Indoor unit

Abstract

To provide an indoor unit capable of preventing erroneous detection by a human detecting sensor, and capable of properly controlling indoor ventilation.SOLUTION: The present invention includes an indoor unit 10, and a control section 20 for controlling the indoor unit 10. The indoor unit 10 includes: a blowout port 12; a flap 13 which is rotatably provided at the blowout port 12 and can change a wind direction angle in a vertical direction; and a human detecting sensor 15 which detects the presence / absence of a person in a room. The control section 20 detects the presence / absence of a person on the basis of a detection signal by the human detecting sensor 15 when the flap 13 is located at the uppermost position while the flap 13 swings. The uppermost position is out of a detection region of the human detecting sensor 15.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an indoor unit, and more particularly to an indoor unit that performs air conditioning while detecting people using a human presence sensor. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, for example, an air conditioner has been disclosed in which the control unit executes a human detection operation function in which the air blowing direction is adjusted by a wind direction changing blade when an infrared sensor detects a person, and the control unit prohibits the air blowing direction from becoming a specified direction when the human detection operation function is being executed, and releases the wind direction restriction when the human detection operation function is stopped (see, for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2009-156529 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In the above-mentioned conventional technology, when the human detection operation function is performed by the infrared sensor, the swing range of the air direction changing blade is limited to adjust the direction of the blown air. Therefore, although it is possible to prevent the infrared sensor from erroneously detecting the presence of a person, since it restricts the range of swing of the air direction changing blades, there is a risk that it will not be possible to properly control the air flow throughout the room. The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned points, and aims to provide an indoor unit that can prevent erroneous detection by a human presence sensor and can properly control the air flow within the room. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In order to achieve the above object, the indoor unit according to the present invention includes an air outlet, a flap that is rotatably provided at the air outlet and that can change the airflow angle in the vertical direction, and a human presence sensor that detects the presence or absence of a person in the room, The flap performing a swing operation is located in a detection area of ​​the human presence sensor, and the flap is located outside the detection area of ​​the human presence sensor when the flap is located at the uppermost position, When the flap is in the uppermost position while the flap is swinging, When the flap is temporarily stopped, Detects the presence or absence of a person based on a detection signal from the human presence sensor do, It is characterized by:

[0006] According to this, when the flap is in the uppermost position, the presence or absence of a person is detected based on the detection signal from the human presence sensor, and since the uppermost position is outside the detection area of ​​the human presence sensor, the movement of the flap does not cause a disturbance, and erroneous detection by the human presence sensor can be prevented. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the present invention, the operation of the flap does not become a disturbance when the motion of the motion sensor detects a human presence, and erroneous detection by the motion sensor can be prevented. As a result, the motion of the flap can be swung to the maximum extent while preventing erroneous detection by the motion sensor, and appropriate air flow control can be performed in the room. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of an indoor unit according to the present invention; [Diagram 2] Enlarged view of the indoor unit of this embodiment. [Diagram 3] A block diagram showing a control configuration of the present embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a human presence sensor and a flap in the embodiment; [Diagram 5] Graph showing the waveform of the detection result by the human presence sensor [Figure 6] Flowchart showing the operation of this embodiment DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] The first invention comprises an air outlet, a flap that is rotatably attached to the air outlet and capable of changing the airflow angle in the vertical direction, and a human presence sensor that detects the presence or absence of a person in the room, and when the flap is in a swinging motion and is in the uppermost position, the presence or absence of a person is detected based on a detection signal from the human presence sensor, and the uppermost position is outside the detection range of the human presence sensor. According to this, when the flap is in the uppermost position, the presence or absence of a person is detected based on the detection signal from the motion sensor, and since the uppermost position is outside the detection area of ​​the motion sensor, the motion of the flap does not cause disturbance and false detection by the motion sensor can be prevented. As a result, the motion of the flap can be swung to the maximum while preventing false detection by the motion sensor, and appropriate air flow control can be performed in the room.

[0010] The second invention comprises an air outlet, a flap that is rotatably attached to the air outlet and capable of changing the airflow angle in the vertical direction, and a human presence sensor that detects the presence or absence of a person in the room, and when the flap is in a swinging motion and is in its lowest position, the presence or absence of a person is detected based on a detection signal from the human presence sensor, and the lowest position is outside the detection range of the human presence sensor. According to this, when the flap is in the lowest position, the presence or absence of a person is detected based on the detection signal from the human presence sensor, and since the lowest position is outside the detection area of ​​the human presence sensor, the operation of the flap does not cause a disturbance and false detection by the human presence sensor can be prevented. As a result, the flap can be swung to the maximum extent while preventing false detection by the human presence sensor, and appropriate air flow control can be performed in the room.

[0011] A third invention includes an indoor unit and a control unit that controls the indoor unit, wherein the indoor unit includes an air outlet, a flap that is rotatably mounted on the air outlet and capable of changing the air direction angle, and a human presence sensor that detects the presence or absence of a person in the room, and when the flap is at the end of its swing motion while it is swinging, the control unit detects the presence or absence of a person based on a detection signal from the human presence sensor, and when the flap is at the end of its swing motion, the position of the end is outside the detection area of ​​the human presence sensor. According to this, when the flap is located at the end, the presence or absence of a person is detected based on the detection signal from the human presence sensor, and since the end position is outside the detection area of ​​the human presence sensor, the movement of the flap does not cause a disturbance and false detection by the human presence sensor can be prevented. As a result, the flap can be swung to the maximum extent while preventing false detection by the human presence sensor, and appropriate air flow control can be performed in the room.

[0012] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of an indoor unit according to the present invention, and Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the indoor unit.

[0013] As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the system includes an indoor unit 10 that is installed on a wall surface or the like inside a room. The indoor unit 10 includes a box-shaped housing 11, and the housing 11 houses an indoor heat exchanger, an indoor fan, and a fan motor (not shown). An air outlet 12 that blows air into the room after heat exchange by the indoor heat exchanger is provided on the lower front surface of the housing 11. A flap 13 for adjusting the direction in which air is blown out from the air outlet 12 is provided on the air outlet 12, and the flap 13 is supported at both ends and is provided so as to be freely swingable in the vertical direction.

[0014] An outdoor unit (not shown) is connected to the indoor unit 10 via a refrigerant pipe. The outdoor unit houses components that constitute a refrigerant circuit, such as a compressor, a four-way valve, and an outdoor heat exchanger, all of which are not shown. For example, when performing cooling operation, the compressor is driven, and the high-temperature, high-pressure gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor flows into the outdoor heat exchanger, where it exchanges heat with the outdoor air and condenses and liquefies. The liquefied refrigerant is reduced to a predetermined low pressure by an expansion valve or the like, and evaporates by exchanging heat with the indoor air in the indoor heat exchanger. The indoor air cooled by the evaporation of the refrigerant is blown into the room by the indoor fan, cooling the room. The refrigerant evaporated in the indoor heat exchanger is returned to the compressor of the outdoor unit through the refrigerant piping.

[0015] A human presence sensor 15 is disposed on one side of the air outlet 12 disposed on the lower front surface of the housing 11. The human presence sensor 15 is configured, for example, by an infrared sensor, and is configured to be able to detect whether or not a person is present in the room.

[0016] Next, the control configuration in this embodiment will be described. Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of this embodiment. Fig. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the human sensor 15 and the flap in this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, in this embodiment, for example, a control unit 20 is provided which is composed of a CPU, a memory, etc. and operates based on a predetermined program, and the control unit 20 is configured to control the operation of each device that constitutes the indoor unit 10. In addition, the control unit 20 is configured to input detection results such as the presence or absence of a person by the human presence sensor 15, and to control a fan motor 21 that drives the indoor fan of the indoor unit 10 and a flap drive motor 22 that drives the flap 13.

[0017] The control unit 20 is also configured to determine, based on the detection result of the human presence sensor 15 of the indoor unit 10, whether or not a person is present in the room. In this embodiment, the control unit 20 is configured to be able to perform control in a flap-linked mode. The flap-linked mode controls the timing for utilizing the detection result of the human sensor 15 when the flap 13 is swinging.

[0018] The flap 13 swings as indicated by the dashed line in Fig. 4. Therefore, when the flap 13 is swinging, if the motion of the human sensor 15 is detected, the motion of the flap 13 may enter the detection area of ​​the human sensor 15 as shown in Fig. 4. If all of the detection results of the human presence sensor 15 are used when the flap 13 is swinging in this manner, there is a risk that the human presence sensor 15 will malfunction when the swinging flap 13 passes through the detection area of ​​the human presence sensor 15.

[0019] Therefore, in this embodiment, when the control unit 20 is controlled in the flap linkage mode, the control unit 20 is configured to acquire the detection result from the human presence sensor 15 only when the flap 13 is under swing control and the flap 13 is located in the uppermost and lowermost positions. Specifically, the control unit 20 controls the flap drive motor 22 to stop the flap drive motor 22 when the flap 13 is located at the uppermost position or the lowermost position, thereby temporarily stopping the flap 13. The control unit 20 is configured to obtain the detection result of the human presence sensor 15 when the flap 13 is temporarily stopped.

[0020] In this embodiment, the time for which the flap 13 is temporarily stopped is set to the sum of the time until the waveform of the detection signal from the human presence sensor 15 stabilizes due to the stopping of the flap 13, and the time during which the detection signal can be acquired by the human presence sensor 15.

[0021] FIG. 5 is a graph showing a waveform of the detection result by the human presence sensor 15. As shown in FIG. 5, it is known that it takes time for the waveform of the detection signal by the human presence sensor 15 to stabilize after the flap 13 stops. Therefore, if the detection result by the human presence sensor 15 is obtained in a state in which the waveform of the detection signal by the human presence sensor 15 is not stable, there is a risk of erroneous detection of a person. Specifically, although it depends on the sensitivity and performance of the human presence sensor 15, in this embodiment, the time until the waveform of the detection signal by the human presence sensor 15 stabilizes when the flap 13 stops is set to 2 seconds, and the time during which the detection signal can be acquired by the human presence sensor 15 is set to 2 seconds.

[0022] The flap-linked mode is a control that is performed only when the flap 13 is swinging. Therefore, when the flap 13 is fixed at any position, the control in the flap-linked mode is not performed, and all detection signals from the human sensor 15 are acquired by the control unit 20, and people in the room are monitored. The control unit 20 is also configured to perform control in the flap-linked mode in the energy saving mode in which the motion control of the flap 13 and the drive control of the fan drive motor are automatically performed in response to the presence of a person by the human presence sensor 15. In other words, when the control in the energy saving mode is not performed, the control in the flap-linked mode is not performed.

[0023] Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In this embodiment, first, the control unit 20 determines whether or not the energy saving mode is selected (ST1), and if the energy saving mode is not set, stops the human sensor 15 (ST2). When the energy saving mode is set (ST1: YES), the control unit 20 judges whether the flap 13 is set to swing (ST3), and when the flap 13 is set to swing, the control unit 20 performs control in the flap linked mode (ST5). When the flap 13 is not set to swing (ST3: NO), the control unit 20 constantly performs human detection by the human sensor 15 (ST4).

[0024] When the flap interlocking mode is started, the control unit 20 drives the flap drive motor 22 to start the swinging operation of the flap 13 (ST6), and when the flap moves to the uppermost or lowermost position, it controls to stop the flap drive motor 22 to stop the flap 13 (ST7). At this time, while the flap 13 is being driven, the control unit 20 discards the detection signal from the human sensor 15 (ST8). Then, after the flap 13 stops (ST7: YES), if a predetermined time (2 seconds) has elapsed (ST9: YES), the control unit 20 acquires a detection signal from the human sensor 15 (ST10). At this time, until the predetermined time (2 seconds) has elapsed (ST9: NO) after the flap 13 stops, the control unit 20 discards the detection signal from the human sensor 15 (ST11).

[0025] If a predetermined time (2 seconds) has elapsed since the human presence sensor 15 started acquiring a detection signal (ST12: YES), the control unit 20 determines that detection by the human presence sensor 15 has ended (ST13) and drives the flap drive motor 22 to start the swing operation of the flap 13 (ST14). Thereafter, the control unit 20 controls the flap 13 to repeatedly perform the above-mentioned operations from the start of swinging (ST6).

[0026] As described above, in this embodiment, the control unit 20 acquires the detection results from the human presence sensor 15 and controls the swing operation of the flap 13, and when the flap 13 is swinging, the control unit 20 performs control in a flap linkage mode in which the detection results from the human presence sensor 15 are acquired only when the flap 13 is located in the uppermost or lowermost position. As a result, the detection result by the motion sensor 15 is obtained only when the flap 13 is located at the uppermost or lowermost position, so that the movement of the flap 13 does not become a disturbance when the motion sensor 15 detects the motion, and it is possible to prevent erroneous detection by the motion sensor 15. As a result, it is possible to swing the flap 13 to the maximum extent while preventing erroneous detection by the motion sensor 15, and it is possible to perform appropriate air blowing control in the room.

[0027] In addition, in this embodiment, when the control unit 20 performs control in the flap linkage mode, it controls the flap 13 to temporarily stop when the flap 13 is positioned at the uppermost position and the lowermost position, and after stopping the flap 13, it obtains the detection result by the human presence sensor 15 a predetermined time later. As a result, when the flap 13 is positioned at the uppermost and lowermost positions, the flap 13 is temporarily stopped and then the detection result by the human presence sensor 15 is obtained after a predetermined time has passed. Therefore, when the human presence sensor 15 detects the flap 13, the operation of the flap 13 does not become a disturbance, and erroneous detection by the human presence sensor 15 can be prevented.

[0028] In addition, in this embodiment, the time for which the flap 13 is temporarily stopped is the sum of the time until the waveform of the detection signal by the human presence sensor 15 stabilizes due to the stopping of the flap 13, and the time during which the detection signal can be acquired by the human presence sensor 15. As a result, the detection signal by the human presence sensor 15 can be acquired after the waveform of the detection signal by the human presence sensor 15 has stabilized due to the halting of the flap, and a stable detection signal by the human presence sensor 15 can be acquired. [Industrial Applicability]

[0029] As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent erroneous detection by the human presence sensor and to properly control the air flow in the room, and therefore it is suitable as an indoor unit equipped with a human presence sensor. [Explanation of symbols]

[0030] 10 Indoor unit 11. Cabinet 12 Air outlet 13 Flap 15 Human Sensor 20 Control section 21 Fan motor 22 Flap drive motor

Claims

1. The air conditioner is provided with an air outlet, a flap that is rotatably provided at the air outlet and that can change the airflow angle in the vertical direction, and a human presence sensor that detects the presence or absence of a person in a room, The flap performing a swing operation is located in a detection area of ​​the human sensor, and the flap is located outside the detection area of ​​the human sensor when the flap is located at the uppermost position, and detecting the presence or absence of a person based on a detection signal from the human presence sensor when the flap is temporarily stopped in a state in which the flap is in a swinging motion and is located at a top position. The indoor unit is characterized by:

2. The air conditioner is provided with an air outlet, a flap that is rotatably provided at the air outlet and that can change the airflow angle in the vertical direction, and a human presence sensor that detects the presence or absence of a person in a room, The flap performing a swing operation is located in a detection area of ​​the human sensor, and the flap is located outside the detection area of ​​the human sensor when the flap is located at a lowermost position, When the flap is in a swinging motion and is located at a lowest position, when the flap is temporarily stopped, the presence or absence of a person is detected based on a detection signal from the human presence sensor. The indoor unit is characterized by:

3. The indoor unit includes an air outlet, a flap that is rotatably attached to the air outlet and that can change the airflow angle, and a human presence sensor that detects the presence or absence of a person in the room; The flap performing a swing operation is located in a detection area of ​​the human sensor, and the flap is located outside the detection area of ​​the human sensor when the flap is located at an end, the control unit detects the presence or absence of a person based on a detection signal from the human presence sensor when the flap is temporarily stopped in a state in which the flap is swinging and the flap is positioned at an end of the swing motion; The indoor unit is characterized by:

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