TWI622739B - Air purifier and equipment having air purifying function - Google Patents

Abstract

Efficiently purify and purify all indoor air, and suppress the generation of dirty air. The air cleaner 1 includes a housing 2, a suction port 4, a blowout port 5, air passages 7A and 7B, a blower 6, a movable grille 9, a horizontal swing mechanism 15, an external detection unit 16, a pollution detection device 21, and a control unit. Department 23 and so on. The control unit 23 selects the first in the area A1 to A5 in which the wind direction is variable based on indoor information (that is, information about at least one of people or animals indoors and information about air pollution sources or pollution levels). direction. In a state where the wind direction is directed to the first direction by the horizontal turning mechanism 15, the air cleaning operation is performed only for a predetermined time t. Then, a second direction different from the first direction is selected, and the air direction is changed to the second direction, and the air cleaning operation is performed.

Description

Air purifier and equipment with air purifying function

The present invention relates to an air cleaner having a function of blowing out air after being purified, and an apparatus having an air purifying function.

An air cleaner described in, for example, Patent Document 1 has been conventionally known. In the conventional technique, the position of a person indoors is detected, and the wind direction of the blown air is controlled so that, for example, the blown air from an air cleaner does not blow to the person. In addition, when a person is located away from the air cleaner, the amount of air blowing out is increased.

Furthermore, the applicant points out that the following documents, including the above-mentioned documents, are related to the present case.

Advance technical literature Patent literature

Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-93562

Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-83098

Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-245212

In the above-mentioned conventional techniques, the wind direction is controlled so that the blown air does not blow to a person, or the amount of air is increased so that the blown air reaches a position far from the air cleaner. However, if the air is not blown in the direction of a person, the problem of slow purification of the area where the person is located will be caused. On the other hand, if the air is blown out in the direction of the person, the purification of the area where there is no person will be slowed down, and it will be difficult to reduce the pollution level of the entire room. In particular, when the air is continuously supplied only to a certain area, air (dirty) precipitation may occur in other areas.

The present invention is to solve the problems as described above, and an object thereof is to provide an air cleaner and an equipment having an air cleaning function, which can suppress unpleasantness to a user and efficiently purify the entire indoor air, and can Suppress the generation of dirty air precipitation.

The air cleaner of the present invention comprises: a casing having an air inlet and an air outlet; a blower that sucks indoor air from the air inlet and sends the air from the air outlet; a cleaning device The suction port is cleaned by the sucked air; the wind direction adjusting mechanism enables the wind direction of the air blown out from the blowing port to be changed in the left and right directions within a preset range of variable wind direction; an information acquisition device that obtains information about people or animals in the room Information of at least one of the information on air pollution sources or pollution levels as indoor information; a control unit that controls the wind direction adjustment mechanism based on the indoor information; the control unit includes: a first direction selection device that is based on The above indoor information selects the first direction, which is the direction in which the air should be purified first in the variable range of the wind direction, and the second direction selection device, which selects the second direction, is in the wind direction The direction in which the air should be purified within the variable range following the first direction; the cleaning control device performs the air cleaning action within a predetermined time while the wind direction is directed to the first direction, and then the wind direction Instead, the air purification operation is performed in the second direction.

According to the present invention, the air cleaner can first perform cleaning in the first direction in which the air should be purified. In addition, after the air cleaning operation is performed in the first direction, the air can be purified in a second direction different from the direction. Thereby, it is preferable to purify the direction which requires a high air cleaning effect, and at the same time to efficiently purify the entire room air, and it is possible to suppress the generation of a dirty air deposition position.

1‧‧‧Air Purifier

2‧‧‧shell

2A‧‧‧ next door

3‧‧‧ base

4‧‧‧ Suction port

5, 5A, 5B ‧‧‧ Blow Out

6‧‧‧ blower

6A‧‧‧fan

6B‧‧‧Motor

7, 7A, 7B‧‧‧Wind Road

8‧‧‧Purification equipment

9‧‧‧ movable grid

10‧‧‧Grid drive unit

11‧‧‧ opening variable mechanism

12‧‧‧ opening drive

13‧‧‧Rectification mechanism (variable wind direction mechanism)

14‧‧‧ Rectifier drive unit (variable wind direction mechanism)

15‧‧‧Horizontal swing mechanism (variable wind direction mechanism)

16‧‧‧External detection department (information detection device)

17‧‧‧ person detection device

20‧‧‧ Detector rotation mechanism

21‧‧‧Contamination detection device (information detection device)

22‧‧‧Operation Department

23‧‧‧Control Unit (Memory Device)

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an air cleaner according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 shows a longitudinal sectional view of the air cleaner in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part in Fig. 1 showing the operating states (a) and (b) of the movable grid plate and the rectifying mechanism.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing a control system of the air cleaner according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of a main part of Fig. 1 showing the operating states (a), (b), and (c) of the human detection device.

Fig. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a variable wind direction range achieved by the air cleaner.

Fig. 7 is a diagram showing the directivity of the air cleaner according to the first embodiment of the present invention; Characteristic line diagram.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing a main routine of wind direction control according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart of a wind direction control subroutine of the first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart showing another specific example of wind direction control according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart showing another specific example of wind direction control according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Embodiment 1

Hereinafter, Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings used in this specification, the same elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and repeated descriptions are omitted. The present invention is not limited to the following embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an air cleaner according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In addition, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the air cleaner in FIG. 1. As shown in these figures, the air cleaner 1 according to the present embodiment includes a housing 2, a base 3, a suction port 4, a blowout port 5, a blower 6, air passages 7A and 7B, a cleaning device 8, and a movable grid plate 9. , Grid plate driving section 10, opening variable mechanism 11, opening driving section 12, rectifying mechanism 13, rectifying driving section 14, horizontal swing mechanism 15, external detection section 16, pollution detection device 21, control section 23, and the like.

The casing 2 is formed in, for example, a substantially rectangular prism shape, and is composed of an elongated tower-shaped casing extending in a direction perpendicular to the ground. In addition, the housing 2 is supported by a base 3 installed on the floor of the room so that it can be rotated in the horizontal direction. status. As shown in FIG. 2, in the internal space of the housing 2, the cleaning device 8, the blower 6, and the air path 7 are sequentially arranged from the upstream to the downstream in the space from the suction port 4 to the blow-out port 5.

In addition, in this specification, among the side portions of the housing 2, a portion mainly facing the indoor space is described as a front portion, and a portion opposed to the front portion is described as a rear portion. In the horizontal direction, a direction in which the front portion and the rear portion are opposite to each other is described as a front-rear direction, and a direction orthogonal to the front-rear direction is described as a left-right direction. The air cleaner 1 is installed, for example, on a floor near any wall surface of a room, and is used in a state where the rear portion of the casing 2 faces the wall surface and the front portion of the casing 2 faces the indoor space.

The suction port 4 is an opening for sucking indoor air into the inside of the casing 2, and is provided at, for example, a front portion of the casing 2. The suction port 4 has a vertically long opening shape extending in the vertical direction. The air outlet 5 is an opening for blowing out the air sucked into the inside of the casing 2 to the outside, and is composed of, for example, two air outlets 5A and 5B that are opened in the upper surface of the casing 2. The two outlets 5A and 5B extend side by side along the left and right sides of the casing 2. In the following description, the air blown from the air outlets 5 (the air outlets 5A and 5B) may be referred to as "blow-out air". In addition, in the present invention, the suction port 4 may be disposed on the back surface portion, the side surface portion, the lower surface portion, and the like of the casing 2, and the air outlet 5 may be disposed on the front surface portion, the side surface portion, and the like of the casing 2. In addition, in the casing 2, only one blowout port 5 may be arranged, or three or more blowout ports 5 may be arranged.

The blower 6 is a device that sucks air from the suction port 4 into the inside of the casing 2 and blows the air out of the blow port 5. The blower 6 includes a fan 6A composed of a centrifugal fan such as a rotary fan, and an electric motor 6B that rotates the fan 6A. fan The number of revolutions of 6A is controlled by the control unit 23, and the amount of air blowing out changes according to the number of revolutions. As shown in FIG. 2, for example, two blowers 6 are arranged in a state in which the positions in the front-back direction are staggered inside the housing 2.

An air passage 7 is provided inside the casing 2 to connect the blower 6 and the air outlet 5. The air path 7 is a device that guides the air blown from the blower 6 to the blowout port 5. The air path 7 is divided into a front air path 7A and a rear air path 7B by a partition wall 2A provided inside the casing 2. The two air paths 7A and 7B are arranged so as to extend in the up-down direction and are juxtaposed in the front-rear direction. The lower sides of the air channels 7A and 7B are connected to different blowers 6, respectively, and the upper sides of the air channels 7A and 7B are connected to the air outlets 5A and 5B, respectively. That is, the air cleaner 1 includes a first air supply system from one blower 6 passing through the air path 7A and reaching the air outlet 5A, and a second air supply system from the other blower 6 passing through the air path 7B and reaching the air outlet 5B. In these air supply systems, the air volume, wind direction and wind speed can be individually controlled.

The cleaning device 8 is a device for purifying the air sucked from the suction port 4, and is provided between the suction port 4 and the blower 6, for example. The cleaning device 8 has an elongated outer shape extending in the vertical direction inside the casing 2. Here, the so-called "cleaning" means removing pollutants such as dust, smoke, pollen, viruses, molds, bacteria, allergens, and odor molecules floating in the air. Specifically, the It means the action of trapping these pollutants to make them inactive, adsorb and decompose. The cleaning and purifying device 8 may be constituted or combined by the following machines: a dust collecting filter, a deodorizing filter, an anti-fungal sterilizing filter, a voltage applying device, and the like. The dust collecting filter is a device for trapping dust in the air, the deodorizing filter is a device for adsorbing odor components, and an antifungal sterilizing filter is used for inactivating mold spores or killing attached bacteria. In addition, the voltage applying device is configured to apply a high voltage to A device that functions to remove, inactivate, kill, destroy, and decompose pollutants.

In the first embodiment, a mechanism for capturing and removing pollutants inside the casing 2 is exemplified as the cleaning device 8. However, the cleaning device of the present invention also includes a mechanism that exerts a cleaning effect outside the casing 2 by emitting, for example, ions, water mist, or ultrasound. In addition, in the present invention, the installation place of the cleaning device is not limited to the inside of the casing 2. That is, the cleaning device of the present invention may be configured to discharge, for example, ions or water mist to the outside of the casing 2 and fly to a target position along the airflow, thereby purifying the target position. In addition, the cleaning device of the present invention may be configured to apply a photocatalyst to the surface of the casing 2 and direct the polluted air at a target position near the casing 2 to perform purification. That is, the air cleaner described in the first embodiment focuses on increasing the cleaning speed of the target position. Therefore, the content of the cleaning device 8 is not limited to a specific method, as long as it can increase the purification speed of the target position by coordinating motion control techniques and the like. However, the means for attracting the polluted air and processing it by a filter or the like is most effective if the polluted air is surely brought into contact with the purification device. Therefore, in this embodiment, the purification device 8 is adopted as the purification device.

Next, FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part in the first diagram showing the operating states (a) and (b) of the movable grid plate and the rectifying mechanism. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the movable grid plate 9 is a device for swinging the wind direction of the blowing air in the up-and-down direction, and one movable grid plate 9 is provided at each of the outlets 5A and 5B of the casing 2. Specifically, the movable grid plate 9 is formed of, for example, an elongated flat plate extending in the left-right direction of the casing 2. The base end side of the movable grid plate 9 is mounted by the grid plate driving section 10, respectively. On the blowout ports 5A and 5B. The grid driving unit 10 swings the two movable grids 9 individually in the vertical direction.

As shown in FIG. 2, the opening variable mechanism 11 is provided at, for example, a position facing the movable grille 9 in the front-rear direction and the front side, and cooperates with the movable grille 9 to change the opening area of the blowout port 5A. In addition, in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, in order to clearly show the rectifying mechanism 13 described later, illustration of the opening variable mechanism 11 is omitted. The rectifying mechanism 13 is a device that adjusts the wind direction in the left-right direction while maintaining the wind direction elevation angle set by the movable grid plate 9. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the rectifying mechanism 13 is formed, for example, in a slightly triangular (or fan-shaped) form of fins, protrudes from the wind-receiving surface side of each movable grid plate 9, and a plurality of the louvers are arranged at intervals in the left-right direction.个 rectifying mechanism13. As shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b), each of the rectifying mechanisms 13 swings in the left-right direction, so that the wind direction of the blowing air changes in the left-right direction according to the swing angle.

The rectifying mechanism 13 is swung by, for example, a rectifying driving section 14 (see FIG. 4) provided on the movable grid plate 9. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the horizontal turning mechanism 15 is provided between the housing 2 and the base 3 so that the directions of the housing 2 and the outlet 5 are changed on the base 3 in the horizontal direction. The horizontal turning mechanism 15 together with the rectifying mechanism 13 and the rectifying driving section 14 constitutes a wind direction adjusting mechanism, which can change the wind direction of the blown air in a preset range of wind direction variable in the left-right direction. The wind direction variable range will be described with reference to FIG. 6 described later.

As described above, in the first embodiment, the two blowers 6 are arranged side by side in the vertical direction. With this configuration, it is easier to form the air cleaner 1 into a vertically long tower shape than an air cleaner that generates the same air volume with a single blower 6. Thereby, the cross-sectional shape of the air cleaner 1 is made positive The square or circular shape can reduce the installation area. In particular, the square and circular cross-sectional shapes can reduce the installation area necessary for the horizontal turning operation, and become the most suitable shape when the horizontal turning mechanism 15 is used. In addition, as will be described later, in the air cleaner 1 according to the first embodiment, control is performed to change the air blowing direction in accordance with a person or a dirty position. In this case, in the present invention, any method capable of changing the air supply direction can be used, but by using the horizontal turning mechanism 15, it is easy to visually confirm that the air cleaner 1 is facing a person or a dirty direction. Therefore, it is possible to obtain an effect that the user can truly feel the effect of the air cleaner 1.

In addition, in the first embodiment, the air cleaner 1 is formed in a vertically long tower shape, and the air outlet 5 is formed to face the ceiling surface. This has the advantage that an airflow directed diagonally upward can be easily formed. As a specific example, the table is a large object placed in the furniture in the center of the room. The table is designed to take into account the height at which the person sits, and is generally designed to be about 90 cm in height. That is, when the position of the air outlet 5 of the air cleaner 1 in the height direction is low, even if the air is sent obliquely, there may be a case where the airflow is blocked by the furniture or the like, and the airflow toward the room may not be formed. Considering that the airflow may be blocked by the furniture, the blowing angle from the blowing outlet 5 to the obliquely upward direction itself is limited.

In addition, the vertical tower type has the following advantages: the distance between the lowest point of the air outlet 5 and the air inlet 4 can be extended. The air cleaner 1 according to the first embodiment has the purpose of eliminating the temperature difference between the floor and the ceiling and suppressing the agitation of dirt. When the interval between the lowest point of the air outlet 5 and the air inlet 4 becomes small, the induction effect of the air blowing from the air outlet 5 will cause the airflow of the air inlet 4 to be obstructed, and the polluted air that should be attracted by the air inlet 4 may be blown out. Wind traction makes pollution empty The air was blown away again. In addition, by adopting a tower structure capable of increasing the height dimension, the external detection portion 16 can be set at a higher position. That is, a person can be detected without being affected by low furniture such as a chair or a television, and the occurrence of false detection can be suppressed.

Next, the control system of the air cleaner 1 is demonstrated with reference to FIG. Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing a control system of the air cleaner according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The air cleaner 1 includes a detection system including an external detection unit 16 and a pollution detection device 21, an operation unit 22 for operating the air cleaner 1, and a control unit 23 that controls the operating state of the air cleaner 1.

The external detection unit 16 is a device that detects indoor information of the room in which the air cleaner 1 is located. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, the external detection unit 16 is provided on, for example, the front upper side of the housing 2. The external detection unit 16 includes a person detection device 17 that detects a person who is indoors. The human detection device 17 may be configured of, for example, an infrared detector, an image recognition detector, and a pyroelectric detector. In addition, in the present invention, the human detection device 17 may be constituted by another detector capable of detecting a person. The external detection unit 16 may be a combination of the human detection device 17 and another detector (not shown). The other detectors are, for example, at least one of a dust detector, an odor detector, a moving body detector, a distance detector, or an illuminance detector. In addition, it is not limited to humans, and animals, etc., and pets such as dogs and cats can be detected.

Here, the dust detector is composed of a semiconductor element, an optical element, and the like, and detects the concentration of dust, smoke, pollen, and the like in the air. The odor detector is composed of a semiconductor element or a piezoelectric element, and detects the concentrations of several kinds of gas components that generate odor. The distance detector consists of, for example, an ultrasonic detector, a light detector, and an image detector. A non-contact type detector such as a recognition detector is configured to detect the distance between the air cleaner 1 and a detection object using sound waves or electromagnetic waves. Objects to be detected include indoor walls, ceilings, furniture, people, and animals. The illuminance detector detects the presence or absence of people and animals in the room, and the presence or absence of movement based on changes in illuminance.

The human detection device 17 is mounted on the housing 2 by a detector turning mechanism 20. Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of a main part of Fig. 1 showing the operating states (a), (b), and (c) of the human detection device. As shown in the figure, by the detector turning mechanism 20, the direction of the human detection device 17 is rotated relative to the housing 2 in the horizontal direction (left-right direction). The detector rotation mechanism 20 may be configured to rotate other detectors included in the external detection unit 16 together. In addition, when an image recognition detector, an array-type detector, or the like that can obtain two-dimensional image data is used as the human detection device 17, the detector turning mechanism 20 may not be used.

On the other hand, the pollution detection device 21 shown in FIG. 4 is a device that detects the amount of pollutants in the air sucked in through the suction port 4 as a level of pollution, and is arranged for purification in the direction of air flow Device 8 upstream. The pollution detection device 21 is composed of a detector described later or a composite detector composed of a combination of detectors described later, such as a dust detector, a gas detector, and an odor detector. The air cleaner 1 blows air in a specific direction, and then detects the amount of pollutants in the air flowing back from the direction by the pollution detection device 21, thereby detecting the level of pollution in the specific direction. The external detection unit 16 and the pollution detection device 21 constitute an information acquisition device that detects indoor information including at least one of the distance from the ceiling or wall surface of the room to the air cleaner 1 and the degree of pollution of the indoor air. Specific examples. In addition, the purpose is to detect the pollution level, but the pollution detection device 21 also includes, for example, grasping the position of the conditioning field or The position of the door, etc., the movement of a person, the detector accumulation mechanism that estimates the point in time at which dirt is generated, or the position where it easily occurs. At this time, the detection information of the human detection device 17 may be added to improve accuracy.

In the present invention, the external detection unit 16 or the pollution detection device 21 need not necessarily be incorporated in the air cleaner 1. If other air-conditioning equipment and the like have these detection functions, the detection information can be obtained from the air-conditioning equipment and the like and operated. In this case, an information transmission device such as infrared rays, light, sound waves, electromagnetic waves, or radio waves may be installed as an alternative means of the detection device. These information transmission devices can not only reduce the installation space, but also have the advantage of being easy to maintain synergistic functions with other home appliances. In addition, the information of the external detection unit 16 or the pollution detection device 21 can also be transmitted to other household electrical appliances, thereby improving the versatility of the air cleaner 1.

The control unit 23 includes a calculation processing device (not shown), an input / output port, a memory circuit, and the like. As shown in FIG. 4, the detector system including the external detection unit 16 and the pollution detection device 21 is connected to the input side of the control unit 23. An actuator including the blower 6, the cleaning device 8, the grid driving unit 10, the opening driving unit 12, the rectifying driving unit 14, the horizontal turning mechanism 15, and the detector turning mechanism 20 is connected to the output side of the control unit 23. The control unit 23 drives the actuator based on the output of the sensing system, thereby operating the air cleaner 1.

(Basic air cleaning action)

The basic operation of the air cleaner 1 will be described next. When the air cleaner 1 is operated, the blower 6 and the cleaning device 8 are driven by the control unit 23. Thereby, air is sucked into the inside of the housing 2 through the suction port 4, and the air is purified by the cleaning device 8. Then, the cleaned air passes through the blower 6 and the air path 7A and 7B reaches the outlets 5A and 5B, and blows from the outlets 5A and 5B to the outside. At this time, the control unit 23 drives the grid driving unit 10, the opening driving unit 12, the rectifying driving unit 14 and the horizontal turning mechanism 15 based on the detection result of the detector system.

This makes it possible to control the wind direction angle (elevation angle) of the blowing air in the vertical direction in accordance with the swing angle of the movable grid plate 9. In addition, the angle (rotation angle) of the wind direction in the horizontal direction is controlled by the horizontal turning mechanism 15 and the rectifying mechanism 13. In addition, when the swing angle of the movable grid plate 9 and the variable opening mechanism 11 is changed, the area of the flow path of the blown air is changed, so that the wind speed of the blown air can be controlled thereby. In addition, the control unit 23 changes the number of revolutions of the blower 6 and controls the amount of air blowing out. Thereby, the air purified by the air cleaner is blown out from the air outlets 5A and 5B to various parts of the room. The blown-out air is sucked into the suction port 4 together with the pollutants in the air after circulating in the room. By repeating this cycle, the indoor air is purified.

(Wind direction control)

Next, the wind direction control of the blown air performed by the control unit 23 will be described. In the wind direction control, first, a direction (first direction) in which air should be purified first is selected within a preset variable range of the wind direction. Then, in a state where the wind direction is directed to the first direction, the air cleaning operation is performed within a predetermined time t described later. Next, a direction (second direction) in which the air should be purified after the first direction is selected. Then, the wind direction is changed to the second direction, and the air cleaning operation is performed in the second direction.

Here, the wind direction variable range is defined as a turning angle of the wind direction that can be achieved by the horizontal turning mechanism 15. Fig. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a variable wind direction range achieved by the air cleaner. As shown in the figure, in this embodiment, for example, the wind direction variable range is divided into five areas A1 to A5, and the area unit is The first direction and the second direction are selected and the above-mentioned indoor information is obtained. In this way, by dividing the wind direction variable range into a plurality of areas A1 to A5, it is possible to easily control the wind direction and obtain indoor information. As described later, it is possible to easily manage the number of past pollution occurrences or air blows. Furthermore, the range in which purification can be performed more intensively can be obtained from experiments, so the loss can be reduced by selecting a region.

D1 to D5 in FIG. 6 illustrate wind directions corresponding to the areas A1 to A5, respectively. That is, when the area A1 is selected, the wind direction D1 is selected, and the air is blown out from the air outlet 5 toward the wind direction D1. In addition, when the area A2 is selected, the wind direction D2 is selected, so that the air is blown toward the wind direction D2. The same is true when the areas A3 ~ A5 are selected, which means that the wind directions D3 ~ D5 are selected respectively. Here, D2 to D5 are not necessarily blowing air toward the center of the area like D1. This is because the purification speed in the central part of the air supply direction is not necessarily the fastest, and it may shift slightly to the left and right depending on the air supply direction. In addition, the range in which the air can be purified more quickly than the surroundings will vary. That is, the wind direction does not necessarily coincide with the target area, and it can also be thought of as a change in the area that the wind direction moves to the left and right directions.

In addition, L shown in FIG. 6 represents the center in the left-right direction of the wind direction variable range. In the following description, areas A2 and A4 on the left side of the center L among the variable wind direction ranges may be described as left areas AL, and areas A3 and A5 on the right side of the center L may be described as right areas AR. In addition, each of the regions A1 to A5 has the same center angle with the air cleaner 1 as the center. In the present embodiment, a case where five areas A1 to A5 are provided, for example, is exemplified. However, in the present invention, the wind direction variable range may be divided into an arbitrary number of regions according to needs.

In the wind direction control, first, while performing the air-cleaning operation, the casing 2 is rotated by the horizontal turning mechanism 15 to detect the levels of air pollution in each of the areas A1 to A5. In addition, the external detection unit 16 detects whether or not there are persons and persons in each of the areas A1 to A5, and detects the distance from the air cleaner 1 to the person for each area. In this case, it may be configured such that the direction of the external detection unit 16 can be rotated by the detector rotation mechanism 20. The control unit 23 selects the first direction and the second direction based on these indoor information.

(First direction)

Select the area with the largest number of people in each area A1 to A5 or the area with the highest air pollution level as the first direction. A specific example is when there is a person in a variable range of the wind direction and there is only one area where the person exists, the area is selected as the first direction. That is, for example, when there is only a person in the area A4, the first direction is set to the area A4 (wind direction D4). In addition, when there is a person in the plural areas, the area with the largest number of people is selected as the first direction.

On the other hand, when no one exists in the variable range of the wind direction, the area with the highest air pollution level is selected as the first direction. That is, for example, when no one exists in the areas A1 to A5 and the pollution level in the area A5 is the highest, the first direction is set in the area A5 (wind direction D5). In addition, in the present invention, an area where a person is present (an area with the largest number of people) may always be selected as the first direction. In addition, the region with the highest pollution level may always be selected as the first direction.

According to the above-mentioned control, the air cleaner 1 can first preferentially clean the area with the most people or the area with the highest air pollution level. Thereby, for example, when the air cleaner 1 is first started, the maximum air cleaning effect can be exhibited. In addition, after performing the air cleaning operation in the first direction, it can be distinguished from The second direction in the first direction cleans the air. Thereby, the entire indoor air can be efficiently purified, and the generation of dirty air can be suppressed.

In addition, according to the above-mentioned control, when there is a person in the room, the area of the person is firstly cleaned and purified, and the comfort of the user can be quickly ensured. On the other hand, if no one is present, the area with the highest pollution level is preferentially cleaned up, which can increase the indoor purification speed. As described above, the area to be preferentially cleaned can be appropriately selected in accordance with the conditions of the room, and the environment of the room and the user can be improved.

The predetermined time t during which the air cleaning operation is performed in the first direction is set based on, for example, actual use conditions, measured results, indoor information, and the like. A specific example is that the time t can be set based on factors to be described later: a time at which the air purification is predicted to be completed, or a time at which it is judged that the effect cannot be obtained by continuing the air cleaning operation. In addition, the time t can also be set flexibly according to, for example, the presence or absence of a person in the first direction, the number of persons, the level of air pollution in the first direction, and the like. In addition, in the air cleaning action in the first direction, when the person in the first direction is absent or the pollution level in that direction is reduced to a level that does not require purification, it is determined that time t has elapsed at this point, and the process moves to the set point. One action at a time. In this case, the next action may be, for example, toward the second direction, temporarily reducing the air volume, temporarily stopping the air supply, and the like.

According to the above-mentioned control, the time t for purifying and purifying the air in the first direction can be appropriately set in accordance with the conditions in the room and the like. That is, for example, when the dirt in the first direction is cleaned, the wind direction is quickly switched to the second direction. Thereby, the entire room can be purified evenly. In addition, when the dirt in the first direction has not been cleaned, it is possible to continue to supply air in the first direction until the cleanup is completed. This makes it possible to continuously suppress the spread of dirt.

(2nd direction)

The second direction is preferably selected in, for example, a region on the side opposite to the first direction in the left-right direction. That is, when the first direction is selected in one of the left area AL or the right area AR, the second direction is selected in the other area. Furthermore, it is better to select the area farthest from the first direction in the second direction. As a specific example, when the first direction is the area A2, the area A3 or A5 (the area A5 is preferred) is selected as the second direction. In addition, for example, when the first direction is the area A3, the area A2 or A4 (the area A4 is preferred) is selected as the second direction. Similarly, when the first direction is the area A4 or A5, the other area is selected as the second direction.

With this control, the first direction and the second direction can be evenly distributed on the left and right sides of the wind direction variable range. Thereby, precipitation of dirty air can be effectively eliminated. Therefore, it is possible to improve the efficiency of purifying and purifying the entire air in the room, and to rapidly purify the entire air. In particular, by setting the second direction to a direction as far away from the first direction as possible in the left-right direction, the above-mentioned effect can be significantly exhibited.

In the wind direction control, for example, when there is a person in a plurality of areas and the area with the largest number of people is selected as the first direction, the area with the second largest number of people may be selected as the second direction. According to this control, air is purged in order from areas with a large number of people and high requirements for purification. Thereby, people in the room can effectively feel the purification of the air, and the air cleaner 1 can operate efficiently. In addition, blowing air toward a region of a person can generate airflow from the region of a person to other regions. As a result, even if the level of pollution in other areas is high, it is possible to prevent the pollutants from reaching the surroundings of the person from the other areas.

In addition, in wind direction control, for example, the air pollution level in a plurality of areas exceeds the allowable limit, and the area with the highest pollution level is selected as the first For one direction, you can select the area with the second highest pollution level as the second direction. The allowable limit is preset as a reference value for a pollution level at which the air should be purified, for example. According to this control, the air can be cleaned and purged sequentially from areas with high pollution levels. Thereby, it is possible to suppress the spread of pollutants from a region with a high pollution level to other regions. Therefore, other areas are also indirectly cleaned, and the entire air in the room can be efficiently cleaned.

In addition, when the pollution level of the air exceeds the allowable limit in the plural directions, and the direction with the highest pollution level is selected as the first direction, the second direction may be selected based on the number of past pollution occurrences. Specifically, the control unit 23 memorizes in advance the number of occurrences of pollution exceeding the allowable limit in each area in the past. The second direction is selected as the direction in which past pollution has occurred the most. In addition, in the present invention, for each area, the number of air blows that have been blown to a specific area in the past is memorized, and the direction in which the number of air blows has been the most in the past may be selected as the second direction.

According to the above-mentioned control, it is possible to estimate an area where dirt is liable to occur based on the number of past pollution occurrences or the number of blows, and select the estimated area as the second direction. Thereby, the second direction can be appropriately selected based on the past pollution occurrence situation. In addition, the area prone to soiling may be, for example, the periphery of a kitchen, the vicinity of a ventilating fan, a doorway where people enter and leave, an open window, and the like. In addition, the control unit 23 constitutes an example of a memory device that memorizes the number of past pollution occurrences or air blowing times of each area.

In addition, at least one of the first direction and the second direction can be selected by a process described later. First, when the distance between the air cleaner 1 and the air supply position is long, it is difficult to clean the air. So in zone-based In the process of selecting the area (direction) by the number of people in the area, when one of the two area areas having the same number of people is selected, it is preferable to select an area with a long distance from the air cleaner 1 to the person. Thereby, it is possible to preferentially start the purification from around the person who is located in a place where purification is difficult.

In addition, in the two areas, when the number of people and the distance from the air cleaner 1 to the person are equal, the area can be selected according to a preset priority order. In this case, as described above, for example, a region having a larger number of past pollution occurrences or air blows may be configured to have a higher priority. An area with a large number of pollution occurrences or air blows may be, for example, a place where people such as televisions are likely to gather, or a place to eat. The number of people in such places is likely to increase when air is being supplied, so by prioritizing their purification, the user's comfort can be further improved.

In addition, the air cleaner 1 may have a function such as detecting the placement of furniture by the external detection unit 16. In the wind direction control, an area with a lot of furniture among the areas A1 to A5 is selected as the first direction (or the second direction). In areas with a lot of furniture, there may be errors in the detection results such as the number of people and the level of air pollution. By actively purifying such areas, errors can be detected accordingly.

In addition, for example, when there is a person in a plurality of areas adjacent to each other, an area located in a middle portion in the left-right direction among the areas may be selected as the first direction (or the second direction). As a specific example, in FIG. 6, when there are people in the areas A1, A2, and A4, the area A2 in the central portion is set to the first direction regardless of the distance from the people. Thereby, the areas A1 and A4 on both sides can also be indirectly cleaned. Therefore, when someone exists in the plural area, Clean up the entire area quickly and evenly.

Fig. 7 is a characteristic diagram showing the directivity of the air cleaner according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, the so-called front side means, for example, a direction perpendicular to the central portion of the front surface of the air cleaner housing, and the deflection angle is a center angle that deviates from the front side. In addition, the dotted line in FIG. 7 indicates an average value obtained by averaging the air purification performance from the front surface of the case to the entire left and right sides. Generally speaking, it is better for the air cleaner to have an average air purification performance from the front of the casing to the entire left and right sides. In contrast, the air cleaner 1 of this embodiment is configured such that the air purification performance on the front side is higher than that on the left and right sides of the housing 2 and has high directivity with respect to the air blowing direction. Thereby, when a specific direction of the air cleaner 1 is directed, the air in that direction can be efficiently purified.

In addition, in FIG. 7, the characteristic line with the highest air purification performance at the front position is exemplified. However, as described above, this characteristic line may deviate slightly to the left or right depending on the direction or air blowing direction. In this case, the above-mentioned characteristic line also has the same tendency, that is, it has a pattern shape protruding upward, and it tends to decrease as it moves toward both ends. In addition, such a tendency may not be applied to a wall surface in the room or near an obstacle. However, this characteristic can be controlled by the vertical angle and the horizontal angle of the movable grid plate 9. Specifically, for example, in terms of the up-down direction, if the control is made so that the movable grid plate 9 (that is, the wind direction angle) moves forward and the wind speed becomes faster, the convex shape of the figure in FIG. 7 will be closer to a straight line and appear The tendency of the room to purify more uniformly. In addition, according to the wind direction control in the left and right directions, the degree of deviation of the convex portion of the figure from the front to the left and right can be adjusted. That is, when there is a place in the areas A1 to A5 where you want to focus on purification, or if you support two adjacent areas as far as possible, you can use the upper and lower sides of the movable grid plate 9 Left and right movements to make fine adjustments. These fine-tuning functions can be incorporated into the control.

In addition, since the air cleaner 1 has two blowers 6 and can control each of the blowers 6 individually, the convex shape of the figure can be made close to a straight line, and a decrease in air volume can be suppressed. In order to make the convex shape of the figure close to a straight line, it is more efficient to set the vertical angle of the movable grid plate 9 individually. It will cause pressure loss to change. However, if the blower 6 can be provided individually and the air volume can be controlled for each air outlet 5, the air volume balance can be maintained. In addition, on the contrary, it is also possible to intentionally change the air volume balance or change the circulation mode of the indoor airflow.

[Specific Processing to Realize Embodiment 1]

Next, specific processing for realizing the above-mentioned control will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. First, Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing a main routine of wind direction control according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The procedure shown in this figure is repeatedly executed while the air cleaner 1 is running. In the routine shown in FIG. 8, when the operation is started in step S100, first, in step S101, the direction of the housing 2 is returned to the initial position (center L) in the left-right direction. Next, in step S102, the person detection device 17 is caused to turn in the left and right directions within a variable range of wind direction, thereby searching for people in the room, and detecting the presence and number of people for each of the areas A1 to A5. In this case, it is preferable that the direction of the human detection device 17 is rotated by the detector rotation mechanism 20. As a result, the direction of the housing 2 is maintained at the initial position in step S102, so that the wind direction can be quickly changed to any direction after the search is completed.

Next, in step S103, it is determined whether there is a person in any area based on the detection result of the person detection device 17. When this judgment does not hold, The process proceeds to step S104, and processing when no one is present is performed (see FIG. 9 described later). On the other hand, when the determination of step S103 is satisfied, the process proceeds to step S105.

In step S105, an area with the most people in the wind direction variable range is selected as the first direction, and the wind direction is directed to the first direction. Next, in step S106, in the first direction, air is blown within the predetermined time t described above, and an air cleaning operation is performed. Next, in step S107, a region away from the region selected as the first direction is selected as the second direction. In this process, the second direction is an area on the opposite side to the direction selected in step S106 in the left and right directions based on the center L of the wind direction variable range as a reference. Then, in step S108, in a state where the wind direction is directed to the second direction, air is blown, for example, within a predetermined time t to perform an air cleaning operation.

Next, in step S109, it is determined whether there is an area that is the same distance as the area selected as the first direction and has not yet performed the air cleaning operation. This determination processing assumes that the central area A1 (see FIG. 6) is selected as the first direction. Specifically, for example, the areas A4 and A5 located at the left and right ends of the wind direction variable range have the same distance from the area A1. Therefore, if the air cleaning operation has not been performed in any of the areas A4 and A5, the determination in step S109 is established. In this case, the process proceeds to step S110, and a region in which the air cleaning operation has not been performed among the regions A4 and A5 is selected as the second direction.

Next, in step S111, air is blown in the selected area within a predetermined time t, and an air cleaning operation is performed. When neither of the areas A4 and A5 has performed the air cleaning operation, the areas A4 and A5 are sequentially selected as the second direction, and the air cleaning operation is performed in each area. In this case, the area The priorities of A4 and A5 are as described above. For example, areas with large distances from people, pollution levels, the number of times of pollution occurrence or the number of air blows can be used as priority. In addition, an area with a large number of furniture or the like may be adopted as a priority. Furthermore, a region located on the opposite side of the region selected in step S107 in the left-right direction may be adopted as a priority.

If the determination of step S109 is not established, and if the processing of steps S110 and S111 has been completed in all the remaining areas, the process returns to step S101. Thereby, as long as the operation of the air cleaner 1 is not stopped, the processes of steps S101 to S111 are repeatedly performed.

In addition, it may be configured that the processing of steps S109 to S111 is performed only when an odd number of areas are set in a variable wind direction range. That is, when an even number of regions are set in the wind direction variable range, the processing of steps S109 to S111 may be omitted. That is, in this embodiment, the method of distinguishing regions is not particularly important. The important point in this embodiment is to "select the second direction as an area where it is difficult to obtain an air cleaning effect because it is far from the area where the air is first supplied (first direction), and the air cleaning operation has not been performed". In addition, the aforementioned various selection methods may be combined to sequentially select the plural directions as the second direction.

Next, referring to Fig. 9, the processing when the room is empty will be described. Fig. 9 is a flowchart of a wind direction control subroutine of the first embodiment of the present invention. In the routine shown in this figure, first, in step S200, the direction of the casing 2 is returned to the initial position in the left-right direction. Next, in step S201, the casing 2 is rotated in the left-right direction within a variable range of wind direction to search for indoor dirt, and the air pollution level is detected for each of the areas A1 to A5.

Next, in step S202, it is determined whether there is an area with a large amount of dirt. Specifically, in this determination processing, it is determined whether or not the pollution level of each region exceeds the allowable limit. When the determination in step S202 is not established, the process proceeds to step S203, for example, the air is blown toward the center of the room, so that the entire room is uniformly purified. On the other hand, when the determination of step S202 is satisfied, the process proceeds to step S204.

In step S204, an area with the highest pollution level in the variable range of the wind direction is selected as the first direction, and the wind direction is directed to the first direction. Next, in step S205, air is blown in the first direction within a predetermined time t, and an air cleaning operation is performed. Next, in step S206, a region away from the region selected as the first direction is selected as the second direction. Then, in step S207, in a state where the wind direction is directed to the second direction, for example, the air is blown within a predetermined time t, and an air cleaning operation is performed. The processes of steps S206 and S207 are the same processes as those of steps S107 and S108 in FIG. 8. In addition, in steps S208 to S210, the same processes as those in steps S109 to S111 described above are performed.

As described above, according to the procedures of FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, it is possible to realize wind direction control for the situations where there are people in the room and those who are not. When there are no people in the room, the pollutants can be directly removed from the areas where dirt is liable to occur, and the pollutants can be prevented from spreading to other areas, and cleaned at the same time. Thereby, it is possible to have a comfortable environment before people enter the room.

In addition, in this embodiment, although FIG. 9 is exemplified as a subroutine, in the present invention, wind direction control may be performed using the ninth diagram as a main routine. That is, it can be comprised so that a 1st direction and a 2nd direction may be selected based on the pollution level of each area initially. However, even if a person is far away from the air cleaner 1, it can be detected immediately, but the pollution level is detected based on the air that has been inhaled. So pollution It takes time to detect the level, so the detection of the pollution level as the main direction of the wind direction control may reduce the response of the air cleaning operation. Therefore, as exemplified in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, the wind direction control using human detection as the main procedure and pollution level detection as the sub procedure is better.

In addition, in the present invention, it is possible to improve responsiveness to a pollution level by adding a function of learning a pollution level and estimating a source, for example. Therefore, if the function of switching the main program, the sub program, and the like according to the situation can be provided, the effect will be more effective. In particular, cooking operations, door openings, and the like are factors that can be estimated to a certain extent by human detection and learning functions. Therefore, if these operations can be estimated, if it is judged that dirt occurs from the cooking place or the direction of the door, that is, the switching process is performed to forcibly change the wind direction, the spread of the dirt can be suppressed and a better effect can be exhibited.

In addition, in the present invention, it may be configured to, for example, swing the wind direction in the left-right direction while agitating the entire air in the room to clear the sedimentation position and clean it. This makes it possible to reduce the number of operations (the number of cleanings) of the air cleaner 1. In addition, it is possible to suppress the feeling of being blown by the swing of the wind direction, so that the amount of wind can be increased. In addition, air can be blown from the central portion to the left and right sides based on the central portion of the room where people are likely to be present.

In addition, according to the arrangement of the indoor air cleaner 1, for example, when blowing air to the areas A4 and A5, the blown air may be blown to the wall surface. In this case, in the present invention, for example, the external detection unit 16 can detect the size of the room and the position of the wall surface, and determine whether the areas A4 and A5 are valid areas based on the detection results. Thereby, for example, when the area A4 has a wall surface, the area A4 is excluded from the wind direction control target, and the air can be prevented from being blown out in a useless direction. In addition, in the present invention In addition, the effective area may be determined based on, for example, the position and movement of a person. A specific example is an area that is not detected during a whole day or the like, and it is determined that an invalid area such as a wall surface or an obstacle exists, and this is excluded from the wind direction control target.

Next, other specific examples of the wind direction control will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11. 10 and 11 are flowcharts showing other specific examples of wind direction control according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, in FIG. 10, first, in step S105, the area with the largest number of people is selected as the first direction. In addition, in step S300, an area with the second largest number of people is selected as the second direction. On the other hand, in FIG. 11, first, in step S204, an area having the highest pollution level is selected as the first direction. In addition, in step S400, an area having a second highest pollution level is selected as the second direction. The controls shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 can be combined with the controls shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. In addition, the control shown in Fig. 11 can also be used as the main routine.

In the first embodiment, steps S105 and S204 in the routine shown in Figs. 8 to 11 show specific examples of the first direction selection device. In addition, steps S107, S110, S206, S209, S300, and S400 show specific examples of the second direction selecting device, and steps S106, S108, S111, S205, S207, S210, S301, and S401 show specific examples of the cleaning control device.

In the first embodiment, the air cleaner 1 for general households will be described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to various equipment having the same air cleaning function as the air cleaner 1.

Claims (16)

An air cleaner includes: a housing having an air inlet and an air outlet; a blower that draws indoor air from the air inlet and blows the air from the air outlet; and a cleaning device from the air inlet The sucked air is purified; the wind direction adjustment mechanism enables the wind direction of the air blown out from the above-mentioned air outlet to be changed in the left and right directions within a preset range of variable wind direction; and an information acquisition device that acquires information about indoor people and animals. Information of at least one of the detected objects is used as indoor information; a control unit that controls the wind direction adjusting mechanism based on the indoor information; the control unit includes: a first direction selection device that selects the first direction based on the indoor information, It is the direction in which the air should be purified first in the variable range of the wind direction; the second direction selection device selects the second direction, which is to make the air flow in the variable range of the wind direction following the first direction. The direction of air purification; the cleaning control device performs the air cleaning operation in a state where the wind direction is directed to the first direction, Then to the above-described direction toward the second direction and performing clean air operation. The air cleaner according to item 1 of the scope of patent application, wherein the cleaning control device performs the air cleaning action only within a predetermined time in a state in which the wind direction is directed to the first direction, and then the wind direction is changed to The air cleaning operation is performed toward the second direction. For example, the air purifier described in item 1 or 2 of the scope of patent application, wherein the information acquisition device is configured to also obtain information about the air pollution level as the indoor information, and the first direction selection device selects the variable wind direction. The first direction is the direction in which the number of the detection objects within the range is the largest, or the direction in which the air pollution level is the highest in the variable range of the wind direction. For example, the air purifier described in item 1 or 2 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the information acquisition device is configured to also obtain information about the air pollution level as the indoor information, and the first direction selection device can When the detection target exists in the variable range, the direction with the largest number of detection targets is selected as the first direction, and when the detection target does not exist in the wind direction variable range, select The first direction is the direction in which the level of air pollution is the highest. According to the air purifier described in item 1 or 2 of the scope of patent application, the second direction selection device selects the first direction in any one of the left half and the right half of the wind direction variable range. , Select the second direction from the other side. According to the air cleaner described in item 1 or 2 of the scope of patent application, when the above-mentioned detection object exists in a plurality of directions, and the direction with the largest number of the detection objects is selected as the first direction, the above The second direction selection means selects the direction having the second largest number of the detection objects as the second direction. The air cleaner according to item 1 or 2 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the information acquisition device is configured to also obtain the information on the air pollution level as the above-mentioned indoor information, and when the air pollution level in multiple directions exceeds the allowable When the direction with the highest pollution level is selected as the first direction, the second direction selection device selects the direction with the second highest pollution level as the second direction. The air cleaner according to item 1 or 2 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the information acquisition device is configured to also obtain the information on the air pollution level as the above-mentioned indoor information, and when the air pollution level in multiple directions exceeds the allowable When the direction with the highest pollution level is selected as the first direction, the second direction selection device selects the direction in which pollution exceeding the allowable limit has most often occurred in the past as the second direction. According to the air cleaner described in item 1 or 2 of the scope of patent application, the first direction selecting device and the second direction selecting device select one of the two directions from which the number of detected objects is equal. In this case, choose a direction with a long distance from the air cleaner to the object to be detected. According to the air cleaner described in item 2 of the scope of patent application, the predetermined time for performing the air cleaning operation in the first direction is set based on the indoor information. According to the air purifier described in item 1 or 2 of the scope of patent application, the variable range of the wind direction is divided into a plurality of regions, and the selection of the first direction and the second direction and the acquisition of the indoor information are performed according to the unit of the region. The air purifier described in item 11 of the scope of the patent application, further includes: a memory device, which memorizes the number of air blows to each area for each of the above-mentioned areas; and is configured to obtain the above-mentioned room as the indoor by the above-mentioned information acquisition device. Information about the level of air pollution. When one of the two areas with the same number of detected objects or the same level of pollution is to be selected, an area with a large number of air blows in the past is selected. The air cleaner according to item 1 or 2 of the scope of patent application, which is used in a state of being placed on the ground. The air cleaner according to item 1 or 2 of the scope of patent application, wherein the casing has a longitudinal shape extending in a direction perpendicular to the ground; the air cleaner further includes the blower formed on a ceiling surface of the casing. Export. An equipment machine having an air purifying function includes a casing, which has an air inlet and an air outlet; a blower, which sucks indoor air from the air inlet and sends the air from the air outlet; a cleaning device, which The air sucked in from the suction port is purified; the wind direction adjusting mechanism enables the wind direction of the air blown out from the above-mentioned blowing port to be changed in a left-right direction within a preset wind direction variable range; an information acquisition device that acquires information about people in the room Information of a detected object with at least one of the animals is used as indoor information; a control unit that controls the wind direction adjustment mechanism based on the indoor information; the control unit includes: a first direction selection device that selects based on the indoor information The first direction is the direction in which the air should be purified first in the variable range of the wind direction; the second direction selection device selects the second direction, which is to continue the first direction in the variable range of the wind direction. The direction in which the air should be purified after the direction; the cleaning control device is executed in a state where the wind direction is directed to the first direction Gas cleanup operation, then after the above-described direction to the second direction toward the clean air and perform actions. The equipment according to item 15 of the scope of patent application, wherein the cleaning control device performs the air cleaning action only within a predetermined time in a state where the wind direction is directed to the first direction, and then the wind direction is changed to the direction In the second direction, the air cleaning operation is performed.