Indoor unit of air-conditioning apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9347716-B2
Application number	US-201313780007-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 28, 2013
Priority date	Apr 2, 2012
Publication date	May 24, 2016
Grant date	May 24, 2016

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 U 1 performs a predetermined motion (S 1 - 1 ), a controller 70 determines the motion of the user U 1 (S 1 - 2 ), recognizes that a gesture instruction condition is instructed (S 1 - 3 ), controls a heat exchanger 4 and other devices based on the gesture instruction signal (S 1 - 4 ), and causes the gesture instruction signal to be sent to a remote-controller communication device 85 (S 1 - 5 ). When a remote controller 80 receives the gesture instruction signal (S 1 - 6 ), the gesture instruction condition is displayed on a remote-controller display device 82 (S 1 - 7 ), and buzzer sound (electronic beeper sound) is output from a remote-controller sound output device 83 (S 1 - 8 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

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.

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 controll

Assignees

• Matsumoto Takashi
• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Matsumoto Takashi

Classifications

• F24F11/56

  Remote control · CPC title

• F24F11/52

  Indication arrangements, e.g. displays · CPC title

• G06K9/00355

  Physics · mapped topic

• B60H1/00742 Primary

  by detection of the vehicle occupants' presence; by detection of conditions relating to the body of occupants, e.g. using radiant heat detectors · CPC title

• F24F2011/0068

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic