Air conditioner, control device thereof, and method of controlling the same

A control device comprising:

• a plurality of branch ducts;
• a plurality of changers configured to change an operation state of at least one indoor unit connected to at least one of the plurality of branch ducts to any one of a cooling operation and a heating operation;
• and
• a controller configured to set the plurality of changers to operate according to a predetermined operation mode for each of the plurality of changers, for M times operations, wherein M is smaller than a number of the plurality of changers,
• wherein, for each of a plurality of indoor units, the controller is further configured to:
• determine an operation state of the indoor unit, for each of the M times operations
• determine an operation mode for each of the plurality of changers, for each of the M times operations, wherein the operation mode is any one of a cooling mode or a heating mode,
• detect one or more first changers among the plurality of changers which was set to the cooling mode when the indoor unit performs the cooling operation, for each of the M times operations,
• detect one or more second changers among the plurality of changers which was set to the heating mode when the indoor unit performs the heating operation, for each of the M times operations, and
• determine a changer which is connected to the indoor unit based on at least one indoor unit operation changer that was set to the operation mode corresponding to the operation state of the indoor unit in the M times operations.

A method of controlling an air conditioner, the method comprising:

• setting a plurality of indoor unit operation changers to operate according to a predetermined operation mode for each of the plurality of indoor unit operation changers, for M times operations, wherein M is smaller than a number of the plurality of indoor unit operation changers, wherein the operation mode is any one of a cooling mode or a heating mode;
• and
• determining an indoor unit operation changer that is connected to an indoor unit, for each of a plurality of indoor units;
• wherein the determining comprises:
• determining an operation state of the indoor unit, for each of the M times operations, wherein the operation state is any one of a cooling operation or a heating operation, and
• detecting at least one indoor unit operation changer, which was set to the operation mode corresponding to the operation state of the indoor unit, among the plurality of indoor unit operation changers, for each of the M times operations;
• and
• determining the indoor unit operation changer which is connected to the indoor unit, based on the at least one indoor unit operation changer that was set to the operation mode corresponding to the operation state of the indoor unit in the M times operations.