Air conditioning system

Abstract

An air conditioning system includes a plurality of air conditioners installed on a wall or a ceiling, and an air conditioning assisting device installed at a position at an equal distance from each of the air conditioners on the wall or the ceiling. The air conditioning assisting device includes a thermal image sensor, an assisting side communication unit that receives information relating to operating states of some or all of the air conditioners from some or all of the air conditioners, and transmits commands for air conditioning to some or all of the air conditioners, a storage unit that stores information obtained by the thermal image sensor and information received by the assisting side communication unit, and a processing unit that analyzes the information obtained by the thermal image sensor and the information received by the assisting side communication unit, and generates the commands.

1 . An air conditioning system comprising:
 a plurality of air conditioners each installed on a wall or a ceiling; and   an air conditioning assisting device connected with the air conditioners on the wall or the ceiling via a communication network, wherein   the air conditioning assisting device includes:
 a thermal image sensor to detect temperature; 
 an assisting side communicating circuitry to receive information relating to operation states of some or all of the air conditioners from some or all of the air conditioners, and transmit commands for air conditioning to some or all of the air conditioners; 
 a memory to store information obtained by the thermal image sensor and information received by the assisting side communicating circuitry; and 
 a processing circuitry to generate the commands on the basis of the information obtained by the thermal image sensor and the information received by the assisting side communicating circuitry. 
   
     
     
         2 . The air conditioning system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 each of the air conditioners includes an air conditioning side communicating circuitry to communicate with the assisting side communicating circuitry, and   the assisting side communicating circuitry is connected with air conditioning side communicating circuitries of the air conditioners via the communication network, and communicates with at least one of the air conditioning side communicating circuitries.   
     
     
         3 . The air conditioning system according to  claim 2 , wherein
 the air conditioning assisting device is installed in one room,   no air conditioning assisting device other than the air conditioning assisting device is installed in the room, and   the processing circuitry detects a human on the basis of heat distribution on a thermal image obtained by the thermal image sensor.   
     
     
         4 . The air conditioning system according to  claim 3 , wherein
 the processing circuitry determines which part of the room each of the air conditioners controls.   
     
     
         5 . The air conditioning system according to  claim 4 , wherein
 the air conditioning assisting device causes one of the air conditioners to perform cooling operation, and   the memory stores information associating an area in which temperature detected by the thermal image sensor is a predetermined cooling reference temperature with the one of the air conditioners that is performing the cooling operation.   
     
     
         6 . The air conditioning system according to  claim 4 , wherein
 the thermal image sensor detects temperature of the room before the air conditioners operate,   the air conditioning assisting device causes one of the air conditioners to perform heating operation on the basis of the temperature detected by the thermal image sensor, and   the memory stores information associating an area in which the temperature detected by the thermal image sensor is a predetermined heating reference temperature with the one of the air conditioners that is performing the heating operation.   
     
     
         7 . The air conditioning system according to  claim 4 , wherein
 the thermal image sensor detects temperature of the room before the air conditioners operate, and   the air conditioning assisting device determines whether to cause each of the air conditioners to perform cooling operation or to perform heating operation on the basis of the temperature detected by the thermal image sensor.   
     
     
         8 . The air conditioning system according to  claim 4 , wherein
 the memory stores calendar information indicating monthly details of operations of an air conditioner, and   the air conditioning assisting device determines whether to cause each of the air conditioners to perform cooling operation or to perform heating operation on the basis of the calendar information stored in the memory and the current month.   
     
     
         9 . The air conditioning system according to  claim 5 , wherein
 when one area of the room in which the thermal image sensor has detected temperature is associated with the one of the air conditioners and thereafter another area of the room is associated with another of the air conditioners, the air conditioning assisting device causes the another of the air conditioners to perform operation different from operation of the one of the air conditioners, and   each time an air conditioner to be associated with one area of the room changes among the air conditioners, the air conditioning assisting device causes an air conditioner that is newly associated to perform operation different from operation performed by an air conditioner that is last associated.   
     
     
         10 . The air conditioning system according to  claim 4  wherein
 wind direction of each of the air conditioners is set to vertically downward. 
 
     
     
         11 . The air conditioning system according to  claim 4 , wherein
 an air volume of each of the air conditioners is set to a maximum volume of capacity thereof.   
     
     
         12 . The air conditioning system according to  claim 5 , wherein
 after associating the area of the room in which the thermal image sensor has detected temperature with the one of the air conditioners and before associating another of the air conditioners with another area of the room, the air conditioning assisting device causes the air conditioners to stop for a predetermined time period.   
     
     
         13 . The air conditioning system according to  claim 5 , wherein
 after associating the area of the room in which the thermal image sensor has detected temperature with the one of the air conditioners and before associating another of the air conditioners with another area of the room, the air conditioning assisting device causes the air conditioners to perform fan operation for a predetermined time period.   
     
     
         14 . The air conditioning system according to  claim 6 , wherein
 when one area of the room in which the thermal image sensor has detected temperature is associated with the one of the air conditioners and thereafter another area of the room is associated with another of the air conditioners, the air conditioning assisting device causes the another of the air conditioners to perform operation different from operation of the one of the air conditioners, and   each time an air conditioner to be associated with one area of the room changes among the air conditioners, the air conditioning assisting device causes an air conditioner that is newly associated to perform operation different from operation performed by an air conditioner that is last associated.   
     
     
         15 . The air conditioning system according to  claim 6 , wherein
 after associating the area of the room in which the thermal image sensor has detected temperature with the one of the air conditioners and before associating another of the air conditioners with another area of the room, the air conditioning assisting device causes the air conditioners to stop for a predetermined time period.   
     
     
         16 . The air conditioning system according to  claim 6 , wherein
 after associating the area of the room in which the thermal image sensor has detected temperature with the one of the air conditioners and before associating another of the air conditioners with another area of the room, the air conditioning assisting device causes the air conditioners to perform fan operation for a predetermined time period.