Air-conditioning apparatus including a controller that controls opening degrees of expansion valves based on detection results of human detection devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10088193-B2
Application number	US-201213477499-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 22, 2012
Priority date	Jul 6, 2011
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

Human detection devices 8 that detect the number of people in conditioned spaces supplied with conditioned air from the use side heat exchangers 12 and control means 9 and 50 that controls an amount of refrigerant supplied to the use side heat exchangers 12 by controlling opening degrees of the expansion devices 5 on the basis of detection results of the human detection devices 8.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An air-conditioning apparatus, comprising;
a refrigerant circuit including a compressor, a heat source side heat exchanger, a plurality of expansion valves, and a plurality of use side heat exchangers, each of the expansion valves being connected to a refrigerant path between the heat source side heat exchanger and corresponding one use side heat exchanger of the plurality of use side heat exchangers;
a plurality of infrared sensors located in a plurality of spaces to be monitored and conditioned, each infrared sensor configured to detect the number of people in the conditioned space it is located within in which air is heat-exchanged by the corresponding one use side heat exchanger; and
a controller configured to set the opening degree for each of the expansion valves to a first opening degree on the basis of a setting temperature of the conditioned space, and change the opening degree for each of the expansion valves from the first opening degree to a second opening degree on the basis of the number of people detected by the infrared sensor for the conditioned space,
wherein the controller is configured to,
when comparing each detection result of the infrared sensors with a first predetermined number value of humans and determining that there is a conditioned space among the plurality of conditioned spaces in which the number of present people of the detection result is less than the first predetermined number value of humans, decrease the opening degree of the expansion valves connected to the use side heat exchanger corresponding to the conditioned space, and
when comparing each detection result of the infrared sensors with a second predetermined number value of humans that is larger than the first predetermined number value of humans and determining that there is a conditioned space among the plurality of conditioned spaces in which the number of present people of the detection result is equal to or more than the second predetermined number value of humans, increase the opening degree of the expansion valve that is connected to the use side heat exchanger corresponding to the conditioned space.

2. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
after determining that the number of present people of the detection result is less than the first predetermined number value of humans and decreasing the opening degree of the corresponding expansion valve, the controller is configured to,
when the number of present people of the detection result is equal to or more than the first predetermined number value of humans and is less than the second predetermined number value of humans, change the opening degree to the opening degree before the decrease.

3. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
after determining that the number of present people of the detection result is more than the second predetermined number value of humans and increasing the opening degree of the corresponding expansion valve, the controller is configured to,
when the number of present people of the detection result is equal to or more than the first predetermined number value of humans and is less than the second predetermined value,
change the opening degree to the opening degree before the increase.

4. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
when determining that there is a conditioned space among the plurality of conditioned spaces with zero people present by detection results of the infrared sensors, the controller is configured to,
control an amount of refrigerant supplied to the corresponding use side heat exchanger by controlling the opening degree of the corresponding expansion valve on the basis of the detection results of the infrared sensors and further changes a temperature setting of the conditioned space so as to reduce the air conditioning load of the conditioned space.

5. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 4 , wherein after determining that there is the conditioned space among the plurality of conditioned spaces with zero people present and controlling the opening degree of the corresponding expansion valve, the controller is configured to,
when there is a conditioned space with one or more present people on the basis of the detection results of the infrared sensors,
change the temperature setting of the conditioned space to the temperature setting before the control.

6. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising radiant heat detection devices that measure radiant heat of the conditioned spaces and output the measurement results to the controller, wherein
the controller is configured to control the opening degrees of the expansion valves on the basis of measurement results of the radiant heat detection devices in addition to detection results of the infrared sensors.

Assignees

• Inui Kunihiro
• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Inui Kunihiro

Classifications

• F24F11/46

  Improving electric energy efficiency or saving · CPC title

• F24F2120/10

  Occupancy · CPC title

• F25B2313/0233

  in parallel arrangements · CPC title

• F24F2120/00

  Control inputs relating to users or occupants · CPC title

• F25B13/00

  Compression machines, plants or systems, with reversible cycle (defrosting cycles F25B47/02) · CPC title