Management apparatus for air-conditioning apparatus and management system for air-conditioning apparatus

• US 9,885,491 B2
• Filed: 04/08/2013
• Issued: 02/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: Kitazaki, Mitsuru
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ramesh
• Application Number:
  US14/774,912
• Publication Number:
  US 20160033153A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,765 Days
• 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 11/62 characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/63 Electronic processing
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/00 Arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless electrical link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/34 Context aware guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/91 Remote control based on location and proximity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2816 Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station; in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2827 Reporting to a device within the home network; wherein the reception of the information reported automatically triggers the execution of a home appliance functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/283 Processing of data at an internetworking point of a home automation network
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A management apparatus for an air-conditioning apparatus configured to manage a plurality of air-conditioning apparatuses configured to condition air in an air-conditioning target space includes: a management-side communication unit to receive data of arrival locations and arrival times in the space transmitted from a plurality of terminal devices; and a management-side arithmetic unit configured to perform totaling based on the data of the arrival locations and the arrival times received by the management-side communication unit, and to perform a process of determining an order in which operation is started in the plurality of air-conditioning apparatuses. Operation is performed in order, and thus a steep increase in power consumption can be reduced.

Claims

1. A management apparatus for an air-conditioning apparatus, the management apparatus being configured to manage a plurality of air-conditioning apparatuses configured to condition air in an air-conditioning target space, the management apparatus comprising:

a management-side communication unit to receive data of predicted arrival times and arrival locations transmitted from a plurality of terminal devices, the predicted arrival times being times at which holders of the terminal devices should arrive at the air-conditioning target space from outside, the arrival locations being locations in the air-conditioning target space at which the holders will stay; and

a management-side arithmetic unit to perform a totaling operation of a number of the holders that should arrive at each of the arrival locations at each of the predicted arrival times, based on the data of the arrival locations and the predicted arrival times received by the management-side communication unit, and to perform a process of determining an order in which each of the plurality of air-conditioning apparatuses starts to operate.

2. The management apparatus of claim 1,

wherein an operation start time and an operation interval are set, and

wherein the management apparatus further comprises an air-conditioning apparatus control unit to, when the operation start time arrives, start operation of the air-conditioning apparatuses at intervals of the operation interval in the order in which operation is started.

3. The management apparatus of claim 1, further comprising

a management-side storage unit to store correspondence relationships between a plurality of spaces obtained by dividing the air-conditioning target space and the plurality of air-conditioning apparatuses,

wherein the management-side arithmetic unit is configured to perform a process of determining the air-conditioning apparatuses corresponding to the spaces containing the arrival locations based on the data of the arrival locations.

4. The management apparatus of claim 1, wherein the management-side arithmetic unit is configured to perform the totaling operation on a predetermined time slot-by-time slot basis, based on the predicted arrival times.

5. The management apparatus of claim 1,

being configured to divide the plurality of air-conditioning apparatuses into a plurality of groups, and manage the plurality of air-conditioning apparatuses on a group-by-group basis.

6. The management apparatus of claim 1,

being configured to define the arrival locations by seats in the air-conditioning target space.

7. A management system for an air-conditioning apparatus comprising:

a plurality of terminal devices each including a terminal-side storage unit to store data of an arrival location, a GPS unit to measure a current location, a terminal-side arithmetic unit to calculate an arrival time at the arrival location based on data of a current location measured by the GPS unit and the data of the arrival location, and a terminal-side communication unit to transmit data of the arrival location and the arrival time; and

the management apparatus of claim 1.