Air-Conditioning System

The present disclosure relates to an air-conditioning system that controls air conditioning of a living room by an air conditioner installed in an air-conditioning room independent of the living room.

In a conventional air-conditioning system, an air conditioner is installed in an air-conditioning room independent of a living room to be air-conditioned, and air-conditioning room air, which is air in the air-conditioning room, is air-conditioned by the air conditioner. The air-conditioning room air is sent to the living room through an air conveyance passage by an air blower (see, for example, PTL 1).

PTL 1: Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-169808

In an air conditioner of an air-conditioning system, a flammable refrigerant such as propane is generally used as the refrigerant. Even if the refrigerant leaks from the air conditioner, if the air-conditioning system is operating, the leaked refrigerant is discharged from the air-conditioning room by the air blower. However, when the air-conditioning system is stopped, the leaked refrigerant is not discharged from the air-conditioning room, so that the concentration of the refrigerant in the air-conditioning room increases. It is not desirable to start the air conditioner in a state where the concentration of the flammable refrigerant is high.

Therefore, the present disclosure provides a technique for safely starting an air conditioner even when a refrigerant leaks.

An air-conditioning system according to an aspect of the present disclosure is an air-conditioning system that sends air-conditioning room air, which is air in an air-conditioning room independent of a living room, to the living room, the air-conditioning system including: an air conditioner installed in the air-conditioning room; an air blower that blows the air-conditioning room air from the air-conditioning room to the living room; a reception unit that receives an instruction to start the air-conditioning system in a state where the air-conditioning system is stopped; and a controller that starts the air blower first and then the air conditioner when the reception unit receives the instruction to start the air-conditioning system.

Any combinations of the above-described components and modifications of the expressions of the present disclosure among methods, devices, systems, recording media, and computer programs are also effective as aspects of the present disclosure.

According to the present disclosure, the air conditioner can be safely started even when the refrigerant leaks.

Before specifically describing an example of the present disclosure, an overview of the example will be described. The present example relates to an air-conditioning system that is disposed in a facility such as a house and executes central air conditioning for the facility. In an air-conditioning system, an air conditioner (indoor unit) and an air blower are installed in an air-conditioning room that is a space different from a living room to be air-conditioned, and the air-conditioning room is air-conditioned by the indoor unit. The air-conditioning room and the living room are connected by a duct. The air blower sends the air in the air-conditioning room (hereinafter, referred to as “air-conditioning room air”) to the living room via the duct, whereby the living room is air-conditioned. When the flammable refrigerant leaks from the indoor unit while the air-conditioning system is stopped, the concentration of the flammable refrigerant in the air-conditioning room increases because the air-conditioning room air is not sent to the living room by the air blower. It is not desirable to start the air conditioner in a state where the concentration of the flammable refrigerant is high.

Even when the refrigerant leaks into the air-conditioning room, it is required to safely start the air conditioner. When receiving an instruction to start the air-conditioning system, the air-conditioning system according to the present example first starts only the air blower while stopping the air conditioner. The air-conditioning room air is sent to the living room by the operation of the air blower. Even if the refrigerant leaks from the air conditioner and the concentration of the flammable refrigerant in the air-conditioning room becomes high, the concentration of the flammable refrigerant in the air-conditioning room decreases by sending the air conditioning room air by the air blower. The air-conditioning system according to the present example starts the air conditioner after a certain period of time has elapsed since the start of the air blower.

The examples described below each indicate a preferred specific example of the present disclosure. Therefore, numerical values, shapes, materials, components, arrangement positions and connection modes of the components, steps (steps) and the order of the steps, and the like shown in the following examples are merely examples, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. Therefore, among the components in the following examples, components that are not described in the independent claims indicating the most generic concept of the present disclosure are described as optional components. In each drawing, substantially the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted or simplified.

illustrates a configuration of air-conditioning system. Air-conditioning systemis installed in a house, and the house includes first living roomand second living roomwhich are collectively referred to as living rooms, and air-conditioning room. The number of living roomsin the house is not limited to “2”. Living roomsare spaces to be air-conditioned, and air-conditioning roomis a space independent of living rooms.

Outside air introduction duct, exhaust duct, air-conditioning duct, first conveyance ductsecond conveyance ductfirst circulation duct, second circulation ductcirculation duct, first exhaust ductand second exhaust ductare tubes that carry air, that is, air passages. First conveyance ductand second conveyance ductare collectively referred to as conveyance duct. First circulation ductand second circulation ductare collectively referred to as circulation duct. First exhaust ductand second exhaust ductare collectively referred to as exhaust duct.

Outside air introduction portis disposed in an outer wall of the house. Outside air introduction ductextends from outside air introduction porttoward an inner side of the house. Outside air introduction ductis connected to ventilation device. An outside air introduction fan (not shown) is installed in ventilation device. By the rotation of the outside air introduction fan, air (outside air) is taken in from outside air introduction port, and the air flows into ventilation devicethrough outside air introduction duct. Outside air introduction ductfurther extends from ventilation device, is connected to circulation duct, and allows the air from ventilation deviceto flow into circulation duct.

To ventilation device, exhaust ductis also connected. Exhaust ductis connected to first exhaust ductextending from first living roomand second exhaust ductextending from second living roomExhaust ductextends toward the outer wall of the house via ventilation deviceand is also connected to exhaust portinstalled in the outer wall of the house. First exhaust ductis also connected to first suction portinstalled in first living roomand second exhaust ductis also connected to second suction portinstalled in second living room

An exhaust fan (not illustrated) is installed in ventilation device. The air in first living roomis taken in from first suction portby the rotation of the exhaust fan, and flows into ventilation devicethrough first exhaust ductand exhaust duct. The air in second living roomis taken in from second suction portby the rotation of the exhaust fan, and flows into ventilation devicethrough second exhaust ductand exhaust duct. Furthermore, air (exhaust air) is discharged from exhaust portthrough exhaust duct. As described above, ventilation devicecollects the air from first living roomand second living roomvia first exhaust ductand second exhaust ductand discharges the air from one exhaust portto the outside via exhaust duct. As a result, first living roomand second living roomwhich are different from each other, are ventilated by ventilation device, and air inside and outside living roomsis exchanged. In ventilation device, heat exchange may be performed between the air (outside air) taken in from outside air introduction portand the air (exhaust air) taken in from living rooms.

Inside the house, first circulation ductsecond circulation ductand circulation ductextending from each of living roomsto air-conditioning room, and air-conditioning duct, first conveyance ductand second conveyance ductextending from air-conditioning roomto each of living roomsare installed.

First circulation ductsecond circulation ductand circulation ductare also called return air ducts. Air-conditioning duct, first conveyance ductand second conveyance ductare also called air supply ducts. The air passages connecting these ducts each have an annular shape.

Circulation ductis connected to first circulation ductextending from first living roomsecond circulation ductextending from second living roomand outside air introduction duct. First circulation ductis also connected to first circulation portinstalled in first living roomSecond circulation ductis also connected to first circulation portinstalled in second living roomBy circulation duct, the air from first circulation ductthe air from second circulation ductand the air from outside air introduction ductare mixed. The mixed air flows toward air-conditioning room.

Air-conditioning ductextending from air-conditioning roomis connected to branch chamber. First conveyance ductand second conveyance ductare connected to branch chamber. First conveyance ductis also connected to first blow-out portinstalled in first living roomSecond conveyance ductis also connected to second blow-out portinstalled in second living room

In air-conditioning room, humidifier, indoor unit, and air blowerare installed. The air from circulation ductflows into air-conditioning room. The air flowing into air-conditioning room(air inside air-conditioning room) corresponds to the above-described “air-conditioning room air”. Humidifierhumidifies or dehumidifies the air-conditioning room air. Indoor unit(air conditioner) is connected to outdoor unitinstalled outside the facility, and cools or heats the air-conditioning room air. Air blowerblows the air-conditioning room air from air-conditioning roomto air-conditioning duct.

Humidifier, indoor unit, and air blowerhave a wireless communication function or a wired communication function, and can communicate with control device. Humidifierreceives an instruction of humidification or dehumidification in humidifierfrom control device. Indoor unitreceives an instruction to cool or heat indoor unitfrom control device. Air blowerreceives an instruction to blow air in air blowerfrom control device. Humidifier, indoor unit, and air bloweroperate in accordance with instructions received from control device.

Air-conditioning roommay include a filter. The filter is, for example, a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter. The HEPA filter is an air filter that removes dirt, dust, and the like from the air-conditioning room air and outputs clean air-conditioning room air. The clean air-conditioning room air is sent by air blower.

Branch chamberbranches air-conditioning ductfrom air-conditioning roominto first conveyance ductand second conveyance ductConveyance ductis an air passage for sending air-conditioning room air to living room.

Control deviceis a system controller that controls entire air-conditioning system. Control devicehas a wireless communication function or a wired communication function, and can communicate with humidifier, indoor unit, and air blower. In, control deviceis installed in first living roombut is not limited thereto.

When air-conditioning systemexecutes central air conditioning, the air-conditioning room air flowing into air-conditioning roomis blown out to first living roomand second living roomvia air-conditioning duct, branch chamber, first conveyance ductand second conveyance ductThe air in first living roomand second living roomis discharged outside the facility via first exhaust ductsecond exhaust ductand exhaust duct. Part of the air in first living roomand second living roomis returned to air-conditioning roomthrough first circulation ductsecond circulation ductand circulation duct. At this time, outside air flows into circulation ductthrough outside air introduction duct.

By circulating the air in this manner, the air comes in and out of air-conditioning room. That is, the air-conditioning room air is constantly exchanged without staying in air-conditioning room. Therefore, even if the refrigerant leaks from indoor unitand the refrigerant is contained in the air-conditioning room air, the air-conditioning room air containing the refrigerant is also exchanged.

Hereinafter, the operation of starting air-conditioning systemwill be described on the assumption that air-conditioning systemis stopped.illustrates a configuration of control device. Control deviceincludes reception unit, controller, timer, and storage. Here, control deviceillustrated inillustrates a configuration necessary for describing the operation of starting air-conditioning system, and the configuration included in control deviceis not limited thereto.

Reception unitis, for example, an interface for receiving an operation from the user. In a state where air-conditioning systemis stopped, reception unitreceives an instruction to start air-conditioning systemby an operation from the user. Furthermore, reception unitmay have a wireless communication function and be able to communicate with a terminal device carried by the user. The terminal device is, for example, a smartphone or a tablet terminal, and receives an instruction to start air-conditioning systemby an operation from the user. The terminal device may transmit an instruction to start air-conditioning systemto control device, and reception unitmay receive the instruction to start air-conditioning system.

Controllerstarts air blowerwhen reception unitreceives the instruction to start. At this time, controllerdoes not start indoor unit(air conditioner). Controlleralso notifies timerof the timing at which air bloweris started. Timermeasures a time elapsed from the start of air blower. Controllermonitors the time measured by timer. Controllerstarts indoor unit(air conditioner) when the time measured by timeris equal to or more than the threshold stored in storage. At that time, outdoor unitis also started.

The threshold is determined based on a time during which air blowercan sufficiently discharge the refrigerant from air-conditioning roomin a situation where air-conditioning systemis stopped and the concentration of the refrigerant in air-conditioning roomincreases due to leakage of the refrigerant from indoor unit. For example, the amount of the air-conditioning room air in air-conditioning roomis calculated based on the floor area and the height of air-conditioning room. By dividing the calculated amount of the air-conditioning room air by the blown air volume per unit time of air blower, the time during which all the air-conditioning room air can be discharged is calculated. The threshold is determined as, for example, a time at which ¼ of the calculated air-conditioning room air can be discharged. Since a general flammable refrigerant is heavier than air, the flammable refrigerant tends to accumulate below air-conditioning room. In other words, the larger the floor area of air-conditioning room, the larger the amount of air-conditioning room air required for discharge. That is, the threshold is determined based on the size of the floor area of air-conditioning roomand the blown air volume of air blower. The threshold increases as the floor area of air-conditioning roomincreases, and the threshold increases as the blown air volume of air blowerdecreases.

The device, the system, or a subject of the method in the present disclosure is provided with a computer. Execution of a program by this computer implements the functions of the device, the systems, or the subject of the method in the present disclosure. The computer includes, as a main hardware configuration, a processor that operates according to a program. The type of the processor is not limited as long as the processor can implement the function by executing the program. The processor includes one or a plurality of electronic circuits including a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) or a large scale integration (LSI). The plurality of electronic circuits may be integrated on one chip or may be provided on a plurality of chips. The plurality of chips may be aggregated into one device or may be provided in a plurality of devices. The program is recorded in a computer-readable non-transitory recording medium such as a read only memory (ROM), an optical disk, or a hard disk drive. The program may be stored in advance in a recording medium, or may be supplied to the recording medium via a wide area communication network including the Internet.

Operations of air-conditioning systemhaving the above configuration will be described.is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure by control device. Reception unitreceives an instruction to start air-conditioning system(S). Controllerstarts air blower(S). Timerstarts measuring the time from the start of air blower(S). If the measured time is not equal to or more than the threshold (N in S), timercontinues measuring the time. When the measured time is equal to or more than the threshold (Y in S), controllerstarts indoor unit(air conditioner) (S).

According to the present example, when an instruction to start air-conditioning systemis received, air bloweris started first, and then the air conditioner is started. Therefore, even if the refrigerant leaks from the air conditioner, the refrigerant does not continue to stay in air-conditioning roomand is constantly exchanged. That is, the air conditioner can be safely started from living roomin a state where the concentration of the refrigerant in air-conditioning roomdecreases. In addition, since the time elapsed from the start of air bloweris measured and the air conditioner is started when the measured time becomes equal to or more than the threshold, the start time of air blowerand the start time of the air conditioner can be shifted.

Since the threshold is determined based on the size of the floor area of air-conditioning roomand the blown air volume of air blower, the time for discharging the air-conditioning room air can be reflected in storage. The threshold increases as the floor area of air-conditioning roomincreases, and the threshold increases as the blown air volume of air blowerdecreases, so that the air-conditioning room air can be discharged before the air-conditioning room is started.

The outline of an aspect of the present disclosure is as follows.

An air-conditioning system () that sends air-conditioning room air, which is air in air-conditioning room () independent of living room (), to living room (), the air-conditioning system including:

Air-conditioning system () according to item 1, further including timer () that measures a time elapsed after air blower () is started, in which controller () starts the air conditioner when the time measured by timer () becomes equal to or more than a threshold.

Air-conditioning system () according to item 2, in which the threshold is determined based on a size of a floor area of air-conditioning room () and a blown air volume of air blower ().

Air-conditioning system () according to item 3, in which

Although the present disclosure has been described above based on examples, the present disclosure is not limited to the above examples at all, and it can be easily inferred that various modifications and variations can be made without departing from the gist of the present disclosure.