JP2002228226A - Air conditioning controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air conditioning controller in which an appropriate operational scheduling and a great energy saving can be achieved by making a decision whether the operating state is appropriate or not while following up the load variation sufficiently at the time of actual operation. SOLUTION: The air conditioning controller comprising an air conditioner 2 installed in a room, and a drive controller 4 for operating that air conditioner 2 by specifying the operational conditions thereof is further provided with a circuit 6 for calculating a load based on the environmental data during operation of the air conditioner 2 and making a decision whether the operation is appropriate or not based the calculated load, power consumption under the specified operational conditions and set specification data of the air conditioner.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air conditioning control device, and more particularly to an air conditioning control device suitable for energy saving and environmental protection.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an intelligent building or the like, air conditioning equipment such as an air-cooled heat pump air conditioner is provided. This air conditioner has an air-cooled outdoor unit (heat source) installed outdoors such as a rooftop, an indoor unit (air conditioner) installed in each room in the building, and the indoor unit and the outdoor unit connected by refrigerant piping. is there. Each indoor unit is equipped with a drive controller that incorporates a drive circuit that drives and controls the thermostat of the cooling and heating coil (heat exchanger), a power switch circuit, and the like. Designate and operate the indoor unit.

In such an air conditioner, since each indoor unit is operated by designating an operating condition by an operation operation from each drive controller, each air conditioner performs cooling and heating more than necessary and wastes energy. In many cases, and the overall heat source capacity and power consumption may exceed design specification values. To cope with this, a central monitoring device that monitors the heat source output and power consumption during operation and air conditioning control that performs demand control so that the set temperature and usage time do not exceed the design values suitable for the building are performed. (For example, JP-A-62-37018).

[0004]

However, in the conventional air-conditioning control apparatus for air-conditioning equipment, data such as actual temperature and humidity and power consumption during operation are not sufficiently used for load judgment, and therefore, actual load fluctuations are not considered. Not fully reflected in control. That is, conventionally, the surrounding environment data such as temperature and humidity are simply detected and displayed and compared with the operation set value. Because of the judgment, it was not possible to judge the suitability of the operating state by following the actual load fluctuation based on the operating environment state, and sufficient energy saving could not be achieved.

[0005] Conventionally, it has been difficult to perform detailed operation control while suppressing unnecessary energy consumption of individual air conditioners in each room together with the entire air conditioning system.

Further, in the conventional air conditioning equipment, the operation plan based on the equipment corresponding to the maximum load selected in the design stage and the criterion for judging whether or not the operation is appropriate during the actual operation are ambiguous, and energy saving is taken into account for a long time such as one year. It was not possible to operate properly, and facility management and data management were troublesome. In addition, it is not possible to accurately judge whether the operation plan is appropriate, and it is difficult to determine the cause and countermeasures even if the operation is wasteful. Coordination required a high degree of professional knowledge.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned prior art, and determines the suitability of an operating state by sufficiently following a load change during an actual operation, thereby achieving an appropriate operating plan and a large energy saving. The purpose is to provide.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided an air conditioner provided in a room and a drive controller for operating the air conditioner by designating operating conditions of the air conditioner. In the air-conditioning control device provided, a load based on environmental data during the operation of the air conditioner is calculated, and the propriety of operation is determined based on the calculated load, power consumption under the operating conditions, and design specification data of the air conditioner. Provided is an air conditioning control device including an operation determination circuit for determining.

According to this configuration, the operating environment condition is measured during the operation of the air conditioner, the load calculation at that time is performed based on the measured environment data, and the propriety of the operation is determined based on the calculated load. Therefore, it is possible to accurately determine the suitability of operation and control the drive of the air conditioner by following the load fluctuations during actual operation, and to reduce unnecessary power consumption and always save energy based on design specifications. The air conditioner can be driven while making a proper operation plan, which can contribute to environmental conservation. In addition, since the operation state is determined by calculating the load variation for each air conditioner, it is easy to grasp the cause of wasteful energy consumption, and it is possible to take appropriate measures.

In a preferred configuration example, room temperature, room humidity, lighting power, personnel,
It is characterized by using data of outside air temperature, outside air humidity and solar radiation.

According to this configuration, since the load is calculated based on the data of the temperature and humidity inside and outside the room, the power of the lighting, the number of personnel in the room, and the amount of solar radiation, a calculated value sufficiently corresponding to the actual load can be obtained. In particular, by measuring the amount of solar radiation and using it as a parameter for calculation, the reliability of load calculation is improved. If there is an OA device in the room, the load calculation accuracy is increased by adding the load data of the OA device to the calculation parameters.

A further preferred configuration is characterized in that the load calculation is performed automatically at regular intervals.

According to this configuration, by continuously calculating the load at a constant cycle, the load fluctuation can be accurately predicted based on the latest data, and the operation plan can be easily and properly corrected. At the same time, proper operation management based on measured data and calculated data can be performed.

In this case, the load calculation cycle is preferably set to every hour or a time close thereto. According to this,
The most appropriate for predicting load fluctuations and judging load characteristics of buildings,
Load calculation data for each time is continuously obtained, and detailed control and data management based on long-term data can be performed.

In a further preferred configuration example, the operation determining circuit is connectable to a host computer via a network.

According to this configuration, the air conditioning equipment of a plurality of buildings is bidirectionally connected to the central monitoring unit using, for example, a host computer via the Internet, and each air conditioning equipment is controlled by the central monitoring unit from the drive control or the like. Operation management can be performed.

In a further preferred embodiment, the drive controller is operable from a plurality of free positions via a personal computer.

According to this configuration, the air conditioner in the room can be operated by an input operation from a personal computer installed in the room without operating a drive controller such as a thermostat provided exclusively for each air conditioner. The driving operation can be performed via the drive control unit, and the usability is enhanced.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. This example shows a heat pump type air conditioner.

An outdoor unit 1 serving as a heat source (evaporator or condenser) for a refrigerant of a heat pump is installed on the roof of a building, for example. Each room (zone) in the building is provided with an air conditioner (indoor unit) 2 for performing air conditioning such as cooling and heating. The outdoor unit 1 and the indoor unit 2 are connected by a refrigerant pipe 3, and constitute a known heat pump cycle. Each air conditioner (indoor unit) 2 includes a drive controller 4 in which a thermostat circuit, a switch circuit, and the like are incorporated. The drive controller 4 is mounted at a fixed position in a room or is of a remote control type, and can be manually input by a user or input from a personal computer as described later.

Each drive controller 4 is connected via a bidirectional control line 5 to an operation discriminating circuit 6 for performing load calculation and the like as described later. The operation determination circuit 6 may be attached to the outdoor unit 1 or may be provided on an operation panel at another position. If it is attached to the outdoor unit 1, the wiring structure and the like are simplified as an integrated product, and loading and maintenance are facilitated. The temperature, humidity, lighting power, and personnel data of each room are sent to the operation determination circuit 6 via the indoor environment data line 7. For the temperature and humidity, the detection values of the respective sensors are sent, and for the illumination power, the output of a power meter that measures the power used by the indoor lighting fixture is sent. The personnel data may be a detection value of a human sensor or may be stored in a memory of the operation determination circuit 6 in advance as a fixed value. Detection data of the temperature, humidity, and amount of solar radiation of the outside air is sent to the operation determination circuit 6 via the outdoor environment data line 8. Further, load data of the OA device may be sent.

The operation discriminating circuit 6 calculates the load based on the indoor and outdoor environmental data and the outdoor unit 1 at the time of the current operation.
And the total power consumption of the indoor unit 2 is calculated. By comparing the required power corresponding to the calculated load with the total power consumption currently being consumed,
It is possible to determine whether or not it is appropriate for a required load in consideration of the specifications of the device. The appropriateness of the operating state is determined for each indoor unit 2
It can be determined for each. A circuit may be configured to operate the drive controller 4 of each indoor unit 2 based on the determination result and automatically perform appropriate operation, or the determination result may be displayed on each indoor unit 2 and displayed. The operating conditions such as the set temperature and the air volume may be changed so that the indoor unit operates properly by the manual operation of the drive controller 4 by the indoor user.

Such a determination as to whether or not the operation is appropriate is made when the drive controller 4 of each indoor unit 2 is operated (when operating conditions are set and use is started, for example). Also, for a certain time (for example, one hour)
A load calculation may be performed for each air conditioner to determine whether the air conditioner is operating properly as well as the total operating suitability.

The operation discriminating circuit 6 further stores design use data 9 such as a use time period throughout the year, a peak load, and a use power in its memory. By comparing the design use data with the load and power consumption calculated as described above, it is possible to determine whether the current operation state is appropriate for the annual operation plan based on the actual load fluctuation. In order to determine the suitability of such an operation plan, it is desirable to perform the load calculation about every hour when the state of the load change can be accurately determined. Based on such hourly load calculations,
The simulation of the power consumption and the like of the annual operation is performed, and the suitability of the long-term operation plan as well as the individual operation state at the present time is accurately determined, and the operation conditions and the like are corrected as necessary.

FIG. 2 shows a more specific configuration example of the embodiment of the present invention. The operation determination circuit 6 of the present invention is attached to the outdoor unit 1 as described above. The indoor unit 2 includes a filter 1
0, a coil (heat exchanger) 11 and a fan 12 and the like. Cooling (or heating) is performed by mixing outside air into the return air from the suction port 13 and supplying the air from the outlet 14 to the room through the coil 11. A drive controller 4 such as a thermostat provided in each air conditioner (indoor unit) 2 can be operated from a plurality of arbitrary locations by inputting drive data from a personal computer 15 for each individual in the building.

The operation discriminating circuit 6 has a dedicated line (for example, AD
SL, etc., and is connected to a host computer 17 of a remote central monitoring unit. As a result, remote control of a plurality of air conditioners at remote locations can be performed by a single central monitoring unit. The information obtained by the central monitoring can be browsed on the personal computer 15 of each user through the Internet 18.

The present invention is not limited to a heat pump type air conditioner, but is applicable to various types of air conditioners such as an air conditioner using a boiler or a refrigerator as a primary heat source and others using a heat storage tank.

The air conditioners of a plurality of buildings may be connected to each other by a local network such as a LAN without being limited to the Internet and monitored and managed centrally.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, the operating environment condition is measured during the operation of the air conditioner, and the load calculation at that time is performed based on the measured environmental data, and the load is calculated based on the calculated load. Since the suitability of the operation is determined, it is possible to accurately determine the suitability of the operation and drive control the air conditioner by following the load fluctuation during the actual operation. Setting values can be corrected at any time based on actual load fluctuations, so that air conditioners can be driven while maintaining a proper operation plan that always saves energy based on design specifications while suppressing unnecessary power consumption, and consequently for environmental conservation. Can contribute.

The summary is as follows. 1. Realization of energy saving and environmental protection accompanying it can be achieved. 2. IT can be controlled by data collection, analysis, and simulation, and the efficiency of control and management can be improved. 3. Optimal operation can always be performed following load fluctuations. 4. Each device can be provided with a function of self-judgment of driving suitability. 5. When commercialized as a product, it can provide full support for the annual operation plan after equipment installation, maintenance, and monitoring of operation status. 6. The control method can be adapted according to the purpose of use of the building, the necessity of central monitoring, and other various uses.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the arrangement of devices according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: outdoor unit, 2: indoor unit, 3: refrigerant piping, 4: drive controller, 5: bidirectional control line, 6: operation discrimination circuit, 7: indoor environment data line, 8: outdoor environment data line, 9:
Design specification data, 10: filter, 11: coil, 1
2: fan, 13: inlet, 14: outlet, 15: personal computer, 16: dedicated line, 17: host computer, 1
8: Internet.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Katsuhiro Kamiya, 2-5-1-12 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Toyo Thermal Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Ichiro Ishii 2-5-1-12 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Toyo 3L060 AA03 AA05 CC02 CC03 CC06 CC08 CC10 CC11 CC19 DD08 EE01 3L061 BA05 BA06 BA07 BB04

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An air conditioning control apparatus comprising: an air conditioner provided in a room; and a drive controller for operating the air conditioner by designating operating conditions of the air conditioner. An operation determination circuit is provided for calculating a load based on the data, and determining whether or not the operation is appropriate based on the calculated load, power consumption under the operation conditions, and design specification data of the air conditioner. Air conditioning control device. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein data on room temperature, room humidity, lighting power, personnel, outside air temperature, outside air humidity and solar radiation are used as the environmental data for the load calculation.
An air conditioning control device according to claim 1. 3. The air conditioning control device according to claim 1, wherein the load calculation is automatically performed at regular intervals. 4. The air conditioning control device according to claim 1, wherein the operation determination circuit is connectable to a host computer via a network. 5. The air conditioning control device according to claim 1, wherein said drive controller can be operated from a plurality of free positions via a personal computer.