JPH0861738A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To switch the air conditioner to 1/2 rated operation that maintains half the capacity during rated operation. [Structure] When the air conditioner is operated in a normal "operation" state, it is confirmed in a first step 200 whether or not the compressor maintains substantially the same rotation speed as in the rated operation. In step 202, it is determined whether or not the capacity (the rotation speed of the compressor) at the time of rated operation is continuously maintained for a predetermined time or longer. If the determination is affirmative, the operation changeover switch is moved from the "operation" position to " It is confirmed whether the operation has been switched to the "trial operation" position, and when the operation is switched to the "test operation", 1/2 rated operation is performed (step 206). As a result, the operation can be switched without providing a special switch, and it is possible to prevent the operation from being inadvertently switched to the 1/2 rated operation due to an operation error.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air conditioner whose capacity is variable and which is used for test operation under predetermined environmental conditions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in an air conditioner (hereinafter referred to as "air conditioner"), a refrigerating capacity when continuously operated under a predetermined environmental condition is called a rated capacity, and power consumption at this time is displayed. It has become. Based on this display, an air conditioner with a desired capacity can be selected and purchased.

By the way, as an air conditioner, there is a so-called inverter type air conditioner in which the rotation speed of a compressor is variable.
In this inverter type air conditioner, the rotation speed of the compressor is changed according to the frequency of the AC power output from the inverter circuit to control the capacity of the compressor, or in the case of using a DC motor for the compressor, the voltage of the DC power applied to the compressor. Is controlled to increase the refrigerating capacity by increasing the number of revolutions of the compressor, and lowering the refrigerating capacity by lowering the number of revolutions. By varying the operating capacity of the compressor in this way, it is possible to prevent the compressor from operating with an unnecessarily large capacity and to achieve so-called energy-saving operation and comfortable air conditioning.

In such a variable capacity inverter type air conditioner having an energy saving effect function, since the time period of operation with a small refrigerating capacity is relatively long, only the cooling and heating capacity and power consumption during a single rated operation are required. It is not possible to clearly judge the ability to actually use it by displaying it.
For this reason, it is proposed to display the capacity in a plurality of operating states, such as when operating at the rated operation and at half the refrigerating capacity at the rated operation (hereinafter referred to as "1/2 rated operation"). ing.

[0005]

However, although some ordinary air conditioners are provided with a switch or the like that allows a rated operation on a trial basis, it is different from the rated operation after installing the air conditioner. It is difficult to maintain the rated operating condition.

The present invention has been made in view of the above facts, and provides an air conditioner capable of operating at half the capacity of the rated operation in order to confirm the capacity of the air conditioner. The purpose is to do.

[0007]

An air conditioner according to a first aspect of the present invention is an air conditioner in which the refrigerating capacity is variable by changing the number of revolutions of a compressor, in a state in which predetermined environmental conditions are maintained. After maintaining the rotation speed at which a predetermined refrigeration capacity is obtained for a certain period of time, the compressor is driven at a rotation speed at which a half of the predetermined refrigeration capacity is obtained in response to a predetermined operation. Characterize.

An air conditioner according to a second aspect of the present invention is the air conditioner according to the first aspect, wherein the predetermined operation is an operation that also serves as a switch used to control the air conditioner. Characterize.

An air conditioner according to a third aspect is the air conditioner according to the second aspect, wherein the switch is a test operation switch.

[0010]

The air conditioner according to the first aspect of the present invention can be operated while maintaining the half of the predetermined refrigerating capacity. When operating with half the refrigerating capacity, first, the compressor is driven while maintaining the rotation speed at which a predetermined refrigerating capacity is obtained. By performing a predetermined switch operation after the rotation speed of the compressor is maintained for a certain period of time, the rotation speed of the compressor is changed to operate so as to maintain the refrigerating capacity of 1/2.

As described above, the operation test with a half refrigerating capacity can be easily performed by setting in advance that the refrigerating capacity can be operated at a half of the refrigerating capacity under a predetermined environmental condition. be able to. In addition, after operating for a certain period of time with a predetermined refrigerating capacity, it is possible to switch to operation with a refrigerating capacity of 1/2, so during normal operation, careless operation of 1/2 It does not switch to operation with refrigeration capacity.

The air conditioner according to a second aspect of the present invention is a switch used for controlling the air conditioner, for example, a remote controller for setting operation / stop of the air conditioner, temperature, wind direction, air volume, etc. by remote control. A switch provided on the switch or the like switches the operation to half the refrigerating capacity. As a result, there is no need to provide a special switch for operating with a half refrigeration capacity.

Further, when the operation with the predetermined refrigerating capacity is not performed for a certain period of time, the operation does not switch to the operation with the half refrigerating capacity, so normally when the air conditioner is used. Therefore, the operation will not be inadvertently switched to the operation with the half refrigerating capacity.

In the air conditioner according to the third aspect, the test operation switch is used when switching to the operation with the refrigerating capacity of 1/2. This test run switch is used when the air conditioner is installed, when checking the operation of the air conditioner, and when operating the air conditioner on a trial basis with a predetermined refrigerating capacity. The switch is not operated. By using such a test operation switch, the air conditioner will not be erroneously operated.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the air conditioner applied to this embodiment (hereinafter referred to as "air conditioner 10") is composed of an indoor unit 12 and an outdoor unit 14,
Between the indoor unit 12 and the outdoor unit 14, a thick refrigerant pipe 15A and a thin refrigerant pipe 1 for circulating the refrigerant are provided.
5B are provided, and one end of each is connected to the heat exchanger 16 in the indoor unit 12.

On the other hand, in the outdoor unit 14, the other end of one refrigerant pipe 15A is connected to the valve 18. The valve 18 is connected to a four-way valve 22 via a muffler 20A. In addition, the four-way valve 22 is connected to both sides of a pipe line to which the accumulator 24, the compressor 26 and the muffler 20B are connected, and is further connected to one of the heat exchangers 28. Further, the other end of the refrigerant pipe 15B is connected to the other side of the heat exchanger 28 via a capillary tube 30, a strainer 32, and a valve 34. Further, the muffler 30B and the four-way valve 22, and the heat exchanger 28 and the capillary tube 30 are connected via an electromagnetic valve 36.

As a result, a closed refrigerant circulation path, that is, a refrigeration cycle is formed between the indoor unit 12 and the outdoor unit 14, and the operation mode is cooled by switching the four-way valve 22 and opening / closing the solenoid valve 36. Mode, heating mode or defrosting (dry) mode. Note that FIG. 1 shows the flow of the refrigerant in each operation mode.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic structure of an electric circuit in the indoor unit 12, and FIG. 3 shows a schematic structure of an electric circuit in the outdoor unit 14.

As shown in FIG. 2, the indoor unit 12
A power supply board 38 and a control board 40 are provided in the. AC power for operating the air conditioner 10 is supplied to the power supply board 38.
A motor power supply 46 that outputs electric power for driving the various motors in 2, a control circuit power supply 48 that outputs electric power for the control circuit,
Serial circuit power supply 50 for outputting power for serial circuit
Is provided.

The control board 40 has a serial circuit 5
2. A drive circuit 54 for driving various motors, a serial circuit 52, and a microcomputer (microcomputer) 56 connected to the drive circuit 54 for controlling the operation of the air conditioner 10 are provided. A fan motor 42 (DC brushless motor) that drives a cross-flow fan (not shown) that blows out heated air, a power relay 60 that opens and closes a contact 58 of a power supply circuit to the outdoor unit 14, and a vertical flap motor 62 that adjusts the wind direction. Are connected.

The drive circuit 54 changes the DC voltage supplied from the motor power source in accordance with the signal from the microcomputer 56, and adjusts the rotation speed of the fan motor 42, that is, the amount of air blown from the indoor unit 12 by the cross flow fan. ing. For example, the supply voltage to the fan motor 42 is 12V
By changing it in 256 steps in the range of up to 36 V, it is possible to finely adjust the air flow rate. At this time, the microcomputer 56 controls the upper and lower flap motors 62 as necessary to control not only the air volume from the indoor unit 12 but also the wind direction.

In addition, the microcomputer 56 displays an operating state and an operation mode of the air conditioner 10 by using an LED or the like, and a display board 68 provided with a remote control reception circuit, a sensor board 70 provided with a floor sensor and an optical sensor, A self-diagnosis switch, a switch board 72 provided with an operation changeover switch together with a self-diagnosis LED, a room temperature sensor 74 for detecting the room temperature, and a heat exchanger temperature sensor 76 for detecting the temperature of the refrigerant coil in the heat exchanger 16 are connected. There is.

As shown in FIG. 3, the outdoor unit 14
Is provided with a rectifier circuit 78 and a control board 80. The terminals 82A to 82C are respectively connected to the terminals 84A to 84C (see FIG. 2) of the indoor unit 12 by wiring (not shown), and are supplied with electric power. A serial signal corresponding to a control signal from the microcomputer 56 is transmitted to and received from the indoor unit 12, and the frequency of the AC power supplied to the compressor 26 (for example, 18H).
(between z and 150 Hz) and operation control of each device.

A serial circuit 86 is provided on the control board 80, and a serial signal is transmitted to and received from the serial circuit 52 of the indoor unit 12. Further, the control board 80 has a plurality of noise filters 88A, 88B, 88 for removing noise.
C, a switching power supply 92 that supplies electric power to an inverter circuit 90 that drives the compressor 26, and a microcomputer 94
Is provided.

In the air conditioner 10, the frequency of driving the compressor 26 output from the inverter circuit 90 is varied to change the rotation speed of the compressor 26 to adjust the cooling / heating capacity.

Further, the control board 80 is connected to the four-way valve 22 and the electromagnetic valve 36 in the outdoor unit 14, and the four-way valve 22 is switched and the electromagnetic valve 36 is opened and closed to switch the operation mode. It has become. Also,
The fan motor 96 and the fan motor condenser 96A of the heat exchanger 28 are connected to the control board 80, and the microcomputer 94 of the control board 80 includes an outside air temperature thermistor 98A for detecting the outside air temperature and the heat exchanger 2.
A coil temperature thermistor 98B that detects the temperature of the refrigerant coil in 8 and a compressor thermistor 98C that detects the temperature of the compressor 26 are connected, while operating the fan motor 96, operating the compressor 26, and detecting the outside air temperature. The compressor 26 is driven.

On the other hand, FIG. 4A shows the appearance of the indoor unit 12 of the air conditioner 10. This indoor unit 12
Then, by driving the fan motor 42, indoor air is sucked from the front suction grill 100 and the upper suction grill 102, and after passing through the heat exchanger 16 to adjust the temperature, the upper and lower flaps 104 and the left and right flaps 106 are provided. It blows out indoors from the blowing grill 108. The upper and lower flaps 104 are driven by the upper and lower flap motors 62 described above, and the direction of the blown air from the indoor unit 12 is adjusted.

Below the suction grille 100, a display section 110 for displaying the operating state of the air conditioner 10 and receiving a signal from the remote controller and a temperature measuring section 112 for the floor sensor are provided.

The indoor unit 12 has a front suction grill 100 which can be opened and closed.
Inside 0, an air filter 114 including a dust collecting filter, a deodorizing filter, etc. is provided. A main body operation unit 116 is provided inside the suction grill 100 and above the display unit 110.

As shown in FIG. 4B, the main body operation section 116 includes a plurality of LEDs 118 for self-diagnosis of the switch board 72 (see FIG. 2) and a self-diagnosis switch 120, and the operation mode of the air conditioner 10 is "all". An operation changeover switch 122 for changing over to any one of "stop", "operation", "test operation" and "DEMO" is provided.

Normally, the air conditioner 10 is used with the notch 124 of the operation changeover switch 122 in the "operating" position, and "all stop", "test run" and "DEMO" are used during installation, testing and adjustment. It

By the way, in the air conditioner 10, preset environmental conditions (JISC9612 standard, for example, indoor dry-bulb temperature 27 ° C, wet-bulb temperature 19 ° C, outside air dry-bulb temperature 35 ° C, wet-bulb temperature 24 The operating state under ° C) is set as the rated operation, and the cooling capacity and the heating capacity in the rated operation state are set as the rated capacity. That is, under the predetermined environmental conditions, it is designed to always operate at the rated capacity. If this rated operation is forcibly maintained by an environmental test or the like, the power supply frequency output from the inverter circuit 90 is maintained constant, so it depends on whether or not this constant frequency output from the inverter circuit 90 continues for a predetermined time. It is possible to determine whether the air conditioner 10 is in the compulsory rated operation state between the microcomputers 56 and 94.

Further, in the air conditioner 10, after the rated operation is continued for a predetermined time, the operation changeover switch 122 (see FIG. 4B) of the main body operation portion 116 provided in the indoor unit 12
1/2 the rated capacity
You can drive the car.

The air conditioner 10 is set to be capable of continuous operation (hereinafter referred to as "1/2 rated operation") with a capacity of 1/2 of the rated operation. Also at this time, the inverter circuit 90 operates the compressor 26 at a constant frequency according to the driving ability.

When the 1/2 rated operation is performed, the operation changeover switch 122 of the main body operation unit 116 is set to the "operation" position while the operation is performed under the predetermined environmental conditions described above.
When the operation changeover switch 122 is set to the "trial operation" position after a predetermined time, the microcomputers 56, 94 automatically switch to the 1/2 rated operation and continue the operation.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. In the air conditioner 10, when the operation changeover switch 122 provided in the main body operation unit 116 of the indoor unit 12 is in the “operation” position, the switch operation of the remote control switch 126, the temperature inside the room in which the indoor unit 12 is provided, and the outdoor unit 1 are performed.
4 automatically switches the operation mode among the “cooling mode”, the “heating mode” and the “dry mode” according to the temperature outside the room where 4 is provided, and blows the conditioned air from the indoor unit 12 into the room. It has become. Further, it is possible to fix the operation mode to any one of the operation modes described above according to the switch operation of the remote control switch 126.

At this time, the rotational speed of the compressor 26 is changed in accordance with the temperature change outside the room and the temperature change inside the room to change the operating capacity. As a result, the room is kept comfortable while so-called energy saving is performed to prevent unnecessary heating and cooling to increase power consumption.

By the way, in the air conditioner 10, when it is necessary to perform the rated operation in order to confirm the operating capacity, the indoor unit 12 is placed in an environmental test room satisfying a predetermined environmental condition.
The intake grill 100 is opened, the indoor fan (a crossflow fan that is rotationally driven by the fan motor 42) is set to the maximum air volume, and the room temperature set value is set to the minimum (cooling) / maximum (heating). The refrigerating capacity at this time is the rated capacity, the rated frequency, and the rated current consumption.

Next, when the air conditioner 10 is to be operated in 1/2 rated operation, the rated operation is performed for a predetermined time (for example, about 3
After maintaining for 0 to 40 minutes), the notch 124 of the operation changeover switch 122 is switched to “test operation”. The microcomputer 94 stores in advance a frequency at which the refrigerating capacity is 1/2 of the rated value. By operating the compressor 26 at a frequency set by the microcomputer 94 so that the inverter circuit 90 can perform 1/2 rated operation, the air conditioner 10 is operated at half the rated capacity (1/2 rated operation). You can

The switching operation of the air conditioner 10 to the 1/2 rated operation will now be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. Note that the flowchart shown in FIG. 5 shows an interrupt routine in a normal operating state of the air conditioner 10.

In this air conditioner 10, JIS C961
The operation changeover switch 12 of the main body operation unit 116 prior to the 1/2 rated operation under the predetermined environmental conditions defined by the two standards.
When 2 is set to the “operating” position and, for example, when half-rated operation in the cooling mode is to be performed, the air conditioner 10 is set to the cooling mode and the set temperature is set to the lowest to perform the cooling operation. As a result, the air conditioner 10 operates at the rated capacity.

The flow chart shown in FIG.
0 is executed in the normal "running" state, the first step 2
00, it is confirmed that the air conditioner 10 supplies the capacity during the rated operation, that is, whether the compressor 26 is supplied with the AC power having substantially the same frequency as during the rated operation. This can be easily confirmed by whether the microcomputer 94 itself outputs the same frequency as that in the rated operation to the inverter circuit 90.

When it is determined that the compressor 26 has substantially the same number of rotations (capacity) as in the rated operation (Yes in step 200), the process proceeds to the next step 202 and the capacity in the substantially rated operation is maintained for a predetermined time. It is confirmed that the above is continuous (for example, 40 minutes or more).

When it is determined in this step 202 that the compressor 26 has been operating at substantially the same number of revolutions (capacity) as in the rated operation for a predetermined time or more (affirmative determination), the next step 2
04, the operation changeover switch 122 of the main body operation unit 116
Check that the switch has been operated from the "run" position to the "test run" position. Here, when the operation selector switch 122 is switched to the "test operation" position, the routine proceeds to step 206, and the compressor 26 is switched to the 1/2 rated operation.

In this 1/2 rated operation, the inverter circuit 9
The compressor 26 is driven so that the air conditioner 10 operates at a capacity of 1/2 of the rated operation by outputting a preset frequency of 1/2 during the rated operation. It should be noted that in the 1/2 rated operation, the operation switch of the air conditioner 10 is turned off, the operation changeover switch is returned to the "operation" position, and the like.
It ends by checking in 8.

As described above, in the air conditioner 10, the rated operation state, which is not possible in the normal operation state, is forcibly continued for a predetermined time, and then the operation changeover switch 122 is switched to the "trial operation" position. It is designed to perform rated operation. Therefore, even when the switch is used together, the air conditioner 10 does not inadvertently enter the 1/2 rated operation state due to an operation error or the like in the normal operation state. In addition, since the "test run" switch for performing the rated operation that has been conventionally provided is used to perform the 1/2 rated operation, it is necessary to provide a switch for the 1/2 rated operation. Instead, it is possible to switch to 1/2 rated operation by adding a simple program.

The method of switching the air conditioner 10 to the 1/2 rated operation is not limited to this, and various applications are possible. A part of the application example is shown below.

6A and 6B show a remote control switch 126 for remotely operating the air conditioner 10. The remote control switch 126 is provided with a transmitter, a room temperature sensor, and the like inside, and a display unit 128 for displaying the operating state of the air conditioner and a switch unit 130 for performing a driving operation on the surface. The switch unit 130 is provided on the front surface side of the opening / closing cover 131 with the operation / stop button 132 and various operation switches for performing simple operations.

As shown in FIG. 6B, the opening / closing cover 13
In the switch unit 130 exposed by opening 1, the operation / stop button 132, the operation switching button 134,
Temperature buttons 136A and 136B for setting the temperature, a wind direction button 138 for adjusting the wind direction, and an air volume button 14 for adjusting the air volume.
0, timer button 142 for switching on / off of the timer
A, 142B, arrival time button 144 for timer setting
A, off time button 144B, time setting button 144C,
Various button switches for making fine operation settings such as 144D are provided.

Normally, the air conditioner 10 is adapted to perform various settings such as indoor temperature detection, cooling / heating switching, temperature setting, timer setting, etc., and operation / stop operation by a signal from the remote control switch 126.

By using the remote controller switch 126 of the air conditioner 10 as described above, the air conditioner 10 may be put into the 1/2 rated operation state. At this time, for example, the operation changeover switch 122 of the main body operation unit 116 is set to the “trial operation” position, and together with the operation / stop switch 132 of the remote control switch 126, the other temperature buttons 136, for example.
The air conditioner 10 may be set to ½ rated operation by operating any one of the A, 136B, the wind direction button 138, the air volume button 140, etc. to operate the air conditioner 10. The air conditioner 10 may be switched to the 1/2 rated operation by operating a plurality of preset buttons other than the above.

Furthermore, when the operation changeover switch 122 of the main body operation unit 116 is in the normal "operation" position,
As described above, after the air conditioner 10 is forcibly operated for the predetermined time with the same capacity as during the rated operation, the air conditioner 10 is operated at the 1/2 rated operation by simultaneously operating various operation buttons of the remote controller switch 126. Good.

Thus, even if the remote control switch 126 which has been conventionally used is used, the air conditioner 10 can be operated at 1/2 rated operation by a combination operation of a plurality of operation buttons without providing a special operation button. Often, this eliminates the need to provide a special switch for switching to the 1/2 rated operation, and the normal air conditioner 1
It is possible to reliably prevent the air conditioner 10 from being inadvertently brought into the 1/2 rated operating state due to an operation error or the like in the 0 operating state.

The air conditioner 10 applied to this embodiment
Shows an example of an air conditioner to which the present invention is applied, and the present invention is applicable to any air conditioner of variable capacity, and is not limited to an air conditioner capable of cooling and heating. An air conditioner dedicated to cooling may be used if the capacity is variable.

[0056]

As described above, according to the present invention, after confirming that the air conditioner is in a predetermined operating state, a half switch operation is performed by a predetermined switch operation. Since the control can be easily performed without providing any means and the function that enables the 1/2 rated operation is provided, the manufacturing cost of the air conditioner does not increase.

Further, by switching to the 1/2 rated operation by double operation of the switch which is not performed during normal use, it is possible to prevent the 1/2 rated operation from being caused by an operation error. Have.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a refrigerant pipeline of an air conditioner applied to this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electric circuit of an indoor unit.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electric circuit of an outdoor unit.

FIG. 4A is a schematic external view of an indoor unit, and FIG. 4B is an enlarged view of a main body operation unit.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing an example for setting the air conditioner to ½ rated operation.

FIG. 6A is a schematic external view of a remote control switch,
(B) is a schematic external view of the remote control switch with the open / close cover open.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Air Conditioner 12 Indoor Unit 14 Outdoor Unit 16, 28 Heat Exchanger 26 Compressor 56, 94 Microcomputer 90 Inverter Circuit 122 Operation Changeover Switch 126 Remote Control Switch

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Kazunobu Hosogai 2-5-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Harutaka Genno 2 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka 5-5-5 Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Toshimitsu Nakajima 2-5-5 Keihan Hondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An air conditioner in which the refrigerating capacity is variable by changing the revolving speed of the compressor, and the revolving speed at which a predetermined refrigerating capacity is obtained under a condition where a predetermined environmental condition is maintained is maintained for a predetermined time. An air conditioner, characterized in that, after being maintained, the compressor is driven at a rotational speed at which half of the predetermined refrigerating capacity is obtained in response to a predetermined operation. 2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined operation is an operation that also serves as a switch used for controlling the air conditioner. 3. The air conditioner according to claim 2, wherein the switch is a trial run switch.