Air conditioning apparatus

• US 4,819,714 A
• Filed: 12/29/1988
• Issued: 04/11/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/1986
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: Wada, Seiji, Otsuka, Nobuo, Thompson, Peter F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Davis, Jr., Albert W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ford, John K.
• Application Number:
  US06/947,283
• Time in Patent Office: 103 Days
• Field of Search: 165/11.1, 165/12, 165/22, 236/46 R, 236/51, 236/94, 364/557
• US Class Current: 165/217
• 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 11/52 Indication arrangements, e.g. displays
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/61 using timers
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/65 for selecting an operating mode
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2003/0446 with a single air duct for transporting treated air from the central station to the rooms
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/20 Humidity
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2221/54 Heating and cooling, simultaneously or alternatively
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1904 variable in time

Abstract

A controlling system for an air conditioning apparatus includes a controlling apparatus, a main controller and room controller provided in each room. In the main controller, an operation mode changing means control the operations of a heat source device, an air blower and other devices through a controlling apparatus so that they perform any operation mode of "stop", "cooling", "warming", or "air blowing"; a temperature schedule inputting means is adapted to input a temperature schedule for each room by operating time keys and a temperature key; an interactive input means is to input initial data necessary to the operation of the system in a way of dialogue by operating "YES" key and "NO" key; a first display means is to display questions necessary to input the initial data and a temperature schedule; a schedule selecting means is to select a method of air-conditioning of the room provided with a main controller in accordance with information inputted by a schedule key; In the room controller, a mode selecting means is to select a method of air-conditioning of the room provided with a room controller in accordance with information inputted by a mode key; a room temperature setting means is to determine the room temperature of a room so that the room temperature is brought to a value inputted by a room temperature setting key, and a second displaying means is to display a room temperature and other information.

Claims

1. An air-conditioning apparatus comprising:

means for producing temperature controlled air including a heat source device and a heat exchanger device connected to said heat source;

means for delivering said temperature controlled air to each one of a plurality of rooms said means including an air-blower placed in the vicinity of said heat exchanger and an air-duct system containing said heat exchanger and said air blower wherein said air-duct system distributes said air from said heat exchanger to said plurality of rooms;

a plurality of air quantity adjusting dampers each of which is associated with a respective one of said rooms in order to regulate the air quantity fed to each of said rooms;

a controlling apparatus for controlling said dampers, said heat source device and said air-blower;

a main controller connected to said controlling apparatus wherein said main controller is provided with a room temperature detector; and

a room controller provided in each of said rooms including a room temperature detector which is connected to said controlling apparatus, wherein;

said main controller is further provided with an operation mode changing means, a temperature schedule inputting means for determining a temperature schedule for each of said rooms at all times, an interactive input means for determining initial data, a first display means having a first portion for displaying questions on the operations of said interactive input means and a temperature schedule by said temperature schedule inputting means, said main controller further including a schedule selecting means for determining whether or not the room in which said main controller is installed is to be subjected to scheduled air-conditioning;

and wherein said room controller is further provided with a mode selecting means for determining whether or not the room in which said room controller is installed is to be subjected to scheduled air-conditioning, said room controller further including a room temperature setting means for determining an established room temperature when said room is not in the scheduled air-conditioning and a second display means for displaying a temperature of said room.

2. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said temperature schedule input means comprises time keys for controlling a time axis on a second portion of said first display, a temperature key for controlling a temperature axis also on said second portion and an input key for storing a temperature schedule for a day in a memory space in a microcomputer.

3. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said interactive input means comprises two answer keys of "YES" and "NO" to respond to questions from a microcomputer.

4. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said keys for the interactive input means are commonly used as keys for said temperature schedule input means.

5. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first display means is constituted by liquid crystal display devices and is adapted to display on its display surface a temperature schedule in a form of graph and questions by letters.

6. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said schedule selecting means has a schedule key for selecting one of a scheduled air-conditioning operation and a manual air-conditioning operation in which the scheduled air-conditioning operation is to carry out the air-conditioning of the room provided with said main controller in accordance with a temperature schedule determined through said temperature schedule inputting means, and said manual air-conditioning operation is to carry out the air-conditioning of the room at a predetermined established room temperature regardless of the temperature schedule.

7. The air-conditioning apparatus according to claim 6, wherein when the manual air-conditioning operation is selected by said schedule selecting means, the established room temperature is determined by the operation of said temperature schedule inputting means.

8. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said schedule selecting means has a schedule key for selecting one of a scheduled air-conditioning operation, a manual air-conditioning operation and the stop of the air-conditioning operation, in which the scheduled air-conditioning operation is to carry out air-conditioning of the room provided with said main controller in accordance with the temperature schedule determined through said temperature schedule inputting means and said manual air-conditioning operation is to carry out the air-conditioning at a predetermined established room temperature regardless of the temperature schedule.

established room temperature is determined by the operation of said temperature schedule inputting means.

9. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 8, wherein when the manual air-conditioning operation is selected by said schedule selecting means, the established room temperature is determined by the operation of said temperature schedule inputting means.

10. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said mode selecting means has a mode key for determining a scheduled air-conditioning operation or a manual air-conditioning operation in which the scheduled air-conditioning operation is to carry out the air-conditioning of the room provided with said room controller in accordance with the temperature schedule determined through said temperature schedule inputting means and the manual air-conditioning operation is to carry out the air-conditioning of the room at the established room temperature determined by said room temperature setting means regardless of the temperature schedule.

11. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said mode selecting means has a mode key for selecting one of a scheduled air-conditioning operation a manual air-conditioning operation and stopping of air-conditioning operation in which the scheduled air-conditioning operation is to carry out the air-conditioning of the room provided with said room controller in accordance with the temperature schedule determined by said temperature schedule inputting means and the manual air-conditioning operation is to carry out the air-conditioning of the room at the established temperature determined by said room temperature setting means regardless of the temperature schedule.

12. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second displaying means is adapted to display a room temperature and only an established room temperature inputted by said room temperature setting means and an established value of room temperature at the current time which is inputted by said temperature schedule inputting means.

13. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said second display means is adapted to display the same value as the established value as an room temperature when the room temperature is within a predetermined range with respect to the established value.

14. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the temperature schedule for each of the rooms inputted by said temperature schedule inputting means includes a room cooling schedule and a room warming schedule.

15. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said temperature schedule inputting means is adapted to duplicate the temperature schedule when the same temperature schedule as the previously inputted schedule is used again.

16. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the temperature schedule for each of the rooms inputted by said temperature schedule inputting means includes a plurality of patterns in a week.

17. The air-conditioning apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the patterns of the temperature schedule are classified into a pattern for Monday through Friday, a pattern of Saturday and a pattern of Sunday and a national holiday.

18. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said temperature schedule inputting means is adapted to duplicate the temperature schedule when the same temperature schedule as the previously inputted schedule is used again.

19. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said temperature schedule inputting means is adapted to successively input data inclusive of from 24 o'"'"'clock to 0 o'"'"'clock for the temperature schedule and vice versa.

20. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first display means is adapted to display at least one of the room temperatures for all rooms and the established values, in a form of graph in the normal operations of the air-conditioning apparatus.

21. The air-conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first display means is adapted to display an abnormal condition by letters when an abnormal condition takes place in the operating system.