JP2010169292A - Method of controlling air conditioner, and air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of controlling an air conditioner, and the air conditioner capable of efficiently defrosting an outdoor heat exchanger by reducing an influence of outside air applied to the outdoor heat exchanger during defrosting. <P>SOLUTION: The air conditioner includes the outdoor heat exchanger 2, an outdoor fan 3 for distributing air to the outdoor heat exchanger 2, a magnetic sensor 41 detecting a magnetic pole of a rotor disposed on a fan motor 4 for driving the outdoor fan 3, a wind direction/wind velocity operating means 10 for calculating the wind direction and the wind velocity of outside air on the basis of a result of the detection by the magnetic sensor 41, and a fan motor control means 11 for controlling an operation of the fan motor 4, and the fan motor 4 is driven to offset the outside air applied to the outdoor heat exchanger 2 on the basis of the wind direction and the wind velocity of the outside air in a defrosting operation. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioner control method having a heating function and an air conditioner having a heating function.

  When the air conditioner performs a heating function, the heat exchanger on the indoor unit side becomes a condenser and the heat exchanger on the outdoor unit side becomes an evaporator, and in the winter period, frost is formed on the heat exchanger on the outdoor unit side. There are things to do. In the defrosting operation for removing frost adhering to the heat exchanger, “at the start of defrosting, the electromagnetic valve is opened and the outdoor fan is controlled to rotate in reverse. Has been proposed to control the outdoor fan to return to the normal rotation state (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In addition, “in the defrosting operation in heating, the blowing motor 4 is stopped during the defrosting operation, the defrosting is effectively performed, and after the defrosting is completed, the blowing motor 4 is reversely rotated for a certain period of time, The flow of the wind is changed as indicated by the arrows shown, and the water droplets remaining in the outdoor heat exchanger 2 are blown away "(for example, see Patent Document 2).

JP-A-11-304223 (pages 3 and 4) JP-A-63-183335 (2nd page, FIG. 1)

  In the conventional defrosting operation, the influence of the outside wind on the outdoor heat exchanger heated during the defrosting has not been considered. Therefore, the outdoor heat exchanger is cooled by the outdoor wind hitting the outdoor heat exchanger, and defrosting cannot be performed efficiently. In addition, after the defrosting was completed, the outdoor fan was rotated in reverse for the purpose of blowing off the molten water adhering to the outdoor heat exchanger. The molten water could not be blown off efficiently.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and efficiently defrosts an outdoor heat exchanger by reducing the influence of outside air hitting the outdoor heat exchanger during defrosting. Provided is an air conditioner control method and an air conditioner that can be used.

  The present invention is a method for controlling an air conditioner including an outdoor heat exchanger, the step of detecting the direction of the outside wind, the step of detecting the wind speed of the outside wind, and the defrosting of the outdoor heat exchanger And a step of blowing air so as to cancel out the outside wind hitting the outdoor heat exchanger based on the detected wind direction and wind speed of the outside wind.

  In the control method of the air conditioner according to the present invention, the outdoor wind hitting the outdoor heat exchanger is canceled based on the result of detecting and detecting the wind direction and the wind speed of the external wind. It is possible to prevent cooling and perform an efficient defrosting operation.

It is a principal part block diagram of the air conditioner 100 which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the defrost driving | operation of the air conditioner 100 which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a principal part block diagram of the air conditioner 200 which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a main part configuration diagram of an air conditioner according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In the first embodiment, an air conditioner that has an outdoor unit and an indoor unit and performs a cooling operation and a heating operation using a refrigeration cycle that circulates refrigerant will be described as an example. Moreover, in this invention and subsequent description, an external wind shall mean the wind of the installation location of an outdoor unit, or its peripheral part.

  In FIG. 1, an air conditioner 100 includes an outdoor heat exchanger 2, an outdoor fan 3 driven by a fan motor 4, an outdoor unit 1 including a compressor (not shown), and an indoor heat exchanger 7. The outdoor unit 1 and the indoor unit 6 are connected via a refrigerant pipe 5 which is a connection pipe for circulating the refrigerant gas.

  The fan motor 4 is a motor provided with a rotor and a stator (both not shown). The stator includes magnetic sensors 41a, 41b, and 41c (hereinafter, collectively referred to as the magnetic sensor 41) using Hall elements that can detect the magnetic poles of the N pole or S pole of the rotor. The detection result of the magnetic sensor 41 is output to the wind direction / wind speed calculation means 10.

  The wind direction and wind speed calculation means 10 detects the wind speed and direction of the outside wind based on the detection result of the magnetic sensor 41 by a method described later. The detection result of the wind direction / wind speed calculation means 10 is output to the fan motor control means 11. The fan motor control means 11 controls the rotation speed and the rotation direction of the fan motor 4 by inverter control based on the detection result of the wind direction / wind speed calculation means 10. The wind direction and wind speed calculation means 10 and the fan motor control means 11 are configured by a microcomputer or the like. The wind speed / wind direction detecting means of the present invention corresponds to the magnetic sensor 41 and the wind speed / wind direction calculating means 10 in the first embodiment.

Next, a method for detecting the wind speed and direction of the outside wind by the wind direction and wind speed calculation means 10 will be described.
When the outdoor motor 1 is exposed to the external wind and the fan motor 4 is not driven, the outdoor fan 3 is rotated by the external wind. When the rotor of the fan motor 4 rotates with the rotation of the outdoor fan 3, the magnetic sensors 41a, 41b, 41c detect the N pole or S pole of the rotor, respectively. The wind direction and wind speed calculation means 10 can determine the rotation direction of the outdoor fan 3 based on the order in which the magnetic sensors 41a, 41b, and 41c detect the magnetic poles. For example, when the magnetic poles are detected in the order of the magnetic sensors 41a, 41b, 41c, rotation in the forward direction, and when the magnetic poles are detected in the order of the magnetic sensors 41c, 41b, 41a, rotation in the reverse direction, It can be judged.
The period (detection time interval) at which the magnetic sensor 41 detects the N pole or S pole of the rotor is inversely proportional to the rotational speed of the outdoor fan 3, and the rotational speed of the outdoor fan 3 is proportional to the wind speed of the outdoor wind. Therefore, the detection time interval is measured, and the wind speed of the outside wind can be determined based on this value.

  The air conditioner 100 configured as described above performs a cooling operation or a heating operation according to settings of a remote controller (not shown). During the heating operation, the outdoor heat exchanger 2 functions as an evaporator, and performs heat exchange between the air supplied from the outdoor fan 3 and the refrigerant. Here, since the temperature of the outdoor heat exchanger 2 functioning as an evaporator decreases, frost tends to adhere to the outdoor heat exchanger 2. If the operation is continued in a state where frost is attached to the outdoor heat exchanger 2, the heat exchange efficiency is lowered and the performance of the air conditioner 100 is lowered. Therefore, the air conditioner 100 performs a defrosting operation at a predetermined timing.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the defrosting operation.
When the defrosting operation is started, the fan motor 4 is stopped (S101), and the rotation of the outdoor fan 3 is stopped. Then, the wind speed and direction of the outside wind are detected as described above (S102). Subsequently, a high-temperature gas refrigerant is caused to flow into the outdoor heat exchanger 2 to start defrosting (S103). When a high-temperature gas refrigerant flows into the outdoor heat exchanger 2, the frost attached to the outdoor heat exchanger 2 is melted by the heat.

  During defrosting, the rotational speed and direction of rotation of the fan motor 4 are controlled based on the wind speed and direction of the outside wind detected in step S102 so as to cancel out the outside wind (S104). Since the fan motor control means 11 performs inverter control, the rotational speed of the fan motor 4 can be continuously switched to perform highly accurate control. Then, by canceling the outside wind with the wind generated by the outdoor fan 3, the outdoor heat exchanger 2 being defrosted is hardly hit by the wind. Thus, defrosting can be effectively performed by removing the influence of the external wind on the outdoor heat exchanger 2. For example, conventionally, when the outside wind is strong, the outdoor heat exchanger 2 is cooled by the influence and the defrosting effect by the high-temperature gas refrigerant is reduced. However, the air conditioning according to the first embodiment is performed. According to the machine 100, this is not the case. Note that the fan motor 4 does not have to be operated when there is no outside wind and no wind.

  When the defrosting of the outdoor heat exchanger 2 is completed (S105), the fan motor 4 is operated to give a predetermined wind pressure to the outdoor heat exchanger 2 based on the wind speed and direction of the external wind detected in step S102, The outdoor fan 3 is rotated (S106). Since the melted water adheres to the outdoor heat exchanger 2 after defrosting, the melted water adhering to the outdoor heat exchanger 2 is obtained by applying a predetermined wind pressure by the external wind and the wind generated by the outdoor fan 3. Blow away. For example, when it is desired to blow molten water from the outdoor fan 3 in the direction of the outdoor heat exchanger 2, when the external wind is blowing from the outdoor heat exchanger 2 in the direction of the outdoor fan 3, the external wind is offset, The operation of the fan motor 4 is controlled so that a predetermined wind pressure can be applied to the outdoor heat exchanger 2. On the contrary, when the outdoor wind is blowing from the outdoor fan 3 toward the outdoor heat exchanger 2, the operation of the fan motor 4 is performed so as to supplement the outdoor wind so that a predetermined wind pressure can be applied to the outdoor heat exchanger 2. To control. By doing in this way, the molten water adhering to the outdoor heat exchanger 2 can be blown off effectively. When the outside wind has a predetermined wind pressure, the melt water can be blown off by the outside wind, so that the fan motor 4 need not be operated.

As described above, according to the air conditioner 100 according to the first embodiment, during the defrosting, the outdoor fan 3 is operated based on the result of detecting the wind speed and direction of the outside wind to cancel the outside wind. I tried to do it. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the outdoor heat exchanger 2 from being cooled by the outside air during defrosting, and to perform defrosting efficiently. Therefore, the energy saving operation can be performed as compared with the conventional case.
Further, after the defrosting, the outdoor fan 3 is operated so that a predetermined wind pressure is applied to the outdoor heat exchanger 2 based on the result of detecting the wind speed and direction of the outside wind. For this reason, the molten water adhering to the outdoor heat exchanger 2 after defrosting can be blown off effectively. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the molten water from refreezing in the outdoor heat exchanger 2, and to improve the heating capacity during the heating operation.
Moreover, since the detection of the wind direction and wind speed of an external wind can be performed using the existing outdoor fan 3 and the fan motor 4 which is the drive source, it can be comprised at low cost.

  In addition, in this Embodiment 1, although the example which performs defrosting with a high temperature gas refrigerant was demonstrated, this invention can also be applied to the air conditioner which performs defrosting with a heater, and the same effect can be acquired. it can.

  Further, a temperature detection unit that detects an outside air temperature in the vicinity of the outdoor heat exchanger 2 may be provided separately, and the detection result may be output to the fan motor control unit 11. The fan motor control means 11 controls the operation of the fan motor 4 during and after the defrosting in consideration of the outside air temperature and the wind speed in addition to the outside air temperature. By doing in this way, a more efficient defrosting operation can be performed.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
In the first embodiment described above, an example in which the wind speed and direction of the outside wind is detected based on the output of the magnetic sensor 41 provided in the fan motor 4 of the outdoor fan 3 has been described. In the second embodiment, a configuration example in the case where a wind direction and wind speed sensor that detects the wind direction and the wind speed of the outside wind is separately provided will be described.

FIG. 3 is a main part configuration diagram of an air conditioner 200 according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. In FIG. 3, constituent elements that are the same as or correspond to those in the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals.
In FIG. 3, the air conditioner 200 includes a wind direction / wind speed sensor 12. The wind direction and wind speed sensor 12 detects the wind direction and the wind speed of the outside wind that hits the outdoor heat exchanger 2, and outputs a signal corresponding to this to the fan motor control means 11.

As the wind direction and wind speed sensor 12, for example, a known rotating type wind direction and wind speed sensor that includes a vertical tail and a propeller on a fuselage, detects the wind direction based on the direction of the fuselage rotated by external wind, and detects the wind speed based on the rotation speed of the propeller. Can be used.
Further, for example, a known ultrasonic type wind direction and wind speed sensor that includes an ultrasonic transmitter / receiver and detects a wind direction and a wind speed based on an arrival time difference of an ultrasonic wave that changes due to an external wind may be used.

  The air conditioner 200 configured as described above performs the defrosting operation according to the flowchart of FIG. 2 described in the first embodiment. Thus, even if the wind direction and wind speed sensor 12 that detects the wind direction and the wind speed of the outside wind that hits the outdoor heat exchanger 2 can be provided, defrosting can be performed efficiently, as in the first embodiment. After defrosting, the molten water adhering to the outdoor heat exchanger 2 can be effectively blown off.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Outdoor unit, 2 Outdoor heat exchanger, 3 Outdoor fan, 4 Fan motor, 5 Refrigerant piping, 6 Indoor unit, 7 Indoor heat exchanger, 10 Wind direction wind speed calculating means, 11 Fan motor control means, 12 Wind direction wind speed sensor, 41 Magnetic sensor, 41a Magnetic sensor, 41b Magnetic sensor, 41c Magnetic sensor, 100 Air conditioner, 200 Air conditioner.

Claims (8)

A control method for an air conditioner equipped with an outdoor heat exchanger,
Detecting the direction of the outside wind;
Detecting the wind speed of the outside wind;
An air conditioner having a step of blowing air so as to offset the outside air hitting the outdoor heat exchanger based on the detected direction and speed of the outside air during the defrosting of the outdoor heat exchanger Control method. A control method for an air conditioner equipped with an outdoor heat exchanger,
Detecting the direction of the outside wind;
Detecting the wind speed of the outside wind;
And a step of blowing air so that a wind of a predetermined wind pressure hits the outdoor heat exchanger based on the detected wind direction and wind speed of the outdoor air after defrosting the outdoor heat exchanger. Control method. An outdoor heat exchanger,
A blowing means capable of blowing air to the outdoor heat exchanger;
Wind direction and wind speed detecting means for detecting the wind direction and wind speed of the outside wind hitting the outdoor heat exchanger;
A blow operation control means for controlling the operation of the blow means,
The air blowing operation control means operates the air blowing means so as to cancel out the external wind hitting the outdoor heat exchanger based on the detection result of the wind direction wind speed detecting means during the defrosting of the outdoor heat exchanger. Air conditioner characterized by. An outdoor heat exchanger,
A blowing means capable of blowing air to the outdoor heat exchanger;
Wind direction and wind speed detecting means for detecting the wind direction and wind speed of the outside wind hitting the outdoor heat exchanger;
A blow operation control means for controlling the operation of the blow means,
The air blowing operation control means operates the air blowing means so as to give a predetermined wind pressure to the outdoor heat exchanger based on a detection result of the wind direction wind speed detecting means after defrosting the outdoor heat exchanger. Air conditioner. The air blowing means includes a fan provided on the front surface of the outdoor heat exchanger, and a fan motor that includes a rotor and is driven by the air blowing operation control means to drive the fan.
The wind direction and wind speed detection means includes at least three magnetic sensors that detect magnetic poles of the rotor, and a wind direction and wind speed calculation unit that calculates a wind direction and a wind speed of outside wind based on a detection result of the magnetic sensor. The air conditioner according to claim 3 or 4. The air conditioner according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the wind direction wind speed detecting means is a rotary wind direction wind speed sensor. The air conditioner according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the wind direction and wind speed detecting means is an ultrasonic wind direction and wind speed sensor.   The air conditioner according to any one of claims 3 to 7, wherein the air blowing operation control means performs operation control of the air blowing means by inverter control.

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