Patent Description:
With the continuous improvement of people's living standards, people have also raised higher and higher requirements on the living environment. In order to maintain a comfortable ambient temperature, the air conditioner has become an indispensable device in people's lives. In recent years, in order to control the operation of the air conditioner more accurately, a controller of the air conditioner often needs to monitor various operating parameters of the air conditioner in real time. It is relatively easy to collect the operating parameters that can be directly measured by sensors. However, parameters that cannot be directly measured by sensors, such as a cooling capacity and a cooling energy-efficiency ratio, are relatively difficult to collect. Especially for a multi-connection air conditioner composed of one outdoor unit and multiple indoor units, in order to facilitate users to manage operating conditions of the multiple indoor units, it is often required for the multi-connection air conditioner to measure the cooling capacity of each indoor unit separately. Although there are a few methods for calculating the cooling capacity in the prior art, these calculation methods often need to rely on measuring a temperature change of heat exchange water to calculate the cooling capacity, that is, these calculation methods are only suitable for water-cooled multi-connection air-conditioners, and it is impossible for them to well calculate the cooling capacity of each indoor unit in the air-cooled multi-connection air conditioner. <CIT> discloses a method for determining a cooling capacity for an air conditioner.

Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a method for reminding a fault for an air conditioner to solve the above problem.

In order to solve the above problem in the prior art, the present invention provides a method for reminding a fault for an air conditioner, according to claim <NUM>.

In a preferred technical solution of the above method, the step of "obtaining the indoor air density" specifically includes: obtaining an intake air density of the indoor unit.

In a preferred technical solution of the above method, the step of "obtaining the air supply amount of the indoor unit" specifically includes: determining the air supply amount of the indoor unit according to a model and horsepower of the air conditioner.

In a preferred technical solution of the above method, the step of "obtaining the intake air enthalpy value of the indoor unit" specifically includes: obtaining an intake air temperature and an intake air humidity of the indoor unit; and determining the intake air enthalpy value of the indoor unit according to the intake air temperature and the intake air humidity of the indoor unit.

In a preferred technical solution of the above method, the step of "obtaining the discharge air enthalpy value of the indoor unit" specifically includes: obtaining a discharge air temperature and a discharge air humidity of the indoor unit; and determining the discharge air enthalpy value of the indoor unit according to the discharge air temperature and the discharge air humidity of the indoor unit.

In a preferred technical solution of the above method, the step of "obtaining the power of the air conditioner" specifically includes: obtaining a power source current of the air conditioner; obtaining a power source voltage of the air conditioner; and calculating a product of the power source current of the air conditioner and the power source voltage of the air conditioner and denoting it as the power of the air conditioner.

It can be understood by those skilled in the art that in the technical solutions of the present invention, the air conditioner of the present invention includes an indoor unit, and the method includes: obtaining an indoor air density; obtaining an air supply amount of the indoor unit; obtaining an intake air enthalpy value of the indoor unit; obtaining a discharge air enthalpy value of the indoor unit; and determining the cooling capacity of the air conditioner according to the indoor air density, the air supply amount of the indoor unit, the intake air enthalpy value, and the discharge air enthalpy value. The determination method of the present invention predicts the mass of air that the indoor unit can cool per second through the indoor air density and the air supply amount of the indoor unit, whereas both the intake air enthalpy value and the discharge air enthalpy value can reflect the energy contained in the air, so the present invention realizes the accurate calculation of the cooling capacity by combining the indoor air density, the air supply amount of the indoor unit, the intake air enthalpy value and the discharge air enthalpy value. This determination method involves only a few basic parameters, which are obtained in a simple way and which are calculated also very simply; in addition, this calculation method is not only be applicable to air-cooled air conditioners, but also enables the cooling capacity of each indoor unit in the air-cooled multi-connection air conditioner to be calculated separately, so that the controller of the air conditioner can implement accurate and effective management of each indoor unit based on the cooling capacity of each indoor unit, thus further enabling the air conditioner to always maintain an efficient operating efficiency.

Further, in the preferred technical solutions of the present invention, the cooling capacity of the air conditioner is calculated through the following equation in the present invention: Q=ρ×ν×(H<NUM>-H<NUM>), where Q is the cooling capacity of the air conditioner, ρ is the indoor air density, v is the air supply amount of the indoor unit, H<NUM> is the intake air enthalpy value of the indoor unit, and H<NUM> is the discharge air enthalpy value of the indoor unit. The present invention predicts the mass of air that the indoor unit can cool per second by calculating a product of the indoor air density and the air supply amount of the indoor unit, predicts an energy change amount of the air after being cooled by the indoor unit through an enthalpy difference between the intake air enthalpy value and the discharge air enthalpy value, and then predicts the cooling capacity of the air conditioner through the product of the two; it should be noted that many existing methods for determining the cooling capacity predicts the heat change amount of the air only by using the amount of temperature change during the calculation, whereas the fact that the cooling capacity is also significantly related to the amount of air humidity change is completely neglected. The present application has discovered this problem. Therefore, the determination method of the present invention uses the enthalpy difference to participate in the calculation, so that the amount of humidity change is sufficiently taken into consideration, thereby greatly improving the accuracy of the calculation.

Further, when the air conditioner is operating in a cooling mode, the method for reminding a fault of the present invention can judge whether an abnormal situation occurs in the air conditioner itself according to the cooling capacity of the air conditioner. It can be understood that the cooling capacity represents the cooling ability of the air conditioner, so the cooling capacity can be used to judge whether the cooling ability of the air conditioner is abnormal, and a fault reminder will be issued in time when the cooling ability of the air conditioner is abnormal, so that the user can timely and accurately know about the abnormal situation of the air conditioner, and then realize an effective protection for the air conditioner.

Further, when the air conditioner is operating in the cooling mode, the method for reminding a fault of the present invention can judge whether an abnormal situation occurs in the air conditioner itself according to the cooling energy-efficiency ratio of the air conditioner. It can be understood that the cooling energy-efficiency ratio represents the cooling efficiency of the air conditioner, so the cooling energy-efficiency ratio can be used to judge whether the cooling efficiency of the air conditioner is abnormal, and a fault reminder will be issued in time when the cooling efficiency of the air conditioner is abnormal, so that the user can timely and accurately know about the abnormal situation of the air conditioner, and then realize an effective protection for the air conditioner.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that these embodiments are only used to explain the technical principles of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present invention. For example, although the various steps of the method of the present invention are described in a specific order in the present application, these orders are not limitative, and those skilled in the art can execute these described steps in a different order without departing from the basic principles of the present invention.

Specifically, the air conditioner of the present invention includes an indoor unit, and the indoor unit is provided with an air inlet and an air outlet. Air flows into the indoor unit through the air inlet for heat exchange, and then flows out through the air outlet. It should be noted that the present disclosure does not impose any limitations on the specific structure of the air conditioner, and technicians may apply the determination method of the present disclosure to various types of air conditioners. The air conditioner also includes an intake air temperature sensor, a discharge air temperature sensor, an intake air humidity sensor, and a discharge air humidity sensor. The intake air temperature sensor can detect the intake air temperature of the indoor unit, the discharge air temperature sensor can detect the discharge air temperature of the indoor unit, the intake air humidity sensor can detect the intake air humidity of the indoor unit, and the discharge air humidity sensor can detect the discharge air humidity of the indoor unit. The air conditioner further includes a controller that can obtain the intake air temperature of the indoor unit through the intake air temperature sensor, obtain the discharge air temperature of the indoor unit through the discharge air temperature sensor, obtain the intake air humidity of the indoor unit through the intake air humidity sensor, and obtain the discharge air humidity of the indoor unit through the discharge air humidity sensor. In addition, it can be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention does not impose any limitations on the specific structure and model of the controller, and the controller may be the original controller of the air conditioner, or it may be a controller separately provided for implementing the determination method and the method for reminding a fault of the present invention. Technicians may set the structure and model of the controller by themselves according to actual requirements on use.

First, reference is made to <FIG>, which is a flowchart showing main steps of a method for determining a cooling capacity for the method of the present invention. As shown in <FIG>, based on the air conditioner described in the above embodiment, the method for determining the cooling capacity of the present disclosure mainly includes the following steps:.

Further, in step S1, the controller can obtain the indoor air density of a room in which the indoor unit is located; it should be noted that the present invention does not impose any limitations on the method through which the controller obtains the indoor air density. Technicians may either use a dedicated measurement instrument for measuring and then directly transmit measured data to the controller, or they may calculate the indoor air density by themselves by measuring indoor temperature and indoor pressure, as long as the controller can obtain the indoor air density. In addition, it should also be noted that since there may be slight differences in the air density between different places in the room, in order to better ensure the accuracy of the calculation result, the intake air density of the indoor unit is preferably used as the basic parameter in the present disclosure, namely, the density of the air near the air inlet; of course, this is not limiting, and technicians may also set it according to actual requirements.

Further, in step S2, the controller can obtain the air supply amount of the indoor unit. The controller may directly determine the air supply amount of the indoor unit according to the model and horsepower of the air conditioner, that is, determine the air supply amount through original data from the manufacturer, or may also calculate the air supply amount of the indoor unit by measuring the area of the air outlet and the air supply speed; that is, technicians may set the way of obtaining the air supply amount by themselves according to actual requirements on use.

Further, in step S3, the controller can obtain the intake air enthalpy value of the indoor unit; as a preferred embodiment, the controller obtains the intake air temperature of the indoor unit through the intake air temperature sensor, and obtains the intake air humidity of the indoor unit through the intake air humidity sensor. After the controller obtains the intake air temperature and the intake air humidity of the indoor unit, the controller can determine the intake air enthalpy value of the indoor unit according to an internally stored temperature and humidity map.

Further, in step S4, the controller can obtain the discharge air enthalpy value of the indoor unit; as a preferred embodiment, the controller obtains the discharge air temperature of the indoor unit through the discharge air temperature sensor, and obtains the discharge air humidity of the indoor unit through the discharge air humidity sensor. After the controller obtains the discharge air temperature and the discharge air humidity of the indoor unit, the controller can determine the discharge air enthalpy value of the indoor unit according to the internally stored temperature and humidity map.

In addition, it should also be noted that the present invention does not impose any limitations on the order of obtaining the above four basic parameters, that is, the controller may either obtain these four parameters in a specific order, or obtain these four parameters at the same time.

Further, in step S5, the controller calculates the cooling capacity of the air conditioner according to the indoor air density, the air supply amount, the intake air enthalpy value, and the discharge air enthalpy value. Technicians may obtain the calculation formula by themselves through fitting based on experiments according to structural characteristics of different air conditioners, which falls within the scope of protection of the present disclosure as long as only the four measurement values of the indoor air density, the air supply amount, the intake air enthalpy value and the discharge air enthalpy value are used for calculation in the method for determining the cooling capacity. The present invention calculates the cooling capacity Q of the air conditioner through the following equation: <MAT>
where ρ is the indoor air density, with the unit being kg/m<NUM>; v is the air supply amount of the indoor unit, with the unit being m<NUM>/s; H<NUM> is the intake air enthalpy value of the indoor unit, with the unit being kj/kg; and H<NUM> is the discharge air enthalpy value of the indoor unit, with the unit being kj/kg.

After the cooling capacity of the air conditioner is calculated through the above determination method, the controller can also first calculate the power of the air conditioner according to P=U×I; where U is a power source voltage of the air conditioner, which is typically 220V, and I is a power source current of the air conditioner, which can usually be measured by directly providing a current sensor at a power source terminal of an electrical control box of the air conditioner. Of course, this method of calculating the power of the air conditioner is not limiting, and technicians may set the method by themselves according to actual requirements on use. After the power of the air conditioner has been calculated, the controller can obtain the cooling energy-efficiency ratio of the air conditioner by calculating a ratio of the cooling capacity to the power, so that the controller can calculate the cooling energy-efficiency ratio of the air conditioner in real time.

Next, reference is made to <FIG>, which is a flowchart showing steps of a method for reminding a fault of the present invention.

As shown in <FIG>, based on the air conditioner described in the previous embodiment, the method for reminding a fault of the present disclosure specifically includes the following steps:.

Further, in a case where the air conditioner is operating in the cooling mode, in step S102, the controller can obtain the cooling capacity of the air conditioner; it should be noted that the cooling capacity used in this step is the cooling capacity calculated by the above determination method. Next, step S103 is executed, and the controller judges whether the difference between the preset cooling capacity and the obtained cooling capacity is larger than the preset difference, so as to judge whether the cooling ability of the air conditioner meets the standard. It can be understood by those skilled in the art that technicians may set the specific values of the preset cooling capacity and the preset difference according to actual requirements on use, as long as it can indicate that the cooling ability of the air conditioner does not meet the standard if the difference between the preset cooling capacity and the cooling capacity is larger than the preset difference. Based on the judgment result of step S103, if the difference between the preset cooling capacity and the obtained cooling capacity is larger than the preset difference, it means that the cooling ability of the air conditioner is insufficient. At this time, step S106 is executed. If the difference between the preset cooling capacity and the obtained cooling capacity is smaller than or equal to the preset difference, it means that the cooling ability of the air conditioner has met the standard. At this time, step S102 is executed again to continue to monitor the cooling ability of the air conditioner.

Further, in a case where the air conditioner is operating in the cooling mode, in step S104, the controller obtains the cooling energy-efficiency ratio of the air conditioner; it should be noted that the cooling energy-efficiency ratio used in this step is the cooling energy-efficiency ratio calculated by the above determination method. Next, step S105 is executed, and the controller judges whether the obtained cooling energy-efficiency ratio is smaller than the preset energy-efficiency ratio, so as to judge whether the cooling efficiency of the air conditioner meets the standard. It can be understood by those skilled in the art that technicians may set the specific value of the preset energy-efficiency ratio according to actual requirements on use, as long as the preset energy-efficiency ratio can represent the minimum standard of the cooling efficiency. Based on the judgment result of step S105, if the obtained cooling energy-efficiency ratio is smaller than the preset energy-efficiency ratio, it means that the cooling efficiency of the air conditioner is insufficient. In this situation, step S106 is executed. If the obtained cooling energy-efficiency ratio is larger than or equal to the preset energy-efficiency ratio, it means that the cooling efficiency of the air conditioner has met the standard. At this time, step S104 is executed again to continue to monitor the cooling efficiency of the air conditioner.

Claim 1:
A method for reminding a fault for an air conditioner, wherein the air conditioner comprises an indoor unit, characterized by:
obtaining (S102; S104) a cooling capacity of the air conditioner or a cooling energy-efficiency ratio of the air conditioner;
comparing (S103; S105) the obtained cooling capacity of the air conditioner with a preset cooling capacity or comparing the obtained cooling energy-efficiency ratio of the air conditioner with a preset energy-efficiency ratio; and
controlling (S106) the air conditioner to issue a fault reminder, if a difference between the preset cooling capacity and the obtained cooling capacity of the air conditioner is larger than a preset difference or if the obtained cooling energy-efficiency ratio of the air conditioner is smaller than the preset energy-efficiency ratio;
wherein the cooling capacity of the air conditioner is determined using following steps:
obtaining (S1) an indoor air density;
obtaining (S2) an air supply amount of the indoor unit;
obtaining (S3) an intake air enthalpy value of the indoor unit;
obtaining (S4) a discharge air enthalpy value of the indoor unit;
calculating (S5) the cooling capacity of the air conditioner through the following equation: <MAT>
where Q is the cooling capacity of the air conditioner, ρ is the indoor air density, v is the air supply amount of the indoor unit, H<NUM> is the intake air enthalpy value of the indoor unit, and H<NUM> is the discharge air enthalpy value of the indoor unit, wherein a product of the indoor air density and the air supply amount of the indoor unit predicts the mass of air that the indoor unit can cool per second; and
wherein the cooling energy-efficiency ratio for an air conditioner is determined by the following steps:
obtaining a power of the air conditioner; and
calculating a ratio of the cooling capacity of the air conditioner to the power of the air conditioner and denoting it as the cooling energy-efficiency ratio.