WO2018029757A1

WO2018029757A1 - Air conditioner

Info

Publication number: WO2018029757A1
Application number: PCT/JP2016/073326
Authority: WO
Inventors: 正寛奥野; 怜司森岡; 淳一岡崎; 弘志 ▲廣▼▲崎▼; 三輪　祥太郎
Original assignee: 三菱電機株式会社
Priority date: 2016-08-08
Filing date: 2016-08-08
Publication date: 2018-02-15
Also published as: JP6678748B2; JPWO2018029757A1; CN109477655B; CN109477655A

Abstract

This air conditioner has: a refrigerant circuit that includes a compressor provided in an outdoor unit and a load-side heat exchanger provided in an indoor unit; a fan that is provided in the indoor unit; a flap that is provided in an outlet of the indoor unit; an infrared sensor that detects temperature distribution in a room; and a control device. The control device has: a body position determining means for determining a body part and position corresponding to a person in a thermal image detected by the infrared sensor; a distance determining means for calculating the distance from the indoor unit to the person using information on the position of the body part; a posture discriminating means for discriminating the posture of a person from the shape of the body part in the thermal image; an attribute determining means for discriminating whether the person has the attribute of an adult or child with respect to the number of pixels of the body part; and an operation controlling means for controlling at least one of the direction of the flap, the speed of the fan, and the speed of the compressor in accordance with the attribute.

Description

Air conditioner

The present invention relates to an air conditioner including an indoor unit that can change the air blowing direction.

An example of an air conditioner that controls an air volume and a wind direction in consideration of obstacles such as furniture placed in a room is disclosed in Patent Document 1. In Patent Document 1, the air conditioner recognizes the shape of a measurement object determined as a person using an image sensor, determines whether the measurement object is a child or an adult, and concentrates the wind around the adult. In addition, it is described that the rotational speed of the indoor fan and the positions of the left and right louvers and the upper and lower louvers are adjusted so that the wind is directed away from the child without directing the wind.

Further, in Patent Document 1, an image sensor provided in an indoor unit measures in advance the distance from the indoor unit to the wall surface of the room when there is no person as a background, and when a person enters the room, Since the distance from the machine to the person is different from the background value, it is described that the person recognizes that the person has entered the room.

JP 2009-139010 A

In the method disclosed in Patent Document 1, whether or not there is a person in the room is determined by a change in the distance measured based on the indoor unit, and whether the person in the room is an adult or a child is determined by shape recognition. Is called. It is difficult to discriminate between adults and children by shape recognition alone. If the discrimination is not successful, the air conditioning becomes uncomfortable for the user.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and provides an air conditioner that improves comfort even if the person in the room is an adult or a child.

An air conditioner according to the present invention includes a compressor circuit provided in an outdoor unit and a refrigerant circuit including a load-side heat exchanger provided in the indoor unit, and is provided in the indoor unit and sucks indoor air from a suction port. A fan that blows air into the room from the air outlet, a flap that is provided in the air outlet and adjusts the air blowing direction in which the load-side heat exchanger is harmonized, and an infrared sensor that detects the temperature distribution in the room, A control device that controls the flap, the fan, and the compressor using a thermal image detected by the infrared sensor, and the control device determines a human body part and a position corresponding to a human body in the thermal image. Human body position determining means, distance determining means for calculating a distance from the indoor unit to the human body using information on the position of the human body part, and the human body part of the thermal image Posture determining means for determining the posture of the human body from a shape; attribute determining means for determining whether the human body is an adult or a child with respect to the number of pixels of the human body portion; and according to the attribute, the flap Operation control means for controlling at least one of the direction, the rotation speed of the fan, and the rotation speed of the compressor.

According to the present invention, the distance from the indoor unit to the human body is calculated using the thermal image indicating the temperature distribution in the room, the posture of the human body is determined, and the human body corresponding to the distance and posture and the number of pixels of the human body part By discriminating whether an attribute is an adult or a child, misidentification of the attribute based only on shape recognition can be prevented, and comfort for both adults and children can be improved.

It is a refrigerant circuit diagram which shows one structural example of the air conditioner in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the example of 1 structure of the air conditioner shown in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows one structural example of the control apparatus shown to FIG. 2A. It is sectional drawing which shows one structural example of the indoor unit shown in FIG. It is an external view which shows one structural example when the indoor unit shown in FIG. 1 is seen from the front. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the air conditioning control method which the air conditioner in Embodiment 1 of this invention performs. It is a figure for demonstrating the method in which the sensor part shown to FIG. 2A acquires the data of the temperature distribution used as the basis of a thermal image. It is an image which shows an example at the time of the human body position determination means shown to FIG. 2A converting a thermal image into the binary image which shows the position of a human body part. It is a table | surface which shows an example of the relationship between the pixel equivalent to a human body part, and distance used when the distance determination means shown to FIG. 2A calculates the distance from an indoor unit to a human body. It is a table | surface which shows an example of the relationship between the aspect ratio of a human body part, and an attitude | position used when the attitude | position discrimination | determination means shown to FIG. 2A discriminate | determines the attitude | position of a human body. It is a binary image which shows an example of the kind of sitting position used as the object of the discrimination | determination process which the attitude | position discrimination | determination means shown to FIG. 2A performs. It is a figure for demonstrating the method of the detailed determination regarding a sitting position which the attitude | position determination means shown to FIG. 2A performs. It is a block diagram which shows the example of 1 structure of the air conditioner in Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the air conditioning control method which the air conditioner in Embodiment 2 of this invention performs. It is an image which shows an example of the thermal image which the human body position determination means shown in FIG. 11 passes to an external shape discrimination means.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
A configuration of the air conditioner of the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a refrigerant circuit diagram illustrating a configuration example of an air conditioner according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the air conditioner 100 includes an indoor unit 1 installed on a wall surface in the room, and an outdoor unit 15 connected to the indoor unit 1 via a refrigerant pipe 109. The outdoor unit 15 includes a heat source side heat exchanger 102 that exchanges heat with the outside air, a compressor 13 that compresses and discharges the refrigerant, an expansion valve 101 that reduces the pressure of the refrigerant, and a four-way valve 108 that switches the flow path of the refrigerant. And have. The indoor unit 1 includes a load-side heat exchanger 103 that exchanges heat with indoor air, and a fan 12. The compressor 13, the heat source side heat exchanger 102, the expansion valve 101, and the load side heat exchanger 103 connected through the refrigerant pipe 109 constitute a refrigerant circuit.

When the operation state of the air conditioner 100 is the cooling operation, the refrigerant discharged from the discharge port of the compressor 13 passes through the four-way valve 108, the heat source side heat exchanger 102, the expansion valve 101, and the load side heat exchanger 103. Then, it returns to the suction port of the compressor 13. In the cooling operation, the heat source side heat exchanger 102 functions as a condenser, and the load side heat exchanger 103 functions as an evaporator. On the other hand, when the operation state of the air conditioner 100 is the heating operation, the refrigerant discharged from the discharge port of the compressor 13 is the four-way valve 108, the load side heat exchanger 103, the expansion valve 101, and the heat source side heat exchanger 102. To return to the suction port of the compressor 13. In the heating operation, the heat source side heat exchanger 102 functions as an evaporator, and the load side heat exchanger 103 functions as a condenser.

Next, the configuration of the indoor unit 1 shown in FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 2A is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the air conditioner illustrated in FIG. 1. 2B is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the control device illustrated in FIG. 2A. As shown in FIG. 2A, the indoor unit 1 includes a fan 12, a flap 11, a sensor unit 2, an input / output interface (IF) 9, and a control device 20. As illustrated in FIG. 2B, the control device 20 includes a storage unit 51 that stores a program, and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 52 that executes processing according to the program. The storage unit 51 includes a frame memory for holding thermal image data, which will be described later. The storage unit 51 includes, for example, a nonvolatile memory and a RAM (Random Access Memory).

As shown in FIG. 2A, the control device 20 includes an attribute determination unit 8 and an operation control unit 10. When the CPU 52 shown in FIG. 2B executes the program, the attribute determination unit 8 and the operation control unit 10 are configured in the indoor unit 1. The compressor 13, the four-way valve 108, the fan 12, the flap 11, the sensor unit 2, and the input / output IF 9 are connected to the control device 20 via signal lines.

The input / output IF 9 is an interface that relays transmission / reception of various signals between the remote controller 14 and the operation control means 10. The input / output IF 9 transmits the received instruction signal to the operation control means 10 when receiving an instruction signal, which is a signal including an instruction content input by operating the remote controller 14 by the user, from the remote controller 14 by infrared communication.

The sensor unit 2 has an infrared sensor 22. The infrared sensor 22 detects a room temperature in order to provide a thermal image in which the temperature distribution of the three-dimensional air-conditioning target space is represented as a two-dimensional rectangular temperature distribution, and uses the temperature distribution data in the room as an attribute determination unit. 8 and the operation control means 10. For example, the infrared sensor 22 sequentially passes temperature data detected by raster scanning the air-conditioning target space in a rectangular shape to the attribute determination unit 8 and the operation control means 10. In addition to the infrared sensor 22, the sensor unit 2 may include a temperature sensor (not shown) that measures the temperature of indoor air and a humidity sensor (not shown) that measures the relative humidity of the room.

Next, the configuration of the flap 11 and the fan 12 shown in FIG. 2A will be described in detail. FIG. 3A is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration example of the indoor unit illustrated in FIG. 1. 3B is an external view illustrating a configuration example when the indoor unit illustrated in FIG. 1 is viewed from the front.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the fan 12 sucks indoor air from the suction port 106 of the indoor unit 1, and blows out air conditioned by the load-side heat exchanger 103 into the room from the blower port 107. FIG. 3A shows the direction of air suction and air blowing by arrows. The fan 12 has a configuration in which a plurality of blades (not shown) are attached to a shaft of an electric motor (not shown). The fan 12 changes the air volume by changing the rotational speed of the shaft. For example, when the fan 12 receives the control command signal including the command content related to the operation from the operation control means 10, the fan 12 adjusts the air volume supplied to the air-conditioning target space according to the command content included in the control command signal.

As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the flap 11 has left and right flaps 104 and upper and lower flaps 105. The left and right flaps 104 and the upper and lower flaps 105 are provided at the outlet 107 of the indoor unit 1. For example, as shown in FIG. 3B, the upper and lower flaps 105 have plate-like members along the longitudinal direction of the indoor unit 1. As shown in FIG. 3A, the plate-like member has a certain curvature along a short direction that is a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the indoor unit 1. The upper and lower flaps 105 change the direction of the wind blown from the outlet 107 to the vertical direction by changing the direction of the plate-like member.

The left and right flaps 104 have polygonal plate-like members as shown in FIG. 3A. As shown in FIG. 3B, the polygonal plate-like member is provided at two locations at the outlet 107, and is also provided at both ends of the outlet 107. In FIG. 3B, since the left and right flaps 104 cannot be seen from the outside of the indoor unit 1, the left and right flaps 104 are indicated by broken lines. The left and right flaps 104 change the direction of the wind blown from the outlet 107 to the left and right direction by changing the direction of the polygonal plate-like member.

For example, the flap 11 including the left and right flaps 104 and the upper and lower flaps 105 directs wind in the direction of a person existing in the air-conditioning target space or winds in a direction in which no person exists according to a control command signal received from the operation control means 10. Or turn. 3A and 3B show the case where there are two upper and lower flaps 105, the number of upper and lower flaps 105 is not limited to two. The shape of the left and right flaps 104 shown in FIG. 3A is a pentagon, but is not limited to a pentagon. 3B shows a case where the left and right flaps 104 are four, the number of the left and right flaps 104 is not limited to four.

Next, the configuration of the control device 20 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 2A. As shown in FIG. 2A, the attribute determination unit 8 includes an image acquisition unit 3, a human body position determination unit 4, a distance determination unit 5, a posture determination unit 6, and an attribute determination unit 7. In addition, the control device 20 includes a sensible temperature determining unit 31 that acquires a sensible temperature that is a sensation of a temperature felt by human skin, and a thermal sensation determining unit 32 that acquires a thermal sensation such as hot and cold.

When the image acquisition means 3 receives the indoor temperature distribution data from the sensor unit 2, the image acquisition means 3 generates a two-dimensional thermal image showing the indoor temperature distribution. For example, the image acquisition unit 3 applies a plurality of storage units constituting a frame memory (not shown) of the storage unit 51 to a plurality of pixels, and stores the thermal image in the storage unit 51. The thermal image has a configuration in which a plurality of pixels are arranged in a grid pattern. One storage unit has a storage capacity of 6 bits, for example. In this case, 6 bits are assigned to each pixel as temperature information. If the temperature unit detectable by the infrared sensor 22 is 1 ° C. and the minimum temperature is −10 ° C., the image acquisition means 3 can generate a thermal image having a temperature distribution in the range of −10 ° C. to + 54 ° C. Hereinafter, the temperature value in each pixel is referred to as a pixel value. The image acquisition unit 3 passes the generated thermal image to the human body position determination unit 4.

When the human body position determination unit 4 receives the thermal image from the image acquisition unit 3, the human body position determination unit 4 determines the human body part corresponding to the human body in the thermal image using the temperature difference between the person and the person's surroundings. The surroundings of a person are, for example, walls, floors, and furniture. The human body position determining unit 4 passes the thermal image and information indicating the position of the pixel corresponding to the human body part to the distance determining unit 5. The human body position determining unit 4 may generate a binary image obtained by binarizing pixels corresponding to the human body part and pixels other than the human body part as information indicating the position of the pixel corresponding to the human body part. In this case, the human body position determining unit 4 may pass the binary image to the distance determining unit 5 instead of the thermal image and the information indicating the position of the pixel corresponding to the human body part.

The distance determining unit 5 calculates the distance from the indoor unit 1 to the human body using the thermal image received from the human body position determining unit 4 and information indicating the position of the human body part. The distance determination unit 5 passes the calculated distance information to the attribute determination unit 7, and passes the thermal image and information indicating the position of the human body part to the posture determination unit 6. The posture determination means 6 determines the posture of the human body from the shape represented by a plurality of pixels corresponding to the human body portion in the thermal image. The posture determination unit 6 passes the thermal image, information indicating the position of the human body part, and information on the determined posture to the attribute determination unit 7.

The attribute determination means 7 determines whether the person in the room is an adult or a child from the distance calculated by the distance determination means 5, the posture determined by the posture determination means 6, and the number of pixels corresponding to the human body part. Determine the attributes. For example, for each set of distance and posture, a threshold value serving as a reference for discriminating the attribute of whether the human body is an adult or a child from the number of pixels corresponding to the human body is stored in the storage unit 51 in advance. The attribute determination means 7 determines the attribute of whether the human body is an adult or a child from the set of distance and posture and the number of pixels corresponding to the human body part. The attribute determination unit 7 passes the determination result indicating the attribute of adult or child to the operation control unit 10.

Using at least one of the temperature information of the human body part sent from the human body position determining unit 4 or the ambient temperature other than the human body part, the sensory temperature determining unit 31 acquires the human body temperature of the person in the room. The sensation determining means 32 acquires a thermal sensation.

When the operation control means 10 receives the instruction signal from the remote controller 14 via the input / output IF 9, the operation control means 10 stores the instruction content indicated by the instruction signal in the storage unit 51 and generates a control command signal corresponding to the instruction content to flap. 11, to the fan 12 and the compressor 13. For example, the instruction signal is transmitted from the remote controller 14 to the operation control means 10 via the input / output IF 9 when the air conditioner 100 is activated. Further, when the user changes the indoor set temperature or the like, an instruction signal is transmitted from the remote controller 14 to the operation control means 10 via the input / output IF 9.

Further, the operation control means 10 receives the attribute determination result from the attribute determination unit 8 and receives temperature information that is information including the temperature of the person and the person from the sensor unit 2. The temperature information may include indoor temperature and humidity information as well as the same data as the temperature distribution that the infrared sensor 22 passes to the attribute determination unit 8. The operation control means 10 performs air conditioning control for controlling the flap 11, the fan 12, and the compressor 13 based on the temperature information, the attribute determined by the attribute determination unit 8, and the instruction content stored in the storage unit 51. Control targets are, for example, the direction of the flap 11, the rotational speed of the fan 12, and the rotational speed of the compressor 13.

Specifically, the operation control means 10 generates a control command signal for at least one device among the flap 11, the fan 12, and the compressor 13 based on the temperature information, attribute, body temperature, and instruction content, Send a control command signal to the device. For example, when the room temperature included in the temperature information is remarkably larger than the set temperature included in the instruction content, the operation control means 10 transmits a control command signal for increasing the rotational speed to the compressor 13. Note that the operation control unit 10 may use a thermal image generated by the image acquisition unit 3 instead of receiving indoor temperature distribution data from the sensor unit 2.

Further, when the operation control means 10 receives the attribute discrimination result from the attribute discrimination unit 8 and receives the temperature information from the sensor unit 2, it may calculate the sensible temperature of the person in the room. Further, when the operation control means 10 receives the attribute discrimination result from the attribute discrimination section 8 and receives the sensory temperature or the thermal sensation information from the thermal sensation temperature determining means 31, the motion control means 10 receives the attribute of the person in the room. The sensory temperature or thermal sensation according to the above may be calculated. It is generally known that children have a higher sensible temperature than adults. Taking this into account, an example of a method for calculating the sensible temperature corresponding to the attribute will be described. Here, it is assumed that the sensor unit 2 has a humidity sensor (not shown). Further, if the difference between the sensory temperatures of adults and children is Δt, the temperature difference Δt is stored in the storage unit 51 in advance. The temperature difference Δt is 3 ° C., for example. Furthermore, a temperature conversion table for converting the surface temperature of the human body portion indicated by the thermal image into the sensible temperature is stored in the storage unit 51 in advance. The value of the sensory temperature in the temperature conversion table is calculated in advance by, for example, a Misnar calculation formula using room temperature and humidity as parameters. Instead of the temperature conversion table, an expression for calculating the sensible temperature from the surface temperature may be registered in the storage unit 51 in advance.

When the attribute of the human body in the room is an adult, the motion control means 10 obtains the body temperature corresponding to the surface temperature by referring to the temperature conversion table when acquiring the surface temperature in the human body part of the thermal image. When the indoor human body attribute is a child, the operation control means 10 refers to the temperature conversion table, obtains the body temperature from the surface temperature of the human body, and then adds the temperature difference Δt to the body temperature. The operation control unit 10 controls the flap 11, the fan 12, and the compressor 13 based on the attribute determined by the attribute determination unit 8, the calculated body temperature, and the instruction content stored in the storage unit 51.

Next, the compressor 13 provided in the outdoor unit 15 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the compressor 13 is a device that constitutes a part of the refrigerant circuit. The compressor 13 adjusts the amount of refrigerant circulating in the refrigerant circuit by changing the rotation speed. For example, the compressor 13 adjusts the amount of refrigerant circulating in the refrigerant circuit in accordance with a control command signal received from the operation control means 10, and performs heat exchange between the load side heat exchanger 103 and the heat source side heat exchanger 102. Control the amount.

It should be noted that a fan (not shown) that supplies outdoor air to the heat source side heat exchanger 102 may be provided in the outdoor unit 15. In this case, a fan (not shown) provided in the outdoor unit 15 is also connected to the operation control means 10 through a signal line in the same manner as the fan 12 and is controlled by the operation control means 10. Further, in the first embodiment, the description regarding the control of the operation control means 10 with respect to the four-way valve 108 and the state of the control are not shown in FIG. 2A.

Next, an air conditioning control method executed by the air conditioner 100 according to Embodiment 1 will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of an air conditioning control method executed by the air conditioner according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a method by which the sensor unit illustrated in FIG. 2A acquires temperature distribution data that is the basis of a thermal image.

When the air conditioner 100 is activated (step S1), the image acquisition unit 3 acquires a thermal image indicating the temperature distribution based on the temperature distribution data received from the sensor unit 2 (step S2). FIG. 5 shows how the infrared sensor 22 acquires indoor temperature distribution data. As shown in FIG. 5, the infrared sensor 22 detects, for example, the surface temperature of the human body of the child 203 and the adult 204 and the temperature around the person. The surroundings of a person are, for example, a wall and a floor.

Next, in step S3, the human body position determining unit 4 determines the human body part in the thermal image acquired by the image acquiring unit 3. For example, the human body position determining unit 4 recognizes the human body part from the thermal image as follows. When comparing a thermal image detected with a person in the room and a thermal image detected without a person in the room, the pixel value is larger when a person is present at the same position. Using this characteristic, a threshold value serving as a criterion for determining whether or not a human body exists is stored in the storage unit 51 in advance with respect to the difference in pixel values. The human body position determination unit 4 compares the thermal image received from the image acquisition unit 3 with the thermal image detected in the absence of a person in the room, and the position of a pixel whose pixel value difference is equal to or greater than a threshold corresponds to the human body part. The position to be determined.

FIG. 6 is an image showing an example when the human body position determining means shown in FIG. 2A converts the thermal image into a binary image indicating the position of the human body part. 6 corresponds to the child 203 shown in FIG. 5, and the human body part 304 shown in the binary image 34 corresponds to the adult 204 shown in FIG. The human body position determining means 4 determines the positions of the

human body portions

304 and 303 corresponding to the adult 204 and the child 203 shown in FIG. 5 as shown in FIG. In addition, the human body position determination unit 4 acquires the number of pixels of the

human body parts

303 and 304.

Next, in step S4 shown in FIG. 4, the distance determination means 5 calculates the distance from the indoor unit 1 to the human body as follows with reference to FIG. 6 and FIG. FIG. 7 is a table showing an example of a relationship between a pixel corresponding to a human body part and a distance used when the distance determining unit shown in FIG. 2A calculates the distance from the indoor unit to the human body. The table shown in FIG. 7 is an example, and is not limited to the values shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 shows the relationship between the lower end pixel position, which is the position of the lower end pixel of the human body part, and the distance from the indoor unit 1 to the human body part in the binary image shown in FIG. Even for the same person, the size of the human body part represented by the thermal image is relatively different depending on whether the distance from the indoor unit 1 is short or far. The respective distances from the indoor unit 1 to the child 203 and the adult 204 in FIG. 5 can be obtained by referring to FIG. 7 from the lower end pixel positions of the human body part 303 and the human body part 304 in the binary image shown in FIG. Calculated.

Referring to FIG. 6, the lower end pixel position of the human body 304 is 6. Referring to FIG. 7, since the lower end pixel position of the human body part 304 is 6, the distance from the indoor unit 1 to the human body part 304 is found to be 3.4 m. Referring to FIG. 6, the lower end pixel position of the human body part 303 is 3. Referring to FIG. 7, since the lower end pixel position of the human body part 303 is 3, the distance from the indoor unit 1 to the human body part 303 is 1.8 m.

Next, in step S5, the posture determination unit 6 determines the posture of the human body corresponding to the human body part determined by the human body position determination unit 4 as follows with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a table showing an example of the relationship between the aspect ratio of the human body part and the posture used when the posture determination unit shown in FIG. 2A determines the posture of the human body. The table shown in FIG. 8 is an example, and is not limited to the values shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 shows the maximum number of vertical pixels that is the maximum value of the number of pixels in the vertical direction and the maximum number of horizontal pixels that is the maximum value of the number of pixels in the horizontal direction in the shape represented by the plurality of pixels corresponding to the human body part in the thermal image Is a posture corresponding to the value of the human body aspect ratio n. Human body aspect ratio n = (maximum number of vertical pixels / maximum number of horizontal pixels). The posture is, for example, a supine position, a sitting position, and a standing position. For example, in the binary image shown in FIG. 6, the posture determination means 6 reads the human body aspect ratio n of the human body part that is the target of attribute determination. The posture determination means 6 determines that the posture of the human body is supine if the human body aspect ratio n is 0.2 or less, and determines that the posture of the human body is standing if the human body aspect ratio n is 0.5 or more. If the human body aspect ratio n is outside these ranges, the human body posture is determined to be sitting.

Next, when the posture of the human body is determined to be the sitting position as a result of the posture determination in step S5, the posture determination means 6 performs detailed determination regarding the sitting position (step S6). An example of the detailed determination method regarding the sitting position will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 9 is a binary image showing an example of the type of sitting position to be subjected to the discrimination processing executed by the posture discrimination means shown in FIG. 2A. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a detailed determination method regarding the sitting position, which is executed by the posture determination unit shown in FIG. 2A.

In the sitting position, the number of pixels on the thermal image is greatly different between the chair sitting state when the human body is sitting on the chair and the floor sitting state when the human body is sitting on the floor. For example, the binary image 72 shown in FIG. 9 represents the case where the human body part 701 is in the chair sitting position and the human body part 703 represents the case in the floor sitting position. The types of these sitting positions tend to vary not only from the number of pixels but also from the center of gravity with respect to the position of each pixel constituting the human body part.

In step S6, the posture discriminating means 6 calculates the center of gravity moment of the human body part to be posture discriminated as follows, and discriminates whether the sitting position is the chair sitting position or the floor sitting position. FIG. 10 is an image diagram for explaining a method of calculating the centroid moment. The centroid moment is a value indicating the degree of variation from the centroid for each of the x direction (left and right direction) and the y direction (up and down direction) in a certain figure. Referring to the binary image 72 shown in FIG. 9, in the human body portion 701 in the chair sitting position, the degree of variation in the vertical direction from the center of gravity is larger than the degree of variation in the horizontal direction from the center of gravity. On the other hand, in the case of the floor sitting position, the human body part 703 has a greater degree of variation in the horizontal direction from the center of gravity than a degree of variation in the vertical direction from the center of gravity.

Thus, the degree of variation in the vertical and horizontal directions from the center of gravity differs between the chair sitting position and the floor sitting position. Therefore, the posture determination means 6 can determine whether the sitting position is the chair sitting position or the floor sitting position by calculating the center of gravity moment of the human body part and comparing the calculated center of gravity moment with a predetermined threshold value. it can. A threshold value serving as a reference for determining the type of sitting position is stored in the storage unit 51 in advance. The calculation target of the degree of variation from the center of gravity may be for each of a plurality of minute units constituting the outer shape of the figure, or may be for each of a plurality of minute units constituting the entire figure.

In step S7 shown in FIG. 4, the attribute determination unit 7 determines the attribute based on the number of pixels acquired in step S3, the distance acquired in step S4, and the result of the attitude determination acquired in steps S5 to S6. Determine whether the target human body is an adult or a child. A specific example will be described. Corresponding to the set of posture and distance, a threshold value is stored in advance in the storage unit 51 as an attribute determination criterion regarding the number of pixels of the human body part. For example, when there are ten combinations of postures and distances, ten threshold values are preset. The attribute determination unit 7 refers to the information stored in the storage unit 51, identifies a set from the posture and distance results, and reads the threshold value of the identified set from the storage unit 51. The attribute determining means 7 determines that the human body is an adult when the number of pixels of the human body part to be attribute-determined is equal to or greater than the threshold, and determines that the human body is a child when the number of pixels of the human body part to be the attribute determination target is smaller than the threshold. Determine.

As a result of the determination in step S7, when the human body to be subjected to attribute determination is determined to be an adult, the operation control means 10 performs air conditioning control in accordance with the adult (step S8). On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S7, when the human body to be subjected to attribute determination is determined to be a child, the operation control means 10 performs air conditioning control in accordance with the child (step S9). Furthermore, in step S9, the operation control means 10 may perform the following control on the flap 11, the fan 12, and the compressor 13.

The operation control means 10 will be described by taking as an example a case where the flap 11, the fan 12, and the compressor 13 are controlled based on the surface temperature of the human body acquired by the infrared sensor 22. For example, when there are a plurality of persons in the room, the operation control means 10 controls the direction of the flap 11 so that the wind is directed toward a person with a high surface temperature. In this case, even if it is determined that there is a child in the room, if the surface temperature of the child is the same as the surface temperature of the adult, the operation control means 10 determines that the child is the same temperature as the adult, and the flap 11, fan 12 and the compressor 13 are controlled. If the surface temperature of the adult and the child in the room is higher than that of the child, the motion control means 10 determines that the adult has a higher sensible temperature than the child, so that the wind is directed toward the adult. It is conceivable to control the direction of the flap 11.

For example, in summer, children are said to be hotter than adults. Therefore, if the operation control means 10 determines that the child has the same temperature as an adult and controls the flap 11, the fan 12, and the compressor 13, the child may not be comfortable. Therefore, when the attribute determination unit 8 determines that both the child and the adult are present in the room, the operation control means 10 corrects the sensible temperature of the child so that both the child and the adult are comfortable. The fan 12 and the compressor 13 are controlled. Specifically, the motion control means 10 obtains the sensible temperature from the child's surface temperature, and then adds a temperature difference Δt that takes heat into consideration. Then, the operation control means 10 compares the corrected sensory temperature for children with the adult sensory temperature, and controls the direction of the flap 11 so that the wind is directed toward a person with a high sensory temperature. In the following, another specific example that considers that children are hotter than adults will be described.

When the compressor 13 operates at a certain frequency, the fan 12 operates at a certain rotation speed, and the flap 11 operates so that the wind hits the human body, the wind is received after a certain period of time. The feeling of people's warmth and coolness is reduced. If you keep the wind on the human body as it is, the thermal sensation of the person will drop further, and the person will feel comfortable and cold. Therefore, the operation control means 10 operates the flap 11 so that the person is not exposed to wind when it is determined that the person's thermal sensation has become comfortable. The operation control means 10 determines whether or not the human thermal sensation is comfortable, for example, based on the surface temperature of the human body acquired from the thermal image.

When the attribute determination unit 8 determines that the attribute of the person in the room is a child, the motion control means 10 corrects the thermal sensation in the direction of the heat because the child is hotter than the adult. That is, the operation control means 10 lowers the surface temperature at which it is determined that the human thermal sensation has become comfortable by a temperature difference Δt than that of an adult.

For example, as shown in FIG. 5, when there is one human body that is identified as a child 203 and an adult 204 in the room, the motion control means 10 is configured so that the adult 204 becomes comfortable when the thermal feeling of the adult 204 becomes comfortable. The direction of the flap 11 is controlled so that the wind does not hit 204. At this time, since the thermal sensation of the child 203 is corrected, it is not comfortable at the same timing as the adult, so the operation control means 10 controls the direction of the flap 11 so that the wind continues to hit the child 203.

The motion control means 10 continues to apply wind until the corrected thermal sensation of the child 203 becomes comfortable, and when the corrected thermal sensation becomes comfortable, the direction of the flap 11 is set so that the child does not receive wind. Control.

At this time, the air conditioner 100 may perform air-conditioning control so that the child and the adult are comfortable regardless of the operation. For example, even if the compressor 13 operates at a certain frequency and the direction of the flap 11 is controlled in a direction in which the wind hits the human body, if the indoor attribute is an adult, the operation control means 10 may rotate. What is necessary is just to control the fan 12 so that a number may become low. Thereby, a weak wind is sent with respect to an adult, and an adult can maintain a comfortable state. Further, if the attribute of the person in the room is a child, the operation control means 10 controls the fan 12 so as to increase the rotational speed so as to send a strong wind to the child so that the child's thermal feeling becomes comfortable. You may control. In this way, the operation control means 10 controls the rotation speed of the fan 12 without controlling the rotation speed of the compressor 13 and the direction of the flap 11, thereby making the room more comfortable for the user. it can.

When the fan 12 operates at a certain rotational speed and the direction of the flap 11 is set to a direction in which the wind hits the human body, the operation control means 10 controls the rotational speed of the compressor 13 to control the air conditioning. Just do. For example, when the person in the room is a child during the cooling operation of the air conditioner 100, the operation control means 10 increases the rotational speed of the compressor 13.

The air conditioner 100 according to Embodiment 1 includes a refrigerant circuit including a compressor 13 provided in the outdoor unit 15 and a load side heat exchanger 103 provided in the indoor unit 1, and a fan provided in the indoor unit 1. 12, a flap 11 provided at the outlet of the indoor unit 1, an infrared sensor 22 that detects a temperature distribution in the room, and a control device 20. The control device 20 determines a human body part in the thermal image. Human body position determining means 4, distance determining means 5 for calculating the distance from the indoor unit to the human body, posture determining means 6 for determining the posture of the human body from the shape of the human body portion, and the number of pixels of the human body portion Attribute determination means 7 for determining whether the attribute is adult or child, and operation control for controlling at least one of the direction of the flap 11, the rotational speed of the fan 12, and the rotational speed of the compressor 13 according to the attribute. Mean 10 And it has a.

In the first embodiment, the distance from the indoor unit 1 to the human body is calculated using a thermal image indicating the temperature distribution in the room, the posture of the human body is determined, and the distance and posture and the number of pixels of the human body portion are supported. Thus, by determining the attribute of whether the human body is an adult or a child, it is possible to prevent misidentification of the attribute based only on shape recognition and provide an air-conditioned space that is more suitable for the user. As a result, comfort can be improved for both adults and children.

In the first embodiment, the operation control means 10 acquires the surface temperature of the human body part or the ambient temperature other than the human body part from the thermal image, and uses the temperature information of one or both of the surface temperature and the ambient temperature. Then, the thermal sensation or the human sensible temperature may be calculated, and control may be performed according to at least one of the thermal sensation or the thermal sensation temperature and the attribute. In this case, at the time of cooling operation, it is possible not to apply wind to a hot child but to apply wind to a cold adult.

In the first embodiment, the operation control means 10 corrects the sensory temperature or the thermal sensation when the human body is a child as a result of the determination by the attribute determining means 7, and controls the corrected sensory temperature or the thermal sensation. It may be used. If the attribute discrimination target is determined to be a child, the child is hotter than the adult, so if the temperature or thermal sensation is corrected to the hotter and air conditioning control is performed with the corrected temperature or thermal sensation, A comfortable air-conditioning space can be provided for children.

In the first embodiment, the operation control means 10 changes the direction of the flap 11 to change the direction of the flap 11 so that the air blowing direction is the direction of the human body when the human body is a child during the cooling operation. At least one of the control of increasing the speed and increasing the rotational speed of the compressor 13 may be performed. In this case, when a child who is hotter than an adult is in the room, such as in summer, when the cooling operation is performed, the child's feeling of warmth or cooling becomes comfortable by the wind being applied to the child or the temperature of the room being lowered.

In the first embodiment, the posture determination means 6 calculates the human body aspect ratio for a plurality of pixels constituting the human body part in the thermal image, and the posture of the human body is supine or sitting according to the calculated human body aspect ratio. Or standing position may be determined. In this case, when the attribute determining unit 7 determines the attribute according to the posture and distance of the human body and the number of pixels of the human body part, the accuracy of the determination is improved.

In the first embodiment, when the posture of the human body is a sitting position, the posture determination unit 6 calculates a center of gravity moment that is a degree of variation from the center of gravity of the human body portion with respect to a plurality of pixels constituting the human body portion. You may make it discriminate | determine which is a sitting position among a floor sitting position and a chair sitting position according to a gravity center moment. In this case, since the sitting state is determined in more detail, the accuracy of the determination is further improved when the attribute determining unit 7 determines the attribute according to the posture and distance of the human body and the pixel of the human body part.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
The air conditioner of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an air conditioner according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a procedure of an air-conditioning control method executed by the air-conditioning apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. FIG. 13 is an image showing an example of a thermal image that the human body position determination unit shown in FIG. 11 passes to the outer shape determination unit.

The configuration of the air conditioner according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the second embodiment, the configuration excluding the outer shape determining unit 25, the temperature distribution determining unit 26, and the attribute determining unit 7 in the configuration shown in FIG. 11 has been described with reference to FIG. 2A of the first embodiment. Since it is the same as that of a structure, the detailed description is abbreviate | omitted.

As shown in FIG. 11, the attribute determination unit 8 includes an outer shape determination unit 25, a temperature distribution determination unit 26, and an attribute determination unit 7. The outer shape discriminating unit 25 uses the thermal image received from the human body position determining unit 4 and information indicating the position of the human body part to acquire feature amount information of the outer shape of the human body part as the outer shape information. A thermal image 80 shown in FIG. 13 shows a case where two human bodies are detected. In the example of the thermal image 80 shown in FIG. 13, the outer shape obtained from the feature amount information of the human body portion 81 is a triangle, and the outer shape obtained from the feature amount information of the human body portion 82 is an ellipse. The outer shape determination unit 25 passes the outer shape information and the thermal image to the temperature distribution determination unit 26.

The temperature distribution discriminating means 26 acquires from the thermal image the temperature distribution method including the high temperature part and the medium temperature part in the human body part as temperature distribution information. The determination of the high temperature and the medium temperature with respect to the temperature in the human body part is performed in comparison with a threshold value stored in advance in the storage unit 51. In the thermal image 80 shown in FIG. 13, the temperature distribution is classified into three temperature ranges and displayed in the

human body parts

81 and 82. The thermal image 80 indicates that the higher the dot distribution density, the higher the temperature. The temperature distribution determination unit 26 passes the thermal image, the outer shape information, and the temperature distribution information to the attribute determination unit 7. The attribute determination unit 7 determines whether the person in the room is an adult or a child from the outer shape information acquired by the outer shape determination unit 25 and the temperature distribution information acquired by the temperature distribution determination unit 26.

Next, the procedure of the air conditioning control method according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 12 and FIG. In the second embodiment, among the processes shown in FIG. 12, steps S1 to S3, steps S8 and S9 are the same as steps S1 to S3 and step S8 described in the first embodiment with reference to FIG. And since it is the same as that of step S9, the detailed description is abbreviate | omitted.

The outer shape discriminating unit 25 uses the thermal image received from the human body position determining unit 4 and the information indicating the position of the human body part, as described with reference to FIG. Obtain (step S14). The outer shape determination unit 25 passes the acquired outer shape information and the thermal image to the temperature distribution determination unit 26. The temperature distribution discriminating means 26 acquires the temperature distribution method including the high temperature part and the middle temperature part in the human body part as the temperature distribution information (step S15). The temperature distribution determination unit 26 passes the thermal image, the outer shape information, and the temperature distribution information to the attribute determination unit 7.

The attribute determining means 7 determines whether the person in the room is an adult or a child from the outer shape information acquired by the outer shape determining means 25 and the temperature distribution information acquired by the temperature distribution determining means 26 (step) S16). For example, the human body part 81 shown in FIG. 13 has high-temperature parts gathered upward and has a three-stroke shape. Therefore, the attribute determining means 7 determines that the human body part 81 is an adult. In addition, since the human body part 82 shown in FIG. 13 is centered on the high temperature part and has an elliptical shape, the attribute determining means 7 determines that the human body part 82 is a child. The attribute determination unit 7 passes the determination result indicating the attribute of adult or child to the operation control unit 10.

The operation control unit 10 controls at least one of the flap 11, the fan 12, and the compressor 13 according to the attribute indicated by the determination result received from the attribute determining unit 7 (steps S8 and S9). In step S16, the attribute determination means 7 discriminates the attribute using the high temperature part and the outer shape of the temperature distribution in the human body part, but the medium temperature part may be used instead of the high temperature part of the temperature distribution, and both are used. May be.

According to the second embodiment, it is possible to perform an erroneous determination of an attribute based only on shape recognition by determining an attribute of whether the human body is an adult or a child in accordance with the external shape and temperature distribution of the human body part acquired from the thermal image. And can improve comfort for both adults and children.

1 indoor unit, 2 sensor unit, 3 image acquisition unit, 4 human body position determination unit, 5 distance determination unit, 6 attitude determination unit, 7 attribute determination unit, 8 attribute determination unit, 9 input / output IF, 10 operation control unit, 11 Flaps, 12 fans, 13 compressors, 14 remote controllers, 15 outdoor units, 20 control devices, 22 infrared sensors, 25 external shape discrimination means, 26 temperature distribution discrimination means 31 bodily sensation temperature determination means, 32 thermal sensation determination means, 34 Binary image, 51 storage unit, 52 CPU, 72 binary image, 80 thermal image, 81, 82 human body part, 100 air conditioner, 101 expansion valve, 102 heat source side heat exchanger, 103 load side heat exchanger, 104 Left and right flaps, 105 Upper and lower flaps, 106 Suction port, 107 Outlet, 108 Four-way valve, 09 refrigerant pipe, 203 children, 204 adults, 303,304,701,703 human body part.

Claims

A refrigerant circuit including a compressor provided in the outdoor unit and a load-side heat exchanger provided in the indoor unit;
A fan that is provided in the indoor unit, sucks indoor air from a suction port, and blows air into the room from a blowout port;
A flap that is provided at the outlet and adjusts the direction in which the load-side heat exchanger is harmonized;
An infrared sensor for detecting the temperature distribution in the room;
A control device that controls the flap, the fan, and the compressor using a thermal image detected by the infrared sensor;
The control device includes:
Human body position determining means for determining a human body part and position corresponding to the human body in the thermal image;
Distance determining means for calculating the distance from the indoor unit to the human body using information on the position of the human body part; and posture determining means for determining the posture of the human body from the shape of the human body part in the thermal image; Attribute determining means for determining whether the human body is an adult or a child with respect to the number of pixels of the human body part;
Operation control means for controlling at least one of the direction of the flap, the rotational speed of the fan, and the rotational speed of the compressor according to the attribute;
Having an air conditioner.
The operation control means includes
Obtaining the surface temperature of the human body in the human body part or the ambient temperature other than the human body part from the thermal image, and using either one or both of the temperature information, the thermal sensation such as hot or cold of the human body or the human body The sensory temperature is calculated, and at least one of the direction of the flap, the rotational speed of the fan, and the rotational speed of the compressor is determined according to at least one of the thermal sensation or the thermal temperature and the attribute. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein one is controlled.
The operation control means includes
The air conditioning according to claim 2, wherein when the human body is a child as a result of the determination by the attribute determining means, the sensory temperature or the thermal sensation is corrected, and the corrected sensory temperature or thermal sensation is used for control. Machine.
The operation control means includes
During cooling operation, when the human body is a child, the direction of the flap is changed so that the air blowing direction is the direction of the human body, the rotational speed of the fan is increased, and the rotational speed of the compressor The air conditioner according to claim 3, wherein at least any one of the control steps is performed.