Air conditioner, sensor system, and thermal sensation estimation method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016363340-A1
Application number	US-201615171885-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 2, 2016
Priority date	Jun 10, 2015
Publication date	Dec 15, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The air conditioner includes a thermal image acquirer that acquires a thermal image indicating a temperature distribution inside the air-conditioned space, and a thermal sensation estimator that estimates the thermal sensation of a person in the air-conditioned space based on the thermal image obtained from the thermal image acquirer and a parameter set in the air conditioner, the parameter prescribing at least one of a wind direction, a wind speed, and a wind temperature of wind emitted from the air conditioner.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An air conditioner comprising:
a thermal image acquirer that acquires a thermal image indicating a temperature distribution inside an air-conditioned space; a thermal sensation estimator that estimates a thermal sensation of a person in the air-conditioned space based on the thermal image obtained from the thermal image acquirer and a parameter set in the air conditioner, the parameter prescribing at least one of a wind direction, a wind speed, and a wind temperature of wind emitted from the air conditioner; and a controller that conducts air conditioning control of the air-conditioned space based on the thermal sensation of the person in the air-conditioned space.

2 . The air conditioner according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a wind speed estimator that estimates a wind speed inside the air-conditioned space, wherein the wind speed estimator estimates the wind speed inside the air-conditioned space based on a blow parameter set in the air conditioner, the blow parameter prescribing the wind speed at an outlet port of the air conditioner that blows air into the air-conditioned space to conduct air conditioning control, and the thermal sensation estimator estimates the thermal sensation of the person based on the thermal image and the wind speed estimated by the wind speed estimator.

3 . The air conditioner according to claim 2 , further comprising:
a thermal emission estimator that estimates a human body thermal emission of the person based on the thermal image and the wind speed estimated by the wind speed estimator, wherein the thermal sensation estimator estimates the thermal sensation of the person based on the human body thermal emission of the person estimated by the thermal emission estimator.

4 . The air conditioner according to claim 3 , furthermore comprising:
a temperature calculator that calculates a surface temperature of the person by using the thermal image; and a convective heat transfer coefficient calculator that calculates a convective heat transfer coefficient based on the wind speed estimated by the wind speed estimator, wherein the thermal emission estimator estimates the human body thermal emission of the person by using the convective heat transfer coefficient calculated by the convective heat transfer coefficient calculator, an ambient temperature that is a temperature of regions other than the person in the air-conditioned space, and the surface temperature of the person calculated by the temperature calculator.

5 . The air conditioner according to claim 4 , further comprising:
a human position estimator that estimates a position of the person relative to the air conditioner based on the thermal image acquired by the thermal image acquirer and a position of the thermal image acquirer inside the air-conditioned space, wherein the wind speed estimator estimates the wind speed around the person in the air-conditioned space based on the position of the person estimated by the human position estimator, and the blow parameter, and the convective heat transfer coefficient calculator calculates the convective heat transfer coefficient of the person based on the wind speed around the person estimated by the wind speed estimator.

6 . The air conditioner according to claim 4 , further comprising:
a human position estimator that estimates a position of the person relative to the air conditioner based on the thermal image and a position of the thermal image acquirer inside the air-conditioned space; and a wind temperature estimator that estimates a wind temperature around the person in the air-conditioned space based on the position of the person estimated by the human position estimator and a blow temperature at the outlet port of the air conditioner, wherein the thermal emission estimator estimates the human body thermal emission of the person by using the wind temperature around the person estimated by the wind temperature estimator as the ambient temperature.

7 . The air conditioner according to claim 6 , wherein
the wind temperature estimator estimates the wind temperature around the person based on the position of the person estimated by the human position estimator, and a blow temperature parameter set in the air conditioner, the blow temperature parameter prescribing a blow temperature at the outlet port of the air conditioner that blows air into the air-conditioned space to conduct air conditioning control.

8 . The air conditioner according to claim 5 , wherein
the human position estimator estimates the position of the person by using a position of the person's feet in the thermal image acquired by the thermal image acquirer, a height of the thermal image acquirer from a floor in the air-conditioned space, and an effective angular field of view of the thermal image acquirer.

9 . The air conditioner according to claim 2 , further comprising:
a temperature calculator that calculates a surface temperature of the person by using the thermal image, wherein if the wind speed at the outlet port is varied, the human region temperature calculator uses a thermal image obtained from the thermal image acquirer before the variation in the wind speed at the outlet port and a thermal image obtained from the thermal image acquirer after the variation in the wind speed at the outlet port to calculate a surface temperature of the person before the variation and a surface temperature of the person after the variation, and the wind speed estimator estimates the wind speed around the person in the air-conditioned space based on the surface temperature of the person before the variation and the surface temperature of the person after the variation.

10 . The air conditioner according to claim 9 , wherein
the wind speed at the outlet port is varied by setting the blow parameter so as to prescribe the wind speed at the outlet port to zero, and after that, prescribe the wind speed at the outlet port to a certain speed.

11 . The air conditioner according to claim 4 , wherein
the temperature calculator calculates the surface temperature of the person and the ambient temperature by using the thermal image.

12 . The air conditioner according to claim 4 , further comprising:
a received heat calculator that calculates a received heat, the received heat being an amount of heat that the person receives, wherein the thermal emission estimator estimates the human body thermal emission of the person by using the convective heat transfer coefficient calculated by the convective heat transfer coefficient calculator, an ambient temperature that is a temperature of regions other than the person in the air-conditioned space, the surface temperature of the person calculated by the temperature calculator, and the received heat calculated by the received heat calculator.

13 . The air conditioner according to claim 12 , wherein
the received heat calculator includes
a sunlight intensity estimator that estimates a sunlight intensity on the person,
a sunlight area calculator that calculates a surface area of part of the person on which sunlight is incident, and
a received heat computer that calculates the received heat by using the sunlight intensity estimated by the sunlight intensity estimator, the surface area calculated by the sunlight area calculator, and a clothing absorption ratio of the person.

14 . The air conditioner according to claim 4 , wherein
the temperature calculator calculates a temperature of the face or inside the face of the person as the surface temperature of the person.

15 . The air conditioner according to claim 4 ,

Assignees

• Panasonic Corp

Inventors

• Shikii Shinichi
• Kusukame Koichi
• Kubo Hiroko

Classifications

• F24F11/79

  for controlling the direction of the supplied air · CPC title

• F24F11/74

  for controlling air flow rate or air velocity · CPC title

• F24F11/64 Primary

  using pre-stored data · CPC title

• F24F11/62 Primary

  characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values · CPC title

• F24F2011/0049

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic