Air conditioner and method of controlling the same

• US 8,204,627 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2009
• Issued: 06/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Park, Hee Woong, Kim, Dong Ju, Park, Nae Hyun
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali, Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): WHITTINGTON, ANTHONY T
• Application Number:
  US12/382,757
• Publication Number:
  US 20100168921A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,184 Days
• Field of Search: 700/276
• US Class Current: 700/276
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 1/0011 characterised by air outlets
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 1/005 mounted on the floor; standing on the floor
• 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 11/63 Electronic processing
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/77 by controlling the speed of ventilators
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/79 for controlling the direction of the supplied air
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2120/10 Occupancy
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2120/12 Position of occupants
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 30/70 Efficient control or regulation technologies, e.g. for control of refrigerant flow, motor or heating

Abstract

The present invention relates to an air conditioner, including a discharge driving unit for discharging an air-conditioned air, a sensor module for rotating and scanning predetermined areas and outputting data for radiation heats of heat sources, and a control unit for calculating observed change-amount signals based on the data and stored old data, acquiring human body information by converting each of the observed change-amount signals into energy levels, and controlling the discharge driving unit.

Claims

1. An air conditioner, comprising:

a discharge driving unit for discharging an air-conditioned air;

a sensor module for rotating and scanning predetermined areas and outputting data for radiation heats of heat sources; and

a control unit for calculating observed change-amount signals based on the outputted data and stored old data, acquiring human body information by converting each of the observed change-amount signals into energy levels, and controlling the discharge driving unit,

wherein the control unit comprises

a signal conversion unit for calculating the observed change-amount signals by smoothing the data, the old data, and a moving average of the sensor module, and outputting the observed change-amount signals each including first and second sine signals;

a signal analysis unit for acquiring the human body information by dividing each of the observed change-amount signals into the energy levels, determining that, if one of the first and second sine signals is placed between a first reference level and a second reference level of the energy levels, the acquired human body information is the human body, calculating the position information of the human body, and determining that the acquired human body information is a human body mistake factor when one of the first and second sine signals is higher than the second reference level; and

wherein the control unit controls the discharge driving unit so that a direction of a wind and a velocity of the wind of the air-conditioned air are controlled according to the human body information,

wherein the first and second reference levels vary depending on an indoor temperature.

2. The air conditioner as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a display unit for displaying the human body information and at least one of a direction of a wind and an amount of the wind of the air-conditioned air.

3. The air conditioner as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensor module comprises:

a sensor for detecting the radiation heats of the heat sources and outputting radiation signals;

a step motor for rotating the sensor; and

a sensor control unit for rotating the step motor, calculating the data based on the radiation signals, and transmitting the calculated data to the control unit.

4. The air conditioner as claimed in claim 3, wherein the sensor comprises at least one infrared sensor.

5. The air conditioner as claimed in claim 3, wherein the sensor control unit comprises:

an amplification unit for amplifying the radiation signals;

a sampling unit for sampling each of the amplified radiation signals at a predetermined cycle and outputting the data; and

a driving control unit for transferring the data to the control unit and controlling the step motor.

6. The air conditioner as claimed in claim 1, wherein the human body information comprises at least one of whether a human body exists in the heat sources, the number of human bodies, and position information of a human body.

7. The air conditioner as claimed in claim 1, wherein the signal analysis unit calculates a first starting point and a first end point for the first sine signal and a second starting point and a second end point for the second sine signal in a third energy level between the first and second energy levels and calculates the number of human bodies by determining whether the acquired human body information is identical to the human body according to an elapse time between the first end point and the second starting point.

8. The air conditioner as claimed in claim 7, wherein the signal analysis unit calculates a degree of concentration of the human bodies according to a time between the first starting point and the first end point and a time between the second starting point and the second end point.

9. The air conditioner as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control unit controls an operation of the air discharge unit by determining the direction of the wind and the velocity of the wind of the air-conditioned air, directed toward the human body, based on the human body information.

10. The air conditioner as claimed in claim 9, wherein:

the human body information comprises at least one of whether a human body exists in the heat sources, the number of human bodies, and position information of a human body, and

the control unit determines the direction of the wind of the air-conditioned air as any one of swing, indirect wind, and direct wind based on the position information of the human body.