Drain Pan Contamination Imaging for Air Conditioner Maintenance
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Users receiving messages about filter replacement from an information management center often struggle to understand the necessity and degree of replacement, requiring expert knowledge to interpret the information provided.
Innovation Solution
An information providing system that uses a computer connected to a camera and user terminal to obtain image data, identify contaminated regions, and generate contamination-related information highlighting the issues, allowing users to recognize contamination levels and types through image processing and hue analysis.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If image data is processed to provide contamination information, then information availability is improved, but user understanding remains difficult due to technical complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a visual copy of the actual contamination by generating an image that replicates the appearance of the contaminated drain pan. This allows users to directly see the contamination level without interpreting technical data, bridging the gap between information availability and user understanding.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses color mapping to represent different contamination levels, where colors correspond to specific contaminant amounts. This transforms abstract numerical data into intuitive visual information that users can immediately comprehend without technical expertise.
2Measurement precision
If detailed contamination data is provided, then measurement precision is improved, but information complexity increases making it harder to understand
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms multiple complex parameters (contaminant type, amount, location) into a single visual parameter - the generated image with color-coded contamination levels. This maintains measurement precision while dramatically reducing information complexity for user comprehension.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts one-dimensional numerical data into two-dimensional visual representations through generated images. This dimensional transformation allows detailed contamination information to be perceived at a glance, reducing the cognitive load required to understand complex data.
3Loss of information
If multiple contamination types are identified, then information completeness is improved, but ease of understanding deteriorates due to multiple categories
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different visual qualities (colors, intensities) to different regions of the image corresponding to different contamination types. Each contamination type is visually distinguished through local variations in the generated image, allowing users to understand multiple categories simultaneously without confusion.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~7
AI summary
An information providing system (SA) provides information relating to dirt in a drain pan of an air conditioner (20). The information providing system (SA) is provided with a computer (P) which is connected to a camera (30) and a user terminal (16). The computer (P) acquires image data of a target object (2) imaged by the camera (30), identifies a dirty region in the image data, creates dirt-related information in which the dirty region is highlighted in the image data, and outputs the dirt-related information to the user terminal (16).