Air conditioner performing noise prevention control, and control method therefor

Abstract

A method of controlling an air conditioner includes receiving an off-control signal to terminate an air conditioning operation of the air conditioner, determining whether the off-control signal to terminate the air conditioning operation is for immediately terminating a fan operation, based on determining that the off-control signal is for immediately terminating the fan operation, stopping a fan of the air conditioner by using normal termination control, based on determining that the off-control signal is not for immediately terminating the fan operation, determining whether a fan operation termination condition is satisfied, and based on the fan operation termination condition being satisfied, stopping the fan of the air conditioner by using noise prevention control which is at a rate lower than a revolution per minute (rpm) reduction rate of the fan in the normal terminating control.

1 . A method of controlling an air conditioner, the method comprising:
 receiving an off-control signal to terminate an air conditioning operation of the air conditioner;   determining whether the off-control signal to terminate the air conditioning operation is for immediately terminating a fan operation;   based on determining that the off-control signal is for immediately terminating the fan operation, stopping a fan of the air conditioner by using a normal termination control;   based on determining that the off-control signal is not for immediately terminating the fan operation, determining whether a fan operation termination condition is satisfied; and   based on the fan operation termination condition being satisfied, stopping the fan of the air conditioner by using noise prevention control at a rate lower than a revolution per minute (rpm) reduction rate of the fan stopping by using the normal termination control.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the stopping of the fan by using the noise prevention control comprises:
 reducing a fan rpm of the fan in a first section based on a first reduction rate;   reducing the fan rpm in a second section in which the fan rpm is at a lower rpm than the fan in the first section and at least at a set rpm, based on a second reduction rate higher than the first reduction rate; and   reducing the fan rpm in a third section in which the fan is at a lower rpm than the fan in the second section to 0.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein:
 the reducing of the fan rpm of the fan in the first section comprises controlling a reduction rate of the fan rpm with a set value of the first reduction rate by using proportional-integral-differential (PID) control,   the reducing of the fan rpm in the second section comprises controlling the reduction rate of the fan rpm with a set value of the second reduction rate by using PID control, and   the reducing of the fan rpm to 0 in the third section comprises reducing the fan rpm to 0 without PID control.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the first section has a fan rpm of 1000 or more, the second section has a fan rpm of 500 to less than 1000, and the third section has a fan rpm of less than 500. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the terminating of the fan by using the noise prevention control comprises reducing the fan rpm at a set rate by using PID control. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining of whether the off-control signal is for immediately terminating the fan operation comprises
 identifying whether an automatic drying function is set based on the off-control signal corresponding to a power-off signal requesting power-off of the air conditioner; and   determining that the off-control signal is for immediately termination the fan operation based on the automatic drying function not being set.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining of whether the off-control signal is not for immediately terminating the fan operation comprises:
 determining that the off-control signal is not for immediately terminating the fan operation based on the off-control signal corresponding to a termination reservation signal requesting powering off the air conditioner after a certain period of time.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the termination reservation signal corresponds to at least one of a reservation setting signal to request powering off the air conditioner after a certain period of time, or a sleep mode setting signal to request powering off the air conditioner after a certain period of time after the air conditioning operation is performed in a low-noise mode. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the stopping of the fan by using the normal termination control comprises:
 based on determining that the off-control signal is for immediately terminating the fan operation, identifying whether a noise prevention mode is set; and   based on the noise prevention mode not being set, stopping the fan by using the normal termination control.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the stopping of the fan by using the normal termination control comprises
 based on determining that the off-control signal is for immediately terminating the fan operation, identifying whether a current time belongs to a preset noise prevention time zone; and   based on the current time does not being within the preset noise prevention time zone, stopping the fan by using the normal termination control in the first mode.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the stopping of the fan by using the normal termination control comprises
 identifying whether the air conditioner is operating in a windless mode; and   based on the air conditioner operating in the windless mode, stopping the fan by using the normal termination control.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the stopping of the fan by using the normal termination control comprises stopping the fan by blocking a driving current applied to a fan motor to drive the fan. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the stopping of the fan by using the noise prevention control comprises controlling the fan rpm reduction rate by controlling a duty ratio of a driving current applied to a fan motor to drive the fan by using PID control. 
     
     
         14 . An air conditioner comprising:
 a fan;   a fan operation module configured to operate the fan;   an input interface;   a communication module;   a memory to store at least one instruction; and   at least one processor configured to execute the at least one instruction in the memory to:
 receive an off-control signal to terminate air conditioning operation through the communication module or the input interface, 
 determine whether the off-control signal is for immediately terminating fan operation, 
 based on determining that the off-control signal is for immediately terminating the fan operation, control the fan operation module to stop the fan by using normal termination control, 
 based on determining that the off-control signal is not for immediately terminating the fan operation, determine whether a fan operation termination condition is satisfied, and 
 based on the fan operation termination condition being satisfied, control the fan operation module to stop the fan by using noise prevention control at a rate lower than a fan revolution per minute (rpm) reduction rate of the fan stopping by using the normal termination control. 
   
     
     
         15 . The air conditioner of  claim 14 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the at least one instruction in the memory further to:
 reduce the fan rpm in a first section based on a first reduction rate;   reduce the fan rpm in a second section in which the fan rpm is at a lower rpm than the fan in the first section and at least at a set rpm, based on a second reduction rate higher than the first reduction rate; and   reduce the fan rpm in a third section in which the fan is at a lower rpm than the fan in the second section to 0.   
     
     
         16 . The air conditioner of  claim 14 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the at least one instruction in the memory further to:
 identify whether an automatic drying function is set based on the off-control signal corresponding to a power-off signal requesting power-off of the air conditioner; and   determine that the off-control signal is not for immediately terminating the fan operation based on the automatic drying function being set.   
     
     
         17 . The air conditioner of  claim 14 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the at least one instruction in the memory further to:
 determine that the off-control signal is not for immediately terminating the fan operation based on the off-control signal corresponding to a termination reservation signal requesting powering off the air conditioner after a certain period of time.   
     
     
         18 . The air conditioner of  claim 14 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the at least one instruction in the memory further to:
 based on determining that the off-control signal is for immediately terminating the fan operation, identify whether a noise prevention mode is set;   based on the noise prevention mode being set, stop the fan by using the noise prevention control; and   based on the noise prevention mode not being set, stop the fan by using the normal termination control.   
     
     
         19 . The air conditioner of  claim 14 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the at least one instruction in the memory further to:
 identify whether the air conditioner is operating in a windless mode; and   based on the air conditioner operating in the windless mode, stop the fan by using the normal termination control.   
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program to cause a computer to perform the method of  claim 1 .