Water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system control method and apparatus, and water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system

Abstract

A method for controlling a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system includes obtaining a target working demand and working conditions of a plurality of target water heaters among a plurality of water heaters of the water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system, generating a plurality used service life evaluation results each corresponding to one of the plurality of target water heaters based on the working conditions, determining a working priority sequence corresponding to the plurality of target water heaters based on the plurality of used service life evaluation results, and controlling, based on the working priority sequence, one or more target water heaters among the plurality of target water heaters to be in an on state. A quantity of the one or more target water heaters meet the target working demand.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202411923586.9, filed on Dec. 24, 2024, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to the technical field of water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system, and in particular to a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system control method and apparatus, and a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system.BACKGROUND

[0003] Water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system can improve the hot water supply capacity and meet the large demand for hot water by connecting a plurality of water heaters in parallel. However, after a multi-unit parallel-connected system has been running for a long time, the service life consistency of each device becomes poor, which leads to frequent failures and needs for repair, and increased maintenance costs.SUMMARY

[0004] The main objective of the present application is to provide a method for controlling a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system, a control apparatus, and a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system, aiming to improve the consistency of the service life of the water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system.

[0005] In order to achieve the above objective, the present application provides a method for controlling a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system, where the water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system includes a main water inlet, a main water outlet, and a plurality of water heaters; water inlet branches of the plurality of water heaters are connected in parallel to the main water inlet, and water outlet branches of the plurality of water heaters are connected in parallel to the main water outlet. The method includes:

[0006] obtaining a target working demand and working conditions of at least two water heaters to be operated among the plurality of water heaters;

[0007] generating a used service life evaluation result corresponding to each water heater to be operated based on the working condition of each water heater to be operated, and determining a working priority sequence corresponding to the plurality of water heaters to be operated based on the plurality of used service life evaluation results; and

[0008] controlling, based on the working priority sequence, a quantity of water heaters to be operated among the plurality of water heaters to be operated to be in an on state, where the quantity meets the target working demand.

[0009] The present application further provides a control apparatus, including: a memory, a processor, and a control program for a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system stored in the memory and executable on the processor, and the control program is configured to implement the method for controlling a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system as described above.

[0010] The present application further provides a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system, including: a main water inlet, a main water outlet, plurality of water heaters and a control apparatus as described above; water inlet branches of the plurality of water heaters are connected in parallel to the main water inlet, and the water outlet branches of the plurality of water heaters are connected in parallel to the main water outlet.

[0011] The method for controlling the multi-unit parallel-connected system of the present application includes obtaining a target working demand and working conditions of at least two water heaters to be operated among the plurality of water heaters; generating a used service life evaluation result corresponding to each water heater to be operated based on the working condition of each water heater to be operated, and determining a working priority sequence corresponding to the plurality of water heaters to be operated based on the plurality of used service life evaluation results; and controlling, based on the working priority sequence, a quantity of water heaters to be operated among the plurality of water heaters to be operated to be in an on state, where the quantity meets the target working demand. In this way, during the operation of the multi-unit parallel-connected system of the present application, the service life of the plurality of water heaters will be determined according to the working condition information of the plurality of water heaters, so as to determine the priority sequence of the plurality of water heaters to work, and ensure that each time the multi-unit parallel-connected system of the water heaters works externally. The water heater with a longer remaining service life is turned on first as much as possible, so that the service life of each of the plurality of water heaters in the multi-unit parallel-connected system of the water heaters is close, effectively improving the consistency of the service life of the multi-unit parallel-connected system of the water heaters, thereby reducing the maintenance frequency of the multi-unit parallel-connected system of the water heaters, so that the maintenance personnel can repair the plurality of water heaters at the same time, and ensure the stability of the operation of the multi-unit parallel-connected system of the water heaters.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present application and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present application.

[0013] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or in the related art, drawings used in the embodiments or in the related art will be briefly described below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other figures can be obtained according to the structures shown in the drawings without creative work.

[0014] FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method for controlling a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0015] FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the method for controlling a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0016] FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the method for controlling a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0017] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the method for controlling a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0018] FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the method for controlling a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0019] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a unified embodiment of a plurality of water heaters according to the present application.

[0020] The realization of the purposes, functional features and advantages of the present application will be further explained with reference to the accompanying drawings in combination with the embodiments.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0021] It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the technical solutions of the present application and are not used to limit the present application.

[0022] In order to better understand the technical solution of the present application, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application and not all of them. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative efforts fall within the protection scope of the present application.

[0023] It should be noted that any directional instructions in the embodiments of the present application (such as up, down, left, right, front, rear, etc.) are used merely to explain the relative positional relationships and movements of the components under a specific posture (as shown in the drawings). If the specific posture changes, the directional instructions will correspondingly change as well. It should be understood that although the various operations in the flowchart in the embodiments of the present application are displayed in sequence as indicated by the arrows, these operations are not necessarily executed in the order indicated by the arrows. Unless clearly stated in this disclosure, there is no strict order restriction for the execution of these operations, and they can be executed in other orders.

[0024] The water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system can improve the hot water supply capacity and meet the large demand for hot water by connecting a plurality of water heaters in parallel. However, after a multi-unit parallel-connected system has been running for a long time, the service life consistency of each device will be poor, which will lead to frequent failures, frequent repairs and increased maintenance costs.

[0025] It should be understood that in a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system, after a long period of operation, the working hours between different water heaters may vary greatly, which in turn leads to a large difference in the service life between different devices. This will lead to a situation where the device with a shorter service life needs to be repaired earlier. After the maintenance personnel have repaired it, not long after, another device with a longer service life will also reach a shorter service life and need to be repaired, that is, a high-frequency maintenance situation occurs, and during each maintenance period, the hot water supply capacity of the entire system is also affected. Therefore, the poor consistency of the service life of multiple devices in the multi-unit parallel-connected system greatly affects the stability of the system operation and is accompanied by high maintenance costs.

[0026] To this end, the present application provides a method for controlling a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system. As shown in FIG. 6, the water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system includes a main water inlet, a main water outlet and a plurality of water heaters; the water inlet branches of the plurality of water heaters are connected in parallel to the main water inlet, and the water outlet branches of the plurality of water heaters are connected in parallel to the main water outlet. The water heater may be a gas water heater, an electric water heater, etc. The water heater can heat the water in the main water inlet and output hot water to the main water inlet through the water outlet branch. It can be understood that the method for controlling a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system of the present application can be stored in a memory in a control apparatus and executed by a processor in the control apparatus. The control apparatus can be implemented by a controller, such as a main control unit (MCU), a digital signal processor (DSP), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic controller (PLC), a system on chip (SoC), etc. The control apparatus can be provided in a primary water heater among the plurality of water heaters, or can be provided independently in a multi-unit parallel-connected system.

[0027] As shown in FIG. 1, in an embodiment of the present application, the method for controlling a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system includes:

[0028] S100, obtaining a target working demand and working conditions of at least two water heaters to be operated among the plurality of water heaters. In this disclosure, a water heater to be operated is also referred to as a “target water heater.”

[0029] In this embodiment, the target working demand may be directly issued by an external terminal to which the control apparatus is connected in communication. For example, if the user currently selects to start 5 water heaters in a multi-unit parallel-connected system at the primary control terminal, the control apparatus will receive the target working demand from the external terminal and determine that the quantity currently corresponding to the target working demand is 5.

[0030] In an embodiment, the target working demand can also be that the control apparatus selects a target working demand based on the current working conditions of the water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system. For example, based on the total flow and / or total load conditions of the current water use point, the quantity of devices that need to be turned on is determined and used as the target working demand.

[0031] In an embodiment, the water heaters to be operated may be all water heaters among the current plurality of water heaters that are connected to the main water inlet and the main water outlet and can output hot water. In an embodiment, the water heaters to be operated may be set by the user, for example, the user operates on an external terminal electrically connected to the control apparatus to select some of the plurality of water heaters to be in the state of water heaters to be operated according to current demands.

[0032] In an embodiment, the water heater to be operated can also be determined and confirmed by the control apparatus itself. In an embodiment, before obtaining the target working demands and the working conditions of at least two water heaters to be operated among the plurality of water heaters, the method further includes: setting, among the plurality of water heaters, a water heater in an available state as a water heater to be operated, where the available state includes at least one of: a communication-online state, a powered-on state, and a non-failure state. In an embodiment, the control apparatus will perform polling communication with the plurality of water heaters respectively to confirm whether the plurality of water heaters maintain a communication connection with it. On the basis of being in the communication connection state, the control apparatus will communicate with the plurality of water heaters again to determine whether they are in the power-on and allowed working state (some water heaters may be in the device locked state and are not allowed to switch to the on state), and determine whether they are in the fault maintenance state. Finally, the water heaters with the communication-online state, the powered-on state, and / or the non-failure state will be set as the water heater to be operated. In this way, through the above setting, the control apparatus can ensure that in the subsequent working process, the water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system can be in a stable working state to meet the demand for external hot water supply.

[0033] In an embodiment, the control apparatus can obtain the working condition of each water heater to be operated, such as working time, number of failure reports, failure frequency, working frequency, etc., by communicating with plurality of water heaters to be operated. In an embodiment, the working condition includes at least one of heating time or number of failure times. For a gas water heater, the heating time may be the combustion time, and for an electric water heater, the heating time may be the working time of the heating element therein.

[0034] S200, generating a used service life evaluation result corresponding to each water heater to be operated based on the working condition of each water heater to be operated, and determining a working priority sequence corresponding to the plurality of water heaters to be operated based on the plurality of used service life evaluation results;

[0035] S300, controlling, based on the working priority sequence, a quantity of water heaters to be operated among the plurality of water heaters to be operated to be in an on state, where the quantity meets the target working demand.

[0036] In this embodiment, it can be understood that the service life of the water heater to be operated must change with the parameters of the working condition. Therefore, the control apparatus will determine the corresponding used service life evaluation result according to the result of the working condition of each water heater to be operated. In an embodiment, when calculating the working condition of a water heater to be operated, the control apparatus can directly substitute the result of its working condition into a pre-stored formula or transfer function, etc., to calculate a corresponding used service life evaluation result. In an embodiment, the control apparatus can also upload the data of the above working condition to the manufacturer's background terminal, so that the background terminal can enter the working condition into a pre-stored water heater model, such as a digital twin water heater model, and determine the used service life evaluation result of the water heater to be operated through simulation.

[0037] Then, the control apparatus determines the work priority sequence according to the obtained used service life evaluation results of the plurality of water heaters to be operated. The higher the sequence of the water heater to be operated is in the work priority sequence, the longer its remaining service life, and the higher the priority of starting up to work. Then, the control apparatus switches the state of at least one water heater to be operated with a higher start-up priority and a longer remaining service life to the on state according to the work priority sequence and the target working demands. In this way, during the operation of the water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system in the present application, the service life of a plurality of water heaters will be determined according to the working condition information of a plurality of water heaters, so as to determine the priority sequence of the plurality of water heaters to work, ensure that each time the water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system works externally, the water heater with a longer remaining service life is opened first as much as possible, so that the service life of each of the plurality of water heaters in the water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system is close, effectively improving the consistency of the service life of the water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system, thereby reducing the frequency of maintenance of the water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system, so that maintenance personnel can repair a plurality of water heaters at the same time, and ensure the stability of the operation of the water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system.

[0038] As shown in FIG. 2, in an embodiment of the present application, the working conditions include combustion duration and number of failure times.

[0039] The generating the used service life evaluation result corresponding to each water heater to be operated based on the working condition of each water heater to be operated includes:

[0040] S210, obtaining a first weighting coefficient corresponding to the combustion duration and a second weighting coefficient corresponding to the number of failure times;

[0041] S220, calculating the used service life evaluation result of each water heater to be operated by summing a product of the combustion duration of each water heater to be operated and the first weighting coefficient and a product of the number of failure times of each water heater to be operated and the second weighting coefficient.

[0042] In an embodiment, the first weighting coefficient and the second weighting coefficient can be set as a fixed value by a developer and pre-stored in the control apparatus;

[0043] In an embodiment, it is understandable that as the total working time of the water heater changes, its service life may also change nonlinearly. In order to maximize the accuracy of the result of determining the service life. The first weighting coefficient and the second weighting coefficient may also be non-fixed unique values. In an embodiment, the obtaining the first weighting coefficient corresponding to the combustion duration includes: obtaining the first weighting coefficient corresponding to the combustion duration of each water heater to be operated, where the combustion duration is positively correlated with the first weighting coefficient; and / or, the obtaining the second weighting coefficient corresponding to the number of failure times includes: obtaining the second weighting coefficient corresponding to the number of failure times of each water heater to be operated, where the number of failure times is positively correlated with the second weighting coefficient. In this embodiment, when calculating the used service life evaluation result of each device to be operated, the first weighting coefficient can be specially matched according to its burning time. For example, a transfer function of burning time-first weighting coefficient is set in the control apparatus. The longer the burning time, the larger the first weighting coefficient. The control apparatus determines the first weighting coefficient corresponding to each device to be operated according to the burning time of each device to be operated and the above transfer function, or a mapping table of burning time-first weighting coefficient can also be set in the control apparatus, and then the first weighting coefficient corresponding to each device to be operated is determined according to the mapping table. The above transfer function and mapping table are set by the research and develop personnel and pre-stored in the control apparatus. The setting method of the second weighting coefficient is the same as the setting method of the above first weighting coefficient, which will not be repeated here. Such a setting can further improve the accuracy of determining the service life result.

[0044] After determining the first weighting coefficient and the second weighting coefficient, the control apparatus will multiply the burning time of each water heater to be operated by the first weighting coefficient and the number of failure times multiplied by the second weighting coefficient as the used service life evaluation result of each water heater to be operated, as shown in the following formula:Sum=α*TB+β*Ne⁢r⁢r

[0045] Sum is the service life evaluation result, α is the first weighting coefficient, β is the second weighting coefficient, TB is the burning time (hours), and Nerr is the number of failure times. When calculating the service life evaluation result of each device to be operated, the control apparatus substitutes the burning time and the number of failure times of the device to be operated into the above formula, and then calculates the final service life evaluation result based on the corresponding first weighting coefficient and second weighting coefficient.

[0046] Furthermore, based on the above-mentioned embodiment process of determining the used service life evaluation result, in an embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the determining the working priority sequence corresponding to the plurality of water heaters to be operated based on the plurality of used service life evaluation results includes:

[0047] S230, ranking the plurality of used service life evaluation results in ascending sequence to generate a working priority sequence corresponding to the plurality of water heaters to be operated, where in the working priority sequence, a higher priority indicates a smaller used service life evaluation result.

[0048] In this embodiment, after the control apparatus obtains the service life result corresponding to each water heater to be operated through the process of the above embodiment, it will rank the multiple used service life evaluation results in ascending sequence to obtain the work priority sequence corresponding to the plurality of water heaters to be operated. The water heater to be operated that is at the front in the work priority sequence has a higher work priority and a longer service life.

[0049] In an embodiment of the present application, as shown in FIG. 4, the controlling, based on the working priority sequence, the quantity of water heaters to be operated among the plurality of water heaters to be operated to be in the on state, where the quantity meets the target working demand includes:

[0050] S310, controlling first N water heaters to be operated in the working priority sequence to be in the on state, where N equals a quantity corresponding to the target working demand.

[0051] In this embodiment, during the operation of the water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system, the control apparatus determines the number N of water heaters to be turned on according to the target working demand, and then controls the first N water heaters to be operated in the work priority sequence to be turned on according to the work priority sequence generated in real time. For example, if there are 5 water heaters to be operated and they are gas water heaters, and the quantity corresponding to the target working demand is 3, then the control apparatus will turn on the three water heaters to be operated that are ranked in the top three in the current work priority sequence, so that the three water heaters can produce hot water, and the other two water heaters will be stopped, not burning and not outputting hot water. After working for a period of time, the burning time of the water heater currently in the on state will become longer, and the quantity of failure errors may increase. Since the control apparatus will generate a new work priority sequence in real time according to the process of the above embodiment, after the water heater currently in the on state has worked for a period of time, one or more of them may be out of the top three in the latest work priority sequence. Then the control apparatus will switch the water heaters to be operated that have left the top three sequences from the on state to the off state, and switch the water heaters in the top three in the current work priority sequence that are in the off state to the on state. In other words, the control apparatus will always keep the N water heaters to be operated with the longest remaining service life in the plurality of water heaters to be operated in the on state according to the number N corresponding to the current target working demand, thereby maximizing the consistency of the service life of a plurality of water heaters in the water heater multi-unit system.

[0052] In an embodiment of the present application, as shown in FIG. 5, the water heater has an on state and an off state, and the controlling, based on the working priority sequence, the quantity of water heaters to be operated among the plurality of water heaters to be operated to be in the on state, where the quantity meets the target working demand includes:

[0053] S320, obtaining a quantity of the water heaters to be operated that are already in the on state, among the at least two water heaters to be operated, as a quantity of devices in the on state;

[0054] S330, calculating a difference between the quantity of devices in the on state and the quantity corresponding to the target working demand to obtain an adjustment quantity M, where M is an integer greater than or equal to 0;

[0055] S340, in response to that the quantity of target working demand is greater than the quantity of devices in the on state, switching M water heaters to be operated, which are in the off state and have higher priority, to the on state;

[0056] S350, in response to that the quantity of target working demand is less than the quantity of devices in the on state, switching M water heaters to be operated, which are in the on state and have lower priority, to the off state.

[0057] In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, a water valve, such as a stop valve, is provided at the water outlet branch of the water heater; the water heater being in an on state includes: the water valve being in an open state; the water heater being in an off state includes: the water valve being in a closed state. In addition, when the water heater is in an on state, the control apparatus will also control it to start heating water, such as the gas water heater starts ignition, and the electric water heater starts to supply power to the heating component. Similarly, when the water heater is in an off state, the control apparatus will also control the water heater to stop heating water.

[0058] Before controlling the plurality of water heaters to be operated based on the work priority sequence, the control apparatus will determine the quantity of water heaters to be operated that are currently in the on state according to the work information transmitted by the water heaters to be operated that communicate with it, and use it as the quantity of devices in the on state. Then, the control apparatus will calculate a difference between the quantity of devices in the on state and the quantity of devices that correspond to the target working demands to determine the quantity of devices whose working states are to be adjusted, that is, the quantity to be adjusted M.

[0059] When the quantity of target working demands is greater than the quantity of devices in the on state, it means that M additional water heaters that are in an off state need to be switched to an on state. At this time, the control apparatus will not control the water heaters that are already in an on state, that is, the water heaters that are already in an on state will continue to remain in the on state. The control apparatus will select M devices to switch to an on state from among the plurality of water heaters to be operated that are in an off state based on the work priority sequence, and the selection standard is to switch the M water heaters to be operated that are in an off state and have a higher sequence in the work priority sequence to an on state. In other words, among the remaining water heaters to be operated that are in an off state, M devices with a higher work priority are selected to switch to an on state, that is, M devices with a longer service life are selected to switch to an on state, so as to achieve the quantity of water heaters to be operated that meet the target working demand to be turned on. For example, there are currently a total of 8 devices to be operated, 2 of which are already in the on state. The quantity corresponding to the target working demand is 5, and the quantity to be adjusted is 3. Then the control apparatus will find the top three water heaters to be operated among the remaining six according to the work priority sequence and switch them to the on state, so as to meet the demand that 5 water heaters are in the on state.

[0060] Similarly, when the quantity of target working demands is less than the quantity of devices in the on state, it means that the M water heaters that are currently in the on state need to be switched to the off state. At this time, the control apparatus will keep the water heaters that are currently in the off state unchanged. Then, based on the work priority sequence, select M water heaters that are already in the on state to be switched to the off state, and the selection standard is to switch the M devices that are in the on state and are in the off state. In other words, among the water heaters that are already in the on state, select the M devices with the lowest work priority to switch to the on state, that is, select the M devices with the shortest service life to switch to the on state, so as to achieve the quantity of water heaters to be operated that meet the target working demand and are in the on state. For example, there are currently a total of 8 devices to be operated, 5 of which are already in the on state. The quantity corresponding to the target working demand is 3, and the number to be adjusted is 2. Then the control apparatus will select the 2 devices with the lowest work priority sequence from the 5 water heaters to be operated that are already in the on state according to the work priority sequence, and switch them to the off state, so as to meet the demand that 3 water heaters are in the on state.

[0061] In summary, the control apparatus will match the corresponding quantity of water heaters to be operated according to the relationship between the quantity corresponding to the target working demand and the quantity of water heaters to be operated that are currently in the on state, and select the appropriate water heater to be operated for state adjustment from the corresponding quantity of water heaters to be operated obtained according to the work priority sequence. In this way, through the above setting, compared with the above embodiment, in which the appropriate water heater to be operated is selected for state adjustment in all the devices to be operated according to the work priority sequence, the quantity of state adjustments for the water heater to be operated can be effectively reduced, thereby greatly reducing the fluctuation of the water flow rate of the water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system, greatly improving the user experience of the water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system, and finding a better balance between improving the consistency of the service life of a plurality of water heaters and ensuring the stability of the water flow rate.

[0062] Furthermore, in an embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, in S360, in response to that a quantity corresponding to the target working demand equals the quantity of devices in the on state, keeping states of all water heaters to be operated unchanged. If the quantity of the target working demands is equal to the quantity of the devices in the on state, it means that the water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system can meet the current hot water demand. In order to ensure the stability of the output hot water flow, the control apparatus will keep the states of all the water heaters to be operated unchanged, that is, keep the water heaters that are already in the on state and the water heaters that are in the off state unchanged.

[0063] In addition, it can be understood that in an embodiment, the above-mentioned control apparatus will match the process of a corresponding quantity of water heaters to be operated based on the relationship between the quantity corresponding to the target working demand and the quantity of water heaters to be operated that are currently in the on state. The control apparatus can also synchronously execute the process of determining the water heaters to be operated among plurality of water heaters in the above-mentioned embodiment.

[0064] The present application further provides a control apparatus, including: a memory, a processor, and a control program for a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system stored in the memory and executable on the processor, where the control program for the water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system is configured to implement the method for controlling a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system as described in any one of the above embodiments.

[0065] It is worth noting that since the control apparatus of the present application includes the above-mentioned method for controlling the water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system, the control apparatus of the present application includes all technical solutions of the method for controlling the water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system, and at least has all the beneficial effects brought by the technical solutions of the above-mentioned embodiments, which will not be repeated herein.

[0066] The present application further provides a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system, including: a main water inlet, a main water outlet, a plurality of water heaters and a control apparatus as described above. The water inlet branches of the plurality of water heaters are connected in parallel to the main water inlet, and the water outlet branches of the plurality of water heaters are connected in parallel to the main water outlet.

[0067] In an embodiment, the plurality of water heaters include a primary water heater and at least one secondary water heater; the control apparatus is provided at the primary water heater, and the primary water heater establishes a communication connection with the plurality of secondary water heaters. In an embodiment, in another embodiment, the control apparatus can also be independently provided at a multi-unit parallel-connected system, and establishes a communication connection with the plurality of water heaters.

[0068] It is worth noting that since the water heater of the present application includes the above control apparatus, the water heater of the present application includes all technical solutions of the control apparatus and at least has all the beneficial effects brought by the technical solutions of the above embodiments, which will not be described herein.

[0069] The above descriptions are only some embodiments of the present application, and do not limit the scope of the present application. Under the inventive concept of the present application, equivalent structural transformations made using the contents of the description and drawings of the present application, or direct / indirect application in other related technical fields, are included in the scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system, comprising:obtaining a target working demand and working conditions of a plurality of target water heaters among a plurality of water heaters of the water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system;generating a plurality used service life evaluation results each corresponding to one of the plurality of target water heaters based on the working conditions;determining a working priority sequence corresponding to the plurality of target water heaters based on the plurality of used service life evaluation results; andcontrolling, based on the working priority sequence, one or more target water heaters among the plurality of target water heaters to be in an on state, a quantity of the one or more target water heaters meeting the target working demand.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the working conditions include at least one of a combustion duration or a number of failure times.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:the working conditions comprise the combustion duration and the number of failure times; andgenerating the plurality of used service life evaluation results includes, for each of the plurality of target water heaters:obtaining a first weighting coefficient corresponding to the combustion duration of the target water heater and a second weighting coefficient corresponding to the number of failure times of the target water heater; andsumming a product of the combustion duration of the target water heater and the first weighting coefficient and a product of the number of failure times of the target water heater and the second weighting coefficient to obtain a sum as the used service life evaluation result of the target water heater.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the combustion duration is positively correlated with the first weighting coefficient.

5. The method of claim 3, the number of failure times is positively correlated with the second weighting coefficient.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the working priority sequence includes:ranking the plurality of used service life evaluation results in ascending sequence to generate the working priority sequence, a higher priority in the working priority sequence indicating a smaller used service life evaluation result.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the working priority sequence further includes:in response to the used service life evaluation results of at least two target water heaters of the plurality of target water heaters being identical, obtaining a plurality of operation numbers each corresponding to one of the at least two target water heaters; andsetting priorities of the at least two target water heaters in the working priority sequence based on a logic and the plurality of operation numbers, the logic including that a smaller operation number corresponds to a higher priority in the working priority sequence.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:the quality meeting the target working demand is a first quantity; andcontrolling the one or more target water heaters to be in the on state includes:obtaining a second quantity of target water heaters that are already in the on state;calculating a difference between the second quantity and the first quantity to obtain an adjustment quantity M, M being an integer greater than or equal to 0;in response to the first quantity being greater than the second quantity, switching M target water heaters, that are in an off state and have higher priority, to the on state; andin response to the first quantity being less than the second quantity state, switching M target water heaters, that are in the on state and have lower priority, to the off state.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein controlling the one or more target water heaters to be in the on state further includes:in response to the first quantity equaling the second quantity, keeping states of all of the plurality of target water heaters unchanged.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein, for each water heater:the water heater being in the on state includes a water valve provided at a water outlet branch of the water heater being in an open state; andthe water heater being in an off state includes the water valve being in a closed state.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling the one or more water heaters to be in the on state includes:controlling first N target water heaters in the working priority sequence to be in the on state, N equaling the quantity meeting the target working demand.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising, before obtaining the target working demand and the working conditions:setting ones of the plurality of water heaters that are in an available state as the plurality of target water heaters, the available state including at least one of a communication-online state, a powered-on state, or a non-failure state.

13. A control apparatus comprising:a memory storing a control program; anda processor configured to execute the control program to implement the method of claim 1.

14. A water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system comprising:a main water inlet;a main water outlet;a plurality of water heaters, water inlet branches of the plurality of water heaters being connected in parallel to the main water inlet, and water outlet branches of the plurality of water heaters being connected in parallel to the main water outlet; andthe control apparatus according to claim 13.

15. The water heater multi-unit parallel-connected system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of water heaters include a primary water heater and at least one secondary water heater, and the control apparatus is provided at the primary water heater.

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