JPH0586537B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

(Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly to an air conditioner that can improve the immediate heating performance at the start of heating operation. (Prior art) When heating a room with an air conditioner, the heat exchanger inside the air conditioner is in a low temperature state at the start of operation, so the blower fan starts operating from the beginning of operation to blow out air. If this is done, cold air will initially be blown out, which will cause discomfort to the occupants. Therefore, in the past, after starting the device, the fan was started to operate after waiting for the temperature of the indoor heat exchanger to rise. As a result, the air blowing from the air conditioner itself begins after a certain period of time has passed after the resident performs the operation to start the device, and the resident does not feel an immediate sense of warmth. I was getting used to it. Therefore, JP-A-58-13953 discloses a device as shown in FIG. 10 in order to improve the immediate heating performance at the start of heating. In the same figure, 81 is a blower fan installed in the air conditioner main body,
This blower fan 81 has switches 82, 83, 8.
Four interposed control circuits are provided. These switches 82, 83, and 84 are configured to operate in sequence according to the temperature rise of a thermistor attached to the heat exchanger, and by switching in sequence, the voltage applied to the blower fan 81 is changed. The applied voltage is gradually increased. As a result, the temperature of the heat exchanger increases and the blower fan 8
The rotational speed of 1, that is, the amount of air blown out increases step by step. By providing such a blowout air volume control device, the blowing of air from the air conditioner body is started during the start-up process in which the heat exchanger, which is in a low temperature state at the start of heating, gradually warms up. This is intended to give residents a feeling of warmth immediately when heating starts. (Problem to be solved by the invention) By the way, when heating a room with an air conditioner installed high on a wall, warm air rises due to natural convection, so the warm air blown from the air conditioner body reaches the floor. By directing the air to the surface or to the occupant's feet, a suitable heating and air conditioning condition can be achieved. In the conventional device described above, in order to provide immediate heating at the start of heating, the blowing of air is started when the temperature of the heat exchanger has risen to a certain extent, but the blowing air volume, that is, the blowing The wind speed was suppressed to a low level at the beginning of the event.
For this reason, even though the temperature of the warm air is higher than the room temperature, and therefore has the effect of warming the room, the blowout speed is initially low, so it does not reach from the air conditioner main body to the floor where the occupant is located. Instead, it rises immediately after being blown out and flows toward the ceiling. Therefore, even after the hot air is blown out, the temperature does not rise near the floor surface where the occupants are located for a while, causing the problem that the occupants still cannot feel an immediate sense of warmth. . The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its purpose is to provide an air conditioner that can improve instantaneous heating at the start of heating. (Means for Solving the Problems) Therefore, the air conditioner of the present invention has horizontal deflection means 6 for changing the blowing direction of the air blown out from the main body 1, and is also equipped with a remote control switch box 22. This air conditioner is installed at a high place on a wall, and the remote control switch box 22 is provided with room temperature detection means 3 for detecting the indoor temperature.
1 and the wind speed detection means 25 for detecting the wind speed around the remote control switch box 22, and after the start of air blowing, the start-up period until the temperature detected by the room temperature detection means 31 reaches the set temperature is as follows: a deflection angle control means 36 for setting the horizontal direction deflection means 6 directly downward; and an air volume for controlling the volume of the blowing air so that the wind speed detected by the wind speed detection means 25 becomes a set wind speed during the start-up period. control means 37. (Function) In the air conditioner having the above configuration, during the start-up period until the room temperature reaches the set temperature, the horizontal deflection means 6 is set to blow directly downward by the deflection angle control means 36. Ru. Therefore, the air blown out from the main body 1 at this time is blown out along the wall surface and hits the floor surface, where the flow velocity is weakened and then becomes a slow airflow that spreads over the floor surface.
At that wind speed, it will hit residents. In the air conditioner having the above configuration, the wind speed of the airflow near the occupant is detected by the wind speed detection means 25 attached to the remote control switch box 22 located near the occupant, and the detected value is The amount of air blown out from the main body 1 is controlled by the air amount control means 37 so that the set air speed is achieved. Therefore, by setting the above-mentioned wind speed to a value at which the occupant does not feel the sensation of air current, it is possible to blow air from the main body 1 without making the occupant feel the cold air from the beginning of the heating operation. In addition, as mentioned above, the airflow that hits the occupants is at a reduced speed on the floor, so the main unit 1
, the wind speed can be higher,
For this reason, the hot air that has reached a temperature higher than the room temperature during the rising period after heating starts reaches the floor from the beginning, spreads over the floor from there, and acts effectively to warm the entire room. (Embodiments) Next, specific embodiments of the air conditioner of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a schematic vertical cross-sectional view of a room in which a wall-mounted air conditioner is installed in an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, an indoor heat exchanger 2 is installed inside the air conditioner body 1 installed on the wall.
and a blower fan 3 are disposed, and when the blower fan 3 is operated, indoor air is sucked in through the suction grill 4 formed on the front surface of the main body 1, and the air that has passed through the indoor heat exchanger 2 is sent to the front surface. The air is blown out from a blow-off grille 5 formed at the lower side. In order to control the direction of the blowing air, horizontal deflection means consisting of a plurality of mutually parallel deflection plates, that is, a horizontal flap 6 and a vertical flap 7, are arranged on the outlet grille 5. As shown in FIG. 2, the horizontal and vertical flaps 6 and 7 are connected to a first step motor 20 with the horizontal flap 6 and a second step motor 21 with the vertical flap 7 through link mechanisms. ing. By controlling the rotation of each of the step motors 20, 21, the direction of each of the flaps 6, 7 is changed, thereby making it possible to change the direction in which air is blown from the main body 1 to any desired direction. On the other hand, in order to operate the device at a location away from the air conditioner main body 1, a remote control switch box 22 is provided to be located near the occupant, as shown in FIG. A room temperature detection sensor 31 is attached inside the remote control switch box 22 to detect the temperature inside the room. This room temperature detection sensor 31 provides indoor temperature information near the resident. By the way, the casing 2 of the remote control switch box 22
A paint having an emissivity approximately equal to that of the human body is applied to the surface of the housing 3, and a thermistor constituting the room temperature detection sensor 31 is placed in contact with the inner surface of the paint. Note that the thermistor is covered with a heat insulating material 24. The reason why the room temperature detection thermistor 31 is mounted in this structure is to detect the room temperature in consideration of the exchange of radiant heat between the human body and the surroundings. In other words, during heating operation and cooling operation, the amount of radiant heat exchanged between the human body and the wall surface is different due to the difference in wall temperature, etc., so the casing 23 has a similar effect. This is to make the temperature detected by the room temperature detection sensor 31 as close as possible to the temperature actually felt by the human body, and to perform comfortable air conditioning. A convex portion is formed on the upper surface side of the casing 23 of the remote control switch box 22, and a wind speed detecting means, that is, a wind speed sensor 2 is provided inside the convex portion.
5 is attached. The wind speed of the airflow flowing through the ventilation holes formed in the convex portion can be detected as the wind speed around the remote control switch box 22 by the wind speed sensor 25. In addition, the remote control switch box 22
The unit also has a built-in operation switch, a temperature setting switch for setting the indoor temperature to the occupant's desired temperature, and an indoor thermostat described later. On the other hand, a human body position detection device 16 having a human detection sensor 10 and an ultrasonic sensor 11 is attached to one side end of the upper front side of the main body 1. The human detection sensor 10 is composed of a pyroelectric infrared sensor, and receives infrared rays equivalent to body temperature emitted from a human body, and when the intensity changes within a preset detection area. Accordingly, the presence of a person within the detection area can be detected. On the other hand, the ultrasonic sensor 11 has an ultrasonic transmitter/receiver, and emits ultrasonic waves in the direction of approximately the center of the detection area of the human detection sensor 10, and the reflected waves reflected by objects in that direction are returned. The distance from the ultrasonic sensor 11 to the object is detected based on the time it takes for the object to arrive. FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the human body position detection device 16. As shown in the figure, the human detection sensor 1
A sensor box 12 containing a sensor 0 and an ultrasonic sensor 11 is configured to be rotatably controlled in the vertical and horizontal directions by two step motors 14 and 15 for scanning the detection area. Next, the detection of the human body position when the air conditioner main body 1 equipped with the human body position detection device 16 as described above is installed at a high place on a wall as shown in FIG. 4, for example, will be explained. Each step motor 14, 15 is driven to sequentially change the detection direction of the human detection sensor 10 to move and scan the detection area on the indoor floor. When there is a person in the room as shown in FIG. 4, when the head of the human body enters the detection area of the human detection sensor 10 during the scanning process, the human detection sensor 10 senses the human body. A detection signal is generated. The rotation control angles of the step motors 14 and 15 at this time give horizontal angles θ1 and vertical angles θ2 of the detection direction, respectively, and these directional angles θ1 and θ2 are stored as detection direction information. At this time, the ultrasonic sensor 11 detects the distance L to the head of the person.
is also required at the same time. Further, from the above θ2 and L, for example, the horizontal distance l from the air conditioner main body 1 to the position of the person can be easily determined by calculating l=L·cosθ2. The above explanation is for the case where a human head is detected,
Even when the human detection sensor 10 detects bare feet, the calculation result of the distance l to the person's position is given as the same value as above, and therefore, the position information of the feet can be used regardless of whether the person is standing or sitting. It is possible to accurately obtain information on the position of a person on the floor. Figure 5 shows a room temperature detection sensor 31, a wind speed sensor 2
5 is a block diagram of a control system that controls the horizontal flap 6 and the blower fan 3 during heating operation based on the detected values of the human body position detecting device 16 and the human body position detecting device 16. It is assumed that the vertical flap 7 is set at a deflection angle position such that the air is blown out approximately toward the center of the room during heating operation, which will be described later. In FIG. 5, 31 is the room temperature detection sensor described above, and the room temperature detection signal of this room temperature detection sensor 31 and the wind speed detection signal of the wind speed sensor 25 are respectively input to the control device 33. On the other hand, the remote control switch box 22 described above further includes an indoor thermostat 30 built therein. This indoor thermostat 30 is connected to the room temperature detection sensor 31 and the comparison circuit 3.
5, the room temperature detection sensor 3
The indoor temperature signal from 1 is compared with the occupant's desired set temperature, and if the desired set temperature has not been reached, an indoor thermo ON signal is output. Then, along with the activation signal when the operation switch 34 is operated, the indoor thermostat is turned on from the comparison circuit 35.
The OFF signal is input to the control device 33.
Furthermore, this control device 33 is also configured to operate in conjunction with the human body position detection device 16 described above. The control device 33 has a deflection angle control means for determining the deflection angle of the horizontal flap 6, that is, a deflection angle control section 36, and an air volume control section 37 for determining the rotational speed of the blower fan 3. The horizontal flap 6 is controlled by the step motor control device 38 in accordance with the deflection angle and rotation speed determined by the deflection angle control section 36 and the air volume control section 37 based on the input signals inputted to the control device 33, respectively. The step motor 20 also operates the blower fan 3.
The settings are changed by the fan control device 39. Next, the horizontal flap 6 during heating operation as described above.
The control method for the blower fan 3 will be explained in detail based on the flowchart shown in FIG. When the heating operation is started by operating the operation switch 34, first in step SO, the blower fan 3 is started at a preset low rotational speed. Next, in step SI, it is determined whether the indoor thermostat is ON or OFF. Since heating operation is assumed to start when the indoor temperature is lower than the occupant's desired temperature setting, here we assume that the ON signal is input from the indoor thermostat, and the control transition from step S1 to step S2 is performed. First, let me explain. Step S2 is a step for determining the indoor temperature, in which the control of the deflection angle of the horizontal flap 6 is switched by comparing it with the set temperature Tm (for example, 17° C.). When the room temperature is low, such as at the start of heating, the start-up period until the set temperature Tm is reached moves from step S2 to step S3, and the deflection angle is adjusted directly below the horizontal flap 6.
A 90° determination is made. Then, in step S4, the angle of the horizontal flap 6 is set in accordance with the determined angle in the direct downward direction. Then step
Proceeding to S5, the rotational speed of the blower fan 3 is increased so that the wind speed of the airflow near the resident detected by the wind speed sensor 25 becomes approximately the set wind speed v0 as described below. That is, step S5
If the detected wind speed is smaller than v0 - Δv, the rotational speed of the blower fan 3 is increased at a constant rate in step S6, and the process returns to step S1, where S1 to S6 are repeated again, and this repetitive process is performed. By continuing to do so, the rotational speed of the blower fan 3 is increased. As a result, the detected wind speed is v0−Δv
When it becomes larger, move from step S5 to S7, check that the detected wind speed is within the range of v0±Δv,
Step S7 while maintaining the rotation speed at that time.
Then, the process returns to S1. By repeating each of the above execution steps S1 to S7 in this way,
The rotational speed of the blower fan 3 is increased so that the detected wind speed becomes v0±Δv, and the rotational speed is maintained at that state. If the detected wind speed becomes excessive, the rotation speed will be reduced in steps S7 and S8, and the detected wind speed will be set to the set wind speed v0.
is maintained at approximately the same value as . This set wind speed v0 is a wind speed that does not give a sense of airflow to people (for example, 0.4 m/sec)
It is said that Therefore, even if the temperature of the indoor heat exchanger 2 is low and the temperature blown through the indoor heat exchanger 2 is low when heating is started, the operation of the blower fan 3 is continued without giving the occupants a feeling of cold air.
At this time, since the horizontal flap 6 is set directly downward, the air blown from the main body 1 is blown directly downward along the wall surface to the floor surface, and the wind speed is weakened at the floor surface and flows over the floor surface. It becomes a slow air current that spreads out. The wind speed of this airflow is determined by the wind speed sensor 2.
5 can be made larger than the blowing wind speed when suppressing the detected wind speed to 0.4 m/sec. That is, it is possible to increase the amount of air passing through the indoor heat exchanger 2 in the main body 1 without giving the occupants a feeling of cold air. The blowing air in this state becomes an airflow that spreads over the floor surface as described above, so while the above blowing state continues, the temperature of the indoor heat exchanger 2 gradually rises, and the blowing air becomes slightly lower than room temperature. However, when it becomes high enough to have the effect of warming the room, it spreads over the floor from the beginning and effectively works to warm the entire room. Therefore, even though the air was hot, the blowout velocity was low, so it did not reach the floor and instead flowed toward the ceiling, and the room heating effect was not initially achieved. Immediate heating performance can be improved compared to conventional devices. Furthermore, since air is supplied to flow through the indoor heat exchanger 2 from the beginning, the start-up time until the heat cycle operating condition is reached during steady heating operation is shortened, and the heating start-up performance is improved. The control during the start-up period described above is continued, and when the entire room is gradually warmed from the floor level by the air flow of the above-mentioned blowing air, and the temperature detected by the room temperature detection sensor 31 reaches the set temperature Tm, the process moves from step S2 to S9. The processing steps of are transferred. Here, the human body position detecting device 16 starts detecting the position of the person in the room. Then, the position information of the person detected when the entire floor of the room is scanned is input and calculated (step S10), and the deflection angle of the horizontal flap toward the detected position is determined (step S10).
S11). In making this decision, the direction in which the air is blown is not directed directly at the human body, but instead the air is directed towards the feet of the human body. Next, proceeding to step S4, the deflection angle of the horizontal flap 6 is changed,
Next, in the same manner as described above, the rotational speed of the blower fan 3 is set based on the wind speed detected by the wind speed sensor 25 in steps S5 to S8. Therefore, in this case as well, the occupants do not feel the sensation of airflow, thereby preventing the discomfort caused by direct wind blowing and improving air conditioning comfort. If the heating operation as described above continues and the room temperature reaches the resident's desired set temperature, that is, the indoor thermostat
If it is OFF, the process goes to steps S1 and S12, and the process waits for the next indoor thermo ON signal to be input while the blower fan 3 is stopped. When the indoor thermostat changes from OFF to ON and is restarted,
Moving from step S1 to S2, the room temperature is determined in the same way as above, and if the room temperature is low, the setting and setting of the direction directly below the horizontal flap 6 is performed again in step S3.
It will be restarted with changes. 7 to 9 show flap control target positions in the above embodiment when a plurality of people are detected in the room during the human body position detection operation. This is done by dividing the room into multiple areas, and pre-setting areas (areas marked with ★) that can provide more comfort for each person based on the relative positional relationship of each area where people are detected. The above-mentioned flap control is performed on or assuming that a person is present at that location. For example, Figure 7 a-e
8 shows the controlled object positions when two people are detected by dividing the room into six parts, and FIGS. 8a to 8e show the control target positions when three people are detected. 4
In the case of ~5 people, set the location where many people are gathered as the control target position, and furthermore, if there are people in the entire area or if there is no one, set the position shown in Figure 9 as the control target position. There is. As explained above, in the above embodiment, from the beginning of the heating operation, the air is blown out at a larger volume without giving the occupants a feeling of cold air, and the blown air is combined with the airflow spreading over the floor surface. Therefore, the blowing air whose temperature gradually rises during the start-up process acts effectively to warm the entire room from the beginning, and the immediate heating at the start of heating operation is improved. In addition, in the above embodiment, during steady heating operation when the room temperature exceeds the set temperature Tm,
The direction of the airflow, which previously heated the entire room from the floor, is automatically changed to heating the area near the occupant's feet, focusing on the occupant's feet. Therefore, efficient operation with less waste is possible without compromising the heating comfort of the occupants. In addition, since the wind speed is suitably controlled so that the occupants do not experience discomfort due to direct wind blowing at this time, air conditioning comfort is further improved. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, a human body position detection device is provided to detect the position of the person and control the blowing air in that direction. warm air is blown out, further improving the comfort of the occupants. (Effects of the Invention) As described above, in the air conditioner of the present invention, air is blown onto the floor at a larger volume from the beginning of the heating operation without making the occupants feel the cold air. Since the blown air whose temperature gradually rises effectively warms the entire room from the beginning, it can quickly warm the room compared to conventional devices.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 9 are diagrams showing embodiments of the air conditioner of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a schematic indoor diagram showing the arrangement of the air conditioner main body and remote control switch box, and FIG. Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the human body position detection device, Fig. 4 is an explanatory diagram of human position detection, Fig. 5 is a control block diagram of the horizontal flap and ventilation fan, and Fig. 6 is a control diagram. The flowchart of FIGS. 7a to 8e and 8a to 8e are schematic interior plan views showing control target positions when there are multiple people in the room, and FIG. 9 is a similar schematic diagram when there are no people in the room. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing control of a blower fan in a conventional device. 1...Air conditioner body, 6...Horizontal flap (horizontal deflection means), 22...Remote control switch box, 25...Wind speed sensor (wind speed detection means),
31...Room temperature detection sensor (room temperature detection means), 36
...Deflection angle control section (deflection angle control means), 37...
Air volume control unit (air volume control means).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An air conditioner installed at a high place on a wall, which has a horizontal deflection means 6 for changing the direction of the air blown out from the main body 1, and is equipped with a remote control switch box 22, which is equipped with a remote control switch box 22. A room temperature detection means 31 for detecting the indoor temperature and a wind speed detection means 25 for detecting the wind speed around the remote control switch box 22 are attached to the switchbox 22, and after the start of air blowing, the room temperature detection means 31 detects the temperature. During the start-up period until the temperature reaches the set temperature, the deflection angle control means 36 sets the horizontal direction deflection means 6 directly downward, and during the start-up period, the detected wind speed by the wind speed detection means 25 is set to the set wind speed. An air conditioner characterized in that it has an air volume control means 37 for controlling the air volume of the blown air so that the following is achieved.