Indoor unit of air-conditioning apparatus

• US 9,347,716 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2013
• Issued: 05/24/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: Matsumoto, Takashi
• Primary Examiner(s): Everett, Christopher E
• Application Number:
  US13/780,007
• Publication Number:
  US 20130255909A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,181 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00742 by detection of the vehicle occupants' presence; by detection of conditions relating to the body of occupants, e.g. using radiant heat detectors
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00814 Control systems or circuits characterised by their output, for controlling particular components of the heating, cooling or ventilating installation
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00985 Control systems or circuits characterised by display or indicating devices, e.g. voice simulators characterised by the input of sound using a voice synthesizer B60H1/00757; B60H1/00978 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 1/0073 characterised by the mounting or arrangement of filters
• 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 11/56 Remote control
• 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: F24F 2120/14 Activity of occupants
• CPC Class Codes: F28F 27/00 Control arrangements or safety devices specially adapted for heat-exchange or heat-transfer apparatus control arrangements in general G05
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/59 inside of a vehicle, e.g. relating to seat occupancy, driver state or inner lighting conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/28 Recognition of hand or arm movements, e.g. recognition of deaf sign language static hand signs G06V40/113
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 30/70 Efficient control or regulation technologies, e.g. for control of refrigerant flow, motor or heating

Abstract

An indoor unit of an air-conditioning apparatus is provided, in which an air-conditioning condition changed based on a gesture corresponds to an air-conditioning condition displayed on a display device of a remote controller. With an indoor unit 100, when a user U1 performs a predetermined motion (S1-1), a controller 70 determines the motion of the user U1 (S1-2), recognizes that a gesture instruction condition is instructed (S1-3), controls a heat exchanger 4 and other devices based on the gesture instruction signal (S1-4), and causes the gesture instruction signal to be sent to a remote-controller communication device 85 (S1-5). When a remote controller 80 receives the gesture instruction signal (S1-6), the gesture instruction condition is displayed on a remote-controller display device 82 (S1-7), and buzzer sound (electronic beeper sound) is output from a remote-controller sound output device 83 (S1-8).

Claims

1. An indoor unit of an air-conditioning apparatus, comprising:

a main body installed on a wall surface in a room and including a main-body communication device, and

a wireless remote controller including a wireless-remote-controller communication device that makes communication with the main-body communication device by using a signal,

wherein the main body has an air inlet and an air outlet, the main body including a fan that sucks indoor air from the air inlet and forms an air path to the air outlet, a heat exchanger that is arranged in the air path and executes part of a refrigeration cycle, an image pickup device that captures an image of the inside of the room, and a controller that causes the main-body communication device and the wireless-remote-controller communication device to make communication by using a signal,

wherein a wind-direction adjusting device that adjusts a blowing direction of air conditioned by the heat exchanger is arranged at the air outlet of the main body,

wherein the controller associates a motion of a person whose image is captured by the image pickup device with one of previously registered air-conditioning conditions, based on a remote-controller instruction condition which is an air-conditioning condition corresponding to a signal sent from the wireless-remote-controller communication device or based on the motion, the controller controls at least one of the fan and the refrigeration cycle based on a gesture instruction condition which is the associated air-conditioning condition, and the controller causes the main-body communication device to send a signal corresponding to the gesture instruction condition,

wherein the wireless remote controller includes a wireless-remote-controller display device, and when the wireless-remote-controller communication device receives the signal corresponding to the gesture instruction condition, the wireless-remote-controller display device displays the gesture instruction condition, and

wherein the controller is configured to

recognize a face of a person, if the face of the person is present within a face recognition range in a field of the image pickup device for a face recognition time which is a first predetermined time,

if the face of the person is recognized, activate the refrigeration cycle and control the wind-direction adjusting device so that the conditioned air is blown toward the person whose face is recognized or toward a close position at which the person is present when the face is recognized, without operation of the wireless remote controller, and

stop the refrigeration cycle in any of cases including a case in which the person whose face is recognized moves to the outside of the close position after the conditioned air is blown and before a close determination time which is a second predetermined time elapses, a case when a close blowing time which is a third predetermined time has elapsed after the conditioned air is blown, and a case in which the person whose face is recognized moves to the outside of the close position before the close blowing time elapses, without operation of the wireless remote controller,

wherein the close determination time is a non-zero time.

2. The indoor unit of the air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless remote controller includes a remote-controller sound output device that outputs voice, and when the wireless-remote-controller communication device receives the signal corresponding to the gesture instruction condition, the remote-controller sound output device outputs voice.

3. The indoor unit of the air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1, wherein, if the controller determines that the person moves to the outside of the room when the controller controls the wind-direction adjusting device, the controller continues the control for the wind-direction adjusting device after the determination until a fourth predetermined time elapses, and when the fourth predetermined time has elapsed, the controller stops the control for the wind-direction adjusting device.

4. The indoor unit of the air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1, wherein, when the controller recognizes the face of the person while the refrigeration cycle is stopped, the controller activates the refrigeration cycle.

5. The indoor unit of the air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1, wherein, while the wind-direction adjusting device is controlled, the wireless remote controller outputs a signal for stopping the control.

7. The indoor unit of the air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 or 6, wherein the main body includes a notification device, and if a situation occurs in which the controller determines that the person approaches the main body but the controller cannot recognize the face of the person, the controller causes the notification device to make notification about the situation.

6. An indoor unit of an air-conditioning apparatus, comprising:

a main body installed on a wall surface in a room and including a main-body communication device,

a wireless remote controller including a wireless-remote-controller communication device that makes communication with the main-body communication device by using a signal, and

temperature sensor for detecting a body temperature of a person,

wherein the main body has an air inlet and an air outlet, the main body including a fan that sucks indoor air from the air inlet and forms an air path to the air outlet, a heat exchanger that is arranged in the air path and executes part of a refrigeration cycle, an image pickup device that captures an image of the inside of the room, and a controller that causes the main-body communication device and the wireless-remote-controller communication device to make communication by using a signal,

wherein a wind-direction adjusting device that adjusts a blowing direction of air conditioned by the heat exchanger is arranged at the air outlet of the main body,

wherein the controller associates a motion of a person whose image is captured by the image pickup device with one of previously registered air-conditioning conditions, based on a remote-controller instruction condition which is an air-conditioning condition corresponding to a signal sent from the wireless-remote-controller communication device or based on the motion, the controller controls at least one of the fan and the refrigeration cycle based on a gesture instruction condition which is the associated air-conditioning condition, and the controller causes the main-body communication device to send a signal corresponding to the gesture instruction condition,

wherein the wireless remote controller includes a wireless-remote-controller display device, and when the wireless-remote-controller communication device receives the signal corresponding to the gesture instruction condition, the wireless-remote-controller display device displays the gesture instruction condition, and

wherein the controller is configured to recognize a face of a person, if the face of the person is present within a face recognition range in a field of the image pickup device for a face recognition time which is a predetermined time,

if the face of the person is recognized, activate the refrigeration cycle and control the wind-direction adjusting device so that the conditioned air is intermittently and repeatedly blown toward the person whose face is recognized or toward a close position at which the person is present when the face is recognized, without operation of the wireless remote controller, and

stop the refrigeration cycle in any of cases including a case in which the person whose face is recognized moves to the outside of the close position after the conditioned air is blown and before a close determination time which is a predetermined time elapses, a case in which the person whose face is recognized moves to the outside of the close position after the conditioned air is blown, and a case in which a fluctuation range of the body temperature of the person detected by the temperature sensor is equal to or smaller than a comfortable temperature range which is a predetermined temperature, without operation of the wireless remote controller,

wherein the close determination time is a non-zero time.