EP1747408B1

EP1747408B1 - Air conditioner and method for controlling the same

Info

Publication number: EP1747408B1
Application number: EP03772921.7A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Min Chul Cho; Sung Hwa Lee
Original assignee: LG Electronics Inc
Current assignee: LG Electronics Inc
Priority date: 2003-11-19
Filing date: 2003-11-19
Publication date: 2013-05-15
Anticipated expiration: 2023-11-19
Also published as: EP1747408A1; CN1878989A; WO2005050098A1; ES2422305T3; CN100513911C; AU2003280884A1

Description

The present invention relates to air conditioners, and more particularly, to an air conditioner which conditions at a temperature, humidity, and the like most suitable to a user, and a method for controlling the same.

Background Art

The air conditioner maintains a temperature, a humidity, and the like of a desired space to suitable states by using a refrigerating cycle consisting of a compressing, condensing, expansion, and evaporating processes of refrigerant. The processes of the refrigerating cycle is carried out by a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, and an evaporator, provided to an indoor unit or an outdoor unit placed in a room or an outdoor. In general, the indoor unit is provided with an evaporator for absorbing heat, and an evaporator fan (indoor flan), and the outdoor unit is provided with a compressor and a compressor fan (outdoor fan). In general, though the condenser is provided to the outdoor unit, the condenser may be provided to the indoor unit. In the meantime, the indoor unit has an inlet grill in a lower part thereof for drawing room air, and an outlet grill in an upper part thereof for discharging the air having heat exchanged at the evaporator and conditioned to a required temperature to the room again. The outlet grill has vertical louvers and horizontal louvers for regulating wind direction of the discharged air in vertical and horizontal directions.
However, the related art air conditioner, and a method for controlling the related art air conditioner have the following problems.
The related art air conditioner is controlled uniformly, such that the temperature and humidity of the room are within ranges generally considered comfortable without taking a user into account. That is, the related art air conditioner is controlled such that the temperature and the relative humidity of the room are simply within ranges of about 22 ∼ 26°C and 30 ∼ 60 % respectively without taking the user into account, even though the temperature and the humidity that a person feels comfortable differ from person to person. Therefore, it has been difficult for the related art air conditioner to air condition the room at a temperature, and a humidity optimal to a person.
Prior art document WO 80/12269 discloses a controller and a related method that maintains thermal comfort in an occupied space at a user-defined level by simultaneously maximising the efficiency of the space conditioning equipment. The controller determines the setting of heating/cooling capacity, indoor airflow rate, evaporator superheat and other system parameters such that a comfort constraint is satisfied. The comfort index may be any arbitrarily-defined relationship of measured or inferred quantities such as air temperature, relative humidity, air velocity, mean radiant temperature, CO2 concentration, etc.. To define the comfort zone, Fanger's Predicted Mean Vote PMV is used as a measure of comfort. The PMV is based on an energy balance imposed on the human body. The input means allows the user to input his desired conditions on each parameter to be controlled in the environment. These inputs are automatically converted to a comfort index setting point by the controller. Summarising, this document discloses the features of the preamble of the independent claims.
Document US 2003/0236626 discloses a system for managing a particular environment according to environmental sensitivity preferences designated by a user on a personal-storage device. The system does not go into operation when the personal-storage device is missing. Thus, a system is disclosed that only works when a single user connects his personal-storage device to the system.
Particularly, developed further from carrying out air conditioning suitable to specific room requirement, recently it is suggested carrying out air conditioning suitable to personal requirements. Nevertheless, even a personal air conditioner air-conditions without taking user characteristics into account, an optimal air conditioning to the user has failed.

Disclosure of Invention

An object of the present invention is to provide an air conditioner, and a method for controlling the same, which can provide an optimum state to a user.
The above object is solved by the combination of features of the independent claims. Preferred embodiments are defined by the dependent claims.
In order to achieve the object of the present invention, the present invention provides an air conditioner having a compressor, a compressor fan, an evaporator, and an evaporator fan, including an input part for receiving user information which is a basic data on a user, a controlling part for classifying user types based on the user information, determining a comfort zone according to the user type, and controlling different parts of the air conditioner to satisfy the comfort zone.
Preferably, the user type is classified by at least one of sensitivities to a temperature, a humidity, a wind direction, and a wind speed, and the comfort zone is at least one of the temperature, the humidity, the wind direction, and the wind speed. The user information is at least one kinds of basic information intrinsic to the user, variable information that that is variable depending on a user's state, and selective information that is selected by the user. The basic information includes at least a face shape, and year, month, and day of birth. The variable information includes at least the present health state of the user. The selective information includes subjective sensitivities to the temperature, the humidity, the wind direction, and the wind speed, the user feels.
The comfort zone is defined with enthalpies and temperatures on a psychrometric chart. The comfort zone further includes the air direction and the air speed.
Preferably, the input part is a combination of at least one of a keypad for the user to input the user information personally, a camera for taking a photograph of the user, a scanner for scanning a user's photograph, and a personal computer connected to the air conditioner through a network. More preferably, The air conditioner as further includes an output part for displaying the comfort zone fixed according to the user type.
In the meantime, the air conditioner controls the compressor, the compressor fan, the evaporator, and the evaporator fan for controlling the temperature and the humidity. The air conditioner preferably further includes a humidify sensing part for sensing humidity. More preferably, the air conditioner further includes a humidifying part, and a dehumidifying part. More preferably, the air conditioner further includes an air direction controlling part for controlling the direction of air from the air conditioner.
In other aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling an air conditioner, including the steps of inputting user information which is a basic data on a user, classifying user types based on the user information, and determining a comfort zone according to the user type.
The step of classifying user types based on the user information includes the step of classifying the user type at least one of sensitivities to a temperature, a humidity, and an air direction, and an air speed, and the step of determining a comfort zone according to the user type includes the step of determining at least one of the temperature, humidity, the air direction, and the air speed. The step of inputting user information which is basic data on a user includes the step of inputting at least one kind of basic information intrinsic to the user, variable information that is variable depending on a user's state, and selective information that is selected by the user.
Thus, the present invention can air condition the most suitable to the user who uses the air conditioner.

Brief Description of Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principle of the invention. In the drawings;

FIG. 1 illustrates a psychrometric chart showing a comfort zone used in a related art air conditioner;
FIG. 2 illustrates a flow chart showing the steps of a method for controlling an air conditioner in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 illustrates a diagram showing a system of an air conditioner in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In describing the embodiments, detailed descriptions of parts identical to a general air conditioner will be omitted.
An air conditioner and a method for controlling the same of the present invention will be described, with reference to FIG. 1.
As described in the related art, in the related art air conditioner, ranges of temperature and humidity (called as a comfort zone) are fixed uniformly, in which it is considered that a user feels comfortable, and the related art air conditioner is controlled such that a space (called as a 'cooling space') intended to cool, such as a room, is within the comfort zone. In general, the comfort zone set by ASHRAE is used as the comfort zone, which falls on zone in which the temperature is in a range of 22 ∼ 26°C, and the relative humidity is in a range of 30 ∼ 60%. That is, in the related art, no user who uses the air conditioner is taken into account, the air conditioner is controlled uniformly such that the cooling space is within the comfort zone. However, since the comfort zone differs from person to person, it is not preferable to fix the comfort zone uniformly. That is, a temperature, and a humidity at which one person feels comfortable may not be comfortable to other person.
According to researches of the invention, it is verified that the comfort zone differs significantly depending on personal, or subjective factors, such as health conditions, physical constitutions, years, months, and days of births, biorhythms, races, sex, age, occupations, and the like. Moreover, the inventor notes that personal sensitivities to the temperature, humidity, flow rate, and air speed have close relations with the health conditions and the physical constitutions. The inventor also notes that other personal factors, such as ages, sex, and races give secondary influences to the sensitivities of temperature, and humidity.
As described, since the personal sensitivities to the temperature, and humidity differ from person to person, it is preferable that the users of the air conditioner are classified into types, and different comfort zones are set for the different types of users.
According to this, it is preferable that the user types are classified with reference to preset criteria, different comfort zones (hereafter called as "modified comfort zone") are fixed according to the different user types, and the air conditioner is controlled such that the cooling space is within ranges of the modified comfort zone. That is, as shown in arrows in FIG. 1, it is preferable that the comfort zone on the psychrometric chart is shifted appropriately according to the user type.
A method for controlling an air conditioner in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described, with reference to FIG. 2.
The method for controlling an air conditioner in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of providing user information of the air conditioner (S3), classifying a user type based on the user information (S5), determining a comfort zone according to the user type (S7), and controlling the air conditioner to achieve the comfort zone (S9).
Though the user types can be classified in different methods, it is the most preferable that the user types are classified with reference to the personal sensitivities to the temperature and humidity mainly, and to the flow rate and wind speed of air supplementarily, based on which the comfort zone is determined, and the air conditioner is controlled such that the cooling space is within the determined comfort zone, i.e., the cooling space is within preset ranges of temperature, humidity, wind direction, and wind speed of air.
Basic data for classifying the user type, i.e., the user information will be described.
Basically, the user information is dependent on each user, and preferably, at least one kind of basic information intrinsic to the user, that is not changeable, variable information that is variable depending on a user's state, and selective information that is selected by the user, and therefore has a strong sense of subjectivity. The basic information is intrinsic information if the user is fixed, such as, race, sex, year, month, and day of birth, and face shape, of the user. The variable information is information that, though not intrinsic, can influence to the personal sensitivities to the temperature and humidity, and variable depending on a user's state, such as the present health condition, and personal disease history. The selective information is basic information that can be made objective to a certain degree, and information that, different from the variable information, has a strong sense of subjectivity, such as information representing a degree of sensitivity to a temperature, and humidity the user feels.
Based on above user information, the type of the user is fixed. Though the user type can be classified in a variety of methods, since the air conditioner is controllable with respect so a temperatures, humidity, an air direction, and the speed of the air, it is preferable that the classification represents degrees of sensitivities to the temperature, the humidity, the wind direction, and the wind speed. humidity, the and the speed. a
According to the present invention, a correlation between the user information and the user type is determined, statistically.
That is, if a function relating the user information and the user type is provided by preparing statistics of the user information appropriately, any form of user type classification is viable. For an example, correlations of a height, a weight, a fatness, a native place, an occupation, and the like of the user to the user sensitivity to the temperature, the humidity, and the wind speed may be found out. The researches of the inventor reveal that students or muscular laborers prefer a low temperature, while women dislike a low temperature.
Thus, as described before, basically, even if the user classification is based on the user's intrinsic information, the user classification may be based on variable information, such as user's health state, or the like, used independently, or additionally. Or, the user classification may based on the selective information, such as the user's subjective sensitivity to the temperature, the humidity, the air direction, and the air speed, used independently, or additionally.
Once the user type and the comfort zone for the user type are fixed, it is required to control parts of the air conditioner appropriately to maintain the room to be within the comfort zone. In this instance, though the modified comfort zone is represented with the temperatures, the relative humidities, the air speeds, and the air directions, it is preferable that the air conditioner is controlled with respect to the temperature, enthalpy, the air speed, and air flow rate. For an example, if the air conditioner is controlled to increase the enthalpy in a case it is required to increase the relative humidity, the relative humidity is increased at the end.
Referring to FIG. 3 an example of a preferable air conditioner for embodying the foregoing method for controlling an air conditioner of the present invention will be described.
The air conditioner includes a controlling part 1 for controlling the air conditioner. The controlling part 1 has an input part 12 connected thereto for user's input of various instructions thereto, and a temperature sensing part 14 connected thereto for sensing room and outdoor temperatures. It is preferable that the controlling part 1 has a humidity sensing part 16 connected thereto for measuring the humidity, and controlling the humidity, precisely.
The input part 12 may be a keypad for the user to input the user information personally, or a camera for taking a photograph of the user, or a scanner for scanning a user's photograph. Of course, the keypad, the camera, and the scanner may be used in combination. Or, a personal computer 20 may be connected to the controlling part 1 of the air conditioner through a network, so that the user information is provided to the personal computer 20 at first, and the user information is provided to the controlling part 1. The network may be a LAN between the air conditioner and the personal computer 20, or the INTERNET.
Above system enables the user to input the physical constitution, year, month, day of birth, and user information thereto, personally. It is required that the controlling part 1 has a program for determining the user type in a case the controlling part 1 receives information.
A database of the user information and the user types is prepared, and the user determines the user's physical constitution with reference to the database, and inputs to the controlling part 1.
Meanwhile, the controlling part 1 has an output part 32 connected thereto for displaying various kinds of information for the user. The output part 32 has a function for displaying information on things the user inputs through the input part 12, and the present temperature, the humidity, and the like, and preferably the comfort zone fixed according to the user type.
The controlling part also has a compressor driving part 34, a compressor fan driving part 36, an evaporator fan driving part 38, for appropriate control of the compressor driving part 34, the compressor fan driving part 36, and the evaporator fan driving part 38, to control the temperature and the humidity, and the air flow rate from the air conditioner can be controlled by controlling the evaporator fan driving part 38. In this instance, it is preferable that the evaporator is inverter controlled. In more detail, when it is intended to increase the temperature, the evaporator temperature is increased and/or reduces the wind speed, and when it is intended to drop the temperature, the evaporator temperature is dropped and/or increases the wind speed. When it is intended to increase the humidity, a humidifying mode is carried out, i.e., the evaporator temperature is increased, and when it is intended to drop the humidity, a dehumidifying mode is carried out, i.e., the evaporator temperature is dropped sharply, and the wind speed is increased.
It is also preferable that the controlling part 1 has a heating part 58 like a heater, a dehumidifying part 54 like a dehumidifier, and a humidifying part 36 like a humidifier connected thereto, further. Because, even though the temperature and the humidity can be controlled by controlling the compressor, the compressor fan, and the evaporator fan, positive heating, humidifying, and dehumidifying are required for more precise control of the temperature and the humidity.
In the meantime, it is preferable that, not only the air flow rate from the air conditioner, but also the air direction therefrom is controlled appropriately. Therefore, it is more preferable that an air direction controlling part 52 is connected to the controlling part 1 for controlling a direction of air from the air conditioner. The air direction controlling part 52 controls operation of the vertical louvers and the horizontal louvers provided to the outlet grill of the air conditioner. In the related art air conditioner, the vertical louvers and the horizontal louvers are rotated in up/down and left/right directions at regular intervals for controlling the wind direction in up/down and left/right directions, simply. However, in the present invention, the vertical louvers and the horizontal louvers are controlled according to the user type, such that the air is directed to a place other than the user by controlling the louver, if the user type is a type that dislikes a draught.
In the meantime, even if there are many users in the space, i.e., in the room intended to be cooled, the present invention is also applicable. For an example, a plurality of user types are classified, and a common denominator is find out, and the air conditioner is controlled appropriately according to the common denominator. Moreover, even in a case the air conditioner with identical parts is operated as a heat pump, the principle of the present invention is applicable.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims.

Industrial Applicability

The air conditioner, and method for controlling the same can air condition suitable to the user's physical constitution that uses the air conditioner, comfortably.
That is, since a temperature, a humidity, a flow rate, and an air speed the most suitable to the user of the air conditioner can be provided to the user, user's convenience is improved.
The automatic control of the air conditioner to the temperature, the humidity, the flow rate, and the air speed the most suitable to the user leads the user not to change setting of the operation condition of the air conditioner frequently, that permits energy saving.

Claims

An air conditioner having
a compressor,
a compressor fan,
an evaporator; and
an evaporator fan,
further comprising:
an input part for receiving user information; and

a controlling part for determining a comfort zone according to the user information, and controlling the compressor, the compressor fan, the evaporator and the evaporator fan of the air conditioner to satisfy the comfort zone;

characterised in that

the user information is basic data on a user wherein the user information is at least one kind of basic information intrinsic to the user, variable information that is variable depending on a user's state including at least present health condition of the user, and selective information that is selected by the user; and

the controlling part is adapted to classify user types based on the user information and to perform determination of the comfort zone according to the classified user type, wherein the user type is classified by at least one of sensitivities to temperature, humidity, air direction, and air speed;

wherein the user information and the user type classification are related by a function which is provided by preparing statistics of the user information; and

wherein the comfort zone is defined with enthalpies and temperatures on a psychrometric chart.
The air conditioner as claimed in claim 1, wherein a air direction and a air speed of the air conditioner is controlled based on the classified user type.
The air conditioner as claimed in one of claims 1 or 2, wherein the input part is a combination of at least one of a keypad for the user to input the user information personally, a camera for taking a photograph of the user, a scanner for scanning a user's photograph, and a personal computer connected to the air conditioner through a network.
The air conditioner as claimed in one of claims 1 or 2, further comprising an output part for displaying the comfort zone fixed according to the user type.
The air conditioner as claimed in one of claims 1 or 2, further comprising a humidity sensing part for sensing humidity.
The air conditioner as claimed in claim 5, further comprising a humidifying part, and a dehumidifying part.
The air conditioner as claimed in one of claims 1 or 2, further comprising an air direction controlling part for controlling an air direction of air from the air conditioner.
A method for controlling an air conditioner, comprising the steps of:
sensing room and outdoor temperatures;

sensing humidity;

inputting user information;

determining a comfort zone according to the user information; and

controlling temperature, humidity and air flow rate of the air conditioner to satisfy the comfort zone,

wherein the air flow rate is controlled by controlling an evaporator fan driving part of the air conditioner;

characterised by

classifying user types based on the user information; and

determining the comfort zone according to the classified user type;

wherein the user information is basic data on a user,

wherein the user information is at least one kind of basic information intrinsic to the user, variable information that is variable depending on a user's state including at least present health condition of the user, and selective information that is selected by the user;

wherein the user information and the user type classification are related by a function which is provided by preparing statistics of the user information, wherein the user type is classified by at least one of sensitivities to temperature, humidity, air direction, and air speed; and

wherein the comfort zone is defined with enthalpies and temperatures on a psychrometric chart.
The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the step of determining a comfort zone according to the user type includes the step of determining the temperature, humidity, the air direction, and the air speed.