Blowing Amount Adjustment Device and Blowing System

The present disclosure relates to a blowing amount adjustment device and a blowing system.

Patent Document 1 discloses a blowing device including a plurality of propeller fans. This blowing device receives, in real time, wind speed data transmitted from a sensor unit placed outdoors at a distant place via a communication line, and controls the plurality of propeller fans based on the received wind speed data. Thus, natural wind at the distant place is reproduced by wind blown from the blowing device.

A first aspect is directed to a blowing amount adjustment device configured to adjust a blowing amount of a fan that reproduces wind at a distant place in a target space. The blowing amount adjustment device includes a control unit that outputs a control value for the fan. The control unit acquires wind data acquired at the distant place, and outputs the control value that differs from the control value corresponding to the acquired wind data.

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. The present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments shown below, and various changes can be made within the scope without departing from the technical concept of the present disclosure. Since each of the drawings is intended to illustrate the present disclosure conceptually, dimensions, ratios, or numbers may be exaggerated or simplified as necessary for the sake of ease of understanding.

A blowing system () of a first embodiment will be described with reference to.

The blowing system () is a system for reproducing, in a target space (S), a natural wind at a distant place. As illustrated in, the blowing system () includes a single blowing device () and a single sensor unit (). The blowing device () and the sensor unit () are placed at locations far from each other.

The blowing device () is placed in an indoor space (target space (S)) such as an office or an event space in a building. The blowing device () blows out, into the target space (S), air resembling the natural wind at the distant place. The details of the blowing device () will be described later.

The sensor unit () is placed outdoors at the distant place. The sensor unit () includes a sensor () and a transmitter ().

The sensor unit () includes a single wind speed sensor as the sensor (). The wind speed sensor measures the speed of wind (natural wind) blowing in the outdoor natural environment where the sensor unit () is placed. The sensor unit () may include, as the sensor (), another sensor in addition to the wind speed sensor. For example, the sensor () may include a temperature sensor that measures an outdoor temperature at the place where the sensor unit () is placed.

The transmitter () is communicably connected to the blowing device () via a communication line () such as the Internet. The transmitter () transmits data (hereinafter referred to as wind data) on wind at the distant place, which includes a value detected by the sensor (), to the blowing device () via the communication line () at predetermined time intervals. The wind data includes, for example, data such as time-series wind speed data, an average wind speed in a predetermined period, a wind speed fluctuation pattern in a predetermined period, and an average temperature in a predetermined period.

In the sensor unit () of the present embodiment, the wind speed sensor measures the wind speed every five seconds. When having acquired six wind speed values, the sensor unit () transmits the acquired six wind speed values (wind speed data during a 30-second period) as one set of time-series wind speed data (hereinafter referred to as wind speed data) from the transmitter () to the blowing device (). The transmitter () transmits the average wind speed value of the one set of wind speed data together with the one set of wind speed data. That is, according to the present embodiment, the wind speed data and the average wind speed value are collectively transmitted as the wind data from the sensor unit () to the blowing device () every 30 seconds.

The number of wind speed values in one set is merely an example. Moreover, the wind data transmitted from the sensor unit () does not have to be data during a 30-second period as long as it is data related to winds in a period of several tens of seconds.

The blowing device () is a device that reproduces, in the target space (S), the wind at the distant place where the sensor unit () is placed. As illustrated in, the blowing device () includes: a main body () including blower fans (); a receiver (); a storage (); a control unit (); and an input (). The blowing device () of the present embodiment can execute a plurality of operating modes.

As illustrated in, the main body () is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape having a relatively short depth in a front-rear direction. The width in a right-left direction and the height in an upper-lower direction of the main body () are each about 1.6 m. The terms “upper,” “lower,” “left,” “right,” “front,” and “rear” used in the description of the main body () refer to directions indicated in(directions when the main body () is viewed from the front).

The main body () includes 16 blower fans (). Each blower fan () sends air into the target space (S). The blower fan () corresponds to a fan () of the present disclosure. In the main body (), the 16 blower fans () are arranged in a matrix of four in the right-left direction and four in the upper-lower direction.

Each blower fan () is an axial flow blower including an impeller () and a shroud (). The impeller () is a so-called propeller fan. In each blower fan (), the shroud () is disposed so as to surround the impeller (). Each blower fan () is provided with a fan motor (not illustrated) that drives the impeller (). The impeller () is attached to an output shaft of a fan motor.

In the main body (), the 16 blower fans () face the front surface of the main body (). The front surface of the main body () forms a blow-out region () from which air blown from each blower fan () is blown. In the blowing device () of the present embodiment, the blow-out region () is a square flat surface with a width in the right-left direction of 1.6 m and a height in the upper-lower direction of 1.6 m.

The receiver () is communicably connected to the transmitter () of the sensor unit () via the communication line (). The receiver () receives the wind data transmitted from the transmitter () in real time.

The receiver () receives the wind data in a first predetermined period in the past. The first predetermined period of the present embodiment is 30 seconds. The receiver () receives the wind data (one set of wind speed data and the average wind speed value) in a 30-second period immediately before data reception. The receiver () may receive the wind data detected by the sensor () a bit earlier, instead of the wind data detected immediately before the data reception.

The storage () stores the wind data received by the receiver (). The storage () includes at least one of a hard disk drive (HDD), a random access memory (RAM), or a solid state drive (SSD).

The control unit () includes a microcomputer and a memory device. The memory device stores software for operating the microcomputer.

The control unit () has, as functional elements, an operating mode determiner (), a data processor (), a fan controller (), and a switcher (). In other words, the control unit () functions as the operating mode determiner (), the data processor (), the fan controller (), and the switcher () by executing programs stored in the memory device. The program stored in the control unit () causes the control unit () as a computer to execute at least the processing for operating the blower fans () of the blowing device () based on first processing data described later.

The operating mode determiner () chooses one operating mode to be executed from among the plurality of operating modes in accordance with input from a user who operates the blowing device ().

The plurality of operating modes of the present embodiment includes a first operating mode, a second operating mode, a third operating mode, a fourth operating mode, a first automatic operating mode, and a second automatic operating mode. The details of each operating mode and the operating mode determination processing performed by the operating mode determiner () will be described later.

The data processor () processes the wind speed data (hereinafter referred to as original data) included in the wind data received by the receiver (), thereby generating the first processing data. The first processing data is used in the first operating mode. The data processor () generates the first processing data as needed when the receiver () receives the wind data during the execution of the first operating mode.

The first processing data of the present embodiment is the processed original data, adjusted so that the average wind speed value of the air blown from the blower fan () matches an average wind speed value freely set by the user. The average wind speed in the present embodiment is an average wind speed in a 30-second period (first predetermined period).

Specifically, the first processing data is generated by multiplying each wind speed value of the original data by the same predetermined coefficient α. The predetermined coefficient α is calculated by dividing the average wind speed value freely set by the user by the average wind speed value received by the receiver (). As a result, the average wind speed in one set of original data is converted into the average wind speed desired by the user.

The data processor () processes the original data to generate second processing data. The second processing data is used in the fourth operating mode. The data processor () generates the second processing data as needed when the receiver () receives the wind data during execution of the fourth operating mode.

The second processing data is the processed original data, adjusted so that the average wind speed value of the air blown from the blower fan () matches an average wind speed value freely set by the user.

Specifically, according to the present embodiment, the second processing data is generated by multiplying each wind speed value of the original data by the same predetermined coefficient β. The predetermined coefficient β is calculated by dividing the average wind speed value freely set by the user by the average wind speed value received by the receiver (). As a result, the average wind speed in one set of original data is converted into the average wind speed desired by the user.

The fan controller () controls the blower fans (). Specifically, the fan controller () is configured to control, based on the wind speed data, the rotational speed (the number of rotations per unit time) of the impeller () of each blower fan () provided in the main body ().

The fan controller () uses different wind speed data when controlling the blower fan (), depending on the operating mode to be executed. Specifically, the first processing data is used in the first operating mode. In the second operating mode and the third operating mode, the original data (hereinafter, referred to as unprocessed data) is used as the wind speed data. The second processing data is used in the fourth operating mode.

Here, the blower fan () has an upper limit value of the number of rotations (maximum number of rotations) per unit time due to a mechanical limitation. The wind speed of the air blown from each blower fan () when the blower fan () operates at the maximum number of rotations is the maximum wind speed of the blower fan ().

For example, in a case in which the blower fan () is operated using the unprocessed data, the fan controller () operates the blower fan () at the maximum number of rotations in a range of the unprocessed data in which the number of rotations of the blower fan () exceeds the upper limit value, as illustrated in. Thus, in the range of the unprocessed data in which the number of rotations of the blower fan () exceeds the upper limit value, the blower fan () blows constant strong wind.

In the blowing device () of the present embodiment, the user can set the upper limit of the wind speed of the blower fan () freely. In this case, for example, as illustrated in, the fan controller () operates the blower fan () so that in the range of the unprocessed data in which the wind speed exceeds the upper limit freely set by the user, the wind blown from the blower fan () matches the upper limit of the wind speed set by the user. Thus, in the range of the unprocessed data in which the wind speed of the blower fan () exceeds the upper limit, the blower fan () blows constant relatively strong wind. The upper limit of the wind speed freely set by the user is lower than the maximum wind speed of the blower fan ().

The switcher () automatically switches the operating mode when a predetermined condition is satisfied during execution of the first automatic operating mode or the second automatic operating mode. The switcher () determines whether or not the predetermined condition is satisfied. In this way, the switcher () switches the operating mode automatically. The switching operation performed by the switcher () will be described later.

The input () is used by the user to input the average wind speed and the upper limit of the wind speed of air blown from the blower fan () and ON or OFF of the automatic switching. The input () is used by the user to input directly the operating mode to be executed by the control unit ().

A specific wind speed value may be input, or a value other than the specific wind speed value may be input, as the average wind speed or the upper limit of the wind speed of the air blown from the blower fan (). When the value other than the specific wind speed value is input, the degree of the wind speed (for example, three stages of “strong,” “medium,” and “weak”) may be selected for the upper limit of the wind speed or the average wind speed. In this case, the average wind speed value and the upper limit of the wind speed value are set in advance at each degree of wind speed.

When inputting the operating mode to the input (), the user manually selects a single operating mode for execution from the plurality of operating modes. In this case, when the operating mode is selected by the user, the operating mode currently being executed ends, and the operating mode selected by the user is executed. The blowing device () having the input () as described above allows the user to select the operating mode for execution freely.

The input () is configured, for example, as an operation button provided for the main body (), an operation button of a remote controller provided for the blowing device (), an operation button shown on a display of a communication terminal (e.g., smartphone, tablet, personal computer, or the like) communicable with the blowing device ().

In the main body () of the blowing device () of the present embodiment, the impellers () of the blower fans () rotate at the same rotational speed. Thus, the 16 blower fans () arranged in a matrix in the main body () blow air at substantially the same wind speed. The air blown out by the 16 blower fans () is blown forward from the blow-out region (), which is the front surface of the main body ().

The air blown from each blower fan () and having passed through the blow-out region () spreads into each other, and their wind speeds are averaged. As a result, the wind speed is substantially uniform across the entire virtual plane (V) illustrated in. Here, the virtual plane (V) is a rectangular virtual plane indicated by points A, B, C, and D in. The virtual plane (V) is a rectangular virtual plane facing the blow-out region (). The virtual plane (V) is a vertical plane parallel to the blow-out region (). The long side of the virtual plane (V) is along the upper-lower direction. The short side of the virtual plane (V) is along the right-left direction.

The first operating mode, the second operating mode, the third operating mode, the fourth operating mode, the first automatic operating mode, and the second automatic operating mode will be described.

In the first operating mode, the blower fan () is controlled based on the first processing data. In the first operating mode of the present embodiment, the blower fan () is controlled based on the first processing data that is processed such that the wind speed of the air blown from the blower fan () matches the average wind speed freely set by the user. In the first operating mode, the upper limit of the wind speed of the air blown from the blower fan () is not set by the user.

illustrates an example of the original data. For example, if the first operating mode is executed when as illustrated inthe average wind speed freely set by the user is lower than the average wind speed of the original data of, the wind speed of the air blown from the blower fan () is lower as a whole compared to when the original data itself is reproduced. On the other hand, fluctuations of the air blown from the blower fan () are the same as those of the wind of the original data. Here, the fluctuations refer to a variable ratio of the wind speed. When vis the current wind speed (m/s) and vis the wind speed (m/s) one second earlier, the variable ratio is expressed by v/v.

Accordingly, the first operating mode enables reproduction of the fluctuations of the wind at the distant place, while weakening the strength of the air blown from the blower fan () as a whole. Thus, for example, even when a strong wind or a gusty wind is detected at the distant place, the blowing device () does not reproduce the very strong wind, and therefore, the comfort of the person who receives the wind from the blowing device () is not impaired.

If the first operating mode is executed when the average wind speed value freely set by the user is higher than the average wind speed value of the original data of, the wind speed of the air blown from the blower fan () is higher as a whole compared to when the original data itself is reproduced. Thus, for example, when a gentle wind close to windless conditions is detected at the distant place, a wind of certain strength is blown from the blowing device ().

As described above, it is possible to reduce the wind speed of the air blown from the blower fan () when the wind at the distant place is strong and increase the wind speed of the air blown from the blower fan () when the wind at the distant place is weak, in accordance with the average wind speed freely set by the user.

Thus, in the first operating mode, the air at the strength adjusted to the person's preference in the target space (S) is blown from the blowing device (), making it possible to reproduce the wind at the distant place without impairing the comfort. Further, since the user can set the average wind speed freely, the strength of the wind received by the user can be changed according to a user's conditions. Thus, winds at optimum strength can be reproduced according to the user's use conditions.