Air-conditioning apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10088211-B2
Application number	US-201315028043-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 8, 2013
Priority date	Nov 8, 2013
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

A controller of an air-conditioning apparatus includes an operation control unit that controls operation of a compressor of a heat source unit based on target indoor temperatures of rooms, an unoccupied room detecting unit that detects an unoccupied room where no person is present among the rooms, and a correction amount setting unit that sets a temperature correction amount for correcting the target indoor temperature in a room controller of the unoccupied room detected by the unoccupied room detecting unit to reduce an air conditioning load for the unoccupied room. After the target indoor temperature is corrected by using the temperature correction amount in the room controller, when the operation capacity of the compressor controlled by the operation control unit is smaller than or equal to a preset operation capacity, the correction amount setting unit resets the temperature correction amount to be decreased by an adjustment amount.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An air-conditioning apparatus configured to perform heating or cooling of a plurality of rooms and to operate based on target indoor temperatures set to room controllers each provided for a corresponding one of the plurality of rooms, the air-conditioning apparatus comprising:
a heat source unit including a compressor;
an indoor unit connected to the heat source unit via a refrigerant pipe and configured to perform cooling or heating of the plurality of rooms through a duct; and
a controller configured to acquire the target indoor temperatures from the room controllers of the plurality of rooms to control operations of the heat source unit and the indoor unit based on the acquired target indoor temperatures, wherein the controller is configured to
control, by an operation control unit, an operation of the compressor of the heat source unit based on the target indoor temperatures of the plurality of rooms,
store, in an occupied room database, scheduled time for presence and absence of a person in respective rooms of the plurality of rooms,
detect, by an unoccupied room detecting unit, from the occupied room database, an unoccupied room where no person is present of the plurality of rooms, and
set, by a correction amount setting unit, a temperature correction amount for correcting a target indoor temperature of the target indoor temperatures set to a corresponding one of the room controllers of the unoccupied room detected by the unoccupied room detecting unit in such a manner that an air conditioning load for the unoccupied room is reduced,
after the target indoor temperature set to the room controller is corrected based on the temperature correction amount, and when an operation capacity of the compressor becomes smaller than or equal to a preset operation capacity, reset, by the correction amount setting unit, the temperature correction amount to be decreased by a preset adjustment amount, and
when the unoccupied room detecting unit detects a plurality of unoccupied rooms, reset, by the correction amount setting unit, temperature correction amounts for target indoor temperatures for all the unoccupied rooms, and

wherein the correction amount setting unit further determines an order of rooms where the scheduled time for presence stored in the occupied room database is earlier among the plurality of unoccupied rooms, and resets the temperature correction amounts for the plurality of unoccupied rooms in the order which is determined, to perform resetting for the plurality of unoccupied rooms in the order based on when a person is next scheduled to be present.

2. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to
detect, by the unoccupied room detecting unit, the unoccupied room from the occupied room database.

3. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to
after the target indoor temperature is corrected in the room controller by using the temperature correction amount, reset, by the correction amount setting unit, the temperature correction amount to be increased by the adjustment amount when the operation capacity of the compressor controlled by the operation control unit is larger than the preset operation capacity.

4. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the controller is further configured to
set, by the correction amount setting unit, a preset initial temperature correction amount as the temperature correction amount that is set at first and reset stepwise the temperature correction amount from the initial temperature correction amount by using the adjustment amount, and a maximum of the temperature correction amount is equal to the initial temperature correction amount and a minimum temperature correction amount is equal to zero degrees Celsius.

5. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to
set, by the correction amount setting unit, the temperature correction amount for increasing the target indoor temperature during a cooling operation and set the temperature correction amount for decreasing the target indoor temperature during a heating operation.

6. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to
detect, by the unoccupied room detecting unit, the unoccupied room based on occupied room information managed by a home energy management system.

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Unezaki Fumitake
• Ito Shinichi

Classifications

• F24F2110/10

  Temperature · CPC title

• G05D23/1932

  to control the temperature of a plurality of spaces · CPC title

• F25B13/00

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

• F24F2120/10

  Occupancy · CPC title

• F25B49/022 Primary

  Compressor control arrangements · CPC title