AIR CONDITIONER

• US 20120234029A1
• Filed: 03/16/2011
• Published: 09/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Miyauchi, Taku, Saruhashi, Koichi, Takada, Hajime
• Application Number:
  US13/201,835
• Publication Number:
  US 20120234029A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 62/129
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/46 Improving electric energy efficiency or saving
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/62 characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2140/60 Energy consumption

Abstract

The present invention particularly relates to a decrease in a standby power in an outdoor side unit, in an air conditioner comprising an indoor side unit and the outdoor side unit. The air conditioner includes a current detector which detects an alternating current flowing through a power line connecting the indoor side unit to the outdoor side unit, and a switch which performs a circuit communicating operation in a case where a current value detected by this current detector exceeds a predetermined standard value, and the air conditioner has a constitution in which via this switch, an operation of an outdoor side control circuit is started, and with the driving of a motor of the indoor side unit, the outdoor side control circuit is operated.

Claims

1. An air conditioner having a refrigerating cycle in which at least a refrigerant compressor driven by an electromotive element, a heat source side heat exchanger, a pressure reducing unit and a utilization side heat exchanger are circularly connected via a refrigerant piping line, these constituent elements of the refrigerant cycle being divided and disposed in an indoor side unit and an outdoor side unit, the indoor side unit being provided with a motor which drives an air blowing fan of the utilization side heat exchanger, a power to drive the motor being supplied via the outdoor side unit,

wherein the indoor side unit is connected to the outdoor side unit via three lines comprising a first power line and a second power line through which an alternating current flows and a signal line through which a signal is transmitted by using one of the power lines as a common use line, a commercial alternating-current power is applied to the first power line and the second power line in the outdoor side unit, the outdoor side unit includes a current detector which detects, from this commercial alternating-current power, the alternating current flowing through one of the first power line and the second power line, a switch which performs a circuit communicating operation in a case where a current value detected by this current detector exceeds a predetermined standard value, and an outdoor side control circuit to which the commercial alternating-current power is supplied via this switch to control the driving of the electromotive element, the indoor side unit includes an indoor side control circuit which controls the supplying, to the motor, of the commercial alternating-current power obtained via the first power line and the second power line, and this indoor side control circuit starts the driving of the motor in response to the start of an air conditioning operation, and transmits and receives the signal to and from the outdoor side control circuit of the outdoor side unit via the signal line after driving the motor.

2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein when the predetermined standard value in a case where the switch performs the communicating operation includes at least a current to be consumed by the motor.

3. The air conditioner according to claim 2, further comprising a normally opened contact piece of a relay constituting a bypass circuit which passes by a circuit after the switch performs the communicating operation of the circuit, wherein the outdoor side control circuit excites the relay to close the normally opened contact piece.

4. The air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein at the start of the operation, the operation of the motor disposed in the indoor side unit is started.

5. The air conditioner according to claim 4, wherein the outdoor side control circuit includes a microcomputer to which the commercial alternating-current power is supplied to start the operation, and

the microcomputer starts a predetermined operation, acquires a signal to judge the start of the air conditioning operation via the signal line to the indoor side control circuit of the indoor side unit, and opens a circuit of the switch in a case where the start of the air conditioning operation is not judged.

6. The air conditioner according to claim 4, further comprising a changeover circuit which disturbs a flow of the alternating current to the current detector after the normally opened contact piece of the relay is closed.