Method for detecting and cleaning water channel of bottom frame of hanging machine

Abstract

The invention relates to an air conditioner equipment maintenance technology, discloses a method for detecting and cleaning a water channel of a bottom frame of a hanging machine, and solves the problems of difficulty in cleaning the water channel on the front side of the bottom frame of the hanging machine, low blockage detection precision and no effective cleaning means for accumulated dirt in the prior art. According to the scheme, when the air conditioner is powered on and pre-started, the arranged infrared imaging sensor is used for detecting the impurity blocking rate of the water channel and judging whether cleaning needs to be started or not, after cleaning is started, the cleaning connecting pipe is introduced into the water channel along one side of the motor gland by means of the fresh air module, and meanwhile the multiple segmentation blocks are divided according to the on-way wind loss characteristics of the water channel; and the rotating speed of the fresh air module is dynamically adjusted according to the preset corresponding air volume loss threshold value and the actual air volume loss detection value of each segmentation block, targeted graded cleaning is achieved, and therefore the cleaning effect is improved. The cleaning device is suitable for cleaning the bottom frame water channel of the hanging air conditioner.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to air conditioner equipment maintenance technology, in particular to a detection and cleaning method for a bottom frame water channel of a wall-mounted air conditioner. BACKGROUND

[0002] With the popularity of wall-mounted air conditioners (hereinafter referred to as "wall-mounted air conditioners") in home, office and other scenarios, its long-term stable operation and convenient maintenance have become the core demand of users. The blockage of the bottom frame water channel (including the water collecting tank, the drain port and the surrounding connecting pipeline) of the wall-mounted air conditioner has become a key pain point affecting the service life and user experience of the equipment. As the core channel for discharging condensate water of the wall-mounted air conditioner, the water channel is prone to accumulate sticky dirt due to environmental dust, microorganisms (mold, algae) and suspended pollutants (such as oil stains) in the air during long-term operation, which may cause condensate water overflow and air duct odor diffusion, and even cause corrosion of the drain pipeline and moisture damage to the internal circuit of the equipment, greatly increasing the maintenance cost of the user.

[0003] The existing technology for handling the blockage of the water channel of the wall-mounted air conditioner has many technical limitations, which cannot meet the efficient, safe and low-cost maintenance requirements, which are embodied in the following aspects: (1) Structural design restricts cleaning feasibility: The front water channel of the wall-mounted air conditioner is usually hidden under the evaporator, with narrow space and complex internal structure (including water collecting tank, drain hole, water guide groove, etc.). Some embedded or ceiling-mounted models need to disassemble the shell, motor, main control board and other core components to access the water channel, which not only has high operation difficulty and long time consumption, but also is easy to cause secondary damage to the equipment due to improper disassembly. Ordinary users are difficult to complete the maintenance independently.

[0004] (2) Poor dirt cleaning effect and easy to repeat: The water channel contains sticky dirt such as dust, microorganisms and oil stains, which is easy to adhere to the inner wall of the pipeline and form stubborn blockage. The traditional cleaning methods (such as high-pressure water gun flushing and rubber tube blowing) cannot cover the narrow dead angle, and the residual dirt may cause re-blocking in a short time. At the same time, the existing automatic cleaning device (such as mobile cleaning pipeline) has the problems of low water control efficiency and sewage residue, and the water jet pipe cannot fully cover the complex water channel structure, lacking a directional cleaning mechanism for narrow space.

[0005] (3) Insufficient blockage detection accuracy and efficiency: The current technology lacks accurate identification means for the blockage state of the water channel, and cannot quickly determine the blockage position and blockage degree, which relies on manual visual observation or experience judgment, and is easy to misjudge (such as judging the accumulation of light dirt as blockage or missing early blockage hidden danger), resulting in delayed cleaning opportunity or resource waste, and it is difficult to achieve on-demand cleaning.

[0006] (4) Lack of synergy between prevention and cleaning: Part of the prior art, such as patent publication No. CN207515215U, CN202928063U scheme, through the optimization of waterway sealing structure or improve the knock hole plugging design to carry out isolation sealing, but it only focuses on preventing sundries into, through the block, sealing stop and other structures to reduce the invasion of external dust, lack of effective cleaning scheme for the dirt that has entered the waterway; and not combined with the current new air conditioning function characteristics design cleaning channel, can not rely on the wind field power of new air module to realize efficient cleaning, resulting in the applicability and practicality of the technical scheme is limited.

[0007] In summary, the existing hanging machine waterway maintenance technology has obvious short board in detection accuracy, cleaning efficiency and structure adaptability, and an accurate detection of the clogging state and efficient cleaning technology that adapts to complex waterway structure is needed to solve the problem of hanging machine waterway clogging, improve the stability of equipment operation and reduce the maintenance cost. SUMMARY

[0008] The technical problem to be solved by the present application is to provide a detection and cleaning method for the waterway of a hanging machine bottom frame, which solves the problems of difficult cleaning operation, low clogging detection accuracy and lack of effective cleaning means for accumulated dirt in the existing technology.

[0009] The technical solution adopted by the present application to solve the above technical problems is: A detection and cleaning method for the waterway of a hanging machine bottom frame, applied to a wall-mounted air conditioner with a new air function, the air conditioner is provided with an infrared imaging sensor for detecting sundries in the bottom frame waterway; the method comprises the following steps: S1. After the air conditioner is powered on and pre-started, the infrared imaging sensor is started to detect sundries in the bottom frame waterway; S2. According to the sundry detection result, the current sundry clogging rate in the bottom frame waterway is judged, if it reaches a preset threshold, step S3 is entered, otherwise the air conditioner is normally started; S3. The air conditioner enters the sundry cleaning mode: by introducing a cleaning connection pipe and starting the new air function of the air conditioner, the sundries in the bottom frame waterway are swept in stages by the new air; The stage-by-stage blowing includes: dividing the bottom frame waterway into multiple segments, sequentially cleaning each segment in order from near to far from the new air outlet, and cleaning the next segment after the current segment is cleaned; and each segment is provided with a corresponding air volume loss threshold, and the speed of the new air motor is controlled based on the comparison between the actual air volume loss during cleaning each segment and the corresponding air volume loss threshold.

[0010] Further, the power supply mode of the infrared imaging sensor is wind power, the wind energy is generated by the wind field formed during the rotation of the cross-flow fan of the air conditioner, and the wind energy generated by the wind field is converted into electric energy by an energy conversion mechanism to provide working power for the infrared imaging sensor.

[0011] Further, in step S2, the current debris blockage rate in the bottom frame water channel = the debris coverage area detected by the infrared imaging sensor / the cross-sectional area of the bottom frame water channel.

[0012] Further, in step S3, the method of introducing the cleaning connection pipe includes connecting one end of the cleaning connection pipe to the fresh air outlet of the fresh air module and introducing the other end of the cleaning connection pipe into the bottom frame water channel along the side of the motor gland.

[0013] Alternatively, the cleaning connection pipe is designed in a hidden structure, and in the non-cleaning mode of the air conditioner, the cleaning connection pipe is stored in the preset groove in the inner wall of the bottom frame water channel; when the cleaning mode is entered, the cleaning connection pipe is stretched out from the groove by the driving mechanism and is connected to the fresh air outlet of the fresh air module.

[0014] Further, the wind speed sensor is arranged at the position of each segmented block in the bottom frame water channel, which is used to detect the wind speed of the corresponding segmented block when the corresponding segmented block is cleaned, and the actual air volume at the corresponding segmented block is calculated according to the wind speed and the cross-sectional area of the bottom frame water channel.

[0015] Further, in step S3, the actual air volume loss when cleaning each segmented block is equal to the difference between the current fresh air outlet air volume and the actual air volume of the corresponding segmented block divided by the current fresh air outlet air volume.

[0016] Further, in step S3, the bottom frame water channel is divided into three segmented blocks, and the closer the segmented block is to the fresh air module outlet, the smaller the air volume loss threshold corresponding to the segmented block.

[0017] Further, in step S3, based on the comparison of the actual air volume loss when cleaning each segmented block and the corresponding air volume loss threshold, the speed of the fresh air motor is controlled, which includes: If the actual air volume loss is greater than the corresponding air volume loss threshold, the speed of the fresh air motor is increased, and the speed adjustment range is determined according to the difference between the actual air volume loss and the corresponding air volume loss threshold: the greater the difference, the greater the speed adjustment range, and the smaller the difference, the smaller the speed adjustment range.

[0018] Further, in step S3, based on the comparison of the actual air volume loss when cleaning each segmented block and the corresponding air volume loss threshold, the speed of the fresh air motor is controlled, which further includes: When the last segmented block is cleaned, the speed of the fresh air motor is controlled to be irregularly increased within a preset threshold range, so as to form an irregular wind field.

[0019] The beneficial effects of the present application are: (1) Improve the accuracy of blockage detection: By detecting the debris in the bottom frame waterway through an infrared imaging sensor, the distribution state of the debris in the waterway can be accurately captured and the blockage rate can be calculated, replacing the traditional manual experience judgment to avoid misjudgment or omission, enabling on-demand cleaning, and reducing unnecessary equipment energy consumption and cleaning operations.

[0020] (2) Optimize cleaning efficiency: The bottom frame waterway is divided into multiple segments, and the appropriate air volume loss judgment standard is set for each segment based on the along-path wind loss characteristics. By dynamically adjusting the speed of the fresh air module, a hierarchical cleaning is achieved, which not only avoids the problem of excessive energy consumption at the near-wind end and incomplete cleaning at the far-wind end due to uniform speed, but also helps to destroy the stability of stubborn debris in irregular wind fields, thereby improving the cleaning effect.

[0021] (3) Reduce the difficulty of operation and maintenance cost: Relying on the fresh air outlet and the cleaning connection pipe, the cleaning structure can be introduced through one side of the motor gland without disassembling the air conditioner shell. Ordinary users can complete equipment maintenance without professional skills, reducing the difficulty of operation and maintenance cost. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0022] Figure 1 The flow chart of the detection and cleaning method for the hanging machine bottom frame waterway in the embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] The present application aims to provide a detection and cleaning method for the hanging machine bottom frame waterway, which solves the problems of difficult cleaning operation, low blockage detection accuracy, and no effective cleaning means for accumulated dirt in the prior art. The core idea is: when the air conditioner is powered on and pre-started, the infrared imaging sensor detects the waterway debris blockage rate, and determines whether cleaning needs to be started. After starting the cleaning, relying on the fresh air module, the waterway is introduced along one side of the motor gland through the introduction of the cleaning connection pipe, and multiple segments are divided according to the along-path wind loss characteristics of the waterway. The speed of the fresh air module is dynamically adjusted according to the pre-set corresponding air volume loss threshold and the actual air volume loss detection value of each segment, to achieve targeted hierarchical cleaning, thereby improving the cleaning effect.

[0024] The scheme of the present application will be further described below in conjunction with the drawings and examples.

[0025] Example: This embodiment is an example of applying the present application scheme to a wall-mounted air conditioner with fresh air function. However, it should be understood that even if the air conditioner does not have fresh air function, the detection and cleaning of the bottom frame waterway can still be achieved by using the present application scheme, such as by connecting an external fan to the cleaning connection pipe to provide air flow for blowing the waterway.

[0026] The implementation process of the detection and cleaning method of the hanging bottom frame waterway provided by the embodiment is shown in Figure 1 , which includes the following steps: 1. Air conditioner power-on pre-starting: In this step, after the air conditioner is powered on, the device first performs self-checking, and after the self-checking is completed, it enters the pre-starting state. At this time, the evaporator and the compressor do not work, and only the low-power operation of the detection and cleaning related modules is retained to avoid the influence of the condensate flow in the refrigeration / heating process on the detection result of the sundries in the bottom frame waterway.

[0027] 2. Infrared imaging sensor detects sundries in waterway: In this step, the infrared imaging sensor can be a micro-infrared camera, which is arranged on the inner side of the air conditioner shell with the lens facing the inner wall of the bottom frame waterway. As can be known by those skilled in the art, if one infrared imaging sensor cannot image and detect the entire waterway, multiple sensors can be arranged. Imaging uses a passive imaging mode, that is, it does not actively emit infrared light, but only captures the infrared signal radiated by the sundries itself, and then performs optical imaging.

[0028] As an optimization, the power supply mode of the infrared imaging sensor can use wind energy, which is derived from the wind field formed during the rotation of the through-flow fan of the air conditioner. The wind energy generated by the wind field is converted into electrical energy by an energy conversion mechanism, and then provides working power for the infrared imaging sensor. In this way, it is not necessary to lay additional power lines, thereby reducing the modification cost and circuit complexity.

[0029] In order to judge the accumulation degree of sundries, the concept of sundry blockage rate is introduced. The covered area of sundries in the current waterway is determined through image recognition, and the ratio of the covered area to the cross-sectional area of the bottom frame waterway is the sundry blockage rate.

[0030] In order to decide whether to enter the sundry cleaning mode, a sundry blockage rate threshold value, such as 10%, needs to be preset. The threshold value can be determined through simulation test before the air conditioner is shipped. In the laboratory environment, the waterway drainage speed under different blockage rates is tested, and it is found that when the sundry blockage rate is 10%, the waterway drainage speed decreases significantly. Therefore, the sundry blockage rate threshold value is set to 10%.

[0031] By comparing the current sundry blockage rate with the threshold value, if it is greater than or equal to 10%, it indicates that the current accumulation of sundries will have a certain impact on the drainage of the bottom frame waterway, and the sundry cleaning needs to be performed. Therefore, the air conditioner enters the sundry cleaning mode; otherwise, the sundry cleaning is not needed temporarily, and the air conditioner starts normally according to the current refrigeration or heating mode.

[0032] 3. Phase cleaning of sundries: In this step, when the debris cleaning mode is entered, the new air function of the air conditioner is used to clean the debris in the bottom frame water channel. Specifically, by introducing a cleaning connection pipe and starting the new air function of the air conditioner, the new air is used to blow the debris in the bottom frame water channel. Among them, the cleaning connection pipe can adopt PVC pipe, and there are two ways to introduce the cleaning connection pipe: one is manual operation, one end of the connection pipe is connected to the new air outlet of the new air module, and the other end is introduced into the bottom frame water channel along the side of the motor gland. The second is automatic operation, the cleaning connection pipe adopts a hidden structure design, and in the non-cleaning mode of the air conditioner, the cleaning connection pipe is stored in the preset groove on the inner wall of the bottom frame water channel; when the cleaning mode is entered, the cleaning connection pipe is stretched out from the groove by the driving mechanism and is connected with the new air outlet of the new air module. It can be understood that the specific hidden structure and driving method are easy to implement for those skilled in the art, and the specific implementation method will not be described here. No matter which way the cleaning connection pipe is introduced, the user does not need to disassemble the air conditioner shell, thereby greatly reducing the operation difficulty of cleaning.

[0033] In order not to affect the normal use of the new air function, the source of wind power is provided during debris cleaning, and a cleaning pipe passage is provided at the position of the new air outlet of the new air module. When the air conditioner enters the debris cleaning mode, the cleaning pipe passage is opened from bottom to top, and when it does not enter the debris cleaning mode, the cleaning pipe passage is closed from top to bottom.

[0034] In addition, considering the length of the water channel and the resistance characteristics along the way, in order to ensure the cleaning effect and take into account the cleaning efficiency, the bottom frame water channel is divided into three virtual segments. The first segment is the area closest to the new air outlet, the second segment is the second closest, and the third segment is the area farthest from the new air outlet. It can be known that the resistance along the way is the smallest when cleaning the first segment, and the wind loss is the smallest; the resistance along the way is relatively large when cleaning the second segment, and the wind loss is also relatively large; the resistance along the way is the largest when cleaning the third segment, and the wind loss is also the largest.

[0035] On this basis, the speed of the new air motor can be decided by the wind loss. The general principle is that the greater the wind loss, the greater the need to increase the speed of the new air motor. In order to calculate the wind loss of different segments, a wind speed sensor is needed at the corresponding position of each segment. The sensor measures the wind speed at the corresponding position, and based on the wind speed and the cross-sectional area of the bottom frame water channel, the actual wind volume at the corresponding position can be calculated. In order to ensure the cleaning effect, wind loss thresholds are set for the three segments, for example: the wind loss threshold of the first segment is 20%, the wind loss threshold of the second segment is 30%, and the wind loss threshold of the third segment is 40%; the difference between the new air outlet volume and the actual wind volume at the corresponding segment position, and then divided by the new air outlet volume is the wind loss (wind loss percentage).

[0036] Then, an exemplary cleaning process is as follows: When the fresh air motor is started, it runs at the set speed. When cleaning the first partition block, the wind speed sensor at the first partition block detects the wind speed and calculates the actual air volume, and then calculates the air volume loss. If the air volume loss is greater than or equal to 20%, it indicates that the accumulation density of the debris is large, and the speed of the fresh air motor needs to be increased to ensure the cleaning effect. Otherwise, the original speed of the fresh air motor is maintained to avoid wasting energy.

[0037] When cleaning the second partition block, the wind speed sensor at the second partition block detects the wind speed and calculates the actual air volume, and then calculates the air volume loss. If the air volume loss is greater than or equal to 30%, it indicates that the accumulation density of the debris is large, and the speed of the fresh air motor needs to be increased to ensure the cleaning effect. Otherwise, the original speed of the fresh air motor is maintained to avoid wasting energy.

[0038] When cleaning the third partition block, the wind speed sensor at the third partition block detects the wind speed and calculates the actual air volume, and then calculates the air volume loss. If the air volume loss is greater than or equal to 40%, it indicates that the accumulation density of the debris is large, and the speed of the fresh air motor needs to be increased to ensure the cleaning effect. Otherwise, the original speed of the fresh air motor is maintained to avoid wasting energy.

[0039] In addition, since the third partition block has the largest resistance along the way and is prone to accumulate stubborn and hardened debris, an irregular speed adjustment strategy can be used to improve the cleaning effect, that is, the speed of the fresh air motor is irregularly increased within a predetermined threshold range, thereby forming an irregular wind field to destroy the stability of the debris and avoid the single direction of airflow causing the debris to only move but not fall off.

[0040] After the entire bottom frame waterway is cleaned, the air conditioner automatically enters the normal working mode.

[0041] Although embodiments of the present application have been described, it can be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, replacements and variations can be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirits of the present application, and all of them are within the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A method for detecting and cleaning the water channel of a wall-mounted air conditioner's bottom frame, applied to a wall-mounted air conditioner with a fresh air function, wherein the air conditioner is equipped with an infrared imaging sensor for detecting debris in the water channel of the bottom frame; characterized in that, The method includes the following steps: S1. After the air conditioner is powered on and pre-started, the infrared imaging sensor is activated to detect debris in the bottom frame water channel; S2. Determine the current debris blockage rate in the bottom frame waterway based on the debris detection results. If the rate reaches the preset threshold, proceed to step S3; otherwise, the air conditioner starts normally. S3. Air conditioner enters debris cleaning mode: By introducing the cleaning connection pipe and activating the fresh air function of the air conditioner, the debris in the bottom frame water channel is blew out in stages using fresh air; The phased purging includes: dividing the bottom frame waterway into multiple segments, cleaning each segment sequentially according to its distance from the fresh air outlet, and cleaning the next segment after the current segment is cleaned; and setting a corresponding air volume loss threshold for each segment, controlling the speed of the fresh air motor based on the comparison between the actual air volume loss when cleaning each segment and the corresponding air volume loss threshold.

2. The method for detecting and cleaning the water channel of the bottom frame of a wall-mounted air conditioner as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The infrared imaging sensor is powered by wind energy, which comes from the wind field generated during the rotation of the cross-flow fan of the air conditioner. The wind energy generated by the wind field is converted into electrical energy by the energy conversion mechanism to provide working power for the infrared imaging sensor.

3. The method for detecting and cleaning the water channel of the bottom frame of a wall-mounted air conditioner as described in claim 1, characterized in that, In step S2, the current debris blockage rate in the bottom frame waterway = the debris coverage area detected by the infrared imaging sensor / the cross-sectional area of ​​the bottom frame waterway.

4. The method for detecting and cleaning the water channel of the bottom frame of a mobile phone as described in claim 1, characterized in that, In step S3, the method of introducing the cleaning connection pipe includes: connecting one end of the cleaning connection pipe to the fresh air outlet of the fresh air module, and introducing the other end into the bottom frame water channel along one side of the motor cover.

5. The method for detecting and cleaning the water channel of the bottom frame of a wall-mounted air conditioner as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The cleaning connection pipe adopts a concealed structure design. In the non-cleaning mode of the air conditioner, the cleaning connection pipe is stored in a preset groove in the inner wall of the bottom frame water channel. When entering the cleaning mode, the cleaning connection pipe extends out of the groove through the drive mechanism and connects with the fresh air outlet of the fresh air module.

6. A method for detecting and cleaning the water channel of the bottom frame of a mobile phone as described in claim 4 or 5, characterized in that, Each segment in the bottom frame waterway is equipped with a wind speed sensor to detect the wind speed of the corresponding segment when cleaning it, and to calculate the actual air volume at the corresponding segment based on the wind speed and the cross-sectional area of ​​the bottom frame waterway.

7. The method for detecting and cleaning the water channel of the bottom frame of a wall-mounted air conditioner as described in claim 6, characterized in that, In step S3, the actual air volume loss when cleaning each segment is equal to the difference between the current fresh air output volume and the actual air volume of the corresponding segment / the current fresh air output volume.

8. The method for detecting and cleaning the water channel of the bottom frame of a wall-mounted air conditioner as described in claim 1, characterized in that, In step S3, the bottom frame waterway is divided into 3 segments, and the segment closer to the air outlet of the fresh air module has a smaller air volume loss threshold.

9. A method for detecting and cleaning the water channel of the bottom frame of a wall-mounted air conditioner as described in claim 1, characterized in that, In step S3, controlling the speed of the fresh air motor based on the comparison between the actual air volume loss during the cleaning of each segment and the corresponding air volume loss threshold includes: If the actual air volume loss is greater than the corresponding air volume loss threshold, the speed of the fresh air motor will be increased, and the speed adjustment range will be determined based on the difference between the actual air volume loss and the corresponding air volume loss threshold: the larger the difference, the larger the speed adjustment range, and the smaller the difference, the smaller the speed adjustment range.

10. A method for detecting and cleaning the water channel of a wall-mounted air conditioner's bottom frame as described in claim 9, characterized in that, In step S3, controlling the speed of the fresh air motor based on the comparison between the actual air volume loss during the cleaning of each segment and the corresponding air volume loss threshold further includes: When cleaning the last segment, the speed of the fresh air motor is controlled to increase irregularly within a preset threshold range, thereby forming an irregular wind field.

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