INDOOR UNIT OF AIR-CONDITIONING APPARATUS

• US 20140041145A1
• Filed: 07/26/2013
• Published: 02/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: MATSUMOTO, Takashi
• Granted Patent: US 9,895,039 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 15/319
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2894 Details related to signal transmission in suction cleaners
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 1/0011 characterised by air outlets
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 1/0057 mounted in or on a wall
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/79 for controlling the direction of the supplied air
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2221/18 combined with domestic apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 49/00 Arrangement or mounting of control or safety devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/01 Mobile robot
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/40 Vacuum or mangetic

Abstract

An air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit is provided that is capable of cleaning so as to remove dust on furniture without any special device controller.

An air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit 100 includes a controller 60. In an automatic cleaning mode (S1), when having determined on the basis of an image captured by an imaging device 50 that there is no person in a room 90 (S2), the controller 60 allows air to be blown to a stationary three-dimensional object 80 identified based on the image captured by the imaging device 50, for a predetermined time (S4) and, after the air blow is stopped (S5), issues an operation instruction for an autonomous vacuum cleaner 70 to clean and move (S6).

Claims

1. An air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit comprising:

a body to be disposed on an inside wall of a room, the body having an air inlet and an air outlet;

an air-sending device sucking indoor air through the air inlet to provide an air path leading to the air outlet;

a heat exchanger disposed in the air path, the heat exchanger executing part of a refrigeration cycle;

a blowing direction control device disposed in the air outlet, the blowing direction control device controlling a blowing direction of air conditioned by the heat exchanger;

an imaging device capturing an image of inside of the room; and

a controller controlling the air-sending device, the refrigeration cycle, and the blowing direction control device on a basis of an image captured by the imaging device,

wherein the controller has an automatic cleaning mode for controlling an autonomous vacuum cleaner and controls the autonomous vacuum cleaner in the automatic cleaning mode on a basis of an image captured by the imaging device.

2. The air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit of claim 1, wherein when controlling the autonomous vacuum cleaner in the automatic cleaning mode, the controller controls any of the air-sending device, the refrigeration cycle, and the blowing direction control device and issues an operation instruction for the autonomous vacuum cleaner to clean and move.

3. The air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit of claim 2, wherein when having determined on the basis of an image captured by the imaging device that there is no person in the room, the controller operates the air-sending device and controls the blowing direction control device to blow indoor air to a stationary three-dimensional object for a predetermined time, the object identified based on the image captured by the imaging device, and after stopping the air blow, issues the operation instruction for the autonomous vacuum cleaner to clean and move.

4. The air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit of claim 3, wherein the controller suspends the refrigeration cycle before allowing the indoor air to be blown to the stationary three-dimensional object.

5. The air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit of claim 3, wherein the controller allows intermittent blow of the indoor air to be repeated multiple times during the blow of the indoor air to the stationary three-dimensional object.

6. The air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit of claim 3, wherein the controller issues an operation instruction to perform more powerful cleaning in an area near or surrounding the stationary three-dimensional object than that in the other area.

7. The air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit of claim 3,

wherein the air-sending device provides an air path extending from the air inlet to the air outlet and an inverse air path extending from the air outlet to the air inlet, and

wherein the controller allows indoor air passing through the inverse air path to be blown to a ceiling of the room before, during, or after the blow of the indoor air to the stationary three-dimensional object.

8. The air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit of claim 1,

wherein when having determined that a person has entered the room during air blow to a stationary three-dimensional object in the automatic cleaning mode after determination based on an image captured by the imaging device that there is no person in the room, the controller interrupts the air blow to the stationary three-dimensional object and, after that, when having determined that there is no person in the room, restarts the air blow to the stationary three-dimensional object, and

wherein when having issued an operation instruction for the autonomous vacuum cleaner to clean and move in response to determination that there is no person in the room, the determination being made after the air blow is stopped, and then having determined that a person has entered the room, the controller issues a stop instruction for the autonomous vacuum cleaner to stop cleaning and moving and, after that, when having determined that there is no person in the room, issues an operation instruction for the autonomous vacuum cleaner to clean and move.

9. The air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit of claim 1,

wherein the controller analyzes multiple images captured by the imaging device to identify an area in which a person is often present, and

wherein the controller issues an operation instruction to perform more powerful cleaning in the area in which a person is often present than that in the other area.

14. The air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit of claim 4, wherein the controller allows intermittent blow of the indoor air to be repeated multiple times during the blow of the indoor air to the stationary three-dimensional object.

15. The air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit of claim 4, wherein the controller issues an operation instruction to perform more powerful cleaning in an area near or surrounding the stationary three-dimensional object than that in the other area.

16. The air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit of claim 4,

wherein the air-sending device provides an air path extending from the air inlet to the air outlet and an inverse air path extending from the air outlet to the air inlet, and

wherein the controller allows indoor air passing through the inverse air path to be blown to a ceiling of the room before, during, or after the blow of the indoor air to the stationary three-dimensional object.

17. The air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit of claim 1, wherein the automatic cleaning mode is set each time accumulated operation time obtained by accumulating operation time of the refrigeration cycle reaches reference accumulated operation time.

18. The air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit of claim 1, wherein the automatic cleaning mode is set by a user.

19. The air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit of claim 1, wherein the autonomous vacuum cleaner includes dust capturing unit for capturing dust on a basis of an operation instruction from the controller and traveling unit for autonomous traveling based on an operation instruction from the controller.

10. An air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit comprising:

a body to be disposed on an inside wall of a room, the body having an air inlet and an air outlet;

an air-sending device sucking indoor air through the air inlet to provide an air path leading to the air outlet;

a heat exchanger disposed in the air path, the heat exchanger serving as part of a refrigeration cycle;

an imaging device capturing an image of inside of the room;

an infrared sensor detecting infrared radiation in the room; and

a controller controlling the air-sending device, the refrigeration cycle, and an autonomous vacuum cleaner on the basis of at least one of an image captured by the imaging device and information about a temperature measured by the infrared sensor,

wherein the controller has an automatic cleaning mode, in which the controller calculates a degree of activity of a person in the room on a basis of information about a temperature measured by the infrared sensor, issues a stop instruction to the autonomous vacuum cleaner when the calculated degree of activity is less than or equal to a reference degree of activity, and issues an operation instruction to the autonomous vacuum cleaner when the calculated degree of activity exceeds the reference degree of activity.

11. The air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit of claim 10, wherein the automatic cleaning mode is set each time accumulated operation time obtained by accumulating operation time of the refrigeration cycle reaches reference accumulated operation time.

12. The air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit of claim 10, wherein the automatic cleaning mode is set by a user.

13. The air-conditioning apparatus indoor unit of claim 10, wherein the autonomous vacuum cleaner includes dust capturing unit for capturing dust on a basis of an operation instruction from the controller and traveling unit for autonomous traveling based on an operation instruction from the controller.