Room Pressure Control System

Abstract

To provide a technology to suppress a sudden change in room pressure of a target room when opening or closing a door rationally and appropriately while keeping the room pressure of the target room at the target room pressure appropriately in a room pressure control system equipped with an air supply / exhaust control unit for executing room pressure control for keeping room pressure of the target room at the target room pressure by controlling a control target air supply / exhaust state, which is one of an air supply state and an air exhaust state in the target room having a door for entering and exiting the room.SOLUTION: A room pressure control system includes unlocking determination means 3 for determining whether or not a door 21 is unlocked on the basis of an operation state of a door locking control part 5 for controlling locking and unlocking of the door 21. An air supply / exhaust control unit 2 executes an air supply / exhaust state change prohibition processing for prohibiting a change in a control target air supply / exhaust state by room pressure control at the time of unlocking of the door 21 determined by the unlocking determination means 3.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a room pressure control system equipped with an air supply / exhaust control unit that controls the controlled air supply / exhaust state, which is at least one of the air supply state and the exhaust state, in a target room having an entry / exit door, and performs room pressure control to maintain the room pressure in the target room at a target room pressure. [Background technology]

[0002] A room pressure control system is known that includes an air supply / exhaust control unit that controls the controlled air supply / exhaust state, which is at least one of the air supply state and the exhaust state, in a target room having an entry / exit door, and performs room pressure control to maintain the room pressure in the target room at a target room pressure (see Patent Document 1). In the room pressure control system described in Patent Document 1, a door opening / closing detector is provided that directly detects the opening and closing of a door, and when the door is opened as detected by the door opening / closing detector, an intake / exhaust state change prohibition process is executed to prohibit changes to the intake / exhaust state of the controlled air by the room pressure control, in a manner that fixes the opening degree of the room pressure adjustment damper interposed in the intake air duct or exhaust air duct to the opening degree at the time the door is opened. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-083221 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, in the room pressure control system described in Patent Document 1, the intake / exhaust state change prohibition process is initiated upon direct detection of door opening by a door open / close detector. Therefore, immediately after the door is opened, the intake / exhaust state change prohibition process may not be initiated in time, resulting in a change in the intake / exhaust state controlled by the room pressure control. This results in a significant change in the opening of the room pressure control damper, which is the intake / exhaust state controlled by the system, to suppress fluctuations in room pressure immediately after the door is opened. The subsequent execution of the intake / exhaust state change prohibition process fixes the room pressure control damper opening at the significantly changed opening. If the door is then closed while the room pressure control damper is not yet at the appropriate opening, the room pressure in the target room may suddenly change, potentially damaging equipment or seals that are vulnerable to sudden changes in air pressure.

[0005] In view of this situation, the main objective of the present invention is to provide a technology for rationally and effectively suppressing sudden changes in the room pressure of a target room when a door is opened and closed, while appropriately maintaining the room pressure of the target room at the target room pressure, in a room pressure control system equipped with an air supply and exhaust control unit that controls the controlled air supply and exhaust state, which is at least one of the air supply state and exhaust state, in a target room having a door for entering and exiting the room, and performs room pressure control to maintain the room pressure of the target room at a target room pressure. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] A first characteristic configuration of the present invention is a room pressure control system including an air supply / exhaust control unit that controls a controlled air supply / exhaust state, which is at least one of an air supply state and an exhaust state, in a target room having an entrance / exit door, to perform room pressure control to maintain the room pressure of the target room at a target room pressure, and an unlocking determination means for determining whether the door is unlocked based on the operating state of a door lock control unit that controls locking and unlocking of the door. The air intake and exhaust control unit executes an air intake and exhaust state change prohibition process that prohibits a change in the air intake and exhaust state to be controlled by the room pressure control when the door is unlocked as determined by the unlocking determination means.

[0007] According to this configuration, when the unlocking determination means determines that the door is unlocked and may be opened or closed, the air intake and exhaust control unit executes the air intake and exhaust state change prohibition process at the time of unlocking, thereby prohibiting a change in the controlled air intake and exhaust state through the room pressure control. This prevents a sudden change in the room pressure of the target room due to a change in the controlled air intake and exhaust state through the room pressure control when the door is opened or closed while the door is unlocked. In particular, since the controlled air intake and exhaust state is not changed against the tendency of the target room's pressure to approach the outside air pressure as the airtightness of the target room decreases when the door is opened, a sudden change in the room pressure of the target room away from the outside air pressure due to a sudden increase in the airtightness of the target room when the door is subsequently closed can be prevented. On the other hand, if the unlocking determination means determines that the door is locked rather than unlocked, then at the time of locking, the air intake and exhaust control unit allows the controlled air intake and exhaust state to be changed by the room pressure control, so that the controlled air intake and exhaust state can be controlled to appropriately maintain the room pressure of the target room at the target room pressure. Therefore, the present invention provides a technology for rationally and effectively suppressing sudden changes in the room pressure of a target room when a door is opened and closed, while appropriately maintaining the room pressure of the target room at the target room pressure, in a room pressure control system equipped with an air supply and exhaust control unit that controls the controlled air supply and exhaust state, which is at least one of the air supply state and the exhaust state, in a target room having a door for entering and exiting the room, and performs room pressure control to maintain the room pressure of the target room at the target room pressure.

[0008] A second characteristic configuration of the present invention is that the door lock control unit is configured to execute interlock control for each of a plurality of doors of the target room, such that when some of the doors are unlocked, the remaining doors are prohibited from being unlocked, The unlocking determination means determines, based on the operating state of the door lock control unit, a time period when some of the plurality of doors are unlocked as the time when the doors are unlocked.

[0009] According to this configuration, the door lock control unit executes the interlock control for the multiple doors of the target room, and the door lock control unit that executes the interlock control can be used by the unlocking determination means to determine the time period from when some of the doors of the target room are unlocked to when they are locked as the time when the doors are unlocked. Furthermore, when unlocking doors that may open or close, the intake and exhaust control unit executes the intake and exhaust state change prohibition process, so that when some doors open or close while the doors are unlocked, a sudden change in the room pressure of the target room caused by a change in the intake and exhaust state of the controlled room due to the room pressure control can be suppressed.

[0010] The third characteristic configuration of the present invention is that the air supply / exhaust control unit performs exhaust-side positive pressure control as the room pressure control, which controls the exhaust state from the target room as the controlled air supply / exhaust state while keeping the amount of air supplied to the target room constant, thereby maintaining the room pressure of the target room at a target positive pressure higher than the outside air pressure, and also performs exhaust state change prohibition processing as the air supply / exhaust state change prohibition processing, which prohibits changing the exhaust state when the door is unlocked as determined by the unlocking determination means.

[0011] According to this configuration, when the door is unlocked, the air intake / exhaust control unit executes the exhaust state change prohibition process, prohibiting a change in the exhaust state due to the exhaust-side positive pressure control. This prevents a sudden change in the room pressure of the target room caused by a change in the exhaust state due to the exhaust-side positive pressure control when the door is opened or closed while the door is unlocked. In particular, when the door is opened, the exhaust state is not changed to reduce the amount of exhaust air from the target room, despite a decrease in the room pressure of the target room due to a decrease in the airtightness of the target room relative to the outside. Therefore, when the door is subsequently closed, a sudden increase in the room pressure of the target room due to a sudden increase in the airtightness of the target room relative to the outside can be prevented. This prevents damage to equipment and seals that are vulnerable to a sudden increase in room pressure, for example. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the layout of a target room having an entrance / exit door. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a room pressure control system and an interlock control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the flow of the exhaust state change prohibition process when the exhaust side positive pressure control is executed. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0013] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a room pressure control system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, as shown in Figure 1, a case will be described in which multiple target rooms A, such as a dressing room, an anteroom, or a work room, are arranged between a pair of corridors B, and multiple doors 21 for entering and exiting these target rooms A are provided between the corridor B and the target rooms A or between two adjacent target rooms A.

[0014] As shown in FIG. 2, a room pressure control system 1 of this embodiment (hereinafter referred to as "this room pressure control system") is configured as a system for maintaining the room pressure of a target room A at a target room pressure. Furthermore, separate from the room pressure control system 1, an interlock control system 5 is provided as a door lock control unit that controls locking and unlocking of the door 21. That is, each door 21 is provided with an electronic lock 22 that electrically locks and unlocks the door 21, and when a person entering or leaving the room presses an unlock switch 23 provided on the wall near the door 21, the electronic lock 22 is temporarily placed in an unlocked state, unlocking the door 21. That is, when a person enters or leaves the target room A, first, the person presses the unlock switch 23, which causes the electronic lock 22 to be placed in an unlocked state, unlocking the door 21, then the person opens the door 21 to enter or leave the room, then the door 21 is closed, and as the door 21 closes, the electronic lock 22 is placed in a locked state, and the door 21 is locked.

[0015] The interlock control system 5 controls the operation of the electronic lock 22 and performs interlock control for each of the multiple doors 21 for entering and exiting the target room A, prohibiting the unlocking of the remaining doors 21 when some of the doors 21 are unlocked. The interlock control system 5 can be configured to perform interlock control individually for each target room A, but in this embodiment, all of the doors 21 of the multiple target rooms A shown in Figure 1 are subject to the same interlock control, and when one of the doors 21 is unlocked, the unlocking of all the remaining doors 21 is prohibited.

[0016] 2, each target room A is provided with an exhaust duct 11 for discharging the indoor air of the target room A to the outside as exhaust air EA, and an air supply duct 15 for supplying purified air as supply air SA to the target room A. The exhaust duct 11 is provided with an exhaust damper 12 whose opening is adjustable, while the air supply duct 15 is provided with an air supply damper 16 whose opening is adjustable.

[0017] This room pressure control system 1, details of which will be described later, is provided with an air supply / exhaust control unit 2 that controls the controlled air supply / exhaust state, which is at least one of the air supply state and the exhaust state in the target room A, and performs room pressure control to maintain the room pressure in the target room A at a target room pressure. The present room pressure control system 1 employs a configuration that rationally and effectively suppresses sudden changes in the room pressure of the target room A when the door 21 is opened or closed, while appropriately maintaining the room pressure of the target room A at the target room pressure, and details of this configuration are explained below.

[0018] The room pressure control system 1 is provided with an unlocking determination means 3 that determines whether the door 21 is unlocked or not based on the operating state of an interlock control system 5 that controls the locking and unlocking of the door 21. The unlocking determination means 3 does not directly monitor the states of the electronic locks 22 and the doors 21, but is configured to determine, based on the operating state of the interlock control system 5, a time period when some of the doors 21 among the multiple doors 21 provided in the target room A are unlocked as the time when the doors 21 are unlocked. That is, the interlock control system 5 transmits an unlocking signal indicating that the electronic locks 22 of some of the doors 21 are unlocked to the unlocking determination means 3 while they are in the unlocked state. The unlocking determination means 3 then determines a time period when it receives an unlocking signal from the interlock control system 5 as the time when the doors 21 are unlocked.

[0019] The air intake and exhaust control unit 2 controls the opening degree of at least one of the air intake damper 16 and the exhaust damper 12 as the air intake and exhaust state to be controlled, thereby performing room pressure control to maintain the room pressure in the target room A at the target room pressure. Furthermore, in performing such room pressure control, when the door 21 is unlocked as determined by the unlocking determination means 3, the air intake and exhaust control unit 2 executes air intake and exhaust state change prohibition processing to prohibit changing the air intake and exhaust state to be controlled by the room pressure control, in a form of fixing the opening degree of at least one of the air intake and exhaust damper 16 and the exhaust damper 12 that are set as the air intake and exhaust state to be controlled. As a result, when door 21 is opened following unlocking, a sudden change in the room pressure of target room A due to a change in the controlled air intake and exhaust state caused by the room pressure control is suppressed. In the room pressure control described above, as the airtightness of target room A relative to the outside decreases when door 21 is opened, the controlled air intake and exhaust state is attempted to be changed against the change in room pressure of target room A, but the air intake and exhaust state change prohibition process is executed and the change in the controlled air intake and exhaust state is prohibited. Therefore, when door 21 is subsequently closed, in the room pressure control described above, as the airtightness of target room A relative to the outside increases abruptly, the air intake and exhaust state changes and the room pressure of target room A suddenly changes to a side away from the outside air pressure, but because the air intake and exhaust state change prohibition process is executed and the change in the air intake and exhaust state is prohibited, such a sudden change in the room pressure of target room A is suppressed.

[0020] On the other hand, if the unlock determination means 3 determines that the door 21 is locked, the supply / exhaust state change prohibition process by the supply / exhaust control unit 2 is terminated and the fixed opening of at least one of the supply / exhaust damper 16 and the exhaust damper 12 is released. This allows the supply / exhaust state to be controlled to be changed by adjusting the opening of at least one of the supply / exhaust damper 16 and the exhaust damper 12 through the room pressure control, so that the room pressure in the target room A is appropriately maintained at the target room pressure.

[0021] The air supply / exhaust control unit 2 is configured to control the exhaust state from the target room A as the above-mentioned controlled air supply / exhaust state while keeping the amount of air supplied to the target room A constant, and to perform exhaust side positive pressure control as the above-mentioned room pressure control, which maintains the room pressure of the target room A at a target positive pressure higher than the external air pressure.

[0022] That is, the air intake / exhaust control unit 2 controls the opening of the air intake damper 16 so that the wind speed measured by a wind speed sensor (not shown) installed inside the air intake damper 16 is maintained constant. That is, the air intake damper 16, together with the control by the air intake / exhaust control unit 2, functions as a constant air volume control device (CAV) that keeps the supply amount (air supply volume) of the supply air SA to the target room A constant. Meanwhile, the air supply / exhaust control unit 2 controls the opening of the exhaust damper 12 so that the room pressure of the target room A measured by the room pressure sensor 20 installed in the target room A is maintained at the above-mentioned target room pressure. In other words, the exhaust damper 12 functions as a room pressure control damper (PCD) that maintains the room pressure of the target room A constant. The target chamber pressure of the target chamber A is set to a target positive pressure that is higher than the external air pressure of the passage P adjacent to the target chamber A.

[0023] The air intake / exhaust control unit 2, which executes the exhaust side positive pressure control in this manner, executes the above-mentioned air intake / exhaust state change prohibition process, which prohibits changes to the exhaust state, in the form of fixing the opening degree of the exhaust damper 12 when the door 21 is unlocked as determined by the unlocking determination means 3. The timing of execution of the exhaust state change prohibition process when person C enters target room A will be described below with reference to FIG.

[0024] 3(a), when an occupant C who is about to enter the target room A presses the unlock switch 23, the electronic lock 22 of the door 21 corresponding to the unlock switch 23 is unlocked, thereby unlocking the door 21. As the electronic lock 22 is unlocked, the air supply / exhaust control unit 2 executes an exhaust state change prohibition process that prohibits changes to the exhaust state due to room pressure control by fixing the opening degree of the exhaust damper 12 at the opening degree at that time.

[0025] 3(b), when door 21 is opened to allow person C to enter or exit target room A after electronic lock 22 is activated to the unlocked state, the exhaust state change prohibition process fixes the opening degree of exhaust damper 12 in advance, prohibiting changes to the exhaust state by the exhaust-side positive pressure control. This suppresses sudden changes in the room pressure of target room A caused by the opening of door 21. In the exhaust-side positive pressure control described above, as the airtightness of target room A decreases when door 21 is open, the exhaust damper 12 is reduced in opening degree to counter the decrease in room pressure in target room A, thereby reducing the amount of exhaust air from target room A. However, because the exhaust state change prohibition process is executed and the opening degree of exhaust damper 12 is fixed, such a decrease in the amount of exhaust air caused by the reduction in the opening degree of exhaust damper 12 is prevented.

[0026] Even when person C has completed entry into target room A and door 21 is closed as shown in FIG. 3(c), the exhaust state change prohibition process fixes the opening of exhaust damper 12 in advance, prohibiting changes to the exhaust state through the exhaust-side positive pressure control. With the exhaust-side positive pressure control described above, a sudden increase in the airtightness of target room A relative to the outside causes the opening of exhaust damper 12 to suddenly increase, causing a sudden rise in the room pressure of target room A. However, because the exhaust state change prohibition process is executed and the opening of exhaust damper 12 is fixed, such a sudden rise in the room pressure of target room A is suppressed. Therefore, damage to equipment and seals caused by a sudden rise in the room pressure of target room A can be prevented. When the electronic lock 22 is locked as the door 21 is closed, the air intake / exhaust control unit 2 terminates the exhaust state change prohibition process and releases the fixed opening of the exhaust damper 12. Then, the room pressure is maintained at the desired target positive pressure by the exhaust side positive pressure control.

[0027] [Another embodiment] Other embodiments of the present invention will be described below. Note that the configurations of the embodiments described below are not limited to being applied independently, but can also be applied in combination with the configurations of other embodiments.

[0028] (1) In the above embodiment, in the room pressure control executed by the air supply / exhaust control unit 2, the opening degree of at least one of the air supply damper 16 and the exhaust damper 12 was controlled as the air supply / exhaust state to be controlled, but the airflow rate of at least one of the air supply fan provided in the air supply duct 15 and the exhaust fan provided in the exhaust duct 11 may be controlled as the air supply / exhaust state to be controlled, so as to maintain the room pressure in the target room A at the target room pressure. In this case, the air supply / exhaust state change prohibition process can prohibit changes to the air supply / exhaust state to be controlled by the room pressure control by fixing the airflow rate of at least one of the air supply fan and the exhaust fan that are set as the air supply / exhaust state to be controlled.

[0029] (2) In the above embodiment, an interlock control system 5 that performs interlock control for each of the multiple doors 21 for entering and exiting the target room A is provided as a door lock control unit. However, the door lock control unit may be any unit that controls the locking and unlocking of the doors 21, and may simply control the operation of the electronic lock 22 without performing interlock control.

[0030] (3) In the above embodiment, an example of room pressure control for maintaining the room pressure of the target room A at a target room pressure was described in which exhaust side positive pressure control is performed by controlling the exhaust state from the target room A while keeping the amount of air supplied to the target room A constant, thereby maintaining the room pressure of the target room A at a target positive pressure higher than the external air pressure.However, other forms of room pressure control can also be performed. For example, the above-mentioned room pressure control can be performed as air supply side positive pressure control, which controls the air supply state to target room A while keeping the exhaust volume from target room A constant, and maintains the room pressure of target room A at a target positive pressure higher than the external air pressure. Furthermore, in such room pressure control, the room pressure of the target room A may be maintained at a target negative pressure that is lower than the outside air pressure. [Explanation of symbols]

[0031] 1. Room pressure control system 2. Air intake and exhaust control unit 3. Unlocking determination method 5 Interlock control system (door lock control unit) 21 Doors A Target Room EA Exhaust SA Air Supply

Claims

1. A room pressure control system including an air supply / exhaust control unit that controls a controlled air supply / exhaust state, which is at least one of an air supply state and an exhaust state, in a target room having an entrance / exit door, to perform room pressure control to maintain the room pressure of the target room at a target room pressure, and an unlocking determination means for determining whether the door is unlocked based on the operating state of a door lock control unit that controls locking and unlocking of the door. A room pressure control system in which the air intake and exhaust control unit executes an air intake and exhaust state change prohibition process that prohibits changes to the controlled air intake and exhaust state through the room pressure control when the door is unlocked as determined by the unlocking determination means.

2. The door lock control unit is configured to execute interlock control for each of a plurality of doors of the target room, such that when some of the doors are unlocked, the remaining doors are prohibited from being unlocked, 2. The room pressure control system according to claim 1, wherein the unlocking determination means determines a time period when some of the plurality of doors are unlocked based on the operating state of the door lock control unit as the time when the doors are unlocked.

3. The room pressure control system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the air supply / exhaust control unit performs exhaust-side positive pressure control as the room pressure control, controlling the exhaust state from the target room as the controlled air supply / exhaust state while keeping the amount of air supplied to the target room constant, thereby maintaining the room pressure of the target room at a target positive pressure higher than the outside air pressure, and performs exhaust state change prohibition processing as the air supply / exhaust state change prohibition processing, which prohibits changing the exhaust state when the door is unlocked as determined by the unlocking determination means.

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