WO2015083209A1

WO2015083209A1 - Air-conditioning system and central controller

Info

Publication number: WO2015083209A1
Application number: PCT/JP2013/082313
Authority: WO
Inventors: 吉田　昇平
Original assignee: 三菱電機株式会社
Priority date: 2013-12-02
Filing date: 2013-12-02
Publication date: 2015-06-11

Abstract

Conventional air-conditioning systems had allowed unlocking of controlled functions from a hand-held remote controller so as to respond to sudden changes in the environment, providing a flexible response for users of the air-conditioning system. However, since determination criteria when unlocking had not been made clear on the central controller side, a problem would occur when unlocking requests are sent all at once from the many hand-held remote controllers managed by the central controller, said problem being one in which all of the unlocking requests would be approved, causing the air conditioners to run simultaneously. An air-conditioning system according to the present invention comprises: a central controller which can operate and monitor a plurality of outdoor units and indoor units and perform energy management for all of the air conditioners; and hand-held remote controllers which can operate and monitor the plurality of indoor units and which can be restricted by the central controller with respect to the function of operating the air conditioners. When the central controller receives an operation restriction unlocking request from a hand-held remote controller, the central controller will take energy consumption into consideration and approve unlocking when it is determined that energy management is not affected, thus allowing for energy management while providing a flexible response to sudden environmental change.

Description

Air conditioning harmony system and centralized controller

The present invention relates to an air conditioning harmony system having a plurality of air conditioners and a centralized controller used in the air conditioning harmony system.

The conventional air conditioning harmony system concentrates the central control function that operates and monitors multiple air conditioners on the central controller side, the local control function that operates and monitors air conditioners on the local remote controller side, and the operations that can be performed on the local remote controller side. An operation restriction function that restricts by control from the controller and allows the air conditioner to be operated and monitored by a centralized controller is provided (for example, see Patent Document 1). The above-mentioned operation restriction function is adopted in large buildings for the purpose of energy management, and energy management is led by the centralized controller side by making it impossible to operate the air conditioner freely with the remote control at hand. .

However, when a sudden change in the environment occurs, energy management may not catch up with the air conditioning control, and the air conditioning user may feel uncomfortable. For this reason, there is also an air conditioning system that can flexibly cope with a sudden change in the environment (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

In Patent Literature 2, a signal including the contents of the operation to be restricted and the restriction release is transmitted from the local remote controller to the indoor unit, and the operation to be restricted and the restriction are released from the indoor unit to the centralized controller. A release request signal including contents is transmitted. Then, the cancellation request signal is analyzed by the centralized controller, and based on the result, a cancellation permission signal including an operation to be restricted and permission to release the restriction is created and transmitted to the indoor unit. Then, by releasing a release permission signal from the indoor unit to the local remote controller, the operation restriction on the local remote controller is released.

On the other hand, there is an air conditioning harmony system mainly for energy management, and there is a system that controls the air conditioner so that the power consumption of each air conditioner is aggregated with a centralized controller etc. and the power consumption is suppressed from the present. In addition, there is an air conditioning harmony system or a centralized controller that presents current power consumption or a predicted power consumption value in the future to the air conditioning management user as data such as a pie chart and promotes control improvement (for example, see Patent Documents 3 and 4).

JP-A-63-273756 (2nd and 3rd pages) JP 2012-251710 A (Summary, FIGS. 6 and 7) JP 2010-65960 A (page 11, FIGS. 8 to 11) Japanese Patent No. 3783929 (pages 7 to 10)

The conventional air conditioning harmony system can release the operation restriction function from the local remote control side, and can flexibly cope with sudden environmental changes. However, since the criteria for release on the centralized controller side are not clear, the following problems occur when cancellation requests are made simultaneously from many remote controllers managed by the centralized controller. That is, there is a problem that all cancellation applications are permitted and the air conditioners operate all at once. As described above, when the air conditioners are operated all at once or the air conditioning load is increased all at once, the power consumption becomes large, and it becomes difficult to manage the energy consumed by the air conditioners.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and is used in an air conditioning harmony system capable of performing energy management while flexibly responding to a rapid change in the environment, and the air conditioning harmony system. To get a centralized controller.

The air conditioning harmony system according to the present invention is capable of energy management of a plurality of air conditioners including an outdoor unit and an indoor unit, a remote controller that transmits an operation command to the indoor unit, and a plurality of air conditioners, and restricts the operation of the remote controller. A centralized controller capable of transmitting a restriction command to the remote control, and the centralized controller assumes that the restriction release application is permitted when receiving the restriction release application from the remote control receiving the restriction command. The total predicted power consumption of the air conditioners is determined, and based on the predicted power consumption and the preset set power consumption, it is determined whether or not to apply the restriction cancellation application. The restriction release command for releasing the operation restriction is transmitted to the remote controller.

According to the air conditioning harmony system of the present invention, it is possible to manage energy while responding flexibly to sudden changes in the environment.

It is a systematic diagram of the air conditioning harmony system in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a functional block diagram of the centralized controller of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the power consumption table classified by control content of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the hand remote control of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the outdoor unit of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the indoor unit of FIG. It is a control flowchart which shows the flow of control at the time of the application restriction cancellation application in the local remote control of the air conditioning harmony system which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a control flowchart which shows the flow of control at the time of the operation restriction cancellation | release in the centralized controller of the air conditioning harmony system which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the control flowchart in the centralized controller of the air conditioning harmony system which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a system diagram of an air conditioning harmony system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The air conditioning harmony system 1 includes one centralized controller 2 and two air conditioners 100a and 100b (hereinafter collectively referred to as “air conditioner 100”).

The air conditioner 100a includes an outdoor unit 3a, two

indoor units

4a and 4b, and two local remote controllers 5a and 5b. The indoor unit 4a can be controlled only by the local remote controller 5a, and the indoor unit 4b can be controlled only by the local remote controller 5b.

The air conditioner 100b includes an outdoor unit 3b, two

indoor units

4c and 4d, and two

local remote controllers

5c and 5d. The indoor unit 4c can be controlled only by the local remote controller 5c, and the indoor unit 4d can be controlled only by the local remote controller 5d.

In addition, the

outdoor units

3a and 3b are hereinafter collectively referred to as “outdoor unit 3”. Further, the four

indoor units

4a, 4b, 4c, and 4d are hereinafter collectively referred to as “indoor unit 4”. Further, the four hand

remote controllers

5a, 5b, 5c, and 5d are hereinafter collectively referred to as “hand remote controller 5”.

The centralized controller 2, the outdoor unit 3, the indoor unit 4, and the local remote controller 5 are connected by a communication line (transmission line), and communication between each device is realized by each communication unit.

The centralized controller 2 can remotely control and monitor each of the

outdoor units

3a and 3b and the

indoor units

4a, 4b, 4c and 4d.

The local remote controller 5 can perform operation / stop of the corresponding indoor unit 4, change the setting of the operation mode, the set temperature, the air volume, and the air direction, and send an operation command for changing these settings to the indoor unit 4. To execute. Moreover, the display unit 18 is provided in the local remote controller 5, and the operation of the corresponding indoor unit 4, the operation mode, the set temperature, the air volume, the wind direction, the room temperature, and the humidity can be confirmed by the display of the display unit 18. It has become.

The

outdoor units

3a, 3b and the

indoor units

4a, 4b, 4c, 4d are connected not only by communication lines (transmission lines) but also by refrigerant piping. Specifically, the outdoor unit 3a is connected to the

indoor units

4a and 4b through refrigerant piping, and the outdoor unit 3b is connected to the

indoor units

4c and 4d through refrigerant piping.

The system configuration of the outdoor unit 3 and the indoor unit 4 is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. 1, and any combination is possible. Further, the number of air conditioners 100 and the number of outdoor units 3 and indoor units 4 constituting the air conditioner 100 are not limited to the numbers shown in FIG.

An outline of control in the first embodiment will be described below.
When the operation of the local remote controller 5 is restricted by the restriction command from the centralized controller 2, when the restriction release application is made from the local remote controller 5 receiving the restriction command to the centralized controller 2, the centralized controller 2 The following control is performed. That is, the centralized controller 2 calculates the predicted power consumption of the air conditioners 100 a and 100 b based on the energy management data 14 when it is assumed that the restriction cancellation application is permitted. Then, based on the calculated predicted power consumption and the preset power consumption set, it is determined whether or not the restriction release application is permitted. When the centralized controller 2 determines that the restriction release application is permitted, the centralized controller 2 transmits a restriction release command for releasing the operation restriction of the local remote controller 5 to the local remote controller 5.

Hereinafter, details of the embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, the configuration of the centralized controller 2, the local remote controller 5, the outdoor unit 3, and the indoor unit 4 will be described.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the centralized controller of FIG.
The centralized controller 2 is configured by a computer, for example, and includes a communication unit 6, a control unit 7, a calculation unit 8, an input unit 9, a display unit 10, and a data storage unit 11. The display unit 10 displays the monitoring state of the indoor unit 4. The input unit 9 receives air conditioning control (such as driving operation) from the air conditioning management user. The communication unit 6 transmits a signal (command) to the air conditioner 100. The control unit 7 determines a transmission command, transmits the signal to the air conditioner 100 via the communication unit 6, and performs air conditioning control remotely. Further, the centralized controller 2 has an operation restriction function for restricting operations that can be performed by the local remote controller 5 as in the conventional case, and an energy management function for managing the amount of power consumed by the air conditioning harmony system 1.

The energy management function refers to whether or not the actual power consumption of the outdoor unit 3 and the indoor unit 4 is actually obtained as information periodically, and the total current power consumption exceeds a preset power consumption. A function to monitor The set power consumption is not particularly limited, and may be a target daily power consumption set in consideration of energy saving, for example, or an allowable maximum power consumption. In the following description, it is assumed that the set power consumption is a target power consumption (target power consumption 14b described later).

In addition to the energy management function, the centralized controller 2 further has a function-specific power consumption prediction function for predicting the amount of power consumed in one hour from the respective operating states of the outdoor unit 3 and the indoor unit 4. . Details of the control content-specific power consumption prediction function will be described later.

The centralized controller 2 monitors the operation state (operation / stop, operation mode, set temperature, air volume, room temperature) of each indoor unit 4, and for each indoor unit 4 on the data storage unit 11, Operation state data 12 (12a, 12b, 12c, 12d) regarding the operation state 4 is held. And the driving | running state data 12 are updated suitably.

Further, the centralized controller 2 monitors the operation prohibition state of each hand remote controller 5, and the operation restriction state data 13 (for the operation restriction state in the hand remote controller 5 is stored on the data storage unit 11 for each hand remote controller 5. 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d) are held. Then, the operation restriction state data 13 is updated as appropriate.

The centralized controller 2 further holds energy management data 14 on the data storage unit 11. The energy management data 14 includes a current power consumption 14a, a target power consumption 14b that is a daily power consumption target value, and a control-specific power consumption table 14c.

The current power consumption 14a is calculated by adding the power data periodically collected from each of the outdoor unit 3 and the indoor unit 4 by the calculation unit 8 and calculating the total of the daily air conditioners 100a and 100b up to the addition point. It is power consumption.

The control content_power consumption table 14c is used for the control content_power consumption prediction function described above, and an example is shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the control content_power consumption table in FIG. 2. Here, an example of the power consumption by power control table 14c of the air conditioner 100b is shown.
Control power_power consumption table 14c indicates in what room temperature the indoor unit 4 changes the control content (operation / stop, operation mode, set temperature, air volume) and how much power consumption will be. In this example, the table includes an air conditioner power data table 31 and an operation-specific control content table 32.

In the operation-specific control content table 32, the control content (operation / stop, operation mode, set temperature, air volume) and room temperature are specified for each operation name. In the air conditioner power data table 31, the power consumption corresponding to the combination of the respective operations of the indoor unit 4c and the indoor unit 4d of the air conditioner 100b is registered.

From these two tables, it is possible to grasp the power consumption when each of the

indoor units

4c and 4d is operated at a certain room temperature and with a certain control content. Note that the control content_power consumption table 14c may store test data in the case of a system configuration assumed at the time of shipment from the factory, or may hold actual data after system operation. Further, the control content-specific power consumption table 14c shown in FIG. 3 is an example, and is not limited to the configuration shown in the figure.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the local remote controller of FIG. Since the

remote controllers

5a, 5b, 5c, and 5d have the same configuration, the remote controller 5a will be described as a representative here. The hand remote controller 5 a includes a communication unit 15, a control unit 16, an input unit 17, a display unit 18, and a data storage unit 19.

In the data storage unit 19, operating state data 20 and operation restriction state data 21 are stored. Since the hand remote controller 5a can control only the indoor unit 4a as described above, the operation state data of the indoor unit 4a is stored as the operation state data 20, and the operation restriction state data of the indoor unit 4a is stored as the operation restriction state data 21. Stored. The operation state data 20 and the operation restriction state data 21 are updated as appropriate. Here, the case of the local remote controller 5a is shown, but if it is another local remote controller, the operation state data and the operation restriction state data of the indoor unit 4 that can be controlled by the local remote controller 5 are stored in the data storage unit 19. Will be stored.

The control unit 16 causes the display unit 18 to display the operation state of the indoor unit 4a based on the operation state data 20 of the data storage unit 19. In addition, the control unit 16 determines the transmission command in response to the operation of the air conditioning user at the input unit 17 and transmits the signal from the communication unit 15 to the indoor unit 4a to perform air conditioning control.

When the operation is restricted from the centralized controller 2, the control unit 16 registers the restricted operation (that is, the prohibited operation) in the operation restriction state data 21. In addition, the control unit 16 changes the display of the display unit 18 so that the operation registered in the operation restriction state data 21 is not operated by the air conditioning user, and performs control to eliminate the input portion of the corresponding operation at the input unit 17. .

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the outdoor unit of FIG. Since the configurations of the

outdoor units

3a and 3b are the same, the outdoor unit 3a will be described as a representative here.
The outdoor unit 3a includes a communication unit 22, a control unit 23, an air conditioning control unit 24, a data storage unit 25, and a power measurement unit 26. The outdoor unit 3 receives a signal including control details instructed from the centralized controller 2 or the local remote controller 5 by the communication unit 22, analyzes the received signal by the control unit 23, and controls the refrigerant by the air conditioning control unit 24. Implement fan control.

The data storage unit 25 stores the operation state data of the

indoor units

4a and 4b connected to the outdoor unit 3a. The outdoor unit 3a is a refrigerant of the

indoor units

4a and 4b based on the operation state data. Take control. Here, the case of the outdoor unit 3a is shown, but in the case of the outdoor unit 3b, the operation state data of the

indoor units

4c and 4d is stored in the data storage unit 25. And the driving | running state data are updated suitably.

The power measuring unit 26 measures the power consumption in the outdoor unit 3a, and power data related to the measured power consumption is transmitted from the communication unit 22 to the centralized controller 2.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the indoor unit of FIG. Since the

indoor units

4a, 4b, 4c, and 4d have the same configuration, the indoor unit 4a will be described as a representative here.
The indoor unit 4a includes a communication unit 27, a control unit 28, an air conditioning control unit 29, and a power measurement unit 30.

The indoor unit 4 receives a signal including control contents instructed from the central controller 2 or the local remote controller 5 by the communication unit 27, analyzes the received signal by the control unit 28, and controls the refrigerant by the air conditioning control unit 29. Implement fan control.

The power measuring unit 30 measures the power consumption in the indoor unit 4a, and power data related to the measured power consumption is transmitted from the communication unit 27 to the centralized controller 2.

FIG. 7 is a control flowchart showing a control flow at the time of application for canceling the operation restriction in the local remote controller of the air conditioning harmony system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Hereinafter, the flow of control in the local remote controller 5 at the time of application for canceling the operation restriction will be described with reference to FIG.

When an operation to activate the restriction release application function is performed from the local remote controller 5 due to an abrupt change of the environment or the like while the operation restriction is applied from the centralized controller 2 to the local remote controller 5 (S101), the local remote controller 5 An input screen for inputting application contents is displayed on the display unit 18 (S102). The operation for activating the restriction release application function may be, for example, pressing of a dedicated switch provided in the input unit 17 of the hand remote controller 5 or multiple pressing of a plurality of switches on the hand remote controller 5. When a new restriction release application function is added to the conventional local remote controller, it is difficult to add a new dedicated switch to the local remote controller 5, and therefore, the above-described multi-switch pressing method may be employed.

When the application content is input by the air-conditioning user who has confirmed the input screen and an input confirmation switch (not shown) is pressed (S103), the control unit 16 of the local remote controller 5 releases the restriction including the input application content. The application is transmitted to the centralized controller 2 (S104). The application details include changing the operation mode from the current “air blowing mode” to “cooling mode” to “set temperature 25 ° C.”.

FIG. 8 is a control flowchart showing a flow of control at the time of canceling the operation restriction in the centralized controller of the air conditioning harmony system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 8, the flow of control in the centralized controller 2 when an operation restriction cancellation application is made from the local remote controller 5 will be described.

The control unit 7 of the centralized controller 2 receives the restriction release application from the local remote controller 5 (S201), and analyzes the restriction release application. Here, for example, suppose that it is analyzed from the hand remote controller 5d of the air conditioner 100b that an application for canceling the control of the application content such as “operation mode” is set to “cooling mode” and “set temperature” is set to “25 ° C.”. The centralized controller 2 calculates the predicted power consumption of the air conditioners 100a and 100b based on the control content_power consumption table 14c when it is assumed that the restriction cancellation application is permitted (S201). The calculation of the predicted power consumption will be described again.

The centralized controller 2 determines whether or not to apply the restriction cancellation application based on the predicted power consumption and the target power consumption 14b (S203). Specifically, if the predicted power consumption does not exceed the target power consumption 14b, it is determined to be permitted, and if it exceeds, it is determined to be impossible.

When the centralized controller 2 determines that the restriction release application is permitted, the centralized controller 2 transmits a restriction release command to the local remote controller 5d of the restriction release application source (S204). On the other hand, when determining that the restriction release application is not permitted, the centralized controller 2 transmits a restriction release impossibility notification to the local remote controller 5d (S205).

When the local remote controller 5d receives the restriction release command, it releases the operation restriction. Specifically, the control unit 16 of the local remote controller 5d displays an indication on the display unit 18 that the operation restriction has been released, and indicates that the operation restriction has been released to the air conditioning user, and applied for the restriction release application. A transmission command for instructing the control content is transmitted to the indoor unit 4 to be executed.

On the other hand, when the hand remote controller 5 receives the restriction release impossibility notification, the hand remote controller 5 displays on the display unit 18 of the hand remote controller 5 that the central control is being performed and presents it to the air conditioning user.

Hereinafter, the process of step S202 and step S203 corresponding to the control content-specific power consumption prediction function will be described with a specific example. The following processing is performed by the control unit 7 and the calculation unit 8 inside the centralized controller 2.
Here, when the room temperature is 26 ° C. and the

indoor units

4c and 4d are both operating in the air blowing mode and with a high air volume (that is, corresponding to the operation (1) in the power consumption table 14c for each control content in FIG. 3). Then, the room temperature of the indoor unit 4d receiving the restriction command changes to 27 ° C., and the air conditioning user of the indoor unit 4d operates the indoor unit 4d from the local remote controller 5d in the “cooling mode” with the “set temperature 25”. Consider a case in which a restriction release application is applied for the application contents to be changed to “° C.” (that is, the operation (2) of the power consumption table 14c by control contents in FIG. 3 is applied).

In this case, the centralized controller 2 determines that the increase in the power consumption when the operation of the indoor unit 4d is changed from the operation (1) to the operation (2) based on the control-specific power consumption table 14c is 6 kW-4 kW = Calculate that it is 2 kW. In step S203, the centralized controller 2 determines whether or not the target power consumption 14b is exceeded when an increase is added to the current power consumption up to now.

In the following, operation restriction release permission (Example 1) and operation restriction release disabled (Example 2) are shown.
(Example 1: Permit)
Current time: 13:00
Daily power consumption (up to 13:00): 120 kW
Daily target power consumption (up to 13:00): 130 kW
Expected increase in power consumption: 2kW
In this case, since the predicted power consumption 122 kW obtained by adding 2 kW to the total current power consumption 120 kW of the air conditioners 100 a and 100 b to the present is less than the target power consumption 130 kW, it is determined to be permitted.

(Example 2: Impossible)
Current time: 13:00
Daily power consumption (up to 13:00): 120 kW
Daily target power consumption (up to 13:00): 118 kW
Expected increase in power consumption: 2kW
In this case, since the total current power consumption 120 kW of the air conditioners 100 a and 100 b has already exceeded the target power consumption 130 kW, it is determined to be impossible.

The centralized controller 2 determines whether or not to apply for restriction cancellation as described above.

Next, let us consider a case where restriction release applications are made simultaneously from a plurality of remote controllers 5 due to, for example, a sudden change in the environment. Here, it is assumed that the application for canceling the operation restriction is performed simultaneously in the order of the local remote controller 5d → the local remote controller 5c → the local remote controller 5a. In this case, the centralized controller 2 performs the processing of the flowchart of FIG. 8 in the order in which the restriction cancellation application is made.

Therefore, for example, the power consumption amount when the restriction release application from the local remote controller 5d and the local remote controller 5c is temporarily permitted does not exceed the target power consumption, but is further consumed when the control cancellation application from the local remote controller 5a is also permitted. When the amount of power exceeds the target power consumption, the operation restrictions on the local remote controller 5d and the local remote controller 5c are released, and the operational restrictions on the local remote controller 5a are not released. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a rapid increase in power consumption when an operation restriction cancellation application is made simultaneously from a plurality of local remote controllers 5 due to a sudden change in the environment, and the air conditioner 100 exceeds the energy management. Inconveniences such as simultaneous operation can be prevented.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, when the operation with the local remote controller 5 is restricted, if the operation management is not affected by the cancellation of the operation restriction, the operation restriction is handed over. It can be canceled by operating from the remote control 5. Therefore, energy management is possible while flexibly responding to a rapid change in the environment. Therefore, the comfort of the air-conditioning user can be improved while maintaining energy management.

Also, a rapid increase in power consumption such as simultaneous operation of the air conditioner 100 can be prevented.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
The outline of the second embodiment will be described below.
In the first embodiment, specific control for restricting operation from the centralized controller 2 to the local remote controller 5 has not been described, but in the second embodiment, this point will be clarified. Further, in the first embodiment, the operation restriction is released from the local remote controller 5, but in the second embodiment, the operation restriction is automatically released by the centralized controller 2.

The system configuration of the air conditioning harmony system 1 of the second embodiment is the same as that of FIG. 1 of the first embodiment, and only the control flowchart is different.

FIG. 9 is a view showing a control flowchart in the centralized controller of the air conditioning harmony system according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. The centralized controller 2 is controlled at a predetermined monitoring interval. That is, the process of the control flowchart of FIG. 9 is performed at a certain monitoring interval. This monitoring interval can be freely changed.

At the monitoring timing based on the monitoring interval, the centralized controller 2 obtains power data from each of the outdoor unit 3 and the indoor unit 4, calculates the total current power consumption 14a (S301), and updates the energy management data 14 To do. Based on the current power consumption 14a and the target power consumption 14b, an operation to be limited by the local remote controller 5 is determined (S302 to 308).

Specifically, when the current power consumption 14a is less than 60% of the target power consumption 14b (S302), the centralized controller 2 determines not to perform operation restriction on each hand remote controller 5, and there is no operation restriction. A restriction release command is transmitted to the local remote controller 5 (S303). Thereby, the air-conditioning user can freely change the control content by each local remote controller 5.

Further, when the current power consumption 14a is 60% or more and less than 80% of the target power consumption 14b (S304), the centralized controller 2 transmits a restriction command for performing the operation prohibition (1) to each local remote controller 5. (S305). In the operation prohibition (1), the “run / stop” operation, in which the most increase in power due to the control execution is expected, is prohibited. As a result, the air-conditioning user cannot perform the “operation / stop” operation of the indoor unit 4 from the local remote controller 5, and operations that can be performed by the local remote controller 5 are limited to “operation mode”, “set temperature”, and “air volume”. The

Further, when the current power consumption 14a is 80% or more and less than 90% of the target power consumption 14b (S306), the centralized controller 2 transmits a restriction command for performing the operation prohibition (2) to each local remote controller 5. (S307). In the operation prohibition (2), the “operation mode” in which a large increase in power is expected is prohibited in addition to the “operation / stop” in the operation prohibition (1). As a result, the operations that can be performed with the local remote controller 5 are limited to “set temperature” and “air volume”, and the operation mode of the indoor unit 4 in which the operation mode is designated as the “air blowing mode” from the centralized controller 2, for example. It is impossible to change from 5 to “cooling mode”. In this way, a reduction in power increase is expected.

If the centralized controller 2 determines that the current power consumption 14a has reached 90% or more of the target power consumption 14b, the centralized controller 2 transmits a restriction command for performing the operation prohibition (3) to each local remote controller 5. (S308). In the operation prohibition (3), in addition to “run / stop” and “run mode”, operations of “set temperature” and “air flow” are also prohibited. That is, all operations are prohibited. As a result, the indoor unit 4 cannot be operated from the local remote controller 5, and the centralized controller 2 enters an energy monitoring state.

The centralized controller 2 determines the operation prohibition contents as described above, and performs control to restrict the operation on the local remote controller 5.

Since the control flowchart of FIG. 9 is periodically performed at a certain monitoring interval as described above, when the current power consumption of the air conditioners 100a and 100b changes during the energy monitoring, the current power consumption 14a after the change is changed. Updated to the operation prohibition content corresponding to That is, for example, the current power consumption 14a is 90% of the target power consumption 14b at the previous monitoring timing, and the operation is prohibited (1) + (2), and the current power consumption 14a is, for example, at the current monitoring timing. When it falls to 70% of the target power, it is updated to operation prohibition (1). That is, the operation prohibition of the “operation mode” is canceled, and only “operation / stop” is updated to the operation prohibited state.

In the flowchart of FIG. 9, control is performed to transmit any command to the local remote controller 5 at every monitoring interval. However, if the operation restriction level determined at the current monitoring timing is the same as the previous operation restriction level. The command transmission at the current monitoring timing may be omitted.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained, and the validity / invalidity of the operation restriction is automatically set by the centralized controller 2, so that the first embodiment is effective. The input of the restriction cancellation application by the air conditioning user is not required.

Moreover, in this Embodiment 2, according to the ratio with respect to the setting power consumption of the total power consumption of the air conditioners 100a and 100b, a plurality of operations are prohibited from a low level where no operation restriction is performed. Divided into multiple high-level steps, for each operation restriction level, the operation to be prohibited is specified according to the operation restriction level. For this reason, energy management can be performed without restricting the operation with the local remote controller 5 more than necessary.

1 air conditioning harmony system, 2 centralized controller, 3 (3a, 3b) outdoor unit, 4 (4a-4d) indoor unit, 5 (5a-5d) local remote controller, 6 communication unit, 7 control unit, 8 calculation unit, 9 input Unit 10, display unit, 11 data storage unit, 12 operation state data, 12a to 12d, operation state data of indoor units 4a to 4d, 13 operation restriction state data, 13a to 13d, operation restriction state data of local remote controllers 5a to 5d, 14 Energy management data, 14a Current power consumption, 14b Target power consumption, 14c Control content_power consumption table, 15 communication unit, 16 control unit, 17 input unit, 18 display unit, 19 data storage unit, 20 operation status data , 21 Operation restriction status data, 22 communication unit, 23 control unit, 24 air conditioning control unit, 25 Data storage unit, 26 power measurement unit, 27 communication unit, 28 control unit, 29 air conditioning control unit, 30 power measurement unit, 31 air conditioner power data table, 32 control content table by operation, 100 (100a, 100b) air conditioner.

Claims

A plurality of air conditioners including an outdoor unit and an indoor unit;
A remote control for transmitting an operation command to the indoor unit;
A centralized controller capable of energy management of the plurality of air conditioners and capable of transmitting to the remote control a restriction command that restricts the operation of the remote control;
The centralized controller obtains the total predicted power consumption of the plurality of air conditioners when it is assumed that the restriction release application is permitted when receiving the restriction release application from the remote control receiving the restriction command, Based on the predicted power consumption and a preset set power consumption, it is determined whether to permit the restriction release application, and if it is determined to permit, a restriction release command for releasing the operation restriction of the remote control is issued. The air conditioning harmony system characterized by transmitting to the said remote control.
The centralized controller determines that the restriction cancellation application is permitted when the predicted power consumption does not exceed the set power consumption, and when the predicted power consumption exceeds the set power consumption, the limit cancellation application The air conditioning harmony system according to claim 1, wherein it is determined that permission is not permitted.
The centralized controller includes a data storage unit that stores power consumption for each control content, and is stored in the data storage unit when receiving the restriction release application from the remote control that receives the restriction command. The air conditioning harmony system according to claim 1 or 2 which computes said prediction power consumption based on data.
A plurality of air conditioners including an outdoor unit and an indoor unit;
A remote control for transmitting an operation command to the indoor unit;
A centralized controller capable of energy management of the plurality of air conditioners and capable of transmitting to the remote control a restriction command for restricting the operation of the remote control and a restriction release command for releasing the operation restriction;
The centralized controller determines whether or not it is necessary to limit the operation of the remote controller based on the total current power consumption of the plurality of air conditioners and a preset set power consumption at each predetermined monitoring timing. When the operation restriction of the remote control is determined to be necessary, the restriction command is transmitted to the remote control, and when the operation restriction of the remote control is determined to be unnecessary, the restriction release command is transmitted to the remote control. Air conditioning harmony system.
According to the ratio of the total power consumption of the plurality of air conditioners to the set power consumption, the operation restriction level of the remote controller is changed from a low level where operation restriction is not performed to a plurality of high levels for prohibiting a plurality of operations. For each operation restriction level, specify the operation prohibited according to the operation restriction level,
The centralized controller determines the operation restriction level based on the total current power consumption of the plurality of air conditioners, and transmits the restriction command indicating the determined operation restriction level to the remote controller. The air conditioning harmony system according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
A centralized controller for controlling the operation of a plurality of air conditioners including an indoor unit and an outdoor unit operated by a remote controller,
It is possible to manage energy of a plurality of air conditioners, and includes a control unit capable of transmitting a restriction command for restricting operation of the remote control to the remote control,
The controller is
When receiving a restriction release application from the remote control that has received the restriction command, and having a calculation unit for obtaining a total predicted power consumption of the plurality of air conditioners when it is assumed that the restriction release application is permitted, It is determined whether to permit the restriction release application based on the predicted power consumption and the preset power consumption, and when it is determined to permit, the restriction release command for releasing the operation restriction of the remote controller is determined. Centralized controller characterized by transmitting to remote control.
When the predicted power consumption does not exceed the set power consumption, the control unit determines to permit the restriction release application, and when the predicted power consumption exceeds the set power consumption, the limit release application The centralized controller according to claim 6, wherein it is determined that permission is not permitted.
A data storage unit that stores power consumption by control content;
The calculation unit calculates the predicted power consumption based on data stored in the data storage unit when receiving the limit release application from the remote controller receiving the limit command. Item 8. The centralized controller according to item 6 or item 7.
A centralized controller for controlling the operation of a plurality of air conditioners including an indoor unit and an outdoor unit operated by a remote controller,
A control unit capable of energy management of the plurality of air conditioners, and capable of transmitting a restriction command for restricting operation of the remote control and a restriction release command for releasing operation restriction to the remote control,
The controller is
At each monitoring timing, it is determined whether or not operation restriction of the remote control is necessary based on the total current power consumption of the plurality of air conditioners and preset power consumption, and the operation restriction of the remote control is A centralized controller that transmits the restriction command to the remote controller when it is determined to be necessary, and transmits the restriction release command to the remote controller when it is determined that operation restriction of the remote controller is unnecessary.
According to the ratio of the total power consumption of the plurality of air conditioners to the set power consumption, the operation restriction level is divided into a plurality of high-level stages that prohibit a plurality of operations from a low level that does not restrict the operation, For each operation restriction level, specify the operation to be prohibited according to the operation restriction level,
The control unit determines the operation restriction level based on a total current power consumption amount of the plurality of air conditioners, and transmits the restriction command indicating the determined operation restriction level to the remote controller. The centralized controller according to any one of claims 6 to 9.