controller generates at least one schedule data in which an operation pattern of the indoor unit is set in any one of time, day, week, month and year, Wherein the control unit controls the schedule group or the management group according to any one of schedule data of the schedule data. The method of claim 3, Wherein the remote controller outputs the schedule group or the management group to any one of the schedule menus for setting a schedule for the plurality of indoor units and outputs the schedule data to the second area. . The method of claim 4, The remote controller When any one of schedule data output to the second area is dragged to one of a schedule group or a management group of the first area, And applies the dragged schedule data to the selected schedule group or management group to set the schedule of the included indoor unit. The method of claim 4, Wherein the remote controller selects any one of the schedule data of the second area and the schedule group or the management group of the first area and when the schedule addition command is inputted, And sets the selected schedule data to a schedule of the selected schedule group or management group. The method of claim 4, Wherein the remote controller selects any one of the schedule data of the second area and the schedule group or the management group of the first area, And excludes the selected schedule data from the schedule of the selected schedule group or the management group. The method of claim 3, Wherein the remote controller copies the schedule included in the schedule group or the management group when the new group is created by copying any one of the schedule group or the management group. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the remote controller, when a plurality of schedule data is applied to the schedule group or the management group, Wherein one of the plurality of schedule data is set as the schedule of the overlapping period according to the setting. The method of claim 3, Wherein the remote controller, when confirming a schedule for any indoor unit included in the schedule group or the management group, So that all the schedule data set in the indoor unit is displayed on the screen.

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