Air conditioner and method of controlling the same

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

• operating the air conditioner in a strong wind mode;
• comparing an indoor fan motor driving voltage with a reference driving voltage of a rated air flow rate when an indoor fan motor RPM reaches a reference value of the strong wind mode;
• storing a current count value of a current indoor fan motor RPM as a reference count value when the indoor fan motor driving voltage is different from the reference indoor fan motor driving voltage of the rated air flow rate;
• changing into a driving condition setting mode and operating the air conditioner in an indoor fan-only mode;
• comparing an average indoor fan motor RPM with a target indoor fan motor RPM;
• comparing a current indoor fan motor RPM with a minimum indoor fan motor RPM when the average indoor fan motor RPM is less than the target indoor fan motor RPM based on the comparing of the average indoor fan motor RPM with the target indoor fan motor RPM;
• and
• setting the current state as the reference value of the rated air flow rate when the current indoor fan motor RPM is equal to the minimum indoor fan motor based on the comparing of the current indoor fan motor RPM with the minimum indoor fan motor RPM.

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

• changing into a driving condition setting mode and operating the air conditioner in an indoor fan-only mode;
• comparing an average indoor fan motor RPM with a target indoor fan motor RPM;
• and
• setting a current state as a reference value of the rated air flow rate when the average indoor fan motor RPM is less than the target indoor fan motor based on the comparing of the average indoor fan motor RPM with the target indoor fan motor RPM.

An air conditioner, comprising:

• an indoor fan motor driven in response to a control signal;
• and
• a controller to provide the control signal to the indoor fan motor, the controller further comprising:
• a driving mode controller to control the air conditioner to change into a driving condition setting mode and to operate in an indoor fan-only mode under a non-feedback control state, and
• a driving condition setter to determine whether an average indoor fan motor RPM is less than a target indoor fan motor RPM when the air conditioner operates in the indoor fan-only mode under the non-feedback control state, to determine whether a current indoor fan motor RPM is equal to a minimum indoor fan motor RPM when it is determined the average indoor fan motor RPM is less than the target indoor fan motor RPM, and to set a current state as a reference value of a rated air flow rate to maintain a desired air flow rate of the air conditioner when it is determined the current indoor fan motor RPM is equal to the minimum indoor fan motor RPM.