Method for drying core unit of humidifier, controller, humidifier and program product

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method for drying a core unit of a humidifier, a controller, the humidifier and a program product. The method includes: detecting, at a first moment during operation of the humidifier, that a liquid level in the humidifier is less than a predetermined threshold; acquiring a state of an air supply unit of the humidifier at the first moment and ambient humidity at the first moment; determining a continuing operation time of the air supply unit based on the state of the air supply unit and the ambient humidity; performing timing for the continuing operation time to a second moment; and stopping operation of the air supply unit at the second moment. In this way, when the humidifier is short of water, the drying function is automatically started, and drying of the core unit and / or a tank is completed without changing an operation mode.

Description

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY

[0001] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the field of household appliances, in particular to a method for drying a core unit of a humidifier, a controller, the humidifier and a computer program product.BACKGROUND

[0002] In some evaporative humidifiers in the related art, a filter element is provided in a water tank so that the filter element can absorb water from the water tank. In some such humidifiers, a base of the filter element is located at the bottom of the water tank. In the operation of the humidifier, the filter element absorbs water from the water tank, and an air supply unit guides air to pass through the filter element. Thus, air passing through the filter element can absorb water on the filter element, so as to achieve the evaporation process of water from liquid to gas (water vapor). The water vapor coming out of the humidifier is invisible. Through strong airflows, moist air is distributed to all parts of a room. In some evaporative humidifiers, a heater is also provided to improve the humidification rate.

[0003] The filter element is the key component of an evaporative humidifier. During the operation of the humidifier, the filter element will become wet and absorb water. Generally, after the humidifier stops working, even when there is no water in the humidifier, the filter element may still be wet. If the filter element is only dried by natural evaporation, the drying time will become too long. In this non-working condition, mold spores may have attached to the surface of the filter element. Due to the high humidity of the surface of the filter element, mold spores can easily grow into mold.SUMMARY

[0004] The present disclosure provides a scheme for automatically drying a core unit of a humidifier by means of an air supply unit in order to at least partially overcome one or more of the defects described above.

[0005] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a method for drying a core unit of a humidifier is provided. The method includes: detecting, at a first moment during operation of the humidifier, that a liquid level in the humidifier is less than a predetermined threshold; acquiring a state of an air supply unit of the humidifier at the first moment and ambient humidity at the first moment; determining a continuing operation time of the air supply unit based on the state of the air supply unit and the ambient humidity; performing timing for the continuing operation time to a second moment; and stopping operation of the air supply unit at the second moment.

[0006] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a controller is provided. The controller includes: at least one processor; and a memory coupled to the at least one processor and having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the controller to perform the method for drying a core unit of a humidifier according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0007] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, a humidifier is provided. The humidifier includes: a tank suitable for accommodating a humidifying liquid; a core unit located in the tank and configured to adsorb and filter the humidifying liquid; an air supply unit configured to form an airflow passing through the core unit; and the controller according to the second aspect of the present disclosure.

[0008] According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program product is provided. The computer program product includes computer instructions, and the computer instructions are configured to cause a computer to perform the method for drying a core unit of a humidifier according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0009] It should be understood that what has been described in this section is not intended to limit key or critical features of the embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] The above and other features, advantages and aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure will become more apparent in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and with reference to the following detailed description. In the accompanying drawings, identical or similar reference numerals indicate identical or similar elements. FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a humidifier according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary method for drying a core unit of a humidifier according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 3A shows a schematic diagram of sample data used to determine a predetermined relationship according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 3B shows a schematic diagram of linear fitting of sample data according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 4 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary method for drying a core unit of a humidifier according to other embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of an exemplary device that may be used to implement embodiments of the present disclosure. DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0011] Various embodiments are now described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein throughout the text, similar reference numerals are used to refer to similar elements. In the following description, many specific details are set forth for explanatory purposes in order to promote a thorough understanding of one or more embodiments. However, it may be clear in some or all instances that any of the embodiments described below may be practiced without employing the specific design details described below. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form to facilitate the description of one or more embodiments. A simplified overview of one or more embodiments is given below to provide a basic understanding of the embodiments. The overview is not an exhaustive overview of all intended embodiments, is not intended to identify key or important elements of all embodiments, and is not intended to define the scope of any or all embodiments.

[0012] References to "embodiments" or "an embodiment" in the framework of this description are intended to indicate that a particular configuration, structure, or feature described with respect to an embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, phrases such as "in embodiments" or "in an embodiment" that may be present at one or more points in this description do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, in one or more embodiments, particular configurations, structures, or features may be combined in any appropriate manner.

[0013] Unless otherwise indicated, when reference is made to two elements coupled together, this denotes a direct connection without any intermediate element other than a conductor; and when reference is made to two elements coupled together, this denotes that the two elements can be connected or that they can be coupled via one or more other elements.

[0014] In the following disclosure, unless otherwise indicated, when referring to absolute positional modifiers (e.g., the terms "front", "back", "top", "bottom", "left", and "right"), or when referring to relative positional modifiers (e.g., the terms "above", "below", "higher", and "lower"), or when referring to directional modifiers (e.g., "horizontal" and "vertical"), it refers to the orientation shown in the figure. Unless otherwise specified, the expressions "about", "approximately", "substantially", and "roughly" mean within 10%, preferably within 5%.

[0015] As mentioned above, there is a widespread problem of mold in evaporative humidifiers. For this, in some humidifiers in the related art, a filter element is lifted so that the filter element is above the water surface. During the operation of such a humidifier, an additional pump is provided to lift water and wet the lifted filter element. When the humidifier is not operating, the filter element is not below the liquid level, and at the same time, an air supply unit may start working to dry the filter element. However, in order to achieve humidification under the lifting structure, additional pumps and support structures are required, resulting in high costs. In addition, in the mode of drying using the air supply unit, the state of the air supply unit and the drying time are usually pre-programmed fixed values. The additional humidification operations generated in this mode may differ from those required by a user. As a result, the humidification effect may deviate from the expected value set by the user. Alternatively, the air supply unit may continue to operate for a period of time after the filter element has been dry, resulting in additional energy consumption.

[0016] In other humidifiers in the related art, instead of the physical drying function, fungicides are used inside the humidifier to inhibit the growth of microorganisms. However, the safety of fungicides is always a risk for users. In addition, the effectiveness of biocides may decrease over time.

[0017] In view of this, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a scheme for drying a core unit taking into account ambient humidity and air velocity. In this scheme, when it is detected that a humidifying liquid in the humidifier is lower than a predetermined liquid level, the time for the air supply unit to continue to operate in the current mode is determined based on the current ambient humidity and the velocity of an airflow passing through the core unit, and timing is started. When the timing reaches the determined time, the operation of the air supply unit is ended. In this case, the core unit is just dry. In this way, neither biocides nor additional lifting structures and pumps are required. When the humidifier is short of water, the automatic drying function will be started directly, and drying of the core unit is completed at an appropriate time without changing the operation mode. Thus, it is possible to avoid deviating from the humidity preset by the user and avoid energy waste.

[0018] The scheme of the present disclosure will be described in detail below in conjunction with FIG. 1 to FIG. 5. FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a humidifier 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1, the humidifier 10 includes a main body. The main body includes a tank 110 located on the lower portion. A core unit 120 is disposed in an internal cavity of the tankk 100. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the core unit 120 is shaped like a hollow cylinder. The core unit 120 is formed by, for example, curling an adsorbing material of a certain thickness. An air intake port is provided in a side wall of the tank 110 to allow gas A1 and gas A2 to enter the inside of the tank 110 from the outside of the humidifier 10. In addition to accommodating the core unit 120, the internal cavity of the tank 110 is also used as a water tank for accommodating the humidifying liquid as a whole. For example, a user may inject the humidifying liquid into the tank 110. The humidifying liquid flows to the bottom of the tank 110 and begins to be collected. When the humidifying liquid is increased to a predetermined amount required for operation, part of the core unit 120 may be immersed in the humidifying liquid.

[0019] In addition, the tank 110 is also provided with a measurement and control apparatus. The measurement and control apparatus includes a controller 150 for controlling electronics in the humidifier 10, a liquid level detector 161 for measuring the liquid level in the tank, and a humidity sensor 162 for measuring the ambient humidity. It should be understood that the gases A1 and A2 entering the air intake port are from the environment in which the humidifier 10 is located, and therefore the gases A1 and A2 have the same humidity as the ambient humidity. The controller 150 communicates with the electronics in the humidifier 10 and is capable of receiving data from a sensor apparatus including the liquid level detector 161 and the humidity sensor 162 via a wired or wireless connection, and also sending instructions to the electronics connected thereto, so as to control the operation of the electronics.

[0020] The main body further includes a control portion which is located above the tank 110 and accommodates the air supply unit 140. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the air supply unit 140 is implemented as an air supply unit system and includes fan blades 141 and a drive motor 142 for driving the fan blades 141 to rotate, thereby driving an airflow to pass through the system to help humidify and dry the core unit 120. In addition, an electrical control panel 170 is disposed on the top of the control portion. The electrical control panel 170 has an operation interface for the user to input instructions. In some embodiments, the electrical control panel 170 may be wirelessly connected to and interact with a terminal device of the user to receive the instructions of the user. The electrical control panel 170 is also connected to the controller 150 and sends the instructions of the user to the controller 150.

[0021] Before starting the humidifier 10, the user first injects the humidifying liquid into the tank 110. The humidifying liquid may be, for example, tap water, purified water, or a solution with an additional solvent. After a sufficient amount of humidifying liquid is injected, the core unit 120 is infiltrated in the humidifying liquid and absorbs the humidifying liquid so that the humidifying liquid diffuses in the core unit 120.

[0022] After that, the user sets the operation mode of the humidifier 10 through the electrical control panel 170. The operation mode includes, for example, a low speed mode, a medium speed mode, and a high speed mode. After receiving the instructions of the user, the controller 150 determines the speed of the air supply unit according to the mode set by the user and sends a control signal to the motor 142 to drive the fan blades 141 to operate at the predetermined speed. The rotation of the fan blades 141 creates an airflow in the tank 110, so that the gases A1 and A2 outside the tank 110 enter the tank 110 via the corresponding air intake port. The gases A1 and A2 enter the tank 110 and pass through the core unit 120 to be humidified, and then flow out of the humidifier 10 from the top of the control portion as humidified gases A3 and A4. The humidifier 10 shown in FIG. 1 is also known as, for example, an evaporative humidifier.

[0023] In addition, the humidifier 10 may also be connected to the terminal device 20 via wireless communication (e.g. Bluetooth or WiFi). The humidifier 10 may communicate with the terminal device 20 to send operation state information of the humidifier 10 to the terminal device 20 and receive, from the terminal device 20, the instructions entered by the user through an interface of the terminal device 20.

[0024] During the operation of the humidifier 10, the humidity sensor 162, used to detect the ambient humidity, detects the ambient humidity in real time and transmits a humidity value to the controller 150 and the electrical control panel 170. The electrical control panel 170 displays the current ambient humidity in real time. At the same time, the liquid level detector 161 detects the liquid level of the humidifying liquid in real time, that is, the distance between the liquid level of the humidifying liquid and the bottom of the tank 110. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the current liquid level detected by the liquid level detector 161 is, for example, H1. The liquid level detector 161 sends liquid level information to the controller 150 in real time.

[0025] Herein, the controller 150 may perform the method for drying the core unit of the humidifier according to the present disclosure. For example, when receiving the liquid level information sent by the liquid level detector 161, the controller 150 determines whether the current liquid level is less than a predetermined liquid level threshold H0. If the current liquid level is less than the preset liquid level threshold H0, water in the humidifier 10 is insufficient to be supplied to the core unit 120 to maintain the gas wetting function of the core unit 120. In this case, the controller 150 issues instructions to the electrical control panel 170 to make same display the water shortage. At the same time, the controller 150 automatically starts the drying function. Based on the current ambient humidity received from the humidity sensor 162 and the state of the air supply unit 140 in the current operation mode, the controller 150 calculates the continuing operation time of the air supply unit 140. The controller 150 starts timing until reaching the determined continuing operation time. In this case, the controller 150 stops the air supply unit, causing the humidifier 110 to enter the non-working state, and the core unit 120 has been dried.

[0026] In some embodiments, when the drying function is started, the working state of the drying function, for example, whether the automatic drying is started and the remaining time of the continuing operation time, may be displayed on the electrical control panel 170. In some alternative or additional embodiments, information indicating the working state of the drying function may also be sent to the terminal device 20 so that the terminal device 20 displays the information about the working state of the drying function.

[0027] In this way, when the humidifier is short of water, the drying function automatically starts, and drying of the core unit is completed at an appropriate time without changing the operation mode. The scheme for drying the core unit of the humidifier according to the present disclosure will be described below with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 4.

[0028] FIG. 2 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary method 200 for drying a core unit of a humidifier according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes, the method 200 will be described in conjunction with FIG. 1. For example, the method 200 may be executed by the controller 150 in FIG. 1. In addition, the method 200, shown in FIG. 2, is also referred to in the present disclosure as an "automatic drying mode".

[0029] As shown in FIG. 2, at 202, the method 200 includes: detect, at a first moment during operation of the humidifier, that a liquid level in the humidifier is less than a predetermined threshold. For example, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, during the operation of the humidifier, the controller 150 determines that the current liquid level is less than the predetermined liquid level threshold on the basis of the liquid level height detected by the liquid level detector 161 in real time.

[0030] At 204, the method 200 includes: acquire a state of an air supply unit of the humidifier at the first moment and ambient humidity at the first moment. For example, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the controller 150 may read the state of the air supply unit 140 of the humidifier at the first moment and the ambient humidity at the first moment. In some embodiments, the state of the air supply unit includes at least one of the following: an operation voltage of the air supply unit, an operation current of the air supply unit, and a duty ratio signal for controlling the state of the air supply unit.

[0031] In some embodiments, the state of the air supply unit 140 in an operation mode may be variable. In such embodiments, the controller 150 may make use of the state of the air supply unit set for the operation mode for subsequent calculations. The state of the air supply unit associated with a particular operation mode may be, for example, the average value of the air supply unit 140 in that mode, or the maximum or minimum value.

[0032] At 206, the method 200 includes: determine a continuing operation time of the air supply unit based on the state of the air supply unit and the ambient humidity. For example, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the controller 150 may determine the continuing operation time of the air supply unit 140 based on the read state of the air supply unit and the received ambient humidity.

[0033] The inventor found that the drying rate of the core unit 120 is related to the airflow velocity in the humidifier and the humidity of the airflow. That is, there is a specific relationship between the current ambient humidity and the continuing operation time that may be determined in advance. In some embodiments, in order to determine the continuing operation time, the controller 150 may acquire a predetermined relationship between the state of the air supply unit, the ambient humidity, and the continuing operation time, and calculate the continuing operation time based on the current state of the air supply unit, the current ambient humidity, and the acquired predetermined relationship.

[0034] In some embodiments, the predetermined relationship may be obtained by fitting historical operation data. Herein, the historical operation data includes the time for the core unit to be dry at a plurality of states of the air supply unit and a plurality of degrees of ambient humidity. In some embodiments, the predetermined relationship may be a linear relationship obtained by linear fitting of the historical operation data. In some alternative embodiments, the predetermined relationship may be a model trained through machine learning.

[0035] For some models of humidifiers, the drying time of the core unit varies less within a certain ambient humidity range, so the continuing operation time may be determined by using a pre-measured approximation. In some embodiments, to determine the continuing operation time, the controller 150 may first acquire a plurality of predetermined ranges for the ambient humidity and determine which predetermined range of the plurality of predetermined ranges the current ambient humidity is in. Then, the controller 150 determines the predetermined humidity associated with the determined predetermined range. In some embodiments, the predetermined humidity associated with a particular predetermined range may be either the midpoint value of the predetermined range or the endpoint value of the predetermined range. Finally, the controller 150 may determine the predetermined operation time at the target predetermined humidity and the state of the air supply unit as the continuing operation time. Then, the process of acquiring the predetermined relationship will be described with reference to FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B.

[0036] At 208, the method 200 includes: time the continuing operation time to a second moment. For example, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the controller 150 may time until the second moment is reached after the continuing operation time. In some embodiments, the controller 150 may control the electrical control panel 170 to issue a prompt indicating completion of the timing.

[0037] At 210, the method 200 includes: stop the operation of the air supply unit at the second moment. For example, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the controller 150 may stop the operation of the air supply unit 140 at the second moment to stop the automatic drying operation.

[0038] According to the scheme for drying the core unit taking into account the ambient humidity and air velocity according to the embodiments of the present exposure, neither biocides nor additional lifting structures and pumps are required. When the humidifier is short of water, the automatic drying function will be started directly, and drying of the core unit is completed at an appropriate time without changing the operation mode. Thus, it is possible to avoid deviating from the humidity preset by the user, and avoid energy waste.

[0039] In some embodiments, an instruction to start the drying operation may also be actively sent to the humidifier through the electrical control panel or the terminal device. In such an implementation, once the drying start instruction is received, the controller may control the humidifier to open a valve in the humidifier to release the humidifying liquid from the tank into a reservoir. When the humidifying liquid is drained, the liquid level detector detects that the liquid level is less than the preset threshold and the drying operation is automatically started.

[0040] In some alternative or additional embodiments, an instruction to shut down the drying operation may also be actively sent to the humidifier through the electrical control panel or the terminal device. In such an implementation, once the drying shutdown instruction is received, the acquisition of the state of the air supply unit and subsequent calculation are stopped, so that the automatic drying mode is no longer started when it is detected that the liquid level is less than the predetermined threshold, and the operation is stopped directly, for example.

[0041] FIG. 3A shows a schematic diagram of sample data 300A used to determine the predetermined relationship according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3A, the data 300A is organized as a table. The data items in the table indicate the time required to dry the core unit under certain humidity and a certain speed. For example, the drying time T11 denotes the time required to dry the core unit in the case where the ambient humidity is first humidity W1 and the speed of the air supply unit is a first speed V1.

[0042] The speed in the data 300A should cover all speeds supported by the humidifier. For example, the humidifier may include three operation modes, namely, a low speed mode, a medium speed mode, and a high speed mode. Herein, for example, the first speed V1 corresponds to the speed in the low speed mode, a second speed V2 corresponds to the speed in the medium speed mode, and the third speed V3 corresponds to the speed in the high speed mode. In addition, the humidity in the data 300A should cover all predetermined humidity associated with the predetermined range.

[0043] The data 330A, for example, was obtained experimentally. For discussion purposes, the experimental measurement process will be described below in conjunction with the humidifier shown in FIG. 1. In the course of the experimental measurement, the dry weight of the humidifier 10 under completely dry conditions was first recorded. After that, the tank 110 was filled with water and the humidifier 10 was started. The humidifier operated until being short of water, that is, the water level was below the predetermined liquid level H0. At this point, the humidifier 10 was in the initial state of the automatic drying operation, and preliminary preparations were complete.

[0044] The humidifier 10 in the state of water shortage was placed on a scale, so that the humidifier 10 continued to operate in a climate chamber with predetermined humidity, and the measurement of the weight of the humidifier 10 continued. For example, the weight of the humidifier may be recorded every 10 minutes until the weight of the humidifier 10 was the same as the dry weight in the initial fully dry condition. The duration recorded at this point was the actual drying time at specific ambient humidity and airflow rate. After that, the humidifier 10 was tested several times at different ambient humidity and different speeds to obtain sufficient experimental data.

[0045] After enough experimental data was obtained, the influence of the speed of the air supply unit and the ambient humidity on the drying time may be studied through the regression algorithm, so as to obtain the relationship between the three. For example, the problem of determining the predetermined relationship may be transformed into the problem of binary linear regression. The scheme for determining the predetermined relationship will be described below with reference to FIG. 3B.

[0046] FIG. 3B shows a schematic diagram of linear fitting 300B for sample data according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3B, the linear fitting 300B is represented as a three-dimensional data graph. The three-dimensional graph of the linear fitting 300B includes a W-axis 310 for the ambient humidity, a V-axis 320 for the speed, and a T-axis 330 for the drying time. The three-dimensional graph of the linear fitting 300B also includes the data 300A in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3A. It can be seen that a plane 340 representing the linear relationship may be obtained by linear fitting of the data 300A. The resulting predetermined relationship may, for example, be expressed as: T ij = a * W i + b * V j where T ij denotes the drying time at the ambient humidity W i and the speed V j , and a and b are corresponding coefficients respectively. The coefficients a and b are obtained by fitting the data. It should be understood that linear fitting is only exemplary. Other fitting methods may also be applied to the experimental data of other types of humidifiers, which is not limited in the present disclosure.

[0047] In some alternative embodiments, a plurality of predetermined ranges and predetermined humidity associated with each predetermined range may be set. The predetermined humidity is used to replace the actual humidity falling into the corresponding predetermined range, and the corresponding drying time is selected from the drying times measured by experiments as the continuing operation time.

[0048] The plurality of predetermined ranges may include, for example, a first predetermined range of less than or equal to 35%, a second predetermined range of more than 35% and less than or equal to 45%, a third predetermined range of more than 45% and less than or equal to 55%, a fourth predetermined range of more than 55% and less than or equal to 65%, and a fifth predetermined range of more than 65%. In such embodiments, the first predetermined humidity associated with the first predetermined range is 30%, which for example may correspond to the first humidity W1. The second predetermined humidity associated with the second predetermined range is 40%, which for example may correspond to the second humidity W2. The third predetermined humidity associated with the third predetermined range is 50%, which for example may correspond to the third humidity W3. The fourth predetermined humidity associated with the fourth predetermined range is 60%, which for example may correspond to the fourth humidity W4. The fifth predetermined humidity associated with the fifth predetermined range is 70%, which for example may correspond to the fifth humidity W5.

[0049] In such embodiments, since the drying time of the core unit is similar within the corresponding predetermined range, the predetermined time corresponding to the predetermined humidity may be used as the continuing operation time, which may simplify the determination method while maintaining the drying effect. It should be understood that although the speed of the air supply unit is used for the experiment in the embodiments shown in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B, other states of the air supply unit may also be measured, which is not limited in the present disclosure.

[0050] FIG. 4 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary method 400 for drying a core unit of a humidifier according to other embodiments of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes, the method 400 will be described in conjunction with FIG. 1. For example, the method 400 may be executed by the controller 150 in FIG. 1.

[0051] As shown in FIG. 4, at 402, during operation in one of a plurality of operation modes, the controller 150 detects the liquid level through the liquid level detector 161. At 404, the controller 150 determines whether the detected liquid level is less than the predetermined threshold. If the controller 150 determines that the detected liquid level is not less than the preset threshold, it indicates that the humidifier 10 is not short of water and the drying operation does not need to be started, so the method 400 returns to 402 to enable the controller 150 to continue to detect the liquid level.

[0052] In contrast, if the controller 150 determines that the detected liquid level is less than the predetermined threshold, it indicates that the humidifier 10 is short of water, and the drying operation will be started to prevent the core unit from being wet in the non-working state, so the method 400 proceeds to 406. At the same time, the speed of the air supply unit 140 is not changed, so that the humidifier continues to operate in accordance with the mode selected by the user.

[0053] At 406, the controller 150 acquires the speed associated with the current operation mode and the current ambient humidity. At 408, the controller 150 determines a preset calculation mode. The method 400 proceeds to 410 when the controller 150 determines that the preset calculation mode is an approximate table lookup mode. At 410, the controller 150 acquires a plurality of predetermined ranges for the ambient humidity. At 412, the controller 150 determines that the current ambient humidity is within the target predetermined range of the plurality of predetermined ranges. At 414, the controller 150 determines target predetermined humidity associated with the target predetermined range. At 416, the controller 150 determines a predetermined operation time under the target predetermined humidity and the speed as the continuing operation time.

[0054] The method 400 proceeds to 418 when the controller 150 determines that the preset calculation mode is relational calculation. At 418, the controller 150 acquires the predetermined relationship between the speed, the ambient humidity, and the continuing operation time, for example, the relationship expressed in relation (1). At 420, the controller 150 determines the continuing operation time based on the speed, the current ambient humidity, and the predetermined relationship.

[0055] Two branches of the method 400 meet at 422. At 422, the controller 150 performs timing for the continuing operation time. At 424, the controller 150 stops the operation of the air supply unit.

[0056] The embodiment shown in FIG. 4 shows a specific exemplary method for drying a core unit of a humidifier according to the present disclosure. In this embodiment, the speed used to calculate the continuing operation time is the speed associated with the operation mode of the humidifier. The speed does not have to be the current speed, and may also be an average speed. At the same time, the ambient humidity used to calculate the continuing operation time is also selected through the predetermined range, rather than real-time ambient humidity. In this way, the flexibility of determining the continuing operation time is improved, and the complexity of determining the predetermined relationship is reduced overall. As a result, the consumption of human resources and computing resources is further reduced. It should be understood that the speed is only exemplary. Other operation states of the air supply unit may also be allowed, for example, but not limited to an operation voltage of the air supply unit, an operation current of the air supply unit, a speed of the air supply unit, and a duty ratio signal for controlling the speed.

[0057] In addition to automatic triggering, the method for drying the core unit may also include active start. For example, when the user wants to store the humidifier, a start signal is sent to the humidifier through the electrical control panel or a specific application of the terminal device. In this case, the humidifier checks whether the liquid level of the humidifying liquid in the water tank is less than the predetermined threshold. If the liquid level is not less than the predetermined threshold, the valve is opened to discharge the humidifying liquid in the water tank. When the liquid level of the humidifying liquid is less than the predetermined threshold, the automatic drying mode is started. In some embodiments, the humidifying liquid may also be artificially poured away, and the humidifier will operate at the same speed as the humidifier was last run and perform the drying operation. In the case of active start, the air supply unit may operate at the maximum speed, or the previous operation speed.

[0058] FIG. 5 shows a schematic block diagram of an exemplary device 500 that may be used to implement the embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 500 may be, for example, the controller 150 in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 5, the device 500 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 501 that may perform various appropriate actions and processing according to computer program instructions stored in a read-only memory (ROM) 502 or computer program instructions loaded from a storage unit 508 to a random access memory (RAM) 503. The RAM 503 may also store various programs and data necessary for operations of the device 500. The CPU 501, the ROM 502 and the RAM 503 are connected to each other by a bus 504. An input / output (I / O) interface 505 is also connected to the bus 504.

[0059] A plurality of members in the device 500 are connected to the I / O interface 505, including: an input unit 506, such as a keyboard and a mouse; an output unit 507, such as various types of displays and speakers; the storage unit 508, such as magnetic disks and compact discs; and a communication unit 509, such as a network card, a modem and a wireless communication transceiver. The communication unit 509 allows the device 500 to exchange information / data with other devices through a computer network such as the Internet and / or various telecommunication networks.

[0060] The various processes and processing described above, such as the method 200 or the method 400, may be performed by the processing unit 501. For example, in some embodiments, the method 200 or the method 400 may be implemented as a computer software program that is tangibly included in a machine-readable medium such as the storage unit 508. In some embodiments, part of or all of computer programs may be loaded into and / or installed onto the device 500 via the ROM 502 and / or the communication unit 509. When the computer program is loaded to the RAM 503 and executed by the CPU 501, one or more actions of the method 200 or the method 400 described above may be executed.

[0061] The present disclosure may be a method, an apparatus, a system, and / or a computer program product. The computer program product may include a computer-readable storage medium on which computer-readable program instructions for performing various aspects of the present disclosure are loaded.

[0062] The computer-readable storage medium may be a tangible device that may hold and store instructions used by an instruction-executing device. For example, the computer-readable storage medium may be, but is not limited to, an electric storage device, a magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, a semiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable storage medium include: a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or a flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanical encoding device such as a punch card or a protruding structure in a groove with instructions stored thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. The computer-readable storage medium used herein is not to be interpreted as transient signals per se, such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagating through waveguides or other transmission media (e.g., light pulses through fiber-optic cables), or electrical signals transmitted through electrical wires.

[0063] The computer-readable program instructions described herein may be downloaded from a computer-readable storage medium to various computing / processing devices or downloaded to an external computer or external storage device via a network, such as the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network, and / or a wireless network. The network may include copper transmission cables, fiber optic transmission, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers, and / or edge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in each computing / processing device receives computer-readable program instructions from a network and forwards the computer-readable program instructions for storage in a computer-readable storage medium in each computing / processing device.

[0064] The computer program instructions for executing the operation of the present disclosure may be assembly instructions, instruction set architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine-dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, status setting data, or source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, the programming languages including object-oriented programming language such as Smalltalk and C++, and conventional procedural programming languages such as the C language or similar programming languages. The computer-readable program instructions may be executed entirely on a user computer, partly on a user computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on a user computer and partly on a remote computer, or entirely on a remote computer or a server. In a case where a remote computer is involved, the remote computer can be connected to a user computer through any kind of networks, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or can be connected to an external computer (for example, connected through the Internet using an Internet service provider). In some embodiments, an electronic circuit, such as a programmable logic circuit, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or a programmable logic array (PLA), is customized by utilizing status information of the computer-readable program instructions. The electronic circuit may execute the computer-readable program instructions to implement various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0065] Various aspects of the present disclosure are described here with reference to flow charts and / or block diagrams of the method, the apparatus (system), and the computer program product implemented according to the embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be understood that each block of the flowcharts and / or block diagrams, and the combinations of various blocks in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams, can be implemented by the computer-readable program instructions.

[0066] These computer-readable program instructions may be provided to a processing unit of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or a further programmable data processing apparatus, thereby producing a machine, such that these instructions, when executed by the processing unit of the computer or the further programmable data processing apparatus, produce means for implementing functions / actions specified in one or more blocks in the flow charts and / or block diagrams. These computer-readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and these instructions cause a computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and / or other devices to operate in a specific manner; and thus the computer-readable medium having instructions stored includes an article of manufacture that includes instructions that implement various aspects of the functions / actions specified in one or more blocks in the flow charts and / or block diagrams.

[0067] The computer-readable program instructions may also be loaded to a computer, a further programmable data processing apparatus, or a further device, so that a series of operating steps may be performed on the computer, the further programmable data processing apparatus, or the further device to produce a computer-implemented process, such that the instructions executed on the computer, the further programmable data processing apparatus, or the further device may implement the functions / actions specified in one or more blocks in the flow charts and / or block diagrams.

[0068] The flow charts and block diagrams in the drawings illustrate the architectures, functions, and operations of possible implementations of the systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in the flow charts or block diagrams may represent a module, a program segment, or part of an instruction, the module, program segment, or part of an instruction including one or more executable instructions for implementing specified logical functions. In some alternative implementations, functions marked in the blocks may also occur in an order different from that marked in the accompanying drawings. For example, two successive blocks may actually be executed in parallel substantially, and sometimes they may also be executed in an inverse order, which depends on involved functions. It should be further noted that each block in the block diagrams and / or flow charts as well as a combination of blocks in the block diagrams and / or flow charts may be implemented using a special hardware-based system that executes specified functions or actions, or implemented using a combination of special hardware and computer instructions.

[0069] Without prejudice to the rationale, details and embodiments may vary, even significantly, relative to what is described by way of example only, without departing from the scope of protection. Various embodiments described above may be combined to provide additional embodiments. These and other changes to the embodiments may be made in accordance with the foregoing detailed description. Generally, in the following claims, the terms used should not be construed as limiting the claims to the particular embodiments disclosed in the specification and claims, but rather should be construed to include the full scope of all possible embodiments and equivalents given to such claims. Thus, the claims are not limited by the disclosure.

Claims

1. A method for drying a core unit of a humidifier, comprising: detecting, at a first moment during operation of the humidifier, that a liquid level in the humidifier is less than a predetermined threshold; acquiring a state of an air supply unit of the humidifier at the first moment and ambient humidity at the first moment; determining a continuing operation time of the air supply unit based on the state of the air supply unit and the ambient humidity; performing timing for the continuing operation time to a second moment; and stopping operation of the air supply unit at the second moment.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining a continuing operation time comprises: acquiring a predetermined relationship between the state of the air supply unit, the ambient humidity and the continuing operation time; and determining the continuing operation time based on the state of the air supply unit, the ambient humidity and the predetermined relationship.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined relationship is obtained by fitting historical operation data, the historical operation data comprising times when the core unit reaches dry under a plurality of states of the air supply unit and a plurality of degrees of ambient humidity.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining a continuing operation time comprises: acquiring a plurality of predetermined ranges for the ambient humidity; determining that the ambient humidity is in a target predetermined range of the plurality of predetermined ranges; determining target predetermined humidity associated with the target predetermined range; and determining a predetermined operation time under the target predetermined humidity and the state of the air supply unit as the continuing operation time.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of predetermined ranges comprise: a first predetermined range of less than or equal to 35%, wherein first predetermined humidity associated with the first predetermined range is 30%; a second predetermined range greater than 35% and less than or equal to 45%, wherein second predetermined humidity associated with the second predetermined range is 40%; a third predetermined range greater than 45% and less than or equal to 55%, wherein third predetermined humidity associated with the third predetermined range is 50%; a fourth predetermined range greater than 55% and less than or equal to 65%, wherein fourth predetermined humidity associated with the fourth predetermined range is 60%; and a fifth predetermined range greater than 65%, wherein fifth predetermined humidity associated with the fifth predetermined range is 70%.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the state of the air supply unit comprises at least one of the following: an operation voltage of the air supply unit, an operation current of the air supply unit, a speed of the air supply unit, and a duty ratio signal for controlling the speed.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein a prompt indicating that the humidifier is in an automatic drying mode is output at the first moment.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising: displaying an operation state of the automatic drying mode through a panel of the humidifier.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the operation state comprises an on-off indication of the automatic drying mode and a timing process of the continuing operation time, wherein the timing process comprises a time that has been timed and / or a remaining time.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the on-off indication is indicated by means of an indicator light; or the timing process is indicated by means of digital display.

11. The method according to claim 9, further comprising: sending, in response to receiving a query request from a terminal device, the operation state to the terminal device so that the terminal device displays a content indicating the state.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: discharging, in response to receiving a drying start instruction, a humidifying liquid in the humidifier so that the liquid level is less than the predetermined threshold, and / or stopping acquiring the state of the air supply unit in response to receiving a drying shutdown instruction.

13. A controller, comprising: at least one processor; and a memory coupled to the at least one processor and having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the controller to perform the method for drying a core unit of a humidifier according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

14. A humidifier, comprising: a tank suitable for accommodating a humidifying liquid; a core unit located in the tank and configured to adsorb the humidifying liquid; an air supply unit configured to form an airflow passing through the core unit; and the controller according to claim 13.

15. A computer program product comprising computer instructions, the computer instructions being configured to cause a computer to perform the method for drying a core unit of a humidifier according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

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