Air Conditioning System

Abstract

To appropriately perform air-conditioning control in accordance with a movement of a person.SOLUTION: An air-conditioning system comprises: a tag 11 which transmits positional information; an anchor 12 which is arranged at a predetermined position in a facility and receives and transmits the positional information of the tag 11; an air-conditioning section 13 which sends air; and control means 14 which controls the air-conditioning section 13 to send the air to a position of the tag 11. The control means 14 has: predicted position calculation means 21 (refer to Fig. 2) which calculates a flow line vector of the tag 11 based on the positional information of the tag 11 received from the anchor 12 and predicts a next flow line vector of the tag 11 based on the calculated flow line vector; and angle calculation means 22 (refer to Fig. 2) which calculates an air sending angle of the air-conditioning section 13 when the air-conditioning section 13 sends the air toward the position calculated by the predicted position calculation means 21.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an air conditioning system. [Background technology]

[0002] A conventional technique in this field is disclosed in JP 2019-105436 A. In the air conditioning system described in this publication, the air conditioning area is virtually divided, and when a person enters a divided area, air conditioning control is performed so that the wind is directed toward the area. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] , JP 2019-105436 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Conventional occupancy-tracking air conditioning control systems aim the air conditioner's outlet in the direction of people to blow air, but there are cases where they cannot track people in real time when they are moving.

[0005] Furthermore, even when the air conditioner's outlet is aimed at a person, it may take several seconds for the cool or warm air to reach that person, making it difficult to accurately direct air at the person being followed.

[0006] Furthermore, depending on the type of sensor used for tracking, machines and other objects may be mistaken for people.

[0007] Due to limitations in the performance and number of sensors, the space in which the system can track people may be limited, resulting in a narrower air conditioning range or only a pre-set area being air-conditioned.

[0008] In addition, there are many different types of production lines, and in order to adapt the air conditioning system to each production line, customization is required for each one, which increases costs. In this case, customization is required again when the line is changed. Here, there is also the problem that predicting the movement of workers on a production line is difficult because it depends on facility layout information such as road width and shelf position.

[0009] For example, in fields other than air conditioning, there are systems that track and predict people's movements. These systems predict people's movements to predict the density of people inside and outside facilities such as stores and public facilities, as well as the popularity of the facilities. However, this system is unable to identify people, and when this system is applied to a production system, there is a problem in that it is unable to identify workers inside and outside the production line.

[0010] The present invention provides an air conditioning system that appropriately controls air conditioning in response to human movement. [Means for solving the problem]

[0011] The air conditioning system of the present invention comprises a tag that transmits location information, an anchor that is placed at a predetermined position within a facility and transmits and receives location information of the tag, an air conditioning unit that blows air, and a control means that controls the air blowing from the air conditioning unit, wherein the control means has a predicted position calculation means that calculates a movement vector of the tag from the location information of the tag received from the anchor, and predicts the next movement vector of the tag from the calculated movement vector to calculate a predicted arrival position, and an angle calculation means that calculates the air blowing angle from the air conditioning unit toward the predicted arrival position calculated by the predicted position calculation means. This makes it possible to predict people's movements and control air conditioning. Effect of the Invention

[0012] This makes it possible to provide an air conditioning system that appropriately controls air conditioning in response to people's movements. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of components of an air conditioning system. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a control unit. [Diagram 3] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a model of prediction of a person's position based on a flow line vector. [Figure 4] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of conditions for flow line prediction and actual measurement results of flow line prediction. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operation flow of the air conditioning system. [Figure 6] FIG. 1 shows an example of the use of a ducted air conditioner in a factory environment. [Figure 7] FIG. 1 shows an example of the use of a long air conditioning unit connected to a duct in a factory environment. [Figure 8] 11 is a diagram showing an example in which the airflow direction can be changed only to a predetermined direction. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in Fig. 1, an air conditioning system 1 includes a tag 11 held by an operator, an anchor 12 fixed to a ceiling or the like, an air conditioning unit 13 that blows air toward the operator, and a control means 14 that controls the air conditioning unit 13.

[0015] First, we will explain the environment in which the air conditioning system 1 is used. The air conditioning system 1 is used in facilities where people move within a predetermined area, and is particularly used in a factory environment where people perform work. Typically, the environment includes a passageway for people to move around and an area where people cannot enter because equipment, transport vehicles, and other items are arranged therein.

[0016] The tag 11 is a tag that is carried by a person. For example, the tag 11 is attached to a hat or the collar of a jacket, and moves with the person. In the following, the movement of the tag 11 may be treated as the movement of the person carrying the tag 11.

[0017] More specifically, the air conditioning system 1 uses multiple tags 11, with one person corresponding to each tag 11. For example, each person placed in the environment has one tag 11 on which a unique ID is recorded.

[0018] The tag 11 has a function of transmitting a signal having location information to the anchor 12. That is, the tag 11 can transmit to the anchor 12 information that identifies and positions a person within an environment.

[0019] The anchors 12 are transceivers that are placed in the environment at a predetermined distance from each other, and are fixed to building pillars, beams, etc. The anchors 12 can also be installed near places that are in the shadow of equipment. This makes it possible to determine the position of a person in cooperation with the tag 11, even if the person moves to a place that is in the shadow of equipment.

[0020] The tag 11 and anchor 12 use a UWB (Ultra Wide Band) positioning system to determine the position of the person carrying the tag 11 in real time. An example of a required positioning condition in an environment such as a factory where the air conditioning system 1 is used is a positioning accuracy of several tens of centimeters and a detection range (coverage area) of several tens of meters. The UWB positioning system can achieve both this positioning accuracy and detection range, and is therefore suitable as a positioning system when the air conditioning system 1 is used in an environment such as a factory.

[0021] The positioning system using the tag 11 and the anchor 12 is not limited to using the UWB positioning system. For example, it is also possible to adopt a method using Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) or a beacon. Depending on the requirements for positioning accuracy and detection range for each environment, positioning using a camera, RFID (Radio Frequency Identifier), GPS (Global Positioning System), base station position information, etc. can be used, but the following description will be given assuming that only UWB is used.

[0022] Air conditioning unit 13 is a blower fixed to the ceiling of a building, etc. For example, air conditioning unit 13 has blower unit 13a that blows out cold air and hot air, and change control unit 13b that changes the direction of blower unit 13a.

[0023] Note that change control unit 13b may control the direction of blowing unit 13a itself, or may control airflow manipulation blades provided on blowing unit 13a. In other words, the method for changing the airflow blown out from blowing unit 13a by the control of change control unit 13b can be changed arbitrarily.

[0024] 2, the control means 14 includes a predicted position calculation means 21 that predicts the position of a person carrying the tag 11, and an angle calculation means 22 that calculates the angle at which the air conditioning unit 13 is directed in order to blow air from the air conditioning unit 13, based on the relationship between the position at which the air conditioning unit 13 is provided and the position of the tag 11. In other words, the angle calculation means 22 calculates the angle from the air conditioning unit 13 to the predicted position of the person carrying the tag 11 several seconds later.

[0025] For example, the angle calculation means 22 can set the angle when the blowing section 13a of the air conditioning unit 13 blows air directly downward as a reference angle (0°), and calculate a relative angle based on the three-dimensional coordinates of the blowing section 13a and the three-dimensional coordinates of the predicted position of the tag 11 a few seconds later.

[0026] Typically, the control means 14 is a computer configured with a main storage device, an auxiliary storage device, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and the like, but is not limited to this.

[0027] The predicted position calculation means 21 receives the person's position information transmitted from the anchor 12, and predicts the destination to which the person carrying the tag 11 will move.

[0028] Here, the position of the person predicted by the predicted position calculation means 21 is the position at the time when the cold air or hot air reaches the position of the person holding the tag 11 when the angle of the blowing section 13a in the air conditioning unit 13 is adjusted and the blowing of cold air or hot air begins at the adjusted angle.

[0029] As an example, in the case where the arrangement is such that it takes about three seconds for the airflow discharged from the air outlet of the air conditioning unit 13 to reach the person carrying the tag 11, the predicted position calculation means 21 can calculate the predicted arrival position of the person carrying the tag 11 after about three seconds of movement. In this case, it is also possible to shorten the predicted arrival time if the person carrying the tag 11 is moving closer to the air conditioning unit 13, and conversely, to lengthen the predicted arrival time if the person carrying the tag 11 is moving away from the air conditioning unit 13.

[0030] Moreover, the predicted position calculation means 21 can use AI (Artificial Intelligence).

[0031] For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the predicted position calculation means 21 can predict the next movement vector from the past movement line vector of the tag 11 and calculate the predicted position of the tag 11.

[0032] Figure 4 shows an example of the results of actual measurements of traffic flow prediction, showing that when people were moving continuously, the prediction accuracy rate was 77% when the allowable error radius was within 500 mm and the prediction time was 3 seconds.

[0033] The angle calculation means 22 calculates the angle from the blowing portion 13a of the air conditioning unit 13 to the predicted position of the person carrying the tag 11 based on the prediction result of the person's position by the predicted position calculation means 21 and the arrangement of the air conditioning unit 13.

[0034] As a prerequisite for the calculation, the predicted position calculation means 21 and the angle calculation means 22 can perform calculations assuming that the person carrying the tag 11 moves on the XY plane, that is, at a position where the height in the Z direction is 0. Similarly, the predicted position calculation means 21 and the angle calculation means 22 can perform calculations assuming that the blowing unit 13a of the air conditioning unit 13 does not move in the XY direction, but is arranged at a predetermined height in the Z direction. The prerequisites for this calculation can be changed arbitrarily.

[0035] Next, the operation of the air conditioning system 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

[0036] First, a person carrying a tag 11 moves around within an environment (S1), and the tag 11 transmits a UWB signal including location information toward an anchor 12.

[0037] The anchor 12 receives the UWB signal transmitted from the tag 11 (S2). As a result, the anchor 12 detects the position coordinates (X, Y) of the person. The anchor 12 also outputs information on the position coordinates (X, Y) of the person to the control means 14.

[0038] The predicted position calculation means 21 of the control means 14 calculates the predicted position (X, Y) of the person at the position coordinates (X, Y) in a few seconds. AI ,Y AI ) is calculated (S3). For example, the predicted position calculation means 21 predicts the predicted position of the person three seconds later using a movement line vector from the past to the current position and using AI. Note that the method of predicting the position of the person's destination by the predicted position calculation means 21 is not limited to this.

[0039] The angle calculation means 22 of the control means 14 calculates the predicted position (X AI ,Y AI), the control means 14 calculates the angle from the blow-out portion 13a to the predicted position of the person carrying the tag 11 (S4). The control means 14 transmits information on the calculated angle of the blow-out portion 13a to the air conditioning unit 13.

[0040] Air conditioning unit 13 receives the information on the angle calculated by angle calculation means 22 and changes the direction of blowing unit 13a (S5). Specifically, change control unit 13b controls the direction of blowing unit 13a based on the information on the angle calculated by angle calculation means 22.

[0041] Thereafter, the air conditioning unit 13 starts blowing air (S6). That is, the air conditioning unit 13 blows air in the direction of the blowing unit 13a whose angle has been adjusted, thereby adjusting the predicted position (X AI ,Y AI ) can be targeted for blowing air.

[0042] Therefore, in the air conditioning system 1, when air is blown from the air conditioning unit 13 towards a person moving within an environment, the air can be blown by following the movement of the person while predicting the destination of the person.

[0043] In addition, since air conditioning can be controlled based on information from the tag 11 that can be carried by a person, unnecessary air conditioning control is not required, and therefore an increase in the environmental load can be suppressed.

[0044] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be modified as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention. In other words, the above description has been omitted or simplified as appropriate for the purpose of clarity, and a person skilled in the art can easily modify, add, or convert each element of the embodiment within the scope of the present invention.

[0045] 6, for example, the air conditioning unit 13 may be provided in a factory environment with a duct 31 provided on the ceiling, a blowing unit 13a that protrudes from the duct 31 and is capable of changing its direction, and a change control unit 13b that controls the direction and position of the blowing unit 13a. With this structure, a single air conditioning unit 13 connected to the duct can condition a wide area within the environment.

[0046] As shown in FIG. 7, in a factory environment, the air conditioning unit 13 may be provided with a duct 31 provided on the ceiling, a long protruding portion 13a that is held in a sliding manner on rails and whose direction can be changed, and a change control unit 13b that controls the direction and position of the blowing portion 13a.

[0047] For example, in the air conditioning unit 13 shown in Fig. 7, the blowing part 13a can slide on a rail, and the position can be changed within a predetermined range. Here, the change control part 13b can control the position of the blowing part 13a, which changes by moving on the rail. Furthermore, with this structure, a single air conditioning unit 13 connected to a duct can perform air conditioning over a wider range.

[0048] In this way, when using an air conditioning unit 13 in which the position of the blowing portion 13a can be significantly changed, it is desirable to correct the position information of the blowing portion 13a before performing the calculation by the angle calculation means 22.

[0049] 8, a swinging air conditioning air supply mechanism that changes the air conditioning range only in the X direction on a predetermined XY plane in the environment can be used as the air conditioning unit 13. For example, in an environment in which shelves continuing in the X direction are arranged with gaps in the Y direction, and a passage extending in the X direction is provided, it is possible to perform air supply over a wide range while limiting the change in the direction of the air supply from the air conditioning unit 13 to the X direction so that air is only blown into this passage. [Explanation of symbols]

[0050] 1. Air conditioning system 11 Tags 12. Anchor 13 Air Conditioning Section 13a Speech bubble section 13b Change control section 14 Control Means 21 Predicted position calculation means 22 Angle calculation means 31 Duct

Claims

[Claim 1] Tags that move with people and transmit location information; An anchor that is placed at a predetermined position within a facility and transmits and receives location information of the tag; an air conditioning unit that blows air and is provided so as to protrude from a duct provided on the ceiling, a portion of which is held in a state in which it can slide on a rail, and further has a blowing part whose direction can be changed; A control unit that controls the airflow of the air conditioning unit, The control means a predicted position calculation means for calculating a movement vector of the tag from the position information of the tag received from the anchor, and predicting a next movement vector of the tag from the calculated movement vector to calculate a predicted arrival position; an angle calculation means for calculating an air blowing angle at which air is blown from the air conditioning unit toward the predicted arrival position calculated by the predicted position calculation means, The angle calculation means correcting position information of the blowing unit slidably driven on the rail, and then calculating an air blowing angle. Air conditioning system.

Images