Air conditioner management system and management device

Abstract

Provided is an air conditioner management system (1), wherein: a management device (10) stores software in a software frame having a frame length that is no more than three times the frame length of a fixed-length control command frame transmitted from the management device (10) to any one of a wall-mounted air conditioner (20-1), a ceiling-embedded air conditioner (20-2), or a duct-type air conditioner (20-3); the management device (10), using multicast, transmits the software frame in which the software has been stored to the wall-mounted air conditioner (20-1), the ceiling-embedded air conditioner (20-2), and the duct-type air conditioner (20-3); and an air conditioner that has completed reception of the software among the wall-mounted air conditioner (20-1), the ceiling-embedded air conditioner (20-2), and the duct-type air conditioner (20-3) operates using the software for which reception has been completed.

Description

Air conditioner management system and management device

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an air conditioner management system and a management device.

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art There is known a management system in which a management center transfers new versions of software to a plurality of clients via a network, and the clients that have received the software operate using the new versions of the software.

[0003] JP 2004-126960 A JP 2005-321515 A

[0004] In a system in which multiple air conditioners and a management device are connected via a network (hereinafter sometimes referred to as an "air conditioner management system"), it is expected that new versions of software will be distributed from the management device to multiple air conditioners. The transmission bandwidth of the network used in air conditioner management systems is generally narrow, for example, approximately 5 kbps to 1.25 Mbps. For this reason, as the number of air conditioners connected to the management device increases, there is a problem in that it takes a very long time to update the software.

[0005] Therefore, the present disclosure proposes a technology that can complete software updates in a short time even on a narrowband network.

[0006] The air conditioning unit management system of the present disclosure includes a plurality of air conditioners and a management device connected to the plurality of air conditioners via a network. The management device stores software in software frames having a frame length longer than a fixed-length control command frame transmitted from the management device to any of the plurality of air conditioners but no longer than three times the frame length of the control command frame, and transmits the software frames containing the software to the plurality of air conditioners using multicast. Of the plurality of air conditioners, air conditioners that have completed receiving the software operate using the software.

[0007] According to the present disclosure, software updates can be completed in a short time even on a narrowband network.

[0008] Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example configuration of an air conditioner management system according to the present disclosure. Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example configuration of a management device according to the present disclosure. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example configuration of an air conditioner according to the present disclosure. Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example configuration of a software frame according to the present disclosure. Fig. 5 is a diagram showing a comparison between a software frame and a control command frame according to the present disclosure. Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example operation of the air conditioner management system according to the present disclosure.

[0009] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following embodiments, the same components are designated by the same reference numerals.

[0010] [Example] <Configuration of Air Conditioning Unit Management System> Figure 1 is a diagram showing an example configuration of an air conditioning unit management system of the present disclosure. In Figure 1, the air conditioning unit management system 1 has a management device 10, a wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, a ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, and a duct-type air conditioner 20-3, and the management device 10 is connected to each of the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, and the duct-type air conditioner 20-3 via a network 30.

[0011] An example of the management device 10 is a server, which is a computer.

[0012] The wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1 is a type of air conditioner in which the indoor unit is hung on the wall of a room. The ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2 is a type of air conditioner in which the indoor unit is installed on the ceiling of a room. The duct-type air conditioner 20-3 is a type of air conditioner in which air from the indoor unit is supplied to each room through a duct. In this way, the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, and the duct-type air conditioner 20-3 are air conditioners in which the installation forms of the indoor unit are different from each other. Hereinafter, the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, and the duct-type air conditioner 20-3 may be collectively referred to as "air conditioner 20."

[0013] The transmission bandwidth of the network 30 is, for example, 5 kbps or more and 1.25 Mbps or less, and an example of the network 30 is LONWORKS (registered trademark) used in building management systems and the like.

[0014] <Configuration of Management Device> Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example configuration of a management device according to the present disclosure. In Fig. 2, the management device 10 includes a storage unit 11, a processor 12, and a communication unit 13. The communication unit 13 is connected to a network 30. Examples of the storage unit 11 include storage and memory. Examples of the processor 12 include a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), etc. An example of the communication unit 13 is a communication module.

[0015] The memory unit 11 stores control commands that are transmitted from the management device 10 to any of the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, or the duct-type air conditioner 20-3 using unicast. The memory unit 11 also stores software that is transmitted to all of the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, and the duct-type air conditioner 20-3 using multicast. Examples of control commands stored in the memory unit 11 include control commands that instruct the air conditioner 20 to set its operation settings, and control commands that request operation information about the air conditioner 20 from the air conditioner 20. Examples of software stored in the memory unit 11 include new versions of software after defects have been corrected, and new versions of software to which new functions have been added.

[0016] The processor 12 reads the control command from the memory unit 11, encapsulates the read control command, and transmits the encapsulated control command as a control command frame to the communication unit 13 using unicast to either the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, or the duct-type air conditioner 20-3.

[0017] In addition, the processor 12 reads out software from the memory unit 11, stores the read out software in a software frame, and transmits the software frame storing the software to the communication unit 13 using multicast to all of the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, and duct-type air conditioner 20-3.

[0018] <Configuration of Air Conditioner> Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example configuration of an air conditioner of the present disclosure. In Fig. 3, the air conditioner 20 has an indoor unit 20A and an outdoor unit 20B. The indoor unit 20A is installed indoors and heats or cools the indoor air by exchanging heat between the indoor air and a refrigerant supplied from the outdoor unit 20B, thereby conditioning the indoor air. The outdoor unit 20B is connected to the indoor unit 20A and installed outdoors, and supplies refrigerant to the indoor unit 20A.

[0019] The indoor unit 20A has a main body 21, an operation unit 22, a processor 23, a memory 24, and a communication unit 25. The communication unit 25 is connected to a network 30. Examples of the processor 23 include a CPU and a DSP. An example of the communication unit 25 is a communication module.

[0020] The main body 21 has a heat exchanger, a fan, etc., and blows out air after exchanging heat with the refrigerant supplied from the outdoor unit 20B. The operation unit 22 is an interface, such as a remote controller, that allows a user of the air conditioner 20 to input various commands to the indoor unit 20A. The processor 23 controls the entire indoor unit 20A. The memory 24 stores various information, software that operates the processor 23, etc.

[0021] <Software Frame> Figure 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a software frame of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 4, the processor 12 of the management device 10 reads out software SW stored in the memory unit 11 from the memory unit 11, divides and encapsulates the read software SW, and transmits the encapsulated software as a first software frame SF#1, a second software frame SF#2, a third software frame SF#3, ..., an Nth software frame SF#N in order via the communication unit 25 to the network 30. Hereinafter, the first software frame SF#1, the second software frame SF#2, the third software frame SF#3, ..., the Nth software frame SF#N may be collectively referred to as "software frames SF."

[0022] As shown in Fig. 4, the software frame SF has a header portion and a data portion. The processor 12 divides and encapsulates the software SW based on the length of the data portion of the software frame SF, and transmits each piece of encapsulated data as a first software frame SF#1, a second software frame SF#2, a third software frame SF#3, ..., an Nth software frame SF#N in order via the communication unit 25 to the network 30. Transmission of the software frames SF from the management device 10 to the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, and the duct-type air conditioner 20-3 is always performed by multicast.

[0023] 5 is a diagram showing a comparison between a software frame and a control command frame according to the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 5, the frame length LS of the software frame SF is longer than the frame length LC of the fixed-length control command frame CF, and is preferably no more than three times the frame length LC, based on the results of a simulation described below.

[0024] <Operation of Air Conditioning Unit Management System> FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of operation of the air conditioning unit management system of the present disclosure.

[0025] In Figure 6, in step S01, the processor 12 of the management device 10 initially transmits N software frames SF, from the first software frame SF#1 to the Nth software frame SF#N, in sequence using multicast to all of the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, and duct-type air conditioner 20-3.

[0026] In step S02, the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, which has successfully received all of the first software frame SF#1 to the Nth software frame SF#N, sends a reception response including an ACK (positive acknowledgement) for all of the first software frame SF#1 to the Nth software frame SF#N (i.e., no NACK (negative acknowledgement)) to the management device 10 along with the identification ID of the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1.

[0027] In step S03, if the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2 fails to receive any of the software frames SF among the first software frame SF#1 to the Nth software frame SF#N due to the influence of random external noise, etc., it sends a reception response including a NACK for the software frame SF that it failed to receive to the management device 10 together with the identification ID of the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2.

[0028] In step S04, the duct-type air conditioner 20-3, which has successfully received all of the first software frame SF#1 to the Nth software frame SF#N, sends a reception response including ACKs (i.e., no NACKs) for all of the first software frame SF#1 to the Nth software frame SF#N to the management device 10 along with the identification ID of the duct-type air conditioner 20-3.

[0029] Here, for example, the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, and the duct-type air conditioner 20-3 determine whether the software frame SF has been successfully received based on the comparison result between the checksum calculation result of the data portion of the software frame SF and the checksum value contained in the software frame SF.

[0030] Among the multiple air conditioners 20 that were the targets of multicast transmission in step S01, there was an air conditioner 20 (i.e., ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2) that failed to receive at least one software frame SF, so in step S05, the processor 12 resends the N software frames SF, from the first software frame SF#1 to the Nth software frame SF#N, in order to all of the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, and duct-type air conditioner 20-3 using multicast, rather than using unicast to the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2.

[0031] In step S06, the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2 that successfully receives the software frame SF that failed to be received during multicast transmission in step S01, among the first software frame SF#1 to the Nth software frame SF#N that were retransmitted in step S05, i.e., the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2 that successfully receives all of the first software frame SF#1 to the Nth software frame SF#N, transmits a reception response including an ACK (i.e., not including a NACK) for the software frame SF that was successfully received during retransmission in step S05, along with the identification ID of the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, to the management device 10.

[0032] Then, the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2 and duct-type air conditioner 20-3 that have successfully received all of the first software frame SF#1, second software frame SF#2, third software frame SF#3, ..., Nth software frame SF#N, that is, the air conditioner 20 that has completed receiving the software SW, will begin operating using the software SW that has been received instead of the software that is currently operating.

[0033] <Simulation Results> In the following, a software frame having the same frame length as the frame length LC of the control command frame CF is referred to as a "1x frame," a software frame having a frame length three times the frame length LC is referred to as a "3x frame," and a software frame having a frame length ten times the frame length LC is referred to as a "10x frame."

[0034] The following describes a case in which software SW is divided into 26,215 software frames and the 26,215 divided software frames are transmitted using multicast. The following assumes that there are 400 air conditioners 20 that are the targets of multicast transmission of software frames. The following assumes that each of the 400 air conditioners 20 fails to receive three of the 26,215 software frames due to the influence of external noise, etc.

[0035] In these cases, if three software frames fail to be received, the probability that all 26,215 software frames will be successfully received by all 400 air conditioners 20 by sending the same 1x frame twice (i.e., retransmitting once) for each of the three software frames that fail to be received is calculated as follows:

[0036] First, the total number of combinations of software frames that fail to be received among the 26215 software frames transmitted the first time is the number of combinations in which any three software frames are selected from the 26215 software frames. 26215 It is expressed as "C3 [Street]".

[0037] Next, the number of combinations in which a software frame that is different from the software frame that failed to be received during the first transmission fails to be received during the second transmission is 26212, which is the number of combinations obtained by subtracting the three software frames that failed to be received during the first transmission from 26215 software frames. 26212 It is expressed as "C3 [Street]".

[0038] Therefore, the probability [%] that all 26,215 software frames will be successfully received by transmitting the same 1x frame twice (i.e., retransmitting once) in one air conditioner 20 is expressed by formula (1), which divides the number of combinations at the time of the first transmission by the number of combinations at the time of the second transmission. 26212 C3÷ 26215 C3)×100…(1)

[0039] The probability that all 26,215 software frames will be successfully received by transmitting the same 1x frame twice (i.e., retransmitting once) in all 400 air conditioners 20 is expressed by formula (2), which is obtained by multiplying the probability that all 26,215 software frames will be successfully received by transmitting the same 1x frame twice in one air conditioner 20 400 times. 26212 C3÷ 26215 C3)×100)^400≒87.167[%] …(2)

[0040] Here, when transmitting the same amount of software SW data using triple frames, the number of frames required to transmit the software SW is one-third, or 8,739 (≈26,215 / 3), compared to when transmitting using single frames. Furthermore, when transmitting the same amount of software SW data using ten-times frames, the number of frames required to transmit the software SW is one-tenth, or 2,622 (≈26,215 / 10), compared to when transmitting using single frames. Therefore, using a calculation similar to the above for single frames, the probability that all 400 air conditioners 20 will successfully receive all 8,739 software frames by transmitting the same triple-times frame twice (i.e., retransmitting once) is calculated to be 66.225%. Furthermore, using the same calculation as above for 1x frames, the probability that all 2,622 software frames will be successfully received by transmitting the same 10x frame twice (i.e., retransmitting once) at all 400 air conditioners 20 is calculated to be 25.288%. Note that the probability that all 8,739 software frames will be successfully received by transmitting 3x frames three times (i.e., retransmitting twice) was calculated in the same way as for 1x frames, resulting in 99.286% - a result of almost complete successful reception.

[0041] From the above probability calculation results, it can be said that it is preferable that the frame length LS of the software frame be longer than the frame length LC of the fixed-length control command frame CF, but not more than three times the frame length LC, as shown in Figure 5. Furthermore, from the above probability calculation results, it can be said that in order for all software frames to be successfully received, the number of times that the same software frame is transmitted via multicast is sufficient to be a maximum of three times, including the initial transmission (i.e., a maximum of two retransmissions).

[0042] Furthermore, because there is a concern that frequent failures in receiving control commands for performing various controls on the air conditioner 20 could affect the operation of the air conditioner 20, it is desirable that the length of the control command frame CF be such that there is a high probability of successful reception with a small number of reception attempts. In response to this desire, the above simulation results showed that the probability of successful reception when transmitting twice (i.e., retransmitting once) a 1x frame with a length equal to the frame length LC of the control command frame CF was 87.167%. Therefore, it can be said that the above simulation results are reasonable.

[0043] <Example of Software> The software SW is software (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "common software") that can be used in common by the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, and the duct-type air conditioner 20-3. By using the common software, it becomes possible to transmit the same software SW by multicast to all of the multiple types of air conditioners 20, thereby shortening the transfer time of the software SW. Furthermore, the software SW, which is common software, is software that causes the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, and the duct-type air conditioner 20-3 to operate differently depending on whether parameters for the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1 (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "first parameters") are set in the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, parameters for the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2 (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "second parameters") are set in the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, or parameters for the duct-type air conditioner 20-3 (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "third parameters") are set in the duct-type air conditioner 20-3. The first parameters are stored in the memory 24 of the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, the second parameters are stored in the memory 24 of the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, and the third parameters are stored in the memory 24 of the duct-type air conditioner 20-3. The processor 23 of each of the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, and the duct-type air conditioner 20-3 sets the parameters stored in the memory 24 of the respective unit into common software and executes the common software, thereby enabling each of the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, and the duct-type air conditioner 20-3 to operate according to their respective models.

[0044] For example, one example of common software is software SW for setting the wind direction vane. The amount of rotation of the wind direction vane is determined by the number of pulses output from the processor 23 to the stepping motor that rotates the wind direction vane. For example, a pulse value of "500" is stored in the memory 24 of the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1 as a first parameter, a pulse value of "600" is stored in the memory 24 of the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2 as a second parameter, and a pulse value of "700" is stored in the memory 24 of the duct-type air conditioner 20-3 as a third parameter. This allows the processor 23 of the wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, the processor 23 of the ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, and the processor 23 of the duct-type air conditioner 20-3 to use the common software for wind direction setting to set the rotation positions of the wind direction vanes to different positions.

[0045] The above is a description of the embodiment.

[0046] As described above, the air conditioner management system (air conditioner management system 1 of the embodiment) of the present disclosure includes multiple air conditioners (wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1, ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2, and duct-type air conditioner 20-3 of the embodiment) and a management device (management device 10 of the embodiment) connected to the multiple air conditioners via a network (network 30 of the embodiment). The management device stores software (software SW of the embodiment) in a software frame (software frame SF of the embodiment) having a frame length longer than the frame length of a fixed-length control command frame (control command frame CF of the embodiment) transmitted from the management device to one of the multiple air conditioners, but no longer than three times the frame length of the control command frame, and transmits the software frame containing the software to the multiple air conditioners using multicast. Then, among the multiple air conditioners, air conditioners that have completed receiving the software operate using the software that they have received.

[0047] The management device disclosed herein is connected to a plurality of air conditioners via a network and includes a processor (processor 23 in the embodiment). The processor stores software in a software frame having a frame length that is longer than the frame length of a fixed-length control command frame transmitted from the management device to any one of the plurality of air conditioners and is no more than three times the frame length of the control command frame, and transmits the software frame containing the software to the plurality of air conditioners using multicast.

[0048] In this way, by transmitting software simultaneously to multiple air conditioners via multicast using a small frame length that is longer than the frame length of the fixed-length control command frame but less than three times the frame length of the control command frame, software updates can be completed in a short time even on a narrowband network with a transmission bandwidth of, for example, 5 kbps or more and 1.25 Mbps or less.

[0049] In addition, if there is an air conditioner among the multiple air conditioners that fails to receive the software frame, the processor resends the software frame to the multiple air conditioners, including the air conditioner that successfully received the software frame, using multicast rather than unicast.

[0050] This method always uses multicast to transmit software frames, simplifying the communication procedure compared to resending software frames using unicast, a handshake communication method, only to air conditioners that failed to receive the software frames. This allows software frame retransmission to be completed in a short time, even on networks with narrow transmission bandwidth. For example, a processor can complete a software update by transmitting the same software frame up to three times using multicast.

[0051] The plurality of air conditioners also include a first air conditioner (wall-mounted air conditioner 20-1 in the embodiment) and a second air conditioner (ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-2 in the embodiment) whose indoor units have different installation configurations. The software is software that can be used in common by the first air conditioner and the second air conditioner, and causes the first air conditioner and the second air conditioner to operate differently depending on whether a first parameter for the first air conditioner is set in the first air conditioner or a second parameter for the second air conditioner is set in the second air conditioner.

[0052] In this way, by using software that can be used in common for both the first and second air conditioners, even when transmitting software using multicast, there is no need to transmit different software for each model of air conditioner multiple times using multicast, so software updates can be completed in an even shorter time even on a narrowband network.

[0053] REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Air conditioner management system 10 Management device 11 Memory unit 12 Processor 13 Communication unit 20-1 Wall-mounted air conditioner 20-2 Ceiling-mounted air conditioner 20-3 Duct-type air conditioner 20A Indoor unit 23 Processor 24 Memory 25 Communication unit

Claims

1. An air conditioner management system comprising a plurality of air conditioners and a management device connected to the plurality of air conditioners via a network, wherein the management device uses multicast to transmit to the plurality of air conditioners software frames having a frame length that is longer than the frame length of a fixed-length control command frame transmitted from the management device to any one of the plurality of air conditioners and is no more than three times the frame length of the control command frame, and an air conditioner among the plurality of air conditioners that has completed receiving the software operates using the software.

2. A management device connected to a plurality of air conditioners via a network, the management device comprising: a processor that transmits, via multicast, to the plurality of air conditioners, software frames having a frame length that is longer than the frame length of a fixed-length control command frame transmitted from the management device to any one of the plurality of air conditioners, and that is no more than three times the frame length of the control command frame.

3. The management device according to claim 2, wherein the transmission bandwidth of the network is 5 kbps or more and 1.25 Mbps or less.

4. The management device of claim 2, wherein, when there is an air conditioner among the plurality of air conditioners that fails to receive the software frame, the processor resends the software frame to the plurality of air conditioners, including the air conditioner that successfully received the software frame, using multicast rather than unicast.

5. The management device according to claim 4, wherein the processor transmits the same software frame up to three times using multicast.

6. The management device described in claim 2, wherein the multiple air conditioners include a first air conditioner and a second air conditioner having different installation configurations for their indoor units, and the software is software that can be used commonly by the first air conditioner and the second air conditioner, and the first air conditioner and the second air conditioner operate differently when a first parameter for the first air conditioner is set in the first air conditioner and when a second parameter for the second air conditioner is set in the second air conditioner.

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