JPS6229693B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to an air conditioner that can perform cooling operation, and more specifically, the present invention relates to an air conditioner that can perform cooling operation, and more specifically, the so-called "sleep operation" at bedtime.
The present invention relates to an air conditioner that switches from cooling operation to dehumidification operation after a set time has elapsed by setting a timer.

Generally, if you go to bed with the air conditioner operating at a cooling mode that suits your normal physical condition, you will get cold during your sleep, so a so-called ``sleep mode'' timer is set up, and this timer is set to control the temperature at which the compressor starts and stops after the set time has elapsed. There is a conventional technique in which the set temperature of a regulator is automatically corrected to be higher by a specific temperature.

Therefore, while sleeping, the air conditioner temperature will not fall below the corrected set temperature using the "sleep driving" timer according to the prior art. but,
With this conventional technology, dehumidifying operation cannot be performed during "sleep driving" when the humidity is high, such as on a so-called hot and humid night, so dehumidification cannot be performed and comfort cannot be achieved. On the other hand, simply reducing humidity to an extreme level during sleep has a negative effect on the sweating effect of the body during sleep, so it is necessary to dehumidify to the extent that humidity can be maintained appropriately.

In view of the above, the present invention provides that when a bedtimer is set at bedtime, while this timer is in operation, the room temperature is controlled to around the set temperature by air conditioning operation, and the heat is rapidly relieved, but after the set time has elapsed, The compressor is operated intermittently at a predetermined operation rate (ratio of operation time to stop time) under air blowing operation with ultra-low speed air flow, while the room temperature drops below a certain temperature higher than the set temperature or when the indoor When the relative humidity of the room falls below a predetermined value, the compressor stops operating, reducing changes in room temperature and dehumidifying the room to maintain an appropriate level of humidity. The aim is to help you get a comfortable night's sleep.

For this purpose, the present invention provides a compressor 4 and an indoor blower 5, as shown in the functional block diagram of FIG.
An air conditioner having a bedtime timer 7, a room temperature detection circuit 11, and a humidity detection circuit 12.
and a control circuit 8 that operates or stops the compressor 4 and controls the indoor blower 5. a first determining means a for determining whether or not the room temperature is within a temperature range between a first set temperature and a temperature higher than the set temperature by a specific temperature; normal operation means b for operating or stopping the compressor 4 in response to the judgment signal of the judgment means a;
and a blower control means c for driving the blower 5 at an ultra-low speed air volume after the timer 7 has timed, and the room temperature is higher than a second set temperature which is higher than the first set temperature after the timer 7 has timed. intermittent operation means d for intermittently operating the compressor 4 when the timer 7 operates, and the room temperature becomes equal to or lower than the second set temperature, or the relative humidity detected by the humidity detection circuit 12 is a predetermined value. and a second determining means e which determines whether the following occurs and outputs a signal to stop the compressor 4 regardless of the signal from the intermittent operating means d in either case. It is.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the cooling cycle in this embodiment.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is an outdoor heat exchanger (condenser), 2 is an expansion valve, 3 is an indoor heat exchanger (evaporator), 4 is a compressor, and 5 is an indoor blower.

In this embodiment, a sleep timer for "sleep operation" is set in this cooling cycle, and while this timer is running, normal cooling operation is performed, but when the clocking operation is finished and the set time has elapsed, the cooling cycle starts. In order to perform dehumidification operation at
At the same time, the indoor blower 5 is rotated at a very low speed and air volume that is not used during cooling operation.

Figure 2 shows the operation of both the compressor 4 and the indoor blower 5 shown in Figure 1 being controlled to switch from cooling operation to dehumidification operation after the time set by the sleep timer for "sleep operation" has elapsed during the normal cooling cycle. FIG. 3 is a block circuit diagram of an embodiment of the present invention in which switching is performed.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 6 is a cooling/dehumidification switch, and 7 is a sleep timer.
can be set when the cooling/dehumidification changeover switch 6 is switched to the cooling side, and when the set time elapses, a signal for switching to dehumidification operation is output. 8 is a control circuit that controls both cooling and dehumidifying operations in the device of this embodiment; 9 is a control circuit that rotates the indoor blower 5 at a higher speed than the very low speed during the cooling operation, and rotates the indoor blower 5 at a very low speed during the dehumidifying operation.
The air volume control relay 10 rotates the compressor during cooling operation when the room temperature is lower than the first set temperature T ₁ °C, and stops the compressor when the room temperature is lower than the first set temperature T ₁ °C by a specific temperature ΔT °C. The compressor is operated when the room temperature is higher than the high temperature T ₂ ℃, while the compressor is operated intermittently during dehumidification operation due to the sleep timer set.
This is a stop relay. Further, 11 is a room temperature detection circuit, and 12 is a relative humidity detection circuit.

Next, the operation will be explained with reference to FIG.
When the cooling/dehumidifying switch 6 is switched to the cooling side and the sleep timer 7 is set [time (t ₀ )], the control circuit 8 detects whether the timer 7 is in the timing operation [time (t ₀ ) and (t ₁ )]. ) during normal cooling operation, that is, outputting a command signal to the air volume control relay 9 to rotate the indoor fan 5 at a higher speed than the ultra-low speed, and at the same time outputting a command signal to the compressor operation/stop relay 10 to set the compressor to the set temperature. When the room temperature becomes lower than T ₁ °C or higher than T ₂ °C, which is higher than this set temperature by a specific temperature ΔT °C, a command signal is output to cause the device to stop and operate, respectively. However, when the time set by the sleep timer 7 (for example, 1 hour) has elapsed, the control circuit 8 uses the output from the timer 7 at [time (t ₁ )] to set a predetermined operating rate (stop for 6 minutes, stop for 6 minutes,
A command signal for causing the compressor to operate intermittently (3 minutes of operation) is output to the compressor operation/stop relay 10, and at the same time, a command signal for operating the compressor at a very low air speed is output to the air volume control relay 9. Due to this intermittent operation, even when the compressor is in operation, the room temperature is lower than the set temperature _T1 °C by a certain temperature Td°C (for example, 2°C).
The control circuit 8 sends a command signal to stop the operation of the compressor when the temperature drops below T ₃ °C or when the relative humidity falls below a predetermined value (for example, 65%).
The signal is sent from the compressor to the compressor operation/stop relay 10.

In this case, since the room temperature at the time (t ₁ ) after the time (1 hour) set by the sleep timer 7 has elapsed is below the above-mentioned temperature T ₃ °C, _the time (t ₂ ) Intermittent operation of the compressor starts. However, the air volume is very low speed air volume (LL air volume) after time (t ₁ ).

Next, this embodiment will be explained by applying it to a microcomputer.

FIG. 4 is a program flowchart showing the operating procedure when this embodiment is applied to a microcomputer. When the sleep timer 7 is set and the air conditioner is operated, a "sleep operation" is started, and in the first step (n ₁ ), the air volume is fixed at a higher air volume (L air volume) than the ultra-low speed air volume. After the sleep timer 7 is set, it is determined in the second step (n ₂ ) whether one hour has elapsed or not, and if it is determined that one hour has not elapsed (NO), the cooling operation is continued. If it is determined that one hour has elapsed (YES), the process proceeds to the third step (n ₃ ). In the third step (n ₃ ), before one hour had elapsed, the compressor had stopped when the room temperature fell below the first set temperature, but now the second set temperature is 2°C higher than the first set temperature. When the air flow rate is lower than that, the compressor will stop and the air flow will be reduced to very low speed airflow (LL airflow).

Next, in the fourth step (n ₄ ), the compressor is stopped and it is determined whether the room temperature has exceeded the second set temperature, and if it is determined that the room temperature has exceeded the second set temperature (YES). , proceed to the fifth step (n ₅ ). Fifth
In step (n ₅ ), it is determined whether the compressor has been stopped for 6 minutes since the room temperature exceeded the second set temperature. If it is determined that the process has stopped for 6 minutes (YES), the process proceeds to the sixth step (n ₆ ). In the sixth step (n ₆ ), the compressor is operated. In the seventh step (n ₇ ), the room temperature is the second
It is determined whether or not the temperature has fallen below the set temperature, and the second
If it is determined that the temperature is not below the set temperature (NO),
Furthermore, in the eighth step (n ₈ ), it is determined whether the relative humidity in the room has become 65% or less. If it is determined in the eighth step (n ₈ ) that the relative humidity is not less than 65% (NO), it is determined in the ninth step (n ₉ ) whether three minutes have passed since the compressor started operating. Ru. In the ninth step (n ₉ ),
Three minutes have passed since the compressor started operating (YES)
If it is determined that this is the case, the operation of the compressor is stopped in the tenth step (n ₁₀ ). Then, in the 11th step (n ₁₁ ), after the compressor operation has stopped, 6
If it is determined that the minute has elapsed (YES), the process returns to the sixth step (n ₆ ). Here, in the seventh step (n ₇ ) it is determined that the room temperature is equal to or lower than the second set temperature (YES), or in the eighth step (n ₈ ) it is determined that the relative humidity is equal to or lower than 65% (YES). If it is determined, the process proceeds to the tenth step (n ₁₀ ), where the operation of the compressor is stopped even if the operating time of the compressor is 3 minutes or less.

In addition, in the above-mentioned example, the compressor is stopped for 6 minutes and operated intermittently for 3 minutes, but the stop time may be made longer or shorter than 6 minutes, or the operation time may be made longer than 3 minutes. It can also be shortened. Further, although the set temperature is set to be higher by 2°C when switching from cooling operation to dehumidifying operation, it may be set higher or lower than 2°C.

As explained above, according to the present invention, there is provided a timer for sleeping, a room temperature detection circuit, and a humidity detection circuit, and when the timer for sleeping is set and the timer is operating, the room temperature is lower than or equal to the first set temperature. The compressor is stopped when the room temperature reaches a specified temperature higher than the first set temperature, and the compressor is started to operate when the room temperature reaches a specific temperature higher than the first set temperature.After the time set by this timer has elapsed, the air blowing operation is controlled at an ultra-low speed and the compressor is compressed. When the compressor is operated intermittently and the room temperature detected by the room temperature detection circuit becomes equal to or less than the second set temperature, which is higher than the first set temperature, or the relative humidity detected by the humidity detection circuit becomes less than a predetermined value, the compressor (i) For a certain period of time after going to bed, the room temperature is controlled to around the first set temperature by cooling operation. This will quickly relieve the heat and make it easier to fall asleep. (ii) After a certain period of time has elapsed, that is, when the body temperature regulation function decreases and the outside temperature begins to fall as sleep begins, the room temperature drops below the second set temperature, which is higher than the first set temperature. (iii) In addition, the compressor is operated intermittently while regulating the room temperature and humidity so that the room temperature does not change too much, and by controlling the air flow using ultra-low speed airflow, the humidity is maintained at an appropriate level. Since dehumidification can be performed within a range where the humidity is maintained, the heat and humidity during sleep will be eliminated and it will be possible to have a comfortable sleep.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings relate to embodiments of the present invention, and Fig. 1 is a cooling cycle diagram, Fig. 2 is an overall block circuit diagram, and Fig. 3 is an overall block circuit diagram.
4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of this embodiment, FIG. 4 is a program flowchart when this embodiment is applied to a microcomputer, and FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the present invention. 4...Compressor, 5...Indoor blower, 6...Cooling/dehumidification switch, 7...Sleep timer,
8...Control circuit, 9...Air volume control relay, 10...
... Compressor operation/stop relay, 11... Room temperature detection circuit, 12... Humidity detection circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an air conditioner having a compressor 4 and an indoor blower 5, a sleeping timer 7, a room temperature detection circuit 11, a humidity detection circuit 12, and the compressor 4 are operated or stopped. The control circuit 8 includes a control circuit 8 that drives and controls the indoor fan 5, and the control circuit 8 has a first set temperature and a room temperature detected by the room temperature detection circuit 11 while the sleeping timer 7 is clocking. a first determining means a for determining whether or not the temperature is within a temperature range of a temperature higher than a specific temperature; normal operation means b for operating or stopping 4;
a blower control means c for driving the blower 5 at an ultra-low speed air volume after the timer 7 has timed, and when the room temperature is equal to or higher than a second set temperature which is higher than the first set temperature after the timer 7 has timed; compressor 4
intermittent operation means d for intermittently operating the timer 7; and determining whether the room temperature becomes equal to or less than the second set temperature after the timing operation of the timer 7, or whether the relative humidity detected by the humidity detection circuit 12 becomes equal to or less than a predetermined value. and second determination means e which outputs a signal to stop the compressor 4 regardless of the signal from the intermittent operation means d in any case.