KR20090003872A - Air conditioner and control methof of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

An air-conditioner and a control method thereof are provided to simplify the cleaning agent supply structure and spray a large amount of cleaning agent rapidly to the indoor heat exchanger by spraying the cleaning agent to the indoor heat exchanger when the pump operates by the controller. An air-conditioner comprises an indoor heat exchanger(30) heat-exchanging the indoor air and refrigerant, a cleaning agent container(42) containing the cleaning agent for cleaning the indoor heat exchanger, a hose(44) connected to the cleaning agent container, a pump(46) connected with the hose, a sprayer(48) spraying the cleaning agent pumped in the pump to the indoor heat exchanger, and a controller(70) driving the pump. The sprayer includes a common passage connected to the pump, and a plurality of injection passages(50) connected to the common flow passage and spaced from each other.

Description

Air Conditioner and Control Method {Air conditioner and Control methof of the same}

The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly, to an air conditioner for automatically spraying a cleaning agent for cleaning an indoor heat exchanger to an indoor heat exchanger and a control method thereof.

In general, an air conditioner is installed to heat or cool a room or purify the air with a heater, an air conditioner, an air purifier, and to create a more comfortable indoor environment for humans.

The air conditioner includes a refrigeration cycle including a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, an expansion device, and an indoor heat exchanger, and the refrigerant passes through the compressor, the outdoor heat exchanger, the expansion device, and the indoor heat exchanger in turn, and then circulates to the compressor, thereby cooling the indoor air. Let's do it.

In the air conditioner as described above, when indoor air is cooled by an indoor heat exchanger, condensed water is generated by condensation / condensation of moisture in the air on the surface of the indoor heat exchanger, and the generated condensate flows under the indoor heat exchanger. After collecting in the condensate receiver installed under the heat exchanger, the condensate discharge hose is discharged to the outside, but the remaining moisture that is not condensed water remains in the indoor heat exchanger, and mold is generated in the indoor heat exchanger if the air conditioner is not used for a certain period of time. .

The mold generated as described above is discharged of unpleasant air through the outlet when the air conditioner is used again after a certain period of time, thereby giving a user a bad smell and discomfort.

Recently, to remove mold in an indoor heat exchanger, an air conditioner cabinet was opened to spray mold removal liquid using a mold removing spray, and then the mold was removed by covering the cabinet of the air conditioner indoor unit. Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-0104026 discloses an apparatus and a method for removing a mold of an air conditioner that injects a cleaning liquid into an indoor heat exchanger by an operation of a user or the like.

The mold removing device of the air conditioner, when a user or the like directly operates the operation switch, the drive motor is rotated to rotate the pinion, the pinion to lift the rack, as the rack mechanically presses the push button of the spray The mold removal liquid is sprayed from the spray into the indoor heat exchanger.

However, the air conditioner according to the prior art has a complicated structure because the mold removing liquid is injected by the push button of the spray is mechanically pressed, and the device for spraying the mold removing liquid includes a motor, a pinion and a rack. In order to spray the mold removal solution several times, there is a problem that the motor has to repeat the forward and reverse driving several times.

In addition, since the mold removal liquid is sprayed from the spray whenever the user or the user operates the operation switch of the air conditioner, the mold cleaning liquid is sprayed to the indoor heat exchanger even when the mold is not inhabited in the indoor heat exchanger or the amount thereof is small. There is a problem that causes a waste of resources.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the structure for injecting the cleaner to the indoor heat exchanger is simple and the object to provide an air conditioner that can quickly spray a large amount of the cleaner to the indoor heat exchanger. have.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a control method of an air conditioner that can be automatically sprayed to the indoor heat exchanger to prevent wasting of the cleaning liquid only when it is necessary to spray the cleaning agent to the indoor heat exchanger, and to keep the indoor heat exchanger clean most efficiently. It is.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a control method of an air conditioner that can automatically maintain an indoor heat exchanger since cleaning, reservation, and cooling of an indoor heat exchanger are automatically performed.

An air conditioner according to the present invention for solving the above problems is an indoor heat exchanger for heat exchange between the indoor air and the refrigerant; A detergent container containing a detergent for cleaning the indoor heat exchanger; A hose connected to said detergent container; A pump to which the hose is connected; An injector for spraying the indoor heat exchanger with the cleaner pumped from the pump; And a control unit for driving the pump.

The injector includes a common flow path connected to the pump and a plurality of injection flow paths connected to the common flow path and spaced apart from each other.

The air conditioner is controlled by the control unit to clean the indoor heat exchanger.

It further includes a display for displaying the process.

A control method of an air conditioner according to the present invention includes: a detergent spraying step of spraying a detergent into an indoor heat exchanger if the indoor heat exchanger is a cleaning condition; A reservation driving step of performing a reservation operation after the cleaning agent spraying step; And a cooling operation step of performing a cooling operation after the reserved driving step.

The washing condition is a condition in which the integration time of the cooling operation of the air conditioner is equal to or greater than a preset time, the difference between the suction temperature and the ejection temperature of the air conditioner is equal to or greater than the set value, and the cooling operation of the air conditioner is stopped.

In the control method of the air conditioner, the cleaning process of the indoor heat exchanger is displayed on a display.

The detergent spraying step indicates on the display that the indoor heat exchanger is preparing for cleaning.

The reserved operation step does not drive the compressor and the indoor fan for a set time after the detergent injection step.

The reserved operation step indicates on the display that the indoor heat exchanger is cleaning.

The control method of the air conditioner displays the completion of cleaning of the indoor heat exchanger on the display after the cooling operation step.

In the air conditioner of the present invention configured as described above, when the control unit drives the pump, the cleaning liquid in the cleaning container is sprayed to the indoor heat exchanger through the injector, so that the structure is simple and a large amount of the cleaning agent can be rapidly sprayed to the indoor heat exchanger. There is this.

In the air conditioner of the present invention, since the injector has a plurality of injection passages, it is possible to spray the cleaner to the indoor heat exchanger widely, and there is an advantage of minimizing the area where the cleaner is not injected.

In the control method of the air conditioner of the present invention, if the indoor heat exchanger is a cleaning condition, the cleaning agent is automatically sprayed, the reservation operation is performed, and then the cooling operation is automatically performed after the reservation operation. And, the user has the advantage that the convenience is more improved when the indoor heat exchanger to clean manually.

 In the control method of the air conditioner of the present invention, since the cleaning process of the indoor heat exchanger is displayed on the display, the reliability of the air conditioner is improved, and when the air conditioner is performed after the reservation operation, the user or the air conditioner malfunctions. There is an advantage to not be mistaken for being.

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

1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an air conditioner according to the present invention, Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of an air conditioner according to the present invention, Figure 3 is an air conditioner according to the present invention One embodiment is a sectional view shown.

The air conditioner according to the present embodiment is described by taking an example of a separate air conditioner connected to the refrigerant pipe and spaced apart from the indoor unit (I), as shown in Figures 1 to 3, the air inlet (1) for sucking the indoor air (1) A main body 5 having air discharge ports 2, 3, 4 through which air co-conditioned is discharged; A blower 20 installed inside the main body 5 to suck the indoor air through the air inlet 1 to pass through the inside of the main body 1, and to blow the air to the air outlets 2, 3, and 4; And an indoor heat exchanger (30) for exchanging air blown by the blower (20) with the refrigerant, and a cleaner installed inside the main body (1) to spray the cleaner to the indoor heat exchanger (30) by the operation of the air conditioner. Injector 40 is included.

The main body 5 opens and closes the rear case 6 with the front open, the front case 7 coupled to the front of the rear case 6 and the air inlet 1 formed at the front part, and the air inlet 1. And a front panel 8 arranged to rotate or retract on the front case 7.

As for the main body 1, the filter 9 which purifies the air sucked into the air inlet 1 is arrange | positioned so that attachment or detachment is possible in the front case 7. As shown in FIG.

The main body 1 guides the air blown by the blower 20 to the air outlets 2, 3, and 4, and also opens and closes the air outlets 2, 3, and 4. 11 and 12 are installed.

The front panel 8 is connected to the panel drive mechanism provided in the front case 7 and rotates forwardly around the lower portion by the panel drive mechanism 13 or is moved back and forth by the panel drive mechanism.

The blower 20 includes an indoor fan motor 21 installed on the rear case 6, an indoor fan 22 installed on a rotating shaft of the indoor fan motor 21, and between the rear case 1 and the front case 4. It includes an orifice 23 installed in.

The indoor heat exchanger 30 is installed to be positioned between the blower 20 and the front case 7.

In front of the indoor heat exchanger 30, a plasma electrostatic precipitating filter 32 is disposed, which is a high-performance filter and purifies the air passing through the filter 9 disposed at the air inlet 1 of the front case 7.

A drain mechanism 34 is provided below the indoor heat exchanger 30 to drain the condensed water condensed on the surface of the indoor heat exchanger 30 to the outside of the main body 5.

The cleaner spray device 40 includes a cleaner container 42 containing a cleaner for cleaning the indoor heat exchanger 30; A hose 44 connected to the detergent container 42; A pump 46 to which the hose 44 is connected; And an injector 48 for injecting the indoor heat exchanger 30 with the cleaner pumped from the pump 46.

The detergent container 42 opens the front panel 8 so that it is easy to replace itself or to introduce the detergent into the inside thereof, and when the filter 9 is detached from the front case 7, It is preferable to be installed at a position that can be entered and exited through the air inlet 1, and most preferably at one side of the rear upper, lower, left, and right side of the air inlet 1 among the rear surface of the front case 7. Do.

The hose 44 is a detergent guide hose for guiding the cleaner of the cleaner container 42 to the pump 46, one end of which is connected to the cleaner container 42 and the other end of which is connected to the pump 46.

The pump 46 and the injector 48 are preferably installed inside the main body 5, particularly in front of or behind the indoor heat exchanger 30 so as to easily spray the cleaning agent into the indoor heat exchanger 30.

The injector 48 includes a common flow path 49 connected to the pump 46 and a plurality of injection flow paths 50 connected to the common flow path 49 and spaced apart from each other.

The main body 5 is provided with a display 52 which displays various operation information such as whether the air conditioner is cooled / cleaned or the indoor heat exchanger is cleaned. The display 52 is provided by a user or the like. It is provided in the front panel 8 so that it can be easily confirmed from the front of (5).

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

The air conditioner according to the present embodiment is sprayed according to the detection results of the load detectors 62 and 64 and the load detectors 62 and 64 for determining whether the cleaner is injected into the indoor heat exchanger 30. The device 40 further comprises a control 70 which operates the pump 46 and in particular controls the air conditioner.

 The load detector 60 may detect the load using the temperature of the air flowing into and out of the main body 1, or directly detect the mold in the air passing through the indoor heat exchanger 30 to detect the load. It is possible to include a suction temperature sensing unit 62 for sensing the temperature of the air sucked into the main body 5 and the discharge temperature sensing unit 64 for sensing the temperature of the air discharged from the main body 5 The description will be limited.

The controller 70 calculates a difference between the temperature value detected by the suction temperature detection unit 62 and the temperature value detected by the discharge temperature detection unit 64, and if the difference is equal to or higher than a set temperature (eg, 13 ° C.). It is judged that detergent injection is necessary, and it is determined that detergent injection is not necessary if the difference is less than the set temperature.

The controller 70 may operate the cleaner spray device 40, in particular the pump 46, only by the detection result of the load detectors 62 and 64, but the operation of the controller 70 may be performed in consideration of the cooling operation time of the air conditioner. Of course, the air conditioner according to the present embodiment may further include a timer 66 for integrating a cooling operation time, and thus the controller 70 may determine whether the load detectors 62 and 64 are configured. According to the detection result and the integration time of the timer 66, the cleaning device 40, in particular the pump 46, is driven, and the display 52 displays the cleaning process of the indoor heat exchanger.

Reference numeral 80 is a compressor installed in the outdoor unit, and reference numeral 82 is an outdoor fan motor of the outdoor blower installed in the outdoor unit to blow outdoor air to the outdoor heat exchanger.

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

In the control method of the air conditioner according to the present embodiment, if the indoor heat exchanger 30 is a cleaning condition, the cleaning agent spraying step (S1) (S2) (S3) (S4) for spraying the cleaning agent to the indoor heat exchanger (30). )Wow; A reserved driving step (S5) for carrying out the reserved driving after the cleaning agent spraying step (S1) (S2) (S3) (S4); And a cooling operation step S6 for performing the cooling operation after the reserved driving step.

Here, the cleaning liquid injection step (S1) (S2) (S3) (S4), the control unit 70 drives the pump 46 so that the cleaning agent in the cleaning container 42, the hose 44, the pump 46 and the injector ( 48), and when the indoor heat exchanger 30 is in the washing condition while the air conditioner is in the cooling operation, the controller 70 forcibly stops the cooling operation of the air conditioner. It is also possible to drive the pump 46, and when the user or the like stops the cooling operation, if the indoor heat exchanger 30 was a washing condition before the cooling operation is stopped, the controller 70 drives the pump 46. If the cooling operation is stopped by the user or the like so as to correspond to the user's wishes below, and the indoor heat exchanger 30 has been a cleaning condition before the cooling operation is stopped, the controller 70 controls the pump 46. It demonstrates only to drive.

 The controller 70 compares the integration time of the cooling operation accumulated in the timer 66 with the set time. Then, the difference between the temperature of the suction air sensed by the suction temperature detector 62 and the temperature of the discharge air detected by the discharge temperature detector 64 is calculated. If the time accumulated in the timer 66 is greater than or equal to the set time and the difference between the temperature of the intake air and the discharge temperature is greater than or equal to the set value, the controller 70 determines that the cleaning condition of the indoor heat exchanger 30 is greater than the set time. Drive it.

The controller 70 drives the pump 46 for a set time, and while the pump 46 is driven, the detergent in the detergent container 42 is moved to the pump 46 through the hose 44, and the pump 46 Pumped at and injected from injector 48. At this time, the detergent pumped from the pump 46 passes through the common flow path 49 and is divided into a plurality of injection flow paths 50, and sprayed toward the indoor heat exchanger 30 at each end of the plurality of injection flow paths 50. And is widely sprayed toward the indoor heat exchanger 30 as a whole.

The control unit 70 displays the indoor heat exchanger 30 in preparation for cleaning during the spraying of the cleaner, in particular, by the letter 52 or the like through the display 52.

The controller 70 stops the driving of the pump 46 after driving the pump 46 for a set time, and the sprayer 48 no longer sprays the cleaner to the indoor heat exchanger 30.

The reserved operation step S5 is a step of maintaining the indoor heat exchanger 30 in the state in which the detergent is injected, and the control unit 70 completes the cleaning of the detergent injection steps S1, S2, S3, and S4, that is, the pump. After the drive 46 is stopped, the indoor fan motor 21, the compressor 80, and the outdoor fan motor 82 are not driven for the preset time period (for example, 3 hours).

In addition, the control unit 70 displays a letter or a symbol through the display 52 that the indoor heat exchanger 30 is being cleaned in the middle of the reserved operation step S5.

 The cooling operation step S6 is a normal cooling operation performed by a user or the like, and the control unit 70 controls the indoor fan motor 21 and the compressor 80 after the reservation operation step S5 is performed for the preset time. The outdoor fan motor 82 is driven.

The low temperature and low pressure refrigerant flows through the indoor heat exchanger 30 by the operation of the compressor 80, and the indoor air is sucked into the main body 5 through the air inlet 1 to exchange heat with the indoor heat exchanger 30. It is then discharged through the air discharge port (2) (3) (4).

 The controller 70 performs the cooling operation for a cooling set time (for example, one hour), and then stops the cooling operation.

Thereafter, the control unit 70 displays the cleaning completion of the indoor heat exchanger 30 in letters or symbols on the display 52 (S7).

The controller 70 turns off the air conditioner, that is, stops the operation of the air conditioner after the display 52 indicates the completion of cleaning of the indoor heat exchanger 30 through the display 52 for a set time. S8)

The present invention can be used in an air conditioner in which the cleaning liquid in the cleaning container is injected into the indoor heat exchanger through the injector when the control unit drives the pump, so that the structure is simple and a large amount of the cleaning agent can be rapidly injected into the indoor heat exchanger.

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

2 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of an air conditioner according to the present invention;

3 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of an air conditioner according to the present invention;

4 is a control block diagram of an embodiment of an air conditioner according to the present invention;

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

<Explanation of symbols on main parts of the drawings>

1: air inlet 2, 3, 4: air outlet

5: main body 30: heat exchanger

40: detergent injection device 42: detergent container

44; Hose 46; Pump

48: injector 49; Common euro

50; Multiple injection flow paths

Claims (10)

An indoor heat exchanger configured to exchange heat between the indoor air and the refrigerant; A detergent container containing a detergent for cleaning the indoor heat exchanger; A hose connected to said detergent container; A pump to which the hose is connected; An injector for spraying the indoor heat exchanger with the cleaner pumped from the pump; An air conditioner including a control unit for driving the pump. The method of claim 1, The injector comprises a common flow path connected to the pump and a plurality of injection flow paths connected to the common flow path and formed spaced apart. The method of claim 1, The air conditioner is controlled by the control unit to clean the indoor heat exchanger. An air conditioner further comprising a display for displaying the process. A cleaning agent spraying step of spraying the cleaning agent into the indoor heat exchanger if the indoor heat exchanger is a cleaning condition; A reservation driving step of performing a reservation operation after the cleaning agent spraying step; And a cooling operation step of performing a cooling operation after the reservation operation step. The method of claim 4, wherein The cleaning condition is an air conditioner in which an integration time of a cooling operation of the air conditioner is a set time or more, a difference between a suction temperature and a blowout temperature of the air conditioner is a set value or more, and a cooling operation of the air conditioner is stopped. Qi control method. The method of claim 4, wherein The control method of the air conditioner, the control method of the air conditioner for displaying the cleaning process of the indoor heat exchanger on the display. The method of claim 4, wherein The method of controlling the air conditioner, wherein the spraying of the detergent comprises displaying on the display that the indoor heat exchanger is preparing for cleaning. The method of claim 4, wherein The reservation operation step is a control method of the air conditioner does not drive the compressor and the indoor fan for a set time after the cleaning step. The method of claim 4, wherein The reservation operation step of controlling the air conditioner to display on the display that the indoor heat exchanger is cleaning. The method of claim 4, wherein The control method of the air conditioner is a control method of the air conditioner to display the completion of the cleaning of the indoor heat exchanger through a display after the cooling operation step.

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