JP3018752B2 - Air conditioning method and air conditioner - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air conditioner and an air conditioner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to prevent sleepiness during sleep when performing a cooling operation, the set temperature is increased by 1 to 2 ° C. after a certain period of time has elapsed after selecting a good night key or detecting a sleep state. Control (for example,
JP-A-62-32239, JP-A-2-68439
No.).

[0003]

However, according to the above control, there are still problems such as difficulty in sleeping and waking up abruptly, and when not using the sleep mode, problems such as falling asleep may still occur. The fact is that it is difficult to say that the response to time has always been satisfactory.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, and an object of the present invention is to provide an air conditioner and an air conditioner capable of improving sleep quality and subjective sleep feeling in a cooling season. To provide machines.

[0005]

Therefore, in the air conditioning method of the first aspect, in the good night cooling operation mode, a set temperature operation for keeping the air conditioning temperature close to the set temperature, and an air conditioning temperature.
Temperature close to a temperature 2-3 ° C higher than the set temperature.
The temperature rise operation to be maintained is 10 times for the set temperature operation.
~ 70 minutes, temperature rise operation for 10 ~ 40 minutes
It is characterized in that it alternately repeats with the turnover time .

The air conditioner according to claim 2 is a good night.
Mode switching means for switching the operation mode to the cooling operation mode
1 and control the air conditioning capacity to bring the air conditioning temperature closer to the set temperature.
In the air conditioner having the capacity control means 2 for controlling
During the air conditioning capacity control in the above-mentioned good night cooling operation mode,
Set temperature operation that keeps the air conditioning temperature close to the set temperature
And raise the air-conditioning temperature by 2 to 3 ° C higher than the set temperature.
Temperature rise operation that is kept close to
10 to 70 minutes, and 10 to 4
Yura controlled to be repeated alternately at each operation time of 0 minutes
It is characterized in that a key control means 3 is provided .

[0007]

[0008]

[0009]

[0010]

[0011]

As described above, the set temperature operation is performed for 10 to 70 minutes.
And raise the air conditioning temperature by 2 to 3 ° C. higher than this.
And the temperature rise operation alternately for
Set the temperature between the set temperature and the temperature 2-3 ° C higher
It was confirmed that repeated changes can improve the quality of sleep and the subjective feeling of sleep, such as shortening the latency to sleep stage IV and extending REM sleep time.

[0012]

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First, experimental conditions will be described. The experiment was performed on six subjects. The experimental conditions were a condition for maintaining the air-conditioning temperature constant throughout the sleep period (hereinafter, referred to as a steady condition) and a condition for intermittently increasing the air-conditioning temperature during the sleep period (hereinafter, referred to as a fluctuation condition). In setting the temperature condition, the optimal temperature at the time of falling asleep was set based on the subjective report on the thermal sensation of the subject during the adaptation night in the steady condition. In the fluctuation condition, the temperature was increased at a set temperature (base temperature) of the steady condition + 2 ° C. The period for raising the temperature was set so that the duration and interval of REM sleep were set for each subject from the sleep patterns of the adaptive night and the experimental night under the steady conditions, and the temperature was raised during REM sleep. Taking into account the body temperature change due to circadian rhythm, 0.5 ° C between 3:00 am and 5:00 am
The base temperature was increased (the temperature on the high-temperature side was kept as it was).

FIG. 1 shows the temperature setting under the fluctuation condition for each subject. Note that the temperature control is performed when the subject falls asleep (sleep stage I).
It started from the point when I) was confirmed. The order of the steady condition and the fluctuation condition was randomized among the subjects.

The room temperature and skin temperature were measured every 6 seconds by a portable data logger using a copper / constantan thermocouple, and simultaneously taken into a personal computer. The measured data was used in a temperature control program. The skin temperature was measured from the forehead, belly, thigh, lower leg, instep, dorsum, and elbow, and weighted by the ratio of 7, 35, 14, 5, 19, 13, and 7, respectively, and the average skin temperature was calculated. Calculated (Hardy
7-point method). Room temperature is measured near the subject's head,
At the same time, the temperature of the wall immediately adjacent was measured. These temperature data were subjected to a moving average of 5 points and displayed as an average value for 30 seconds.

In addition to the above skin temperature, the physiological indices include a polysomnogram, respiration (thoracic movement), and an electrocardiogram on paper.
Recorded in the data recorder. From this paper record, Rech
tschaffen & Kales sleep depth classification (st
ageW = awake, stageI = sleep onset, StageI
I = light sleep stage, stage III = moderate sleep stage, st
According to ageIV = deep sleep period, stageREM = REM sleep period), the sleep depth for each page (30 seconds) of the recording paper was determined by inspection. At this time, a portion where electromyogram was mixed due to body movement and the determination was difficult was taken as stageMT.

As for subjective feeling of sleep, 31 items of OS
A sleep questionnaire (Kitsu Oguri, Shuichiro Shirakawa, Kazuo Azumi: OSA
Development of Sleep Questionnaire-Statistical Scale Construction and Standardization for Sleep Feeling Evaluation, Psychiatry, 27 (7), 791-799, 1
985) immediately after waking up, and the five factors related to sleep (I. Nervousness factor, II. Sleep maintenance factor, II.
I. Factors of concern, IV. Integral sleep factors, V. A scale value was calculated for the factor of sleepiness), and a comparison was made between the conditions.

The test subjects (No.
2 and 3 show typical examples of the changes in the sleep pattern, average skin temperature, and room temperature in 4), and Table 1 shows a comparison between the conditions of the sleep variables for all the subjects. .
FIG. 4 shows the time ratio (average value) of each sleep stage for each condition. In comparison between the sleep variable conditions, as shown in Table 1, the latency to the sleep stage IV was reduced by about 10 minutes in the fluctuation condition and the REM sleep duration was extended by about 22 minutes in the fluctuation condition as compared with the steady condition. (All are statistically significant with a risk factor of 5% or less). Although there were no significant differences in other sleep variables, overall sleep quality tended to be better under fluctuation conditions.

[0019]

[Table 1]

FIG. 5 shows a radar chart expression of the average value of each factor of the OSA sleep questionnaire for each condition.
(Solid line: fluctuation condition, dashed line: steady condition), and a larger numerical value indicates better sleep feeling. In this subjective sleep feeling, a significantly higher value was obtained in the fluctuation condition in the sleep condition than in the steady condition.

Regarding the skin temperature, it is difficult to recognize a constant tendency among the conditions due to the peeling of the temperature sensor due to body movement and the change in the contact state between the sensor and the bedding due to body position displacement. However, it was found that the average skin temperature showed a change in temperature following the change in room temperature. In addition, since each subject did not feel airflow, it is considered that there was no influence of airflow.

In the above experiment, based on the hypothesis that a more comfortable sleep environment could be created by introducing temperature control to cope with the so-called cold sleep caused by malfunction of the control of the body temperature regulation response during REM sleep. Departed. That is, the set temperature during the sleep period is raised during the REM sleep period. However, in actual control, the sleep state of the subject is not detected in real time, and the start time and duration of REM sleep are estimated based on the sleep pattern of the subject measured in advance, and the temperature is controlled. It's just Therefore, at the actual experimental night, the temperature control pattern and the sleep pattern may be shifted. As for the coincidence between the two, as shown in FIG. 6, some of them show a coincidence of 66% or more during REM sleep (subject No. 1), and those of subject No. 1 in FIG. In some cases, the phase is completely inverted, as in No. 6, and the two do not always match. However, a longer REM in fluctuation conditions compared to steady-state conditions
From the fact that sleep was observed and that the quality of sleep was improved, it is considered that a temperature increase in the REM stage is not necessarily required, but a mere temperature shift is affecting.

Significant differences were found in the factors of sleepiness in the subjective feeling of sleep, and it was also recognized that the latency to sleep stage IV was shorter in the fluctuation condition than in the steady condition. In other words, this indicates that sleeping was good under the fluctuation condition. Note that the difference in temperature control between the two conditions occurs after the first REM sleep, and the temperature settings under each condition up to that point are exactly the same in each subject. The cause of the difference is unknown.

As described above, it is clear that the quality of sleep and the subjective sleep feeling are improved under the fluctuation condition. However, even if the temperature rise value is set at 1 ° C. or about 4 ° C., a certain effect can be obtained. Make sure you can. The most effective temperature rise value was 2-3 ° C.

FIG. 9 shows temperature control conditions in another test. This is obtained by performing 1 / f fluctuation control as a temperature control method. In this case, the operation time based on the set temperature , that is, the air conditioning temperature is kept close to the set temperature.
The operation time of the set temperature operation to be performed and the operation time at which the temperature has increased , that is, the air conditioning temperature is higher by 2 ° C. than the above set temperature.
The operation time of the temperature rise operation that is kept close to the temperature is almost the same, or the temperature rises longer than the operation time of the set temperature operation
Although the conditions are set so that the driving time of driving is slightly longer, in this test, as in the above-described embodiment, the quality of sleep such as shortening the latency to sleep stage IV and prolonging the REM sleep time is also set. It was confirmed that improvement and subjective feeling of sleep were also improved.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of an air conditioner suitable for carrying out the above air conditioning method. This is achieved by mode switching means 1 for switching the operation mode to the good night cooling operation mode, capacity control means 2 for controlling the capacity of the compressor 5 and the like so that the air-conditioning temperature approaches the set temperature set by the temperature setting means 4, and The apparatus includes a fluctuation control means 3 for intermittently increasing a set temperature set in the temperature setting means 4 in a pattern as shown in FIG. 1, for example. Implementation of the method is possible.

[0027]

As described above, the air conditioning method and the air conditioning method of the present invention
According to the fine air conditioner performs in the cooling season, shorter latency to sleep stage IV, and improves the quality of sleep, such as the extension of REM sleep time, good night operation was further improved subjective sleep feeling It becomes possible.

[0028]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a time chart showing temperature setting conditions in an embodiment of the air conditioning method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a comparative example in which the set temperature was constant. 4 is a time chart showing changes in sleep pattern, average skin temperature, and room temperature in FIG.

FIG. 3 shows an example in which the set temperature is intermittently increased. 4 is a time chart showing changes in sleep pattern, average skin temperature, and room temperature in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing a sleep stage appearance rate (average value) in a fluctuation condition and a steady condition in comparison.

FIG. 5 is a radar chart showing the average value of each factor of the subjective feeling of sleep.

FIG. 1 is a time chart showing a correlation between a REM sleep period and an air conditioning temperature rise period in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a time chart showing a correlation between a REM sleep period and an air conditioning temperature rise period in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an example of an air conditioner suitable for performing the air conditioning method of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a time chart showing temperature setting conditions in another embodiment of the air conditioning method of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mode switching means 2 Capacity control means 3 Fluctuation control means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-5-1838 (JP, A) JP-A 55-35858 (JP, A) JP-A 56-65326 (JP, U) (58) Survey Field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) F24F 11/02 F24F 11/02 102

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A set-temperature operation for keeping an air-conditioning temperature close to a set temperature in a sleep cooling operation mode ;
Adjust the temperature to a temperature 2-3 ° C higher than the above set temperature
And the temperature rise operation to maintain
10 to 70 minutes, 10 to 40 minutes for temperature rise operation
An air conditioning method characterized by being alternately repeated at each operation time . 2. The operation mode is set to the good night cooling operation mode.
Mode switching means (1) for switching, and air conditioning temperature set temperature
Control means (2) for controlling the air conditioning capacity to approach
In the air conditioner comprising:
While controlling the air conditioning capacity in the mode, the air conditioning temperature is set to the set temperature.
Set temperature operation to keep close to and set the air conditioning temperature as described above
Above the temperature that is kept close to the temperature 2-3 ℃ higher than the temperature
Ascending operation is 10 to 70 minutes for the set temperature operation,
Alternating operation every 10 to 40 minutes for rising operation
And a fluctuation control means (3) for controlling to be repeated.
Air conditioner, characterized by that.