Air conditioner unit and control method thereof for effectively reducing hardware costs

Abstract

The present invention discloses an air-conditioning unit and its control method that can effectively reduce hardware costs. The air-conditioning unit includes: a plurality of internal fans arranged in sequence; limit switches. Each internal fan is connected to two limit switches, and one limit switch is shared between adjacent internal fans. The present invention solves the problem of high hardware resources and costs required in the prior art when an air conditioner includes multiple internal fans, and reduces the resource costs required for abnormal judgment of multi-fan commutation.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of air conditioners, and more particularly, to an air conditioner unit and its control method that can effectively reduce hardware costs. Background Art

[0002] With the increasing demand for comfort by people, there have been more and more innovations in the comfort control of air conditioner products, such as air supply methods like waterfall cooling and carpet heating. The basic control principle is to utilize the characteristics that cold air sinks and hot air rises, which not only accelerates the cooling and heating effects of the space but also enhances the comfort experience of users. The duct machine products that can achieve waterfall cooling and carpet heating can control the air outlet at the ceiling or the floor. The product has an upper air outlet located at the upper part of the room and a lower air outlet located at the lower part of the room, and can control the rotation of the internal fan to supply air to the upper part of the room or the lower part of the room.

[0003] The rotation of the internal fan needs to be achieved through a motor plus a motion mechanism. To ensure the lifespan of the motion mechanism, a limit switch is generally added during the rotation process, and whether the rotation is in place is judged by determining the state of the limit switch. Since there are two directions involved, each internal motor needs to be equipped with two limit switches. If the number of motors increases, the required limit switches will also increase exponentially, which not only increases the cost of the unit but also requires more GPIO resources of the control system chip.

[0004] Regarding the problem of high hardware resources and costs required when the air conditioner includes multiple internal fans in the related art, no effective solution has been proposed yet. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The present invention provides an air conditioner unit and its control method that can effectively reduce hardware costs, so as to at least solve the problem of high hardware resources and costs required when the air conditioner includes multiple internal fans in the prior art.

[0006] To solve the above technical problems, according to one aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, an air conditioner unit is provided, including: a plurality of internal fans arranged in sequence; limit switches; wherein, each internal fan is connected to two limit switches, and one limit switch is shared between adjacent two internal fans.

[0007] Further, the air conditioner unit includes a first air outlet and a second air outlet; when the current air outlet of the air conditioner unit is the first air outlet, the internal fan blows air towards the first air outlet; when the current air outlet of the air conditioner unit is the second air outlet, the internal fan blows air towards the second air outlet.

[0008] Further, the two limit switches connected to the internal fan are respectively located on the first side and the second side of the internal fan.

[0009] Further, when the internal blower blows air towards the first air outlet, the limit switch on the first side of the internal blower is disconnected, and the limit switch on the second side of the internal blower is closed; when the internal blower blows air towards the second air outlet, the limit switch on the first side of the internal blower is closed, and the limit switch on the second side of the internal blower is disconnected.

[0010] Further, the internal blowers are numbered from 1 to N, and the limit switches are numbered from 1 to N + 1; among them, limit switch 1 is located on the first side of internal blower 1, and limit switch N + 1 is located on the second side of internal blower N.

[0011] According to another aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided an air conditioner unit control method, which is applied to the air conditioner unit as described above. The method includes: monitoring whether the air conditioner unit has completed commutation; if so, detecting the states of the limit switches; judging whether the air conditioner unit has successfully commutated according to the states of the limit switches, and executing corresponding control strategies according to the judgment results.

[0012] Further, the air conditioner unit completes commutation in the following manner: when the current air outlet of the air conditioner unit is the first air outlet, controlling the internal blower to turn so that the internal blower blows air towards the second air outlet; when the current air outlet of the air conditioner is the second air outlet, controlling the internal blower to turn so that the internal blower blows air towards the first air outlet.

[0013] Further, detecting the states of the limit switches includes: detecting the switch states of limit switches 1 to N + 1.

[0014] Further, judging whether the air conditioner unit has successfully commutated according to the states of the limit switches includes: when the internal blower blows air towards the second air outlet, judging whether limit switches 2 to N + 1 are in the closed state, and if so, determining that the air conditioner unit has successfully commutated; when the internal blower blows air towards the first air outlet, judging whether limit switches 1 to N are in the closed state, and if so, determining that the air conditioner unit has successfully commutated.

[0015] Further, executing corresponding control strategies according to the judgment results includes: when the air conditioner unit fails to commutate, controlling the internal blower to perform a return operation and blow air towards the current air outlet; detecting whether the internal blower has completed the return operation, and if not, performing a fault alarm process.

[0016] According to yet another aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a storage medium containing computer-executable instructions, and the computer-executable instructions are used to execute the air conditioner unit control method as described above when executed by a computer processor.

[0017] In the present invention, an air conditioner unit is provided in which adjacent fans share a limit switch, mainly including: a plurality of internal fans arranged in sequence, and a limit switch; wherein, each internal fan is connected to two limit switches, and adjacent two internal fans share one limit switch. By the way that adjacent fans share a limit switch, the problem that each internal fan needs to be equipped with two limit switches when judging the commutation of multiple fans, resulting in higher hardware resources and costs, is solved, and the resource cost required for judging the abnormal commutation of multiple fans is reduced. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Figure 1 is an optional structural schematic diagram of an air conditioner unit according to the prior art;

[0019] Figure 2 is an optional structural schematic diagram of an air conditioner unit according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

[0020] Figure 3 is an optional flowchart of a control method for an air conditioner unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] Here, the exemplary embodiments will be described in detail, and the examples are shown in the drawings. When the following description refers to the drawings, unless otherwise indicated, the same numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements. The embodiments described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all embodiments consistent with the present invention. On the contrary, they are only examples of devices and methods consistent with some aspects of the present invention as detailed in the appended claims.

[0022] Embodiment 1

[0023] For an air conditioner product with upper and lower air outlets and capable of realizing bidirectional air output, the change of the air conditioner wind direction is mainly realized by the commutation of the fan. In order to ensure that the fan commutation is in place, the air conditioner product is designed with a limit in its structure. In the prior art, the commutation of the fan can only rely on time to judge whether the commutation is in place, but the judgment of time often has errors, and problems such as not in place or over-rotation of the motor after in place are likely to occur. Over-rotation will cause wear of the moving parts and is not conducive to the life of the unit. To avoid this phenomenon, the conventional method is to add limit switches in both forward and reverse directions to each motor, as Figure 1 shown. Before the fan commutation, the limit switch on the left side is closed, and the limit switch on the right side is open. After the commutation, the limit switch on the right side is closed, and the limit switch on the left side is open. Since the limit switch will close when the motor rotates to the specified position, it is judged whether the motor rotation is in place by detecting the limit switch, and the motor can stop rotating after the commutation is successful to avoid structural wear.

[0024] In the above solution, the number of limit switches required in the multi-motor state will increase exponentially. The number of limit switches required for N fans is 2N, which requires a large amount of hardware resources and also increases the cost significantly.

[0025] To solve the above problems, the present invention adopts a solution of sharing limit switches to achieve the judgment and handling of abnormal fan commutation.

[0026] Specifically, Figure 2 Fig. shows a schematic structural diagram of an optional air-conditioning unit, as Figure 2 shown, including:

[0027] A plurality of internal fans arranged in sequence;

[0028] Limit switches;

[0029] Among them, each internal fan is connected to two limit switches, and one limit switch is shared between adjacent two internal fans.

[0030] In the above embodiment, an air-conditioning unit with adjacent fans sharing limit switches is provided, mainly including: a plurality of internal fans arranged in sequence, limit switches; among them, each internal fan is connected to two limit switches, and one limit switch is shared between adjacent two internal fans. By the way of adjacent fans sharing limit switches, the problem that each internal fan needs to be equipped with two limit switches during multi-fan commutation judgment, resulting in high hardware resources and costs, is solved, and the resource cost required for multi-fan commutation abnormal judgment is reduced.

[0031] The air-conditioning unit in the present invention has a plurality of internal fans (the number of internal fans can be two or more), especially a duct machine with upper and lower air outlet functions, or a duct machine with other reversible air outlet functions. Preferably, the duct machine of the present invention is usually installed on an indoor wall, including an upper air outlet and a lower air outlet, and a duct buried in the wall. The upper air outlet is usually located at the upper part of the wall, for example, at the place closest to the ceiling at the top of the wall. The lower air outlet is usually connected to the lowest part of the room through a duct installed in the wall, for example, by sending air through the place closest to the floor at the bottom of the wall. The fan is installed parallel to the upper air outlet. When cooling, the fan blows air towards the upper air outlet, so that the duct machine blows air from the upper air outlet. When heating, the rotation direction of the fan is changed to blow air towards the lower air outlet, and the hot air is sent into the room through the duct in the wall.

[0032] That is, the air-conditioning unit includes a first air outlet and a second air outlet; when the current air outlet of the air-conditioning unit is the first air outlet, the internal fan blows air towards the first air outlet; when the current air outlet of the air-conditioning unit is the second air outlet, the internal fan blows air towards the second air outlet.

[0033] As Figure 2As shown, the two limit switches connected to the internal fan are respectively located on the first side and the second side of the internal fan. Optionally, the first side is the left side of the internal fan, and the second side is the right side of the internal fan. When the internal fan blows air towards the first air outlet, the limit switch on the first side of the internal fan is disconnected, and the limit switch on the second side of the internal fan is closed; when the internal fan blows air towards the second air outlet, the limit switch on the first side of the internal fan is closed, and the limit switch on the second side of the internal fan is disconnected.

[0034] If the number of internal fans is N, then the number of limit switches is N + 1. The internal fans are numbered from 1 to N, and the limit switches are numbered from 1 to N + 1; among them, limit switch 1 is located on the first side of internal fan 1, and limit switch N + 1 is located on the second side of internal fan N.

[0035] Embodiment 2

[0036] Based on the air conditioner unit provided in the above Embodiment 1, in a preferred Embodiment 2 of the present invention, a method for controlling an air conditioner unit is further provided, which is applied to the air conditioner unit as described above. Specifically, Figure 3 An optional flowchart showing this method is as Figure 3 As shown, this method includes the following steps S302 - S306:

[0037] S302: Monitor whether the air conditioner unit has completed commutation;

[0038] S304: If so, detect the status of the limit switch;

[0039] S306: Determine whether the air conditioner unit has successfully commuted according to the status of the limit switch, and execute the corresponding control strategy according to the judgment result.

[0040] In the above embodiment, an air conditioner unit with adjacent fans sharing limit switches is provided, which mainly includes: a plurality of internal fans arranged in sequence, and limit switches; among them, each internal fan is connected to two limit switches, and one limit switch is shared between adjacent two internal fans. By the way of adjacent fans sharing limit switches, the problem that each internal fan needs to be equipped with two limit switches when judging the commutation of multiple fans, resulting in high hardware resources and costs, is solved, and the resource cost required for judging the abnormal commutation of multiple fans is reduced.

[0041] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the air conditioner unit completes commutation in the following way: when the current air outlet of the air conditioner unit is the first air outlet, control the internal fan to turn so that the internal fan blows air towards the second air outlet; when the current air outlet of the air conditioner is the second air outlet, control the internal fan to turn so that the internal fan blows air towards the first air outlet.

[0042] When the air conditioner unit uses the upper air outlet (corresponding to the first air outlet) to blow air, the state of the internal fan and the limit switch is asFigure 2 As shown, if the number of fans is N, the number of limit switches is N + 1, and limit switches 1 to N are all in the closed state; when the unit needs to switch to the downwind outlet (corresponding to the second air outlet) for air supply, the internal fan rotates, and after rotating in place, limit switches 2 to N + 1 are in the closed state.

[0043] The detection of abnormal commutation is not for a single limit switch, but for the states of all limit switches. For example Figure 2 As shown, there are a total of N + 1 limit switches. Before commutation, limit switches 1 - N will be closed. If an abnormality occurs in a certain internal fan during commutation, then one of the limit switches among 1 - N will not be closed, and at this time, it can be determined that the commutation is abnormal.

[0044] In summary, judging whether the air conditioner unit has successfully commuted according to the states of the limit switches includes: when the internal fan blows air towards the second air outlet, judging whether limit switches 2 to N + 1 are in the closed state. If so, it is determined that the air conditioner unit has successfully commuted; when the internal fan blows air towards the first air outlet, judging whether limit switches 1 to N are in the closed state. If so, it is determined that the air conditioner unit has successfully commuted.

[0045] After the internal fan completes commutation, if it is judged that the states of all limit switches are not such that limit switches 1 to N are all in the closed state or limit switches 2 to N + 1 are in the closed state, it means that an abnormality has occurred in the commutation of the internal fan; further, when the air conditioner unit fails to commute, control the internal fan to perform a return operation and blow air towards the current air outlet; detect whether the internal fan has completed the return operation. If not, perform a fault alarm. At this time, there is a problem with the commutation motor or structure of a certain or some of the current internal fans. At this time, there are two air outlet directions of the internal fan, and the unit cannot operate normally. Therefore, it is necessary to perform a commutation on the motor again, try to adjust back to the original air outlet direction, and then perform operations such as commutation.

[0046] Through the above limit switch sharing scheme, the detection of abnormal fan commutation, which originally required 2N limit switches to achieve, can now be completed with only N + 1 limit switches, which not only avoids system abnormalities caused by abnormal fan commutation but also reduces the hardware resource cost required to implement commutation judgment.

[0047] Embodiment 3

[0048] Based on the air conditioner unit control method provided in the above Embodiment 1, in a preferred Embodiment 3 of the present invention, a storage medium containing computer - executable instructions is further provided. The computer - executable instructions are used to execute the air conditioner unit control method as described above when executed by a computer processor.

[0049] In the above-described embodiment, an air conditioner unit is provided in which adjacent fans share a limit switch, mainly including: a plurality of internal fans arranged in sequence, and a limit switch; wherein each internal fan is connected to two limit switches, and a limit switch is shared between two adjacent internal fans. By sharing the limit switch between adjacent fans, the problem that each internal fan needs to be equipped with two limit switches when judging the commutation of multiple fans, resulting in high hardware resources and costs, is solved, and the resource cost required for judging the abnormal commutation of multiple fans is reduced.

[0050] Those skilled in the art will readily conceive of other embodiments of the present invention after considering the specification and the practice of the invention disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the present invention, which follow the general principles of the present invention and include the known common knowledge or conventional technical means in the technical field not invented by the present invention. The specification and examples are only regarded as exemplary, and the true scope and spirit of the present invention are pointed out by the following claims.

[0051] It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the exact structures described above and shown in the drawings, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from its scope. The scope of the present invention is only limited by the appended claims.

Claims

1. An air conditioning unit, characterized in that: include: Multiple internal fans arranged in sequence; Limit switches; Each of the internal fans is connected to two of the limit switches, and two adjacent internal fans share one limit switch; The air-conditioning unit includes a first air outlet and a second air outlet; the indoor fans are numbered 1 to N, and the limit switches are numbered 1 to N+1; wherein, limit switch 1 is located on the first side of indoor fan 1, and limit switch N+1 is located on the second side of indoor fan N; when the indoor fan blows air toward the first air outlet, the limit switch located on the first side of the indoor fan is disconnected, and the limit switch located on the second side of the indoor fan is closed; when the indoor fan blows air toward the second air outlet, the limit switch located on the first side of the indoor fan is closed, and the limit switch located on the second side of the indoor fan is disconnected; wherein, when the indoor fan blows air toward the second air outlet, if the limit switches 2 to N+1 are in a closed state, it is determined that the reversal of the air-conditioning unit is successful; when the indoor fan blows air toward the first air outlet, if the limit switches 1 to N are in a closed state, it is determined that the reversal of the air-conditioning unit is successful.

2. The air conditioning unit according to claim 1, characterized in that: When the current air outlet of the air-conditioning unit is the first air outlet, the internal fan blows air toward the first air outlet; When the current air outlet of the air-conditioning unit is the second air outlet, the internal fan blows air toward the second air outlet.

3. The air conditioning unit according to claim 2, characterized in that: The two limit switches connected to the inner fan are respectively located on the first side of the inner fan and the second side of the inner fan.

4. A method for controlling an air conditioning unit, applied to the air conditioning unit according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The method comprises: monitoring whether the air conditioning unit has completed reversing; If yes, then check the status of the limit switch; Whether the air-conditioning unit is successfully reversed is determined according to the state of the limit switch, and a corresponding control strategy is executed according to the determination result.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The air conditioning unit completes reversing in the following manner: When the current air outlet of the air-conditioning unit is the first air outlet, controlling the internal fan to turn so that the internal fan blows air toward the second air outlet; When the current air outlet of the air conditioner is the second air outlet, the internal fan is controlled to turn so that the internal fan blows air toward the first air outlet.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that Detect the status of the limit switch, including: Detect the switch status of the limit switches 1 to N+1.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that Determining whether the air conditioning unit is successfully reversed according to the state of the limit switch includes: When the internal fan blows air toward the second air outlet, determining whether the limit switches 2 to N+1 are in a closed state, and if so, determining that the air conditioning unit has successfully reversed; When the internal fan blows air toward the first air outlet, it is determined whether the limit switches 1 to N are in a closed state. If so, it is determined that the air conditioning unit is successfully reversed.

8. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that Execute the corresponding control strategy based on the judgment results, including: When the air conditioning unit fails to reverse, the internal fan is controlled to perform a return operation to blow air toward the current air outlet; Detect whether the internal fan completes the return operation, and if not, perform fault alarm processing.

9. A storage medium containing computer-executable instructions, characterized in that: When the computer executable instructions are executed by a computer processor, they are used to perform the air conditioning unit control method according to any one of claims 4 to 8.

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