US 6,453,689 B2 · Refrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus and control method therefor

Abstract

In a refrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus including operating/controlling units such as outdoor units, indoor units and control devices for individually or collectively controlling the driving of the outdoor units and the indoor units, each operating/controlling unit being equipped with a controller for controlling the driving of the operating/controlling unit, the controller having a rewritable memory for storing a control program, control parameter data, control data, etc., and the controllers being connected to one another through communication lines, there is provided at least one data writer which is connected to at least one of the operating/controlling units to transmit control communication data to the controllers of the operating/controlling units when the content of the memory of the controller of at least one of the operating/controlling units is required to be written/rewritten, wherein the control communication data contains identification information with which each controller judges whether the control communication data received is addressed to the operating/controlling unit of the controller concerned, and if the control communication data is judged to be addressed to the operating/controlling unit of the controller concerned, the controller writes/rewrites the control data, etc. of the memory thereof.

Claims10

Dependent claims

A refrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus including operating/controlling units containing outdoor units for performing heat transfer from/to an outside environment, indoor units connected to said outdoor units through refrigerant pipes, and control devices for controlling the driving of said outdoor units and said indoor units, each operating/controlling unit being equipped with a controller which controls the driving of said unit and has a rewritable memory for storing at least one of a control program, control parameter data, and control data, said controllers being connected to one another through communication lines so as to carry out mutual data communications with one another, wherein the apparatus further includes at least one data writer which is connected to at any one of said operating/controlling units containing said outdoor units, said indoor units and said control devices and said communication lines to transmit control communication data to all of said controllers of said operating/controlling units in order to carry out data writing/rewriting on any specific one of said operating/controlling units, wherein the control communication data contains control data to be written/rewritten for said specific one of said operating/controlling units, and identification information for indicating the specific one of said operating/controlling units on which the data writing/rewriting should be carried out, and if any one of said controllers of said operating/controlling units judges that the control communication data is addressed to said controller itself, said controller writes/rewrites the control data in the memory of said controller.

A method for controlling a refrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus which includes operating/controlling units containing outdoor units for performing heat transfer from/to an outside environment, indoor units connected to the outdoor units through refrigerant pipes, and control devices for controlling the driving of the outdoor units and the indoor units, each operating/controlling unit being equipped with a controller which controls the driving of said unit and has a rewritable memory for storing a control program, control parameter data, control data, etc., the operating/controlling units being respectively provided with ID codes which are set to be identical to one another when the operating/controlling units have the same function, but different from one another when the operating/controlling units have different functions, and the controllers of the operating/controlling units being connected to one another through communication lines so as to carry out mutual data communications with one another, characterized by comprising the steps of:

transmitting control communication data instructing writing/rewriting of the control data, etc. of the memory of at least one of the operating/controlling units to each of the operating/controlling units, the control communication data containing a target unit ID code for specifying an operating/controlling unit which is required to be subjected to the data writing/rewriting;
comparing the target unit ID code with the ID code which is inherently allocated to each operating/controlling unit receiving the control communication data to judge whether the control communication data containing the target unit ID code is addressed to the operating/controlling unit concerned;
and
indicating “completion of writing/rewriting of the control data, etc.” if the target unit ID code is coincident with the ID code, or indicating “ID inconsistency” and “no writing/rewriting of the control data, etc.” if the target unit ID code is not coincident with the ID code.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Refrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus and control method therefor

Life of this patent

Refrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus and control method therefor

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims10