KR20060124957A - Air-conditioner and control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

An air conditioner and a control method thereof are provided to keep a reference time for driving a motor of an indoor fan uniformly and keep a uniform rpm of the motor in spite of the change of pulse width of phase sensing signals. An air conditioner includes an indoor fan(10) driven by a motor, and an indoor unit controller(20) for averaging generation times of a phase sensing signal to generate signals for driving the motor of the indoor fan with reference to the average point as the phase sensing signal is generated, wherein the phase sensing signal is to sense a phase of an input current. The controller has a phase control part(21) for generating and transmitting a control signal for driving the motor of the indoor fan according to a level of the phase sensing signal, and an SSR(Solid-State Relay) connected to the motor of the indoor fan to be turned on or off by the signal transmitted from the phase control part to apply power to the motor.

Description

 Air conditioner and control method {{Air-Conditioner and Control method}}

1 is a view schematically showing the configuration of a general air conditioner,

2 is a view showing a phase control signal of an air conditioner according to the prior art;

3 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the air conditioner indoor unit according to the present invention,

Figure 4 is a diagram showing the waveform of the phase control signal of the air conditioner according to the present invention,

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

<Explanation of symbols on main parts of the drawings>

10: indoor fan 20: indoor unit control unit

21: phase control unit 22: SSR

25: signal detector 26: delay calculation unit

27: memory

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air conditioner and a control method thereof, and more particularly to an air conditioner and a control method thereof in which a constant phase delay time can be calculated and applied to prevent RPM variation of an indoor fan motor that performs indoor air conditioning. It is about.

In general, an air conditioner is mainly used as a device for cooling / heating by using a refrigeration cycle of a refrigerant by compressing, evaporating, and condensing a predetermined refrigerant to create a more comfortable indoor environment for a user.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a general air conditioner.

The air conditioner is composed of an outdoor unit (6) and an indoor unit (7), the outdoor unit (6) is a four-way valve (2) for switching the cooling / heating operation, a compressor (1) for compressing the refrigerant at high temperature and high pressure, The outdoor heat exchanger (4) for condensing the refrigerant compressed by the compressor (1) with the outdoor air and condensing it into a liquid refrigerant having a medium temperature and high pressure, and the refrigerant having passed through the outdoor heat exchanger (4) are expanded to provide a low temperature and low pressure. It includes an expansion valve (3) for reducing the pressure as possible, and an outdoor fan (5) for discharging the heat radiated by the outdoor heat exchanger (4) to the outside.

In addition, the indoor unit 7 is connected to the outdoor unit 6 through a refrigerant pipe (not shown), the indoor heat exchanger 8 to allow the refrigerant passing through the expansion valve 3 to exchange heat with the indoor air; It comprises a indoor fan (9) for discharging the cold air discharged from the indoor heat exchanger (8) to the room.

Therefore, the indoor unit 7 discharges the wind to the indoor side through the fan motor provided in the indoor fan 9, the amount of air generated during the discharge is determined by the RPM of the fan motor, according to the input control command When the RPM of the fan motor is set, the set RPM is preferably kept constant.

However, the general air conditioner configured as described above was caused to fluctuate without changing its RPM due to an error or temperature characteristic of the peripheral circuit of the fan motor.

Therefore, the air conditioner according to the prior art uses the following method to solve the above problems. 2 is a diagram illustrating a phase control signal of an air conditioner according to the prior art.

In the air conditioner according to the related art, an SSR connected to the indoor fan motor is configured to apply operating power to the motor, and a control unit is configured to control an on / off operation of the SSR.

The controller periodically generates a phase detection signal for supplying input power to the motor, and generates a predetermined time t based on a time point b at which the phase detection signal changes from a low level to a high level (rising signal). When elapsed) generates a control signal (b ') to turn on the SSR is transmitted to the SSR, thereby maintaining a constant RPM of the indoor fan motor.

However, in the air conditioner according to the prior art operating as described above, the IC for generating the phase detection signal has a problem in that the width of the waveform is varied by its temperature characteristics or the characteristics of the peripheral circuit.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2, in contrast to the case where the phase detection signal is output by the IC performing the normal operation, the phase detection signal output from the IC is wider than the normal signal. The rising point (a) of the phase detection signal is earlier than the starting point (b) of the normal signal. Therefore, the phase delay signal (a ') calculated based on the rising point (a) of the phase detection signal is also used for the normal signal. It is earlier than the signal b 'and the SSR is turned on quickly.

In addition, when the phase detection signal output from the IC is narrower than the normal signal, the rising point c of the phase detection signal is later than the normal signal b, and thus the phase delay signal c ') Is also output later than the normal signal b' so that the time at which the SSR is turned on is delayed.

As a result, the Rising time is also changed according to the change of the phase detection signal, and accordingly, the time at which the SSR is turned on is changed so that the RPM of the indoor fan motor is changed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and detects and averages the level fluctuation time of the phase detection signal, and turns on the SSR signal after a predetermined time on the basis of the averaged time, thereby providing the pulse width of the phase detection signal. It is an object of the present invention to provide an air conditioner and a control method thereof in which the RPM of the indoor fan motor is constant even with the variation.

The air conditioner according to the present invention for solving the above problems is the generation time of the phase detection signal when the indoor fan for performing the air conditioning of the room through the motor, and the phase detection signal for detecting the phase of the input current is generated It characterized in that it comprises an indoor unit controller for generating a drive signal of the indoor fan motor by averaging the average point.

In addition, the control method of the air conditioner according to the present invention is a first step of detecting the change of the input phase detection signal to the high level or low level, and calculates the phase delay time by averaging each time point of the detected change signal And a third step of generating a driving signal for driving the operation of the indoor unit fan motor according to the calculated phase delay time.

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

Figure 3 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the air conditioner indoor unit according to the present invention, Figure 4 is a diagram showing the waveform of the phase control signal of the air conditioner according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, the indoor unit according to the present invention includes an indoor fan 10 including a motor for blowing air and an indoor unit controller 20 for controlling the operation of the indoor fan 10. .

At this time, the indoor unit controller 20 averages the generation time of the phase detection signal in order to prevent the RPM from changing during the operation of the indoor fan motor, and after a predetermined time based on the averaged time the indoor fan 10 The driving signal of the motor is generated and transmitted.

The indoor unit controller 20 is connected to the phase control unit 21 and the indoor fan 10 motor to generate and transmit a driving control signal of the indoor fan 10 motor according to the level of the phase detection signal. It is configured to include an SSR (22) to be turned on / off according to the signal transmitted from the phase control unit 21 to the operating power is applied to the indoor fan (10) motor.

The SSR (Solid-State Relay, 22) is a relay contactless using a semiconductor element in the electrical circuit opening and closing part of the relay, and has a high load switching function composed of an input side and a semiconductor electrically insulated / isolated from an input / output in one package. Since the excitation output side is integrated, the response speed is faster than the mechanical relay, there is no noise during on / off operation, and it is easy to match with the semiconductor output.

The phase controller 21 includes a signal detector 25 for detecting that the phase detection signal is changed to a high level or a low level, and the signal detector 25 has a low level. When it is changed from the level to the high level, it is detected by a rising signal, and when it is changed from the high level to the low level, it is detected by the falling signal, and the detected time of each rising and falling signal is detected.

In addition, the phase controller 21 calculates a phase delay time for driving the SSR based on the averaged time point by averaging the time points of the rising and falling signals transmitted from the signal detector 25. It is composed of

That is, the delay calculator 26 determines the level of the input phase detection signal, detects the time when the rising and falling signals are detected, and averages the detected time points. If it is calculated, the time point of the half point between the rising and falling signals is calculated, which is a point in which the rising and falling time points are symmetrical with respect to the starting point of the input current of the indoor unit. Will be used.

Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the phase sensing signals T1 and T2 having different widths are generated by the IC generating the phase sensing signal itself or by the influence of the peripheral circuit. Even when the times of the rising and falling signals are different, the average time points T1 'and T2' of the rising and falling signals are always the same. Therefore, when the SSR is driven after a predetermined time t has elapsed, The RPM of the motor can be prevented from changing.

On the other hand, the phase controller 21 stores the detected timing data of the rising and falling signals transmitted from the signal detector 25 and the phase delay time data calculated by the delay calculator 26. It may be configured to include more.

Looking at the operation of the present invention configured as described above are as follows. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a control method of an air conditioner according to the present invention.

First, a phase detection signal is generated and input by an input current for driving the indoor unit fan motor. (S1)

The level change of the input phase detection signal is sensed. In this case, the phase detection signal is detected as a rising signal when the level is changed from a low level to a high level, and is detected as a falling signal when the level is changed from a high level to a low level, and a point in time when the rising and falling signals are detected. (S2)

The average time of each detected time point is calculated, and the phase delay time is calculated by summing a predetermined time on the basis of the calculated average time. In this case, the average time may also be calculated by calculating a time point corresponding to 1/2 of the pulse width calculated by calculating the pulse width of the phase detection signal from the time points of the detected rising and falling signals (S3, S4)

Next, when it is determined whether the time from the time when the phase detection signal is changed to the high level has passed the phase delay time calculated in the process, SSR for applying the operating power to the indoor fan motor. Is turned on and the SSR is kept off when it has not elapsed. (S5 to S7)

As described above, the air conditioner and the control method thereof according to the present invention have been described with reference to the illustrated drawings. However, even when signals having different pulse widths are generated, driving of the indoor fan motor is performed by calculating the average of rising and falling points. The technical idea of the present invention to maintain a constant reference time for the present invention can be easily applied by those skilled in the art within the scope of protection.

In the air conditioner and its control method according to the present invention configured as described above, the reference time for driving the indoor fan motor is constant by detecting a time point at which the level of the phase detection signal changes and calculating an average of the detected time points. It is configured to be maintained, the RPM of the indoor fan motor can be kept constant and there is an effect to minimize even if it changes.

Claims (7)

An indoor fan that performs air conditioning in the room through a motor; When the phase detection signal for detecting the phase of the input current is generated, comprising the indoor unit controller for generating a drive signal of the indoor fan motor on the basis of the average point by averaging the generation time of the phase detection signal Air conditioner. The method of claim 1, The indoor unit controller includes: a phase control unit configured to generate and transmit a control signal for controlling driving of the indoor fan motor according to the level of the phase detection signal; And an SSR (Solid-State Relay) connected to the indoor fan motor to drive the motor by being turned on and off according to a control signal transmitted from the phase controller. The method of claim 2, The phase control unit may include a signal detection unit detecting a rising or falling of the phase detection signal to a high level or a low level; And a delay calculation unit for averaging a time of rising and falling signals transmitted from the signal detection unit and calculating a phase delay time for driving the SSR based on the averaged time point. group. The method of claim 3, wherein And the phase controller further comprises a memory for storing timing data of rising and falling signals transmitted from the signal detector and phase delay time data calculated by the delay calculator. Detecting a change of the input phase detection signal to a high level or a low level; A second step of calculating a phase delay time by averaging each time point of the detected fluctuation signals; And a third step of generating a driving signal for driving the operation of the indoor unit fan motor according to the calculated phase delay time. The method of claim 5, The second step may include: a signal detecting process of detecting a time point at which the level of the phase detection signal rises to a high level and a time point to fall to a low level according to the change signal of the first step; And calculating a phase delay time by calculating a mean time of each detected time point and summing a predetermined time on the basis of the calculated mean time. The method of claim 6, In the third step, it is determined whether the current has passed the phase delay time from the time when it changes to a high level, and when it has elapsed, the SSR is turned on to drive the operation of the indoor fan motor. If the SSR is kept off.

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