Central air-conditioning system

• US 8,219,252 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2010
• Issued: 07/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Denso PS Corporation (DENSO Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Denso PS Corporation (DENSO Corporation)
• Inventors: Nanami, Tomoyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): HARTMAN JR, RONALD D
• Application Number:
  US12/727,645
• Publication Number:
  US 20110130881A1
• Time in Patent Office: 844 Days
• Field of Search: 700276-278, 165/209, 165/212, 165/257
• US Class Current: 700/278
• 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 11/64 using pre-stored data
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/65 for selecting an operating mode
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/67 Switching between heating and cooling modes
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/76 by means responsive to temperature, e.g. bimetal springs
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/10 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2120/00 Control inputs relating to users or occupants
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2120/10 Occupancy
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 3/044 Systems in which all treatment is given in the central station, i.e. all-air systems
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house

Abstract

Regarding rooms other than a room being targeted, a controller controls the rooms in energy-saving conditioning mode when a person is not detected in the rooms, even when the rooms are scheduled to be controlled in ordinary conditioning mode in a temperature control schedule. At this time, when the controller judges that the person has exited the room, the controller controls the targeted room in energy-saving conditioning mode, in rapid conditioning mode. As a result, the room is rapidly conditioned such that the temperature changes from an energy-saving temperature t to an ordinary set temperature by the time the person who has exited the room enters the room. As a result, unnecessary conditioning of the room set to be conditioning in ordinary conditioning mode can be reduced, and energy consumption can be reduced. In addition, comfort of the person entering the room can be ensured by prediction of the movement of the person.

Claims

1. A central air-conditioning system comprising:

a single air-conditioning unit that generates heat exchange and outputs air generated by the heat exchange;

a plurality of air-conditioning ducts that connect the air-conditioning system and a plurality of rooms of a house and allows the heat-exchanged air to pass therethrough;

a plurality of open and close valves respectively arranged at each of the air-conditioning ducts to selectively open and close each of the air-conditioning ducts;

a plurality of person detectors respectively arranged in each of the rooms to detect whether or not there is a person in each of the rooms and whether a person enters or exits each of the rooms;

a plurality of temperature sensors respectively arranged in each of the rooms to detect temperature of each of the rooms;

scheduling means that sets hour by hour a temperature control schedule used to control the temperature of each of the rooms at either an ordinary set temperature (T) or an energy-saving temperature (t) lower than the ordinary set temperature; and

a controller that controls the temperature of each of the rooms by selectively opening and closing the open and close valves based on information indicative of both whether or not the person is present in each of the rooms and the temperature of each of the rooms detected by the temperature sensors,

the controller functionally provides

a presence checking process that checks, room by room, whether or not the person is present in the plurality of rooms;

an ordinary conditioning mode process that makes a first flag ON to show that the presence checking process checks that there is a person in a room and controls the temperature of the occupied room in an ordinary temperature range (Δ

T) into which the ordinary set temperature (T) falls;

an unoccupied-room process that performs energy-saving conditioning in both an empty room checked by the presence checking process checks such that there is no person in the room and the occupied room whose temperature is already set to the energy-saving temperature (t), the energy-saving conditioning controlling the temperature at the energy-saving temperature (t); and

a rapid conditioning mode transfer process that performs rapid conditioning for the room from the energy-saving temperature (t) to the ordinary set temperature (T),

wherein the controller is configured to control the temperature of a targeted room which is repeatedly assigned to each of the plurality of rooms, during which the controller performs i) a determination process to determine whether or not there is a person in the targeted room, whether or not a person has entered the targeted room, and whether or not a person has exited the targeted room, and ii) the unoccupied-room process when it is determined by the determination process that there is no person in the targeted room,

wherein each of the person detectors is configured to perform the detection by dividing an area of the targeted room into a plurality of monitoring areas, setting at least one of the divided monitoring areas as a doorway area to and from the targeted room, setting, of the divided monitoring areas, and a monitoring area adjacent to the doorway area as an adjacent monitoring area, such that each person detector detects whether or not there is a person in each of the plurality of divided monitoring areas,

wherein the determination process is configured to

determine that a person is present in the targeted room when the person is detected in any of the monitoring areas;

determine that no person is present in the targeted room when no person is detected in any of the monitoring areas;

determine that a person has entered the targeted room when the person is detected in the doorway area but not detected in the adjacent monitoring area; and

determine that a person has exited the targeted room when the person has detected in the adjacent monitoring area and then detected in the doorway area before being not detected in the doorway area,

wherein the controller is configured to

continue to monitor the targeted room until the person exits the room once the determination process determines that the person is present in the targeted room, during which the ordinary conditioning mode process is performed for the targeted room;

reference the temperature control schedule, which is set for each of rooms being non-targeted other than the targeted room among the plurality of rooms, to determine whether the temperature of a designated non-targeted room among the rooms being non-targeted should be controlled in the ordinary set range T, when the determination process determines that the person has exited the targeted room;

set a second flag ON to indicate performance of a rapid conditioning mode for the designated non-targeted room when it is determined that the temperature of the designated non-targeted room should be controlled in the ordinary set range T so that the temperature thereof is controlled in the rapid conditioning mode transfer process;

allows the determination process to monitor entering of a person into the designated non-targeted room after starting the rapid conditioning mode transfer process;

determine whether or not the second flag for any of remaining rooms being non-targeted except for the designated non-targeted room is ON when it is determined that the person has entered the designated non-targeted room; and

set the second flag OFF for each of the remaining rooms being non-targeted when the second flag for the remaining rooms being non-targeted is ON and a person is not detected in the remaining rooms being non-targeted, the OFF setting of the second flag allows the unoccupied-room process in the remaining non-targeted rooms to occur.

2. The central air-conditioning system of claim 1, wherein

each of the person detectors is equipped with an infrared radiation sensor sensing a peak temperature in each of the plurality of monitoring areas which are set in each of the rooms, and

the controller includes means for determining whether or not to there is a person in each of the targeted room and determining whether or not a person has entered or exited the targeted room, by using information indicative of the peak temperature detected by the infrared radiation sensor in each of the monitoring areas.