JP6880918B2 - Wind monitoring system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a wind monitoring system that monitors wind using an air conditioner.

In recent years, it has been carried out to acquire and notify the meteorological information of the target area of each region, prefecture or municipality designated in advance. In order to acquire such meteorological information in the target area, it is necessary to install a large number of meteorological data observation devices such as barometers, rainfall systems, wind direction / anemometers, etc. in the target area (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

In order to acquire such meteorological information in the target area, it is necessary to install a large number of meteorological data observation devices such as barometers, rainfall meters, wind direction / anemometers, etc. in the target area (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-48632

By the way, in the above-mentioned prior art, by installing meteorological data observation equipment on each of a large number of utility poles, a large number of local meteorological data are acquired, and meteorological information of the target area is generated based on the acquired local meteorological data.

However, the above-mentioned advanced technology requires a large number of meteorological observation devices, and also requires communication equipment such as data communication devices for transmitting the observation data of each of the many meteorological observation devices to the management server. There is a problem that the cost to build is high.

Therefore, the present invention has been made by paying attention to the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and provides a wind monitoring system capable of monitoring wind while using existing equipment, paying particular attention to wind detection. The purpose is to do.

The wind monitoring system according to one aspect of the present invention includes a wind speed detecting means for detecting the wind speed from the rotation speed of the fan motor, a plurality of air conditioners having installation position information and connected to the network, and a plurality of air conditioners via the network. Wind information collecting means that collects wind information including wind speed information and installation position information detected by each wind speed detecting means from the air conditioner, and wind distribution information is generated based on multiple wind information collected by the wind information collecting means. It is provided with a wind distribution information generating means for generating wind distribution information and a notification means for notifying the wind distribution information generated by the wind distribution information generating means.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a wind monitoring system can be constructed at low cost by using an air conditioner.

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the wind monitoring system which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a characteristic diagram which shows the relationship between the fan motor rotation speed of an air conditioner, and the wind speed. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the wind information analysis / notification processing procedure executed by the management server of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the wind distribution information Imw which concerns on this invention.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the description of the drawings below, the same or similar parts are designated by the same or similar reference numerals. However, it should be noted that the drawings are schematic and differ from the actual ones. Therefore, the specific components should be judged in consideration of the following explanation.

Further, the embodiments shown below exemplify devices and methods for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and the technical idea of the present invention describes the shape, structure, arrangement, etc. of components. It is not specific to the following. The technical idea of the present invention may be modified in various ways within the technical scope specified by the claims stated in the claims.

The following detailed description describes many specific details to provide a complete understanding of one embodiment of the invention. However, it will be clear that one or more embodiments can be implemented without such specific details. Other well-known structures and devices are shown in schematics for the sake of brevity in the drawings.

The wind monitoring system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 1, the wind monitoring system 1 includes a plurality of air conditioners 2 provided with a wind detection unit 23b, and a management server 4 to which each of these air conditioners 2 is connected via a network 3 such as the Internet. I have. The management server 4 is installed in a municipal disaster prevention department, a television station, a radio station, or the like.

Each air conditioner 2 is installed in a detached house, condominium, or the like, and includes an indoor unit 11 and an outdoor unit 12 as shown in FIG. 1 (a). The indoor unit 11 is arranged indoors, and the outdoor unit 12 is arranged outdoors so as to be exposed to the outside air.

Although not shown, an indoor heat exchanger and a blower fan are incorporated in the indoor unit 11. The indoor air sucked by the blower fan passes through the indoor heat exchanger to exchange heat with the refrigerant, and a cold air flow or a warm air flow is generated. The generated cold airflow or warm airflow is blown into the room from the outlet.

Refrigerant is supplied to the indoor heat exchanger from a refrigerating circuit (not shown) provided in the outdoor unit 12. This refrigerating circuit includes a four-way valve (not shown), a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, an expansion valve, a refrigerant pipe, and an outdoor fan 13 shown in FIG. 1 (a). The outdoor unit 12 is rotated by rotating the outdoor fan 13. The outside air is taken into the inside of the refrigerator and passed through the outdoor heat exchanger to promote the heat exchange between the refrigerant and the outside air.

The outdoor unit 12 rotates and drives the outdoor fan 13, for example, a fan motor 14 which is a brushless DC motor, a drive circuit 15 including, for example, an inverter circuit for driving the fan motor 14, and a drive voltage command to the drive circuit 15. Is provided with a control unit 16 for outputting.

The fan motor 14 is provided with a position detection circuit 17 that detects the rotation position of the rotor. The position detection circuit 17 detects the position of the rotating rotor by using a Hall element built in the fan motor.

A current detection circuit 18 for detecting the current consumption of the fan motor 14 is connected to the drive circuit 15.

The control unit 16 includes a communication unit 21 that transmits / receives information to / from the indoor unit 11, a rotation speed detection unit 22, and a data processing unit 23.

The communication unit 21 receives the operation command Dt from the indoor unit 11 and outputs it to the data processing unit 23, and transmits the operation state information Is and the local wind information Iow from the data processing unit 23 to the indoor unit 11.

The rotation speed detection unit 22 receives the position information of the rotating rotor from the position detection circuit 17, and detects the rotation speed Vmd, which is the rotation speed of the fan motor 14, based on the rotation position information.

The data processing unit 23 includes an air conditioning control unit 23a and a wind detection unit 23b.

When the operation command Dt is input from the indoor unit 11 via the communication unit 21, the air conditioning control unit 23a responds to the contents of the operation command Dt (actually, the operating state of the compressor, the outside air temperature, and the outdoor heat exchanger). ^{The target rotation speed Vm *} of the fan motor 14 is determined (according to the operating state information It such as temperature), and the determined target rotation speed Vm ^* and the fan motor rotation speed which is a feedback signal input from the rotation speed detection unit 22 The rotation speed deviation ΔVm with respect to Vmd is calculated, the drive voltage command value is obtained by, for example, PID control so that the calculated rotation speed deviation ΔVm becomes zero, and the obtained drive voltage command value is output to the drive circuit 15. Further, the air conditioning control unit 23a transmits operating state information Is such as the operating state of the compressor of the outdoor unit 12, the outside air temperature, and the outdoor heat exchanger temperature to the indoor unit 11 via the communication unit 21.

When the air conditioner 2 is stopped, the wind detection unit 23b rotates the fan motor 14 in a reverse direction different from the rotation direction during operation due to the outside wind, and the rotation speed of the fan motor detected by the rotation speed detection unit 22 Vmd is converted into the wind speed Ws of the outside wind with reference to the wind speed conversion table 24 shown in FIG. 1 (b), and the converted wind speed Ws is transmitted to the indoor unit 11 via the communication unit 21 as the wind speed information Iw.

Here, the wind speed conversion table 24 is obtained by a wind tunnel experiment or the like, and associates the rotation speed of the fan motor with the wind speed. FIG. 2 shows the wind speed conversion table 24 in the form of a graph, when the horizontal axis is the wind speed Ws [m / s] and the vertical axis is the fan motor rotation speed Vmd [min ^-1 ]. In model A, as shown by the characteristic straight line L1 shown in the solid line, the fan motor rotation speed Vmd maintains zero and the wind speed Ws is 3 [m / s] when the wind speed Ws is 0 to 3 [m / s]. When it exceeds, the fan motor rotation speed Vmd increases in proportion to the increase in the wind speed Ws. On the other hand, in the B model, as shown by the characteristic straight line L2 shown by the dotted line, when the wind speed Ws is between 0 and 7 [m / s], the fan motor rotation speed Vmd is maintained at zero and the wind speed Ws is 7. When it exceeds [m / s], the fan motor rotation speed Vmd increases with a slope larger than the slope of the characteristic straight line L1 in proportion to the increase in the wind speed Ws. Since the characteristics of the wind speed Ws-fan motor rotation speed Vmd differ depending on the model, it is preferable to create the wind speed conversion table 24 of FIG. 2 for each model and store it in a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory. As described above, the wind speed detecting means is composed of the outdoor fan 13, the position detection circuit 17, the rotation speed detection unit 22, the wind detection unit 23b, and the wind speed conversion table 24, and detects the wind speed from the rotation speed of the outdoor fan. ..

Further, even when the air conditioner 2 is operating and the fan motor 14 is rotationally driven and controlled, if the outside wind acts on the outdoor fan 13, it becomes a load for rotating the outdoor fan 13 in the reverse direction, so that there is no outside wind. Compared with the case, the fan motor rotation speed Vmd [min ^-1 ] detected by the rotation speed detection unit 22 becomes a smaller value. Therefore, since the rotation speed deviation ΔVm between the target rotation speed Vm ^* and the fan motor rotation speed Vmd becomes large, a wind speed conversion table showing the relationship between the rotation speed deviation ΔVm and the wind speed Ws of the outside wind is created by the wind tunnel experiment. As a result, the wind speed Ws of the outside wind can be detected even while the outdoor unit 12 is in operation. Alternatively, the wind speed may be obtained from the load current of the fan motor 14.

The data processing unit 23 transmits the wind speed Ws detected by the wind detection unit 23b as wind speed information Iw to the indoor unit 11 via the communication unit 21.

When the indoor unit 11 receives the wind speed information Iw from the data processing unit 23 of the outdoor unit 12, the indoor unit 11 transmits the local wind information Iow including the wind speed information Iw to the management server 4 via the external network 3. At this time, in addition to the wind speed information Iw, the local wind information Iow is added with the installation position information Ie indicating the installation position (latitude, longitude) of the outdoor unit 12. The installation position information IE may be stored in the storage unit 25 of the control unit 16 by an operator or the like when the outdoor unit 12 is installed, or data detected by an installation position detection means (not shown) may be used. Further, the installation position information Ie may include information indicating the installation direction of the outdoor fan 13.

In this way, the air conditioner 2 provided in each household transmits the local wind information Iow to the management server 4 arranged in the disaster prevention department of the municipality via the network 3, so that each air in the management server 4 It is possible to generate wind distribution information Imw based on the local wind information Iow transmitted from the air conditioner 2.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the management server 4 includes a wind information collecting means 4a, a wind distribution information generating means 4b, a notification means 4c, and a storage means 4d.

The wind information collecting means 4a collects a plurality of local wind information Iows transmitted from each air conditioner 2 via the network 3 and stores them in the storage means 4d.

The wind distribution information generation means 4b generates the wind distribution information Imw shown in FIG. 4 from the plurality of local wind information Iow stored in the storage means 4d, and stores the wind distribution information Imw in the storage means 4d. The wind distribution information Imw in FIG. 4 shows the installation location of the outdoor unit in the target area, and the direction of the arrow indicates the installation direction. Some of the outdoor units are painted black and some are painted white. The black-painted outdoor unit indicates that a strong wind is detected, and the white-painted outdoor unit indicates an outdoor unit that does not detect a strong wind. Then, the wind distribution information generation means 4b determines whether or not the wind speed information Iw of the strong wind value Wss or more, which is a predetermined value predetermined for determining the strong wind, is included, and the wind speed information Iw of the strong wind value Wss or more is included. If is included, it detects that a strong wind is blowing. Then, using the installation position information Ie included in the local wind information Iow, the range in which the air conditioner that transmits the local wind information Iow including the wind speed information Iw having a strong wind value Wss or more is distributed is wide or local. It is determined whether the area is a target area (for example, whether the area is wider than the range of 1 km radius or within the range of 1 km radius as shown by the circle in FIG. 4). Here, it is assumed that a local gust such as a tornado has occurred when it is distributed only in a local area, and a strong wind is when it is distributed over a wide area to distinguish it from a local gust. And. It is assumed that a strong wind is a case where wind speed information Iw having a strong wind value Wss or more is distributed over a wide area, and a local gust is generated in a local area. Further, the wind distribution information generating means 4b predicts future wind information based on the temporal change of the wind distribution information.

When the wind distribution information generation means 4b detects the occurrence of a strong wind or a gust, the notification means 4c notifies the residents of the relevant area by using disaster prevention radio or public radio waves to alert the relevant area where the occurrence is predicted. I do.

Next, the wind information analysis / notification process executed by the management server 4 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In this wind information analysis process, first, the local wind information Iow transmitted from each air conditioner 2 is collected by the wind information collecting means 4a of the management server 4 (step S1).

Next, the wind distribution information generating means 4b of the management server 4 generates wind distribution information Imw from the local wind information Iow including the wind speed information Iw and the installation position information Ie collected by the wind information collecting means 4a, and the generated wind distribution information. The Imw is stored in the storage means 4d together with the time when it is generated (step S2).

The wind distribution information generating means 4b determines whether or not the wind distribution information Imw created in step S2 includes wind speed information Iw equal to or higher than the strong wind value Wss determined to be a preset gust (step S3), and the strong wind value. If a wind speed equal to or higher than Wss is included, the process proceeds to step S4, and if it is not included, it is determined that no gust has occurred, and the process returns to step S1 to start wind information analysis again.

In step S4, the wind distribution information generating means 4b determines whether or not the wind speed having a wind speed equal to or higher than the strong wind value Wss is distributed only in the local area based on the wind distribution information Imw. As a method for determining the local area, the wind distribution information generating means 4b represents the local area in the installation position information of the air conditioner 2 that detects the wind speed equal to or higher than the strong wind value Wss in the wind distribution information Imw shown in FIG. It is determined whether or not the air conditioner 2 that detects the wind speed of the strong wind value Wss or more by superimposing the circles having a radius of 1 km is distributed only inside the circles. When it is distributed only in the local area shown by the circle in FIG. 4 (step S4-Y), the notification means 4C notifies the inhabitants of the area of the occurrence of a gust and alerts them (step S5). In order to improve the accuracy, for example, when a predetermined number or more of the air conditioners 2 detect a wind having a strong wind value Wss or more, the air conditioner 2 may be notified.

If the wind is not distributed only in the local area in step S4 (step S4-N), it is determined that the wind having a wind speed of the strong wind value Wss or more is distributed in the entire target area (wide area), and the target is determined by the notification means 4C. The occurrence of a strong wind is notified to the local residents to alert them (step S9), and the process returns to step S1 to start the next wind information analysis / notification process.

Following step S5, the wind distribution information generating means 4b determines whether or not the distribution of the wind having a strong wind value Wss or more moves in a certain direction with time based on the generated wind distribution information Imw (step S6). ), When it is determined that the vehicle is moving in a certain direction (step S6-Y), the notification means 4C notifies the residents of the predicted destination area of the occurrence of a gust and alerts them (step S7). ), Return to step S1 and start wind information analysis again.

In addition, when it is determined in step S6 that the vehicle has not moved in a certain direction (step S6-N), the notification means 4C also causes a gust in the adjacent area to the residents in the area surrounding the local area. (Step S7), and the process returns to step S1 to start the next wind information analysis / notification process.

As described above, according to the above embodiment, the wind speed information Iw is detected from the fan motor rotation speed Vmd of the fan motor 14 that drives the outdoor fan 13 of the air conditioner 2, and the wind speed information Iw and the installation position information of the outdoor unit 12 are detected. Local wind information Iow including Ie is collected by the management server 4 in cooperation with the air conditioners 2 arranged in each area via the network 3. Therefore, it is possible to collect wind speed information without installing a large number of dedicated anemometers and other meteorological measuring instruments, and it is possible to construct a wind monitoring system in the area where the air conditioner 2 is installed at low cost. ..

Moreover, the installation position information Ie indicating the installation location and installation direction of the air conditioner 2 of the local wind information Iow makes it possible to specify the area and wind direction of the detected gust, and whether it is a tornado from this change in wind direction. It can be roughly determined whether it is a downburst.

For example, a tornado has a diameter of several tens to several hundred meters and the wind direction changes in a circular motion, whereas a downburst wind range is several hundred meters to ten kilometers and the wind direction is circular or elliptical from the center. There is a characteristic that the shape spreads in a plane.

Further, when the installation location of the air conditioner 2 transmitting the local wind information Iow is in an area of less than 0.2 km in diameter, it can be determined to be a tornado, and when it is wider than this, it is determined to be a downburst. You can also do it.

Moreover, in the wind detection, when the outdoor fan 13 is rotated when the drive is stopped, the wind speed Ws of the outside wind can be detected from the fan motor rotation speed Vmd detected by the rotation speed detection unit 22. Further, when the outdoor fan 13 is in the operating state, the outside wind acts to rotate the outdoor fan 13 in the direction opposite to the normal rotation direction, so that the target rotation speed Vm ^* of the fan motor 14 is actually detected. The wind speed can be detected from the rotation speed deviation ΔVm from the fan motor rotation speed Vmd.

In the above embodiment, the case of converting the fan motor rotation speed Vmd to the wind speed Ws with reference to the wind speed conversion table 24 of FIG. 2 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the characteristics of the wind speed conversion table 24 are not limited to this. The straight line may be stored as an equation, and the fan motor rotation speed Vmd may be substituted into this equation to calculate the wind speed Ws.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the wind having a strong wind value Wss or more for discriminating a gust of wind such as a tornado is distributed in the wind information analysis process executed by the management server 4 is not limited to this. When the data processing unit 23 of each air conditioner 2 detects a wind speed Ws equal to or higher than a strong wind value Wss, the local wind information Iow may be transmitted.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the wind speed information Iw and the installation position information Ie are included in the local wind information Iow has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the local wind information Iow includes the wind speed information Iw and each air conditioner. An identification code unique to the machine 2 may be included, and the management server 4 may be provided with a database for storing the identification code and the installation position information Ie indicating the installation location and installation direction of each air conditioner 2. ..

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where a network such as the Internet is applied has been described, but instead, a communication network of a mobile phone or a fixed telephone or any other network can be applied.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to specific embodiments, it is not intended to limit the invention by these explanations. By reference to the description of the present invention, other embodiments of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art as well as various variations of the disclosed embodiments. Therefore, it should be understood that the scope of claims also covers these modifications or embodiments included in the scope and gist of the present invention.

1 ... Wind monitoring system, 2 ... Air conditioner, 3 ... Network, 4 ... Management server, 4a ... Wind information collecting means, 4b ... Wind distribution information generating means, 4c ... Notification means, 4d ... Storage means, 11 ... Indoor unit , 12 ... outdoor unit, 13 ... outdoor fan, 14 ... fan motor, 15 ... drive circuit, 16 ... control unit, 17 ... position detection circuit, 18 ... current detection circuit, 21 ... communication unit, 22 ... rotation speed detection unit, 23 ... Data processing unit, 23a ... Air conditioning control unit, 23b ... Wind detection unit, 24 ... Wind speed conversion table

Claims (4)

A wind speed detection means that detects the wind speed from the rotation speed of the fan motor, multiple air conditioners that have installation position information and are connected to the network, and
A wind information collecting means that collects wind speed information detected by each of the wind speed detecting means and wind information including the installation position information from the plurality of air conditioners via the network.
A wind distribution information generating means that generates wind distribution information based on a plurality of wind information collected by the wind information collecting means, and a wind distribution information generating means.
A notification means for notifying the wind distribution information generated by the wind distribution information generation means, and
Wind monitoring system equipped with. The wind distribution information generating means compares the wind speed included in the wind distribution information with a predetermined predetermined value, and when the wind speed included in the wind distribution information is equal to or higher than the predetermined value, the notification means informs the means. The wind monitoring system according to claim 1, which outputs alert information. The wind monitoring system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the wind distribution information generating means predicts wind information based on a temporal change of the wind distribution information collected from the wind information collecting means. The wind information includes information on the installation direction of the outdoor unit of the air conditioner, and the wind distribution information generating means detects the wind direction from the information on the installation direction, according to claims 1 to 3. The wind monitoring system described in any one of the items.

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