Air-Conditioning Remote Display for Model-Adaptive Airflow Icons
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing air-conditioning remote controllers are not user-friendly due to varying maximum settable airflow rates and directions across different models, leading to confusion and space inefficiency, especially when displaying airflow rates from left to right, which diverges from the actual airflow direction.
Innovation Solution
The remote controller features an input unit for setting air-conditioning control values and a display unit that adjusts the number and size of icons based on the air-conditioner model, using trapezoidal icons to represent airflow rates and directions, allowing intuitive control and compatibility across multiple models.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the display unit shows a fixed number of bars for airflow rate settings, then the display is simple and consistent, but it cannot accommodate different models with varying maximum settable values
Solution Approach 1:
The display unit dynamically adjusts the number of displayed bars based on the maximum settable value received from the air-conditioner model. When the maximum value is 5, five bars are shown; when it is 6, six bars are shown. This dynamic adaptation allows a single remote controller to work with multiple models without requiring different display configurations for each model.
2Loss of information
If under-bars are displayed continuously for 24 hours to indicate maximum settable values, then users can see the maximum values, but it occupies extra display space and reduces readability
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of continuously displaying under-bars for 24 hours, the system uses periodic action by displaying the maximum value indicator only when the airflow rate setting button is pressed. This allows users to see the maximum settable value contextually when needed, while avoiding constant occupation of display space that would reduce overall readability.
3Ease of operation
If airflow rate bars are arranged from left to right increasing in height, then the display follows conventional reading direction, but it creates divergence from the actual airflow direction when indoor units are installed on ceilings or walls
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional left-to-right increasing bar arrangement and instead uses right-to-left increasing bars. This inversion aligns the visual representation with the actual airflow direction from ceiling-mounted or wall-mounted indoor units, where air flows downward. The rightmost bar represents the highest airflow rate, creating consistency between visual display and physical airflow direction.
Data Source
AI summary
An air-conditioning remote controller allowing a user to intuitively grasp a setting status of an air-conditioner and to use the controller commonly between a plurality of models of the main body of the air-conditioners, the air-conditioning remote controller including an input unit to input setting values for setting items relating to air-conditioning control, and a display unit having a predetermined area to display a plurality of icons thereon and displaying setting values and icons depending on the number of taps, wherein the display unit changes the number of displayable icons depending on the number of taps for the main body of the air-conditioner controlled using the setting values, and also displays the icons with the larger size per tap as the number of the icons in the air-conditioner is getting smaller.