Air conditioner and control method therefor

Abstract

The present application provides an air conditioner and a control method thereof. The air conditioner includes an indoor unit having a first air outlet. First swing louvers capable of controlling an opening-closing range of the first air outlet are disposed at the first air outlet. A controller including a memory and a processor is disposed in the indoor unit. The memory stores a computer program, and when the program is executed by the processor, a following step is able to be implemented: when the indoor unit is powered on, the first swing louvers operate to be in a fully open state to reset, and then operate to be in a fully closed state. The control method of the air conditioner is capable of executing the above program. A deviation between an actual swing and a required swing of swing louvers due to changes in initial positions of the swing louvers when the air conditioner is turned on is avoided.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of air conditioners, and in particular, to an air conditioner and a control method of the air conditioner.BACKGROUND

[0002] With the improvement of people's living standard, air conditioners become increasingly desirable household appliances for people. An indoor unit of an air conditioner is generally provided with swing louvers. However, since the swing louvers of the indoor unit are generally within the reach of a user, the swing louvers are likely to be moved manually by the user. If the user turns on the indoor unit after the swing louvers are moved, it is easy to cause a problem of inconsistent swings of the swing louvers.

[0003] Chinese invention patent CN104964391 B discloses a control method of a swing louver of an air conditioner and the air conditioner. The air conditioner has a first air outlet and a second air outlet, and the control method of the swing louver of the air conditioner includes a refrigeration control mode. The refrigeration control mode includes steps that before or when the air conditioner is turned on, swing louvers at the first air outlet of the air conditioner are controlled to be incline downward to form a first angle with the horizontal plane in a refrigeration mode, and swing louvers at the second air outlet of the air conditioner are controlled to be incline upward to form a second angle with the horizontal plane in the refrigeration mode, so that cold air from the first air outlet and the second air outlet can be blown downward and upward respectively when the air conditioner is in a turn-on state. The control method of the swing louver of the air conditioner may make the temperature of the room drop relatively uniformly during the refrigeration mode.

[0004] In the above air conditioner, by adjusting initial positions of the swing louvers at the first air outlet and the second air outlet, a blowing air temperature in the refrigeration mode is controlled to be more uniform. However, in this way, when initial positions of the swing louvers are changed, control angles of the swing louvers cannot be guaranteed to form a preset included angle with the horizontal plane, which makes the technical effect unachievable.

[0005] CN106895548A provides a control method for anti-interference of air guide strip for indoor unit of an air conditioner. The method includes the following steps: after the air conditioner is powered on, the lower air guide strip runs at the first maximum angle, complete the first reset of the lower air guide strip; then the upper air guide strip operation setting angle, avoiding interference with the lower air guide strip; the upper air guide strip is set after operation. After setting the angle, the lower air guide strip will continue to run at the first maximum angle. The second reset of the lower air guide strip is completed; operation of upper air guide strip two maximum angles to complete the reset of the upper air guide strip. The invention is controlled by the method of resetting the lower air guide strip twice effectively avoids overlapping interference between the upper and lower air guide strips makes the upper air guide strip and the lower air guide strip can operate normally.

[0006] EP3130861A provides an indoor unit and air-conditioning apparatus including the same, control method for indoor unit, and control program for the same. It is an object to easily set the wind direction for a wind direction plate and achieve a desired air-conditioning status. There is provided an indoor unit (2) for an air-conditioning apparatus (1) including a plurality of air outlets and wind direction adjustment louvers (13a,13b, 13c,13d) which adjust wind directions of airflows blown outward from the respective outlets, an open-close status of each of the wind direction plates being set from a re-mote control (20). The indoor unit (2) includes a control section (30) which puts all of the wind direction plates of the indoor unit into a closed state, and subsequently lets the open-close status of one (13a) of the wind direction plates be set from the remote control, performs control after completion of the setting such that the one wind direction plate is kept in the set open-close status, and lets the open-close status of a different one (13b) other than the one wind direction plate of the wind direction plates be set from the remote control after the completion of the setting for the one wind direction plate.SUMMARY

[0007] According to a first aspect of the present invention, an air conditioner is provided, and the air conditioner is defined by the appended claim 1.

[0008] According to a second aspect of the present invention, a control method of an air conditioner is provided, and the control method of the air conditioner is defined by the appended claim 8. Preferred embodiments of the present invention are defined in the dependent claims.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] In order to explain the technical solutions in embodiments of the present invention or the prior art more clearly, the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be introduced briefly. Obviously, the accompanying drawings to be described below are merely some embodiments of the invention, and a person of ordinary skill in the art may obtain other drawings according to those drawings without paying any creative effort.

[0010] FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a control method of an air conditioner, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0011] In the following, the present invention will be described in detail through exemplary embodiments. However, it will be understood that without further description, elements, structures and features in one embodiment may also be beneficially combined with other embodiments.

[0012] In the description of the present invention, it will be understood that orientations or positional relationships indicated by terms "center", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer" and the like are based on orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, which are used merely for convenience of description and simplifying the description of the present application, but not to indicate or imply that the referred devices or elements must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a particular orientation. Therefore, these terms should not be construed as limitations to the present application.

[0013] Terms "first" and "second" are merely used for a purpose of description and should not be construed as indicating or implying the relative importance, or implicitly indicating the number of referred technical features. Thus, features defined by "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features.

[0014] In the description of the present invention, it will be noted that term "installation", "communication", or "connection" is to be understood broadly. For example, it may be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; and it may be a direct connection, or may be an indirect connection through an intervening medium, and may be internal communication between two elements. Specific meanings of the above terms in the present application may be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific situations.

[0015] The present invention provides an air conditioner, and the air conditioner includes an indoor unit having a first air outlet. First swing louvers capable of controlling an opening-closing range of the first air outlet are disposed at the first air outlet. The first swing louvers are in a first fully closed state when the first swing louvers close the first air outlet, the first swing louvers are in a first fully open state when the first swing louvers are opened to enable the first air outlet to reach a first maximum air output volume, and when the first swing louvers are between the first fully closed state and the first fully open state, a state of the first swing louvers is defined as a first free state. A controller is disposed in the indoor unit, which includes a memory and a processor. A computer program is stored in the memory, and when the program is executed by the processor, a first step is able to be implemented in such way that: when the indoor unit is powered on, the first swing louvers operate to be in the first fully open state to be reset, and then operate to be in the first fully closed state.

[0016] Although swing louvers at an air outlet of an air conditioner are generally in the close state before the air conditioner is powered on, the swing louvers of the indoor unit are easily moved by mistake due to the position and the environment of the indoor unit, which may cause changes in initial positions of the swing louvers. By adding processes of resetting the swing louvers to fully open positions and then closing the swing louvers simultaneously when the air conditioner is powered on, it is ensured that the swing louvers may be in the fully closed state after the air conditioner is powered on. In these processes, it takes approximately 10 seconds for the swing louvers to switch from the fully open state to the fully closed state generally, and thus the addition of the processes may not cause an excessive increase of the startup time. In addition, through the reset process from the fully open state to the fully closed state, it is ensured to meet accuracy requirements of required angles or required positions when the air conditioner executes a command of swinging the swing louvers, which may reduce deviations between the required positions caused by differences between the initial positions.

[0017] In addition, when the air conditioner is turned off, the first swing louvers at the first air outlet can prevent dust from entering and people from accidentally touching electrical components and moving components in the air conditioner only if the first swing louvers are in the first fully closed state. When the air conditioner is turned off, the swing louvers move to the fully closed positions, and a fan motor also stops operating at the same time. However, since the fan may prolong its operation for a period of time, the air may be blocked and loud noise may be generated if the swing louvers are immediately closed at the time. When the above program is executed by the processor, a second step is able to be implemented in such way that: when the controller receives a turn-off signal, the first swing louvers are reset to be in the first fully open state, and operate to be in the first fully closed state after a first preset time. The first preset time may be 5 seconds, that is, when the controller receives the turn-off signal, the first swing louvers at the first air outlet reset to fully open positions and wait for 5 seconds, and then the first swing louvers are closed simultaneously. In this way, a phenomenon of air blocking during the operation prolongation of the fan is improved, and the noise is greatly reduced.

[0018] Further, the first swing louvers in the present invention include a plurality of first swing louvers arranged in a front-to-rear order. First swing louver(s) at a rear part are stacked on first swing louver(s) at a front part when the first swing louvers are in the first fully closed state. When the program in the memory is executed by the processor, a third step is able to be implemented in such way that: when the controller receives a turn-on signal, the first swing louver(s) at the rear part operate to be in the fully open position(s) to be reset, and the first swing louver(s) at the front part operate to be in the fully open position(s) to be reset after waiting for a second preset time.

[0019] Adding the above process may bring benefits as follows. When the controller is turned on, the plurality of swing louvers start to move synchronously. If the swing louvers are moved mistakenly by a user and are not in the fully closed positions before the air conditioner is turned on, inaccurate stop positions of the swing louvers are easily to be caused. However, by adding the process, i.e., the swing louvers are reset to the fully open positions first, and then the swing louvers are made to stop at positions required by the user through the controller, it is avoided that stop positions of swing louvers are inaccurate due to the mistaken movement by the user. In addition, when the swing louver(s) at the front part and the swing louver(s) at the rear part are in the fully closed state, the swing louver(s) at the rear part are stacked on the swing louver(s) at the front part. In this case, if the plurality of swing louvers move simultaneously, the swing louvers may interfere with each other in the swing process due to a same moving speed, which may cause the swing louver(s) at the front part and the swing louver(s) at the rear part to collide with each other. However, if the swing louver(s) at the front part are set to wait for the second preset time and then start to be fully opened, the mutual interferences between the swing louvers may be effectively avoided. In the above, the second preset time may be 1 second.

[0020] Further, when swinging, the swing louvers are controlled by a stepping motor to rotate, and the stepping motor may lose some pulses when the swing louvers changed their rotation direction. The pulse losses may be accumulated after multiple swings, which may cause the swing louvers to fail to swing in parallel. Therefore, in the air conditioner of the present invention, when the program in the memory is executed by the processor, a fourth step is able to be implemented in such way that: when the controller receives a swing signal, the first swing louvers swing according to an instruction from the controller, and it is determined that whether a swing number of the first swing louvers reaches a preset number; if yes, the first swing louvers are controlled to operate to be in the first fully open state to be reset, and the swing number is recalculated after the first swing louvers are reset. The above preset number may be 256. By limiting the preset number, a phenomenon that the swing louvers are not parallel after their swings due to differences in pulse losses of the swing louvers is effectively improved.

[0021] The air conditioner of the present invention has a second air outlet, and details are as follows: a second air outlet is disposed on the indoor unit, and there is a second swing louver capable of controlling an opening-closing range of the second air outlet disposed in the second air outlet. The second swing louvers are in a second fully closed state when the second swing louvers close the second air outlet, the second swing louvers are in a second fully open state when the second swing louvers are opened to enable the second air outlet to reach a second maximum air output volume, and when the second swing louvers are between the fully closed state and the fully open state, a state of the second swing louvers are defined as a second free state. When the program in the memory is executed by the processor, a fifth step is able to be implemented in such way that: when the controller receives a turn-on signal, the second swing louvers operate to be in the second fully open state; and when the air conditioner operates in a refrigeration mode, the second swing louvers operate to be in the second fully closed state. Or when the program in the memory is executed by the processor, a seventh step is able to be implemented in such way that: when an air output volume of the air conditioner is less than a preset air output volume, the second swing louvers operate to be in the second fully closed state. Or when the program in the memory is executed by the processor, an eighth step is able to be implemented in such way that: when the air conditioner operates for a third preset time, the second swing louvers operate to be in the second fully closed state. Or when the program in the memory is executed by the processor, a ninth step is able to be implemented in such way that: when the controller receives a turn-off signal, the second swing louvers operate to be in the second fully closed state. In all the above three embodiments, it is able to make the second swing louvers operate to be in the second fully closed state.

[0022] In addition, in the air conditioner of the present invention, except the improved structures described above, other structures and connections therebetween are all well known to those skilled in the art. For example, the indoor unit may be a wall-mounted type or a cabinet type; the first air outlet may be arranged above the second air outlet, and there may be two first swing louvers at the first air outlet, which will not be repeated herein.

[0023] As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention further provides a control method of the air conditioner, which includes the following steps in such ways that:

[0024] when the indoor unit is powered on, the first swing louvers operate to be in the first fully open state to be reset, and then operate to be in the first fully closed state;

[0025] when the controller of the indoor unit is turned on, the swing louver(s) at the rear part in the first swing louvers operate to be in fully open position(s) to be reset, the swing louver(s) at the front part in the first swing louvers operate to be in fully open position(s) after waiting for the second preset time, and second swing louvers operate to be in the second fully open state;

[0026] when the indoor unit controls the swing louvers to swing, it is determined that whether the swing number of the first swing louvers reaches a preset number; if yes, the first swing louvers are controlled to operate to be in the first fully open state to be reset, and the swing number is recalculated after the first swing louvers are reset;

[0027] when the indoor unit controls the swing louvers to stop swinging, the swing louvers stop at current positions to which they are operating;

[0028] when the indoor unit operates in the refrigeration mode, or when the air output volume of the indoor unit is less than the preset air output volume, or when the indoor unit operates for a third preset time, the second swing louvers operate to be in the second fully closed state; and

[0029] when the controller of the indoor unit is turned off, the swing louvers are reset to the fully open state, and then operate to be in the fully closed state after the preset time.

[0030] It will be noted that, when the swing louvers of the air conditioner in the present invention swing freely, it is not limited that during the free swing state, the swing louvers can only operate from the fully open state to the fully closed state, and the swing louvers may also be controlled to swing within a certain range according to a preset angle.

[0031] The foregoing descriptions are merely some specific implementation manners of the present invention. Modifications are possible within the scope of the appended claims.

Examples

Embodiment Construction

[0011]In the following, the present invention will be described in detail through exemplary embodiments. However, it will be understood that without further description, elements, structures and features in one embodiment may also be beneficially combined with other embodiments.

[0012]In the description of the present invention, it will be understood that orientations or positional relationships indicated by terms "center", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer" and the like are based on orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, which are used merely for convenience of description and simplifying the description of the present application, but not to indicate or imply that the referred devices or elements must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a particular orientation. Therefore, these terms should not be construed as limitations to the present application.

[0013...

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of air conditioners, and in particular, to an air conditioner and a control method of the air conditioner.BACKGROUND

[0002] With the improvement of people's living standard, air conditioners become increasingly desirable household appliances for people. An indoor unit of an air conditioner is generally provided with swing louvers. However, since the swing louvers of the indoor unit are generally within the reach of a user, the swing louvers are likely to be moved manually by the user. If the user turns on the indoor unit after the swing louvers are moved, it is easy to cause a problem of inconsistent swings of the swing louvers.

[0003] Chinese invention patent CN104964391 B discloses a control method of a swing louver of an air conditioner and the air conditioner. The air conditioner has a first air outlet and a second air outlet, and the control method of the swing louver of the air conditioner includes a refrigeration control mode. The refrigeration control mode includes steps that before or when the air conditioner is turned on, swing louvers at the first air outlet of the air conditioner are controlled to be incline downward to form a first angle with the horizontal plane in a refrigeration mode, and swing louvers at the second air outlet of the air conditioner are controlled to be incline upward to form a second angle with the horizontal plane in the refrigeration mode, so that cold air from the first air outlet and the second air outlet can be blown downward and upward respectively when the air conditioner is in a turn-on state. The control method of the swing louver of the air conditioner may make the temperature of the room drop relatively uniformly during the refrigeration mode.

[0004] In the above air conditioner, by adjusting initial positions of the swing louvers at the first air outlet and the second air outlet, a blowing air temperature in the refrigeration mode is controlled to be more uniform. However, in this way, when initial positions of the swing louvers are changed, control angles of the swing louvers cannot be guaranteed to form a preset included angle with the horizontal plane, which makes the technical effect unachievable.

[0005] CN106895548A provides a control method for anti-interference of air guide strip for indoor unit of an air conditioner. The method includes the following steps: after the air conditioner is powered on, the lower air guide strip runs at the first maximum angle, complete the first reset of the lower air guide strip; then the upper air guide strip operation setting angle, avoiding interference with the lower air guide strip; the upper air guide strip is set after operation. After setting the angle, the lower air guide strip will continue to run at the first maximum angle. The second reset of the lower air guide strip is completed; operation of upper air guide strip two maximum angles to complete the reset of the upper air guide strip. The invention is controlled by the method of resetting the lower air guide strip twice effectively avoids overlapping interference between the upper and lower air guide strips makes the upper air guide strip and the lower air guide strip can operate normally.

[0006] EP3130861A provides an indoor unit and air-conditioning apparatus including the same, control method for indoor unit, and control program for the same. It is an object to easily set the wind direction for a wind direction plate and achieve a desired air-conditioning status. There is provided an indoor unit (2) for an air-conditioning apparatus (1) including a plurality of air outlets and wind direction adjustment louvers (13a,13b, 13c,13d) which adjust wind directions of airflows blown outward from the respective outlets, an open-close status of each of the wind direction plates being set from a re-mote control (20). The indoor unit (2) includes a control section (30) which puts all of the wind direction plates of the indoor unit into a closed state, and subsequently lets the open-close status of one (13a) of the wind direction plates be set from the remote control, performs control after completion of the setting such that the one wind direction plate is kept in the set open-close status, and lets the open-close status of a different one (13b) other than the one wind direction plate of the wind direction plates be set from the remote control after the completion of the setting for the one wind direction plate.SUMMARY

[0007] According to a first aspect of the present invention, an air conditioner is provided, and the air conditioner is defined by the appended claim 1.

[0008] According to a second aspect of the present invention, a control method of an air conditioner is provided, and the control method of the air conditioner is defined by the appended claim 8. Preferred embodiments of the present invention are defined in the dependent claims.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] In order to explain the technical solutions in embodiments of the present invention or the prior art more clearly, the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be introduced briefly. Obviously, the accompanying drawings to be described below are merely some embodiments of the invention, and a person of ordinary skill in the art may obtain other drawings according to those drawings without paying any creative effort.

[0010] FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a control method of an air conditioner, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0011] In the following, the present invention will be described in detail through exemplary embodiments. However, it will be understood that without further description, elements, structures and features in one embodiment may also be beneficially combined with other embodiments.

[0012] In the description of the present invention, it will be understood that orientations or positional relationships indicated by terms "center", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer" and the like are based on orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, which are used merely for convenience of description and simplifying the description of the present application, but not to indicate or imply that the referred devices or elements must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a particular orientation. Therefore, these terms should not be construed as limitations to the present application.

[0013] Terms "first" and "second" are merely used for a purpose of description and should not be construed as indicating or implying the relative importance, or implicitly indicating the number of referred technical features. Thus, features defined by "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features.

[0014] In the description of the present invention, it will be noted that term "installation", "communication", or "connection" is to be understood broadly. For example, it may be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; and it may be a direct connection, or may be an indirect connection through an intervening medium, and may be internal communication between two elements. Specific meanings of the above terms in the present application may be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific situations.

[0015] The present invention provides an air conditioner, and the air conditioner includes an indoor unit having a first air outlet. First swing louvers capable of controlling an opening-closing range of the first air outlet are disposed at the first air outlet. The first swing louvers are in a first fully closed state when the first swing louvers close the first air outlet, the first swing louvers are in a first fully open state when the first swing louvers are opened to enable the first air outlet to reach a first maximum air output volume, and when the first swing louvers are between the first fully closed state and the first fully open state, a state of the first swing louvers is defined as a first free state. A controller is disposed in the indoor unit, which includes a memory and a processor. A computer program is stored in the memory, and when the program is executed by the processor, a first step is able to be implemented in such way that: when the indoor unit is powered on, the first swing louvers operate to be in the first fully open state to be reset, and then operate to be in the first fully closed state.

[0016] Although swing louvers at an air outlet of an air conditioner are generally in the close state before the air conditioner is powered on, the swing louvers of the indoor unit are easily moved by mistake due to the position and the environment of the indoor unit, which may cause changes in initial positions of the swing louvers. By adding processes of resetting the swing louvers to fully open positions and then closing the swing louvers simultaneously when the air conditioner is powered on, it is ensured that the swing louvers may be in the fully closed state after the air conditioner is powered on. In these processes, it takes approximately 10 seconds for the swing louvers to switch from the fully open state to the fully closed state generally, and thus the addition of the processes may not cause an excessive increase of the startup time. In addition, through the reset process from the fully open state to the fully closed state, it is ensured to meet accuracy requirements of required angles or required positions when the air conditioner executes a command of swinging the swing louvers, which may reduce deviations between the required positions caused by differences between the initial positions.

[0017] In addition, when the air conditioner is turned off, the first swing louvers at the first air outlet can prevent dust from entering and people from accidentally touching electrical components and moving components in the air conditioner only if the first swing louvers are in the first fully closed state. When the air conditioner is turned off, the swing louvers move to the fully closed positions, and a fan motor also stops operating at the same time. However, since the fan may prolong its operation for a period of time, the air may be blocked and loud noise may be generated if the swing louvers are immediately closed at the time. When the above program is executed by the processor, a second step is able to be implemented in such way that: when the controller receives a turn-off signal, the first swing louvers are reset to be in the first fully open state, and operate to be in the first fully closed state after a first preset time. The first preset time may be 5 seconds, that is, when the controller receives the turn-off signal, the first swing louvers at the first air outlet reset to fully open positions and wait for 5 seconds, and then the first swing louvers are closed simultaneously. In this way, a phenomenon of air blocking during the operation prolongation of the fan is improved, and the noise is greatly reduced.

[0018] Further, the first swing louvers in the present invention include a plurality of first swing louvers arranged in a front-to-rear order. First swing louver(s) at a rear part are stacked on first swing louver(s) at a front part when the first swing louvers are in the first fully closed state. When the program in the memory is executed by the processor, a third step is able to be implemented in such way that: when the controller receives a turn-on signal, the first swing louver(s) at the rear part operate to be in the fully open position(s) to be reset, and the first swing louver(s) at the front part operate to be in the fully open position(s) to be reset after waiting for a second preset time.

[0019] Adding the above process may bring benefits as follows. When the controller is turned on, the plurality of swing louvers start to move synchronously. If the swing louvers are moved mistakenly by a user and are not in the fully closed positions before the air conditioner is turned on, inaccurate stop positions of the swing louvers are easily to be caused. However, by adding the process, i.e., the swing louvers are reset to the fully open positions first, and then the swing louvers are made to stop at positions required by the user through the controller, it is avoided that stop positions of swing louvers are inaccurate due to the mistaken movement by the user. In addition, when the swing louver(s) at the front part and the swing louver(s) at the rear part are in the fully closed state, the swing louver(s) at the rear part are stacked on the swing louver(s) at the front part. In this case, if the plurality of swing louvers move simultaneously, the swing louvers may interfere with each other in the swing process due to a same moving speed, which may cause the swing louver(s) at the front part and the swing louver(s) at the rear part to collide with each other. However, if the swing louver(s) at the front part are set to wait for the second preset time and then start to be fully opened, the mutual interferences between the swing louvers may be effectively avoided. In the above, the second preset time may be 1 second.

[0020] Further, when swinging, the swing louvers are controlled by a stepping motor to rotate, and the stepping motor may lose some pulses when the swing louvers changed their rotation direction. The pulse losses may be accumulated after multiple swings, which may cause the swing louvers to fail to swing in parallel. Therefore, in the air conditioner of the present invention, when the program in the memory is executed by the processor, a fourth step is able to be implemented in such way that: when the controller receives a swing signal, the first swing louvers swing according to an instruction from the controller, and it is determined that whether a swing number of the first swing louvers reaches a preset number; if yes, the first swing louvers are controlled to operate to be in the first fully open state to be reset, and the swing number is recalculated after the first swing louvers are reset. The above preset number may be 256. By limiting the preset number, a phenomenon that the swing louvers are not parallel after their swings due to differences in pulse losses of the swing louvers is effectively improved.

[0021] The air conditioner of the present invention has a second air outlet, and details are as follows: a second air outlet is disposed on the indoor unit, and there is a second swing louver capable of controlling an opening-closing range of the second air outlet disposed in the second air outlet. The second swing louvers are in a second fully closed state when the second swing louvers close the second air outlet, the second swing louvers are in a second fully open state when the second swing louvers are opened to enable the second air outlet to reach a second maximum air output volume, and when the second swing louvers are between the fully closed state and the fully open state, a state of the second swing louvers are defined as a second free state. When the program in the memory is executed by the processor, a fifth step is able to be implemented in such way that: when the controller receives a turn-on signal, the second swing louvers operate to be in the second fully open state; and when the air conditioner operates in a refrigeration mode, the second swing louvers operate to be in the second fully closed state. Or when the program in the memory is executed by the processor, a seventh step is able to be implemented in such way that: when an air output volume of the air conditioner is less than a preset air output volume, the second swing louvers operate to be in the second fully closed state. Or when the program in the memory is executed by the processor, an eighth step is able to be implemented in such way that: when the air conditioner operates for a third preset time, the second swing louvers operate to be in the second fully closed state. Or when the program in the memory is executed by the processor, a ninth step is able to be implemented in such way that: when the controller receives a turn-off signal, the second swing louvers operate to be in the second fully closed state. In all the above three embodiments, it is able to make the second swing louvers operate to be in the second fully closed state.

[0022] In addition, in the air conditioner of the present invention, except the improved structures described above, other structures and connections therebetween are all well known to those skilled in the art. For example, the indoor unit may be a wall-mounted type or a cabinet type; the first air outlet may be arranged above the second air outlet, and there may be two first swing louvers at the first air outlet, which will not be repeated herein.

[0023] As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention further provides a control method of the air conditioner, which includes the following steps in such ways that:

[0024] when the indoor unit is powered on, the first swing louvers operate to be in the first fully open state to be reset, and then operate to be in the first fully closed state;

[0025] when the controller of the indoor unit is turned on, the swing louver(s) at the rear part in the first swing louvers operate to be in fully open position(s) to be reset, the swing louver(s) at the front part in the first swing louvers operate to be in fully open position(s) after waiting for the second preset time, and second swing louvers operate to be in the second fully open state;

[0026] when the indoor unit controls the swing louvers to swing, it is determined that whether the swing number of the first swing louvers reaches a preset number; if yes, the first swing louvers are controlled to operate to be in the first fully open state to be reset, and the swing number is recalculated after the first swing louvers are reset;

[0027] when the indoor unit controls the swing louvers to stop swinging, the swing louvers stop at current positions to which they are operating;

[0028] when the indoor unit operates in the refrigeration mode, or when the air output volume of the indoor unit is less than the preset air output volume, or when the indoor unit operates for a third preset time, the second swing louvers operate to be in the second fully closed state; and

[0029] when the controller of the indoor unit is turned off, the swing louvers are reset to the fully open state, and then operate to be in the fully closed state after the preset time.

[0030] It will be noted that, when the swing louvers of the air conditioner in the present invention swing freely, it is not limited that during the free swing state, the swing louvers can only operate from the fully open state to the fully closed state, and the swing louvers may also be controlled to swing within a certain range according to a preset angle.

[0031] The foregoing descriptions are merely some specific implementation manners of the present invention. Modifications are possible within the scope of the appended claims.

Examples

Embodiment Construction

[0011]In the following, the present invention will be described in detail through exemplary embodiments. However, it will be understood that without further description, elements, structures and features in one embodiment may also be beneficially combined with other embodiments.

[0012]In the description of the present invention, it will be understood that orientations or positional relationships indicated by terms "center", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer" and the like are based on orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, which are used merely for convenience of description and simplifying the description of the present application, but not to indicate or imply that the referred devices or elements must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a particular orientation. Therefore, these terms should not be construed as limitations to the present application.

[0013...

Claims

1. An air conditioner, comprising a stepping motor and an indoor unit having a first air outlet and a second air outlet, wherein first swing louvers capable of controlling an opening-closing range of the first air outlet are disposed at the first air outlet, when the first swing louvers close the first air outlet, the first swing louvers are in a first fully closed state, and when the first swing louvers are opened to enable the first air outlet to reach a first maximum air output volume, the first swing louvers are in a first fully open state; the first swing louvers comprise a plurality of first swing louvers arranged in a front-to-rear order, at least one first swing louver at a rear part is stacked on at least one first swing louver at a front part when the first swing louvers are in the first fully closed state; the stepping motor is configured to control the first swing louvers swing; second swing louvers capable of controlling an opening-closing range of the second air outlet are disposed in the second air outlet, when the second swing louvers close the second air outlet, the second swing louvers are in a second fully closed state, and when the second swing louvers are opened to enable the second air outlet to reach a second maximum air output volume, the second swing louvers are in a second fully open state; a controller is disposed in the indoor unit, the controller comprises a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program, and when the indoor unit is powered on, the processor is configured to operate the first swing louvers in a first step to move to the first fully open state to reset the first swing louvers, and then operate the first swing louvers to move to the first fully closed state; when the controller receives a swing signal, the processor is further configured to operate the first swing louvers swing in a fourth step according to an instruction from the controller; the processor is further configured to determine that whether a swing number of the first swing louvers reaches a preset number, if yes, control the first swing louvers to operate to move to the first fully open state to reset the first swing louvers, and recalculate the swing number after the first swing louvers operate to move to the first fully open state; and when the controller receives a turn-on signal, the processor is further configured to operate the at least one first swing louver at the rear part in a third step to move to a fully open position to reset the at least one first swing louver at the rear part, and operate the at least one first swing louver at the front part to move to another fully open position to reset the at least one first swing louver at the front part after waiting for a second preset time.

2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein when the controller receives a turn-off signal, the processor is further configured to operate the first swing louvers in a second step to move to the first fully open state, and operate the first swing louvers to move to the first fully closed state after a first preset time.

3. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein when the controller receives a turn-on signal, the processor is further configured to operate the second swing louvers in a fifth step to move to the second fully open state.

4. The air conditioner according to claim 3, wherein when the air conditioner operates in a refrigeration mode, the processor is further configured to operate the second swing louvers in a sixth step to move to the second fully closed state.

5. The air conditioner according to claim 3, wherein when an air output of the air conditioner is less than a preset air output volume, the processor is further configured to operate the second swing louvers in a seventh step to move to the second fully closed state.

6. The air conditioner according to claim 3, wherein when the air conditioner operates for a third preset time, the processor is further configured to operate the second swing louvers in an eighth step to move to the second fully closed state.

7. The air conditioner according to claim 3, wherein when the controller receives a turn-off signal, the processor is further configured to operate the second swing louvers in a ninth step to move to the second fully closed state.

8. A control method of an air conditioner, wherein the air conditioner comprises: an indoor unit having a first air outlet and a second air outlet; first swing louvers capable of controlling an opening-closing range of the first air outlet, wherein the first swing louvers are disposed at the first air outlet, when the first swing louvers close the first air outlet, the first swing louvers are in a first fully closed state, and when the first swing louvers are opened to enable the first air outlet to reach a first maximum air output volume, the first swing louvers are in a first fully open state; the first swing louvers comprise a plurality of first swing louvers arranged in a front-to-rear order, at least one first swing louver at a rear part is stacked on at least one first swing louver at a front part when the first swing louvers are in a first fully closed state; a stepping motor configured to control the first swing louvers swing; second swing louvers capable of controlling an opening-closing range of the second air outlet, wherein the second swing louvers are disposed in the second air outlet, when the second swing louvers close the second air outlet, the second swing louvers are in a second fully closed state, and when the second swing louvers are opened to enable the second air outlet to reach a second maximum air output volume, the second swing louvers are in a second fully open state; a controller disposed in the indoor unit, wherein the controller comprises a memory and a processor, and the memory stores a computer program; the control method comprises following steps: when an indoor unit is powered on, operating, by the first swing louvers, to move to a first fully open state to reset the first swing louvers, and then move to the first fully closed state; when a controller of the indoor unit is turned on, operating, by the at least one first swing louver at the rear part , to move to a fully open position to reset the at least one first swing louver at the rear part; operating, by the at least one first swing louver at a front part to move to another fully open position to reset the at least one first swing louver at the front part after waiting for a second preset time ; and operating, by the second swing louvers, to move to a second fully open state; when the indoor unit controls the first swing louvers to swing, determining, by the processor, that whether a swing number of the first swing louvers reaches a preset number, if yes, controlling, by the processor, the first swing louvers to operate to move to the first fully open state to reset the first swing louvers, and recalculating, by the processor, the swing number after the first swing louvers move to the first fully open state according to a number of times a rotation direction of the first swing louvers changes; when the indoor unit controls the swing louvers to stop swinging, stopping, by the processor, the swing louvers at current positions to which they are operating; when the indoor unit operates in a refrigeration mode, or when an air output volume of the indoor unit is less than a preset air output volume, or when the indoor unit operates for a third preset time, operating, by the processor, the second swing louvers to move to a second fully closed state; and when the controller of the indoor unit is turned off, resetting, by the processor, at least the first swing louvers to the first fully open state, and operating, by the processor, at least the first swing louvers to move to the first fully closed state after a first preset time; wherein the first fully closed state is a state when the first swing louvers close the first air outlet, and the second fully closed state is a state when the second swing louvers close the second air outlet.

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