Air conditioner and control method thereof

Abstract

An air conditioner includes: a filter assembly including a first filter and a second filter sequentially disposed in an air flow path; a differential pressure sensor configured to detect a differential pressure value corresponding to a pressure difference between a front surface and a rear surface of the second filter; a memory; and a processor configured to store, in the memory, differential pressure values detected by the differential pressure sensor, wherein the processor may be further configured to: identify a degree of contamination of the second filter based on a magnitude of the differential pressure values, determine a rate of change of the differential pressure values stored in the memory over time, and identify a degree of contamination of the first filter based on the rate of change.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An air conditioner comprising:
 a filter assembly comprising a first filter and a second filter sequentially disposed in an air flow path;   a differential pressure sensor configured to detect a differential pressure value corresponding to a pressure difference between a front surface and a rear surface of the second filter;   a memory; and   a processor configured to store, in the memory, differential pressure values detected by the differential pressure sensor,   wherein the processor is further configured to:
 identify a degree of contamination of the second filter based on a magnitude of the differential pressure values, 
 determine a rate of change of the differential pressure values stored in the memory over time, and 
 identify a degree of contamination of the first filter based on the rate of change. 
   
     
     
         2 . The air conditioner of  claim 1 , further comprising a user interface,
 wherein the memory is configured to store a first threshold value set with respect to the differential pressure value and a second threshold value set with respect to the rate of change, and   wherein the processor is further configured to:
 based on the differential pressure value exceeding the first threshold value, provide a notification for replacing the second filter through the user interface, and 
 based on the rate of change being less than the second threshold value, provide a notification for cleansing the first filter through the user interface. 
   
     
     
         3 . The air conditioner of  claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
 based on the rate of change decreasing and then increasing, identify that the first filter is cleansed, and   update the degree of contamination of the second filter based on the differential pressure value detected by the differential pressure sensor after identifying that the first filter is cleansed.   
     
     
         4 . The air conditioner of  claim 3 , wherein the processor is further configured to, based on identifying that the first filter is cleansed, store, in the memory, a number of cleansing the first filter. 
     
     
         5 . The air conditioner of  claim 3 , wherein the memory is further configured to store a third threshold value greater than the second threshold value, and
 wherein the processor is further configured to, based on the rate of change exceeding the third threshold value, provide a notification for replacing the first filter through the user interface.   
     
     
         6 . The air conditioner of  claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to control the user interface to display the degree of contamination of the first filter and the degree of contamination of the second filter. 
     
     
         7 . The air conditioner of  claim 6 , wherein the user interface comprises a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs), and
 wherein the processor is further configured to change at least one of a number and a color of LEDs among the plurality of LEDs based on the degree of contamination of the first filter or the degree of contamination of the second filter.   
     
     
         8 . The air conditioner of  claim 1 , further comprising a communication interface,
 wherein the processor is further configured to control the communication interface to transmit, to an external device, at least one of the degree of contamination of the second filter and the degree of contamination of the first filter.   
     
     
         9 . A control method of an air conditioner, the control method comprising:
 storing differential pressure values detected by a differential pressure sensor, the differential pressure values corresponding to differences in pressure between a first filter and a second filter sequentially disposed in an air flow path of the air conditioner;   identifying a degree of contamination of a dust collection filter based on a magnitude of the differential pressure values;   determining a rate of change of the differential pressure values over time;   identifying a degree of contamination of the first filter based on the rate of change;   based on a differential pressure value exceeding a first threshold value, providing a notification for replacing the dust collection filter; and   based on the rate of change being less than a second threshold value, providing a notification for replacing the first filter.   
     
     
         10 . The control method of  claim 9 , wherein the first threshold value is set with respect to the differential pressure value and the second threshold value is set with respect to the rate of change. 
     
     
         11 . The control method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 based on the rate of change decreasing and then increasing, identifying that the first filter is cleansed; and   updating the degree of contamination of the dust collection filter based on the differential pressure value detected by the differential pressure sensor after identifying that the first filter is cleansed.   
     
     
         12 . The control method of  claim 11 , further comprising, based on identifying that the first filter is cleansed, storing a number of cleansing of the first filter. 
     
     
         13 . The control method of  claim 11 , further comprising, based on the rate of change exceeding a third threshold value, providing a notification for replacing the first filter. 
     
     
         14 . The control method of  claim 10 , further comprising displaying the degree of contamination of the first filter and the degree of contamination of the second filter through a user interface. 
     
     
         15 . The control method of  claim 14 , wherein the user interface comprises a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs), and
 wherein the displaying the degree of contamination of the first filter and the degree of contamination of the second filter through the user interface comprises changing at least one of a number and a color of LEDs among the plurality of LEDs based on the degree of contamination of the first filter or the degree of contamination of the second filter.