Refrigeration – Automatic control – Of external fluid or means
Reexamination Certificate
2002-12-19
2004-05-11
Doerrler, William C. (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Automatic control
Of external fluid or means
C062S180000, C700S276000, C165S209000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06732540
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioning plant and a control method thereof, and more particularly to an air conditioning plant capable of optimal operation optimized with a view to energy conservation, operating cost reduction and conservation of the global environment and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-98358 discloses a primary pump type heat source current transformation system which air-conditions a building by supplying in a circulatory manner cold or hot water from only a heat source side. This system comprises a cold/hot water generator which supplies cold or hot water to an air conditioner, a cooling tower which supplies cooling water to the cold/hot water generator, and a pumping variable flow rate control unit which performs variable control so as to supplying in a circulatory manner the cold or hot water and the cooling water according to the air conditioning load, and the power consumption by a cooling water pump and a cold water pump is reduced by varying the flow rates of the cold or hot water and the cooling water.
However, as the air conditioning method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-98358 is to reduce the power consumption by the cooling water pump and the cold water pump by varying only the flow rates of the cold or hot water and the cooling water, the control is not designed to reduce the overall power consumption by the air conditioning plant, and accordingly it is not possible to reduce power consumption by the whole air conditioning plant.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention, attempted in view of the circumstances noted above, is to provide an air conditioning plant capable of reducing the whole energy consumption, the operating cost or the carbon dioxide emission of the whole air conditioning plant and a control method thereof.
In order to attain the object stated above, the present invention is directed to a control method of an air conditioning plant having at least one air conditioner, a low/high-temperature heat generator which supplies a low/high-temperature heat transfer medium to the air conditioner, and a heat source/sink which supplies a heat discharging/absorbing medium to the low/high-temperature heat generator, whereby the setpoints of at least the draft temperature of the at least one air conditioner, the low/high-temperature heat transfer medium temperature of the low/high-temperature heat generator and the heat discharging/absorbing medium temperature of the heat source/sink are optimized so as to reduce at least one of the energy consumption, the operating cost and the carbon dioxide emission of the air conditioning plant within the extent of satisfying the set conditions of air conditioning.
The present invention is also directed to an air conditioning plant having at least one air conditioner, a low/high-temperature heat generator which supplies a low/high-temperature heat transfer medium to the air conditioner, and a heat source/sink which supplies a heat discharging/absorbing medium to the low/high-temperature heat generator, wherein the setpoints of at least the draft temperature of the at least one air conditioner, the low/high-temperature heat transfer medium temperature of the low/high-temperature heat generator and the temperature of the heat discharging/absorbing medium from the heat source/sink can be optimized so as to reduce the energy consumption, the operating cost or the carbon dioxide emission of the air conditioning plant within the extent of satisfying the set conditions of air conditioning.
The present invention is also directed to a control method of an air conditioning plant comprising at least one air conditioner, at least one low/high-temperature heat generators which supply a low/high-temperature heat transfer medium to the air conditioner, a heat source/sink which cools or heats the low/high-temperature heat generator, a low/high-temperature heat accumulator which stores the low/high-temperature heat transfer medium during a period of a low low/high-temperature heat load, heat transfer medium conveying units, such as pumps, fans and blowers, which connect the aforementioned devices, and control units which control the temperatures of heat generated by these devices and/or the flow rate of conveying the heat transfer medium, further provided with a group of measuring instruments with which data representing the operating states of individual units including the temperature and the flow rate are measured, a group of control units with which the operation of individual units is controlled, and a central monitoring device which is linked by signal lines to the group of measuring instruments and the group of control units, wherein the central monitoring device has, built into it, at least either an air conditioning plant operation simulator which manages the operation of the whole air conditioning plant or an air conditioning plant operational data table; computes on the basis of real time operational data picked up by the measuring instruments the optimal operating temperature and the optimal flow rate for the constituent units of the air conditioning plant and the optimal number of operating units of at least one of the low/high-temperature heat generators to minimize the energy consumption, operating cost or carbon dioxide emission equivalent or any indicator combining two or more of these factors of the whole air conditioning plant in predetermined ranges of conditions, including the temperature and humidity, of air conditioning, ranges of energy consumption conditions with respect to electric power, fuel, water and so forth, or various permissible areas of condition setting which satisfy the ranges of requirements set by combining these two sets of conditions in a prioritized manner; and supplies those optimal values to the group of control units as control setpoints, and the control unit group generates control signals on the basis of the control setpoints, supplies the control signals to the constituent units of the air conditioning plant or to the pertinent control units themselves to control at least two of the constituent units of the air conditioning plant at substantially the same time.
The present invention is also directed to a control method of an air conditioning plant comprising at least one air conditioner, at least one low/high-temperature heat generators which supply a low/high-temperature heat transfer medium to the air conditioner, a heat source/sink which cools or heats the low/high-temperature heat generator, heat transfer medium conveying units, such as pumps, fans and blowers, which connect the aforementioned devices, and control units which control the temperatures of heat generated by these devices and/or the flow rate of conveying the heat transfer medium, a group of measuring instruments with which data representing the operating states of individual units including the temperature and the flow rate are measured, a group of control units with which the operation of individual units is controlled, and a central monitoring device which is linked by signal lines to the group of measuring instruments and the group of control units, wherein the central monitoring device has, built into it, at least either an air conditioning plant operation simulator which manages the operation of the whole air conditioning plant or an air conditioning plant operational data table; computes on the basis of real time operational data picked up by the measuring instruments the optimal operating temperature and the optimal flow rate for the constituent units of the air conditioning plant and the optimal number of operating units of at least one of the low/high-temperature heat generators to minimize the energy consumption, operating cost or carbon dioxide emission equivalent or any indicator combining two or more of these factors of the whole air conditioning plant in predetermined ranges of conditions, including the
Kikuchi Hiroshige
Miyajima Yuuji
Nakajima Tadakatsu
Oshima Noboru
Sakai Hiroo
Doerrler William C.
Hitachi Plant Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd.
Nixon & Peabody LLP
Safran David S.
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