Air Conditioner Compressor Failure Detection Using Current Pulsation
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Solution Overview
Problem
In refrigerating devices like air conditioners, early detection of compressor failures is challenging due to limited space and high costs in outdoor units, and anomalies in instantaneous current or voltage are difficult to detect before failure occurs, leading to potential damage and economic losses.
Innovation Solution
An air conditioner system with a control unit that includes a current detecting part, a pulsation detecting part, and an anomaly determining part to predict and detect compressor failures by analyzing the magnitude and duration of pulsation in the driving current, allowing for early-stage anomaly detection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a compressor internal state estimating device is prepared to detect anomalies, then early detection capability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential detection function from a complex compressor internal state estimating device. Instead of implementing a full estimation system, it selectively monitors instantaneous current and voltage to detect anomalies, thereby achieving early detection capability while minimizing device complexity and cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The control board utilizes existing computational resources and available electrical parameters (current and voltage) to perform anomaly detection without requiring additional dedicated hardware or complex estimation algorithms. The system serves its own detection needs using minimal additional components.
2Measurement precision
If instantaneous current or voltage detection is used to monitor compressor status, then measurement capability is improved, but measurement precision for early anomaly detection deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary detection of anomalies by continuously monitoring instantaneous current and voltage before they develop into noticeable compressor failures. By detecting subtle changes in these electrical parameters early in the anomaly development process, the system achieves both measurement precision and early detection reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from instantaneous current and voltage measurements to continuously assess compressor health. By analyzing changes in these parameters over time and comparing them against expected operational ranges, the system achieves precise anomaly detection that maintains high reliability for early failure prediction.
Data Source
AI summary
To predict and detect a failure in a compressor provided in an air conditioner, the air conditioner is provided with: a heat exchanger; the compressor; piping connecting the heat exchanger and the compressor with each other; and a control unit controlling the compressor and having a compressor failure predicting and detecting means, and in this air conditioner, the compressor failure predicting and detecting means of the control unit includes: a current detecting part detecting a driving current driving the compressor; a pulsation detecting part detecting pulsation in a driving current detected by the current detecting part; and an anomaly determining part predicting or detecting any failure in the compressor based on a magnitude and a duration of pulsation in a driving current detected by the pulsation detecting part.