JP4870059B2 - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioner that includes a temperature detection unit and that can perform comfortable control by detecting the presence of a person or a heat generating device by detecting a heat source.

  In the conventional air conditioner, the sensor part of the temperature detection means using a temperature detection element such as a thermopile is limited to the detection range by a lens, and the temperature detection area is sequentially switched by one temperature detection means and exceeds the specified value in each area. An inexpensive method for detecting a human body depending on whether or not there has been a temperature change is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

In addition, by adopting a stepping motor that drives intermittently as a motor that scans the temperature detection means using one pyroelectric sensor, sufficient infrared detection time is secured, thereby improving spatial resolution and temperature resolution. Infrared detectors capable of realizing downsizing and low cost are known (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
In addition, the living space is measured at a time with thermopile elements arranged in a matrix corresponding to each of a plurality of areas configured by dividing the living space, the temperature of each area is obtained, and the reference temperature by the thermistor There is known a human body detection device that detects the presence or absence of a person in each region based on the amount of change in temperature based on the difference between them (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

  In addition, a plurality of areas in the indoor space are scanned, and the human body is detected when the amount of light in each area detected by the temperature detection means (thermopile, pyroelectric sensor) or when the amount of light in the detection area exceeds a certain threshold The method to do is shown (for example, refer patent document 7).

Also, the temperature change is calculated for each zone, and the air conditioner is controlled as if the person has moved in the zone where the temperature change is large, and the zone where the temperature difference is small but the measurement difference from the surroundings is large and stable There is known a method for predicting that the camera is stationary without moving (see, for example, Patent Document 6).
Also, a method is known in which a pyroelectric infrared sensor is repeatedly reciprocated to determine a position where a person has a large temperature change by comparing the previous temperature of the target region with the current temperature (for example, a patent). Reference 5).

Further, there is shown a method for detecting a human body when an amount of change in illuminance exceeds a reference value using only an illuminance sensor instead of a temperature detection means and only an activity frequency peculiar to the human body depending on time (for example, see Patent Document 4) ).
Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 7-30938 (FIG. 8, specification, page 6, line 33 to page 8, line 6) JP-A-8-170930 (FIGS. 1 and 2, paragraphs 0015 and 0018) JP 2001-304655 A (FIGS. 4, 7, paragraphs 0035 to 0038) JP-A-8-29541 (FIG. 2, paragraph 0045) JP-A-8-271645 (FIG. 1, paragraphs 0030 to 0032) Japanese Patent No. 2792997 (FIGS. 4 and 5; specification, page 4, lines 29-44) Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 6-75011 (FIGS. 7 and 9, page 11 lines 38 to 42, page 13 lines 22 to 24, page 14 lines 45 to 46)

  However, the conventional air conditioner disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a switching mechanism such as a lens for limiting the detection range in the sensor unit of the temperature detection device in order to determine the human body detection area, but the mechanism is expensive. Yes, it is not realistic for home appliances such as air conditioners.

  Further, in the conventional air conditioners disclosed in Patent Documents 2, 3 and 6, depending on the sensor characteristics, the detection capability is reduced in the end region of the detection section of the sensor, so a high temperature is detected between the detection sections (near the boundary). May not be detected accurately. There is a method of masking and using a lens other than the vicinity of the center of the sensor detection section that can be accurately detected. However, there is an expense as a custom product for each sensor, and the merit of using an inexpensive sensor is lost.

  Furthermore, when the air conditioner using the temperature detecting means capable of detecting the human body regardless of the illuminance detects the human body, the ambient temperature and the human body radiant heat can be distinguished when the ambient temperature is around 33 ° C., which is the human body radiant heat temperature. The human body cannot be detected.

  In addition, when air conditioners perform human body detection using temperature detection means, they are vulnerable to noise from devices that generate heat and are susceptible to false detection. Furthermore, once a false detection is made, the absence determination cannot be made, and the false detection of the object as a human body is continued, which is unnecessary by controlling the operation such as airflow and continuing the operation. Electricity was consumed.

  Moreover, in the conventional air conditioner shown in Patent Document 7, there is no heat source countermeasure, and the heat source is a method for reliably detecting the heat source. That is, an object near the human body temperature is erroneously detected. In addition, once erroneous detection is detected, the erroneous detection continues thereafter. For this reason, the absence determination is erroneous.

  Moreover, although the method of judging that it is absent over time is also shown, since the human body is detected again by the same method for the entire room and the heat source is erroneously detected as a human body again, the absence determination is erroneous.

  This invention has been made in view of the above situation, and it is difficult to acquire thermal information, and the temperature can be accurately detected by an inexpensive temperature detection means for the end portion of the detection target section of the sensor, The present invention relates to an air conditioner capable of accurately detecting the presence or absence of a heat source, detecting the presence of a person or the like, and performing comfortable control.

  In addition, the present invention relates to an air conditioner that can correct a sensed temperature based on information on the amount of human activity.

  Furthermore, the present invention relates to an air conditioner capable of estimating the amount of dust in a room from information on the amount of activity and automatically adjusting the operation interval of automatic filter cleaning.

An air conditioner according to the present invention includes temperature detection means for detecting temperature while scanning a temperature detection target range;
A temperature detecting means driving circuit for driving the temperature detecting means;
A control unit for controlling the temperature detection means driving circuit,
The control unit
Scan the temperature detection means to obtain the thermal pixel image,
Determine the presence of a person from the thermal pixel image,
Storing the accumulated number of people image Motogoto thermal pixel image,
Determine the activity amount of a person on the basis of the retention times, and estimate the sensible temperature felt by the human depending on the activity amount, and performs air conditioning control based on the sensible temperature.

  According to the present invention, the human sensible temperature is estimated based on the amount of activity, and when the amount of activity is large, the sensible temperature used in the control of the air conditioner is positively corrected. Since the sensible temperature used in the control of the harmony machine is negatively corrected, the temperature of the room temperature can be adjusted in accordance with the sensible temperature felt by the person. For this reason, comfortable and energy-saving operation can be performed.

In each of the following embodiments, the portion described as “human body” may be read as “human” or “heat source”.
Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an overall configuration of an air conditioner 1 showing Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The air conditioner 1 includes an indoor unit 10 and an outdoor unit 20. The indoor unit 10 includes a thermopile 11 (infrared sensor) as temperature detection means (temperature detection device) in addition to normal equipment necessary as an air conditioning indoor unit. A thermistor 12 is arranged close to the cold junction of the thermopile 11 as a temperature measuring means (temperature measuring device) for measuring the reference temperature of the thermopile 11. The thermopile 11 is composed of a plurality or one so as to be able to detect a partial region of the air conditioning scheduled range (hereinafter also referred to as a detection target range), or can detect the entire air conditioning planned range at the same time. As such, it may be configured in a matrix. The thermistor 12 may not be disposed in the vicinity of the cold junction of the thermopile 11. The thermistor 12 may not be disposed in the vicinity of the cold junction of the thermopile 11.
On the other hand, the outdoor unit 20 includes a normal device necessary as an air-conditioning outdoor unit, and a thermistor 21 as an outside air temperature measuring unit. Instead of the thermistors 12 and 21, other temperature sensors may be used.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of the indoor unit 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The indoor unit 10 includes a thermopile 11 and a thermistor 12, a heat exchanger 13, a thermopile drive circuit 102, a thermopile drive motor 109, and a fan. A drive circuit 103, a fan motor 104, a fan 105, a louver drive circuit 106, a louver drive motor 107, a louver 108, and the like are provided. Note that when there is no need to scan the thermopile 11, the thermopile drive circuit 102 and the thermopile drive motor 109 are unnecessary. The notation “louver” may be read as “wind direction adjusting plate” or “flap”.
The indoor unit 10 further includes a control unit 101 (control device) that acts on each device of the thermopile 11, the thermistor 12, the thermopile drive circuit 102, and the fan drive circuit 103 to control their operations. The control unit 101 also takes in the information acquired by the thermopile 11 and the thermistor 12 and calculates the presence and position of the heat source based on the information. In this embodiment, the detected temperature captured by the thermopile 11 is converted into a thermal pixel image (also simply referred to as a thermal image) and held. The control unit 101 that performs the above-described operation is configured by, for example, a microcomputer programmed with a predetermined operation.

FIG. 3 is an overall configuration diagram centering on the configuration of the control unit 101 in FIG. In FIG. 3, the control unit 101 includes a comparison unit 1003, an A / D conversion unit 1004, a temperature conversion unit 1005, a human body detection unit 1006, a wind direction determination unit 1007, a wind speed determination unit 1008, and a scanning direction determination unit 1009. However, when it is not necessary to scan the thermopile 11, the scanning direction determination unit 1009 is not necessary.
In the following, detection means for detecting the presence / absence of a heating element, including the human body detection unit 1006, may be collectively referred to as a heat source detection unit.

Next, the operation of the air conditioner 1 will be described. The detection value of the thermopile 11 is taken into the control unit 101 via the amplifier circuit 1001 at a predetermined interval or continuously. The detection value (or measurement value) of the thermistor 12 is a reference value for the detection value of the thermopile 11 and is taken into the control unit 101 via the amplifier circuit 1002 at a predetermined interval or continuously.
The comparison unit 1003 compares the value detected by the thermopile 11 with the value detected by the thermistor 12 and outputs the difference. This difference (potential difference) is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 1004. A temperature conversion unit 1005 converts the digital potential difference signal into temperature information.
When the difference between the previous temperature information and the current temperature information exceeds a preset human body detection threshold, the human body detection unit 1006 determines that a human body exists there.
When a human body is detected by the human body detection unit 1006, the wind direction determination unit 1007 determines the direction (angle) of the louver 108 when receiving notification of human body detection information indicating the position of the human body. Then, the louver drive circuit 106 is controlled using the determined direction of the louver 108 as a command value. Thereby, a command is sent from the louver drive circuit 106 to the louver drive motor 107 which is a stepping motor, and the direction of the louver 108 is controlled.
When a human body is detected by the human body detection unit 1006, the wind speed determination unit 1008 determines the wind speed (or rotation speed) of the fan 105 upon receiving notification of human body detection information. Then, the fan drive circuit 103 is controlled using the determined wind speed as a command value. As a result, a command is sent from the fan drive circuit 103 to the fan motor 104, the fan motor 104 rotates the fan 105 at a rotational speed corresponding to the command value, and wind is sent out from the fan 105.
Similarly, when the control unit 101 determines that the heat source is a heat generating device such as a computer server based on thresholds corresponding to various heat generating devices, the heat generating device is cooled or overheated based on a predetermined setting. Or air-conditioning so as not to stop.

In the air conditioner of this embodiment, the control unit 101 uses the thermopile 11 to periodically detect the temperature of the detection target range. When the installed thermopile 11 can detect only a part of the detection target range, the control unit 101 scans the thermopile 11 with a stepping motor and detects the temperature by detecting the temperature at each predetermined point. Detect the temperature of all areas of the target range.
In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 101 scans the thermopile 11 so that the temperature detection can be performed in a state where a part of the range in which the thermopile 11 detects the temperature at a time is sequentially overlapped. As an aspect of superimposing the temperature-detectable ranges, for example, the superposition is performed by shifting by 1/2 of the range. Note that the overlapping amount of the temperature detection range of the thermopile 11 may be appropriately determined according to the accuracy of the detected temperature. By doing in this way, even if it is the temperature information of the end part of the temperature detection range of the thermopile 11, the accuracy of the detection temperature is increased due to the superimposed measurement effect, and disturbing factors such as noise are dispersed, so that the temperature information There is almost no adverse effect. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the accuracy of the end portion of the temperature detection range of the thermopile 11 from being lowered unless the measure is taken. In addition, since temperature detection can be performed using the center portion of the sensor, high-accuracy temperature detection can be performed with an inexpensive sensor.
The values that are sequentially overlapped and captured as described above may be used as they are, but when the thermopile 11 defines the position of the detection target range on the basis of the temperature detectable range at a time, Since it is shifted by 1/2, when the control unit 101 controls the air-conditioning airflow, position correction such as coordinate conversion is required. Further, the temperature of the detection section of the overlapping portion of the values acquired by overlapping the temperature detection ranges may be averaged.
When the thermopile 11 detects a temperature near the human body radiant heat temperature with respect to the ambient temperature of the place where the human body is desired to be detected, the control unit 101 drives the fan 105 once to control the air conditioning until the temperature drops to a temperature at which the human body can be detected. It is possible to detect a human body by identifying a place having a high human body presence probability from one or more detected places and driving the louver 108 and the fan 105 to perform air conditioning control mainly there. It is preferable to resume human body detection after reaching a certain ambient temperature.
If more accurate temperature detection is required, the control unit 101 can further increase the accuracy of the detected temperature by performing temperature detection at each point where the temperature detection ranges of the thermopile 11 are overlapped by 3/4. it can.

Next, the human body detection operation of the air conditioner 1 will be described based on the flowcharts showing the human body detection method of FIGS.
In steps S <b> 1 to S <b> 4 of FIG. 6, the control unit 101 uses the thermopile 11 to capture temperature information of the planned air conditioning space (room) at predetermined intervals. In S5 to S6, the parts that are considered to be in the same temperature range based on the captured temperature information are grouped using the thermal pixel display as shown in FIG. Next, in step S7, the control unit 101 compares the acquired temperature information before and after the time, such as the first temperature information T1, the next temperature information T2, and the next temperature information T3. The part of the value within the range assumed to be related to the human body is detected. Then, if the value exceeds a preset human body detection threshold, it is determined that there is a human body in that portion, and human body detection information indicating the presence position of the human body is output. In addition, the control unit 101 determines whether a human body or a device is used for a portion (heat source) that continues to undergo a rapid temperature change using a human body detection threshold that is set in advance within a range in which a human body temperature can change from the ambient temperature. Output human body detection information. For example, even if a person exercises rapidly, there is only a change of about 10 ° C. at maximum including an error. When the body temperature falls, the air conditioner cold wind setting and the error using the electric fan are calculated and taken into account, and if the temperature change or temperature range is outside the human body detection threshold range, it is determined as a heat source other than the human body, that is, the device . This improves the accuracy of the human body detection information.
In step S8, if the region is determined to be a human body due to a temperature change and is located at a close distance (a distance within a predetermined range), it is considered to be the same object. Group. This distance changes depending on the situation in consideration of ambient temperature information and the like. For example, when the ambient temperature is much lower than the human body radiant heat temperature, there is a possibility that the clothes are also cold, and it becomes easier to accurately extract a person by increasing the distance regarded as the same object. The control unit 101 also includes a mechanism for determining a temperature change caused by a heat source other than the human body as noise from the amount of temperature change and the size of the group when grouped. The human body detection information is a binary value in which temperature information is represented by a color-coded image (thermal image by a thermal pixel) like a thermo-viewer, a temperature difference is calculated with temporally preceding and following images, and a human body existence area is flagged. The air conditioner 1 performs air-conditioning control that is set around the human body presence area based on the image.

When a change in thermal pixels related to temperature information is determined using time difference (interframe difference) and human body detection is performed, a plurality of human body detection threshold values corresponding to a plurality of parts of the human body may be used. By doing so, for example, when the temperature rise near the foot is lower than the temperature rise near the head, the heat detection level is divided into a plurality of stages according to the respective thresholds corresponding to the human body parts, and the human body detection threshold is set. Set.
Simply, when one human body detection threshold is provided and human body detection is performed with a time difference, there is a possibility that a step may be missed when binarized and grouped. However, according to the above method, since the heat levels adjacent from the vicinity of the head to the vicinity of the feet can be grouped as the same human body (person), it is possible to clearly determine the feet. In addition, if only the difference that seems to be near the foot is detected, it can be considered as noise and can be ignored, and it is judged that the head is hidden, and processing to determine whether the head appears after multiple cycles is added To increase the accuracy.
Thus, by increasing the number of human body detection thresholds, an object having a temperature higher than the body temperature can be removed as noise (heat source).
This technique can be applied not only to the human body but also to other heat sources. For example, the vicinity of the engine part and the tires of a car is hot, but the other parts are not so hot. Therefore, it is possible to accurately detect the contour of the entire vehicle by using a plurality of heat source detection thresholds corresponding to each part.

In step S9 in FIG. 7, the control unit 101 determines the distance between predetermined positions of each group such as group A grouped from the temperature information of T1 and T2 and group B grouped from the temperature information of T2 and T3. For example, the center-to-center distance and the center-of-gravity distance of each group are obtained. Of course, the determination may be made based on whether or not the number of overlapping locations in the group is greater than a predetermined value. When it is assumed that the person is the same person, the control unit 101 determines the amount of activity based on the movement history and the movement time of the person, and estimates how much the body temperature of the person has increased based on the amount of activity. Then, the fan 105 is caused to perform air conditioning control based on the estimated temperature information. For example, even if the user's body temperature rises immediately after performing intense activities and feels very hot, if the clothing is thick and the body temperature does not appear on the surface of the clothing and remains at a low temperature, the conventional method cannot cope with it. It was possible. However, effective air-conditioning control corresponding to a user's body temperature rise can be performed by considering a user's activity amount like this embodiment. In addition, a table that associates an action pattern with a desired temperature for each user in advance is stored in a storage means (not shown), and the user is identified by comparing the movement history with the stored action pattern. In addition, it is possible to provide a comfortable environment by obtaining a temperature desired by each user and performing air conditioning control based on this temperature.
Further, in the case where each group is composed of standing quadrilaterals, the distance between the center positions of the bases of the quadrilaterals may be used. Here, as an example of air-conditioning control, the control unit 101 drives the louver 108 in the case of performing air-conditioning control that is set by setting a flag in the human body existence area. In the case of cooling, the louver 108 is driven toward the bottom side and controlled toward the center of gravity of the quadrangle. For those who do not want to hit the wind, comfortable control can be performed according to the setting, such as air conditioning by controlling the air conditioning airflow.

The human body detection threshold for human body detection can be freely switched according to the region (such as Okinawa, which is warm even in winter, Hokkaido, which is cool even in summer), and user preferences. It is preferable that a plurality of human body detection threshold values be stored in advance in a built-in storage unit (not shown).
. The control unit 101 takes out the corresponding human body detection threshold value from the storage unit by a switching operation from the operation panel or the remote controller from the user, and thereafter operates based on the human body detection threshold value. Thereby, the human body detection sensitivity can also be adjusted. For example, when the ambient temperature is close to the human surface temperature, the human body detection threshold is set low to make the human body detection near the human body surface temperature (human body radiant heat temperature) more sensitive, or the thermistor 21 of the outdoor unit 20 or the indoor unit. It is also possible to calculate the surface temperature of the clothes of the user who has returned home from the ten thermistors 12, and to lower the threshold value near that temperature. Further, if the radiant heat is changed by the air conditioning of the air conditioner itself, it is possible to reduce false detections.

  Further, the control unit 101 can change a threshold table used for heat source detection or the like for each region. For example, when the user changes the temperature set value from the operation panel or the remote controller, the control unit 101 receives the set value via an input unit (not shown). The control part 101 learns the human body radiant heat and ambient temperature at the time of reception, calculates | requires the relational expression of a human body radiant heat and ambient temperature, and air-conditions according to it. When the setting is changed, there is a temperature change request by the user, so the control unit 101 responds to the user by learning how and when the user's human body radiant heat is set. Air conditioning can be realized. Further, even when a plurality of users use and the temperature setting is different under the same conditions, the temperature setting is averaged, and it is possible to realize air conditioning that satisfies the temperature requirement to some extent for any user. If the same conditions, for example, 28 degrees in summer and radiant heat of 33 ° C and the temperature rise setting and temperature drop setting have been learned in the past, if the temperature information of the drop setting is a larger value, there is a strong drop temperature request. The air-conditioning temperature is lowered assuming that Then, assuming that the airflow of the air conditioning is not desired, a setting is made such that the flap is directed upward and the fan speed is reduced.

  The human body detection threshold and the absence determination threshold are changed based on the average temperature detected by the thermopile 11 of the indoor unit 10 or the temperature detected by the thermistor 12. In addition, the control unit 101 determines in which part of the room the air-conditioned airflow flows during heating and the like, and applies a preset value at the initial time to be influenced by the heat generated by the air conditioner and the air-conditioned airflow. Correct the temperature. The human body detection threshold and the absence determination threshold are determined in consideration of the temperature rise caused thereby. During heating, the temperature rise curve is gradually learned, the difference from the radiant heat when the fan 105 is stopped is calculated, and the human body detection threshold and the absence determination threshold are corrected to values suitable for the user's room.

In steps S10 to S14 in FIG. 7, when a human body is detected, the control unit 101 sets a preset value to the human body presence value used to determine whether or not a human is present based on the human body detection information. Is added.
When a human body is not detected, the control unit 101 performs subtraction of a preset value only in a range where the human body presence value exists. The control unit 101 subtracts a preset value from the human body presence value every time temperature information is captured or every preset time, and finally moves when the human body presence value falls below the absence determination threshold. Absence is determined only at the place where is detected.
The control unit 101 further performs absence determination for determining whether there is a person using the temperature change from the grouped temperature information at the time of detecting a human body and the temperature of the part. According to this, since it is possible to determine whether the person stops and does not move or whether the heat source is erroneously detected only at the place where the temperature is detected, the absence determination can be performed reliably. The control unit 101 resets the flag of the human body presence area determined to be absent, and when the flag is reset, stops the air-conditioning control for the portion or performs the energy saving operation. Accordingly, it is possible to save energy and improve air conditioning efficiency by eliminating useless air conditioning. Since human body detection only looks at the temperature before and after the time axis, the control unit 101 does not perform human body detection if there is no temperature difference (temperature change). In addition, since the temperature of home appliances gradually increases, even if there is a heat source near the human body temperature, no erroneous detection is performed as in the prior art. Further, even if the heat generating device rises rapidly, erroneous detection can be canceled by the absence determination.

  When using a single element temperature detection means and scanning it to detect the temperature, there will be a time lag until temperature information acquisition, so the temperature rise value will be high in plasma televisions etc., and it will be detected as a human body by mistake. There is a risk that. Further, even when the absence is determined, the constant temperature around the human body radiant heat temperature is maintained, and the determination is difficult. However, if human body detection information can be refreshed (cancelled) after a set timing, for example, after a certain time, erroneous recognition will not continue.

The human body presence value is represented by f (n), and the human body detection function generated when the human body presence coefficient α multiplied by the human body presence value f (n−1) calculated one time before is detected. A value obtained by adding F (n) multiplied by the human body detection coefficient β. The formula is
f (n) = f (n−1) × α + F (n) × β,
When the human body is found, its value increases greatly, and when it is not detected, the value gradually decreases. The human body presence coefficient α can be arbitrarily changed by the user, and the sensitivity of human body detection can also be changed. The method for calculating the existence value can be changed or rewritten according to the air conditioner model, and can be rewritten via the network by a service person or a user.

When it is determined that the human body is absent in the absence determination using the absence determination threshold, the control unit 101 performs designated control such as an energy saving operation in the range determined to be absent. In addition, the air conditioner 1 performs absence determination only in the place where a human body was detected. In the conventional method, since the temperature difference is simply determined in the vicinity of the human body temperature, an object near the human body temperature is erroneously detected. However, in the present invention, the absence determination is added, so that the erroneous detection can be avoided. is there.
In the conventional invention, once a heat source near the human body temperature is erroneously detected, there is no mechanism for performing the determination again and the erroneous detection is continued. However, in this embodiment, the absence determination is performed, and when the temperature change becomes large after a certain time by taking the difference from the temperature at the time of human body detection, it is determined that the human body is absent. For this reason, since the absence detection can be reliably performed while avoiding a sudden temperature change by the heat generating device, the erroneous detection does not continue, and the accurate human body detection can be performed. It should be noted that the human body detection threshold value table and the absence determination threshold value table that are used when human body detection is performed are usually different. By doing so, the threshold value near the human body temperature can be reduced, and even a minute change can be detected by the human body. Further, the user can set the human body detection sensitivity in several stages according to the setting. Furthermore, by separating the threshold value table used at the time of human body detection and the threshold value table used at the absence determination, there is an effect that the absence determination is not performed due to a change such as wearing a jacket. Further, in the conventional method, if the human body detection does not occur for a certain period of time at the place where the human body is detected, it is determined that the person is absent, and appropriate air conditioning cannot be performed for a person who is stopped in the living room. However, in this embodiment, it is possible to perform the absence determination process and appropriately air-condition even a person who has stopped.

  Furthermore, the control unit 101 can also refresh (cancel) the human body detection information at a preset timing. As a result, even if an erroneous detection is made, the correct detection is performed at the next refresh, so that the continued erroneous detection can be avoided. It may be possible to refresh from the remote control at any time. In addition, when the human body detection cannot be performed, for example, when the human body detection is difficult when the ambient temperature is in the vicinity of the human body radiant heat temperature, the control unit 101 performs the air conditioning control by driving the fan 105 and performs the air conditioning control to a temperature that can be detected once. Alternatively, it may be possible to learn the human body detection information and temperature information so far and store the weights, and to perform overall control based on the weight distribution. Thereby, useless air conditioning can be suppressed until it changes to a temperature at which a human body can be detected, and the time until the human body is detected can also be prevented from reducing the energy saving effect. Based on the learned behavior pattern, it is possible to identify an individual person from a behavior pattern registered in advance and perform optimum air conditioning for each individual. Learning an action pattern makes it possible to perform comfortable air-conditioning control by estimating a human body temperature rise from the amount of activity even if the clothes are thick and the temperature change does not appear remarkably.

The control unit 101 calculates the amount of activity of the human body from the amount of change in the position where the human body is detected, estimates an increase in the temperature of the human body based on the amount of activity, and performs air conditioning control based on the estimated temperature increase. You may make it perform.
For example, for a human body that has been detected again in the vicinity of an area where a human body was previously detected, it is determined that the amount of activity is small as a human body staying in the vicinity. On the other hand, a human body that has been detected outside the area where the human body was previously detected is determined to have a large amount of activity.
When the frame rate is high (when the cycle is short), persons within a certain range can be determined as the same person, and the amount of activity can be easily determined because the moving area can be calculated.
However, this method is effective when the frame rate is low or when a thermal image is acquired by scanning. A value is added to a position where a human body is continuously detected, and a value is subtracted to a place where a change has occurred. The person who appears for the first time comes in from outside, so the amount of activity is large, and the person who stays in the same place has a small amount of activity. Once you get out of the room and come back, the amount of activity is small if you are almost in the place where the human body was detected.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
In the first embodiment, when a human body is detected in a certain area, when comparing the thermal image with the next thermal image, if the heat source does not move, the absence determination is performed to determine the presence / absence of the person. There was a need to do. In the second embodiment, a simplified form will be described.
For example, when a human body is detected, a thermal pixel before the human body is detected is overwritten as a background image in the thermal pixel portion of the human body detection range of the thermal image representing the temperature distribution. In this case, the background temperature thermal pixels outside the human body detection detection range are overwritten as they are. As a result, when the time advances to the next cycle (frame), even if the person does not move, the difference between the background image and the heat source image is obtained, so that the presence / absence of the person can be easily determined. Become. Thereby, it is possible to easily determine how long a person is in the area without performing the absence determination of the first embodiment.
When the background temperature other than the area where the human body is detected is updated, and the human body is newly moved, the human body detection threshold is determined from the average ambient temperature of the previous thermal pixel, so that the accuracy of the detection result is improved. In the human body detection area, the average ambient temperature is calculated using the ambient temperature and the last background temperature at the human body detection position, so that an optimal human body detection threshold can be applied and detection errors can be reduced.

When a human body is detected when a person is staying at the same position and the surrounding background temperature fluctuates, the thermal pixel before the human body detection is overwritten as the background image in the thermal pixel portion of the human body detection range. Therefore, when the ambient temperature changes before the person moves and the background image before the human body detection becomes the same as the current background temperature, the absence determination may be erroneous.
In order to cope with this, when the average value of the ambient temperature rises while the person is staying, it is preferable to correct the thermal pixel of the portion where the person is staying according to the ambient environment temperature. For example, if the background temperature before a person moves is 10 ° C. and a person at 32 ° C. moves, then the ambient temperature rises to 20 ° C. If the person moves, 20 ° C. and 10 ° C. The difference may be detected at 10 ° C. Therefore, in this case, temperature correction is added to the human body staying background temperature thermal pixel portion based on the human body detection area or the thermal pixels around the human body. As a result, even if a person moves, it can be accurately determined whether the person is staying without being detected erroneously.

  In each of the above embodiments, the air conditioner 1 performs air conditioning control as described above. For example, when the air conditioner 1 can only blow into 6 patterns (6 zones), it is possible to perform air conditioning by setting a flag indicating the human body existence region for each zone. The air conditioner 1 can be also used.

  Moreover, in the air conditioner 1 of each said embodiment, in addition to utilizing said various information for the automatic control of the air conditioner 1, it can be utilized through a network. In this case, for example, in the case of a long distance, the indoor unit 10 is separately provided with wireless communication means for performing communication with the mobile phone, and the wireless communication between the mobile phone and the control unit 101 of the indoor unit 10 is performed. Communication is performed via the communication means. In the case of a short distance, the indoor unit 10 is separately provided with wireless communication means for receiving a signal from the remote control, and communication is performed between the remote control and the control unit 101 of the indoor unit 10 via the wireless communication means. Configure to do. With the above-described configuration, for example, since the human body can be detected when the user is absent, it can be used for crime prevention and for indoor animal condition monitoring. In addition, when the remote control operation is frequent, it is possible to change a predetermined threshold value or setting in the memory of the air conditioner 1, and it is also possible to select an optimum value from a database through a network. Further, in conjunction with other devices, for example, it is possible to realize further energy saving by determining the user's bathing up from the information of the water heater and setting the air conditioning temperature slightly lower. Furthermore, more accurate human body detection and comfortable control are possible based on information from other devices such as presence / absence information by a door opening / closing sensor of a room and a wireless tag.

Note that the temperature detection device for detecting a heat source such as a human body described in the first and second embodiments is not necessarily limited to the thermopile used here, and another temperature detection sensor having the same function is used. Also good.
In addition, it is possible to remove only the temperature detection device from the air conditioner 1 and operate it as a single sensor, and it can be built in or externally attached to other home appliances or equipment.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
In the first embodiment, the control unit 101 calculates the amount of activity of the human body from the amount of change in the position at which the human body is detected, estimates the temperature increase of the human body based on the amount of activity, and increases the estimated temperature increase. Although it has been described that air conditioning control may be performed based on this, a specific example thereof will be described in detail in the present embodiment. The overall configuration of the air conditioner 1 and the configuration of the indoor unit 10 are the same as those in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the first embodiment.

  FIGS. 8 to 12 are diagrams showing the third embodiment. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a detection range when a plurality of thermopiles 11 are provided in the vertical direction at the approximate center of the indoor unit 10, and FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram defining a staying range, FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a method of counting the number of stays when a person 2 is detected, and FIG. It is a flowchart of body temperature correction.

  As shown in FIG. 8, eight thermopiles 11 are provided in the vertical direction at the approximate center of the indoor unit 10 (see FIG. 1). And eight thermopiles 11 are integrated. The integrated thermopile 11 is scanned left and right to obtain a thermal pixel image (also simply referred to as a thermal image). The thermal pixel image has, for example, 8 pixels in the vertical direction and 94 pixels in the horizontal direction (S20 in FIG. 12). If the person 2 is present in the room, the temperature of the person 2 is higher than that of the surroundings (floor, wall, etc.) when viewed from the thermal pixel image, so that the region having the higher temperature is determined as the person 2 (S21 in FIG. 12).

  The thermal pixel image when the person 2 is present in the room is as shown in FIG. At the bottom of the area of the person 2, the pixel at the substantially center in the left-right direction is the foot. Then, the foot is set as the staying center 3 of the person 2 (S22 in FIG. 12).

  As illustrated in FIG. 10, for example, the retention range 4 includes three pixels in the vertical direction including one pixel above and below the stay center 3 and 13 pixels in the horizontal direction including six pixels left and right of the stay center 3. By providing the staying range 4, the activity amount of the person 2 can be prevented from becoming large when the movement range of the person 2 is narrow.

  The number of stays of the person 2 is stored for each pixel of the thermal pixel image. Then, the stay count is updated every time the thermal pixel image is acquired (every scan).

  The number of stays is updated as shown in FIG. That is, when the person 2 exists, the staying number in the staying range 4 is +1, and the staying number in the non-staying range 5 is -1 (S23 in FIG. 12). Therefore, when the person 2 is in the same position, the number of stays increases. When the position of the foot of the person 2 changes frequently, the number of stays does not increase.

  The amount of activity of the person 2 is determined according to the latest number of stays of the pixel at the stay center 3 (referred to as stay history) (S24 in FIG. 12). For example, if the stay count is 3 or less, the activity amount is large. If the stay count is 4 to 20, the activity amount is medium. If the stay count is 21 to 21, the activity amount is small.

  When the amount of activity is large, it is estimated that the temperature (sensation temperature) felt by the person 2 is rising, and the sensation temperature used in the control of the air conditioner is corrected by 1 ° C. (S25 in FIG. 12). Instead of the room temperature detected by the thermistor 12 which is a room temperature measuring element, the sensible temperature is used for controlling the air conditioner.

  When the amount of activity is small, it is estimated that the temperature (sensation temperature) felt by the person 2 is decreasing, and the sensation temperature used in the control of the air conditioner is corrected by minus 1 ° C. (S27 in FIG. 12).

  When the amount of activity is medium, the sensory temperature used in the control of the air conditioner is not corrected (S26 in FIG. 12).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the sensible temperature used in the control of the air conditioner is corrected in accordance with the amount of activity of the person 2, and thus the following effects are produced.
(1) When the activity amount of the person 2 is small during the cooling operation, the sensible temperature used in the control of the air conditioner is negatively corrected, so that the cooling becomes weak, preventing over-cooling and saving energy.
(2) During the heating operation, if the activity amount of the person 2 is large, the heating is suppressed and energy is saved.

Embodiment 4 FIG.
In the present embodiment, a method for controlling the operation interval of the automatic filter cleaning apparatus incorporated in the interior of the indoor unit 10 from the information on the activity amount of the person 2 described in the third embodiment will be described.

  The automatic filter cleaning device is a known device and will not be described in detail. The automatic filter cleaning device is installed in a housing that has air blowing means that sucks in air from the top surface and blows out the sucked air from the ground side, and a filter that traps dust in the air. It is something to clean with.

  When the activity amount of the person 2 is large (S24 in FIG. 12) is 50% or more of the operation time of the air conditioner, the movement of the person 2 increases the movement of the dust in the room. The amount also increases. When dust accumulates on the filter, the wind passage deteriorates and energy saving performance deteriorates. Therefore, the interval of automatic cleaning is shortened so that the filter does not accumulate too much dust. Thereby, the state which can always perform an energy-saving driving | operation can be maintained.

  When the activity amount of the person 2 is large (S24 in FIG. 12), but less than 5% of the operation time of the air conditioner, the amount of dust accumulated in the filter is small because the dust in the room is not soaring. Therefore, even if the interval of automatic filter cleaning is increased, there is little deterioration in energy saving performance. Increase the automatic filter cleaning interval to reduce power consumption for automatic cleaning.

  Further, when the activity amount of the person 2 is small (S24 in FIG. 12) is 50% or more of the operation time of the air conditioner, the interval of automatic filter cleaning may be increased.

It is explanatory drawing which shows Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram of the indoor unit 10 in Embodiment 1 of this invention. FIG. 3 is an overall configuration diagram centering on a configuration of a control unit 101 in FIG. 2. It is explanatory drawing which shows the detection range and inspection method of a temperature detection means (thermopile). It is explanatory drawing which shows the grouping of the area | region by the detection temperature of a temperature detection means (thermopile). It is a flowchart which shows the human body detection method of Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the continuation of FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the third embodiment, and is an explanatory diagram illustrating a detection range when a plurality of thermopiles 11 are provided in the vertical direction in the approximate center of the indoor unit 10. FIG. 5 shows the third embodiment, and shows a thermal pixel image when a person 2 is present in a room. The figure which shows Embodiment 3 is a figure which defines a residence range. FIG. 9 shows the third embodiment and is a diagram showing a method of counting the number of stays when a person 2 is detected. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the third embodiment, and is a flowchart diagram of body temperature correction based on the activity amount of the person 2.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Air conditioner, 2 persons, 3 Stay center, 4 Stay range, 5 Non stay range, 10 Indoor unit, 11 Thermopile, 12 Thermistor, 20 Outdoor unit, 21 Thermistor, 101 Control part, 102 Thermopile drive circuit, 103 Fan drive Circuit, 104 fan motor, 105 fan, 106 louver drive circuit, 107 louver drive motor, 108 louver, 109 thermopile drive motor, 1003 comparison unit, 1004 A / D conversion unit, 1005 temperature conversion unit, 1006 human body detection unit, 1007 wind direction Determining unit, 1008 Wind speed determining unit, 1009 Scanning direction determining unit.

Claims (2)

Temperature detection means for detecting temperature while scanning the temperature detection target range;
A temperature detecting means driving circuit for driving the temperature detecting means;
A control unit for controlling the temperature detection means drive circuit,
The controller is
Scanning the temperature detection means to obtain a thermal pixel image,
Determining the presence of a person from the thermal pixel image;
For each pixel of the thermal pixel image, store the number of times the person stays updated each time the thermal pixel image is acquired,
Determine the activity amount of a person on the basis of the retention times for each pixel of the thermal pixel image, the person can guess sensible temperature felt in accordance with the amount of activity-out based on this sensible temperature,
a. When the amount of activity is large, the body temperature used in the control of the air conditioner is corrected by a predetermined amount;
b. When the amount of activity is medium, do not correct the temperature sensed by the air conditioner control;
c. If the amount of activity is small, the sensory temperature used in the control of the air conditioner is corrected by a predetermined amount minus:
Control,
Each time the control unit acquires the thermal pixel image, the pixel determined that the person is present is set as a staying central pixel, and the latest staying center pixel of the staying count for each pixel of the thermal pixel image. If the stay count is 3 or less, the activity amount is large. If the latest stay center pixel is 4 to 20, the activity amount is medium. If the latest stay center pixel is 21 or more, the activity amount is An air conditioner characterized in that the amount is small. It has a filter that captures dust in the air, includes a filter automatic cleaning device that automatically and periodically cleans the filter, and controls the operation interval of the filter automatic cleaning device according to the amount of activity. the air conditioner of claim 1 Symbol mounting to.

Images