KR20060131179A - Air conditioning system with switches to block the standby power and its operating method - Google Patents

Abstract

An air conditioner with standby power blocking switches and an operation method thereof are provided to block connection between an outdoor unit or indoor units and a main power supply if no control commands are received by any one of the indoor units, thereby realizing economical power management and promoting control convenience for an air conditioner manager. An air conditioner with standby power blocking switches includes an outdoor unit(10) connected to a first switch(SW1) to be turned on or off for supplying or blocking power from a main power source. A main indoor unit(21) has a control part(22) for on/off-control of a second switch(SW2), which is connected to the main power source, to supply or block standby power for more than one other indoor units(20) connected to the outdoor unit, and for off-control of the first switch connected via a communication line(L2) when no control commands are input from any one of the indoor units. The indoor units carry out air conditioning by the power supplied from the outdoor unit via communication lines(L) when the first switch is on. The indoor units standby inputs of operation commands by the standby power supplied from the main indoor unit via a communication line(L1) when the second switch is on.

Description

Air conditioning system with switches to block the standby power and its operating method

1 is a block diagram of a multi-type air conditioning system according to the related art,

2 is a block diagram of a multi-type air conditioning system according to the present invention;

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating a multi-type air conditioning system according to the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols on main parts of the drawings>

10: outdoor unit 20: indoor unit

21: representative room L, L1, L2: communication line

SW1: first switch SW2: second switch

The present invention relates to an air conditioning system, and more particularly, in order to minimize standby power consumed in an outdoor unit which is shared with a plurality of indoor units and controls refrigerant circulation, the indoor unit can control the power supply to the outdoor unit and the cutoff. It relates to an air conditioning system.

An air conditioner is an indoor unit installed indoors and an outdoor unit connected to the indoor unit through a pipe to control refrigerant circulation, and is a device for cooling or heating indoor air.

In addition, the multi-type air conditioning system is a structure in which a plurality of indoor units disposed in each room are connected by sharing one outdoor unit, and the circulation of the refrigerant distributed to the plurality of indoor units is controlled through one outdoor unit, so the energy efficiency is excellent, and the piping The advantage is that the structure is simplified.

In this multi-type air conditioner system, for simultaneous / partial heating and cooling in each room, the outdoor unit should be able to individually control and manage the state of a plurality of indoor units, and determine the control degree of refrigerant by identifying which control commands are input from each indoor unit. By controlling the refrigerant circulation.

As described above, the outdoor unit 1, which should receive the control signal from each indoor unit 2, maintains its driving state by consuming the standby power at all times. Its size was increased, and accordingly, power consumption was considerable, and thus there was a problem in that power consumption in standby was large.

In this case, the outdoor unit 1 and the indoor unit 2 is shown in Figure 1 bar is supplied with power, the outdoor unit consumes a lot of current, so the power is not supplied from a general household outlet, the main power through the circuit breaker It is supplied directly, and the indoor unit is powered through an outlet. As described above, since the outdoor unit and the indoor unit in the conventional invention receive power from each other, independent control of the power source through any one is impossible.

Therefore, even when the indoor user has stopped operating the indoor unit 2 and there is no input of the control command, the outdoor unit 1 consumes standby power for waiting to receive the control command from the indoor unit.

That is, there is a problem in that the outdoor unit standby power is cut off only when the user directly manipulates the circuit breaker embedded in the wall or directly turns off the outdoor unit 1 installed outdoors.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, the first switch to cut off the standby power consumed by the outdoor unit in the situation that the indoor unit is not driven so that the outdoor unit does not need to wait to receive the control command. An air conditioning system provided with an outdoor unit and a standby power cut-off switch capable of improving efficiency of power management and control by providing a second indoor unit having a second switch that cuts off standby power consumed by a plurality of indoor units, and an operation method thereof. To provide.

An air conditioning system equipped with a standby power cutoff switch according to the present invention for solving the above problems is connected to a main power source and an outdoor unit connected to a first switch that determines supply / disconnect of the power supply as it is turned on / off. And controlling the second switch connected to the main power supply to turn on / off standby power to at least one indoor unit connected to the outdoor unit, and when an operation control command is not input from any indoor unit, Representative indoor unit having a control unit for controlling the first switch off, and when the first switch is turned on to perform the air conditioning operation by receiving the drive power through a communication line from the outdoor unit, the representative when the second switch is turned on At least one indoor unit that receives standby power through the communication line from the indoor unit and waits for input of operation control commands. And it is characterized in that configuration.

In addition, the operation method of the air conditioning system of the present invention is the first step of detecting whether the operation control command is input from any of the indoor units of the plurality of indoor units connected to the outdoor unit, and if the input is not detected the driving power supplied to the outdoor unit is And a third step of controlling the first switch to be turned off, and a third step of controlling the second switch on to supply the standby power supplied to the plurality of indoor units.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an air conditioning system according to the present invention.

First, the indoor unit 20 is a condensing means for condensing the high temperature and high pressure gas refrigerant into the liquid refrigerant, and the high temperature and high pressure gas refrigerant from the compressor is gradually condensed while passing through the outdoor unit 10 to become a medium temperature high pressure liquid refrigerant. Therefore, the outdoor unit includes an outdoor blower comprising an outdoor fan and a motor for blowing air to increase heat exchange efficiency.

When the medium-temperature high-pressure liquid refrigerant expands in the expansion valve to become a low-temperature low-pressure liquid refrigerant and passes through the indoor unit, the liquid refrigerant evaporates and vaporizes to lower the indoor air temperature. Therefore, the indoor unit includes an indoor blower including a motor and an indoor fan for discharging cold air into the room.

Here, the multi-air conditioning system is composed of the outdoor unit 10 and a plurality of indoor units 20 that are shared and connected through the pipe and communication lines, such indoor units are disposed in each room, the outdoor unit 10 is connected to the communication line Through the control commands transmitted from the plurality of indoor units 20 through the control of the compression degree of the refrigerant, by distributing it to the indoor unit to achieve the harmony of the indoor air. To this end, the indoor unit and the outdoor unit include a communication unit 13, 23 to transmit and receive signals between the control units 12 and 22.

The power supply to the outdoor unit 10 is embedded in the wall as shown in Figure 2 is supplied with the main power through the leakage circuit breaker installed in the outdoor side, and supplies the driving power to the plurality of indoor units 20 connected.

In this case, a first switch SW1 is provided between the earth leakage breaker and the outdoor unit controller 12 to block or allow power supply to the outdoor unit.

In addition, any one of the plurality of indoor units 20 is referred to as the representative indoor unit 21, the main indoor power is directly supplied to the representative indoor unit, which is the standby power of the plurality of indoor units 20 through the communication line (L1) Power supplied by The representative indoor unit 21 is provided with a second switch SW2 that supplies or cuts off standby power to the remaining indoor units.

Here, the power consumed while waiting for the input of the control command is called standby power, and the power consumed for operation received from the outdoor unit according to the input of the control command is called drive power.

That is, the first switch SW1 is an electrical switch that determines supply or cutoff of outdoor unit standby power, and the second switch SW2 is an electrical switch that determines supply or cutoff of standby power of all indoor units including the representative indoor unit. The first and second switches are controlled on / off by the control unit 22 of the representative indoor unit.

To this end, the representative indoor unit 21 and the remaining indoor unit 20 is connected through the communication line (L1), the representative indoor unit can detect whether the control command is input to the remaining indoor unit to determine the supply / block of standby power do.

In addition, the outdoor unit 10 and the plurality of indoor units 20 and 21 connected thereto are connected through a communication line L as in the related art, and a signal for air conditioning operation is transmitted and received, and thus the outdoor unit supplies driving power to the indoor unit side. It becomes possible.

Here, although the communication line L2 for transmitting the control signal for controlling the first switch is separately shown between the outdoor unit 10 and the representative indoor unit 21, it may be mixed with the existing communication line L.

This communication line (L, L1, L2) is based on the RS-485 communication standard, RS-485 is one of the serial transmission interface standards as a standard for multipoint communication lines, low impedance driver and receiver By using it, up to 32 nodes are allowed per line, and data transmission is possible up to 1200m.

If the entire indoor units 20 and 21 including the representative indoor unit 21 are not in operation, the outdoor unit 10 does not need to be driven. Accordingly, the controller 22 of the representative indoor unit uses the first switch SW1. The control signal is requested to turn off to the outdoor unit, and the second switch SW2 is turned on to supply standby power to the indoor unit so that an operation control command can be input through any indoor unit.

However, when an operation control command is input from any indoor unit, the controller 22 of the representative indoor unit which senses this transmits a control signal for requesting the first switch-on to the outdoor unit 10 and accordingly a short circuit. The main power is supplied to the outdoor unit through the breaker, and the driving power is supplied from the outdoor unit to the plurality of indoor units so that the control unit turns off the second switch SW2.

As described above, the on / off control of the first switch SW1 by the representative indoor unit 21 may be automatically performed as the following algorithm is implemented in the control unit. However, the button provided with the indoor unit (or indoor unit remote controller) is operated. As a result, the on / off of the first switch can be controlled so that the on / off of the first switch can be controlled by a button operation in the room without directly operating the ground fault breaker.

The operation method of the air conditioning system with the standby power cutoff switch of the present invention configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. 3.

First, the controller of the representative indoor unit detects whether an operation control command is input from at least one indoor unit among a plurality of indoor units connected to the outdoor unit to determine whether the outdoor unit operation is required.

If the outdoor unit is in an operating condition, the control unit issues a control signal requesting the on of the first switch to determine whether the main power is supplied or cut off to the outdoor unit so that power is applied to the outdoor unit.

Since the outdoor unit operated as power is supplied to the indoor units connected to the plurality of indoor units, the controller of the representative indoor unit receives a control signal for requesting to turn off the second switch for determining supply or interruption of standby power to the plurality of indoor units. The main unit is disconnected from the main indoor power supply. (S3)

If it is not the outdoor unit operating condition, a control signal for requesting the first switch to be turned off is issued to cut off the connection between the outdoor unit and the main power supply, and the second switch is turned on to control from any indoor unit. Supply standby power to the entire indoor unit so that commands can be entered. (S4, S5)

Therefore, the present invention can prevent the consumption of standby power by controlling the first switch provided in the representative indoor unit by cutting off the power supplied to the outdoor unit which consumes much more standby power than the indoor unit.

As described above, the air conditioning system and the operation method equipped with the standby power cut-off switch according to the present invention have been described with reference to the illustrated drawings, but the present invention is not limited by the embodiments and drawings disclosed herein, It can be applied within this protected range.

An air conditioning system and a method of operating the standby power cut-off switch according to the present invention configured as described above are applied to the outdoor unit in a situation in which the outdoor unit does not need to receive the control command because the control command is not input to the indoor unit. The first switch is provided to block the connection to the main power source, and the algorithm controlled by the controller of the representative indoor unit is implemented, thereby enabling economic power management in a building in which the multi-air conditioning system is constructed, and controlling convenience of the administrator. This has the effect of increasing.

Claims (7)

One or more outdoor devices connected to a main power source and connected to the first switch to determine supply / disconnection of the power supply as on / off, and one or more connected to the outdoor unit by controlling on / off a second switch connected to the main power source A representative indoor unit having a control unit for supplying / blocking standby power to an indoor unit, and controlling a first switch of the outdoor unit off through a communication line when an operation control command is not input from any indoor unit, wherein the first switch is turned on At least one indoor unit receiving air power from the outdoor unit through the communication line and performing air conditioning operation, and when the second switch is turned on, receiving at least one indoor power from the representative indoor unit through the communication line to wait for input of an operation control command. Air conditioning system with a standby power cut off switch characterized in that it comprises a. In claim 1, The outdoor unit is an air conditioning system having a standby power cut-off switch, characterized in that the main power is supplied through the earth leakage breaker. In claim 1, The communication line is an air conditioning system with a standby power cutoff switch, characterized in that based on the RS-485 communication standard. In claim 1, And a button for controlling on / off of the first switch to cut off standby power consumed by the outdoor unit in the indoor unit main body and / or the indoor unit remote control. In claim 4, The control unit provided in the indoor unit is configured to generate and transmit a signal for controlling the on / off of the first switch as the button is operated, the air conditioning system equipped with a standby power cutoff switch. A first step of detecting whether a driving control command is input from any indoor unit among a plurality of indoor units connected to the outdoor unit, and when the input is not detected, controlling the first switch to be OFF so that the driving power supplied to the outdoor unit is cut off A second step and a third step of turning on and controlling a second switch to supply standby power supplied to the plurality of indoor units. . In claim 6, In the second step, when an input is detected, a first process of turning on a first switch to supply driving power to the outdoor unit, and as the outdoor unit supplies driving power to a plurality of indoor units, And a second process of turning off the second switch so that the standby power supplied to the plurality of indoor units is cut off.

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