Bidirectional AC Remote Control for Low-Battery Status Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional air conditioners lack accurate notification of operation time and power consumption for both air-conditioning and maintenance operations, and the direction of the louver is not correctly displayed, leading to user confusion during automatic operation modes or dew-drop control.
Innovation Solution
An air conditioner system with a remote controller that includes a body receiver and transmitter for bidirectional communication, a power-saving standby unit, and a display unit to show operation information, allowing for accurate tracking of air-conditioning and maintenance operations, and a louver control mechanism to correctly display the louver's position.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If the remote controller continuously monitors bidirectional communication to track maintenance operation information, then accurate operation time and power consumption data can be obtained, but battery consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The remote controller enters a standby state after transmitting a control signal and periodically wakes up to check for operation information from the air conditioner at predetermined time intervals. This periodic monitoring approach ensures that maintenance operation data is captured while minimizing battery consumption by keeping the receiver in low-power mode between intervals.
Solution Approach 2:
The air conditioner transmits operation information back to the remote controller in response to control signals. The remote controller uses this feedback mechanism to update its display with accurate operation time and power consumption data for both air-conditioning and maintenance operations, resolving the information loss issue without requiring continuous monitoring.
2Reliability
If the air conditioner automatically performs maintenance operations separately from user stop operations, then proper maintenance can be executed, but accurate notification of total operation time and power consumption becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The remote controller merges the display of operation information for user-initiated stop operations with automatically executed maintenance operations. By integrating these separate operation types into a unified information display system, the controller can accurately notify users of the total operation time and power consumption encompassing both air-conditioning and maintenance phases.
Solution Approach 2:
The air conditioner provides feedback to the remote controller about automatically executed maintenance operations, including operation time and power consumption data. This feedback enables the remote controller to accurately track and display comprehensive operation information, resolving the information loss problem caused by separate maintenance execution.
3Use of energy by moving object
If bidirectional communication is limited to operator operation time only, then battery consumption is suppressed, but sufficient exchange of operation information cannot be performed
Solution Approach 1:
The remote controller implements periodic wake-up cycles from its standby state to check for operation information from the air conditioner. This periodic communication approach extends the effective information exchange period beyond immediate operator operation time while maintaining low battery consumption by keeping the receiver in standby mode between periodic checks.
Solution Approach 2:
The remote controller autonomously manages its communication cycles, automatically waking up at predetermined intervals to check for information and returning to standby state. This self-service approach ensures sufficient information exchange occurs without user intervention while maintaining energy efficiency through automated power management.
Data Source
AI summary
An air conditioner includes an air conditioner body and a remote controller that controls the operation of the air conditioner body. The air conditioner body includes a body receiver that receives a control signal for controlling the operation from the remote controller, and a body transmitter that transmits operation information for the air conditioner body to the remote controller. The remote controller includes a remote-controller transmitter that transmits the control signal for controlling the operation to the air conditioner body, a remote-controller receiver that receives the operation information transmitted from the air conditioner body, and a power-saving standby unit that sets the remote-controller receiver as a reception standby state when a request signal to request operation information is transmitted from the remote controller to the air conditioner body at each predetermined time interval, and that releases the reception standby state after a given time has passed.