KR20060059034A - Apparatus for monitoring status of air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly to a technique for monitoring the condition of the air conditioner.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for monitoring the condition of an air conditioner, the operation / monitoring control device provided in the air conditioner for transmitting monitoring-related information to the monitoring server side in accordance with a request of a monitoring program for monitoring the condition of the air conditioner. And wirelessly transmit the monitoring-related information transmitted from the monitoring unit to the monitoring server side via the first connection unit connected to the connection unit of the operation / monitoring control unit provided in the air conditioner, and the monitoring unit side. An air conditioner side radio unit configured to include a first short range wireless communication unit configured to transmit short-range wirelessly received monitoring related information to the monitoring unit through a first connection unit, and a second connection unit connected to a connection unit of a monitoring server on which a monitoring program is executed; 1st short-range A second short-range radio which transmits the monitoring-related information received from the communication unit to the monitoring server side via the second connection unit and the short-range wireless transmission of the monitoring related information received from the monitoring server side through the second connection unit to the first short-range wireless communication unit. A monitoring server side wireless unit configured to include a communication unit and a monitoring server, which are provided in the monitoring server, execute a monitoring program to receive monitoring related information from the monitoring unit of the air conditioner through the second connection unit and request from the client terminal through the communication network. And a monitoring program execution unit for transmitting the received monitoring related information to a client terminal through a communication network when a signal is received.

Air conditioning, monitoring

Description

Device for monitoring the condition of the air conditioner {APPARATUS FOR MONITORING STATUS OF AIR CONDITIONER}

1 schematically illustrates a conventional manner of monitoring the condition of an air conditioner;

2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a monitoring scheme according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a block diagram showing a monitoring device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a wireless unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly to a technique for monitoring the condition of the air conditioner.

In general, an air conditioner refers to a device for cooling or heating an indoor space such as a living space, a restaurant, or an office. Recently, in order to more efficiently cool or heat an indoor space partitioned into a plurality of rooms, a technology for cooling or heating each room has been developed.

As is well known, such an air conditioner has a separate type which is separated into an indoor unit and an outdoor unit. Further, in this air conditioner, there is a type, so-called system air conditioner, in which one outdoor unit and a plurality of indoor units are connected by a network, and each indoor unit is installed in each room.

On the other hand, there is a case where the air conditioner needs to be monitored. For example, installers, contractors, managers, etc. (hereinafter referred to as "managers") periodically monitor the air conditioner when installing the air conditioner or periodically for maintenance.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying Figure 1 will be described the problem of the conventional method of monitoring the state of the air conditioner. In order to highlight the conventional problems, a separate type and a network type having a plurality of indoor units have been taken here as an example.

In one embodiment, it is preferable to confirm accurate information of the outdoor unit or the indoor unit in order for the manager or the like to smoothly perform the trial operation or the maintenance work of the conditioner. Conventionally, by using a serial communication, the information of the outdoor unit 101 in the outdoors is processed and displayed in a PC.

In an embodiment, the manager or the like disassembles the panel of the outdoor unit 101 installed outdoors and the circuit unit box to determine whether there is an abnormality in the outdoor unit and the indoor unit of the air conditioning system, and the jig cable to the control unit that performs monitoring. One plug portion of 103 is connected (not shown). The jig cable 103 is connected to the outdoor unit 101, and a cable having a length of 15M to 20M is generally used.

In one embodiment, the air conditioning system may support any transmission standard in communication. In one embodiment, the air conditioning system may support a transmission standard of the RS-485 standard. In this case, the operation / monitoring device may be provided with a communication port function of the RS-485 standard itself, and the communication port part of the RS-485 standard may be implemented separately from the control unit.

The monitoring terminal 109 may be, for example, a management PC terminal and a terminal carried by an administrator, for example, a notebook. The monitoring terminal 109 is communicatively connected to a monitoring unit provided in the air conditioner 101, and in the monitoring terminal 109, a monitoring program is executed to communicate with the monitoring unit to transmit and receive monitoring related information.

On the other hand, the monitoring terminal 109 can support any transmission standard for communication with other external devices. As is well known, such a transmission standard may be a serial communication or a USB standard. It is often the case that the transmission standard supported by the air conditioner and the transmission standard supported by the monitoring terminal are different.

The conversion unit 105 is connected to the other plug portion of the jig cable 103 and is connected to one plug portion of the monitoring terminal cable 107 (eg, a serial cable or a USB to serial conversion cable). The conversion unit 105 converts the air conditioner side monitoring related information into the transmission standard of the monitoring terminal and converts the monitoring terminal side monitoring related information into the transmission standard of the air conditioner.

As described above, according to the related art, in order to monitor the air conditioner, the manager or the like must go to the jig cable 103 where the outdoor unit 101 is located, and disassemble the front panel of the outdoor unit 101 and the circuit box, and the jig cable 103. ) Is inconvenient to do the work that needs to be connected to the monitoring control unit. In addition, a large number of heavy and complicated equipments, such as a plurality of cables 103 and 107 and a converter 105, are required, and a lot of trouble is required to install them.

 In addition, since the lengths of the jig cable 103 and the serial cable 107 are limited, for example, when the outdoor unit and the indoor unit are far apart, the communication distance is limited, so that the monitoring information becomes unstable. In addition, when the length of the cable is short, the manager, etc. have a great inconvenience to go to the outdoors to monitor.

On the other hand, there is a need to monitor the operating state of the air conditioner from a remote location. In particular, in the case of a network type air conditioner, a plurality of indoor units are connected to one outdoor unit, and the control conditions for each indoor unit are different, which causes various and complicated failure causes. Therefore, due to the difficulty of control, continuous monitoring is required by experts and maintenance companies. To this end, measures must be in place to enable continuous monitoring at remote locations, not in buildings.

The present invention has been made in such a situation, and an object thereof is to improve a technology for monitoring the condition of an air conditioner.

Furthermore, another object of the present invention is to provide a method for reducing the installation cost and manpower of monitoring equipment for monitoring the condition of the air conditioner while monitoring the condition of the air conditioner at a remote location.                         

Furthermore, another object of the present invention is to propose a method for securing the reliability of the transmitted monitoring information.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object, the present invention, in the device for monitoring the condition of the air conditioner, monitoring-related information according to the request of the monitoring program for monitoring the condition of the air conditioner Transmitted to the monitoring server side, and transmitted from the monitoring unit through the monitoring unit of the operation / monitoring control device provided in the air conditioner, the first connection portion connected to the connection of the operation / monitoring control device provided in the air conditioner, the first connection portion An air conditioner-side radio unit including a first short-range wireless communication unit configured to wirelessly transmit the monitoring-related information to the monitoring server side and to transmit the monitoring-related information received from the monitoring server side to the monitoring unit through the first connection unit; Monitoring program runs The second connection unit connected to the connection of the monitoring server, the monitoring-related information received from the first short-range wireless communication unit in the short-range wireless communication to the monitoring server side via the second connection unit, and the monitoring related information received from the monitoring server side through the second connection unit A monitoring server side radio unit configured to include a second short range radio communication unit for short-range wireless transmission of information to the first short range wireless communication unit, and a monitoring server, and executing a monitoring program to monitor the monitoring unit of the air conditioner. And a monitoring program execution unit for receiving the information through the second connection unit and transmitting the received monitoring related information to the client terminal through the communication network when a request signal is received from the client terminal through the communication network.

Accordingly, since the air conditioner side and the monitoring terminal can communicate using a pair of wireless units that are easy to carry and install, efforts to install monitoring equipment such as cables and converters are drastically reduced. For example, cost savings and manpower for monitoring can be drastically reduced.

Workers can conveniently monitor indoors, and because information is transmitted through short-range wireless communication, the reliability of the information can be secured. In addition, the use of simple to install monitoring equipment, the advantage that can be continuously monitored by experts or maintenance companies even in remote locations.

The foregoing and further aspects of the present invention will become more apparent through the following embodiments. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments described with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily understand and reproduce.

2 is a view schematically showing a monitoring method according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 3 is a block diagram showing a monitoring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 4 is an embodiment of the present invention FIG. Is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a wireless unit. A description with reference to the drawings described above.

Typically, operation / monitoring control device 310 is provided in the air conditioner. The driving unit 315 of the driving / monitoring control device 310 controls the operation of each component (eg, 320) of the air conditioner by using driving program data stored in the storage unit 317. For example, the driving unit 315 controls the flow of the refrigerant in the cooling operation mode or the heating operation mode. As is well known, depending on whether the high temperature and high pressure refrigerant discharged from the compressor 305 is introduced into the outdoor heat exchanger (not shown) first or into the indoor heat exchanger (not shown), the air conditioner is cooled. Mode or heating mode.

Control technology of the driving unit 315 and the operating technology for each component (eg, 320) included in the air conditioner are well known in the art. For example, the operation of the driver 315 will be described by reference. The compressor 305 discharges the high temperature and high pressure refrigerant, which is performed by the switching driving circuit unit 303 under the control of the driving unit 315. At this time, the driving unit 315 calculates an appropriate operating frequency of the compressor 305 based on the set temperature and the room temperature.

The switch 301 is provided in a pipe part (not shown, for example, which may be located on the outdoor unit side) to switch the flow of the refrigerant. At this time, the driving unit 315 outputs a corresponding control signal to the switching driving circuit unit 303 so that the switching driving circuit unit 303 can drive the switch 301. The blower 309 blows air to increase heat exchange efficiency. To this end, the driving unit 315 controls the blow driving circuit unit 311 to drive the blower 309.

The monitoring unit 313 of the operation / monitoring control device 310, according to the execution of the monitoring program for monitoring the air conditioner, operation information such as monitoring-related information (for example, pressure information, temperature information, unit error information, etc.) ) Is sent to the monitoring server 207 side. Such monitoring operation techniques themselves are well known in the art. Those skilled in the art can easily implement the monitoring unit 313 from the present specification.

In one embodiment, the monitoring unit 313 may store the operating frequency information of the air conditioner in the storage unit 317, and may transmit it to the monitoring server 207. In addition, in one embodiment, the monitoring unit 313 may store the detected room temperature or the temperature of the pipe in the storage unit 317, and transmit it to the monitoring server 207. In addition, the monitoring unit 313 may check the switching state of the switch 301, and store the check result in the storage unit 317, and may transmit it to the monitoring server 207.

In one embodiment, for monitoring the air conditioner, a wireless unit 203 is connected to the air conditioner 201 and a wireless unit 205 is connected to the monitoring server 207.

As shown in FIG. 4, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in the apparatus for monitoring an air conditioner, a corresponding connection portion (not shown) of an operation / monitoring control device 310 provided in the air conditioner is provided. Monitoring unit of the operation / monitoring control device 310 through the first connection unit 401 for the first connection unit 401 connected to the first connection unit 401 and the monitoring related information transmitted / received by performing a monitoring program for monitoring the air conditioner. Near-field wireless transmission of the monitoring-related information transmitted from 313 to the monitoring server 207 side, and monitoring-related information received from the monitoring server 207 near-field wirelessly to the monitoring unit 313 through the first connection unit 401. The air conditioner side radio unit 203 including the first short range radio communication unit 405 to be transmitted, and a module on which the monitoring program is executed. The second server 409 inserted into the connection terminal of the monitoring server 207 and the monitoring-related information received from the first short-range wireless communication unit 405 by short-range wireless reception are monitored by the second server 409. A second short-range radio which transmits the monitoring related information transmitted from the monitoring program executed in the monitoring server 207 to the first short-range wireless communication unit 405 through the second connection unit 409 and wirelessly. And a monitoring server-side radio unit 205 configured to include a communication unit 407.

The air conditioner side radio unit 203 may be connected to the air conditioner. The first connection part 401 provided in the air conditioner side radio part 203 is connected to a corresponding connection part of the operation / monitoring control device 310 provided in the air conditioner. As mentioned above, the air conditioner can support any transmission standard in communication. In one embodiment, the air conditioner may support a transmission standard of the RS-485 standard.

In this case, the operation / monitoring control device 310 may be provided with a communication port function of the RS-485 standard itself, and the communication port part of the RS-485 standard may be implemented separately from the control device 310. As such, when the communication port unit supporting any transmission standard is implemented separately from the control unit 310, the first connection unit 401 may be connected to the operation / monitoring control unit 310 via the corresponding communication port unit.

Since the communication port part of the RS-485 standard performs an additional operation of converting the data to be transmitted to a specific transmission standard, the first connection part 401 is connected to the operation / monitoring control device 310 in the present specification. This should be interpreted to include the case where the communication port portion is implemented separately from the control device 310.

For example, the first connection part 401 may be mounted on a connection part (not shown, for example, a card slot, a receptacle part, etc.) provided in the control device 310. For example, the wireless unit 203 may be manufactured in the form of a card or a module, and correspondingly, the wireless unit 203 may be mounted in a connection unit (not shown) provided in the operation / monitoring control device 310, for example, a card slot or a receptacle unit. . Therefore, the first connection portion 401 may be manufactured in a form that can be inserted into the card slot, or may be made of a plug portion that can be inserted into the receptacle.

In the field of computer system manufacturing technology, the technology for mounting a computer peripheral product in the form of a predetermined card or module in a housing of a main printed circuit board or main equipment is widely known, and a person skilled in the art can control the first connection portion 401 and control from the present specification. A connection part (not shown) provided in the device 310 and corresponding to the first connection part 401 may be easily implemented.

The monitoring server side radio 205 may be connected to the monitoring server 207. The second connection part 409 provided in the monitoring server side radio part 207 may be a USB connection part in one embodiment. In addition, the USB connection may be a USB plug or a USB receptacle. As is well known, a USB terminal may be directly provided with a USB plug or a USB receptacle may be connected to a computer (eg, the monitoring terminal 207) through a USB cable.

The first short range wireless communication unit 405 provided in the air conditioner side radio unit 203 and the second short range wireless communication unit 407 provided in the monitoring server side radio unit 205 perform short range wireless communication with each other.

In an embodiment, the first and second short range wireless communication units 405 and 407 may be implemented as a USB Bluetooth module. In the present specification, the USB Bluetooth module refers to a device that is connected to a USB host device (via a USB connection) to support USB communication and at the same time wirelessly transmit and receive data through Bluetooth communication. Such techniques are well known in the art. Those skilled in the art can implement such a USB Bluetooth module from the description herein.

For example, the USB Bluetooth module may include a USB controller module and a Bluetooth wireless processor. The Bluetooth module control unit may be implemented as a high speed processing processor module operating by a program, an interface module for a Bluetooth wireless processing unit, a Bluetooth baseband processing module, a general-purpose input / output unit, or the like. The Bluetooth module controller provides a USB device communication function to perform USB communication with a USB host of a computer, and also processes a short range wireless data communication function between other USB Bluetooth modules.

In one embodiment, the air conditioner-side radio unit 203 converts the air conditioner-side monitoring related information transmitted from the first connection unit 401 into a transmission standard of the monitoring terminal, and from the first short range radio communication unit 405. And a conversion unit 403 for converting the monitoring-related monitoring-related information transmitted to the transmission standard of the air conditioner.

As described above, there are often different cases of transmission standards supported by the air conditioner side and transmission standards supported by the monitoring terminal side. The conversion unit 403 converts the air conditioner side monitoring related information into the transmission standard of the monitoring terminal and converts the monitoring terminal side monitoring related information into the transmission standard of the air conditioner. In one embodiment, the air conditioner side transmission standard is an RS-485 standard, and the monitoring terminal side transmission standard may be an RS-232 or USB transmission standard. Of course, the converter 403 may be provided in the air conditioner.

As described above, the operation / monitoring control device 310 of the air conditioner is provided with a connection portion to which the air conditioner side radio unit 203 is connectable. In one embodiment, the air conditioner-side radio unit 203 may be installed in the air conditioner only during the monitoring operation, and in some cases, may be installed even in normal times.

The present invention is a form in which one indoor unit and a plurality of indoor units are connected and each indoor unit is installed in each room, so-called system air conditioner type. In one embodiment, the operation / monitoring control device 310 is connected to one or more indoor units via a network. In this case, as described above, the RS-485 standard communication port function is provided in the control device 310 to communicate with the corresponding indoor unit. Alternatively, the communication port unit of the RS-485 standard is different from the control device. It may be implemented separately from 310 to perform communication with the corresponding indoor unit (not shown).

In addition, the monitoring server 205 may be a portable terminal (eg, a laptop). In this case, it becomes easier to install monitoring equipment.

Meanwhile, the monitoring server 205 collects the monitoring related information and provides the collected information when a request is received from an external terminal. That is, since the monitoring server 205 is a concept of an information provider, the term server is used. However, the monitoring server 205 may be implemented as a PC or a portable terminal.

In contrast, since the client terminal 321 is a concept of an information requester requesting information, the term client is used. The client terminal 321 may be provided at a company that manufactures an air conditioner or a professional maintenance company, and may be implemented as a server-class computer to handle a plurality of monitoring servers.

In one embodiment, the monitoring server 205 is connected to the communication network 319. The communication network 319 may be an internet network. In some cases, the communication network 319 may be a communication network in which a mobile communication network and an internet network are combined. That is, if the monitoring server 205 is a portable terminal and is equipped with a mobile communication function, the client terminal 321 requests information to the monitoring server 205 via the Internet network and the mobile communication network.

Techniques for monitoring server 207 and remote client terminal 321 to communicate with each other using TCP / IP communication protocols and to transmit monitoring related information are well known in the art, and those skilled in the art From the contents, such a technique can be easily implemented.

In addition, it may be a dedicated network in which the remote client terminal 321 and the monitoring server 205 is connected exclusively.

As described above, according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, since the air conditioner and the monitoring terminal are capable of short-range wireless communication, efforts to install monitoring equipment such as cables and converters are drastically reduced as in the related art. For example, cost savings and manpower for monitoring can be drastically reduced.

In addition, the operator can conveniently monitor indoors, and since information is transmitted through short-range wireless communication, it is possible to prevent the missing information caused by the voltage drop of the jig cable as in the prior art and to improve the reliability of the information. It can be secured.

In addition, the use of simple to install monitoring equipment, the advantage that can be continuously monitored by experts or maintenance companies even in remote locations.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, it should not be construed as being limited thereto, but should be construed to cover many modifications that are obvious from this.

Claims (6)

In the apparatus for monitoring the condition of the air conditioner, A monitoring unit of an operation / monitoring control device which transmits monitoring related information to a monitoring server side according to a request of a monitoring program for monitoring a state of the air conditioner, and provided to the air conditioner; A first connection part connected to a connection part of an operation / monitoring control device provided in the air conditioner, and wirelessly transmitting monitoring-related information transmitted from the monitoring part to the monitoring server side through the first connection part, from the monitoring server side; An air conditioner-side radio unit configured to include a first short range radio communication unit configured to transmit short-range wirelessly received monitoring related information to the monitoring unit through the first connection unit; A second connection part connected to a connection part of a monitoring server on which the monitoring program is executed; and transmitting monitoring related information received from the first short distance wireless communication part to the monitoring server side via the second connection part, and the second connection part A monitoring server side wireless unit configured to include a second short range wireless communication unit for short-range wireless transmission of monitoring related information received from the monitoring server side to the first short range wireless communication unit; And The monitoring server is provided, and executes the monitoring program to receive the monitoring-related information from the monitoring unit of the air conditioner through the second connection unit and when the request signal is received from the client terminal through the communication network related to the received monitoring And a monitoring program execution unit for transmitting information to the client terminal through the communication network. The method of claim 1, The air conditioner, Separated into indoor and outdoor units; The operation / monitoring control device, Apparatus for monitoring the status of the air conditioner, characterized in that provided in the outdoor unit. The method of claim 1, The second connection portion of the wireless part of the monitoring server side, USB connection; A first short range wireless communication unit of the air conditioner side radio unit and a second short range wireless communication unit of the monitoring server side radio unit, Apparatus for monitoring the status of the air conditioner, characterized in that each of the US Bluetooth module unit. The method of claim 1, The air conditioner side wireless unit, A conversion unit for converting the air conditioner side monitoring-related information transmitted from the first connection unit to the transmission standard of the monitoring terminal, and converts the monitoring terminal side monitoring related information transmitted from the first short range wireless communication unit to the transmission standard of the air conditioner. Apparatus for monitoring the status of the air conditioner, characterized in that it further comprises. The method of claim 2, The indoor unit, At least one; apparatus for monitoring the condition of an air conditioner. The method of claim 1, The monitoring terminal, A portable terminal; device for remotely monitoring the condition of the air conditioner, characterized in that.

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