KR102434003B1 - Dehumidification apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A dehumidifier is disclosed. The dehumidifying device may include: a blower configured to form a flow of air using a blower fan and a blower motor for driving the blower fan to introduce outside air into the inside; a compressor controlling the amount of compressed refrigerant gas by varying the driving speed; a condenser for liquefying the refrigerant gas compressed by the compressor; a heat exchanger for cooling the air introduced by the blower by vaporizing the refrigerant gas liquefied by the condenser; a control unit controlling operations of the compressor and the blower in a selected operation mode; and a display unit providing information on a control state to a user, wherein the control unit may control to display a power consumption reduction rate when operating in the selected operation mode compared to a reference power consumption through the display unit.

Description

Dehumidifier {DEHUMIDIFICATION APPARATUS}

This application relates to a dehumidifier.

A dehumidifier for dehumidifying moisture in air generally removes moisture from the air using a refrigeration cycle including a compressor, a condenser, and a heat exchanger.

Here, the compressor may be implemented as a fixed compressor operating at a fixed rotation speed or a variable compressor having a variable rotation speed.

When a variable compressor is used, a large difference in power consumption may occur depending on the operation mode of the dehumidifier, but it is difficult for the user to recognize the difference in power consumption.

Therefore, in the art, there is a demand for a method for visualizing the increase or decrease of power consumption according to the operation mode of the dehumidifying device.

In order to solve the above problems, an embodiment of the present invention provides a dehumidifying device. The dehumidifying device may include: a blowing unit configured to form a flow of air using a blowing fan and a blower motor driving the blowing fan to introduce external air into the inside; a compressor controlling the amount of compressed refrigerant gas by varying the driving speed; a condenser for liquefying the refrigerant gas compressed by the compressor; a heat exchanger for cooling the air introduced by the blower by vaporizing the refrigerant gas liquefied by the condenser; a control unit for controlling operations of the compressor and the blower in a selected operation mode; and a display unit providing information on a control state to a user, wherein the control unit may control to display a power consumption reduction rate when operating in the selected operation mode compared to a reference power consumption through the display unit.

Incidentally, the means for solving the above problems do not enumerate all the features of the present invention. Various features of the present invention and its advantages and effects may be understood in more detail with reference to the following specific embodiments.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when a dehumidification operation is performed using a variable compressor whose rotational speed is variable in multiple stages, the energy saving rate is displayed for each stage compared to a dehumidifying device using a fixed compressor, thereby providing a user with an energy saving effect. can be intuitively understood.

1 is a block diagram of a dehumidifying device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of the display unit and the input unit shown in FIG. 1 .
FIG. 3 is a detailed diagram illustrating a part for displaying an energy saving rate in the embodiment of the display unit shown in FIG. 2 .
4A to 4C are diagrams illustrating an example of performing lighting of the display unit in stages according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments will be described in detail so that those of ordinary skill in the art can easily practice the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, in describing a preferred embodiment of the present invention in detail, if it is determined that a detailed description of a related known function or configuration may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted. In addition, the same reference numerals are used throughout the drawings for parts having similar functions and functions.

In addition, throughout the specification, when a part is 'connected' with another part, it is not only 'directly connected' but also 'indirectly connected' with another element interposed therebetween. include In addition, 'including' a certain component means that other components may be further included, rather than excluding other components, unless otherwise stated.

1 is a block diagram of a dehumidifying device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1 , a dehumidifying apparatus 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a filter unit 110 , a blower unit 120 , a dehumidifier unit 130 , a control unit 140 , a sensor unit 150 , and a display. It may be configured to include a unit 160 and an input unit 170 .

The filter unit 110 is for filtering out contaminants contained in the air flowing into the dehumidifying device 100 , and for example, a method of adsorbing contaminants in the air flowing into the dehumidifying device 100 . contaminants can be removed.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the filter unit 110 may be located at the intake port. Also, according to another embodiment, the filter unit 110 may include a plurality of filters (eg, a first filter and a second filter), and may be respectively located at the intake and exhaust ports of the dehumidifier 110 .

The filter unit 110 may include, for example, various types of filters such as a prefilter, a functional filter, a high efficiency particulate air filter (HEPA filter), and a deodorization filter. Here, the pre-treatment filter is to remove relatively large dust, hair, pet hair, etc., the functional filter is to remove antibacterial, pollen, mites, bacteria, bacteria, etc., and the HEPA filter is to remove fine dust and indoor mold It is to remove various bacteria, such as, and the deodorizing filter is to remove various odors and harmful gases in the room.

The blower 120 forms a flow of air so that external air flows into the dehumidifier 100 , and may include a blower fan and a blower motor for driving the blower.

The blower fan may be rotated by a blower motor to form a flow of air, and a driving speed (ie, revolutions per minute (RPM)) of the blower motor may be adjusted by the controller 140 .

The dehumidifying unit 130 is for removing moisture contained in the air introduced into the dehumidifying device 100 by the blower 120 , and includes a compressor 131 , a condenser 132 , and a heat exchanger 133 . can be configured.

Specifically, the dehumidifying unit 130 may induce a phase change of the refrigerant gas and cool the air introduced into the dehumidifying device 100 by using an endothermic reaction according to the phase change of the refrigerant gas. In other words, the compressor 131 compresses the refrigerant gas, the condenser 132 liquefies the compressed refrigerant gas, and the liquefied refrigerant gas is vaporized and expanded in the heat exchanger 133 to cool the surrounding air. , it is possible to remove the moisture in the air introduced through such cooling by condensing it with water. Thereafter, the refrigerant gas may be introduced into the compressor 131 again and the above-described process may be repeated.

Here, the compressor 131 may be implemented as an inverter linear compressor to minimize power consumption. The configuration and operation principle of the inverter linear compressor are known to those skilled in the art, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted. In addition, the compressor 131 may vary the driving speed in multiple stages according to the control of the controller 140 , and accordingly, the dehumidification performance may be adjusted by adjusting the amount of the compressed refrigerant gas.

The control unit 140 is for controlling the operation of the dehumidifier 100, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a graphic processing unit (GPU), a microprocessor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field It may be implemented as a processor such as Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA), and may include a memory for storing data required for operation control of the dehumidifier 100 .

Specifically, the controller 140 may control the operation of the dehumidifier 100 in the selected operation mode. Here, the operation mode of the dehumidifier 100 may include an automatic mode, a manual mode, and a power mode.

In the case of the automatic mode, the controller 140 drives the set value of the automatic step corresponding to the current humidity value among a plurality of automatic steps based on the current humidity value transmitted from the sensor unit 150 to be described later, that is, the compressor 131 . The compressor 131 and the blower 120 are operated at the speed and the driving speed of the blower motor of the blower 120 .

Table 1 shows the set values of a plurality of automatic steps according to the current humidity value in the case of automatic mode, and the power consumption and reference power consumption (for example, power consumption of a dehumidifier using a fixed compressor) when operating in the corresponding step. An example of a power consumption reduction rate is shown. Here, the standard of power consumption is calculated by calculating the power consumption under the conditions of a temperature of 27°C and a humidity of 60%, which are the KS performance standards. As will be described later, in order to display the energy saving rate at the corresponding stage during the operation of the dehumidifying device 100 , the power consumption and power consumption reduction rate for each automatic step may be calculated in advance and stored in the memory, and the operation of the dehumidifying device 100 It is also possible to calculate the power consumption in real time and to calculate the reduction ratio compared to the power consumption of the dehumidifier using the fixed compressor pre-stored in the memory.

automatic step current humidity Compressor drive speed blower fan
air volume Power Consumption Power Consumption savings rate 7 18% 0Hz (OFF) power saving 7W 98% 6 23% 21Hz 1st stage 85W 73% 5 28% 23Hz 1st stage 97W 69% 4 33% 31Hz 1st stage 147W 53% 3 38% 36Hz 2nd stage 169W 46% 2 43% 39Hz 2nd stage 192W 39% One 48% 41Hz 3 tier 203W 36% 0 53% 43Hz 3 tier 217W 31%

In addition, Table 1 shows an example of controlling the compressor 131 and the blower 120 by dividing the compressor 131 and the blower 120 into eight automatic steps according to the current humidity value in the case of the automatic mode, but is not necessarily limited thereto. The number of steps and the set value in each step can be changed.

On the other hand, in the manual mode, the controller 140 operates the compressor 131 and the blower 120 based on the desired humidity and air volume level selected by the user.

For example, in the manual mode, the user can select the desired humidity (for example, continuous or at 10% intervals between 40% to 80%) and the air volume level (for example, power saving) through the input unit 170 to be described later. , air volume 1 to 3) can be selected. Based on the user's selection, the control unit 140 adjusts the driving speed of the compressor 131 according to the desired humidity and the current humidity value transmitted from the sensor unit 150, and the blower unit 120 according to the selected air volume level. ), the driving speed of the blower motor can be adjusted.

On the other hand, the power mode for the dehumidifier 100, the compressor 131 and the transmission to implement a higher performance than the performance of the rated mode received from the certification body (for example, 10 to 20% improvement compared to the performance of the rated mode) It operates for a certain period of time by increasing the driving speed of the blower motor of the rich 120 , and may include a clean power mode in which only a cleaning function is performed without performing a dehumidification function, and a dehumidification power mode in which a dehumidification and cleaning function is performed.

In the case of the clean power mode, the control unit 140 increases the driving speed of the blower motor of the blower 120 by a predetermined degree (eg, a predetermined ratio) from the rated air volume for a predetermined time (eg, 30 minutes). ) and then return to automatic mode.

In addition, in the case of the dehumidification power mode, the controller 140 increases the driving speed of the compressor 131 by a predetermined degree (eg, a predetermined ratio) from the rated speed by a predetermined amount (eg, a predetermined ratio) for a predetermined time (eg, 4 hours). After operation, it can return to automatic mode. In this case, the driving speed of the blower motor of the blower 120 may be lowered by a predetermined degree (eg, a predetermined ratio) than the rated air volume to be operated.

Even in the case of the manual mode and the power mode, as described above for the automatic mode, the power consumption and power consumption reduction rate for each step may be calculated in advance and stored in the memory, or may be calculated in real time when the dehumidifier 100 is operated. have.

In addition, the control unit 140 may control to provide a current operation mode and a power consumption reduction rate (ie, an energy reduction rate) in a corresponding step when the dehumidifying apparatus 100 is operated through the display unit 160 .

In addition, the controller 140 may control the lighting of the display unit 160 to be performed step by step as will be described later with reference to FIGS. 4A to 4C .

The sensor unit 150 may include a humidity sensor 151 for measuring the humidity of air in a space in which the dehumidifier 100 is installed and an illuminance sensor 152 for measuring the illuminance in a space in which the dehumidifier 100 is installed. .

The sensor unit 150 transmits a measurement signal to the control unit 140 so that the control unit 140 controls the operation of the dehumidifying device 100 as described above.

The display unit 160 is for providing the user with information on the control state of the dehumidifying apparatus 100 including the power consumption reduction rate according to the control of the control unit 140 to the user, and may be implemented with, for example, an LED.

The input unit 170 is for receiving an input such as operation mode selection, manual step selection, function selection, etc. of the dehumidifying apparatus 100 from the user, and may be implemented as a touch button, for example.

FIG. 2 is a view showing an embodiment of the display unit and the input unit shown in FIG. 1 , and FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a part for displaying an energy saving rate in the embodiment of the display unit shown in FIG. 2 in detail.

Referring to FIG. 2 , the display unit 160 of the dehumidifying apparatus 100 includes a portion 161 for displaying an energy saving rate, a portion 162 for displaying a function (eg, cleaning or dehumidification) of the dehumidifying apparatus, operation A part 163 for displaying a mode (eg, automatic mode, power saving mode, power mode), a part 164 for displaying the desired humidity selected by the user when the manual mode is operated, and a part for displaying the air flow level of the dehumidifying device It includes a part 165, a part 166 for displaying the off reservation time, a part 167 for displaying specific information (eg, error information) required for other operations, and a part 168 for displaying the pollution level. can be configured.

Here, the part 161 displaying the energy saving rate may schematically display the energy saving rate in the current operation mode and stage of the dehumidifying apparatus 100 as shown in FIG. 3 . However, the method of displaying the energy saving rate is not limited to the bar illustrated in FIG. 3 , and the energy saving rate may be digitized and displayed in various ways such as a color change and a bar shape.

In addition, the input unit 170 of the dehumidifier 100 includes a power button 171 , a function selection button 172 of the dehumidifier, an operation mode selection button 173 of the dehumidification apparatus, a desired humidity selection button 174 , and an air volume selection It may be configured to include a button 175, an off reservation selection button 176, and a lighting stage selection button 177 of the display unit.

4A to 4C are diagrams illustrating an example of performing the lighting of the display unit in stages according to an embodiment of the present invention. An example of controlling the lighting area of the display unit 160 by dividing the lighting stage into three stages show

Specifically, FIGS. 4A to 4C show examples of the lighting area of each of the writing steps 1 to 3, and the area indicated by the thick dotted line in each figure is the part to be written in the corresponding step.

As shown in FIG. 4A , in the first lighting step, lighting of the entire area of the display unit is turned on.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 4B , in the second stage of lighting, lighting is turned ON for only a partial area of the display unit. Here, the area in which the lighting is turned ON may be information for indicating the minimum operating state of the dehumidifier, for example, a part 162 for displaying the function of the dehumidifier, a part 163 for displaying the operation mode, It may include a part 165 for displaying the air flow level of the dehumidifier, and a part 167 for displaying specific information required for other operations.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 4C , in the third step of lighting, lighting of the entire area of the display unit is turned OFF.

The control unit 140 may control the switching of the above-described lighting stage based on the illuminance value received from the sensor unit 150 or the input value of the input unit 170 .

For example, when the input of the writing stage selection button 177 of the input unit 170 is sensed, the control unit 140 may switch the writing stage in the order of 1st stage -> 2nd stage -> 3rd stage -> 1st stage .

In addition, when the dehumidifying device 100 operates in the automatic mode, when the illuminance value transmitted from the sensor unit 150 is less than a preset standard, the control unit 140 may switch the lighting stage from stage 1 to stage 2. .

In addition, when the control unit 140 detects an input of a specific button (eg, desired humidity selection button 174, off reservation selection button 176) of the input unit 170 while performing the lighting stage 2, the lighting stage is performed in stage 2 -> You can switch to step 1.

In addition, when an input of an arbitrary button of the input unit 170 is sensed while performing the writing step 3, the control unit 140 may switch the writing step from step 3 to step 1.

The present invention is not limited by the above embodiments and the accompanying drawings. For those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains, it will be apparent that the components according to the present invention can be substituted, modified and changed without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention.

100: dehumidifier
110: filter unit
120: blower
130: dehumidifying unit
131: compressor
132: condenser
133: heat exchanger
140: control unit
150: sensor unit
151: humidity sensor
152: light sensor
160: display unit
170: input unit

Claims (12)

a blower which forms a flow of air using a blower fan and a blower motor driving the blower fan to introduce outside air into the inside;
a compressor controlling the amount of compressed refrigerant gas by varying the driving speed;
a condenser for liquefying the refrigerant gas compressed by the compressor;
a heat exchanger for cooling the air introduced by the blower by vaporizing the refrigerant gas liquefied by the condenser;
a control unit for controlling operations of the compressor and the blower in a selected operation mode; and
Includes a display unit that provides information about the control state to the user,
The control unit controls to display a power consumption reduction rate when operating in the selected operation mode compared to the reference power consumption through the display unit, and controls the lighting area of the display unit according to any one of a plurality of preset lighting steps, ,
The plurality of writing steps,
A lighting step 1 of turning on lighting of the entire area of the display unit, a lighting step 2 of turning on lighting of a predetermined partial area in the display unit, a lighting step of turning off lighting of the entire area of the display unit ), including three stages of writing, the dehumidifier.
The method of claim 1,
The reference power consumption is power consumption when the dehumidifying device using a compressor having a fixed driving speed performs a dehumidifying operation.
The method of claim 1, wherein the operation mode is
an automatic mode for operating the compressor and the blower according to a set value of an automatic step corresponding to a current humidity value among a plurality of automatic steps based on a current humidity value;
a manual mode in which the compressor and the blower are operated based on a desired humidity and air volume level selected by a user; and
A dehumidifying device including a power mode for operating the compressor and the blower so as to provide performance exceeding the rated performance.
The method of claim 1,
The control unit is a dehumidification device having a memory in which the power consumption reduction rate for each step of the operation mode is stored.
The method of claim 1,
The control unit calculates power consumption in real time when operating in the selected operation mode and calculates a power consumption reduction ratio compared to a reference power consumption pre-stored in a memory.
delete delete The method of claim 1,
an illuminance sensor for measuring illuminance; and
The dehumidifying device further comprising an input unit receiving an input for controlling an operation of the dehumidifying device from a user.
9. The method of claim 8,
The control unit is a dehumidifier for switching the writing stage in the order of the writing stage 1, the writing stage 2, the writing stage 3, and the writing stage 1 when an input of selecting the writing stage is detected through the input unit.
9. The method of claim 8,
When the dehumidifier operates in the automatic mode, the control unit converts the writing step from the first writing step to the second lighting step when the illuminance value transmitted from the illuminance sensor is less than a preset standard.
9. The method of claim 8,
The control unit is a dehumidifying device that switches to the lighting stage 1 when an input of a preset button is sensed through the input unit during the writing stage 2 execution.
9. The method of claim 8,
The control unit is a dehumidifying device that switches to the writing stage 1 when an input through the input unit is sensed during the writing stage 3 execution.

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