Air conditioner control apparatus

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing air-conditioning apparatus control devices fail to consider equipment-side conditions, leading to insufficient control of air-conditioning apparatus operations.

Innovation Solution

An air-conditioning apparatus control device that includes an airflow side model construction unit, equipment side model construction unit, coupled optimization execution unit, and control target value determination unit to optimize control parameters by considering both airflow and equipment restrictions, using inverse analysis methods.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If inverse analysis is used to obtain control parameters for desired heating energy environment, then temperature control accuracy is improved, but equipment side constraints are not considered leading to insufficient control

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvetemperature control accuracyVSAvoidcontrol sufficiency
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges the airflow side model (thermal fluid analysis) with the equipment side model (device behavior simulation) into a coupled optimization system. This integration allows simultaneous consideration of both temperature distribution requirements and equipment operational constraints, resolving the contradiction between temperature control accuracy and control sufficiency by unified multi-objective optimization.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

2Temperature

If only airflow side simulation is performed to control heating energy environment, then temperature distribution is optimized, but equipment capacity and behavior restrictions are not considered

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveheating energy environmentVSAvoidequipment constraint consideration
Core Design Contradiction:
TemperatureVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent adds a new dimension to the simulation by introducing the equipment side model that operates in parallel with the airflow side model. This dimensional expansion incorporates equipment capacity, behavior restrictions, and operational constraints into the optimization process, enabling simultaneous optimization of temperature distribution and equipment adaptability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

3Measurement precision

If conventional temperature sensor control is used, then local temperature is controlled, but overall space heating energy environment is not accurately reflected

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvelocal temperature controlVSAvoidspace-wide temperature information
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a thermal fluid analysis model as an intermediary between temperature sensors and control decisions. This intermediary processes local sensor data to simulate and predict overall space temperature distribution, compensating for the information loss from localized measurement and enabling accurate space-wide environmental control.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentEP4279830B1Air conditioner control apparatus
Publication Date: 2025.11.05 MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORP
  • EP4279830B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4279830B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4279830B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4

AI summary

According to an embodiment of the present invention , an air-conditioning apparatus control device controls an air-conditioning apparatus performing air conditioning in an air-conditioned space. The air-conditioning apparatus control device includes an airflow side model construction unit configured to construct an airflow side model for simulating a heating energy environment in the air-conditioned space, an equipment side model construction unit configured to construct an equipment side model for simulating a restriction of behavior of a device that the air-conditioning apparatus has and for simulating a capacity of the device, a coupled optimization execution unit having an objective function calculation unit that calculates a value of an objective function for the air-conditioned space and a sensitivity derivation unit that derives sensitivity, which is change in the objective function when a control variable is changed, and configured to calculate an optimum solution by optimizing the objective function based on the airflow side model and the objective function based on the equipment side model by using an inverse analysis method, and a control target value determination unit configured to determine a control target value for the air-conditioning apparatus from the optimum solution.