JP2012184868A - Air conditioning system - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to reduce the temperature unevenness of the entire room by creating a large circulating airflow over a large space.
A plurality of air conditioning indoor units 11 to 16 arranged in the same space, and a controller connected to the plurality of air conditioning indoor units via a communication network and controlling operations of the plurality of air conditioning indoor units. In the air conditioning system, each of the plurality of air conditioning indoor units can be opened and closed in each of a plurality of directions so as to blow out the conditioned air in a plurality of directions around a heat exchanger and a fan that generate conditioned air. The apparatus includes a blowing unit having a blowing port and a control unit that controls the blowing unit, and includes a control unit that issues an instruction in a direction in which the air conditioner blows conditioned air.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioning system suitable when a plurality of indoor units are provided in the same room.

  Conventionally, when installing an air-conditioning indoor unit in a room with a large floor area such as a store or office, a rectangular or square indoor unit with a blowout port in the four surrounding directions and a suction port in the center as shown in Fig. 2 is the largest. In many cases, they are regularly embedded in the ceiling at intervals according to their capabilities. The airflow control of the room by such an air conditioning system is such that the user simply sets the air volume and direction of each indoor unit with a remote controller attached to each indoor unit. For example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1 In addition, there is an apparatus that automatically controls the airflow of a plurality of indoor units according to the temperature distribution of the entire room by a management device that can control all the indoor units.

JP 7-27395 A

  However, in large rooms with multiple four-direction blowout indoor units, the ceiling is usually high, and the air-conditioning blind spot where the air flow blown out from the ceiling-embedded indoor unit does not reach between the indoor unit and the indoor unit. I can do it. Also, if you detect the temperature and people in the blind spot and blow out the conditioned air with an air volume and temperature setting that is strong enough to cover the blind spot area, this will increase the discomfort of people who are directly hit by the wind. is there. As described above, the conventional air conditioning system cannot sufficiently adjust the temperature unevenness when the space such as the large conference room is uniformly heated. An object of the present invention is to reduce the temperature unevenness of the entire room by creating a large circulating airflow over a certain large space by temporarily or permanently carrying out the simultaneous operation of the indoor units.

  The above object can be achieved by, for example, the configuration described in the claims.

  In an air-conditioned space of an arbitrary size including a plurality of indoor units, an air flow over the entire space can be generated by a simple means of operating by closing some of the air outlets of the air-conditioner. It is possible to provide an air conditioning system for reducing temperature unevenness at a relatively low cost.

It is a figure of the office which installed the air-conditioning control system which is one Example of this invention. It is a connection diagram of an air-conditioning control system which is an embodiment of the present invention. It is a functional block diagram of the indoor unit of this invention. It is a functional block diagram of the indoor unit of this invention. It is a hardware configuration of the centralized remote controller of the present invention. It is a flowchart of the air-conditioning indoor unit airflow registration program of the controller of this invention. It is an example of the display panel screen of a centralized remote control. It is an example of the display panel screen of a centralized remote control. It is an example of the display panel screen of a centralized remote control. It is an example of the display panel screen of a centralized remote control. It is an example of an individual driving | operation airflow. It is an example of simultaneous operation airflow. It is an example of simultaneous operation airflow. It is a flowchart of the indoor unit operation control program of the controller of the present invention.

  1 and 2 are diagrams showing a schematic configuration of an air conditioning system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Multi-type air conditioner outdoor units O1 and O2 that can connect multiple indoor units are located outside the building. Six large ceiling-mounted indoor units I1 to I6 that can blow out air-conditioned air in four directions It is installed side by side. In addition, a remote controller C1 to C6 that controls the indoor units I1 to I6 and a centralized remote controller R1 that can simultaneously control all the indoor units I1 to I6 in the entire room are installed in the conference room. The indoor unit and the outdoor unit are connected by the refrigerant pipe P1, and the indoor unit, the outdoor unit, the air conditioners such as the remote controllers R1 to R6 and the central remote controller C1 are connected by the control communication network N1 to form a communication network. It is assumed that the remote controllers C1 to C6 each have an indoor temperature sensor.

  3 and 4 are diagrams showing the configurations of the indoor units I1 to I6 in FIG. The indoor unit is a ceiling-mounted type and has an openable / closable outlet that blows out conditioned air in four directions. The indoor unit includes a box-shaped indoor unit main body 101 that is buried in a ceiling and a rectangular flat plate-like indoor panel 102 that is attached to the lower end opening side of the indoor unit main body 101. The indoor panel 102 has a rectangular opening-shaped indoor air inlet 103 that is located in the center of the indoor panel 102, and a long rectangular air outlet that blows out conditioned air in parallel with the peripheral edge of the indoor panel around the outside of the air inlet 103. Air outlets 104a, 104b, 104c, 104d on the openings are provided. The air outlet 104a has an orientation reference mark used when registering the air outlet direction for simultaneous operation.

  Inside the main body 101, there is a heat exchanger 105 and a centrifugal fan 106 that creates a flow of ventilation from the inlet to the outlet. A filter 107 is provided at the inlet, and the direction of the conditioned air is adjusted at each outlet. An adjusting wing 108 is provided. The adjusting blade 108 not only adjusts the direction during the overall air current operation of the system, but also serves as a lid when closing the outlet. Further, a blowout temperature sensor 110 is provided at the blowout port, and a suction temperature sensor 111 is provided at the suction port.

  The room air sucked from the suction port 103 by the fan 106 through the filter 107 is conditioned air heat-exchanged by the heat exchanger 105 and is blown out in the direction in which the adjusting blade 108 is guided from the blowout port 104. There is an indoor unit control unit 109 that controls the devices in these indoor units. The indoor unit control unit 109 is connected to the outdoor unit and the remote control through the control communication network N1, for example, when the user presses the operation start button with the remote control C, the remote control sends an operation start request command to the corresponding indoor unit, Upon receipt of the command, the indoor unit control unit 109 turns on and drives the indoor unit, sets the air volume and direction according to the set temperature, and adjusts the rotation speed of the fan 106 and the angle of the adjusting blade 108 according to the setting to air conditioning. To start.

  Thus, the simultaneous operation control for generating the airflow over the entire space according to the present invention sends a request command for performing the simultaneous operation from the central remote controller R1 to the indoor control unit 109 of each indoor unit via the control communication network N1. Is realized by receiving and executing.

  FIG. 5 is a functional configuration diagram of the central remote controller R1. The central remote controller R1 is connected to a user input / output IF unit 11 including a display panel and input buttons for a user to make settings and instructions, and to refer to the current indoor unit operation state, and a control communication network N1. A communication IF unit 12 that communicates with other devices, a device information receiving unit 13 that acquires information from each indoor unit and remote controller through the communication IF unit, and sends operation control and information requests to each device through the communication IF unit The request command transmission unit 14, the user input reception unit 16 that receives the user input of the user input / output IF unit 11 as an electric signal, the display control unit 17 that displays information on the display panel of the user input / output IF unit 11, the centralized remote controller R1 It consists of a control microcomputer 10 that controls all the functions.

  In this example, the control microcomputer 10 is a general-purpose one-chip microcomputer equipped with a CPU, a ROM for storing software executed by the CPU and a ROM for storing data, a RAM serving as a work area when the CPU executes a program, and various external input / output ports. The process for transmitting the setting and request command for performing the simultaneous operation of the present invention is executed by the simultaneous operation program stored in the ROM of the control microcomputer 10.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a simultaneous operation registration process for registering various settings necessary for performing a user-desired simultaneous operation. In the registration process, the user registers an air-conditioned room (hereinafter referred to as a zone) of an arbitrary size for eliminating temperature unevenness by designating an air-conditioned indoor unit included in the range, and for each registered zone, The setting is made so that a desired airflow is generated at the timing. The procedure is described below with reference to FIG.

  First, the display panel of the centralized controller R1 normally shows a list screen of operation statuses and set values of the indoor units connected to the control communication network N1, as shown in FIG. When the user selects the zone simultaneous setting screen display (step 1001), the CPU reads the already registered zones and simultaneous operation setting information from the storage unit 15 and displays them as a list menu screen as shown in FIG. 7 (step 1002). ). In the example of FIG. 7, the four indoor units I2, I3, I5, and I6 on the window side of the large room in FIG. 1 form one spatial area “zone 1”. On this screen, the user selects and designates the indoor unit to be registered when registering the indoor unit constituting the zone, and selects and designates the target zone when registering the setting for simultaneous operation of any zone (1003). ).

  When the indoor unit is designated and selected in step 1003, the current registration content of the indoor unit designated in step 1004 is read from the storage unit 15 and displayed as shown in FIG. The registration information of each indoor unit includes the zone identification to which it belongs, the azimuth reference that defines which direction the surrounding reference mark 100 of the indoor unit is in the zone, and the temperature sensor information of the individual remote controller dedicated to the indoor unit. There are three items: whether to use for simultaneous operation of the zone (valid or invalid).

  As described above, zone distinction is a group of indoor units that operate at the same time. For example, in the case of the example in FIG. 1, it is appropriate to make all zones I1 to I6 one zone in order to eliminate temperature unevenness in the entire room. If the room is divided into partitions and only the air conditioner I1 is in a separate room, it is appropriate to configure the zone 1 with I2 to I6.

  The direction reference is information necessary to match the direction of the wind direction at the time of simultaneous operation. For each zone, the convenient east, west, north, and south in the zone is defined (it is not necessary to match the actual direction). In the indoor unit, the direction indicated by the surrounding reference mark 100 is registered in which direction, for convenience, east, west, south, and north. For example, in the example of FIG. 1, when all of I1 to I6 belong to one zone, if the direction with the window of the room is south, the enclosure reference mark 100 of all indoor units indicates the direction of the wall surface with the window. , I1-I6 azimuth reference settings are all south.

  As for the value of the temperature sensor of the remote controller, the remote controller C1 to C6 are all in the room (in the zone where the simultaneous operation is performed) in the simultaneous operation of the entire room in FIG. It is appropriate to use this for the determination.

  In step 1005 to step 1009, the above three items are set and registered. For example, in the case of the entire room simultaneous operation registration of FIG. 1 described above, the settings of the indoor units I1 to I6 are all as shown in FIG.

  When a certain zone is selected and specified in step 1003, the current simultaneous operation registration information of the zone is read and displayed as shown in FIG. The registration information for simultaneous operation in each zone is divided into four items: whether or not simultaneous operation is performed in that zone (valid or invalid), start conditions for simultaneous operation, air flow direction, and temperature setting during simultaneous operation. is there.

  There are two types of operation start conditions: scheduled operation with a schedule timer and automatic temperature difference that automatically starts operation when temperature unevenness in the zone is detected from the temperature sensor information in the zone. Good. In the case of timer operation, the operation time is input, and in the case of automatic temperature difference, a temperature difference that is a threshold value is specified.

  The direction of airflow specifies the direction of the wind blown by each indoor unit during simultaneous operation, that is, the direction of convection in the zone in the east, west, south, and north directions. The automatic cycle is an operation that sequentially performs convection in four directions. For example, in the example in which the window direction is south in the entire room of FIG. 1 above, individual operation as shown in FIG. 11 is normally performed, but when simultaneous operation of the airflow direction “south” is designated, FIG. 12 is obtained. . Further, the automatic cycle is an operation in which the convection direction changes every certain time as shown in FIG. When the automatic cycle is designated, the direction switching time is also designated and input.

  For temperature setting during simultaneous operation, the temperature setting for individual operation is used as it is, the average value of temperature setting for individual operation is used, or the absolute temperature is specified.

  In step 1012 to step 1016, the above four items are set and registered, and simultaneous operation is performed.

  FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a process in which the central remote controller R1 executes simultaneous operation.

  The centralized remote controller R1 constantly collects information from devices connected to the control communication network N1 regularly (in this example, every 10 seconds) (step 2001, step 2002). Then, every time the information is acquired, the simultaneous operation start or stop of all zones in which the simultaneous operation is valid is determined and executed (step 2003). First, in step 2004, if the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value is calculated between the suction temperature of each indoor unit that constitutes the judgment zone and the sensor temperature of the effective remote controller, the threshold value for automatic temperature difference is registered. If the temperature difference is larger than the threshold and the simultaneous operation is not yet completed, the simultaneous operation is started (steps 2005 and 2013). If the temperature difference is smaller than the threshold value and the operation is simultaneous, the simultaneous operation is stopped and returned to the individual operation (step 2014).

  If the timer has been set in the corresponding zone, the time is confirmed, and if it is not the simultaneous operation, the simultaneous operation is started (step 2006). Conversely, if it is not a time zone for simultaneous operation and is simultaneous operation, the simultaneous operation is stopped (step 2011).

  To start the simultaneous operation, first, the individual operation of all the indoor units in the equal zone is stopped, and when the airflow direction is set to the cycle, the time when the individual operation is stopped is stored as the airflow operation change time ( Step 2007). If the airflow direction is designated, a request command for operating with all the outlets other than the designated direction closed is transmitted to each indoor unit (step 2012). At this time, if temperature setting and average temperature operation are registered, the temperature is also specified. Receiving the request command, the indoor unit control unit 109 controls the operation so that the adjustment blade 108 of the corresponding outlet is closed. Further, the adjustment wing 108 of the air outlet that blows out the wind is controlled to send the wind as far as possible at the maximum wind speed in the direction in which the wind is blown out along the ceiling. Thereby, simultaneous operation is started.

  In the case of the cycle setting, the directions are switched in order of east, west, north, south, and north. Therefore, at the start, simultaneous operation is similarly started in the east direction of the wind, and the time obtained by adding the switching interval to the current time is stored as the airflow operation change time (step 2010). . As with the timer setting time, the airflow operation change time is periodically checked and the airflow direction is switched (step 2009).

  As described above, according to the system of the present invention, it is possible to perform simultaneous operation of the indoor units so as to create a large circulating airflow over the entire space, and to reduce the temperature unevenness of the entire room.

I1 to I6 ... Indoor unit, O1, O2 ... Outdoor unit, C1 to C6 ... Individual remote control, R1 ... Central remote control, N1 ... Control communication network, P1 ... Refrigerant piping, 10 ... CPU, 11 ... RAM, 12 ... ROM, 13 ... HDD, 14 ... Display part, 15 ... Input part, 16 ... IP communication part

Claims (4)

A plurality of air conditioning indoor units arranged in the same space, and an air conditioning system connected to the plurality of air conditioning indoor units via a communication network and configured by a controller that controls the operation of the plurality of air conditioning indoor units,
Each of the plurality of air conditioning indoor units is
A heat exchanger and a fan for generating conditioned air;
A blow-out unit having a blow-out opening that can be opened and closed in each of a plurality of directions so as to blow out the conditioned air in a plurality of surrounding directions;
A control unit for controlling the blowing unit,
The controller is
A user operates an air-conditioning indoor unit belonging to a predetermined space in the same space, a direction in which the air-conditioning indoor unit belonging to the predetermined space blows conditioned air, and an air-conditioning indoor unit belonging to the predetermined space A user IF section for setting and registering conditions;
In accordance with the conditions set and registered in the user IF unit, the air conditioning indoor unit set and registered includes a control unit that issues an operation instruction,
The control unit of the air-conditioning indoor unit that has been registered for setting controls the blowing unit in accordance with an instruction from the control unit of the controller, so that the blowing unit closes the blowing port in a direction other than the direction in which the setting is registered, An air conditioning system in which all of the air conditioner indoor units that have been set and registered blow out conditioned air in the same direction that has been set and registered at the same time. The controller further includes a timer for setting time,
2. The air conditioning system according to claim 1, wherein the condition for operating the air conditioning indoor units belonging to the predetermined space simultaneously is a predetermined time set by the timer. Each of the plurality of air conditioning indoor units further includes a temperature sensor for measuring temperature,
The condition for simultaneously operating the air conditioning indoor units belonging to the predetermined space is that a difference between a maximum value and a minimum value among a plurality of temperatures measured by the temperature sensor is equal to or greater than a predetermined temperature. The air conditioning system according to claim 1.   The cycle operation for switching a plurality of directions in order and a cycle operation switching time can be set as a direction in which the air-conditioning indoor unit belonging to the predetermined space blows out the conditioned air in the user IF unit. The air conditioning system described in.

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