Air conditioning system, air conditioning apparatus, and control method

An air conditioning apparatus comprising:

• an outdoor unit that includes a compressor;
• a plurality of indoor units that are connected to the outdoor unit through a refrigerant pipe;
• and
• a control device configured to control the outdoor unit and the indoor units, wherein
• the control device includes a controller configured to:
• predict, as a first predicting, room temperature of an air-conditioned space in which the indoor units are installed, by using a plurality of operation state amounts relating to air conditioning operation;
• and
• predict, as a second predicting, a point of time when each indoor unit out of the indoor units is switched to thermo-ON and a point of time when it is switched to thermo-OFF, by using the room temperature predicted by the first predicting and a set temperature that is a target temperature of the air conditioning operation;
• change the set temperature of each of the indoor units such that the periods of time when at least two of the indoor units out of the indoor units are switched to the thermo-ON overlap with each other according to the point of time when each of the indoor unit is switched to the thermo-ON or the thermo-OFF, by using a prediction result of the second predicting;
• and
• control driving of the compressor.

A control method of an air conditioning apparatus that includes an outdoor unit including a compressor, a plurality of indoor units that are connected to the outdoor unit through a refrigerant pipe, to control driving of the compressor, the method comprising:

• predicting room temperature of an air-conditioned space in which the indoor units are installed, by using a plurality of operation state amounts relating to air conditioning operation;
• predicting a point of time when each indoor unit out of the indoor units is switched to thermo-ON and a point of time when it is switched to thermo-OFF, by using the predicted room temperature and a set temperature that is a target temperature of the air conditioning operation;
• changing the set temperature of each of the indoor units such that the periods of time when at least two of the indoor units out of the indoor units are switched to the thermo-ON overlap with each other according to the point of time when each of the indoor unit is switched to the thermo-ON or the thermo-OFF, by using the predicted points of times to be switched to the thermo-ON and the thermo-OFF;
• and
• controlling driving of the compressor, by processing circuitry.