JP2003240318A - Monitoring device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] Failure diagnosis is performed not only at the place where the monitoring device is installed, but also at each sales office, etc., by sharing operation information such as air conditioners and performing failure diagnosis or operation control with simple equipment. And respond quickly and accurately when an abnormality occurs. SOLUTION: In a monitoring device 5 of the equipment 1 using a refrigeration cycle, information of the operation state (operation / stop), set temperature, occurrence of abnormality of the equipment 1 is provided as a WWW server, and software having a browser function is provided. And the terminal device 7 can be used to monitor the operating state and the set temperature of the equipment 1 from the terminal device 7.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a monitoring device for monitoring the operating condition of an air conditioner and a remote control for controlling the operation from a remote place, and is suitable for fault diagnosis and service of facilities such as buildings.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a means for grasping the operating condition of an air conditioner, it has been known to record the temperature, pressure, etc. of the main part in the refrigeration cycle as the operating condition and make a failure diagnosis. -238934 publication.

Further, it is known, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-106348 that the terminal controller directly captures the data on the control condition of the air conditioner and transmits the data to the main controller. There is. Furthermore, it is possible to transmit monitoring information using a modem or a public line.
It is described in Japanese Patent Publication No.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the above-mentioned prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-238934, more accurate and speedier than the information on the operating condition recorded at the site where the air conditioner is installed. It is possible to diagnose various failures, but not real-time diagnosis.

Further, in the systems disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 58-106348 and 2-178557, remote monitoring can be performed only by a monitoring department such as a remote monitoring center having a remote monitoring device.

An object of the present invention is to share the operation information of the air conditioner not only at the place where the monitoring device is installed but also at each sales office near the place where the air conditioner is installed, and to provide a simple facility. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a monitoring device for performing failure diagnosis or operation control in order to promptly and accurately respond to failure diagnosis and occurrence of an abnormality.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a monitoring device for facility equipment in which a refrigeration cycle is used.
Information on the set temperature and the occurrence of an abnormality is provided as a WWW server so that the terminal device can monitor it using software with a browser function, and the terminal device can control the operating state of equipment and the set temperature. Is.

Further, in the above, it is preferable that the information on the equipment is provided via the Internet, and the terminal device is a portable terminal such as a notebook computer, a mobile phone, or a PHS.

Further, in the above, it is desirable that the information about the equipment is displayed on a screen described in hypertext.

Further, in the above, it is desirable that the equipment is an air conditioner, and the operation schedule can be set by the terminal device.

Further, in the above, it is preferable that the equipment is an air conditioner, and the temperature and pressure data of the main part in the refrigeration cycle is downloaded by the terminal device and can be processed.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a monitoring system according to one embodiment, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a signal flow when confirming operation information or abnormality information of the monitoring system according to one embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the flow of signals when transmitting scheduled information or reporting abnormality occurrence information, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the flow of signals when transmitting operation control information, and FIG. 5 is an embodiment. 6 is a front view showing a menu screen of the remote monitoring device according to FIG. 6, FIG. 6 is a front view showing a screen for displaying the operating condition of the air conditioner in a graph by the remote monitoring device according to one embodiment, and FIG. 8 is a front view showing a management screen of FIG. 8, FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a user terminal device according to one embodiment, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a user terminal device similarly.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 is an air conditioner having an indoor unit, an outdoor unit, etc., and the vicinity thereof or the air conditioner 1
It is connected to the monitoring device 2 installed on itself. The monitoring device 2 constantly or regularly collects information from the air conditioner 1 indicating the operating state (for example, temperature and pressure of main parts in the refrigeration cycle) and monitors it. In other words, the monitoring device 2 periodically receives the operating information of the air conditioner (which may include abnormality information and the like) or the irregularity occurrence information (which includes the abnormality content and the like) at irregular intervals via the communication line 3. Send to 5. The transmitted information is made into a database by the remote monitoring device 5, and is stored and accumulated as a driving information database 6a.

The remote monitoring device 5 is connected to the Internet 4, the communication protocol is performed by Internet standard TCP / IP, and HTTP (Hyper) that handles multimedia information in which text data and graphic data are mixed for file transfer. Text Transfer Protoco
l) or FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is used, and it is possible to provide information by creating a screen described in hypertext as a WWW server. Therefore, it is desirable to store the driving information database 6a in the HTML file format.

HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language)
Storing in file format means the Internet WWW
This means storing information in a language (HTML) that handles multimedia information provided using (World Wide Web).

The user terminal device 7 and the monitoring base terminal device 8 are connected to the Internet 4, and the WWW of the remote monitoring device 5 is provided.
You can view the page with browsing software. Therefore, the user terminal device 7 and the monitoring base terminal device 8 are the Internet 4
It is connected to the remote monitoring device 5 via the, and the operating state of the air conditioner 1 can be monitored.

A signal flow when confirming the operation information or the abnormality information will be described with reference to FIGS. Using the browsing software (software having a WWW browser function) from the monitoring base terminal device 8 to access the WWW page (homepage) of the remote monitoring device 5 and after being authenticated, set the air conditioner 1 that monitors the operating status. Specify and specify the driving information to be monitored. Upon receiving the instruction, the remote monitoring device 5 searches the air conditioner operation information database 6a and retrieves the target data from WWW.
Directly convert it to HTML format data that can be viewed with a browser and display it on the home page. Therefore, the monitoring base terminal device 8 can determine the driving status based on the displayed data.

If this data is in CSV format, it can be freely processed by downloading it to the monitoring base terminal device 8 or the user terminal device 7 using another spreadsheet software or database software. .

Further, if a command for controlling the operation of the air conditioner is embedded in the screen of the WWW page described in hypertext of the remote monitoring device 5, the air conditioner 1
When the operation mode is changed, when the user terminal device 7 designates the air conditioner 1 and instructs the change on the screen of the WWW page, the change information is transmitted to the monitoring device 2 and the operation state of the air conditioner 1 is changed. Can be changed.

As shown in FIG. 3, when an abnormality occurs in the operating state of the air conditioner 1, the abnormality content including the abnormality occurrence information and the latest operating state information is transmitted from the monitoring device 2 to the remote monitoring device 5. Remote monitoring device 5
Is stored in the driving information database 6. The abnormality occurrence information is searched for an ID on the Internet from the monitoring base information set file 6b in the remote monitoring device 5, and the monitoring base terminal device 8 is sent via the Internet to the place where the abnormality has occurred, the model, the installation location, the abnormality. The reason for this will be notified on the WWW page pop-up screen.

By registering the related departments in the monitoring base information set file 6b, the information can be simultaneously notified to all the registered departments via the Internet. Therefore, by checking the air conditioner operation information database 6 in the remote monitoring device 5 from the user terminal device 7 that received the contact, the details of the abnormality can be confirmed, and the cause and the countermeasure can be promptly investigated. Can be planned.

The menu screen of the WWW page is as shown in FIG. 5, and commands and the like are displayed for each function such as air conditioning management, operation control, and data download. The information indicating the driving state is displayed as a moving image as a trend graph of driving data, for example, as shown in FIG. The air-conditioning management menu is further tree-structured and a WWW page is popped up and updated, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, operating state setting, connection confirmation / group, operating state / schedule are displayed.

The user terminal device 7 is preferably connected to the Internet through a mobile phone or PHS phone as shown in FIG. 8 for a local service person, and is not available at dealers, dealers, building management companies, etc. A desktop personal computer such as 9 is desirable.

As described above, since the operation data, which is the information indicating the operation state of the air conditioner, is displayed in the form of a graph, it can be confirmed anytime and anywhere via the Internet 4. Further, the abnormality information such as the failure data and the abnormality occurrence information are the remote monitoring device 5 which serves as a monitoring center by instantaneously collecting the information indicating the operating status in the database, for example, the data from 30 minutes before to the present time. Since it is transmitted from the local service person, the user can search using the Internet 4 from the mobile terminal (user terminal device 7) of the local service person and can share the latest driving situation. Therefore, even if the local service person is instructed, it is possible to respond promptly and accurately.

Further, the information indicating the operating state of the air conditioner 1 collected in the remote monitoring device 5 can be shared from each terminal (user terminal device 7, monitoring base terminal device 8) via the Internet 4, and the information is effective. Since it can be utilized, the remote monitoring device 5 can be concentrated in one place as a remote monitoring center, and the monitoring terminal base device 8 serving as a monitoring base can perform remote monitoring with simple equipment.

Further, since the abnormality occurrence information and the abnormality content are instantly notified to the corresponding department via the Internet, the cause of the abnormality can be investigated before going to the site, so that the processing can be carried out early and a flexible monitoring system can be constructed. .

Further, the present invention can be applied to building monitoring devices and equipment other than air conditioners, and ON / OFF, temperature setting, air volume setting, etc. can be performed from a remote location for air conditioning specified by each terminal device. Operation control can be performed.

As described above, the operation information of the air conditioner is described using not only characters but also still images, moving images, and sounds, and the information can be provided as a WWW page using the Internet. Therefore, the user terminal device can be provided via the Internet. By connecting, failure diagnosis becomes easy, and it becomes possible to respond quickly when an abnormality occurs.

Further, since the information indicating the operating condition of the air conditioner is stored in a database, and this information is stored as an HTML file, the user terminal device near the place where the air conditioner is installed via the Internet. By connecting, it becomes possible to easily download and freely process using other spreadsheet software or database software to analyze and analyze data. It also facilitates data collection for trial operation and maintenance contract work.

Further, even if the remote monitoring device is centrally provided in one place, the operation control is performed while sharing the operation information of the air conditioner with each sales office near the place where the air conditioner is installed. It can be carried out. Therefore, when an abnormality occurs, it is possible to promptly respond.

[0031]

According to the present invention, not only the place where the monitoring device is installed, but also the operating information such as the air conditioner is shared not only by the sales bases, but also by the simple equipment, the failure diagnosis or the operation control is performed. It is possible to make quick and accurate trouble diagnosis and response when an abnormality occurs.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a monitoring system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a signal flow when confirming operation information or abnormality information of the monitoring system.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a signal flow when transmitting scheduled information or communicating abnormality occurrence information.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a signal flow when transmitting the operation control information.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a menu screen of the remote monitoring device.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing a screen for displaying the operating condition of the air conditioner in a graph by the remote monitoring device.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing a screen for managing the air conditioner.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a user terminal device according to one embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a user terminal device according to one embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Air conditioner, 2 ... Monitoring device, 3 ... Communication line, 4 ... Internet, 5 ... Remote monitoring device, 6a ... Air conditioner operation information database, 6b ... Monitoring base information file, 7
... user terminal device, 8 ... monitoring base terminal device.

Continued front page    (72) Inventor Satoru Yoshida             Hitachi, Ltd. 390 Muramatsu, Shimizu City, Shizuoka Prefecture             Factory air conditioning system division (72) Inventor Masami Ishida             4-6 Kanda Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo             Hitachi Ltd. Air Conditioning Systems Division (72) Inventor Masanori Takagi             23-2, 1-chome, Kandasuda-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo               Within Hitachi Cold Energy Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Tomohisa Hira             23-2, 1-chome, Kandasuda-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo               Within Hitachi Cold Energy Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kenji Togusa             Hitachi, Ltd. 390 Muramatsu, Shimizu City, Shizuoka Prefecture             Factory air conditioning system division F-term (reference) 3L061 BA03                 5H223 AA11 BB01 CC03 DD07 DD09                       EE11 EE30

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A monitoring device for facility equipment in which a refrigeration cycle is used, which provides information on the operating state (operation / stop) of the facility equipment, set temperature, occurrence of abnormality as a WWW server, and software having a browser function. With the use of the terminal device can be monitored, the operating state of the equipment from the terminal device,
A monitoring device that is capable of controlling a set temperature. 2. The information according to claim 1, wherein the information on the equipment is provided via the Internet, and the terminal device is a portable terminal such as a notebook computer, a mobile phone, or a PHS. Monitoring equipment. 3. The monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein the information on the equipment is displayed on a screen described in hypertext. 4. The monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein the equipment is an air conditioner, and an operation schedule can be set by the terminal device. 5. The equipment according to claim 1, wherein the equipment is an air conditioner, and temperature and pressure data of main parts in a refrigeration cycle are downloaded by the terminal device.
A monitoring device characterized by being capable of processing.