WO2018179366A1

WO2018179366A1 - Refrigeration cycle system and communication traffic adjustment method

Info

Publication number: WO2018179366A1
Application number: PCT/JP2017/013688
Authority: WO
Inventors: 秀紀村松
Original assignee: 三菱電機株式会社
Priority date: 2017-03-31
Filing date: 2017-03-31
Publication date: 2018-10-04
Also published as: DE112017007372B4; JPWO2018179366A1; DE112017007372T5; JP6719651B2

Abstract

This refrigeration cycle system comprises a plurality of refrigeration cycle devices each having a refrigeration cycle in which refrigerant is circulated by a compressor, and a controller that is connected with the plurality of refrigeration cycle devices so as to be able to communicate. The controller comprises: a data collection unit that collects operation data from each of the plurality of refrigeration cycle devices; a data determination unit that performs priority determination processing to individually determine the priority for data collection from the plurality of refrigeration cycle devices on the basis of the operation data collected by the data collection unit; and a data collection interval setting unit that sets the data collection interval to a short cycle for the refrigeration cycle devices, from among the plurality of refrigeration cycle devices, with a high priority determined by the data determination unit and to a long cycle for the refrigeration cycle devices with a low priority. The data collection unit collects operation data for each refrigeration cycle device on the basis of the data collection interval set by the data collection interval setting unit for each refrigeration cycle device.

Description

Refrigeration cycle system and communication traffic adjustment method

The present invention relates to a refrigeration cycle system and a communication traffic adjustment method in the refrigeration cycle system, and the refrigeration cycle system includes a controller that monitors a plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses.

Conventionally, as a refrigeration cycle system including a refrigeration cycle apparatus, for example, there is an air conditioning system or a low temperature system. In general, an air conditioning system includes an air conditioner composed of an outdoor unit and an indoor unit, and a controller that collects operation information of the air conditioner through communication. Such a controller can communicate with a plurality of air conditioners and collects operation information of the plurality of air conditioners periodically. And the controller can monitor the driving | running state of an air conditioner by confirming the data acquired regularly.

By the way, when the number of connected air conditioners is large, the data collected from the air conditioner by the controller through communication increases according to the number of connected air, so that the communication traffic (the degree of communication congestion in the communication path) increases. When the communication traffic increases, the controller that monitors the air conditioner cannot acquire the necessary data, or the data acquisition is delayed, and it becomes difficult to ensure the accuracy of monitoring the operating state of the air conditioner. .

Therefore, in the conventional air conditioning system, in order not to adversely affect the communication due to an increase in communication traffic, the communication interval at which the controller transmits the data request is adjusted in consideration of the maximum number of air conditioners that can be connected. There are things that prevent an increase in communication traffic.

Patent Document 1 discloses a traffic reduction method for monitoring communication traffic and adjusting the entire data request interval according to the communication status.

JP 2010-19530 A

By the way, when monitoring the operating state of an air conditioner in an air conditioning system, it is necessary to acquire data in a short cycle in order to maintain monitoring accuracy for an air conditioner with a large change in operation data. On the other hand, for air conditioners with small changes in operating data, even if data acquisition is performed in a short cycle, the acquired data will be continuous with the same value. Can be suppressed.

However, in the configuration in which the data request interval for transmitting a data request from the controller to each air conditioner is adjusted according to the maximum number of air conditioners that can be connected to the air conditioning system as in the past, the data request interval is constant. It becomes the length. Further, even if the data request interval is adjusted according to the communication traffic of the air conditioning system as in the traffic reduction method of Patent Document 1, the data request intervals for a plurality of air conditioners are uniform, and the communication traffic is As it becomes larger, the data request interval becomes longer uniformly. Therefore, in the conventional air conditioning system, the air conditioner data collected by the controller has a uniform interval regardless of the change in the operation data of each air conditioner, and it becomes a data value with an interval in time, In any air conditioner, the accuracy of monitoring of the operating state may be reduced.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and provides a refrigeration cycle system and a communication traffic adjustment method capable of maintaining the accuracy of operation state monitoring suitable for the operation state of each refrigeration cycle apparatus. The purpose is to do.

A refrigeration cycle system according to the present invention is a refrigeration cycle system including a plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses each having a refrigeration cycle in which a refrigerant circulates by a compressor, and a controller connected to be able to communicate with the plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses. The controller collects operation data from each of the plurality of refrigeration cycle devices, and prioritizes data collection of the plurality of refrigeration cycle devices based on the operation data collected by the data collection unit. A data determination unit that performs a priority determination process for individually determining the degree, and among the plurality of the refrigeration cycle apparatuses, the data collection interval is set to a short period for the refrigeration cycle apparatus having a high priority determined by the data determination unit Data collection interval for refrigeration cycle devices with low priority A data collection interval setting unit that sets a long cycle, and the data collection unit operates data from each refrigeration cycle device based on the data collection interval set for each refrigeration cycle device by the data collection interval setting unit. Is to collect.

The communication traffic adjustment method according to the present invention includes a plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses each having a refrigeration cycle in which refrigerant is circulated by a compressor, and a controller connected to the plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses in a communicable manner. A communication traffic adjustment method in a cycle system, wherein the controller collects operation data from each of a plurality of the refrigeration cycle apparatuses, and the controller adds the operation data collected by the data collection step to the operation data. A data determination step for performing priority determination processing for individually determining the priority of data collection of the plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses, and the controller determined by the data determination step among the plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses. The high priority frozen rhino A data collection interval setting step for setting the data collection interval to a short cycle for the data collection device, and a data collection interval setting step for setting the data collection interval to a long cycle for the refrigeration cycle device having a low priority. Operation data is collected from each refrigeration cycle device based on the data collection interval set for each refrigeration cycle device in the data collection interval setting step.

According to the refrigeration cycle system or communication traffic adjustment method of the present invention, the data collection interval is individually set according to the operation data of each refrigeration cycle apparatus. Therefore, the controller acquires operation data in a short cycle from a refrigeration cycle apparatus with a large change in operation data among a plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses constituting the refrigeration cycle system, and from a refrigeration cycle apparatus with a small change in operation data. Operation data can be acquired in a long cycle. Therefore, the refrigeration cycle system and the communication traffic adjustment method can ensure the accuracy of operation state monitoring according to the operation state of each refrigeration cycle apparatus, and can suppress an increase in communication traffic of the entire system.

It is the schematic which shows the function structure of the air conditioning system which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a circuit diagram which shows the refrigerant circuit of the air conditioner which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the air-conditioning monitoring control which the controller which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention performs. It is explanatory drawing which shows the change of the setting before and behind the adjustment of the communication traffic which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a circuit diagram which shows another example of the refrigerating-cycle apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the schematic which shows the function structure of the air conditioning system which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the air-conditioning monitoring control which the controller which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention performs. It is explanatory drawing which shows the change of the setting before and behind the adjustment of the communication traffic which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention.

The refrigeration cycle system is configured by communicably connecting a plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses each having a refrigeration cycle and a controller that collects and manages operation data of the refrigeration cycle apparatus. The refrigeration cycle system is, for example, an air conditioning system including an air conditioner as a refrigeration cycle apparatus, or a low temperature system including a refrigeration apparatus as a refrigeration cycle apparatus.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
Based on FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the structure of the air conditioning system 1 is demonstrated. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a functional configuration of an air conditioning system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing a refrigerant circuit of the air conditioner according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The air conditioning system 1 includes a plurality of air conditioners 10 A, 10 B, 10 C, 10 D, and 10 E (hereinafter referred to as an air conditioner 10 when there is no need to distinguish between them) and a controller 50.

(Configuration of air conditioner 10)
The air conditioner 10 heats or cools the air conditioning target space, for example. Hereinafter, the air conditioner 10A will be described, and the description of the air conditioner 10B, the air conditioner 10C, the air conditioner 10D, and the air conditioner 10E is omitted because it has the same configuration as the air conditioner 10A.

As shown in FIG. 2, the air conditioner 10A includes an outdoor unit 20 and a plurality of

indoor units

30a, 30b, and 30c (hereinafter, referred to as an indoor unit 30 when there is no need to distinguish between them). And the outdoor unit 20 and the some indoor unit 30 are connected by the refrigerant | coolant piping 14 and the refrigerant | coolant piping 15, and comprise the refrigerating cycle. In the figure, the solid line arrows represent the refrigerant flow during heating, and the broken line arrows represent the refrigerant flow during cooling.

(Configuration of outdoor unit 20)
The outdoor unit 20 is installed outdoors, for example, and has a function of supplying cold or warm heat to the indoor unit 30. The outdoor unit 20 includes a compressor 25, a flow path switching device 26, an outdoor unit heat exchanger 27, and an accumulator 29 that are connected by refrigerant piping. The outdoor unit 20 includes an outdoor unit blower 28.

The compressor 25 compresses the refrigerant flowing in through the accumulator 29 and discharges it as a high-temperature and high-pressure gas refrigerant. The compressor 25 can be composed of, for example, a rotary compressor, a scroll compressor, a screw compressor, or a reciprocating compressor. The compressor 25 is composed of an inverter compressor capable of capacity control.

The accumulator 29 is provided on the suction side of the compressor 25 and stores excess refrigerant due to a difference between the heating operation and the cooling operation, excess refrigerant due to a transient change in operation, or excess refrigerant generated due to load conditions. is there. The transitional change in operation refers to, for example, a case where the number of operating indoor units 30 changes. The accumulator 29 separates the liquid refrigerant and the gas refrigerant and supplies the gas refrigerant to the compressor 25.

The flow path switching device 26 is provided on the discharge side of the compressor 25, and switches the refrigerant flow between the cooling operation and the heating operation. The flow path switching device 26 can be constituted by, for example, a two-way valve or a combination of three-way valves, or a four-way valve. During the cooling operation, the flow path switching device 26 connects the discharge side of the compressor 25 and the outdoor unit heat exchanger 27, and the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 25 is sent to the outdoor unit heat exchanger 27. On the other hand, at the time of heating operation, the flow path switching device 26 connects the discharge side of the compressor 25 and the refrigerant pipe 14, and the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 25 is sent to the indoor unit 30. When the air conditioner 10A is a cooling dedicated machine or a heating dedicated machine, it is not necessary to provide the flow path switching device 26.

The outdoor unit heat exchanger 27 performs heat exchange between a heat exchange fluid such as air supplied from the outdoor unit blower 28 and the refrigerant, and acts as an evaporator during heating operation, and a condenser during cooling operation. Acts as The outdoor unit heat exchanger 27 is, for example, a fin and tube heat exchanger, a microchannel heat exchanger, a shell and tube heat exchanger, a heat pipe heat exchanger, a double pipe heat exchanger, or It can be composed of a plate heat exchanger or the like.

The outdoor unit blower 28 supplies air to the outdoor unit heat exchanger 27, and includes, for example, a propeller fan having a plurality of blades. The outdoor unit blower 28 is driven by a fan motor, and the fan rotation speed is controlled by an inverter connected to the fan motor.

The outdoor unit 20 includes an outdoor control device 21 that controls the operation of the air conditioner 10A. The outdoor control device 21 may be configured by hardware such as a circuit device, or may be configured by an arithmetic device such as a microcomputer or a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and software executed by the arithmetic device. Good. The outdoor control device 21 controls the operation of each actuator based on inputs from a plurality of sensors installed in the air conditioner 10A and a remote controller operated by the user. The plurality of sensors are, for example, a discharge temperature sensor 62,

indoor temperature sensors

61a, 61b, and 61c (hereinafter referred to as indoor temperature sensor 61 when there is no particular need to distinguish), an indoor humidity sensor (not shown), and the like. The discharge temperature sensor 62 is provided on the discharge side of the compressor 25 and detects the discharge temperature of the refrigerant. The indoor temperature sensor 61 and the indoor humidity sensor are installed in the indoor unit 30 or the air conditioning target space, and detect the temperature or humidity of the air conditioning target space, respectively. The actuator is, for example, the compressor 25 of the outdoor unit 20, the flow path switching device 26 and the outdoor unit blower 28, and the throttle device and indoor unit blower of the indoor unit 30 described later.

The outdoor unit 20 is connected to the controller 50 via the communication line 2 so that the outdoor control device 21 and the controller 50 can communicate with each other. The outdoor control device 21 includes an outdoor unit communication unit 22 and an outdoor unit data holding unit 23. The outdoor unit communication unit 22 communicates with the controller 50, the indoor unit 30, and the like, and the outdoor unit data holding unit 23 holds operation data of the controlled air conditioner 10. The operation data of the outdoor unit 20 includes detection information of various sensors installed in the outdoor unit 20 and control information of the actuator. For example, the compressor frequency of the compressor 25, the discharge temperature, the cooling capacity, the outdoor unit blower 28 Fan frequency, operation time, power consumption, special control status, etc. The outdoor unit 20 and the controller 50 may be connected so as to communicate wirelessly.

(Configuration of indoor unit 30)
The indoor unit 30 is installed indoors or the like, for example, and has a function of cooling or heating the air-conditioning target space by cold heat or heat supplied from the outdoor unit 20. The

indoor units

30a, 30b, and 30c include indoor

unit heat exchangers

35a, 35b, and 35c, expansion devices 37a, 37b, and 37c, and

indoor unit blowers

36a, 36b, and 36c. Hereinafter, the indoor unit 30a will be described, and the indoor unit 30b and the indoor unit 30c will not be described because they have the same configuration as the indoor unit 30a.

The indoor unit heat exchanger 35a functions as a condenser during heating operation, and functions as an evaporator during cooling operation. The indoor unit heat exchanger 35a performs heat exchange between a heat exchange fluid such as air supplied from the indoor unit blower 36a and the refrigerant, and generates heating air or cooling air to be supplied to the air-conditioning target space. The indoor unit heat exchanger 35a is, for example, a fin and tube heat exchanger, a microchannel heat exchanger, a shell and tube heat exchanger, a heat pipe heat exchanger, a double pipe heat exchanger, or It can be composed of a plate heat exchanger or the like.

The indoor unit blower 36a supplies air to the indoor unit heat exchanger 35a. The indoor unit blower 36a can be constituted by, for example, a propeller fan having a plurality of blades.

The expansion device 37a expands and decompresses the refrigerant that has passed through the indoor unit heat exchanger 35a or the outdoor unit heat exchanger 27. The expansion device 37a is provided between the outdoor unit heat exchanger 27 and the indoor unit heat exchanger 35a. The expansion device 37a may be configured by an electric expansion valve capable of adjusting the flow rate of the refrigerant. For example, the expansion device 37a may be configured by a mechanical expansion valve employing a diaphragm as a pressure receiving unit, a capillary tube, or the like.

Further, the indoor unit 30 includes

indoor control devices

31a, 31b, and 31c (hereinafter, referred to as the indoor control device 31 when there is no need to distinguish between them) that are communicably connected to the outdoor control device 21. The indoor control device 31 controls the operation of the indoor unit 30 based on a signal from the outdoor control device 21 and transmits operation information and the like to the outdoor control device 21. The

indoor units

30a, 30b, and 30c include indoor unit communication units 32a, 32b, and 32c and indoor unit

data holding units

33a, 33b, and 33c. The indoor unit communication unit 32 communicates with the controller 50, the outdoor unit 20, and the like, and the indoor unit data holding unit 33 holds operation data of the indoor unit 30. The operation data of the indoor unit 30 is, for example, detection information of various sensors provided in the indoor unit 30 and control information of the actuator to be controlled, and includes, for example, indoor temperature, indoor humidity, set temperature, air volume, blowout temperature, and the like. .

(Controller 50)
The controller 50 monitors the state of the plurality of air conditioners 10 and collects operation data from the plurality of air conditioners 10 connected via the communication line 2 by communication. The operation data collected by the controller 50 is used, for example, by an administrator to confirm the operation state of the air conditioner 10, or sent to a maintenance company via a network and used for maintenance of the air conditioner 10. The

The controller 50 includes a communication unit 51, a data collection unit 52, a data determination unit 53, a data collection interval setting unit 54, and the like. The controller 50 includes, for example, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and a CPU (Central Processing Unit).

The communication unit 51 of the controller 50 communicates with each of the plurality of air conditioners 10, and the data collection unit 52 collects and stores operation data from each of the plurality of air conditioners 10. Specifically, when collecting the operation data, the data collection unit 52 sends a data request that requests the air conditioner 10 to be monitored to transmit the retained operation data. The data collection unit 52 stores the collected operation data in association with each air conditioner 10.

The data determination unit 53 performs priority determination processing based on the operation data collected by the data collection unit 52. Here, the priority determination process refers to determining data collection priorities individually for a plurality of air conditioners 10.

The data collection interval setting unit 54 sets a cycle for transmitting a data request to the air conditioner 10 for each air conditioner 10 based on the priority determined for each air conditioner 10 by the data determination unit 53. For example, the data collection interval setting unit 54 stores in advance a correspondence table as shown in Table 1 in which the priority order is associated with the data collection interval.

The data collection interval setting unit 54 refers to the correspondence table when setting the data collection interval of each air conditioner 10 and extracts the data collection interval corresponding to the priority determined by the data determination unit 53.

In addition, the controller 50 includes an input / output unit 55 configured by a touch panel display or the like. The administrator can operate the input / output unit 55 to cause the controller 50 to execute specific processing. For example, specific information can be specified and displayed on the screen.

The controller 50 can communicate with a plurality of air conditioners 10 at the same time. When the data collection unit 52 transmits a data request to each air conditioner 10, the air conditioner 10 sends the operation data held therein. respond. That is, the data request transmitted from the controller 50 to the plurality of air conditioners 10, the operation data transmitted from each air conditioner 10 in response to the data request, and the like pass through the communication line 2. Therefore, the communication traffic of the entire air conditioning system 1 is determined by the data collection interval.

(Operation of the air conditioner 10)
As described above, the operation of the air conditioner 10 is controlled based on inputs from a plurality of sensors and a remote controller. During operation, the air conditioner 10 holds operation data, the operation data of the outdoor unit 20 is held in the outdoor unit data holding unit 23, and the operation data of the indoor unit 30 is held in the indoor unit data holding unit 33.

Also, for example, when the air conditioner 10 starts operation in a room where the temperature has risen during cooling, for example, the room temperature needs to be greatly lowered, so the compressor frequency becomes high. Thus, when it is going to change the indoor temperature of the air-conditioning object space greatly, the operation load of the air conditioner 10 becomes a high state, and the change of the operation data including the indoor temperature becomes large.

On the other hand, since a certain amount of time has passed since the air conditioner 10 started operation and the temperature of the air-conditioning target space has reached the target value, the compressor 25 stops operation because there is no need to lower the temperature. Alternatively, the operation is continued at a low frequency. Thus, in the state where the air conditioning load is low, the operation data including the room temperature also changes little.

In the first embodiment, the controller 50 causes the air conditioner 10 having a large operation load among the plurality of air conditioners 10 connected to the controller 50 in a short cycle because of the relationship between the magnitude of the change in the operation data and the operation load. It is configured to acquire data and to ensure the accuracy of operation status monitoring. In addition, the controller 50 acquires data from the air conditioner 10 having a small operation load in a long cycle, and suppresses an increase in communication traffic of the entire air conditioning system 1.

(Air conditioning monitoring control)
Next, air conditioning monitoring control will be described based on FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing air-conditioning monitoring control performed by the controller according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing changes in settings before and after adjustment of communication traffic according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. 3 and 4 show an example in which the controller 50 determines the operating load of the air conditioner 10 based on the compressor frequency.

Here, it is assumed that the air conditioners 10A to 10E are assigned device numbers 1 to 5 in order. Before the communication traffic is adjusted, the compressor frequency for operating the compressor 25 among the plurality of air conditioners 10 connected to the air conditioning system 1 is the highest at 100 A for the air conditioner 10A. The air conditioner 10B has a compressor frequency of 50 Hz, and the air conditioner 10C, the air conditioner 10D, and the air conditioner 10E have a compressor frequency of 20 Hz.

The controller 50 performs air-conditioning monitoring control shown in FIG. 3 in order to monitor the operation state of the plurality of air-conditioners 10 connected thereto. When collecting data for the air conditioner 10 for the first time, the data collection unit 52 sends a data request to each air conditioner 10 with the data collection interval set to an initial value of 5 minutes (step ST101). And the data collection part 52 will preserve | save the received operation data, if operation data is received from each air conditioner 10 (step ST102).

Next, the data determination unit 53 prioritizes the next data collection for each air conditioner 10 based on the collected operation data, that is, performs a priority determination process (step ST103). The priority order is determined by two conditions, condition Y and condition Z. Condition Y takes precedence over condition Z.
Condition Y increases the priority in order of increasing compressor frequency.
Condition Z increases the priority in ascending order of the device number.

As a result of the priority determination process, the priorities of the data collection intervals are the air conditioner 10A, the air conditioner 10B, the air conditioner 10C, the air conditioner 10D, and the air conditioner 10E in descending order of priority. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the air conditioner 10A having the highest compressor frequency among the plurality of air conditioners 10 has a priority of 1, and has the highest equipment number among the

air conditioners

10C, 10D, and 10E having the lowest compressor frequency. The priority of the air conditioner 10E having a small value is 5.

Next, the data collection interval setting unit 54 individually sets a cycle for sending a data request to each air conditioner 10 according to the priority order of each air conditioner 10 determined by the data determination unit 53 (step ST104). . At this time, the data collection interval setting unit 54 may set the data collection interval with reference to a correspondence table as shown in Table 1. The relationship between the priority order and the data collection interval may be stored in any format, and may be stored as an expression instead of the table format, for example.

Next, the controller 50 determines whether or not to continue the collection of operation data (step ST105). For example, when the air-conditioning monitoring operation is continued according to the input command or setting, the controller 50 determines that data collection will continue (step ST105: YES), and the data collection unit 52 proceeds to step ST104. Data collection of operation data is continued at the set data collection interval (step ST101). On the other hand, when the air conditioning monitoring operation ends for any reason, the controller 50 ends the air conditioning monitoring control (step ST105: NO).

As shown in FIG. 4, in the air conditioner 10A whose priority is determined to be 1, the data collection interval is changed from the 5-minute period to the 2-minute period by the process as described above. In addition, the air conditioner 10B whose priority is determined to be 2 has the data collection interval unchanged from the 5-minute period, and the

air conditioners

10C, 10D, and 10E whose priorities are determined to be 3 to 5 are the data collection intervals. Is changed from a 5-minute period to a 10-minute period. As described above, the controller 50 collects the operation data of the air conditioner 10 based on the data collection interval set individually for each air conditioner 10.

By the way, assuming that the number of commands that the controller 50 transmits to each air conditioner 10 in one data collection is T, in FIG. 4, the commands transmitted for 10 minutes before and after the data collection interval is changed. The total number is 10T in all cases, and communication traffic is maintained. The total number of commands may be set to be constant in advance based on, for example, the communication capability of the communication environment used between the controller 50 and the air conditioner 10. According to such a configuration, it is possible to change the monitoring accuracy of each air conditioner 10 within the range of the communication traffic while maintaining the entire communication traffic.

As described above, the controller 50 can acquire the operation data of the air conditioner 10A having a large operation load and a large change in operation data in a short cycle, and ensures the accuracy of monitoring the operation state of the air conditioner 10A. be able to. Also, the entire communication traffic is maintained. In addition, the

air conditioners

10C, 10D, and 10E with a small operation load have little change in operation data even before the change, and thus the accuracy of operation state monitoring is not impaired.

In the first embodiment, the case where the operation load of the air conditioner 10 is determined based on the compressor frequency has been described. However, priority determination processing may be performed based on operation data different from the compressor frequency. For example, the data determination unit 53 may determine the priority based on operation data such as power consumption or the fan frequency of the outdoor unit blower 28. In this case, since the fan frequency or power consumption tends to increase when the operation load is large, similarly to the compressor frequency, the data determination unit 53 has a large fan frequency or power consumption among the plurality of air conditioners 10. The air conditioner 10 may be configured to set a higher priority.

In addition to directly using the acquired operation data as a determination condition for the priority determination process, for example, a parameter calculated from the collected operation data may be used. Generally, in the air conditioner 10, the operating frequency of the compressor 25 is controlled according to the temperature difference between the room temperature and the set temperature, and therefore, the temperature difference may be used instead of the compressor frequency as the determination condition. In this case, the data determination unit 53 may calculate the temperature difference based on the room temperature and the set temperature in the collected operation data, and increase the priority in descending order of the calculated temperature difference.

In addition, the data collection from the plurality of air conditioners 10 has been described so far, but the communication traffic adjustment method described above can be applied to other than the air conditioning system 1 described above.

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing another example of the refrigeration cycle apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Here, the controller 50 is communicably connected to the plurality of refrigeration apparatuses 110 via the communication line 2. As shown in FIG. 5, in each refrigeration apparatus 110, the refrigerator 120 and the utilization unit 130 are connected by a refrigerant pipe 114 and a refrigerant pipe 115 to constitute a refrigeration cycle. The usage unit 130 is configured by, for example, a showcase or a unit cooler. The refrigerator 120 includes a compressor 125, an outdoor unit heat exchanger 127, an outdoor unit blower 128, a discharge temperature sensor 162, an outdoor control device, and the like, and corresponds to the outdoor unit 20 described above. In the refrigerator 120, the flow path switching device 26 and the accumulator 29 are not installed, and the outdoor unit heat exchanger 127 functions as a condenser. The use units 130a, 130b, and 130c include indoor

unit heat exchangers

135a, 135b, and 135c,

indoor unit blowers

136a, 136b, and 136c, indoor temperature sensors 161a, 161b, and 161c, an indoor control device, and the like. It corresponds to 30a, 30b, 30c. In the refrigerator 120, the indoor

unit heat exchangers

135a, 135b, and 135c function as an evaporator. And the controller 50 can collect driving | operation data from the some freezing apparatus 110 by the control mentioned above.

As described above, in the first embodiment, the refrigeration cycle system (for example, the air conditioning system 1) includes a plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses (for example, the

air conditioners

10A, 10B, 10A, and 10B) each having a refrigeration cycle in which refrigerant is circulated by the compressor 25. 10C, 10D, 10E) and a refrigeration cycle system including a controller 50 that is communicably connected to a plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses, the controller 50 collects data for collecting operation data from each of the plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses. Unit 52, data determination unit 53 for performing priority determination processing for individually determining the priority of data collection of a plurality of refrigeration cycle devices based on the operation data collected by data collection unit 52, and a plurality of refrigeration cycles Among the apparatuses, the refrigeration cycle apparatus having a high priority determined by the data determination unit 53 For example, for the air conditioner 10A), the data collection interval is set to a short cycle, and for the refrigeration cycle devices having low priority (for example, the

air conditioners

10C, 10D, 10E), the data collection interval is set to the long cycle. The data collection unit 52 collects operation data from each refrigeration cycle apparatus based on the data collection interval set for each refrigeration cycle apparatus by the data collection interval setting unit 54.

Thus, the refrigeration cycle system (for example, the air conditioning system 1) sets the data collection interval individually according to the operation state of each refrigeration cycle apparatus (for example, the

air conditioners

10A, 10B, 10C, 10D, and 10E). The accuracy of condition monitoring can be adjusted. Further, since the data collection interval is set according to the priority determined based on the operation data, for example, from the refrigeration cycle apparatus (for example, the air conditioner 10A) that needs to frequently acquire the operation data. The operation data is collected frequently, and the accuracy of the operation state monitoring is improved. As a result, for example, when there is an abnormality in the air conditioner 10, the administrator can quickly find an abnormality from the information displayed on the input / output unit 55 and deal with it. On the other hand, for example, for a refrigeration cycle apparatus (for example, 10C, 10D, 10E) with a small change in operation data, the frequency of data collection is reduced, and the refrigeration cycle system can suppress an increase in communication traffic as a whole.

The operation data includes the compressor frequency of the compressor 25, and the data determination unit 53 performs priority determination processing based on the compressor frequency, and the refrigeration cycle apparatus (for example, the air conditioner 10A) having a higher compressor frequency. Increase priority.

Thus, using the tendency that the compressor frequency increases when the change in the operation data is large, the controller 50 can collect data so that the monitoring accuracy suitable for the operation state of each air conditioner 10 is obtained. it can.

Further, the operation data includes power consumption, and the data determination unit 53 performs priority determination processing based on the power consumption, and increases the priority of the refrigeration cycle apparatus (for example, the air conditioner 10A) with higher power consumption.

From this, the controller 50 can collect data so that it becomes the monitoring accuracy suitable for the operation state of each air conditioner 10 using the tendency that power consumption becomes high when the change of operation data is large. .

The plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses (air conditioners 10) further includes an outdoor unit heat exchanger 27 that exchanges heat with the refrigerant, and an outdoor unit blower 28 that supplies air to the outdoor unit heat exchanger 27. The operation data includes the fan frequency of the outdoor unit blower 28, and the data determination unit 53 performs priority determination processing based on the fan frequency, and the refrigeration cycle apparatus (for example, the air conditioner 10A) having a higher fan frequency has a higher priority. To increase.

Thus, using the tendency that the fan frequency increases when the change in the operation data is large, the controller 50 can collect data so that the monitoring accuracy is suitable for the operation state of each air conditioner 10. .

Further, the data collection interval setting unit 54 determines the priority so that the total number of commands (for example, 10T) transmitted when the data collection unit 52 collects the operation data is constant before and after the data collection interval is set. Has a table in which data collection intervals are associated.

From this, the controller 50 can further suppress changes in the overall communication traffic. Therefore, the controller 50 can monitor the operation state with monitoring accuracy suitable for the operation state of each air conditioner 10 in the communication traffic while maintaining the communication traffic.

The refrigeration cycle apparatus is an air conditioner 10. As a result, in the air conditioning system 1 including the plurality of air conditioners 10, it is possible to ensure the accuracy of operation state monitoring according to the operation state of each air conditioner 10 and to suppress an increase in communication traffic of the entire system. . In addition, by ensuring the monitoring accuracy of the air conditioner 10 in this way, for example, a stop period due to a malfunction of the air conditioner 10 can be reduced.

Also, the refrigeration cycle apparatus is the refrigeration apparatus 110. As a result, even in a low-temperature system including a plurality of refrigeration apparatuses 110, the accuracy of operation state monitoring can be ensured according to the operation state of each refrigeration apparatus 110, and an increase in communication traffic of the entire system can be suppressed. . In addition, by ensuring the monitoring accuracy of the refrigeration apparatus 110 in this manner, it is possible to prevent, for example, the quality of a product or the like stored in the use unit 130 from being impaired.

The communication traffic adjustment method includes a plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses (for example, air conditioners 10) each having a refrigeration cycle in which refrigerant is circulated by the compressor 25, and a controller 50 that is communicably connected to the plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses. Data collection step (step ST101) in which the controller 50 collects operation data from each of the plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses (air conditioners 10). And a data determination step in which the controller 50 performs priority determination processing for individually determining the priority of data collection of the plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses (air conditioners 10) based on the operation data collected in the data collection step ( Step ST103) and the controller 50 Among the refrigeration cycle apparatuses (air conditioners 10), the refrigeration cycle apparatus (for example, the air conditioner 10A) having a high priority determined in the data judgment step is set to a short cycle and the refrigeration having a low priority is set. The cycle device includes a data collection interval setting step (step ST104) for setting the data collection interval to a long period, and the data collection step (step ST101) is performed by each refrigeration cycle device by the data collection interval setting step (step ST104). The operation data is collected from each refrigeration cycle apparatus based on the data collection interval set for.

Thus, the communication traffic adjustment method can ensure the accuracy of the operation state monitoring according to the operation state of each refrigeration cycle apparatus (for example, the

air conditioners

10A, 10B, 10C, 10D, and 10E) and the entire communication. Increase in traffic can be suppressed.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
In the second embodiment, the special control state is included in the determination condition for prioritizing the data collection interval. In the second embodiment, as in the case of the first embodiment, the same reference numerals are given to the configurations and the description thereof will be omitted, and different configurations will be described below.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a functional configuration of the air conditioning system according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. Also in the second embodiment, the air conditioning system 201 includes a plurality of

air conditioners

10A, 10B, 10C, 10D, and 10E, and a controller 250, as in the first embodiment.

In the second embodiment, the controller 250 has a function of performing special control such as energy saving control on each air conditioner 10. During energy saving control, control such as changing the set temperature or controlling the compressor frequency is performed so as to reduce power consumption. During the execution of such control, frequent operation state monitoring is required for the controller 250 to check the execution status of the control. Therefore, it is necessary to collect data of the

air conditioners

10C and 10D during execution of special control (in this case, energy saving control) as short as possible.

In the second embodiment, the operating state of each air conditioner 10 is different from that in the first embodiment. Before the communication traffic is adjusted, among the plurality of air conditioners 10 connected to the air conditioning system 201, the air conditioner 10A, the air conditioner 10C, and the air conditioner 10E have a compressor frequency of 60 Hz for operating the compressor 25. The compressor frequency of the air conditioner 10D is 30 Hz, and the compressor frequency of the air conditioner 10B is 20 Hz. Further, the air conditioner 10C and the air conditioner 10D are performing energy saving control, and the

other air conditioners

10A, 10B, and 10E are not performing energy saving control.

Next, the air-conditioning monitoring control of the second embodiment will be described based on FIGS. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing air-conditioning monitoring control performed by the controller according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing changes in settings before and after adjustment of communication traffic according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. 7 and 8 show a case where the controller 250 sets the priority of data collection according to the compressor frequency of the air conditioner 10, the execution state of the special control, and the like.

The controller 250 performs the air-conditioning monitoring control shown in FIG. 7 and monitors the operating states of the plurality of connected air conditioners 10. When data is first collected for the air conditioner 10, the data collection unit 252 sends a data request to each air conditioner 10 with the data collection interval set to 5 minutes as an initial value (step ST201). And the data collection part 252 will preserve | save the received operation data, if operation data is received from each air conditioner 10 (step ST202).

Next, the data determination unit 253 performs prioritization of the next data collection, that is, priority determination processing (step ST203). The priority order is determined by three conditions of condition X, condition Y, and condition Z. Condition X has priority over condition Y, and condition Y has priority over condition Z.
Condition X increases the priority of the air conditioner that is executing the energy saving control.
Condition Y increases the priority in order of increasing compressor frequency.
Condition Z increases the priority in ascending order of the device number.

As a result of the priority determination process, the priorities of the data collection intervals are, in descending order of priority, the air conditioner 10C, the air conditioner 10D, the air conditioner 10A, the air conditioner 10E, and the air conditioner 10B. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, the priority order of the

air conditioners

10C and 10D performing the energy saving control is the highest, and the priority order of the air conditioner 10C having the higher compressor frequency is 1. Of the

air conditioners

10A, 10B, and 10E that are not performing energy saving control, the air conditioner 10A and the air conditioner 10E having the same compressor frequency have a higher priority in the air conditioner 10A having a smaller device number. Become. Further, the air conditioner 10B that does not perform the energy saving control and has the lowest compressor frequency has a priority of 5.

Next, the data collection interval setting unit 254 individually sets a cycle for sending a data request to each air conditioner 10 according to the priority order of each air conditioner 10 determined by the data determination unit 253 (step ST204). . At this time, the data collection interval setting unit 254 may set the data collection interval with reference to the correspondence table as shown in Table 1. As in the case of the first embodiment, the relationship between the priority order and the data collection interval may be stored in any format, and may be stored as an expression instead of the table format.

Next, the controller 250 determines whether or not to continue the collection of operation data (step ST205). For example, when the air-conditioning monitoring operation is continued, controller 250 determines that data collection will continue (step ST205: YES), and data collection unit 252 operates data at the data collection interval set in step ST204. Data collection is continued (step ST201). On the other hand, if the air conditioning monitoring operation is terminated for any reason, the controller 250 ends the air conditioning monitoring control (step ST205: NO).

As shown in FIG. 8, in the air conditioner 10C in which the priority order is determined to be 1, the data collection interval is changed from the 5-minute period to the 2-minute period by the processing as described above. In addition, the air conditioner 10D for which the priority order is determined to be 2 does not change the data collection interval from the 5-minute cycle, and the

air conditioners

10A, 10B, and 10E for which the priority order is determined to be 3 to 5 Is changed from a 5-minute period to a 10-minute period. As described above, the controller 250 collects the operation data of the air conditioner 10 based on the data collection interval set individually for each air conditioner 10.

Also, assuming that the number of commands that the controller 250 transmits to each air conditioner 10 in one data collection is T, in the same manner as in the first embodiment, in FIG. Later, the total number of commands transmitted in 10 minutes is 10T. Therefore, the communication traffic is maintained even in the case of the second embodiment.

As described above, the controller 250 can perform special control such as energy saving control for suppressing the power consumption of the air conditioner 10. During special control, the load on the air conditioner is intentionally adjusted, so frequent monitoring of the operating condition is required. Due to the above-described operation of the air conditioning system 201, energy saving control is being performed, frequent operation state monitoring is required, and the operation data of the air conditioner 10C having a large compressor frequency and a large change in operation data can be acquired in a short cycle. become. On the other hand, although the energy saving control is being performed and frequent operation state monitoring is necessary, for the air conditioner 10D having a low compressor frequency and a small change in operation data, data is collected without any change in the data collection interval. In addition, air conditioners that do not perform special control (

air conditioners

10A, 10B, and 10E) have a lower priority for data collection than air conditioners that perform special control (

air conditioners

10C and 10D). The collection interval becomes longer. By adjusting the communication traffic in this way, the air conditioning system 201 can ensure the accuracy of operation state monitoring suitable for the operation state of each air conditioner 10, and can maintain the entire communication traffic almost unchanged.

The communication traffic adjustment method described above can be applied not only to the air conditioning system 201 that collects operation data from a plurality of air conditioners 10, but also to, for example, a low-temperature system that collects operation data from a plurality of refrigeration apparatuses 110. it can.

As described above, also in the second embodiment, the refrigeration cycle system (for example, the air conditioning system 201) and the communication traffic adjustment method have the same effects as those in the first embodiment.

In the second embodiment, the operation data includes special control information indicating whether or not the special control different from the control of the normal operation is performed, and the data determination unit 253 determines the priority based on the special control information. Perform decision processing.

Thus, by using the special control information as the determination condition for the priority determination process, the controller 250 is the air conditioner (for example, the

air conditioners

10C and 10D) performing the special control that needs to acquire the operation data at a high frequency. On the other hand, data acquisition can be performed in a short cycle. Accordingly, even during special control, the refrigeration cycle system (air conditioning system 201) can optimally ensure the accuracy of monitoring the operating state of each refrigeration cycle apparatus (air conditioner 10) and maintain communication traffic. Can do.

The operation data further includes special control information indicating whether or not special control different from normal operation control is being performed, and the data determination unit 253 performs the special control when performing the priority determination process. The priority of the refrigeration cycle apparatus (for example,

air conditioners

10C and 10D) is set higher than the priority of the other refrigeration cycle apparatuses (for example,

air conditioners

10A, 10B, and 10E).

Thus, the data determination unit 253 can perform priority determination processing by combining a plurality of superior and inferior determination conditions (for example, the conditions X, Y, and Z), and particularly improve the accuracy of monitoring for a desired driving state. Can do. Further, for example, when a condition Y prioritized after the condition X is applied to a refrigeration cycle apparatus (for example, the

air conditioners

10C and 10D) whose priority is set to be equal to the condition X, these refrigeration cycles are applied. A difference can be provided in the priority of the devices (

air conditioners

10C and 10D). As a result, the refrigeration cycle system (air conditioning system 201) can ensure the accuracy of operation state monitoring more suitable for the operation state of each refrigeration cycle apparatus (air conditioner 10) and can maintain communication traffic.

In addition, the operation data further includes information on device numbers that specify each of the plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses (air conditioners 10), and the data determination unit 253 includes a plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses (for example, air conditioning units) having the same priority. When there is a

machine

10A, 10E), a priority is set higher for a refrigeration cycle apparatus (for example, air conditioner 10A) having a smaller equipment number in a plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses having the same priority.

From this, the data judgment part 253 can give the priority of data collection to each refrigeration cycle apparatus (air conditioner 10) without duplication. Therefore, for example, when a correspondence table as shown in Table 1 is stored, the data collection interval setting unit 254 may extract the data collection interval corresponding to the determined priority order, and the processing can be simplified. .

The embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various changes can be made. For example, FIG. 2 shows an example in which three indoor units 30 (indoor unit 30a, indoor unit 30b, and indoor unit 30c) are connected in parallel to one outdoor unit 20. However, the number of the outdoor units 20 and the indoor units 30 and the connection method are not particularly limited thereto.

Further, the data collection interval shown in Table 1 is an example, and may be set as appropriate according to the communication environment, the number of refrigeration cycle apparatuses included in the refrigeration cycle system, and the like.

Further, FIG. 1 shows a case where five air conditioners 10 are connected to the controller 50. However, even in an air conditioning system in which less than five or more than five air conditioners 10 are connected, The communication traffic adjustment method can be similarly applied.

In the second embodiment, the condition X related to the special control state has been described as having priority over the condition Y related to the compressor frequency and the condition Z related to the equipment number. However, the priority of each condition is the operation for which monitoring is to be prioritized. What is necessary is just to set suitably according to a state.

Further, the data determination unit 253 may be configured to determine the priority by combining the conditions related to the operation data such as the power consumption or the fan frequency with the conditions X and Z instead of the condition Y related to the compressor frequency. Good.

1,201 air conditioning system, 2 communication lines, 10 (10A, 10B, 10C, 10D, 10E) air conditioner, 14, 15 refrigerant piping, 20 outdoor unit, 21 outdoor control device, 22 outdoor unit communication unit, 23 outdoor unit data Holding unit, 25, 125 compressor, 26 flow switching device, 27, 127 outdoor unit heat exchanger, 28, 128 outdoor unit blower, 29 accumulator, 30 (30a, 30b, 30c) indoor unit, 31 (31a, 31b , 31c) Indoor control device, 32 (32a, 32b, 32c) Indoor unit communication unit, 33 (33a, 33b, 33c) Indoor unit data holding unit, 35a, 35b, 35c, 135a, 135b, 135c Indoor

unit heat exchanger

36a, 36b, 36c, 136a, 136b, 136c Indoor unit blower, 37a, 37b, 37c Device, 50, 250 controller, 51 communication unit, 52,252 data collection unit, 53,253 data judgment unit, 54,254 data collection interval setting unit, 55 input / output unit, 61 (61a, 61b, 61c), 161a 161b, 161c, indoor temperature sensor, 62, 162 discharge temperature sensor, 110 refrigeration unit, 120 refrigerator, 130 (130a, 130b, 130c) utilization unit.

Claims

In a refrigeration cycle system comprising a plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses each having a refrigeration cycle in which refrigerant is circulated by a compressor, and a controller connected to be able to communicate with the plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses.
The controller is
A data collection unit for collecting operation data from each of the plurality of refrigeration cycle devices;
A data determination unit that performs a priority determination process for individually determining the priority of data collection of the plurality of refrigeration cycle devices based on the operation data collected by the data collection unit;
Among the plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses, the data collection interval is set to a short period for the refrigeration cycle apparatus with the high priority determined by the data determination unit, and the data collection interval for the refrigeration cycle apparatus with the low priority A data collection interval setting unit that sets a long cycle,
With
The data collection unit collects operation data from each refrigeration cycle apparatus based on the data collection interval set for each refrigeration cycle apparatus by the data collection interval setting unit.
The operating data includes a compressor frequency of the compressor,
The refrigeration cycle system according to claim 1, wherein the data determination unit performs the priority determination process based on the compressor frequency, and increases the priority of the refrigeration cycle apparatus having a higher compressor frequency.
The operation data includes power consumption,
The refrigeration cycle system according to claim 1, wherein the data determination unit performs the priority determination process based on the power consumption, and increases the priority of the refrigeration cycle apparatus having a higher power consumption.
The plurality of refrigeration cycle devices further include an outdoor unit heat exchanger that exchanges heat with the refrigerant, and an outdoor unit blower that supplies air to the outdoor unit heat exchanger,
The operation data includes a fan frequency of the outdoor unit blower,
The refrigeration cycle system according to claim 1, wherein the data determination unit performs the priority determination process based on the fan frequency, and increases the priority of the refrigeration cycle apparatus having a higher fan frequency.
The operation data includes special control information indicating whether or not special control different from normal operation control is being performed,
The refrigeration cycle system according to claim 1, wherein the data determination unit performs the priority determination process based on the special control information.
The operation data further includes special control information indicating whether or not special control different from normal operation control is being performed,
The data determination unit sets the priority of the refrigeration cycle apparatus performing the special control higher than the priority of other refrigeration cycle apparatuses when performing the priority determination process. The refrigeration cycle system according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
The operation data further includes information on an equipment number that identifies each of the plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses,
In the case where there are a plurality of the refrigeration cycle apparatuses having the same priority, the data determination unit has a higher priority as the refrigeration cycle apparatus having a smaller device number in the plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses having the same priority. The refrigeration cycle system according to any one of claims 2 to 6.
The data collection interval setting unit sets the priority to the data collection interval so that the total number of commands transmitted when the data collection unit collects the operation data is constant before and after setting the data collection interval. The refrigeration cycle system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a table associated with each other.
The refrigeration cycle system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the refrigeration cycle apparatus is an air conditioner.
The refrigeration cycle system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the refrigeration cycle apparatus is a refrigeration apparatus.
A communication traffic adjustment method in a refrigeration cycle system comprising a plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses each having a refrigeration cycle in which refrigerant is circulated by a compressor, and a controller connected to the plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses in a communicable manner,
A data collection step in which the controller collects operation data from each of the plurality of refrigeration cycle devices;
A data determination step for performing a priority determination process in which the controller individually determines the priority of data collection of the plurality of refrigeration cycle devices based on the operation data collected in the data collection step;
The controller sets a data collection interval to a short period for the refrigeration cycle apparatus having a high priority determined in the data determination step among the plurality of refrigeration cycle apparatuses, and the refrigeration cycle apparatus having a low priority. Comprises a data collection interval setting step for setting the data collection interval to a long period,
The communication traffic adjustment method, wherein the data collection step collects operation data from each refrigeration cycle apparatus based on the data collection interval set for each refrigeration cycle apparatus by the data collection interval setting step.