US20160356518A1

US20160356518A1 - Indoor unit of air conditioner and air conditioner

Info

Publication number: US20160356518A1
Application number: US15/113,061
Authority: US
Inventors: Atsushi KURACHI; Kazuhiro Tsuchihashi; Satoshi Nakayama; Naoyuki FUSHIMI
Original assignee: Johnson Controls Hitachi Air Conditioning Technology Hong Kong Ltd
Current assignee: Hitachi Johnson Controls Air Conditioning Inc
Priority date: 2014-01-22
Filing date: 2014-10-27
Publication date: 2016-12-08
Also published as: EP3098530A4; WO2015111266A1; JP2015137792A; EP3098530A1; EP3098530B1; JP6241933B2

Abstract

An indoor unit of air conditioner, and the air conditioner are provided. The indoor unit includes a human detection sensor for detection of a predetermined range, and a plurality of desired ranges by using general purpose human detection sensors and lenses. The indoor unit of air conditioner includes a plurality of outlet ports through which air is blown to an interior of a room in different directions, and a human detection unit for detecting a human in the room. The human detection unit includes a plurality of human detection sensors installed in the plurality of outlet ports correspondingly, and lenses provided for the human detection sensors, respectively. The plurality of human detection sensors detect ranges corresponding to the different outlet ports, respectively.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an indoor unit of an air conditioner, and the air conditioner.

BACKGROUND ART

JP-A-2011-174693 (Patent Literature 1) discloses background art in the technical field of the invention. The publication discloses as follows. “To effectively detect information in each outlet area in a ceiling-mounted indoor unit of an air conditioning device provided with a casing having a plurality of outlets, and a sensor for detecting the information in an air-conditioned room, the ceiling-mounted indoor unit 4 for the air conditioning device 1 is mounted in a ceiling of the air-conditioned room, and has the casing 51 and a plurality of human detection sensors 62 a-62 d. The casing 51 has the plurality of outlets 56 a to 56 d through which the conditioned air is blown into the air-conditioned room. The human detection sensors 62 a to 62 d are provided in the casing 51 so as to correspond to the outlets 56 a to 56 d, respectively, and detect presence or absence of humans in the air-conditioned room. Detection areas A, B, C, D for the respective human detection sensors 62 a to 62 d are aligned with outlet areas A′, B′, C′, D′ to which the air flow of the conditioned air blown out from the outlets 56 a to 56 d reaches.” (see Abstract).

CITATION LIST

Patent Literature

PTL 1: JP-A-2011-174693

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

Technical Problem

The method disclosed in Patent Literature 1 requires the use of the exclusive human detection sensor or the human detection sensor lens in order to acquire the detection areas of the respective human detection sensors adapted to the outlet area to which the flow of the conditioned air blown from each of the outlets reaches. In other words, the use of a plurality of human detection sensors requires the exclusive human detection sensors or exclusive human detection sensor lenses for covering those sensors, leading to increased cost. The aforementioned configuration cannot be applied to the other air conditioning system having another outlet area. For example, the human detection sensor or the human detection sensor lens exclusive to the air conditioning system having four outlet areas cannot be applied to the air conditioning system having two outlet areas.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an indoor unit of an air conditioner, which includes a human detection sensor configured to ensure detection of a predetermined range, and detection of the desired number of ranges by using a general purpose human detection sensor and the lens for the human detection sensor for covering the single range, and the air conditioner.

Solution to Problem

In order to solve the aforementioned problem, the configuration as described in the claim may be employed. An example as one of solutions to the problem will be described as follows. An indoor unit of air conditioner includes a plurality of outlet ports through which air is blown to an interior of a room in different directions, and a human detection unit for detecting a human in the room. The human detection unit includes a plurality of human detection sensors installed in the plurality of outlet ports correspondingly, and lenses provided for the human detection sensors, respectively. The plurality of human detection sensors detect ranges corresponding to the different outlet ports, respectively.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

The present invention provides an indoor unit of an air conditioner configured to have a plurality of human detection sensors and lenses for covering the respective human detection sensors. The use of general purpose products for the human detection sensor and the lens for covering the single range ensures to detect the desired number of ranges. The present invention also provides the air conditioner. Any problem, structure and advantageous effect other than those described above will be clarified by the following description of the embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a general view of an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an indoor unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a state where an infrared transmission cover and an infrared shielding cover of a human detection sensor section, and a lens of the human detection sensor are removed from the indoor unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing a state where the infrared transmission cover and the infrared shielding cover of the human detection sensor section are removed from the indoor unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a state where the infrared transmission cover of the human detection sensor section is removed from the indoor unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a front view of the human detection sensor section of the indoor unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the human detection sensor section of the indoor unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a detection range covered by the human detection sensor of the indoor unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a front view showing a state where corner covers of a decorative panel are removed from the indoor unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged front view showing a state where the corner cover of the decorative panel is removed from the indoor unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a view showing a display of a remote controller according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram for controlling the indoor unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of an air conditioner according to the present invention will be described referring to FIGS. 1 to 12.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a general view of an overall structure of an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, an indoor unit 1 of ceiling mount type is electrically coupled with an outdoor unit 2 via a refrigerant piping and a transmission line 3. The indoor unit 1 performs air conditioning in the room where it is installed. The indoor unit 1 is electrically coupled with a remote controller 4 via a remote control transmission line 5. The operation command of the indoor unit 1 is activated by the user's operation of the remote controller 4. The outdoor unit 2 includes a not shown compressor serving as a heat source, an outdoor heat exchanger for performing heat exchange between outdoor air and working fluid, and an outdoor fan for blowing air to the outdoor heat exchanger.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the indoor unit 1 when seen from below. The indoor unit 1 includes a main body part 10 and a decorative panel 11 which covers the lower surface of the main body part 10, which faces the indoor side. The main body part 10 is embedded into the ceiling so that the decorative panel 11 is exposed from the ceiling surface. The indoor unit 1 includes an indoor fan and a heat exchanger inside, which are not shown in the drawing. The indoor fan takes in the indoor air from a suction port 22 of the indoor unit 1 so that the taken air passes through the heat exchanger for heat exchange between air and the refrigerant. The conditioned air is blown through four outlet ports 20 a to 20 d for air conditioning inside the room. Louvers 21 a to 21 d are configured to allow air blow direction of air blown from the respective outlet ports 20 a to 20 d to be variable in the indoor height direction.
A human detection sensor 35 is disposed in the decorative panel 11 for the purpose of acquiring human detection information upon air condition with respect to presence or absence of any human in the air conditioned space, or the information indicating the degree of the human's motion. In the case where the human detection sensor 35 is constituted by the infrared sensor, the sensor performs detection upon change in the infrared light in the detection range resulting from the human motion. An indoor control section 13 (not shown) serves to change the set temperature for air conditioning, the air volume of the indoor unit, and each angle of the louvers 21 a to 21 d based on the human detection information. This makes it possible to prevent excessive cooling, excessive heating, and to improve comfort of the human in the air conditioned space.
The human detection sensor 35 obtains the detection information data of humans in divided sections of the air conditioned space. Therefore, there may be the case where a plurality of human detection sensors are disposed in the single indoor unit 1. Preferably, each detection range of the plurality of human detection sensors is set corresponding to air condition ranges 26 a to 26 d (see FIG. 8) of the outlet ports 20 a to 20 d, respectively. Accordingly, each air condition in the respective air condition ranges 26 a to 26 d may be performed individually, for example, by allowing the louver 21 a to be operated in response to the human detection information which covers the air condition range 26 a, the louver 21 b to be operated in response to the human detection information which covers the air condition range 26 b, and the like.
Each of the air condition ranges 26 a to 26 d has a fan-like conic section. Meanwhile, each detection range of the general purpose human detection sensor, and the human detection sensor lens has a circular conic section. Therefore, the general purpose human detection sensor and the lens thereof cannot be used adaptively to the air condition ranges 26 a to 26 d. In other words, there may cause the problem of controlling the louver 21 upon human detection even in the range out of the air condition ranges 26 a to 20 d. The combination of the general purpose human detection sensor and the lens which have the detection range with the circular conic section may cause an overlapped section. Therefore, a plurality of human detection sensors may detect the same human in an overlapped manner. It is necessary to use the exclusive human detection sensor or the exclusive human detection sensor lens adapted to the air condition ranges 26 a to 26 d, respectively. The following is the description of structure of the air conditioner according to the embodiment, which is configured to solve the aforementioned problem.
Structure of the human detection sensor section according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described referring to FIGS. 3 to 7. FIGS. 3 to 6 are enlarged views each representing a position at which the human detection sensor 35 is installed in the indoor unit 1.
As FIG. 3 shows, the human detection sensor 35 is disposed on a seat 33 for the human detection sensor, having a mount portion of the human detection sensor formed at a predetermined angle. In this embodiment, four human detection sensors 35 a to 35 d are disposed.
Referring to FIG. 4, the human detection sensors 35 a to 35 d are provided with lenses 36 a to 36 d, respectively to expand (or narrow) the respective detection ranges by refracting the incident infrared light with the predetermined refractive index. This allows the human detection sensors 35 a to 35 d to perform detection of the predetermined ranges, respectively.
Referring to FIG. 5, an infrared shielding cover 32 is disposed over the lenses 36 a to 36 d for shielding the light incident on the human detection sensor 35. in a part of the range. The infrared shielding cover 32 is configured to shield the incident light on the human detection sensor 35 from outside an air condition range 26 (outlet direction) of the outlet port 20 corresponding to the human detection sensor 35.
The infrared shielding cover 32 is made of a material that does not transmit the infrared light, for example, polystyrene and iron. The infrared shielding cover 32 includes openings 53 a to 53 d each positioned corresponding to the respective human detection sensors 35. Therefore, the infrared light that has passed through the openings 53 a to 53 d of the infrared shielding cover 32 is only incident on the human detection sensors 35 a to 35 d.
Referring to FIG. 6, an infrared transmission cover 31 is disposed over the lenses 36 a to 36 d in consideration of both protection and design property of the human detection sensor. The infrared transmission cover 31 is made of the material that transmits the infrared light, for example, high density polyethylene so as not to shield the infrared light detected by the human detection sensor 35.
Referring to FIG. 7 as a sectional view of the human detection sensor section, the seat 33 for the human detection sensor, the human detection sensor 35, the lens 36, the infrared shielding cover 32, and the infrared transmission cover 31 are sequentially arranged in order from the inside.
The following is the description of the detection ranges 50 a to 50 d of the human detection sensors 35, and the shielding range of the infrared shielding cover 32 in reference to FIG. 8.
Air condition ranges 26 a to 26 d refer to ranges to which air blown from the outlet port 20 by the louvers 21 a to 21 d reaches. Detection ranges 50 a to 50 d refer to the ranges which allow the respective human detection sensors 35 a to 35 d provided with the lenses 36 a to 36 d, respectively for human detection. In other words, in the aforementioned range, the human detection sensors 35 a to 35 d, and the lenses 36 a to 36 d for the human detection sensors are allowed to detect change in the infrared light in a certain range resulting from movement of the human. Each of the detection ranges 50 a to 50 d may be the same, or different from one another.
Shielding ranges 51 within the detection ranges 50 a to 50 d of the human detection sensors 35 a to 35 d, and the lenses 36 a to 36 d for the human detection sensors, which are covered with the infrared shielding cover 32 do not allow detection by the human detection sensors 35 a to 35 d in spite of change in the infrared light. Non-shielding ranges 52 within the detection ranges 50 a to 50 d of the human detection sensors 35 a to 35 d, and the lenses 36 a to 36 d for the human detection sensors, which are covered with the infrared transmission cover 31 allow detection by the human detection sensors 35 a to 35 d in response to the change in the infrared light.
In the case of using the general purpose human detection sensor, each of the detection ranges 50 a to 50 d expands while forming a circular cone shape to extend to the outside of the air condition ranges 26 a to 26 d as shown in FIG. 8. The infrared shielding cover 32 includes an opening 53 in order to keep the detection ranges 50 a to 50 d of the respective human detection sensors to be within ranges corresponding to the respective air condition ranges 26 a to 26 d. That is, the detection ranges 50 a to 50 d of the human detection sensors outside the air condition ranges 26 a to 26 d are shielded. Referring to the detection range 50 c as shown in FIG. 8, the infrared shielding cover 32 serves to shield the range outside the air condition range 26, and the range as an overlapped part between the detection range 50 c of the human detection sensor within the air condition range 26, and the air condition ranges 26 b, 26 d of the outlet ports 20 b, 20 d corresponding to the other human detection sensors 35 b, 35 d so as to correspond the non-shielding range 52 c of the detection range 50 c to the air condition range 26 c.
The aforementioned structure allows equalization of the detection ranges 50 a to 50 d of the respective human detection sensors to the corresponding air condition ranges 26 a to 26 d substantially. In spite of the use of the general purpose human detection sensors and the lenses thereof, each having the detection range different from the air condition range, the human detection sensors 35 a to 35 d are capable of detecting humans within the corresponding air condition ranges 26 a to 26 d, respectively.
As described above, the embodiment is configured to provide the lenses 36 for the respective human detection sensors 35 for detection of ranges corresponding to the different outlet ports 20, and to further shield the detection ranges 50 of the human detection sensor 35 outside the air condition ranges 26 by using the infrared shielding cover 32. This makes it possible to ensure desired detection range by using the general purpose products.

Second Embodiment

In this embodiment, the following is the description with respect to the case of changing the mount portion of the corner cover 30 with the human detection sensors having the detection ranges adapted to the air condition ranges 26 a to 26 d, respectively.
FIG. 12 is a general view showing an overall structure of the embodiment. The description of the same features as those of the first embodiment will be omitted. In the case where the human detection information data 62 a to 62 d of the air conditioned space is divisionally acquired, the human detection sensors 35 a to 35 d send the respective human detection information data 62 a to 62 d to an indoor control section 13 by which the louvers 63 a to 63 d corresponding to the respective human detection information data 62 a to 62 d are operated. At this time, the louver 21 a of the outlet port, the air condition range 26 a corresponding to the outlet port 20 a, and the human detection sensor 35 a are arranged facing the same direction. The louver 21 a of the outlet port is operated in accordance with the human detection information 62 a of the human detection sensor 35 a. In the similar manner, the louvers 21 b, 21 c, 21 d of the outlet ports are operated in accordance with the human detection sensors 35 b, 35 c, 35 d, respectively.
In the aforementioned case, the corner cover 30 with human detection sensor is not allowed to change its position from the initial corner cover mount portion. Assuming that the initial corner cover mount portion 24 a is installed at the position corresponding to 24 b, the louver 21 b of the outlet port will be operated in accordance with the human detection information 62 a of the human detection sensor 35 a, thus shifting the correlation between the human detection sensor and the louver by the angle of 90°. In such a case, the position of the corner cover 30 with the human detection sensor cannot be changed in the on-site work. Meanwhile, in the case where the plurality of indoor units 1 are disposed in the same space, there may be the case of requiring to change the position of the corner cover 30 for consistency from the design aspect.
In this embodiment, the corner cover 30 with human detection sensor is configured to be mountable on any of the corner cover mount portions 24 a to 24 d as FIG. 9 shows. The other corner cover 23 is also mountable on any of the mount portions 24 a to 24 d. The corner cover 30 with human detection sensor has substantially the same shape as that of the corner cover 23, both of which have mount portions corresponding to the mount portions 24 a to 24 d.
The remote controller 4 has set items 60 for remote control, while having options 61 corresponding to the set item 60. Referring to an example of FIG. 11, “b1” is selected as the set item 60, and “00” is set as the option 61. The option 61 includes “01”, “02”, “03” in addition to “00”. The set item 60 set as “b1” may be expressed as an arbitrary code, or arbitrarily expressed as, for example, “sensor mount position”.
In the similar manner as described above, the option 61 may be expressed as arbitrary codes, for example, A to D. In this case, it is only necessary to determine the set items 60 and the options 61. The option 61 may be changed upon the on-site work.
In the case where the option 61 is set to “00”, the indoor control section uses the human detection information 62 a of the human detection sensor to operate the louver 21 a, the human detection information 62 b of the human detection sensor to operate the louver 21 b, the human detection information 62 c of the human detection sensor to operate the louver 21 c, and the human detection information 62 d of the human detection sensor to operate the louver 21 d, respectively.
In the case where the option 61 is set to “01”, the indoor unit control section uses the human detection information 62 a of the human detection sensor to operate the louver 21 b, the human detection information 62 b of the human detection sensor to operate the louver 21 c, the human detection information 62 c of the human detection sensor to operate the louver 21 d, and the human detection information 62 d of the human detection sensor to operate the louver 21 a, respectively.
In the case where the option 61 is set to “02”, the indoor control section uses the human detection information 62 a of the human detection sensor to operate the louver 21 c, the human detection information 62 b of the human detection sensor to operate the louver 21 d, the human detection information 62 c of the human detection sensor to operate the louver 21 a, and the human detection information 62 d of the human detection sensor to operate the louver 21 b, respectively.
In the case where the option 61 is set to “03”, the indoor control section uses the human detection information 62 a of the human detection sensor to operate the louver 21 d, the human detection information 62 b of the human detection sensor to operate the louver 21 a, the human detection information 62 c of the human detection sensor to operate the louver 21 b, and the human detection information 62 d of the human detection sensor to operate the louver 21 c, respectively.
In the case where the corner cover 30 with human detection sensor is mounted on the corner cover mount portion 24 a, the structure according to the embodiment becomes operable by setting the option 61 to “00”. Likewise, in the case where the corner cover is mounted on the corner cover mount portion 24 b, 24 c, or 24 b, the structure becomes operable by setting the option 61 to “01”, “02”, or “03”, respectively.
The aforementioned embodiment is configured to allow shifting of the set arrangement correlation between the human detection sensor and the louver at every 90° so as to ensure change in the position of the corner cover 30 with human detection sensor from the initial corner cover mount portion. The indoor control section 13 is configured to control the arrangement correlation between the plurality of human detection sensors 35 and the plurality of outlet ports 20. Upon installation of the plurality of indoor units 1 in the same space, the use of the aforementioned indoor control section allows change in the position of the corner cover 30 in the case of the on-site work for consistency from the design aspect.
Marks 25 from A to D are provided at the corner cover mount portions 24 a to 24 d on the decorative panel 11, respectively so as to allow the option 61 for the set items of the remote controller 4 to be similarly set to A to D, respectively. In the case where the corner cover 30 with human detection sensor is disposed over any one of the corner cover mount portions 24 a to 24 d, which is marked A, the on-site work may be further simplified by selecting “A” as the option 61 for the set item.
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments as described above, but includes various modifications. For example, the embodiments are described in detail for readily understanding of the present invention which is not necessarily limited to the one equipped with all structures as described above. It is possible to replace a part of the structure of one embodiment with the structure of another embodiment. The one embodiment may be provided with an additional structure of another embodiment. It is further possible to add, remove, and replace the other structure to, from and with a part of the structure of the respective embodiments.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

1: indoor unit
2: outdoor unit
3: refrigerant piping and transmission line
4: remote controller
5: remote control transmission line
10: main body part of indoor unit
11: decorative panel
12: display of remote controller
13: indoor control section
20, 20 a, 20 b, 20 c, 20 d: outlet port
21, 21 a, 21 b, 21 c, 21 d: louver
22: suction port
23: corner cover
24, 24 a, 24 b, 24 c, 24 d: corner cover mount portion
25: corner cover mark
26, 26 a, 26 b, 26 c, 26 d: air condition range
30: corner cover with human detection sensor
31: infrared transmission cover
32: infrared shielding cover
33: seat for human detection sensor
35, 35 a, 35 b, 35 c, 35 d: human detection sensor
36, 36 a, 36 n, 36 c, 36 d: lens
50, 50 a, 50 n, 50 c, 50 d: detection range
51, 51 a, 51 b, 51 c, 51 d: shielding range
52, 52 a, 52 b, 52 c, 52 d: non-shielding range
53, 53 a, 53 b, 53 c, 53 d: opening
60: set item for remote controller
61: option of set item for remote controller
62, 62 a, 62 b, 62 c, 62 d: human detection information of human detection sensor
63, 63 a, 63 b, 63 c, 63 d: operation output of louver

Claims

1. An indoor unit of air conditioner, comprising a plurality of outlet ports through which air is blown to an interior of a room in different directions, and a human detection unit for detecting a human in the room, wherein:

the human detection unit includes a plurality of human detection sensors installed in the plurality of outlet ports correspondingly, and lenses provided for the human detection sensors, respectively; and

the plurality of human detection sensors detect ranges corresponding to the different outlet ports, respectively.

2. The indoor unit of air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the human detection unit includes a shielding cover that shields a light ray incident on the human detection sensor in a part of the range.

3. The indoor unit of air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the human detection unit includes a shielding cover that shields a light ray incident on the human detection sensor, which is incident on a range other than an air condition range of the outlet port corresponding to the human detection sensor.

4. The indoor unit of air conditioner according to claim 1, comprising a shielding cover that shields a range as an overlapped part between a detection range of one of the plurality of human detection sensors and an air condition range of the outlet port corresponding to the other human detection sensor.

5. The indoor unit of air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein:

the human detection unit includes a shielding cover for shielding a light ray incident on the human detection sensor; and

the shielding cover has openings at positions corresponding to the plurality of human detection sensors, respectively.

6. The indoor unit of air conditioner according to claim 2, wherein the human detection unit includes an infrared transmission cover that is made of an infrared transmitting material for covering the plurality of human detection sensors, the lenses, and the shielding cover.

7. The indoor unit of air conditioner according to claim 1, comprising a decorative panel applied to a part of a housing as a main body part of the indoor unit, which is exposed to the interior of the room, a plurality of corner covers provided for corners of the decorative panel, and a plurality of mount portions to which the corner covers are attached, wherein:

the human detection unit is installed in any one of the plurality of corner covers; and

each of the plurality of corner covers is allowed to be mounted on any one of the mounted portions.

8. The indoor unit of air conditioner according to claim 7, comprising a control unit which controls an arrangement correlation between the human detection sensors and the outlet ports.

9. An air conditioner comprising the indoor unit according to claim 1.