Air conditioner
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wall-mounted air conditioners are often installed out of reach, making it difficult for users to manually operate them, necessitating the use of a remote controller which can be inconvenient.
Innovation Solution
Integration of a speech recognizer within the air conditioner's housing, including a microphone and speaker, allowing users to control the unit using voice commands, with a wireless communication module for external device connectivity and a vibration-reducing member to minimize noise interference.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If wall-mounted air conditioner is installed on upper portion of wall for proper airflow distribution, then cooling/heating efficiency is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates because it becomes out of reach for manual control
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical remote controller system with an acoustic field-based speech recognition system. The microphone captures user speech commands, the processor decodes them, and the speaker provides feedback, eliminating the need for physical contact with the air conditioner unit while maintaining operational convenience.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces speech as an intermediary medium between the user and the air conditioner control system. Instead of direct mechanical interaction via remote controller, the user's voice serves as the intermediary that transmits control intentions to the device, resolving the contradiction between installation position and operability.
2Ease of operation
If speech recognizer components (microphone, speaker) are integrated into the air conditioner housing, then ease of operation is improved through voice control, but device complexity increases due to additional components and their integration requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the speech recognition components (microphone, speaker, processor) with the existing air conditioner housing and control system. The microphone and speaker are integrated into the housing structure, and the speech processing functions are combined with the existing control processor, reducing overall system complexity through consolidation.
Solution Approach 2:
The existing processor in the air conditioner is made multi-functional by adding speech recognition capabilities to its existing control functions. This universal approach allows the same hardware component to handle both traditional control operations and voice command processing, minimizing additional complexity.
3Device complexity
If microphone and speaker are positioned close together in the housing, then device complexity is reduced through compact integration, but object-generated harmful factors worsen due to noise interference from speaker affecting microphone sensitivity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the housing interior into distinct functional zones using partition walls. The microphone is positioned in one zone while the speaker is placed in another zone, creating spatial separation that reduces acoustic interference. This segmentation allows compact integration while maintaining component performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces acoustic insulation material as an intermediary between the speaker and microphone. This intermediary absorbs and dampens sound waves, preventing the speaker-generated noise from directly interfering with the microphone's sensitivity, thus resolving the harmful interaction while maintaining compact design.
Data Source
AI summary
An air conditioner including a housing having an inlet and an outlet, a heat exchanger disposed inside the housing to exchange heat with air introduced into the inlet, a fan configured to blow air heat-exchanged in the heat exchanger to the outlet, and a speech recognizer including a microphone, a speaker, and a case accommodating the microphone and the speaker, and to operate the air conditioner using the microphone and the speaker.