Air conditioner

Abstract

To provide an air conditioner which refers to the point in which, when air-blowing continues in a state of stopping the cooling of air, indoor air whose temperature has increased is supplied to the indoors as it is, and there is a risk of the temperature of the indoor air increasing at an early stage.SOLUTION: At the time of executing a thermo-on time control mode, an air conditioner blows blowing air toward a supply port 4C side, and at the time of executing a thermo-off time control mode, the air conditioner blows blowing air toward the opposite side from the supply port 4C, that is the direction which does not have the supply port. Thereby, the air conditioner can suppress the indoor air whose temperature has increased being supplied to the indoors as it is, and can suppress the indoor temperature increasing at an early stage.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an air conditioning device that conditions the air inside a room. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, the air conditioner described in Patent Document 1 draws in indoor air, cools the drawn-in air, and supplies the cooled air into the room via an air passage provided under the floor. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2024-734 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] When the indoor temperature drops to a predetermined temperature below the set temperature, the air conditioner stops cooling the air but continues blowing air, in order to prevent the indoor air from stagnating while preventing it from being overcooled.

[0005] However, if the air supply is continued while the cooling of the air is stopped, the room air will be supplied with its increased temperature as is, which may cause the temperature of the room air to rise too quickly. The present disclosure discloses an example of an air conditioning device that takes this into consideration. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] An air conditioner that supplies conditioned air into a room through a distribution chamber (5) having a plurality of supply ports (4C) communicating with the room preferably has at least one of the following components:

[0007] That is, the components are an indoor unit (3) having a heat exchanger (31) that sucks in indoor air and cools the sucked air, and a blower (32) that blows the sucked air to a distribution chamber (5), an airflow direction changing unit (6) that changes the blowing direction of air (hereinafter referred to as blown air) blown from the indoor unit (3) to the distribution chamber (5), and a control unit (10) that controls the operation of the airflow direction changing unit (6), and the control unit (10) is capable of operating a thermo-on control mode and a thermo-off control mode. ), the thermo-on control mode is a mode that is executed when air is being cooled by the heat exchanger (31), and the thermo-off control mode is a mode that is executed when cooling by the heat exchanger (31) is stopped, and further, the control unit (10) blows the blown air toward the supply port (4C) side when the thermo-on control mode is executed, and blows the blown air toward the opposite side to the supply port (4C), i.e., in a direction where there is no supply port, when the thermo-off control mode is executed.

[0008] This makes it possible to prevent the air conditioner from supplying room air with an increased temperature directly into the room, thereby preventing the temperature of the room air from increasing too quickly.

[0009] Incidentally, the symbols in each of the parentheses above are examples showing the correspondence with the specific configurations, etc. described in the embodiments described below, and the present disclosure is not limited to the specific configurations, etc. shown by the symbols in the parentheses above. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an air conditioner according to a first embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a schematic elevational view of an air conditioner according to a first embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 is a schematic elevational view of an air conditioner according to a first embodiment. [Figure 4] 1 is a control system block diagram of an air conditioner according to a first embodiment. [Figure 5] FIG. 1 is a schematic elevational view of an air conditioner according to a first embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an air conditioner according to a first embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 1 is a schematic elevational view of an air conditioner according to a first embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 6 is a schematic elevational view of an air conditioner according to a second embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] The following "embodiments of the invention" are examples of embodiments that fall within the technical scope of the present disclosure. In other words, the invention-specific matters described in the claims are not limited to the specific configurations and structures shown in the following embodiments.

[0012] At least one of a component or part that is described with a reference numeral is provided unless otherwise specified, such as "one." The air conditioning device shown in this disclosure includes at least one of the components such as the component or part that is described with a reference numeral and the structural parts shown in the drawings.

[0013] (First embodiment) <1. Overview of air conditioning equipment> In this embodiment, an example of an air conditioning system according to the present disclosure is applied to an air conditioning system for a server room in which information and communication equipment (hereinafter referred to as ICT equipment) is installed. Fig. 1 is a top view of the server room 1. As shown in Fig. 1, at least one server rack 2 and one indoor unit 3 (in this embodiment, multiple) are installed in the server room 1.

[0014] At least one piece of ICT equipment is placed on each server rack 2. Each server rack 2 is configured like a shelf that extends to divide the server room 1. The server rack 2 is sandwiched between a space 4A on one side and a space 4B on the other side, and the space is divided in a state where air circulation is restricted.

[0015] In other words, space 4A is a cold aisle for distributing and supplying cooling air (hereinafter referred to as "cold air") to each piece of ICT equipment. The air that has cooled each piece of ICT equipment flows out of the server racks 2 and into space 4B. In other words, space 4A is a hot aisle where the warm air that has cooled the ICT equipment and rises in temperature gathers.

[0016] A number of supply ports 4C are provided in the floorboard of the space 4A. Each supply port 4C is a communication port that connects the space 4A to a distribution chamber 5 (see FIG. 2) provided under the floor. Cool air is then distributed via the distribution chamber 5 to the many supply ports 4C that communicate with each space 4A.

[0017] As shown in Fig. 2, each indoor unit 3 has at least a heat exchanger 31 and a blower 32. Each heat exchanger 31 draws warm air from each space 4B and cools the drawn warm air. The blower 32 blows the drawn and cooled air, i.e., cool air, into the distribution chamber 5.

[0018] As shown in Fig. 1, the range in which each indoor unit 3 supplies cool air is generally determined. For example, indoor unit 3A supplies cool air to space 4A set between server rack 2A and server rack 2B.

[0019] The indoor unit 3B supplies cool air to a space 4A defined between the server rack 2C and the server rack 2D. The indoor unit 3C supplies cool air to a space 4A defined between the server rack 2E and the wall.

[0020] <2. Wind direction changing section and mixing section> As shown in Fig. 3, an air direction changing section 6, a mixing section 7, etc. are provided at the air outlet of each indoor unit 3. The air direction changing section 6 is a mechanism for changing and adjusting the blowing direction of air blown from the indoor unit 3 to the distribution chamber 5 (hereinafter referred to as blown air).

[0021] The mixer 7 is a mechanism that mixes the air around the air outlet with the blown air. In other words, the mixer 7 mixes the air in the distribution chamber 5 that is present around the air blown from the indoor unit 3 to the distribution chamber 5 with the blown air.

[0022] For this reason, the air direction changing section 6 according to this embodiment changes the blowing direction of the air that has been mixed in the mixer 7 (hereinafter referred to as mixed air) as blown air. Note that, like an ejector pump, the mixer 7 according to this embodiment draws in and mixes the surrounding air by utilizing the sucking action of the air blown out from the indoor unit 3.

[0023] 3. Control of indoor unit and airflow direction change unit (see Figure 4) 3.1 Overview of control Each airflow direction changing unit 6 and each indoor unit 3 is controlled by a control unit 10 provided in the corresponding indoor unit 3. Note that controlling the indoor unit 3 means controlling the amount of air blown by the blower 32 and the amount of heat generated by the heat exchanger 31.

[0024] In this embodiment, the amount of heat generated in the heat exchanger 31 is controlled by a capacity regulator 33 provided in the indoor unit 3. The capacity regulator 33 is, for example, a valve that adjusts the flow rate of cold water or hot water supplied to the heat exchanger 31.

[0025] Detection signals from the air-fuel mixture temperature sensor S1 and the room temperature sensor S2 are input to the control unit 10. The air-fuel mixture temperature sensor S1 detects the temperature of the air supplied to the distribution chamber 5 (in this embodiment, the mixed air).

[0026] The indoor temperature sensor S2 detects the temperature of the indoor air within the server room 1 within the range to which the indoor unit 3 should supply cool air. The control unit 10 then controls the operation of the blower 32, the capacity adjuster 33, the airflow direction changing unit 6, etc., using the detection signals of the mixture temperature sensor S1 and the indoor temperature sensor S2.

[0027] The control unit 10 is configured by a computer having a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, etc. Software for executing the following controls is stored in advance in a nonvolatile storage unit such as a ROM.

[0028] <Control of blowers and capacity regulators> The control unit 10 controls the operation of the blower 32 and the capacity regulator 33 so that the temperature detected by the room temperature sensor S2 becomes a preset target room temperature (hereinafter referred to as the set temperature).

[0029] Specifically, the control unit 10 controls the operation of the capacity adjuster 33 so that the temperature detected by the mixture air temperature sensor S1 becomes the target blow-out temperature. The target blow-out temperature is a target temperature of the mixture air, and is determined based on the set temperature in accordance with a predetermined rule.

[0030] At this time, the control unit 10 controls the operation of the blower 32 so that the air blowing volume is determined based on the operating state of the capacity adjuster 33. In other words, the control unit 10 indirectly uses the detection signals of the mixture temperature sensor S1 and the room temperature sensor S2 to control the operation of the blower 32 in accordance with predetermined rules.

[0031] When the control unit 10 determines that the temperature detected by the mixture temperature sensor S1 is low and that the mixture is in a supercooled state, it operates the blower 32 while stopping the generation of cold energy in the heat exchanger 31. Hereinafter, this control mode will be referred to as the thermo-off control mode.

[0032] Incidentally, when the thermo-off control mode according to this embodiment is executed, the supply of cold water to the heat exchanger 31 is stopped, and the blower 32 is operated to such an extent that the air pressure in the distribution chamber 5 can be maintained at a predetermined pressure.

[0033] When the temperature detected by the mixture temperature sensor S1 is equal to or higher than the target outlet temperature during the thermo-off control mode, the control unit 10 causes the heat exchanger 31 to generate cold and operates the blower 32. Hereinafter, this control mode will be referred to as the thermo-on control mode.

[0034] <Control of wind direction changing unit> When the control unit 10 is in the thermo-on control mode, it blows the ventilation air toward the supply port 4C (see Figures 1 to 3), and when the control unit 10 is in the thermo-off control mode, it blows the ventilation air toward the opposite side of the supply port 4C, i.e., in the direction where the supply port 4C does not exist (see Figures 5 to 7).

[0035] For example, in Fig. 6, indoor units 3A and 3C are in the thermo-on control mode, and indoor unit 3B is in the thermo-off control mode. Therefore, the air supplied from indoor unit 3B to distribution chamber 5 is blown in a direction where there is no supply port 4C.

[0036] 4. Features of the Air Conditioner According to the Present Embodiment In the air conditioning device of this embodiment, when the thermo-on control mode is executed, the ventilation air is blown toward the supply port 4C side, and when the thermo-off control mode is executed, the ventilation air is blown toward the opposite side of the supply port 4C, i.e., in the direction where there is no supply port.

[0037] This makes it possible to prevent the air conditioner from supplying room air with an increased temperature directly into the room, thereby preventing the temperature of the room air from increasing too quickly.

[0038] In this air conditioner, the air mixed in the mixer 7 is used as the blown air, and the blowing direction of the blown air is changed. Therefore, the temperature of the blown air of the indoor unit 3 in the thermo-off control mode is prevented from rising too early.

[0039] In this embodiment, a wall is provided on the side opposite the supply port 4C, i.e., on the side where there is no supply port (see Figures 5 and 7), and as a result the blown air collides with the wall, mixing of the blown air from the indoor unit 3 in the thermo-off control mode with other air can be promoted.

[0040] (Second embodiment) In the air conditioners according to the above-described embodiments, the air direction changing section 6 is provided with a mixing section 7. In contrast, the air conditioner according to the present embodiment is (a) configured such that the mixing section 7 is not provided in the air direction changing section 6 (see FIG. 8), or (b) configured such that the air direction changing section 6 is not provided with the air direction changing section 6 and only the mixing section 7 is provided.

[0041] 8, the same components as those in the above-described embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals. Therefore, in this embodiment, duplicated explanations are omitted. Incidentally, in a configuration including only the mixer 7, the blowing direction of the blown air is toward the supply port 4C.

[0042] (Other embodiments) In the above-described embodiment, each indoor unit 3 is provided with a control unit 10, and each control unit 10 is configured to execute control independently. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this. That is, the present disclosure may be configured, for example, to have one control unit integrally control multiple indoor units 3 and multiple airflow direction changing units 6, or the control units 10 provided in each indoor unit 3 perform control in a cooperative manner.

[0043] In the above-described embodiment, the operation of the indoor unit 3 is controlled using the temperature of the air blown out from the indoor unit 3. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this. That is, the present disclosure may be configured to control the operation of the indoor unit 3 using, for example, the temperature of the air drawn into the indoor unit 3 (hereinafter referred to as the suction temperature). In this configuration, it is desirable to directly use the suction temperature to control the cooling capacity generated by the heat exchanger 31 and the blower 32.

[0044] In the above-described embodiment, the blown air is cooled by supplying cold water to the heat exchanger 31. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this. That is, in the present disclosure, for example, the heat exchanger 31 may be configured as an evaporator of a vapor compression refrigerator. The capacity regulator may also be realized by adjusting the rotation speed of the compressor.

[0045] The air conditioner according to the above embodiment is an example in which the present disclosure is applied to a cooling operation. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this. That is, the present disclosure may also be applied to, for example, a heating operation.

[0046] In the above-described embodiment, the distribution chamber 5 is configured to be provided under the floor. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this. That is, the present disclosure may be configured to be provided on the ceiling, for example.

[0047] In the above-described embodiment, the space 4A on one side of the server rack 2 and the space 4B on the other side are partitioned in a state in which air flow therebetween is restricted. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this. That is, the present disclosure may be configured such that air can flow between the space 4A and the space 4B, for example.

[0048] Furthermore, the present disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiments as long as it conforms to the spirit of the disclosure described in the above-described embodiments. Therefore, the present disclosure may be a configuration in which at least two of the above-described embodiments are combined, or a configuration in which any of the components illustrated or described with reference numerals in the above-described embodiments is eliminated. [Explanation of symbols]

[0049] 1. Server room 2. Server rack 3… Indoor unit 5...Distribution chamber 6... Wind direction change section 7… Mixing section 10... Control section 31…Each heat exchanger 32… Blower 33…Capacity Adjustment Machine

Claims

1. An air conditioning device that supplies conditioned air into a room through a distribution chamber having a plurality of supply ports communicating with the room, an indoor unit having a heat exchanger that draws in indoor air and cools the drawn-in air, and a blower that blows the drawn-in air into the distribution chamber; an airflow direction changing unit that changes the blowing direction of air (hereinafter referred to as blown air) blown from the indoor unit to the distribution chamber; a control unit that controls the operation of the airflow direction changing unit and is capable of executing a thermo-on control mode and a thermo-off control mode; the thermo-on control mode is a mode executed when air is cooled by the heat exchanger, the thermo-off control mode is a mode executed when cooling by the heat exchanger is stopped, Furthermore, the control unit blows the ventilation air toward the supply port side when the thermo-on control mode is executed, and blows the ventilation air toward the opposite side from the supply port when the thermo-off control mode is executed.

2. An air conditioning device that supplies conditioned air into a room through a distribution chamber having a plurality of supply ports communicating with the room, an indoor unit having a heat exchanger that draws in indoor air and cools the drawn-in air, and a blower that blows the drawn-in air into the distribution chamber; a mixing unit that mixes air that is present in the distribution chamber around the air supplied from the indoor unit to the distribution chamber, and blows the mixed air into the distribution chamber; a plurality of temperature sensors for detecting the temperature of the air blown out from the mixing section; a control unit capable of controlling the operation of at least the fan by utilizing the detected value of the temperature sensor; An air conditioning unit comprising:

3. an airflow direction changing unit that changes the blowing direction of air (hereinafter referred to as blown air) blown from the mixing unit to the distribution chamber; a second control unit that controls the operation of the airflow direction changing unit, the second control unit being capable of a thermo-on control mode and a thermo-off control mode; the thermo-on control mode is a mode executed when air is cooled by the heat exchanger, the thermo-off control mode is a mode executed when cooling by the heat exchanger is stopped, The air conditioning device according to claim 2, further comprising: a second control unit configured to, when the thermo-on control mode is being executed, blow the ventilation air toward the supply port side; and, when the thermo-off control mode is being executed, blow the ventilation air toward the opposite side from the supply port.

4. The air conditioner according to claim 3 , wherein the mixing section is provided in the air direction changing section.

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