JP2017187195A - Air conditioning control device, air conditioning control system, air conditioning control method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve comfort of air conditioning by detecting the number of people existing in an air conditioning target region correctly, and to efficiently reduce power consumption.SOLUTION: An air conditioning control device 100 controls a correspondence relationship between an air conditioning region, an air conditioner installed in the air conditioning region and a terminal installed in the air conditioning region. The air conditioning control device 100 detects an operation state of the terminal installed in a building 10. The air conditioning control device 100 tallies the operation state of the terminal arranged in each air conditioning region, generates a control signal for controlling the air conditioner installed in the air conditioning region based on the totalled result, and controls the air conditioner.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioning control device, an air conditioning control system, an air conditioning control method, and a program.

  There is known an air conditioning control device that detects whether or not a person is present in the air conditioning target space and controls the operation of the air conditioner. For example, the air conditioning control device described in Patent Document 1 includes a plurality of human body detection sensors, detects not only the presence or absence of a person in the air-conditioning target space but also the population density, and an air conditioner according to the detection result To control.

JP 2013-40893 A

  The air conditioner control device described in Patent Literature 1 includes a plurality of human body detection sensors. For this reason, the number of sensors to be installed increases, the cost for installation and maintenance increases, and the system configuration becomes complicated. In addition, it is possible to accurately determine the number of persons due to a sensor detection error such as determining one person as two or more by detecting multiple sensors overlappingly, or detecting two or more persons as one person. There are cases where it is difficult to detect. Furthermore, in the human body detection by the sensor, it is only possible to detect the presence state of the person in the current air-conditioning target space, and it is difficult to perform control by predicting the future transition of the number of persons in the air-conditioning target space.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described reasons, and an object thereof is to accurately detect the number of people present in an area to be air-conditioned and to enable air conditioning suitable for the number of people.

In order to achieve the above-described object, an air conditioning control device according to the present invention includes correspondence information storage means, a terminal operation status monitoring unit, a totaling unit, and a control signal generating unit.
The association information storage means stores association information for associating the air-conditioning area, the indoor air conditioner that air-conditions the air-conditioning area, and the terminals arranged in the air-conditioning area.
The terminal operation status monitoring unit acquires operation state information indicating the operation state of each terminal installed in the air conditioning area.
The counting unit totals the number of terminals arranged in the air-conditioning area for each operation state based on the operation state information acquired by the terminal operation status monitoring unit.
The control signal generating unit generates a control signal for controlling the indoor air conditioner based on the total value obtained by the totaling unit.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to estimate the number of office workers in the air-conditioning area by acquiring the operating state information of the terminals in the air-conditioning area, and control the indoor air conditioner according to the estimated number of office workers. It becomes possible. This makes it possible to perform air conditioning according to the number of office workers, improve the comfort of the air conditioning, and reduce power consumption more efficiently.

It is a block diagram of the air-conditioning management system which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. 1 is a block diagram of an air conditioning control device according to Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the terminal arrangement information memorize | stored in the terminal arrangement information storage part which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the air-conditioning area | region / indoor unit correspondence information memorize | stored in the air-conditioning area map memory | storage part which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the terminal operating condition information memorize | stored in the terminal operating condition memory | storage part which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a flowchart of the update process of the terminal operating condition information which the air-conditioning control apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 performs. It is a figure which shows the example of the total result of the working terminal total part which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a flowchart of the air-conditioning control change process which the air-conditioning control apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 performs when an indoor unit stops. It is a flowchart of the air-conditioning control change process which the air-conditioning control apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 performs at the time of indoor unit operation. It is a block diagram of the air-conditioning control apparatus of the air-conditioning management system which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the terminal operating condition information which concerns on Embodiment 2. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the information which concerns on the total result of the operating terminal total part which concerns on Embodiment 2. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the air-conditioning management system which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the air-conditioning control apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 3. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of presence information according to Embodiment 3. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the terminal arrangement | positioning information which concerns on Embodiment 3. FIG. It is a flowchart of the air-conditioning control change process at the time of the indoor unit stop which concerns on Embodiment 3. FIG. It is a flowchart of the air-conditioning control change process at the time of the air-conditioner driving | operation which concerns on Embodiment 3. FIG. It is a block diagram of the air-conditioning management system which concerns on Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the hardware of the air-conditioning control apparatus which concerns on embodiment.

Hereinafter, an air conditioning control system and an air conditioning control method according to embodiments of the present invention will be described.
Embodiment 1 FIG.
The air-conditioning control system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention detects the operating status of the terminals arranged in the air-conditioning area, grasps the personnel and the history in the air-conditioning installation, and appropriately controls the air-conditioner Is what you do.
As shown in FIG. 1, an air conditioning management system 1000 according to the present embodiment is installed in a building 10 including an area 11 to be air-conditioned, and is installed in an air-conditioning control apparatus 100 that controls the whole, and an area 11 to be air-conditioned. The indoor air conditioner (hereinafter simply referred to as an indoor unit) 200, a remote controller 300, an outdoor unit 400 installed outside the area 11, a switching hub 700 for network communication, and an information processing terminal (hereinafter simply referred to as an “indoor unit”). Terminal 500).

  The air conditioning management system 1000 is installed inside the building 10 except for the outdoor unit 400.

  The area 11 to be air-conditioned is divided into one or a plurality of air-conditioning areas 600 by walls, partitions, and the like. In FIG. 1, an example in which the section 11 is divided into three air-conditioning areas 600a, 600b, and 600c is shown, but the number of air-conditioning areas 600 is arbitrary and may be one.

  In the following description, unless an air-conditioning area is specified, the air-conditioning areas 600a, 600b, and 600c are defined as the air-conditioning area 600, and the terminals 500a, 500b, and 500c that are disposed in the air-conditioning area 600 that are not specified are defined as the terminal 500. In addition, the indoor units 200a, 200b, 200c and the like whose air conditioning target is an arbitrary air-conditioning region 600 are referred to as indoor units 200.

  Air-conditioning area 600 is an area that is air-conditioned by one or a plurality of indoor units 200, and is the minimum unit of air-conditioning control.

  Each air conditioning area 600 includes one or more indoor units 200, one or more remote controllers 300 that transmit commands to the indoor unit 200, and one or more terminals 500 for performing business processing in the air conditioning area 600. Is installed. More specifically, one or more indoor units 200a, a remote controller 300a, and a terminal 500a are installed in the air conditioning area 600a, an indoor unit 200b, a remote controller 300b, and a terminal 500b are installed in the air conditioning area 600b, and the air conditioning area 600c. An indoor unit 200c, a remote controller 300c, and a terminal 500c are installed.

  The air-conditioning target area 11 is, for example, an office room, and is a space where office workers work. The areas 11 are separated from each other within the building 10 by, for example, walls having heat insulation properties, and heat exchange is not so much.

Although only one area 11 is shown in FIG. 1, the building 10 includes a plurality of areas 11 to be air-conditioned, and each area 11 may include at least one air-conditioning area 600.
In FIG. 1, the area 11 to be air-conditioned is divided into three air-conditioning areas 600. The case where the air-conditioning target area 11 has a plurality of air-conditioning areas 600 corresponds to, for example, the case where each area partitioned by a wall or partition is used as each air-conditioning area 600. Even when the area 11 is wide even if it is not divided by walls, partitions, etc., and the effect of air conditioning in one region does not affect the other region, these are defined as separate air conditioning regions 600. A plurality of air-conditioning areas 600 may be provided in one area 11.
Note that the area 11 is not limited to an office room, but also a conference room, a laboratory, a work place, and the like.

  The air conditioning control device 100 performs control including starting and stopping the operation of the indoor unit 200 in each of the air conditioning regions 600a, 600b, and 600c in the area 11. When there are a plurality of indoor units 200 in one air conditioning region 600, the same control is executed for all of these indoor units 200. The air conditioning control device 100, the indoor units 200a, 200b, and 200c, the remote controllers 300a, 300b, and 300c, and the outdoor unit 400 are bus-connected by a dedicated line. The air conditioning control device 100 is further connected to a terminal group via a switching hub 700 via a LAN (Local Area Network). The connection by LAN may be wired or wireless.

The terminal 500 is an information processing terminal that is configured from a personal computer, a business personal computer, and the like, and is used and operated when the office worker performs work. The terminal 500 has three operation states of a driving state, a standby state, and a stop state.
When the office worker uses the terminal 500, the office worker first turns on the terminal 500. After the power is turned on, the terminal 500 is in a state of accepting input of a user ID assigned to each office worker, and the office worker logs in to the terminal 500 by inputting his / her user ID and authentication information. Run 500. The state in which the power is turned on and the office worker is logged in is the driving state. The power is on but the office worker is not logged in. The state where the power is not turned on is set to the stop state. When the user performs a log-off operation in the operating state, a transition is made to the standby state. Further, when the terminal 500 is not operated for a certain time in the operation state, the apparatus automatically shifts to the standby state. When the power is turned off in the operation state and the standby state, the state is shifted to the stop state.
Although three states are used here, it is possible to further subdivide the states.

  In FIG. 1, all the terminals 500 are installed in the air-conditioning area 600, but some terminals 500 are outside all the areas 11 in the building 10 or outside all the air-conditioning areas 600 in the area 11. It may be installed.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the air conditioning control device 100.
The air conditioning control device 100 controls all of the air conditioner, that is, the indoor unit 200 and the outdoor unit 400.
The air conditioning control apparatus 100 includes a terminal operating status monitoring unit 110 that monitors and detects the operating state of the terminal 500, an operating terminal totaling unit 111 that counts the operating state of the terminal 500 for each state, and an air conditioning control signal for controlling the indoor unit 200. Air-conditioning control signal generation unit 112 for generating the terminal, terminal arrangement information management unit 113 for managing the arrangement information of the terminal 500, input / output control unit 120 for controlling input / output with the outside, input / output interface 121, LAN for performing LAN communication The communication unit 122 includes a control signal communication unit 123 that generates and transmits a control signal, and a storage unit 150 that stores various types of information.

The input / output interface 121 is a device having an input function and a display function, and includes, for example, a liquid crystal touch panel or a display and a keyboard.
The LAN communication unit 122 transmits / receives information to / from the terminal 500 connected via the LAN via the switching hub 700.
The control signal communication unit 123 transmits and receives control signals to and from the indoor unit 200, the remote controller 300, and the outdoor unit 400 that are bus-connected by a dedicated line.

The storage unit 150 includes a terminal operation status storage unit 151 that stores terminal operation status information, a terminal arrangement information storage unit 152 that stores terminal arrangement information, an air conditioning region map storage unit 153 that stores an air conditioning region map, and settings for air conditioning control A setting storage unit 154 that stores values and the like is included.
The terminal arrangement information storage unit 152 and the air conditioning region map storage unit 153 correspond to the air conditioning region 600, the indoor unit 200 that air-conditions the air conditioning region 600, and the terminal 500 disposed in the air conditioning region 600, as will be described later. It functions as an associated information storage unit for storing attached information.
The storage unit 150 is composed of, for example, a nonvolatile memory such as a hard disk, a static RAM, or a flash memory.

The air conditioning control device 100 acquires the terminal arrangement information shown below for each terminal 500 installed in the air conditioning area 600 by the terminal arrangement information management unit 113.
It is assumed that terminal arrangement information for terminals installed outside the air conditioning area 600 is not acquired.

FIG. 3 shows an example of terminal arrangement information stored in the terminal arrangement information storage unit 152.
One indoor unit number is assigned to one indoor unit 200, and one terminal number is assigned to one terminal 500 arranged in the air conditioning area 600.

  The terminal arrangement information is information indicating in which air-conditioning region 600 each terminal 500 is located, and as shown in the figure, a number identifying the indoor unit 200 (not limited to a number. Hereinafter, simply referred to as an indoor unit number). ), A number (not limited to a number; hereinafter simply referred to as a terminal number) for identifying the terminal 500 arranged in the air-conditioning area 600 to be air-conditioned by the indoor unit 200, and the IP of each terminal 500 Address, and these are associated with each other.

For example, when the indoor unit number AC0001 identifies the indoor unit 200a, the terminals 500a existing in the air conditioning area 600a in which the indoor unit 200a is installed are five units identified by the terminal numbers PC0001 to PC0005. is there.
The terminal arrangement information may include a number (not limited to a number; hereinafter simply referred to as an air conditioning area number) that identifies the air conditioning area 600 instead of the indoor unit number. One air conditioning area number specifies one air conditioning area 600.

The terminal arrangement information is created manually or the like when each terminal 500 is newly arranged or the arrangement is changed. For example, an office worker inputs a terminal number, an indoor unit number, and an IP address via a terminal and creates them.
The terminal used for inputting and updating the terminal arrangement information does not need to be the terminal 500 installed in the air conditioning area 600, but is assumed to be connected to the air conditioning control device 100 via a LAN.
The input terminal arrangement information is transmitted from the input terminal to the LAN communication unit 122 of the air conditioning control device 100 via the LAN. The input / output control unit 120 receives via the LAN communication unit 122 and transmits the received terminal arrangement information to the terminal arrangement information management unit 113. The terminal arrangement information management unit 113 stores the acquired terminal arrangement information in the terminal arrangement information storage unit 152.

The terminal arrangement information stored in the terminal arrangement information storage unit 152 can be browsed by using, for example, a terminal by an office worker.
In addition, the terminal for browsing the terminal arrangement information is not limited to the terminal 500 installed in the air-conditioning area 600 like the terminal used for the terminal arrangement information input, and is connected to the air-conditioning control apparatus 100 via the LAN. It shall be.
The inspection by the office worker etc. is performed as follows.
The terminal arrangement information to be browsed is read from the terminal arrangement information storage unit 152 by the terminal arrangement information management unit 113. The read terminal arrangement information is transmitted to the input / output control unit 120 by the terminal arrangement information management unit 113, transmitted to the LAN communication unit 122 by the input / output control unit 120, and viewed by the LAN communication unit 122 via the LAN. Is sent to the terminal. The terminal arrangement information is displayed by the received browsing terminal.
Thus, the office worker can read out the terminal arrangement information from the terminal and change or delete the contents of the terminal arrangement information.

In addition, although the terminal 500 memorize | stored in terminal arrangement | positioning information is restricted to what is installed in the air-conditioning area | region 600, as above-mentioned, the terminal which can browse, input, change, and delete terminal arrangement information is LAN. As long as the terminal can communicate with the air conditioning control device 100, the installation location is not limited.
The input and browsing of the terminal arrangement information can be performed using the input / output interface 121 of the air conditioning control device 100 without using the terminal and the LAN as described above, and is not limited to the above.
The terminal 500 in the air-conditioning area 600 may be increased or decreased or rearranged due to, for example, a change or increase / decrease in a worker, a change in work content or a work form, or an update of itself. When the arrangement of the terminal 500 is changed, the terminal arrangement information is corrected as needed.

  The air conditioning control device 100 further acquires air conditioning region / indoor unit correspondence information in which each air conditioning region 600 and the indoor unit 200 that air-conditions each air conditioning region 600 are associated by the terminal arrangement information management unit 113. The terminal arrangement information management unit 113 stores the acquired air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information in the air conditioning area map storage unit 153. This process will be described later.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information stored in the air conditioning area map storage unit 153.
The air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information includes the above-described air conditioning area number and the indoor unit number of the indoor unit 200 installed in the air conditioning area 600 specified by the air conditioning area number.
The indoor unit number here is the same as the indoor unit number in the terminal arrangement information. As shown in FIG. 4, for example, an indoor unit 200 identified by an indoor unit number AC0001 is installed in an air conditioning region 600 identified by an air conditioning region number AREA01.

The air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information is manually input from the indoor unit 200 installed in the building 10 and information related to the work area in the building 10. For example, the office worker inputs the air conditioning area number and the indoor unit number using the terminal.
Similarly to the above, the terminal used for inputting the air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information is also connected to the air conditioning control device 100 via the LAN. This terminal is not necessarily the terminal 500 installed in the air-conditioning area 600.
The air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information manually input as described above is transmitted to the LAN communication unit 122 of the air conditioning control device 100 via the LAN. The air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information received by the LAN communication unit 122 is transmitted to the terminal arrangement information management unit 113 by the input / output control unit 120. The terminal arrangement information management unit 113 stores the received air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information in the air conditioning area map storage unit 153.

In addition, the air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information can be browsed by a worker or the like using a terminal, and this browsing is performed as follows.
Similarly to the above, the terminal used for browsing the air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information is also connected to the air conditioning control device 100 via a LAN. This terminal is not necessarily the terminal 500 installed in the air-conditioning area 600.
The air-conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information is read from the air-conditioning area map storage unit 153 by the terminal arrangement information management unit 113, transmitted to the input / output control unit 120 by the terminal arrangement information management unit 113, and LAN / LAN by the input / output control unit 120. It is transmitted to the communication unit 122. The LAN communication unit 122 transmits the received air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information to the browsing terminal via the LAN. The air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information is displayed by the received terminal. The office worker or the like can read the air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information to the terminal and change or delete the contents.

  The terminal that can browse, input, change, and delete the air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information is not limited as long as it is a terminal connected to the LAN. The input and browsing of the air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information can be performed using the input / output interface 121 of the air conditioning control apparatus 100 without using a terminal or a LAN as described above. The method for inputting and browsing the machine correspondence information is not limited. The air conditioning area 600 may be changed, for example, by changing the work area or updating the expansion of indoor units. Along with this change, the content of the air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information is corrected as needed.

The terminal arrangement information stored in the terminal arrangement information storage unit 152 and the air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information stored in the air conditioning area map storage unit 153 are stored in the air conditioning area, the indoor air conditioner that air-conditions the air conditioning area, and the air conditioning area. It functions as association information for associating the arranged terminals. It is also possible to integrate the terminal arrangement information and the air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information and handle the correspondence information as one piece of information. In that case, a new storage unit in which the terminal arrangement information storage unit 152 and the air-conditioning area map storage unit 153 are integrated is provided.
However, although it is assumed that the change of the air-conditioning area 600 is less frequent, the change of the terminal arrangement information, that is, the increase / decrease or movement of the terminal 500 is assumed to occur frequently.
Implemented for convenience when changing terminal arrangement information and air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information, such as making it easy to change terminal arrangement information without modifying air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information In the embodiment, the terminal arrangement information and the air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information are handled as separate information.

The terminal operation status monitoring unit 110 illustrated in FIG. 2 monitors whether or not each terminal 500 arranged in the air conditioning region 600 is operating, and acquires terminal operation status information. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of terminal operation status information stored in the terminal operation status storage unit 151. The terminal operation status information includes information related to the current operation state that is the latest operation state and the previous operation state that is the previous operation state of all the terminals 500 that are arranged in the air-conditioning area 600 and that store the terminal numbers. It consists of information.
As described above, the operation state means any one of the operation state, the standby state, and the stop state of the terminal.
Further, as will be described later, the terminal operating status monitoring unit 110 detects the operating state of each terminal 500 every time a specified time elapses. The current operation state stored in the terminal operation state storage unit 151 is an operation state detected by the latest detection process by the terminal operation state monitoring unit 110, and the previous operation state is executed a predetermined time before the latest detection. The operation state detected by the detected process.

As shown in FIG. 5, the terminal operation status information includes a terminal number, information on the current operation state, and information on the previous operation state of each terminal 500. The terminal number is the same as the terminal number of the terminal arrangement information described above.
According to FIG. 5, for example, the current operation state of the terminal with the terminal number PC0001 is the stopped state, the current operation state of the terminal with the terminal number PC0002 is the operating state, and the current operation state of the terminal with the terminal number PC0005 is It is in a stopped state. The terminals with the terminal numbers PC0001 and PC0002 have continued in the same operation state from the time when the terminal operation status monitoring unit 110 detected the previous operation state, but the terminals with the terminal numbers PC0003, PC0004, and PC0005 The operating state has changed since the state was detected.
The terminal operating status monitoring unit 110 stores the acquired information related to each operating state in the terminal operating status storage unit 151 as constituting the terminal operating status information.

More specifically, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6, the terminal operation status monitoring unit 110 starts a built-in terminal monitoring timer (S101), and from a count value of the terminal monitoring timer, a specified time, for example, 10 minutes. (S102; NO). When the terminal operating status monitoring unit 110 detects that the specified time has elapsed (S102; YES), the terminal operating status monitoring unit 110 reads the terminal number and IP address of the terminal 500 that detects the operating state from the terminal arrangement information storage unit 152 (S103).
The terminal operating status monitoring unit 110 reads the current operating status associated with the read terminal number from the terminal operating status storage unit 151. The read current operation state is the operation state at the time of the previous detection, and this is overwritten on the previous operation state of the terminal stored in the terminal operation status storage unit 151 (S104).

Next, the terminal operating status monitoring unit 110 transmits an information acquisition request signal to the IP address read in step S103 (S105). This information acquisition request signal is transmitted to the operation state acquisition target terminal 500 connected to the LAN via the input / output control unit 120 and the LAN communication unit 122. The terminal 500 that has received this information acquisition request signal determines the current operating state, and transmits response information indicating the determined operating state to the terminal operating state monitoring unit 110. This response information indicates whether the operation state or the standby state. Terminal 500 cannot respond in a stopped state.
The terminal operating status monitoring unit 110 waits for a predetermined time after transmitting the information acquisition request signal (S106). The certain time is, for example, 1 minute. If the response information is not received within a certain time (S106; NO), it is determined that the terminal 500 is in a stopped state in which the power is not turned on, and the current operation of the corresponding terminal number in the terminal operation status storage unit 151 is determined. The state is set to “stop” (S110). On the other hand, when response information is received within a predetermined time (S106; YES), the response information is confirmed. If the content of the response information indicates the driving state (S107; YES), it is determined that the terminal 500 is in the driving state, and the current operating state of the corresponding terminal number in the terminal operating status storage unit 151 is “driving”. (S108). If the content of the response information indicates a standby state (S107; NO), the current operating state of the corresponding terminal number in the terminal operating status storage unit 151 is set to “standby” (S109).
Until the information indicating the operation state of all the terminals 500 that are the target of the operation state is acquired (S111; NO), the operation of steps S103 to S110 is repeated while switching the terminal 500, and the operation states of all the terminals 500 that are the acquisition target When the acquisition of the terminal is completed (S111; YES), the process returns to step S101, the terminal monitoring timer is reset and restarted (S101), and the next terminal operation status acquisition timing is waited (S102).
In the present embodiment, the processing from step 103 to step S110 is performed by arbitrarily selecting one terminal 500 from which the operation state is to be acquired. In addition to this, it corresponds to step S104. The process of storing the previous operation state may be performed on all acquisition target terminals 500 before transmitting the information acquisition request signal, and then the information acquisition request signal may be transmitted to all acquisition target terminals 500. .

When the terminal operating status monitoring unit 110 acquires information indicating the operating status of all the acquisition target terminals 500 and updates the terminal operating status information, the operating terminal counting unit 111 counts the number of terminals 500 for each operating status. Is.
More specifically, the operation terminal totaling unit 111 includes the indoor unit of the indoor unit 200 that targets each air conditioning region number and the air conditioning region 600 specified by each air conditioning region number from the air conditioning region map storage unit 153. Read out the number.
Next, the operating terminal totaling unit 111 includes, from the terminal arrangement information storage unit 152, each indoor unit number and the terminal 500 arranged in the air conditioning region 600 that is air-conditioned by the indoor unit 200 specified by each indoor unit number. Read the terminal number.
Next, the operating terminal totaling unit 111 associates each read air conditioning area number with each terminal number via each indoor unit number, and the terminal number of the terminal 500 arranged in the air conditioning area 600 of each air conditioning area number To get.
Subsequently, the operating terminal totaling unit 111 reads the terminal operating status information at the current and previous detections from the terminal operating status storage unit 151, and totals the number of terminals in each operating state for each air conditioning area 600 and separately for the current and previous times. As shown in FIG.
In the present embodiment, only information relating to the current and previous operation states is stored, but a plurality of pieces of information relating to previous operation states may be stored.

With reference to FIG. 7, the procedure for obtaining the total result will be specifically described.
For example, in the air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information shown in FIG. 4, the indoor unit number of the indoor unit 200 installed in the air conditioning area 600 specified by the air conditioning area number AREA01 is AC0001. The operating terminal totaling unit 111 reads the air conditioning area number AREA01 and the indoor unit number AC0001 from the air conditioning area map storage unit 153.
According to the terminal arrangement information illustrated in FIG. 3, the terminal numbers of the terminals 500 arranged in the air conditioning area 600 in which the indoor unit 200 identified by the indoor unit number AC0001 is installed are PC0001 to PC0005. The operating terminal totaling unit 111 reads the terminal numbers PC0001, PC0002, PC0003, PC0004, and PC0005 from the terminal arrangement information storage unit 152.
From the terminal operation status information shown in FIG. 5, the terminals 500 identified by PC0001, PC0002, PC0003, PC0004, and PC0005 are in a stopped state, an operating state, an operating state, an operating state, and a stopped state, respectively. The operating terminal totaling unit 111 refers to the terminal operating status storage unit 151 and derives a totaling result that there are three terminals in the operating state, two terminals in the stopped state, and zero terminals in the standby state.
Furthermore, the operating terminal totaling unit 111 derives that, for the previous operating state, there are two terminals in the operating state, two terminals in the stopped state, and one terminal in the standby state.
In addition, you may make it obtain | require the last terminal number by copying the present terminal number of a total result.

  If the terminal 500 is in an operating state, it is presumed that the office worker is present and operating the terminal 500, and the number of terminals in the operating state exists for each air conditioning area 600. It is thought that it corresponds to the number of people. When the terminal 500 is in the standby state, it is considered that the office worker who has operated the terminal 500 is temporarily away from the desk, and is currently temporarily absent but may be in the future. Is considered high. The suspended state is estimated to be a state in which the worker is absent and is not likely to be present. In FIG. 7, in the air-conditioning area 600 related to AREA 01, since there are three terminals 500 in the current operation state, it is estimated that there are currently three office workers in this air-conditioning area 600. Since there are two operating terminals 500 in the previous state, it is estimated that the number of office workers has increased by one.

  By detecting and counting the state of the terminal 500, the number of office workers in the air-conditioning area 600 can be estimated, and the air conditioner can be controlled from the estimated number of office workers. When the previous state and the current state of the terminal 500 are individually viewed, PC0003 and PC0004 are changed to the operating state, and PC0005 is changed to the stopped state. From this, in the air-conditioning area 600 according to AREA 01, it is estimated that the number of office workers increased by one and decreased by one, and that the total number of office workers increased by one. Here, the information necessary for air conditioner control is the number of people in the air conditioning area 600. Therefore, the change of office workers, that is, who and who changed, is not considered, and only the number of people is judged.

  In this way, the air conditioning control device 100 controls the air conditioner from the operating state of the terminal 500 that correlates with the number of people located in each air conditioning region 600. Hereinafter, the control method will be described.

  First, the setting storage unit 154 disposed in the storage unit 150 of FIG. 2 stores a plurality of set temperatures for each air conditioning region 600. The set temperature includes a standard set temperature and a weak set temperature. The standard set temperature is a standard set temperature, and is set individually for cooling and heating. The weak set temperature is a target temperature that can be achieved by air conditioning weaker than the rated air conditioning. For cooling, the temperature is higher by the first temperature than the standard set temperature, and for heating, only the second temperature is higher than the standard set temperature. Set to low temperature. 1st temperature and 2nd temperature are set to 2-3 degreeC, for example.

  On the other hand, the air conditioning control signal generation unit 112 monitors the fluctuation of the number of terminals for each operation state for each air conditioning region 600. When the number of terminals fluctuates, the content of the fluctuation and the set temperature stored in the setting storage unit 154 Based on the above, it is determined whether or not the air conditioning control change process is necessary. If the air conditioning control signal generation unit 112 determines that a change is necessary, the air conditioning control signal generation unit 112 generates and transmits an air conditioning control signal, and executes an air conditioning control change process.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the air conditioning control change process by the air conditioning control signal generation unit 112 when the indoor unit 200 in the air conditioning region 600 is in a stopped state. As will be described later, the indoor unit 200 is in a stopped state, and both the current number of terminals in the operating state and the current number of terminals in the standby state at the time of the previous aggregation are 0, and the operating state at that time is This means that the previous number of terminals was 0.
In addition, as will be described later, by stopping the indoor unit 200 using the history that is the result of counting twice for the current time and the previous time, instability of air conditioning in a work place where office workers frequently come and go is prevented. ing. The instability of air conditioning here means that the indoor unit 200 frequently starts and stops operating.

In the air conditioning control change process when the indoor unit 200 in the air conditioning region 600 is in a stopped state, the air conditioning control signal generation unit 112 first acquires the totaling result from the operating terminal totaling unit 111.
Then, when it is determined that the number of terminals 500 in the operating state (which means a state in which the power is turned on means an operating state or a standby state) has increased, the operation of the indoor unit 200 is performed. Start. Further, when it is determined that at least one of the terminals 500 in the air conditioning region 600 is in an operating state, the operation of the indoor unit 200 may be started.

  Specifically, the air conditioning control signal generation unit 112 refers to the totaling result as illustrated in FIG. 7 acquired from the operating terminal totaling unit 111, and for the air conditioning region 600 of interest, the previous operating state is the operating state. History information relating to the number of terminals and the current number of terminals whose operation state is the driving state is acquired. Then, the acquired number of previous terminals and the current number of terminals are compared to determine whether the number of operating terminals has increased (S201). When it is determined that the number of operating terminals has increased (S201; YES), the air conditioning control signal generator 112 starts the operation of the indoor unit 200 (S202). Here, it is assumed that the standard set temperature stored in the setting storage unit 154 is read and applied as the set temperature when starting operation.

Next, the air conditioning control signal generation unit 112 determines whether or not the current number of terminals in the operating state in the air conditioning region 600 is equal to or greater than a specified number (S203). The number of terminals in the operating state represents the number of office workers in the air conditioning area 600. When there are many people in the indoor space, the room temperature tends to rise. In addition, heat exchange between the air-conditioning regions 600 is difficult. Therefore, it is considered that the office worker cannot spend comfortably in the air conditioning at the normal set temperature in the place where the population density is high. For this reason, the number of terminals 500 corresponding to the prescribed number of persons whose comfort for workers is impaired if the number is further increased for each air-conditioning area 600 is set as a prescribed number. The set temperature of shall be lowered.
When the number of terminals in the current operating state in the air conditioning region 600 is equal to or greater than the specified number (S203; YES), the standard set temperature is corrected downward and air conditioning is performed as the corrected set temperature (S204). Thereby, if the air conditioning is cooling, it is possible to operate at a more comfortable temperature, and if the air conditioning is heating, it is possible to operate with reduced power consumption.
The corrected set temperature may be stored in the setting storage unit 154 in advance. Alternatively, the correction value of the downward correction may be changed according to the size of the specified number, the number of operating terminals, the room temperature, and the like.
When the current number of terminals in the operation state is less than the specified number (S203; NO), the air conditioning control signal generation unit 112 causes the indoor unit 200 to continue air conditioning at the standard set temperature.

For example, the prescribed number is uniformly set in advance for all the air-conditioning areas 600 and is stored in the setting storage unit 154 manually or the like.
In addition, the number of unique terminals for one indoor unit 200 may be set in advance for each air conditioning area 600 as the specified number of total number of unique terminals of the indoor unit 200. In this case, the number of unique terminals of each indoor unit 200 is determined by the unique performance of the indoor unit 200, and corresponds to the upper limit number of persons that can maintain the set temperature in the installed air conditioning area 600, for example. . In this case, a unique number of terminals may be set for each air conditioning region 600 and for each set temperature. This unique number of terminals is set in the air-conditioning area map storage unit 153 in association with the indoor unit number, for example, manually. The operating terminal totaling unit 111 refers to the air conditioning area map storage unit 153 and sets the value obtained by adding the number of unique terminals of each indoor unit 200 for each air conditioning area 600 as the specified number.
When the performances of the indoor units 200 in the air conditioning area 600 are all the same, the operating terminal totaling unit 111 sets the number of indoor units 200 and the number of terminals unique to each indoor unit 200 for each air conditioning area 600. The product of and should be the specified number.
In the terminal arrangement information illustrated in FIG. 3, the number of terminals unique to each indoor unit 200 is provided in association with each indoor unit 200, and the operating terminal totaling unit 111 refers to the terminal arrangement information storage unit 152. For each air conditioning area 600, the number of terminals unique to the indoor unit 200 may be added and calculated.
In addition, a prescribed number may be registered for each air conditioning area in the air conditioning area / indoor unit correspondence information illustrated in FIG. 4 so that the operating terminal counting unit 111 can refer to and use it. The air conditioning control signal generation unit 112 acquires the specified number from the operating terminal totaling unit 111 and uses it.

Returning to the flow of FIG. 8, even if the number of terminals in the operating state does not change from 0, the number of terminals in the standby state may increase. This is because, for example, there was a person who started the terminal work in the target air conditioning area 600 between the previous judgment time and the current judgment time, but the work is temporarily interrupted now. This is the case. In addition, the fact that the terminal 500 is in a standby state is highly likely to be a temporary work interruption, and is likely to be in an operating state in a short time. Therefore, when the number of terminals in the operating state has not increased (S201; NO) and the number of terminals in the standby state has increased (S205; YES), the weak set temperature stored in the setting information storage unit 154 is used. The operation of the indoor unit 200 is started (S206). As described above, the weak set temperature is higher than the standard set temperature in the case of cooling, and is lower than the standard set temperature in the case of heating.
On the other hand, when there is no increase in the number of terminals in the operating state (S201; NO) and there is no increase in the number of terminals in the standby state (S205; NO), the air conditioning control signal generation unit 112 operates the indoor unit 200. Is not started and the stop state is maintained.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the air conditioning control change process in the air conditioning control signal generation unit 112 when the indoor unit 200 in the air conditioning region 600 is in an operating state.
Here, the fact that the indoor unit 200 is in an operating state means that the air conditioner control signal generation unit 112 has been in an operating state after controlling the indoor unit 200 in the previous control process. When the indoor unit 200 is in an operating state, when the number of terminals in the operating state changes, it is determined whether to change the control content of the air conditioning control, and necessary processing is executed. In addition, when there is no operating terminal both in the previous time and the current time, the operation of the indoor unit 200 is stopped.

Specifically, the air conditioning control signal generation unit 112 first determines whether or not the number of operating terminals has changed by referring to the previous number of terminals and the current number of terminals in the counting result by the operating terminal counting unit 111. (S301). If the number of terminals in the driving state has changed (S301; YES), it is determined whether or not the number of terminals in the driving state has increased (S302). When the number of terminals in the driving state is increasing (S302; YES), it is determined whether or not the previous number of terminals in the driving state is 0 with reference to the number of previous terminals in the driving state (S303).
Since the control process shown in FIG. 8 is assumed, when the indoor unit 200 is in an operating state, at least one of the previous number of terminals in the operating state and the previous number of terminals in the standby state is one or more. Further, when the previous number of terminals in the operation state is 0 and the previous number of terminals in the standby state is 1 or more, it means that the indoor unit 200 is operated with the weak setting. Therefore, when the previous number of terminals in the driving state is 0 (S303; YES) and the number of terminals in the driving state is increasing (S302; YES), control is performed to cancel the driving with the weak setting, The operation of the indoor unit 200 is controlled based on the standard setting (S304).
On the other hand, when the previous number of terminals in the operation state is not 0 (S303; NO), step S304 is skipped and the setting of the indoor unit 200 is not changed. Next, referring to the current number of terminals in the driving state and the previous number of terminals, whether the previous number of terminals in the driving state is less than the specified number and whether the number of terminals in the current driving state has increased to more than the specified number Is discriminated (S305). If it has increased (S305; YES), it is assumed that the set temperature of the indoor unit 200 has been lowered (S306). If it has not increased (S305; NO), step S306 is skipped, the set temperature of the indoor unit 200 is not changed, and the current process is terminated.

When the number of terminals in the operating state has changed but not increased (S302; NO), the air conditioning control signal generation unit 112 refers to the current number of terminals in the operating state and the previous number of terminals, and the previous number of terminals in the operating state is determined. It is determined whether or not the current number of terminals in the driving state is less than the prescribed number when the number is greater than the prescribed number (S307). When the previous number of terminals in the operating state is the specified number or more and the current number of terminals in the operating state is less than the specified number (S307; YES), the downward correction of the set temperature of the indoor unit 200 is canceled and the control based on the standard set temperature is performed. Switching (S308). When the previous number of terminals in the operating state is not equal to or greater than the specified number, or the current number of terminals in the operating state is not less than the specified number (S307; NO), step S308 is skipped and the set temperature is not changed.
Next, it is determined whether or not the indoor unit 200 should be operated with a weak setting. The operation with the weak setting of the indoor unit 200 is executed when the current number of terminals in the operation state is zero. Therefore, the current number of terminals in the operation state is referred to, and if it is 0 (S309; YES), the operation of the indoor unit 200 is changed to one relating to weak setting (S310). If the current number of terminals in the operating state is not zero (S309; NO), the indoor unit 200 is not changed to the weak setting. Then, the process ends.
Note that the conditions for starting operation with the weak setting differ between when the indoor unit 200 is stopped and when it is in operation. In the case of starting the operation from the time when the indoor unit 200 is stopped, the state in which the terminal 500 in the operation state does not exist continues, and the operation is started with a weak setting when the terminal 500 in the standby state exists. . However, in the case of starting operation with a weak setting at the time of operation of the indoor unit 200, the operation is performed with the weak setting when there is no terminal in the operating state regardless of the number of terminals in the standby state. This reason is for the stability of the air conditioning in a place where many people come and go as described later.

If the number of terminals in the driving state has not changed (step S301; NO), next, the current number of terminals in the driving state of the totaling result by the operating terminal totaling unit 111 is referenced to determine whether or not it is zero. (S311). When the current number of terminals in the driving state is 0 (S311; YES), the current number of terminals in the standby state as the result of the counting is referred to. Then, it is determined whether or not the current number of terminals in the standby state is 0 (S312). If it is 0 (S312; YES), the operation of the indoor unit 200 is stopped (S313).
As described above, the indoor unit 200 stops the operation when the state in which the terminal 500 in the operating state does not exist continues from the previous time and the terminal 500 in the standby state does not exist. When the terminal 500 in the standby state exists, there is a high possibility that the worker is temporarily absent but returns to resume the work. However, when the terminal in the standby state does not exist, the worker returns. This is because the possibility is low.
If the current number of terminals in the operation state is 0 (S311; YES) and the current number of terminals in the standby state is not 0 (S312; NO), the operation is continued with the setting as it is. Here, when the indoor unit 200 is in an operating state and the terminal 500 in the operating state does not exist in the previous time, the indoor unit 200 is operating with a weak setting by the processing of FIGS. Therefore, in this case, the operation at the weak setting is continued.
If the current number of terminals in the operation state is not 0 (S311; NO), the setting of the indoor unit 200 is not changed, and the operation is continued with the same setting, that is, the standard setting.

In the flowchart of FIG. 9, even if it is determined in step S309 that the current number of terminals in the operating state is 0, the operation of the indoor unit 200 is not stopped regardless of the current number of terminals in the standby state. . The reason for this is that if the work place has many office workers, the indoor unit 200 may start and stop frequently, and air conditioning may not be stable, which may cause an increase in energy consumption. Because there is. Therefore, if the current number of terminals in the operating state becomes 0 and the terminal in the operating state is 0 when a certain time has elapsed, the operation of the indoor unit 200 may be controlled to stop. Here, the certain time is equal to, for example, a specified time of a detection cycle related to the acquisition process of each operation state by the terminal operation status monitoring unit 110.
In this embodiment, only the current state and the previous state are stored, but when a plurality of previous states can be stored, the number of terminals in the operation state becomes 0, and then the number of terminals in the operation state However, it is also possible to perform control so that the operation of the indoor unit 200 is stopped when the state of 0 continues for a specified number of times. By changing the specified time in the detection cycle and the continuation count of 0 in the number of operating terminals for stopping the operation of the indoor unit 200 to an arbitrary value, the time until the indoor unit 200 is stopped is arbitrary. Time.
By stopping the operation of the indoor unit 200 when it is determined that the office worker is absent and the state is the same as when a predetermined time has elapsed, it is possible to reduce power consumption by unnecessary air conditioning.

In the case where the number of currently operating terminals is equal to the number of current terminals in the standby state, that is, in the case where the operation starts from the case where the indoor unit 200 is in the stopped state, the terminal 500 in the operating state does not exist and the standby When only the terminal 500 in the state comes to exist, or when the indoor unit 200 is in the operation state, the terminal 500 in the operation state does not exist and only the terminal 500 in the standby state exists. In the embodiment, control for operating the indoor unit 200 with a weak setting is performed. However, the air-conditioning control signal generation unit 112 can also control to stop the operation of the indoor unit 200 instead of switching to the operation with the weak setting.
In this case, regarding the processing in FIG. 8 when the indoor unit 200 is stopped, if NO in step S201, steps S205 and S206 are not performed, and the indoor unit 200 does not start operation and remains in a stopped state. Moreover, in the process at the time of the operation of the indoor unit 200, since the weak setting operation is not performed, the processes of steps S303, S304, S309, and S310 are not performed. Further, the determination in step S312 is not performed, and if the number of operating terminals is 0 in step S311, the operation of the indoor unit 200 is stopped.
In this control method, air conditioning may be unstable and energy consumption may increase in workplaces with many office workers going in and out. There is a possibility that energy consumption will be reduced at the work place.

  8 and 9, the air conditioning control signal generation unit 112 performs determination using the number of terminals in the current and previous operating states, that is, history information. Only the number of terminals in the state may be acquired and it may be determined whether or not it is 1 or more.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
The air conditioning control system according to Embodiment 2 detects the number of personnel operating each terminal in addition to the operating status of the terminal, thereby grasping the actual personnel in the air conditioning area and its history, Control is performed appropriately.
As shown in FIG. 10, air conditioning control apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes terminal use detection unit 114 and terminal user count totaling unit 115 in addition to the configuration of the first embodiment. The air conditioning control device 100 further performs identification of the users for each terminal 500 and totalization of the number of users of the terminals 500. The configuration of the air conditioning management system of the present embodiment is the same as the configuration of the air conditioning management system 1000 of the first embodiment shown in FIG.

The terminal usage detection unit 114 detects the user ID of the user of each terminal 500. The user ID is a unique ID assigned to each office worker, and the office worker logs in by inputting the user ID when using the terminal 500. The user of terminal 500 can be specified by the user ID.
The user ID detected by the terminal usage detection unit 114 is stored in the terminal operation status storage unit 151. FIG. 11 is an example of data stored in the terminal operation status storage unit 151 according to the second embodiment. The configuration in FIG. 11 is similar to the configuration in FIG. 5, which is an example of data in the first embodiment. The current user ID, which is information for identifying the current user of the terminal 500 in the operating state, This corresponds to a configuration in which the previous user ID, which is information for identifying the user ID, is added. The current user ID is the ID of the user who is logged in to the terminal 500 that is currently operating, and the previous user ID is the ID of the user who is logged in to the terminal 500 that is in the operating state at the time of the previous detection. Since one office worker may use a plurality of terminals 500, the current user ID and the previous user ID may overlap each other. According to FIG. 11, the terminals PC0002 and PC0005 that were in the previous operating state were used by the user whose user ID is USER0001 and the user whose user ID is USER0003. Looking at the current operation state, the operation state of the terminal 500 of the PC0002 has not changed from the previous operation state, but the operation state of the terminal 500 of the PC0005 has changed to the stop state. Although the operation state of each terminal 500 of PC0003 and PC0004 has changed to a driving | running state, both user ID is USER0002 now and it turns out that the same user is operating two terminals 500 now. In the present embodiment, the operation state is stored only at the present time and the previous time, but it is also possible to store a plurality of previous operation states and user IDs at that time.

The terminal usage detection unit 114 detects the user ID when the terminal operation status monitoring unit 110 acquires the terminal operation status information. The terminal operation status information acquisition operation by the terminal operation status monitoring unit 110 is the same as that in the flowchart of FIG. 6 of the first embodiment. However, when this operation is executed, the terminal usage detection unit 114 also acquires the user ID. Perform the action. Accordingly, when the terminal operating status monitoring unit 110 reads the operation state of the target terminal 500 in step S103, the terminal usage detection unit 114 reads the user of the terminal 500. In step S104, when the terminal operation status monitoring unit 110 stores the information related to the operation state acquired last time in the terminal operation status storage unit 151, the terminal usage detection unit 114 stores the user ID detected last time in the terminal operation status unit storage. Store in the unit 151. At this time, the terminal usage detection unit 114 reads the current user ID of the target terminal 500 from the terminal operation status storage unit 151 and stores the read current user ID in the terminal operation status storage unit 151 as the previous user ID.
In step S105, when the terminal operation status monitoring unit 110 transmits an information acquisition request signal to the target terminal 500, the terminal usage detection unit 114 transmits the user ID acquisition request signal together with the terminal 500. The terminal 500 that has received the user ID acquisition request signal responds with information related to the currently logged-in user ID in the driving state. When receiving the user ID, the terminal usage detection unit 114 stores the user ID of the terminal 500 in the terminal operation status storage unit 151 as the current user ID.

  In FIG. 11, the number of operating terminals is two at the time of previous detection and three at the time of current detection, but the number of logged-in user IDs has not changed from two. For example, PC0003 is a normal business terminal 500, PC0004 is a shared terminal 500 for data input / output, and the office worker specified by USER0002 is operating two units simultaneously. . When a plurality of terminals 500 are prepared for each business content, a situation occurs in which one office worker operates the plurality of terminals 500 simultaneously. At this time, the method according to the first embodiment that detects only the number of terminals in the driving state cannot detect the exact number of office workers, but more accurate by detecting the number of logged-in terminal users. It becomes possible to detect the number of office workers.

The terminal user number totalization unit 115 totals the number of terminal users for each air conditioning area 600. The terminal user count totaling unit 115 reads the indoor unit number for each air conditioning region number from the air conditioning region map storage unit 153, further reads the terminal number for each indoor unit number from the terminal arrangement information storage unit 152, and integrates these. Information on the terminal number for each air conditioning area number is obtained. Then, the current user ID and the previous user ID for each terminal number are read from the terminal operation status storage unit 151, and the number of the current user ID and the number of the previous user ID are totaled for each air conditioning area 600. The total number of terminal users is calculated by the terminal user count totaling unit 115 after the terminal operating status storage unit 151 is updated. In addition, this process is performed simultaneously with the aggregation process of the terminal 500 in the stopped state or the standby state by the operating terminal aggregation unit 111.
Specifically, the operating terminal counting unit 111 does not count the number of operating terminals. The operating terminal totaling unit 111 refers to the number of current user IDs and the number of previous user IDs totaled by the terminal user number totaling unit 115, and determines the current number of terminals in the driving state and the previous number of terminals in the driving state, respectively. Use as This is to control the air conditioning based on the number of office workers. Even if one office worker uses multiple terminals, it is assumed that there is only one terminal in the operating state. It means to process. In addition, since the number of terminal users is counted for each air conditioning area 600, even if the same office worker logs in to the terminals 500 in the plurality of air conditioning areas 600, the user ID is one across the air conditioning areas 600. Do not count.
Further, the totaling of the number of terminals in the standby state and the stopped state is performed by the operating terminal totaling unit 111 as in the first embodiment.

  FIG. 12 illustrates the result of counting by the operating terminal counting unit 111. For example, looking at the air conditioning area 600 of AREA01, the indoor unit number in this air conditioning area 600 is AC0001 from FIG. And the terminal 500 which exists in the air-conditioning area | region 600 in which this indoor unit 200 is installed, and is a driving | running state by the present detection is 3 units | sets of the terminal number of PC0002, PC0003, and PC0004 from FIG. . However, since the number of current user IDs counted by the terminal user count totaling unit 115 is 2 as shown in FIG. 11, the operating terminal totaling unit 111 refers to this, and as shown in FIG. The current number of terminals is 2. Moreover, since the number of previous user IDs totaled by the terminal user number totalization unit 115 is 2, the operating terminal totalization unit 111 sets the previous number of terminals in the driving state to two. The indoor unit 200 is controlled using the counting result obtained by the operating terminal counting unit 111 as in the first embodiment. By using the number of terminal users, it is possible to estimate the number of office workers more accurately than estimating the number of office workers from the number of terminals in the driving state.

  In the first embodiment, when the current number of terminals in the operation state is equal to or greater than the specified number, the indoor unit 200 is controlled to operate at a set temperature lower than the standard set temperature. As the current number of terminals in the driving state referred to in the second embodiment, the number of terminal users counted by the terminal user number counting unit 115 is used. That is, the number of terminals in which a plurality of terminals used by the same person are regarded as one is used. For this reason, the air conditioning control processing by the air conditioning control signal generation unit 112 refers to the number of workers using the terminal 500 instead of the number of physically operating terminals. The indoor unit 200 is operated by lowering. By referring to the number of users of the terminal 500, it is possible to perform air conditioning control that matches the number of actual office workers in the air conditioning area 600.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
In the air conditioning control system according to the third embodiment, in addition to the operating status of the terminals, by detecting the entrance and exit of the personnel who operate each terminal, the substantial personnel in the air conditioning area and its history are grasped, It controls air conditioners appropriately.
FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an air conditioning management system according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. A card reader 800 is added to the configurations of the first and second embodiments. The card reader 800 is connected to the LAN via the switching hub 700. The card reader 800 is installed at the doorway of the building 10. Although one card reader 800 is shown in FIG. 13, one card reader 800 may be arranged inside and outside the door of the entrance / exit. The card reader 800 performs entrance / exit management of the office worker to the building 10.

When the office worker enters the building 10, the office worker is present, and when the worker leaves the building 10, the worker becomes absent. The entrance / exit of a worker is detected as follows, for example. Unless the ID is read by the card reader 800, the door of the doorway is prevented from opening. Then, when entering the building 10, the office worker holds the ID card held by each person over the card reader 800 outside the door and reads the ID. Further, when leaving the vehicle, the ID card is read by holding the ID card over the card reader 800 inside the door.
If the office worker holds the ID card over the card reader 800 and does not read the ID, the number and installation locations of the card readers are not limited to those described above, as long as the building 10 cannot enter and exit. Furthermore, as long as it is possible to transmit the office worker ID and entrance / exit information to the air conditioning control device 100 via the LAN, a method using an ID card other than the card reader 800 may be used.

The entrance / exit management of the office worker by the card reader 800 is performed by the air conditioning control device 100.
As shown in FIG. 14, air-conditioning control apparatus 100 according to the third embodiment includes presence information management unit 116 and presence information reference unit 117 in addition to the configuration of the second embodiment. An information storage unit 155 is provided. The air-conditioning control device 100 stores and reads out the presence information, which is information indicating whether or not the building 10 is present, for each office worker, and further refers to the presence information for the air-conditioning control signal. Generate.

Details are as follows.
The presence information management unit 116 generates presence information from information related to entrance / exit received via the LAN. The presence information storage unit 155 stores the presence information generated by the presence information management unit 116.
The ID of the worker read by the card reader 800 and the information related to entrance / exit are transmitted to the air conditioning control device 100 via the LAN. The presence information management unit 116 receives the worker ID and information related to entrance / exit via the LAN communication unit 122 and the input / output control unit 120 of the air conditioning control device 100. The presence information management unit 116 generates presence information indicating that an attendant with the ID is present if the received information regarding entrance / exit indicates entry, and absent if the information indicating exit is indicated, Store in the presence information storage unit 155.
When browsing the presence information, the presence information management unit 116 reads the presence information stored in the presence information storage unit 155 and browses it via the input / output control unit 120 and the LAN communication unit 122. To the other terminal. The terminal on the browsing side displays the received presence information. The presence information can be browsed by using the input / output interface 121 of the air conditioning control device 100 without using a terminal and a LAN.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of presence information stored in the presence information storage unit 155. For each user ID that is the ID of each office worker, whether the office worker is present or absent is indicated.
For example, it is shown that the office worker relating to USER0001 is present and the office worker relating to USER0003 is absent. The user ID that is read by the card reader 800 when entering / leaving shown in FIG. 15 is the same as the user ID used when logging into the terminal 500.
Note that the ID that the card reader 800 reads and uses when entering and leaving may be different from the ID that is used to log in the terminal 500. In that case, it is necessary to associate each ID with each worker, and the information that associates each worker with each ID is held in the storage unit 150 of the air conditioning control device 100 or a device such as a server connected to the LAN. .

  In the third embodiment, the terminal arrangement information stored in the terminal arrangement information storage unit 152 is arranged in the air conditioning area 600 in which the indoor unit number and the indoor unit 200 specified by the indoor unit number are installed. In addition to the terminal number of the terminal 500 and the IP address of each terminal 500, the terminal 500 further includes a number or ID (hereinafter simply referred to as a unique user ID) that identifies a worker who uses the terminal 500 exclusively. Dedicated use of the terminal 500 means that one or a plurality of persons who use a specific terminal 500 are one specific office worker, and a lot of work to be performed is performed using the specific terminal 500. This means that no other office worker uses the terminal 500. Note that there may be a terminal 500 that does not have a dedicated office worker.

As shown in FIG. 16, the terminal arrangement information stored in terminal arrangement information storage section 152 in the third embodiment includes a unique user ID in addition to the indoor unit number, terminal number, and IP address. The indoor unit number, terminal number, and IP address are the same as those in the first embodiment.
In FIG. 16, for example, the unique user ID related to PC0002 is USER0001. Further, since there is no office worker who uses the PC 0001 terminal 500 exclusively, the unique user ID is not registered. A terminal 500 related to the PC 0001 is, for example, a shared terminal 500, which is a terminal 500 used by a plurality of office workers. Since there is no office worker used exclusively, no unique user ID is registered. Alternatively, the terminal 500 related to the PC0001 is a mobile terminal, and the office worker to be used is fixed to a specific person. However, since the usage is limited and the usage frequency is low, the unique user ID is not registered. The unique user IDs related to PC0003 and PC0004 are both USER0002, and the terminal 500 related to PC0003 and PC0004 is used exclusively by the same office worker.
The terminal arrangement information in the third embodiment is obtained by adding the unique user ID to the terminal arrangement information in the first and second embodiments. The terminal arrangement information is stored in the terminal arrangement information storage unit 152 and the stored terminal arrangement information is browsed. The method is the same as in the first and second embodiments.

  The presence information reference unit 117 determines whether the office worker is present or absent for each air conditioning area 600. The presence information reference unit 117 reads out the indoor unit number for each air conditioning region number from the air conditioning region map storage unit 153, and further reads out the terminal number and the unique user ID for each indoor unit number from the terminal arrangement information storage unit 152 and integrates them. Thus, a terminal number and a unique user ID are obtained for each air conditioning area number. Then, the presence information for each unique user ID is read from the presence information storage unit 155, and for each air conditioning area 600, there is at least one office worker who uses the terminal 500 dedicated in the air conditioning area 600. Or whether all are absent. The presence / absence determination processing by the presence information reference unit 117 is performed, for example, when the terminal operation status storage unit 151 is updated, when the operation terminal aggregation unit 111 performs processing related to the operation terminal aggregation, or It is assumed that the processing is performed simultaneously with any of the processing related to the counting of the number of terminal users by the terminal user number counting unit 115.

Similarly to the second embodiment, the operating terminal counting unit 111 totals the number of terminals in the standby state and the stopped state. Then, the operating terminal totaling unit 111 refers to the current terminal user count and the previous terminal user count totalized by the terminal user count totaling unit 115, and determines the current terminal user count as the current terminal in the driving state. Number, the previous number of terminal users is used as the previous number of terminals in the driving state.
In the third embodiment, the presence information reference unit 117 further reads out presence / absence determination information for each air-conditioning region 600, indicating whether at least one worker is present or absent.

  The air conditioning control processing performed by the air conditioning control signal generation unit 112 is further performed using the presence / absence determination information by the presence information reference unit 117 in addition to the processing performed in the first and second embodiments.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the air conditioning control change process by the air conditioning control signal generation unit 112 when the indoor unit 200 in the air conditioning region 600 according to the third embodiment is in a stopped state. In the operation of the first and second embodiments, a process of starting driving when a dedicated user of the terminal 500 is present even if the number of operating terminals does not increase is added.
17 is the same as the process according to step S201 to step S206 in FIG. 8 except that the branch destinations according to the determination result at step S205 are different, and therefore the process according to step S201 to step S206 in FIG. Use the same step number.

  In the stop state of the indoor unit 200, when the number of operating terminals does not increase (S201; NO) and the number of standby terminals does not increase (S205; NO), the indoor unit 200 is used in the first and second embodiments. Did not start and ended there. However, in the present embodiment, the presence / absence determination information from the presence information reference unit 117 is referred to, and if it is present (S207; YES), the operation of the indoor unit 200 is started with weak setting (S208). The setting of the temperature of the indoor unit 200 at this time is the same as the setting of the indoor unit 200 in step S206, but may be a different setting. With reference to the presence / absence determination information, if it is absent (S207; NO), the operation of the indoor unit 200 is not started and the stopped state is maintained.

  In offices and the like that perform office work, it is assumed that office workers perform most of their duties using personal terminals 500 assigned to them. In this case, it is considered that the office worker enters the building 10 and then promptly enters the office and starts using the personal terminal 500. Therefore, even when there is no terminal 500 in the air conditioning area 600 in an operating state, if even one office worker who uses the terminal 500 exclusively is present, air conditioning is started in advance. By doing so, it becomes possible to realize comfort of air conditioning at the start of the terminal work of the office worker.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the air conditioning control change process in the air conditioning control signal generation unit 112 when the indoor unit 200 in the air conditioning region 600 according to the third embodiment is in an operating state. When the state in which the terminal 500 in the operation state does not exist continues, even when the terminal 500 in the standby state exists, the process of stopping the operation when all the dedicated users of the terminal 500 are absent is It is added to the operations of the first and second embodiments.
The processes according to steps S301 to S313 in FIG. 18 are the same as the processes according to steps S301 to S313 in FIG. 9 except that the branch destinations according to the determination results at steps S311 and S312 are different. The step numbers are the same as those in FIG.

When the indoor unit 200 is in the operating state, the number of terminals in the operating state does not change (S301; NO), and when the current number of terminals in the operating state is 0 (S311; YES), the terminal 500 in the standby state exists. Whether or not (S312). When there is a terminal 500 in the standby state (S312; NO), the operation of the indoor unit 200 is continued in the first and second embodiments, but in the present embodiment, the presence / absence determination of the presence information reference unit 117 is performed. If it is absent by referring to the information (S314; YES), the indoor unit 200 is stopped (S315). If it is present with reference to the presence / absence determination information (S314; NO), the operation of the indoor unit 200 is continued.
In step S315, the indoor unit 200 is not stopped, but the air conditioning operation in the weak setting can be continued. In this case, an air conditioning setting that is weaker than the weak setting in step S310 may be provided, and the operation may be continued in that setting.

  When the office worker performs work using the personal terminal 500 assigned to each person, the office worker may leave the building 10 with the terminal 500 in a standby state. For example, the user may temporarily go out after interrupting the work or forget to turn off the terminal 500. In this case, even if the terminal 500 is in the standby state, it is highly likely that the terminal 500 will not be in the operation state for a long time. Furthermore, since the terminal 500 is for personal use, the possibility that another office worker will use the terminal 500 is low. Therefore, there is no terminal 500 in the operating state, but there is a terminal 500 in the standby state, and when there is no worker who exclusively uses the terminal 500 in the standby state, the air-conditioning area 600 has one worker. Since it is considered that a state in which no one is present lasts for a long time, it is possible to reduce power consumption by unnecessary air conditioning by stopping the operation of the indoor unit 200.

  In the third embodiment, the user of terminal 500 is specified, and information regarding whether the specified user is present or absent is used for air-conditioning control, so that work is immediately performed in air-conditioning area 600 where there is no current worker. It is possible to predict the future situation as to whether the person appears or does not return for a long time, and to perform air conditioning control.

Embodiment 4 FIG.
The air-conditioning control system according to the fourth embodiment detects the information on the entry / exit of the office worker in addition to the operating status of the terminal, thereby grasping the actual personnel and the history in the air-conditioning area, The machine is properly controlled.
FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an air conditioning management system according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention. In addition to the configuration of the third embodiment, the entrance / exit management device 900 is connected to the air conditioning control device 100 and the card reader 800 via the switching hub 700 and via the LAN. Other configurations are the same as those of the third embodiment. In the third embodiment, the air-conditioning control apparatus 100 generates and manages the presence information from the information related to the entrance / exit of the office worker. In the fourth embodiment, the entrance / exit management apparatus 900 generates the presence information. And manage. The air conditioning control device 100 acquires presence information from the entrance / exit management device 900 via the switching hub 700 and controls the indoor unit 200. As long as the entrance / exit management device 900 can communicate with the air conditioning control device 100 and the card reader 800 via a LAN, the installation location is not limited.

The entrance / exit management device 900 generates presence information from information related to entrance / exit received via the LAN. Specifically, the ID of the office worker read by the card reader 800 and the information related to entrance / exit are transmitted to the entrance / exit management device 900 via the LAN, and the entrance / exit management device 900 relates to the entrance. If so, presence information is generated in which the worker with the ID is present and absent if the worker is leaving.
The entrance / exit management device 900 has a storage device (not shown), and stores the generated presence information in the storage device. The presence information management unit 116 acquires the presence information from the entrance / exit management device 900 via the LAN via the LAN communication unit 122 and the input / output control 120, and stores it in the presence information storage unit 155. The presence information acquisition by the presence information management unit 116 is performed when the terminal operation status storage unit 151 is updated, when the operation terminal aggregation unit 111 performs processing related to the aggregation of the operation terminals, or the terminal user number aggregation unit. 115, when the processing related to the counting of the number of terminal users is performed, and at the same time as when the presence information reference unit 117 performs the presence / absence determination processing. It is done for a certain time earlier. The certain time is, for example, 1 minute. The presence information acquisition by the presence information management unit 116 may be performed every time the presence information management unit 116 detects the update of the presence information by the entrance / exit management device 900.

  The control method of the indoor unit 200 using the presence information is performed in the same manner as in the third embodiment. By implementing entrance / exit management with air conditioning control and a different device, the device can be diverted, and the system can be easily expanded and added.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the air-conditioning control apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention. The air conditioning control device 100 includes a processor 101, a memory 102, and an interface 103 as hardware configurations. Each function of these devices is realized by the processor 101 executing a program stored in the memory 102. The interface 103 connects each device and establishes communication, and may be configured from a plurality of types of interfaces as necessary. FIG. 20 shows an example in which each of the processor 101 and the memory 102 is configured as one, but a plurality of processors 101 and a plurality of memories 102 may cooperate to implement each function.
2, the processor 101 corresponds to the terminal operation status monitoring unit 110, the operation terminal totaling unit 111, the air conditioning control signal generation unit 112, and the terminal arrangement information management unit 113. In the case of FIG. In the case of FIG. 14, it corresponds to each of the above units, the presence information management unit 116, and the presence information reference unit 117.
The memory 102 corresponds to the storage unit 150.
The interface 103 corresponds to the input / output control unit 120, the input / output interface 121, the LAN communication unit 122, and the control signal communication unit 123.

The above-described hardware configuration and flowchart are examples, and can be arbitrarily changed and modified.
A central portion that is configured by the processor 101, the memory 102, and the interface 103 and that performs the control processing can be realized by using a normal computer system without depending on a dedicated system. For example, a computer program for executing the above operation is stored and distributed on a computer-readable recording medium (flexible disk, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, etc.), and the computer program is installed in the computer. The air conditioning control device 100 that performs the above-described processing may be configured. Further, the computer program may be stored in a storage device included in a server device on a communication network such as the Internet, and the air conditioning control device 100 may be configured by downloading a normal computer system.

  Further, when the functions of the air conditioning control device 100 are realized by sharing an OS (operating system) and an application program, or by cooperation between the OS and the application program, only the application program portion is stored in a recording medium or a storage device. It may be stored.

  Further, a computer program may be superimposed on a carrier wave and distributed via a communication network. For example, the computer program as described above may be posted on a bulletin board (BBS) on a communication network, and the computer program may be distributed via the communication network. The computer program may be activated and executed in the same manner as other application programs under the control of the OS, so that the above-described processing may be executed.

  Various embodiments and modifications can be made to the present invention without departing from the broad spirit and scope of the present invention. The above-described embodiments are for explaining the present invention and do not limit the scope of the present invention. In other words, the scope of the present invention is shown not by the embodiments but by the claims. Various modifications made within the scope of the claims and within the scope of the equivalent invention are considered to be within the scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Building, 11 ... Area, 100 ... Air-conditioning control apparatus, 101 ... Processor, 102 ... Memory, 103 ... Interface, 110 ... Terminal operation condition monitoring part, 111 ... Operation terminal totaling part, 112 ... Air-conditioning control signal generation part, 113 ... terminal arrangement information management part, 114 ... terminal use detection part, 115 ... terminal user count totaling part, 116 ... presence information management part, 117 ... presence information reference part, 120 ... input / output control part, 121 ... input / output Interface: 122 ... LAN communication unit, 123 ... control signal communication unit, 150 ... storage unit, 151 ... terminal operation status storage unit, 152 ... terminal arrangement information storage unit, 153 ... air conditioning area map storage unit, 154 ... setting storage unit, 155 ... presence information storage unit, 200, 200a, 200b, 200c ... indoor unit, 300, 300a, 300b, 300c ... remote control, 400 ... room Machine, 500 and 500a, 500b, 500c ... terminal, 600,600a, 600b, 600c ... air conditioning area, 700 ... switching hub 800 ... card reader, 900 ... entrance and exit management apparatus, 1000 ... air conditioning control system

Claims (18)

Corresponding information storage means for storing correspondence information associating an air conditioning area, an indoor air conditioner that air-conditions the air conditioning area, and a terminal disposed in the air conditioning area;
A terminal operation status monitoring unit that acquires operation state information indicating an operation state of each of the terminals installed in the air conditioning area;
Based on the operating state information acquired by the terminal operating status monitoring unit, a totaling unit that counts the number of the terminals arranged in the air-conditioning area for each operating state;
A control signal generation unit that generates a control signal for controlling the indoor air conditioner based on the total value obtained by the totaling unit;
An air conditioning control device. The operating state includes an operating state in which power is turned on and a stopped state in which power is not turned on,
The terminal operating status monitoring unit acquires operating status information indicating an operating status and stopped status information indicating a stopped status;
The air conditioning control device according to claim 1. The operating state includes an operating state in which the power is turned on and used and a standby state in which the power is turned on and not used.
The terminal operating status monitoring unit acquires operating status information and standby status information as operating status information indicating the operating status.
The air conditioning control device according to claim 2. The control signal generating unit lowers the set temperature of the indoor air conditioner if the number of operating terminals is equal to or greater than the prescribed number based on the counting result obtained by the counting unit,
The air conditioning control device according to claim 3. The control signal generation unit, when the number of the terminals in the operation state is 0 and the number of the terminals in the standby state is 1 or more based on the aggregation result obtained by the aggregation unit, Generating a control signal for stopping the operation of the machine or reducing the strength of the operation of the indoor air conditioner,
The air-conditioning control apparatus according to claim 3 or 4. The control signal generation unit starts the operation of the indoor air conditioner when there are one or more operating terminals based on the totaling result obtained by the totaling unit, and the number of operating terminals is zero. Is continued for a specified time or longer, the operation of the indoor air conditioner is stopped, a control signal is generated,
The air conditioning control device according to any one of claims 2 to 5. When the operating state of the terminal is an operating state, the terminal further includes a terminal usage detection unit that acquires user information indicating a user of the terminal,
The control signal generation unit generates a control signal for controlling the indoor air conditioner based on the user information.
The air conditioning control device according to any one of claims 2 to 6. Based on the user information, further comprising a terminal user number counting unit that totals the number of users of the terminals arranged in the air conditioning area,
The control signal generation unit generates a control signal for controlling the indoor air conditioner based on the number of users obtained by the terminal user number counting unit.
The air conditioning control device according to claim 7. When the number of users in the air conditioning area obtained by the terminal user count totaling section is equal to or greater than a predetermined number, the control signal generating section is a control signal for lowering the set temperature of the indoor air conditioner in the air conditioning area Generate
The air conditioning control device according to claim 8. A first presence information management unit that manages entry to and exit from the area including the air-conditioning area, and generates presence information indicating whether or not the worker is present in the area for each worker. Further comprising
The control signal generation unit generates a control signal for controlling the indoor air conditioner based on the presence information generated by the first presence information management unit.
The air conditioning control device according to claim 8 or 9. 2nd presence information which acquires the presence information which shows whether it is present in the said area for every said operator from the entrance / exit management apparatus which detects the entrance and exit to the area containing the said air-conditioning area | region A management unit,
The control signal generation unit generates a control signal for controlling the indoor air conditioner based on the presence information acquired by the second presence information management unit.
The air conditioning control device according to claim 8 or 9. A terminal-dedicated user installed in the air conditioning area includes presence information reference means for determining whether or not the user is present.
The air-conditioning control apparatus according to claim 10 or 11. The control signal generation unit air-conditions the air-conditioning area when a dedicated user of the terminal arranged in the air-conditioning area changes from absence to presence based on the determination of the presence reference means. When the operation of the indoor air conditioner is started and changed from presence to absence, a control signal is generated for stopping the operation of the indoor air conditioner that air-conditions the air-conditioning region or reducing the strength of the operation.
The air conditioning control device according to claim 12. The correspondence information storage means includes
Information associating each air conditioning area with the indoor air conditioner that air-conditions the air conditioning area;
Information associating each indoor air conditioner with a terminal arranged in the air conditioning area in which the indoor air conditioner is installed;
Remember separately,
The air-conditioning control apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 13. The control signal generation unit generates a control signal for controlling the indoor air conditioner based on the history of the total value obtained by the total unit.
The air-conditioning control apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 14. The air conditioning control device according to any one of claims 1 to 15, an air conditioner controlled by the air conditioning control device,
An air conditioning control system. Managing information indicating the correspondence between the air conditioning area, the air conditioner that air-conditions the air conditioning area, and the terminals arranged in the air conditioning area;
Determine the operating state of the terminal in the air conditioning area,
Based on the determined operating state and the information, control the indoor air conditioner installed in the air conditioning area,
Air conditioning control method. On the computer,
Processing to determine the operating state of the terminals located in the air conditioning area,
A process for identifying an air conditioner installed in the air conditioning area;
A process for controlling the air conditioner identified based on the determined operating state;
A program that executes