SENSOR INTERLINKING FOR AN AIR-CONDITIONING SYSTEM

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method for installation support. In particular, the present invention relates to a computer implemented method for installation support of air conditioning systems.

BACKGROUND

In recent years, in order to reduce environmental load, air-conditioners in which a low global warming potential (GWP) refrigerant is used have been developed. Some commonly used low GWP refrigerant are known to be flammable and/or toxic. This makes safety measures against refrigerant leak indispensable. In particular, when the amount of refrigerant used relative to the volume of the space to be air- conditioned is large, means to prevent and contain refrigerant leaks are even more important.

Systems such as those disclosed by JP6687043, JP2020194353, EP2600073 and JPWO2020234935 permit designing and/or modelling and representing air- conditioning systems. However, such systems are meant to evaluate and/or dimension the air-conditioning system and have no provisions which permit addressing the safety of the system.

EP3764008 discloses an air-conditioning design assistance device. The device is configured to inform the user of the need for safety measures such as shut-off valves and/or ventilation. Said need for safety measures is determined by calculating the refrigerant charge ratio of the space to be air conditioned and comparing said ratio with a predetermined range. The design assistance device disclosed in EP ' 008 focusses only on local inclusion of safety measures. However, according to EN 378 2016, not only indoor air conditioning units but also pipes are considered potential sources of leakage. Therefore, safety measures addressing leakages should not be exclusive to air-conditioned spaces, but should also address other spaces where leakages may occur.

A further limitation of prior art relates to the absence of design methods which permit developing control logic for the operation of a safety system. The present invention aims to resolve at least some of the problems and disadvantages mentioned above. The aim of the invention is to provide a method which eliminates those disadvantages. The present invention targets at solving at least one of the aforementioned disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention and embodiments thereof serve to provide a solution to one or more of above-mentioned disadvantages. To this end, the present invention relates to a method for determining shutoff valve and refrigerant leakage sensor interlinking for an air-conditioning system.

The disclosed method can advantageously and easily be carried out manually or automatically. This is due to the highly structured way in which correspondence relationships between elements of the system are represented. The tabular structure in which the aforementioned correspondence relationships are expressed is advantageously conducive to human and machine reading and processing.

The present invention concerns a method for determining shutoff valve and refrigerant leakage sensor interlinking for an air-conditioning system.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms used in disclosing the invention, including technical and scientific terms, have the meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. By means of further guidance, term definitions are included to better appreciate the teaching of the present invention.

As used herein, the following terms have the following meanings:

"A", "an", and "the" as used herein refers to both singular and plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. By way of example, "a compartment" refers to one or more than one compartment.

"Comprise", "comprising", and "comprises" and "comprised of" as used herein are synonymous with "include", "including", "includes" or "contain", "containing", "contains" and are inclusive or open-ended terms that specifies the presence of what follows e.g. component and do not exclude or preclude the presence of additional, non-recited components, features, element, members, steps, known in the art or disclosed therein.

Furthermore, the terms first, second, third and the like in the description and in the claims, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a sequential or chronological order, unless specified. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that the embodiments of the invention described herein are capable of operation in other sequences than described or illustrated herein.

The recitation of numerical ranges by endpoints includes all numbers and fractions subsumed within that range, as well as the recited endpoints.

Whereas the terms "one or more" or "at least one", such as one or more or at least one member(s) of a group of members, is clear per se, by means of further exemplification, the term encompasses inter alia a reference to any one of said members, or to any two or more of said members, such as, e.g., any >3, >4, >5, >6 or >7 etc. of said members, and up to all said members.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms used in disclosing the invention, including technical and scientific terms, have the meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. By means of further guidance, definitions for the terms used in the description are included to better appreciate the teaching of the present invention. The terms or definitions used herein are provided solely to aid in the understanding of the invention.

Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, but may. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner, as would be apparent to a person skilled in the art from this disclosure, in one or more embodiments. Furthermore, while some embodiments described herein include some but not other features included in other embodiments, combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the invention, and form different embodiments, as would be understood by those in the art. For example, in the following claims, any of the claimed embodiments can be used in any combination.

In a first aspect, the invention provides/relates to a method for determining shutoff valve and refrigerant leakage sensor interlinking for an air-conditioning system comprising the steps of: preparing a floorplan of a building with multiple rooms; mapping indoor units of the air-conditioning system and shutoff valves on the floorplan; mapping pipes between the shutoff valves and the indoor units on the floorplan; arranging refrigerant leakage sensors in each room having at least one indoor unit and/or at least one pipe; determining a first correspondence relationship between each refrigerant leakage sensor and each room; determining a second correspondence relationship between each shutoff valve and each pipe; determining a third correspondence relationship between each pipe and each room through which said pipe passes and/or enters; determining a fourth correspondence relationship between each shutoff valve and each refrigerant leakage sensor, said fourth correspondence relationship being determined from the first correspondence relationship, the second correspondence relationship and the third correspondence relationship.

According to the first aspect, since the air-conditioning system has a fourth correspondence relationship between each shutoff valve and each refrigerant leakage sensor, the shutoff valve corresponding to the refrigerant leakage sensor that detected the refrigerant leakage can be identified. Thus, since a shutoff signal is transmitted to the at least one shutoff valve corresponding to the refrigerant leakage sensor detecting the refrigerant leakage, the refrigerant can be prevented from flowing into the room where the refrigerant leakage occurs. Also, if the plurality of refrigerant leakage sensors have a fourth correspondence relationship with one shutoff valve, a refrigerant leakage detection from any of the refrigerant leakage sensors having the fourth relationship can be coped with. Furthermore, however the indoor units, the shutoff valves and the pipes between the shutoff valves and the indoor units are arranged on the floor map, the fourth relationship can be easily obtained. Because the fourth correspondence relationship is determined from the first correspondence relationship between each refrigerant leakage sensor and each room, the second correspondence relationship between each shutoff valve and each pipe and the third correspondence relationship between each pipe and each room through which said pipe passes and/or enters, determining the fourth correspondence relationship can advantageously be carried out automatically.

In a further or another embodiment, the method further comprises the step of assigning a unique identifier to each indoor unit, shutoff valve, pipe and refrigerant leakage sensor. Said unique identifier advantageously precludes any error of an automated response of the system to any detected refrigerant leakage. In addition, the indoor unit, shutoff valve, pipe and refrigerant leakage sensor each have the unique identifier, thereby it becomes easier to establish their respective correspondence relationship in the indoor unit, shutoff valve, pipe and refrigerant leakage sensor.

In a further or another embodiment, the method further comprises the step of calculating the number of refrigerant leakage sensors to be installed in each room. By preference, if a plurality indoor units are installed in a room, the number of refrigerant leakage sensors equal to the number of indoor units installed in the room can be installed in said room. This advantageously permits increasing the chances of early detection of any leak that may have developed in a room. In addition to the time it takes for a refrigerant to diffuse and reach other areas of a room, another relevant aspect relates to the concentration of the refrigerant. This advantageously permits to avoid that a significant amount of refrigerant leaks before a detectable concentration develops.

In a further or another embodiment, the number of refrigerant leakage sensors in each room is calculated based on the volume of each room. More preferably, the number of refrigerant leakage sensors in each room is calculated based on the toxicity of the refrigerant. In particular, the more toxic the refrigerant, the higher the number of refrigerant leakage sensors installed in a room. This advantageously permits to further reduce the time from beginning of a leak to its detection.

In a further or another embodiment, the method further comprises the step of calculating the location of refrigerant leakage sensors to be installed in each room. By preference, the location of refrigerant leakage sensors in each room is determined according to the density of the refrigerant relative to the density of air. In this way, refrigerant leakage sensors are located where the refrigerant is going to accumulate in the event of a leak. Equally importantly, in this way, the refrigerant leakage sensors are placed where the refrigerant will more rapidly increase in concentration in the event of leakage. This advantageously permits further substantial reduction of detection time. Based on experiments carried out to test the best location for the refrigerant leakage sensors, each refrigerant leakage sensor is preferably arranged under each indoor unit. Further preferably, each refrigerant leakage sensor may be located near the floor of the nearest wall of each indoor unit. In this way, the refrigerant leakage sensors are advantageously placed the closest possible to the path of the leaking refrigerant, thus guaranteeing the fastest refrigerant leakage detection times possible.

In a further or another embodiment, the step of mapping the indoor units and the shutoff valves is carried out manually. In this way, locations and individual identifiers to each indoor unit and each shutoff valve are advantageously created. This advantageously permits establishing clear correspondence relationships between different elements of the air-conditioning system.

In a further or another embodiment, mapping the pipes between shutoff valves and indoor units is carried out manually. In this way, computer error is advantageously prevented, therefore also preventing errors in establishing correspondence relationships between shutoff valves and indoor units.

In a further or another embodiment, the shutoff valves are controlled and operated by a centralized control unit, wherein said centralized control unit is provided with the information of the shutoff valves and sensor associations. By preference, in the event of a leak, the user is informed of said leak and of which sensor(s) detected the leaking refrigerant, at which moment the user is able to issue a signal that causes all shutoff valves associated to said sensor(s) to close. More preferably, upon detecting leaking refrigerant, the sensor(s) sends a signal to the controller, which signal causes the controller to send a second signal to all shutoff valves associated with said sensor(s). In this way, response time in the event of leakage is substantially reduced.

In a further or another embodiment, the shutoff valves are associated to the refrigerant leakage sensors of one or more rooms through which the pipe of said shutoff valve extends. In this way, each refrigerant leakage sensor is associated to remediation to any possible source of leakage detectable by said refrigerant leakage sensor. This advantageously abbreviates the reaction time from detection of a leak to remediation of said leak. The shorter reaction time, advantageously permits reducing any further increase in the concentration of refrigerant it the room into which the refrigerant leaks.

In a further or another embodiment, the first correspondence relationships, the second correspondence relationships, the third correspondence relationships and the fourth correspondence relationships are represented in tabular form. In this way, any correspondence relationships are immediately and easily readable by a human. The tabular representation is also highly conducive to be translated to machine language as the data as each element, its values and its correspondence to other elements are clearly structured.

In this context, tabular form is to be understood as any data displayed in the form of a table.

In a further or another embodiment, the first correspondence relationships, the second correspondence relationships, the third correspondence relationships and the fourth correspondence relationships are stored in a machine readable format. By preference, said correspondence relationships are introduced by the user using an interface which automatically registers said correspondence relationships in a machine readable format. In this way, the in this way produced data can be readily used or, if necessary, readily converted into data which can be used and interpreted by a controller. This advantageously avoids the need for the user to manually introduce the same correspondence data multiple times, thereby expediting the setup and ramp-up time of the air conditioning system.

In a further or another embodiment, the fourth correspondence relationships are determined manually. This advantageously permits using first, second and third correspondence relationship data which is not in a machine readable format.

In a further or another embodiment, the fourth correspondence relationships are determined automatically. In this way, machine readable data on the first, second and third correspondence relationships are used to quickly generate the fourth correspondence relationship data. Advantageously, said generated fourth correspondence relationship data is immediately generated in a machine readable format. The invention is further described by the following non-limiting examples which further illustrate the invention, and are not intended to, nor should they be interpreted to, limit the scope of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following description of the figures of specific embodiments of the invention is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present teachings, their application or uses. Throughout the drawings, corresponding reference numerals indicate like or corresponding parts and features.

Figure 1 shows a schematic representation a building equipped with an air- conditioning system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

With as a goal illustrating better the properties of the invention the following presents, as an example and limiting in no way other potential applications, and applications of the software for installation support of an air-conditioning system. For instance, the air conditioning system according to the present embodiment is an air-conditioning system capable of a cooling operation and a heating operation by using CO2 or R466A refrigerant. In the present example, the application of said software is preceded by the steps of:

1. Preparing a floorplan of a building with multiple rooms;

2. Mapping indoor units of the air-conditioning system and shutoff valves on the floorplan;

3. Mapping pipes between the shutoff valves and the indoor units on the floorplan;

4. Analyzing each room on the floorplan and registering and/or marking each room having at least one indoor unit and/or at least one pipe;

5. Arranging refrigerant leakage sensors in each room having at least one indoor unit and/or at least one pipe;

6. Assigning a unique identifier to each of room, shutoff valve, pipe and refrigerant leakage sensor.

Preparation of a floorplan is usually carried out by accessing building information modeling databases. Preferably, a two or three dimensional representation of the floorplan is produced. The resulting representation allows the visualization of every room and corridor.

Next, indoor units and shutoff valves are mapped on the floorplan prepared in the previous step. Mapping of the indoor units and the shutoff valves consists in marking the location of each of these elements on the floorplan. The mapping of both the indoor units and the shutoff valves may be carried out manually or automatically. Furthermore, a dedicated software may be provided in order to assist in this step.

Similarly to the previous step of mapping indoor units and shutoff valves, the step of mapping the pipes consists in representing refrigerant pipes on the floorplan so that each indoor unit and each shutoff valve are connected. The mapping of the pipes may be carried out manually or automatically. Furthermore, by using a dedicated software, the drawing of pipes between the indoor units and the shutoff valves can be done automatically.

After mapping all indoor units, shutoff valves and pipes, the next step consists in analyzing each room on the floorplan and registering and/or marking each room having at least one indoor unit and/or at least one pipe. This step may be carried out manually or automatically. Furthermore, a dedicated software may be provided in order to assist in this step.

Then, the next step consists in arranging refrigerant leakage sensors in each room having at least one indoor unit and/or at least one pipe. The arranging of the refrigerant leakage sensors may be carried out manually or automatically. Furthermore, a dedicated software may be provided in order to assist in this step. Also, by using the dedicated software, the step in which consists in calculating the number of refrigerant leakage sensors to be installed in each room may further be included. Further preferably, the step of calculating the location of the refrigerant leakage sensor to be installed in each room may be included. The number of refrigerant leakage sensors can be calculated based on the volume of each room and the toxicity of the refrigerant. For example, if the volume of the room is large, it is necessary to install several indoor units in one room. Therefore, if the volume of the room is large, it is preferable to install several refrigerant leakage sensors. Also, the same number of sensors as the number of indoor units may be installed. Also, when there are many connection points in the pipes passing through the room (connection point between two pipes, and pipe and indoor unit), it is preferable to install a plurality of refrigerant leakage sensors. In addition, it is preferable to install more refrigerant leakage sensors as the toxicity of the refrigerant is stronger.

The location of the refrigerant leakage sensor can be calculated based on the density of the refrigerant relative to the density of air. For example, when the density of the refrigerant is large, the position of the refrigerant leakage sensor is preferably installed near the horizontal distance from the position directly below the indoor unit. That is, if the density of the refrigerant is large, it is considered that the leaked refrigerant is difficult to diffuse in the air and leaks downward at the leakage point. Therefore, it is preferable to install the refrigerant leakage sensor near the horizontal distance from the position directly below the indoor unit.

The last step leading to the preparation of the correspondence relationship tables is assigning a unique identifier to each of room, shutoff valve, pipe and refrigerant leakage sensor. In this way, unique correspondence relationships can be expressed with no risk of interpretation error. The assigning a unique identifier may be carried out manually or automatically. Furthermore, a dedicated software may be provided in order to assist in this step.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation a building equipped with an air-conditioning system. Fig. 1 shows a diagram of a state where a plurality of indoor units, a plurality of shutoff valves, a plurality of pipes connecting between the indoor units and the shutoff valves and a plurality of refrigerant leakage sensors are mapped on the floorplan 1. The air-conditioning system according to the present embodiment comprises a compressor unit (not shown), a plurality of indoor units, a switching box 6 which is connected between the compressor unit and each indoor unit, a plurality of refrigerant leakage sensors and a controller 7. The switching box 6 comprises a plurality of shutoff valves, a manifold and a controller 7. The controller 7 corresponds a centralized control unit in claims. The controller 7 comprises of an arithmetic circuit such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a work memory used by the CPU such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), a recording medium storing control programs and information used by the CPU such as a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a timer, although they are not shown. The switching box 6 splits the refrigerant flow to and from the compressor unit into multiple pairs of two-way refrigerant connection by means of the manifold. The switching box 6 is connected to an indoor unit by two pipes. The two pipes comprise of a liquid pipe through which a liquid refrigerant flows and a gas pipe through which a gas refrigerant flows. The switching box 6 has a plurality of pairs of liquid pipe and gas pipe, which the number of pairs is the same as the number of indoor units to be able to connect. The shutoff valves consist of an on-off valve such as a solenoid valve. Each shutoff valve is disposed on each liquid pipe and each gas pipe. Each pair of liquid pipe and gas pipe is connected to each indoor unit. If a refrigerant leakage is detected by a refrigerant leakage sensor disposed in a room, the CPU receives a signal about the refrigerant leakage from the refrigerant leakage sensor in which detected the refrigerant leakage and sends a shutoff signal to a corresponding shutoff valve. By closing the shutoff valve, the refrigerant circulating in the air-conditioning system can no longer flow into the room where the refrigerant leakage happened. An information about correspondence relationships of each room, refrigerant leakage sensor, pipe and shutoff valve is stored in the ROM. When the CPU receives a signal about the refrigerant leakage from the refrigerant leakage sensor, the CPU accesses the ROM to read the information. Then, the CPU sends shutoff signal to a corresponding shutoff valve.

In order to permit the creation of clear correspondence relationships, each room, refrigerant leakage sensor, pipe and shutoff valve is mapped and assigned a unique identifier. FIG. 1 shows an example where a plurality of shutoff valves (W,X,Y and Z) are arranged in one switching box 6. The floor plan 1 comprises six rooms A to F. Of which, room A is equipped with a first indoor unit 2, room B is equipped with a second indoor unit 3 and room E is equipped with a third indoor unit 4 and a fourth indoor unit 5. Refrigerant is distributed by the manifold in the switching box 6, which refrigerant is then distributed by pipe a to first indoor unit 2, p to second indoor unit 3, Y to third indoor unit 4 and 3 to fourth indoor unit 5. Pipe a is shown traversing rooms C and A, pipe is shown traversing rooms C and B, pipes Y and 3 are shown traversing rooms C, D and E. Refrigerant leakage sensor a is shown assigned to room A, refrigerant leakage sensor b is shown assigned to room B, refrigerant leakage sensors c and d are shown assigned to room C, refrigerant leakage sensor e is shown assigned to room D and refrigerant leakage sensor f and g are shown assigned to room E. A controller 7 is shown in communication with switching box 6 in order to control shutoff valves W, X, Y and Z.

A first set of correspondence relationships are expressed in Table 1. The first correspondence relationship shows the relationship between each refrigerant leakage sensor and each room. The correspondence between each room A to E and the refrigerant leakage sensors a to g is established based on the refrigerant leakage sensors present in each room. In this way, any reference to a room, such as in another correspondence relationship table, can immediately and easily be converted into a correspondence with the at least one refrigerant leakage sensor present in said room.

Table 1

A second correspondence relationship is shown in Table 2. The second correspondence relationship shows the relationship between each shutoff valve and each pipe. In this table each pipe a to 3 is shown associated to the shutoff valve W to Z from whence it receives refrigerant fluid. In this way, correspondence relationships established between other elements and a pipe can immediately and easily be transformed into correspondence relationships between said elements and the shutoff valves corresponding to said pipe.

Table 2

A third corresponding relationship of each pipe and each room through which said pipe passes and/or enters in the example from Figure 1 is represented in Table 3. The third correspondence relationship shows the relationship between each pipe and each room through which said pipe passes and/or enters. This corresponding relationship shown in this table are determined by either following the path of each pipe and registering the rooms traversed by said pipe or by checking for pipe segments inside each room. The corresponding relationship shown in Table 3 provide the means to link the information of Table 1 with the information of Table 2.

The fourth and last correspondence relationship relates to the shutoff valves and the refrigerant leakage sensors. This fourth correspondence relationship departs from Table 3. The first step consists in replacing each pipe on the first column of said

Table 3 with its corresponding shutoff valve according to Table 2. The second step consists in in replacing the rooms in the second column of Table 3 with the refrigerant leakage sensors in said rooms according to Table 1. The resulting fourth correspondence relationship is represented in Table 4. Table 4

A more advantageous representation of the information of Table 4 is presented in Table 5. Table 5 is organized such that the index column comprises each individual refrigerant leakage sensor. This presentation is much more advantageous, in particular, in the event of a leak, as the triggered refrigerant leakage sensors can immediately be located in the table, advantageously avoiding the need to go through all columns of Table 4 in order to locate each refrigerant leakage sensor and determine which shutoff valves that need to be closed.

Table 5

It is supposed that the present invention is not restricted to any form of realization described previously and that some modifications can be added to the presented example without reappraisal of the appended claims.

List of numbered items:

1 floor plan

2 first indoor unit

3 second indoor unit

4 third indoor unit

5 fourth indoor unit

6 switching unit

7 controller