Air conditioning equipment

IS 2 386 147 T3

DESCRIPTION

Air conditioner, signal transmission method and signal transmission method for air conditioner

Technical field

The present invention relates to an air conditioning equipment in which the devices are arranged separately inside and outside a room, and fulfill the functions while exchanging control signals with each other, and to a signal transmission method for an equipment air conditioning.

Previous technique

A prior art air conditioning equipment has been configured such that electrical isolation devices are arranged on the in-room side of the unit and on the out-of-room side of the unit of each of the pipe. gas side refrigerant and liquid side refrigerant pipe of an air conditioning equipment which is divided into an in-room unit and an out-of-room unit, while the out-of-room unit control circuit board is connected with the gas-side refrigerant pipe and the liquid-side refrigerant pipe, thus the gas-side and liquid-side refrigerant pipes of the liquid are used as the means of communication for the control signals of the unit inside the room and the unit outside the room. (See Patent Document JPA-6-2880, claim 1 and Figures 1 and 2). Patent document JP-57012240-A shows another air conditioning equipment according to the preamble of claim 1.

Description of the invention

Problems that the invention must solve

The prior art air conditioning equipment, however, has been problematic in that the refrigerant pipes serving as communication media and the unit inside the room as well as the unit outside the room need to be insulated. , and that an apparatus configuration becomes large-scale and complicated.

Especially, even when the transmission scheme of the prior art air conditioning equipment has to be applied to an existing air conditioning equipment, an insulation work has turned out to be very difficult and complicated, and therefore the application has actually been almost impossible.

Furthermore, when the transmission method of the prior art has to be applied to an air conditioning equipment already installed in a building or a house, the refrigerant pipes serving as communication means and the unit within the room as well as the unit outside the room need to be insulated, so that the steel tubes near the ends of each refrigerant tube have inevitably been replaced by electrical isolation devices.

Additionally, when the refrigerant pipe is made long as in a building air conditioning system, the electrical noise could mix from the supporting portions of the pipe etc., so that also different parts of both ends are inevitably subjected. to electrical insulation treatments.

The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and its object is to provide an air conditioning equipment in which the signal transmissions between the devices inside and outside a room are carried out by a very simple configuration.

Means to solve problems

According to claim 1, an air conditioning equipment is provided, comprising:

a refrigerant tube;

a unit within the room that is connected to one end of the refrigerant tube; and an out-of-room unit that is connected to the other end of the refrigerant tube; wherein the refrigerant pipe comprises signal coupling portions which are respectively disposed on both terminal parts of the refrigerant pipe, and each of which couples an AC control signal to the refrigerant pipe and presents a predetermined impedance with respect to the AC electrical signal characterized in that each of the signal coupling portions includes an annular core that is formed of a material magnetic and through which the refrigerant tube is inserted centrally, and a connection terminal that is located in electrical contact with a metallic part of the refrigerant pipe on the middle side with respect to said annular core.

According to claim 8 there is provided a signal transmission method for air conditioning equipment for transmitting an AC control signal:

IS 2 386 147 T3

Advantages of the invention

The air conditioning equipment according to the present invention is provided with the signal coupling portions in both terminal parts of the refrigerant pipe respectively, so that a transmission line exhibiting the predetermined impedance with respect to the AC electrical signal can form in the refrigerant pipe. As a result, electrical isolation devices as in the prior art dispense with this, to achieve the excellent advantage that signal transmissions between the unit inside the room and the unit outside the room can be realized by the simple appliance configuration. .

Furthermore, an existing refrigerant pipe can be used as a communication medium simply by fixing the signal coupling portions, each of which consists of an annular core and a connecting terminal, to the refrigerant pipe. As a result, the excellent advantage is achieved that the existing refrigerant pipe can be used as the communication medium, without the work of replacing the steel pipes near both ends of the refrigerant pipe, with the electrical isolation devices.

Best way to carry out the invention

Embodiment 1:

Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an air conditioning equipment according to this embodiment.

Referring to the figure, a unit outside room 1 and a unit inside room 2 are connected through a gas-side refrigerant pipe 3 and a liquid-side refrigerant pipe 4 with an outer wall 10 interposed between them.

The unit within the room 2 is configured by a refrigerant circuit 8 of the unit within the room, a control circuit 9 of the unit within the room and a signal coupling circuit 7 (signal coupling portion) . Furthermore, the control circuit 9 of the unit inside the room exchanges control signals by means of AC signals, and the AC control signal produced by the control circuit 9 of the unit inside the room is transmitted to the unit outside the room. room through the signal coupling circuit 7 and through the middle / means of the gas-side refrigerant pipe 3 and / or the liquid-side refrigerant pipe 4.

The unit outside the room 1 is configured by a refrigerant circuit 5 of the unit outside the room, a control circuit 6 of the unit outside the room and a signal coupling circuit 7 (signal coupling portion) . Furthermore, the control circuit 6 of the unit outside the room exchanges control signals by AC signals analogously to the control circuit 9 of the unit inside the room, and the AC control signal produced from the out-of-room unit control circuit 6 is coupled to the gas-side refrigerant pipe 3 and / or the liquid-side refrigerant pipe 4 through the coupling circuit 7 signals and transmitted to the unit inside room 2.

Figure 2A is a block diagram showing the principle of the signal coupling circuit 7 according to this embodiment. Here, the unit outside room 1 will be described by way of example. The refrigerant circuit 5 of the out-of-room unit is made of a metallic material, and the liquid-side pipe 3 and the gas-side pipe 4 are electrically short-circuited through the refrigerant circuit 5 of the out-of-room unit. the room. As shown in Figure 2B, each of the liquid-side tube 3 and the gas-side tube 4 is inserted through the central part of an annular core 11 made of a magnetic material, thereby achieving a inductance which is 1 in the number of turns. In the case of, for example, a toroidal core having an internal radius R1, an external radius R2, a height h and a permeability μ, a self-inductance L is:

L = (mh / 2π) ln (R2 / R1), and has an impedance of:

Z = j2pfL with respect to the AC signal of frequency f. Consequently, a transmission line that is determined with an impedance of 2 * Z is formed on the side of the refrigerant circuit 5 of the out-of-room unit under the action of the cores 11 through which the tube penetrates. on the liquid side 3 and the gas side tube 4, with respect to the control signal AC transmitted by the control circuit 6 of the unit outside the room.

Figure 3 is a view showing a coupling clamp 12 which is a practicable example of the signal coupling circuit 7. The coupling clamp 12 includes partial core parts 11a in which the annular core 11 is divided in half a along its central axis, and a connection terminal 13 that couples the control signal AC from the control circuit 6 of the unit outside the room. Furthermore, the connection terminal 13 includes a metallic contact portion 13a which is arranged in the insertion part of the one-sided tube.

ES 2 386 147 T3 terminal of the partial core part 11a in the longitudinal direction thereof, and a connection portion 13b for connection of the control signal AC of the control circuit 6 of the unit outside the room.

The coupling clip 12 is constructed so that it can be opened and closed, and can be closed in a state where the partial core pieces 11a are combined, as shown in Figure 4. This time, the metal part of the tube on the side of the liquid 3 or the gas-side tube 4 is held between the central parts of the part-core pieces 11a, thereby forming the inductance described with reference to Figures 2A. Furthermore, the connection portion 13b of the coupling clip 12 serves as a portion for the injection of the control signal CA into the corresponding pipeline.

Figure 5 is a view showing the pipe connection part of the unit outside of room 1, and shows a workable example in which the control signals CA are coupled to the liquid-side tube 3 and the tube of the gas side 4 using the coupling clamps 12 as shown in Figure 3. As shown in Figure 5, the liquid side tube 3 and the gas side tube 4 are connected to the unit outside of room 1 in the same way as in the air conditioning equipment explained in the prior art. , and the coupling clips 12 electrically connected to the control signal wires 16 from the control circuit 6 of the unit outside the room are mounted on the metal parts of the liquid side tube 3 and the gas side tube 4 such as to cover them, thereby forming the signal coupling circuit 7 shown in Figure 1.

The liquid side tube 3 and the gas side tube 4 connected to the refrigerant circuit 5 of the unit outside the room are covered with a heat insulator made of an electrically insulating material, such as foamed urethane, which extends about the unit inside the room 2. Similarly, as shown in Figure 1, the coupling clamps 12 are also mounted on the connecting parts of the refrigerant circuit piping 8 of the unit within the room, of the unit within the room 2, so covering the pipes, by the same method as for the unit outside room 1, thereby forming the signal coupling circuit 7.

In this way, the coupling clips 12 are mounted on the liquid-side tube 3 and the gas-side tube 4, so that they form parallel lines that are isolated from each other and each of which has both of its ends. terminated with the appropriate predetermined AC impedance. The control circuit 6 of the unit outside the room and the control circuit 9 of the unit inside the room transmit and receive the control signals to and from each other through the lines, and the unit outside Room 1 and the unit within Room 2 perform air conditioning operations as a pair.

As described above, according to this scheme, it is not necessary to alter the work of the refrigerant pipes of an air conditioner from the prior art method at all, and it is allowed to use refrigerant pipes as the transmission lines. , easily simply by mounting the fixing clamps 12, so that air conditioning equipment having good construction work properties and dispensing with control wiring work can be realized.

Embodiment 2:

Next, an air conditioning equipment according to Embodiment 2 will be described. Figures 6A and 6B are block diagrams showing the principle of a signal coupling circuit 7 according to Embodiment 2. By the way, a constituent parts identical or equivalent to those of Embodiment 1 are assigned the same reference numbers and signs, and will be omitted from the description.

In Figure 6A, a unit outside of room 1 will be described by way of example. A refrigerant circuit 5 of the unit outside the room is made of a metallic material, and is electrically connected to the ground wire connection terminal of the unit outside the room 1. Accordingly, a liquid-side tube 3 and a gas-side tube 4 are electrically connected to the ground wire connection terminal through the refrigerant circuit 5 of the out-of-room unit. Also, in general, the unit outside of room 1 has undergone ground wire work. Even when a signal is directly coupled to the liquid-side tube 3 or the gas-side tube 4 in this state remains intact, a coupling loss is large for a low ground impedance, and signal propagation cannot be expected. to the pipeline.

As shown in Figure 6B, each of the liquid-side tube 3 and the gas-side tube 4 is inserted through the central part of an annular core 11 made of a magnetic material, thereby achieving a inductance that is 1 in the number of turns. In the case of, for example, a toroidal core that has an internal radius R1, an external radius R2, a height h and a permeability μ, a self-inductance L is:

L = (mh / 2π) ln (R2 / R1), and has an impedance of:

Z = j2pfL with respect to the AC signal of frequency f. Consequently, a transmission line that is grounded with an impedance of Z is formed on the refrigerant circuit 5 side of the unit outside the room under the action of the core 11 through which the tube from the side of liquid 3 or tube

ES 2 386 147 T3 on the gas side 4, with respect to the control signal AC transmitted by the control circuit 6 of the unit outside the room.

Figure 7 is a view showing the tube connection part of the unit outside of room 1, and shows a practicable example where the control signal CA is coupled to the liquid side tube 3 or the liquid side tube of gas 4 using the coupling clamp 12 shown in Figure 3. For brevity of description, the signal should be coupled to the gas side tube 4. As shown in Figure 7, the liquid side tube 3 and the gas side tube 4 are connected to the unit outside of room 1 in the same way as in the air conditioning equipment explained in the prior art. , and the coupling clip 12 electrically connected to the center conductor of a control signal coaxial cable 17 from the out-of-room unit control circuit 6 is mounted on the metal part of the gas-side tube 4 to cover it. Furthermore, the outer conductor of the control signal coaxial cable 17 is connected to a wave driving portion 18 which covers the heat insulator surface of the gas side tube 4 in a predetermined width using an electrically conductive material. In this way, the signal coupling circuit 7 shown in Figure 1 is formed.

Similarly, as shown in Figure 1, the coupling clip 12 is also mounted on the connection part of the refrigerant circuit tube 8 of a unit within the room 2, so that it covers the gas side tube 4 , and the outer conductor of the control signal coaxial cable 17 is connected to a wave drive portion 18, by the same method as for the unit inside room 1, whereby the signal coupling circuit 7 is formed.

In such an aspect, when the control signal AC is transmitted from the control circuit 6 of the unit outside the room, an electromagnetic field is generated between the surface of the gas side tube 4 and the wave driving portion 18, and the electromagnetic field propagates through the gas side tube surface layer 4. Since the gas-side tube has the predetermined impedance to ground due to the self-inductance of the coupling clip 12, an exciting current is not entirely absorbed by ground, and an injection loss is suppressed. to make it low.

The electromagnetic field propagated through the surface layer of the gas side tube 4 reaches the signal coupling circuit 7 on the side of the unit inside room 2, to generate an electrical signal on the coaxial cable 17 of the control signal which is connected to the wave driving portion 10 and the coupling clamp 12. A control circuit 9 of the unit inside the room receives the electrical signal, whereby a communication is made. A communication from the unit inside room 2 to the unit outside room 1 is performed analogously with the transmission and reception operations reversed.

As described above, according to this scheme, it is not necessary to alter the work of the refrigerant pipe of a conditioner from the prior art method at all, and it is allowed to use the refrigerant pipe as the transmission line, of easy way simply by mounting the coupling clips 12 and mounting the wave drive portions 18 on the tube surfaces, so that air conditioning equipment having good construction work properties and dispensing with control wiring work can be realized.

Furthermore, although the case of the control signal coupling to the gas side tube 4 has been described in this embodiment, the same advantage can be obtained even when a signal or signals are coupled to the liquid side tube 3 or both tubes.

Figure 8 is a view showing the tube connection part of the unit outside of room 1, and shows a second practicable example in which the control signal CA is coupled to the liquid side tube 3 or the tube of the gas side 4 using the coupling clip 12 shown in Figure 3. For brevity of description, the signal will be coupled to the gas side tube 4. As shown in Figure 8, the liquid side tube 3 and the gas side tube 4 are connected to the unit outside the room 9 in the same way as in the air conditioning equipment explained in the prior art. , and the coupling clip 12 electrically connected to the center conductor of the coaxial cable 17 of the control signal from the control circuit 6 of the unit outside the room is mounted on the metal part of the gas side tube 4 so that it it covers. Furthermore, the outer conductor of the coaxial cable 17 of the control signal is connected to the refrigerant circuit 5 of the unit outside the room. In this way, the signal coupling circuit 7 is formed.

Similarly, the coupling clip 12 is also mounted on the connection part of the refrigerant circuit tube 8 of a unit inside the room 2, so that it covers the gas side tube 4, and the outer conductor of a cable Coaxial 17 of the control signal is connected to a refrigerant circuit 8 of the unit inside the room, by the same method as for the unit outside the room 1, thereby forming the signal coupling circuit 7.

In general, the unit within the room 2 is arranged in such a way that it is suspended from the structural member of the building 19 (the steel skeleton or the like) from a ceiling by means of a metal anchor or the like. Furthermore, the unit outside room 1 is grounded through the building structural member 19, or its ground wire and the structural member are coupled by electrostatic coupling or the like. As shown

ES 2 386 147 T3 in Figure 9, therefore, a transmission line is formed having the structure of the building 19 as a common line and employing the gas-side tube 4 terminated with the impedance of the coupling clamp 12 like an electric wire.

In such an aspect, the loop of an electrical signal is formed by the gas-side tube 4, the coupling clip 12, and the building structure 19, so that when the control signal AC is transmitted from the control circuit 6 From the unit outside the room, this AC control signal is transmitted to the unit inside the room 2 through the gas side tube 4. A control circuit 9 of the unit inside the room receives the control signal AC, whereby a communication takes place. A communication from the unit inside room 2 to the unit outside room 1 is performed analogously with the transmission and reception operations reversed.

As described above, according to this scheme, it is not necessary to alter the work of the refrigerant pipe of an air conditioner from the prior art method at all, and it is allowed to use the refrigerant pipe as the transmission line. , easily simply by mounting the coupling clip 12, so that air conditioning equipment having good construction work properties and dispensing with control wiring work can be realized.

Furthermore, although the case of the coupling of the control signal CA to the gas-side tube 4 has been described in this embodiment, the same advantage can be achieved even when a signal or signals are coupled to the liquid-side tube 3 or to both tubes. .

Embodiment 3:

Next, an air conditioning equipment according to Embodiment 3 will be described. Figure 10 is a block diagram showing the principle of a signal coupling circuit 7 according to Embodiment 3. By the way, at constituent parts identical or equivalent to those of Embodiment 1 are assigned the same reference numerals, and will be omitted from the description.

In Figure 10, a unit outside room 1 will be described by way of example. A refrigerant circuit 5 of the out-of-room unit is made of a metallic material, and a liquid-side tube 3 and a gas-side tube 4 are electrically short-circuited through the refrigerant circuit 5 of the out-of-room unit. the room. Assuming that the refrigerant circuit 5 of the out-of-room unit is a short-circuit terminator (bypass portion of the refrigerant pipe) and that the liquid-side pipe 3 and the gas-side pipe 4 are parallel lines, a Impedance at a distance 1 from the short-circuit terminator varies in a range of 0 - ¥ depending on distance 1, in principle as seen from the formulas and a graph indicated in Figures 11 and 12. As an example, when distance 1 is chosen to be 1/4 of the wavelength of an AC control signal for use, the impedance becomes infinity and the gas side tube 4 and the gas side tube of liquid 3 can be considered as insulated cable lines. Here, in the case of using a frequency of 1 GHz, the wavelength of the frequency is 30 cm and therefore the distance 1 of the short-circuit terminator can be set to 7.5 cm.

Figure 13 is a view showing the tube connection part of the unit outside room 1, and shows an example where the illustration of Figure 10 is specified. Distance 1 is coupled to the liquid side tube 3 and the gas side tube 4 at 1/4 wavelength according to the frequency of the AC control signal, whereby both tubes can be used as transmission lines.

A control circuit 6 outside the room and a control circuit 9 of the unit inside the room transmit and receive the control signals of the other through the lines, and the unit outside the room 1 and the unit inside room 2 run air conditioning operations on a pair.

As described above, according to this scheme, it is not necessary to alter the work of the refrigerant pipe of an air conditioner from the prior art method at all, and it is allowed to use refrigerant pipes as the transmission lines, easily by simply coupling the AC control signals to the 1/4 wavelength distance of the signals from the unit's refrigerant circuit outside the room 5, so that air conditioning equipment having good construction work properties and dispensing with control wiring work can be realized.

By the way, a single frequency is assumed here, but even when the frequency band of each control signal has a predetermined bandwidth, some communication schemes are able to absorb the frequency-dependent characteristics of the transmission line, and the distance from a feed point can be well set to substantially 1/4 of the frequency band for use.

Additionally, although the case of a unit outside of room 1 and a unit outside of room 2 has been described, it is also allowed to adopt a configuration in which a plurality of units within room 2 are connected to the unit outside of room 2. room 1, as a building air conditioning system (multi-air conditioner in a building) or vice versa. In this case, it is allowed to build a network system using the refrigerant pipes.

IS 2 386 147 T3

By the way, although the signal transmission method using the refrigerant pipe in the air conditioning equipment has been described in Embodiments 1-3, said signal transmission method is not restricted to the refrigerant pipe. Any tube that is made of an electrically conductive substance capable of transmitting AC electrical signals is allowed to be used. It is also allowed to use, for example, a water pipe, a gas pipe, a hot water supply pipe of a hot water supply system using a fan coil unit or the like, or the pipe of a heating appliance. type FF heating. A network system can be easily built using such a pipe that is already laid out in a building or house.

Embodiment 4:

Figure 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an air conditioning equipment according to this embodiment.

Referring to the figure, a unit inside the room 22 and a unit outside the room 23 are connected through a gas-side refrigerant pipe 24 and a liquid-side refrigerant pipe 25 with the outer wall 21 interposed between them.

The in-room unit 22 is configured by an in-room unit refrigerant circuit 27, an in-room unit control circuit 28, a signal distribution circuit 29, and an indoor antenna 30. In addition, the control circuit 28 of the unit inside the room exchanges control signals via radio waves and the control signals (electrical signals) produced by the control circuit 28 of the unit inside the room are transmitted to the outside / inside of a room through the signal distribution circuit 29 and through the liquid-side refrigerant tube 25 and the indoor antenna 30, respectively.

The out-of-room unit 23 is configured by an out-of-room unit refrigerant circuit 31, an out-of-room unit control circuit 32, and a coupler 33. Furthermore, the control circuit 32 of the unit outside the room exchanges control signals via radio waves analogously to the control circuit 28 of the unit inside the room, and the control signals (electrical signals) produced from the control circuit 32 of the out-of-room unit are coupled to the liquid-side refrigerant pipe 25 through the coupler 33 and transmitted into the room. Additionally, a remote controller 26 exchanges tamper signals via radio waves analogously to the unit inside the room 22 and the unit outside the room 23, and performs various manipulations / adjustments, etc. for the unit within the room 22.

Next, Figure 15 is a block diagram showing the details of the signal distribution circuit 29 within the unit within the room 22 in accordance with this embodiment.

Referring to the figure, a distributor 34 has the function of distributing the control signal (electrical signal) produced from the control circuit 28 of the unit within the room, to the indoor antenna 30 and a coupler 35 at a rate predetermined, and the function of mixing the control signals (electrical signals) from the indoor antenna 30 and the coupler 35, at a predetermined ratio, and then transmitting the mixed signals to the control circuit 28 of the indoor unit.

Now, the operations will be described with reference to Figures 14 and 15.

When remote controller 26 is manipulated into operation, an execution instruction is transmitted to the unit within room 22 as a radio wave signal (tamper signal). The radio wave signal is received by the indoor antenna 30 of the unit within the room 22, and is transmitted as an electrical signal to the control circuit 28 of the unit within the room through the distributor 34 within the distributor. signal 29. When the in-room unit control circuit 28 decodes the received electrical signal and judges the signal for the run command, it immediately gives the run command to the in-room unit refrigerant circuit 27.

Simultaneously, a control circuit 28 of the unit inside the room generates the electrical signal of an execution command destined for the unit outside the room 23, and conducts the generated signal to the signal distribution circuit 29. The distributor 34 of the signal distribution circuit 29 distributes the electrical signal to the indoor antenna 30 and the coupler 35 at the proper ratio, eg equitably. Furthermore, the electrical signal distributed to the coupler 35 is coupled to the liquid-side refrigerant tube 25 through this coupler 35.

Coupling methods for coupling the electrical signal to the liquid side refrigerant tube 25 will be described herein. Coupling methods can be broadly classified into an electrostatic coupling method and an inductive coupling method. Figures 16 and 17 show the constructions of the couplers 35 in the cases of adopting the electrostatic coupling method and the inductive coupling method, respectively.

As shown in Figure 16, in the electrostatic coupling method, the electrical signal is directly coupled to the liquid-side refrigerant tube 25 through a coupling capacitor 36, and a

ES 2 386 147 T3 radio wave signal generated by the coupling propagates through the surface layer of the refrigerant tube 25 on the liquid side. Furthermore, as shown in Figure 17, in the inductive coupling method, when a high frequency electrical signal flows through an induction coil 37, an induced current flows through the refrigerant tube 25 on the nearby liquid side. , as indicated by an arrow in the Figure, whereby the signal is coupled. Furthermore, a radio wave signal generated by the coupling propagates through the surface layer of the liquid-side refrigerant tube 25.

Here, the material of the refrigerant pipe is generally copper and the diameter of the pipe is 12.7mm or so. Furthermore, the frequency of the radio wave signal is selected from a microwave frequency band (eg between 2 to 3 GHz). Due to such adjustment, the radio wave signal propagates through the surface layer at a depth of about 1 mm from a copper surface. The electrical resistance of the refrigerant pipe on this occasion (in the microwave frequency band) is given by the formula (1):

R = P x L / S Formula (1) where R: electrical resistance (Ω)

P: resistivity (Wm)

L: length (m)

S: area (m²)

Therefore, when the electrical resistance is calculated by substituting the resistivity of copper, 17 nWm as P and the length of the refrigerant tube 100 m as L in the formula, it turns out to be approximately 35 Ω. Assuming that the receiving side impedance is 50 Ω, an attenuation at 100 m from the refrigerant pipe turns out to be approximately 4.6 dB.

On the other hand, in a case where the radio wave signal propagates through free space, it attenuates approximately 80 dB at a distance of 100 m. Therefore, when both attenuations are compared, it is understood that the first attenuation is much less, so that the radio wave signal can be transmitted at a very low loss in this embodiment.

In this way, according to the transmission method of this embodiment, the radio wave in the microwave frequency band is used as the radio wave signal, and it is transmitted by the effect of the surface layer, so very low loss can be transmitted. As a result, even when the liquid-side refrigerant pipe 25 and the unit inside the room 22 as well as the unit outside the room 23 are not isolated from each other, the radio wave signal can be transmitted at a sufficient level from the unit within room 22 to the unit outside of room 23 because the loss components attributable to the unit within room 22 and the unit outside of room 23 are also small.

More specifically, since the surface layer effect is not used in the prior art transmission method, the losses attributable to the unit inside room 22 and the unit outside room 23 are large, and it is necessary to replace the steel pipes near both ends of the refrigerant pipe with electrical isolation devices, while such work is unnecessary in the transmission method of this embodiment.

Furthermore, the radio wave signal that has reached the unit outside the room 23 in this way is input as an electrical signal to the control circuit 32 of the unit outside the room by the coupler 33 which is connected to the refrigerant pipe. 25 on the liquid side.

Here, coupler 33 is constructed by the coupling method shown in Figure 16 or Figure 17, analogously to unit coupler 35 within room 22.

When the electrical signal input into the control circuit 33 of the out-of-room unit is decoded by this control circuit 32 of the out-of-room unit and is judged to be the execution command, the control circuit 32 of the Out-of-room unit gives the command to run the refrigerant circuit 31 of the out-of-room unit.

In this way, the execution manipulation from the remote controller 26 is transmitted to the unit outside the room 23 through the unit inside the room 22 and the liquid-side refrigerant pipe 25, and the execution operation as the air conditioning equipment can be completed.

By the way, the case where the radio wave signal has been transmitted from the unit inside the room 22 to the unit outside the room 23 through the refrigerant pipe has been described here, but the operation is similar in the case Inverse, that is, a case where a radio wave signal is transmitted from the unit outside the address 23 to the unit inside the room 22 through the refrigerant pipe. By way of example, when any problem has occurred in the unit outside the room 23, the control circuit portion 32 of the unit outside the room generates the electrical signal of a stop command, and converts the generated signal into a radio wave signal and then transmits the radio wave signal to the refrigerant pipe. The radio wave signal reaches the unit inside room 22 through the refrigerant pipe, and is converted into a signal

ES 2 386 147 T3 electric there. The control circuit portion 28 of the unit within the room that has received the electrical signal, immediately stops the operation of the unit within the room 22 and commands that the display portion (not shown) of the unit within the room 22 shows the message operation stopped or similar.

As described above, this embodiment has been configured so that the electrical signal is coupled from one of the unit inside room 22 and the unit outside room 23 to the refrigerant pipe, and that the radio wave signal generated by the coupling is transmitted to the other unit along the surface layer of the refrigerant pipe. Therefore, the transmission and reception of the control signals between the unit inside room 22 and the unit outside room 23 has been allowed to be carried out without being affected by the external wall etc., and without requiring signal wiring. specialized. As a result, a construction job for existing air conditioning is just the easy assembly job, and the difficult and time-consuming job of replacing the steel pipes near both ends of the refrigerant pipe with the electrical isolation devices is dispensed with. .

Incidentally, regarding the transmission and reception of the control signals to and from another device located within the room (in this embodiment, the remote controller has been described by way of example), when the device is constructed so that it can communicate with the same radio wave signals as the control signals of the in-room / out-of-room units 22 and 23, the cost of arranging a transmit / receive circuit exclusively for the remote controller or the like can be reduced, and the in-room unit can be configured inexpensively.

Furthermore, although the case of coupling the electrical signal to the liquid-side refrigerant tube 25 has been described in this embodiment, the same advantages can be achieved even when a signal or signals are coupled to the gas-side refrigerant tube 24 or both the liquid-side refrigerant pipe 25 and the gas-side refrigerant pipe 24.

Additionally, although the case of a unit outside the room 23 and a unit inside the room 22 has been described, it is also allowed to adopt a configuration in which a plurality of units inside the room 22 are connected to a unit outside the room. room 23, as in a building's air conditioning system (multi-building conditioner) or vice versa. In this case, it is allowed to build a network system using the refrigerant pipes.

Furthermore, although the distribution ratio of the distributor 34 has been adjusted to evenly divide the signal between the coupler 35 and the indoor antenna, this distribution ratio can also be changed by considering the fact that the transmission attenuation of the refrigerant pipe is less than spatial transmission.

Still further, in the embodiment, the transfer of the signals using the refrigerant pipe has been described only with respect to the exchange of the control signals between the unit inside room 22 and the unit outside room 23, but the line of External network of, for example Internet, can also be connected to the unit outside the room 23. In this case, it is allowed to remotely manipulate both or either of the unit inside the room 22 and the unit outside the room 23 from an external control device that is connected to the network line. Transmission of a remote tamper signal from the out-of-room unit 23 to the in-room unit 22 is accomplished by transmitting the signal along the surface layer of the refrigerant tube 24 or 25 as a wave signal from radio, as noted above. Due to such a configuration, construction work to drive on any new network line in a room is dispensed with and the inexpensive network system of an air conditioner can be built.

Furthermore, as shown in Figure 18, the objects to be manipulated remotely are not restricted to the unit inside the room 22 and the unit outside the room 23, an information / electrical apparatus 40 which is connected to the unit. within the room 22 by radio or cable can also be made operable by remote control from an external control device 41 that is connected to a network line (in this example, signals are transmitted and received via indoor antenna 30 via radio). The information / electrical appliance 40, for example, can be a rice cooker, a washing machine, a video device or a personal computer, and the external control device 41 can be, for example, a mobile phone or a portable terminal. . Due to such a configuration, even in the case that a network environment is not built in the room, it is allowed to externally manipulate the electrical appliance 40 through the unit inside the room and the inexpensive network system of the appliance can be built. information / electrical.

By the way, although the signal transmission method using the refrigerant pipe of the air conditioning equipment has been described in the embodiment, said signal transmission method is not restricted to the refrigerant pipe. Any tube that is made of an electrically conductive substance capable of transmitting radio wave signals along a surface layer is allowed to be used. It is also allowed to use, for example, a water pipe, a gas pipe, a hot water supply pipe of a hot water supply system using a fan coil unit or the like, or the pipe of a heating appliance. type FF heating. A network system can be easily built using such a pipe that is already laid out in a building or house.

IS 2 386 147 T3

Embodiment 5:

Although the case where the radio wave signal that has reached the unit inside the room 22 along the surface layer of the refrigerant pipe is shunted by the signal distribution circuit 29 has been described in Embodiment 4, the case of deriving a radio wave signal without using the signal distribution circuit 29 will be described in this embodiment.

Figure 19 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an air conditioning equipment according to this embodiment. Parts identical or equivalent to those in Figure 14 are assigned the same numbers. reference numbers. The different points of the Figure 14 configuration are those of the signal distribution circuit 29 are omitted from the unit within the room 22, and the gas-side refrigerant pipe 24 is used as a signal transmission line.

In general, the refrigerant tube, such as the gas-side refrigerant tube 24 or the liquid-side refrigerant tube 25 is made of copper, so that when a high-frequency current is made to flow through a part of the refrigerant tube, a radio wave is radiated from the entire pipeline by the same principle as that of the antenna for radio use. On the contrary, when a radio wave is received, a high frequency current is excited in the surface layer of the refrigerant pipe and is transmitted through the entire pipe.

In this embodiment, note that the fact that the refrigerant tube functions as the antenna in this way has been taken into account.

Now, the operations will be described with reference to the figure.

An electrical control signal produced from the control circuit 32 of the unit outside the room is coupled by the coupler 33 to the refrigerant pipe 24 on the gas side that is located inside the room. Due to the coupling, an electric field is generated around the gas-side refrigerant tube 24 and the gas-side refrigerant tube 24 itself functions as an antenna element, so that a radio wave signal is radiated. . The radio wave signal is received by the indoor antenna 30 of the indoor unit 22 and converted into an electrical signal, which is input to the control circuit 28 of the unit inside the room.

On the other hand, indoors, a high-frequency current is excited in the gas-side refrigerant tube 24 by the electromagnetic field of a radio wave signal radiated from the indoor antenna 30 of the unit inside the room. 22. The high frequency current reaches the unit outside the room 23 along the surface layer of the pipe 24 and is diverted as an electrical signal by the coupler 33 inside the unit outside the room 23, and the electrical signal it is input to the control circuit 32 of the unit outside the room.

Furthermore, remote controller 26 and a detector 38 also include radio wave transmitting / receiving portions built into them (not shown), and exchange data such as tamper signals and detector signals, each other through of radio waves analogously to the unit inside room 22 and the unit outside room 23.

Here, an example employing a whip antenna as the practicable construction of the indoor antenna 30 is shown in Figure 20.

Referring to the figure, when a radio wave radiated from the whip antenna crosses the gas-side refrigerant tube 24, a high-frequency current is excited at the surface of the copper tube portion of the pipe. Rather, a radio wave radiated from the tube excites a high-frequency current on the surface of the whip antenna.

Next, an example of a system architecture employing air conditioning equipment according to this embodiment is shown in Figure 21.

Referring to the figure, a first unit inside room 42 and a second unit inside room 43 are connected with the unit outside room 23 through the gas side refrigerant pipe 24 or the refrigerant pipe 25 on the liquid side. Furthermore, a first remote controller 61 is located at distances a and b (a <b) from the first unit within room 42 and the second unit within room 43, respectively, while a second remote controller 62 is at distances c and d (c> d) from the first unit within room 42 and the second unit within room 43, respectively.

Additionally, the first unit within room 42 and the second unit within room 43 obtain data in an RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicators) that express communication qualities, for example the resistance of the signals from the first remote controller. 61 and the second remote controller 62, and exchange data with each other.

Now, a series of operations in the system will be described with reference to Figures 19 and 21. First, the granting of individual equipment identity numbers will be described.

An ID No. based, for example, on the floor No. is set for the control circuit 32 of the unit inside the room of the unit inside the room 23. In addition, the control circuit 32 of the unit outside of the

ES 2 386 147 T3 room creates a discovery command to verify the existence of the unit within room 22, the remote controller 26 or similar, and issues a command in the form of an electrical signal with its own ID No. set to it . The emitted electrical signal command is coupled to the gas-side refrigerant tube 24 by the coupler 33, and radiated as a radio wave signal command.

The radio wave signal command is received by the indoor antenna 30 on the unit within the room and converted to an electrical signal, which is subsequently input to the control circuit 28 of the unit within the room. When the control circuit 28 of the unit within the room recognizes the discovery command from the input signal, it creates a response containing a code to specify the unit within the room 22, for example the physical identity of the portion communication of the control circuit 28 of the unit within the room and the type of the device, the unit within the room. Furthermore, the electrical feedback signal created is radiated as a feedback radio wave signal through the indoor antenna 30.

On the other hand, also the remote controller 26 that has received the command of the radio wave signal radiated through the indoor pipe creates a response containing a code to specify this remote controller by itself and radiates the response created as a radio wave signal response, analogous to the unit within room 22.

The response radio wave signals radiated in this way from the in-room unit 22 and the remote controller 26 are respectively transmitted through the gas-side refrigerant tube 24 and converted into electrical signals by the coupler 33 within. of the unit within the room 23 and the electrical signals are input to the control circuit 32 of the unit outside the room.

Furthermore, the out-of-room unit control circuit 32 creates a response based on the received response contents.

In the illustrated case, the unit outside the room 23 determines the identity numbers associated with the ID number established for the unit outside the room, for the two units inside the room 42 and 43 and the two remote controllers 61 and 62, respectively, and records the N^you of identity in an identity management table and also sends back the N^you identity according to the same procedure as that issued by the discovery command, setting it to the codes that are contained in the respective responses.

By the way, the backship procedure can also be one in which a table in which the codes and the N^you Identity cards are kept in correspondence and are transmitted as a command by issuance or the like.

In-room units and remote controllers that have received the N^you identity stores the N^you of identity given inside, and carry out communications based on the N^you identification from then on.

By the way, regarding the identity number of the unit outside room 23, the ID number established initially can be used, or the number used in the distribution of the N^you to the unit within room 22, remote controller 26, etc. can be used as well.

The granting of the N^you Identification to devices that can communicate through the refrigerant pipe, such as the unit within the room 22 and the remote controller 26, is completed by the above procedure.

Next, the association between the devices will be described, in particular between the unit outside the room and the units inside the room 22 or between the units inside the room 22 and the remote controllers 26.

First, the association between the unit outside the room 23 and the units inside the room 22 will be described.

The control circuit 32 of the unit outside the room of the unit outside the room 23 transmits a test run command to each unit inside the individual room 22 equipped with the N^you of identity. Furthermore, the control circuit of the unit outside the room detects that the control state of the unit outside the room 23, for example, the flow rate of a refrigerant, changes due to the start-up of the unit inside the room. , to verify in this way if the unit inside the room is connected to the refrigerant circuit of the unit itself outside the room.

The out-of-room unit control circuit gives an identification code to the verified in-room unit and transmits the identification code according to the same procedure as that of issuing the discovery command.

On the other hand, in a case where the connection to the refrigerant circuit of the unit outside the room cannot be verified, the control circuit of the unit outside the room shows an alarm or the like together with the above code, using the unit remote controller display 26 and the like, and thus prompts a user to check the settings.

Furthermore, in a case where the connection cannot be finally verified, the control circuit of the unit outside the room notifies the unit inside the corresponding room 22 of the cancellation of the identity number and executes

ES 2 386 147 T3 a process to exclude the identity number from the management table of the unit outside room 23.

Due to such processing, the association between the unit outside the room 23 and the units inside the room 22 can be made reliable.

Later, the association between the units inside room 22 and remote controllers 26 will be described. The control portion 32 of the unit outside the room of the unit outside the room 23 commands the first unit inside the room 42 and the second unit within the room 43 that communicates with the first remote controller 61 and the second remote controller 62.

The first unit within the room 42 communicates with the first remote controller 61, and stores communication quality information within it, for example an RSSI signal on this occasion. Similarly, the first unit within room 42 communicates with the second remote controller 62 and stores an RSSI signal within it. The levels of the RSSI signals based on the first remote controller 61 and the second remote controller 62 as received on these occasions depend on the distances from the first unit within the room 42 to the respective remote controllers.

More specifically, according to electromagnetic theory, the attenuation of the magnitude of a radio wave signal in free space increases in proportion to the square of the distance, and is given by the following formula:

Γ = (4 π d / λ) ² Formula (2) where Γ: magnitude of attenuation d: distance (m) λ: wavelength (m)

Here, if Sa and Sb denote the RSSI signal levels based on the first remote controller 61 and the second remote controller 62, as received by the first unit within room 42, respectively, and denoting Sc and Sd the levels of RSSI signal based on the first remote controller 61 and the second remote controller 62 as received by the second unit within room 43, respectively, It is understood from Formula (2) that the relations of Sa> Sb and Sd> Sc are maintained in the case of Figure 21 because the relations of a <b and c> d are maintained with respect to the distances from the remote controllers to the units within the room.

The respective units within the room 22 transmit information points on the ratios of the magnitudes of the RSSI signal levels to the unit outside the room 23. The unit outside of room 23 determines how to associate the first remote controller 61 with the first unit within room 42 and associate the second remote controller 62 with the second unit within room 43 based on the relevant information points, and stores the association in the management table. Simultaneously, the out-of-room unit issues identification codes to the out-of-room units and associated remote controllers, and transmits the identification codes to the respective in-room units and remote controllers according to the same procedure as that of the discovery command.

In this way, the association between each unit within the room 22 and the remote controller 26 arranged near this unit within the room can be made reliable.

Furthermore, the detector 38 which is arranged in the room and has communication means based on the same radio wave signal is analogously associated with the unit within the room 22, and is stored in the management table. Furthermore, the out-of-room unit 23 issues identification codes to the out-of-room units and associated detectors, and transmits the identification codes to the respective in-room units and detectors according to the same procedure as the command of discovery.

As a result, the units within the room 22 can freely use the information points of the detectors 38 arranged within an air conditioning range.

When a performance manipulation is performed by the first remote controller 61 after the devices have been associated in this way, a performance command is radiated as a radio wave signal. The radio wave signal command is received by the indoor antenna 30 of the first unit within the room 42 and transmitted as an electrical signal command to the control circuit 28 of the unit within the room.

When the in-room unit control circuit 28 decodes the received signal and judges that the signal is the run command, it immediately gives the command to run the in-room unit refrigerant circuit 27. Simultaneously, the in-room unit control circuit 28 generates the electrical execution command signal intended for the out-of-room unit 23 and radiates the command signal as a command of a radio wave signal from the antenna. indoor 30.

IS 2 386 147 T3

The command of the radio wave signal is in turn converted into an electrical signal through the gas side refrigerant tube 24 and the coupler 33, and the electrical signal is received by the control circuit 32 of the unit outside. from the unit room outside of room 23. Furthermore, when the out-of-room unit control circuit 32 decodes the received electrical signal to be the run command, it immediately gives the command to run the out-of-room unit refrigerant circuit 31.

In this way, the unit within the room 22 and the unit outside the room 23 are allowed to be smoothly started by manipulating the remote controller 26.

By the way, here, the radio wave signal of the run command is transmitted and received using the indoor antenna 30, but as shown in Figure 22, the refrigerant pipe, such as a refrigerant pipe 25 on the side of the liquid or gas side refrigerant pipe 24, can be used well as an antenna element without employing indoor antenna 30.

In this case, an electrical signal is coupled to the refrigerant tube through the coupler 33 so as to radiate a radio wave signal from the refrigerant tube to a space by coupling and a radio wave signal excited in the tube. Refrigerant by the radio wave signal that has arrived is extracted and converted into an electrical signal.

Furthermore, although the case where a radio wave signal command has been transmitted from the unit inside room 22 to the unit outside room 23 through the refrigerant pipe has been described, the situation is similar in the case Inverse, that is, a case where a radio wave signal command is transmitted from the unit outside the room 23 to the unit inside the room 22 through the refrigerant pipe. By way of example, when any problem occurs in the out-of-room unit 23, the control circuit 32 of the out-of-room unit creates the electrical signal for a stop command. The electrical signal command is coupled to the liquid-side refrigerant tube 25 or the gas-side refrigerant tube 24 through the coupler, and is radiated as a radio wave signal command. The radio wave signal command reaches the unit within the room 22, and is received by the indoor antenna 30 so that it is converted into an electrical signal command. When the control circuit 28 of the unit within the room decodes the electrical signal command and judges the signal to be the stop command, it immediately stops the operation of the unit within the room 22 and commands that the display portion ( not shown) of the unit inside room 22 display the message Operation Stopped or similar. Furthermore, the same stop command may well be transmitted to the remote controller having the same identification code such as to display a similar message.

In this way, even the command in the reverse direction can be transmitted smoothly, and the occurrence of problems can be dealt with quickly.

Here, practicable configurations of coupling methods for coupling an electrical signal to the gas side refrigerant tube 24 will be described.

Coupling methods as described in Embodiment 4 are broadly classified into electrostatic coupling method and inductive coupling method. In the case of the electrostatic coupling method, the electrical signal is directly coupled to the gas-side refrigerant tube 24 through the coupling capacitor 36 as described with reference to Figure 16. Figure 23 shows a practicable configurational example to perform these methods; wherein the core of a signal wire is connected to the gas-side refrigerant tube through the coupling capacitor 36, and the ground wire of the signal wire is connected to a metal tape or the like that is glued outside the thermal insulator of the tube.

Furthermore, in the case of the inductive coupling method, as described with reference to Figure 17, the high-frequency electrical signal is caused to flow through the induction coil 37, and the high-frequency induced current flows at through the near gas side refrigerant tube 24, as indicated by the arrow in the figure, whereby the signal is coupled.

Figure 24 shows a practicable configurational example to perform this method, in which the induction coil 37 is, in one aspect, when a coil is wound around a toroidal core, and the core and ground wire of the signal wire they are connected respectively to one end and the other end of the coil. Furthermore, the refrigerant tube is configured such as to pass through the hollow part of the toroidal core and to be located near the induction coil 37.

Furthermore, in most cases, the actual type of refrigerant is surrounded with the heat insulator, for example foamed polyethylene having a permittivity e> 1. The influence by the heat insulator will be described.

Considering a case where a high frequency radio wave signal has been coupled to the refrigerant tube covered with the thermal insulator through the coupler 33 and where it has been excited.

According to electromagnetic theory, the phase velocity of the electromagnetic wave (surface wave) in and around the refrigerant tube becomes less than the speed of light due to the resistance of the refrigerant tube and the dielectric substance surrounding it. tube. As a result, the amplitude of the ground wave attenuates exponentially as the refrigerant tube becomes distant. Furthermore, the degree of attenuation is determined by the electrical conductivity of the refrigerant pipe and the relative permittivity of the dielectric substance.

IS 2 386 147 T3

For example, in University Course Microwave Engineering published by Ohmsha, Ltd., p. 90, Fig. 127, a test calculation result is indicated in which, in the case of an electrical material having a relative permittivity e = 3, 90% of the energy of a radio wave signal at a frequency of 3 GHz is confined within the range of a radius of 15 cm from an electrical conductor. As understood from the result of the test calculation, with the refrigerant pipe that is surrounded by the thermal insulator, the radio wave energy that is radiated outward is very small and most of the energy is concentrated in and around the refrigerant pipe. Consequently, it is allowed to carry out the transmission of the tube that has a small transmission loss and that is capable of a distant transmission, using said refrigerant tube surrounded with the thermal insulator.

As described above, this embodiment is configured such that the electrical signals are coupled from the unit inside room 22 and the unit outside room 23 to the refrigerant pipe, such as to transmit the generated radio wave signals. by the couplings, along the surface layer of the refrigerant pipe, and that the refrigerant pipe is used as the antenna element, so that it allows communications between the interior and the exterior of the room using the radio waves radiated from the antenna element.

As a result, as described in Embodiment 4, the transmission losses attributable to the unit inside the room 22 and the unit outside the room 23 can be reduced more than in the prior art transmission method that does not use the airwaves. radio. Furthermore, the difficulty and laborious work of replacing the steel pipes near both ends of the refrigerant pipe with electrical isolation devices is dispensed with, and the existing refrigerant pipe can be used as the excellent signal transmission line by simple work. .

Furthermore, although the case of coupling the electrical signal to the gas-side refrigerant pipe 24 has been described in this embodiment, the same advantages can be achieved even when a signal or signals are coupled to the liquid-side refrigerant pipe 25 or both to the liquid-side refrigerant pipe 25 and to the gas-side refrigerant pipe 24.

Additionally, although the system consisting of one unit outside room 23 and two units inside room 22 has been described in this embodiment, it is also allowed to adopt a configuration in which a plurality of units inside room 22 are connected. to a unit outside of room 23, such as in a building air conditioning system (multi-air conditioner in a building), or vice versa, a configuration in which a unit within room 22 is connected to a plurality of units outside of room 23. Additionally, it is allowed to adopt a configuration in which a plurality of units within room 22 are connected to a plurality of units outside room 23. It is possible to build a network system using refrigerant pipes according to a similar procedure.

Still further, in this embodiment, the transfer of the signals using the refrigerant pipe has been described as only the exchange of the control signals between the unit inside room 22 and the unit outside room 23, but the line of the external network, for example the Internet, can also be connected to the unit outside the room 23. In this case, as described in Embodiment 4, it is allowed to remotely manipulate both or either of the unit within room 22 and the unit outside of room 23 from an external control device that is connected to the power line. net. Transmission of a remote tamper signal from the out-of-room unit 23 to the in-room unit 22 is performed by transmitting the signal along the surface layer of the refrigerant pipe as a radio wave signal.

Due to such a configuration, construction work to drive on any new network line to a room is dispensed with and the inexpensive network system of an air conditioner can be built.

By the way, although the signal transmission method using the refrigerant pipe of the air conditioning equipment has been described in this embodiment, said signal transmission method is not restricted to the refrigerant pipe. As described in Embodiment 4, it is allowed to use any tube that is made of an electrically conductive substance capable of transmitting radio wave signals along a surface layer. It is also allowed to use, for example, a water pipe, a gas pipe, a hot water supply pipe of a hot water supply system using a fan coil unit or the like, or the metal pipe of the heating appliance. type FF heating. A network system can be easily built using such a pipe that is already laid out in a building or house.

Brief description of the drawings

[Fig. 1] Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an air conditioning equipment according to Embodiment 1.

[Fig. 2] Figure 2A is a block diagram showing the principle of a signal coupling circuit according to Embodiment 1. Figure 2B is a sectional view showing the structure of a core.

[Fig. 3] Figure 3 is a view showing the structure of a coupling clip according to Embodiment 1.

IS 2 386 147 T3

[Fig. 4] Fig. 4 is a view showing a state where the coupling clip according to the Embodiment is closed.

[Fig. 5] Fig. 5 is a view showing a practicable example of the signal coupling portion according to Embodiment 1.

[Fig. 6] Figure 6A is a block diagram showing the principle of a signal coupling circuit according to Embodiment 2. Figure 6B is a sectional view showing the structure of a core.

[Fig. 7] Fig. 7 is a view showing a practicable example of the signal coupling circuit according to Embodiment 2.

[Fig. 8] Figure 8 is a view showing another practicable example of the signal coupling circuit according to Embodiment 2.

[Fig. 9] Figure 9 is a system architecture diagram for explaining a transmission line employing the signal coupling circuit of Figure 8.

[Fig. 10] Figure 10 is a block diagram showing the principle of a signal coupling circuit according to Embodiment 3.

[Fig. 11] Figure 11 is a diagram showing the end parts of a liquid side tube 3 and a gas side tube 4.

[Fig. 12] Figure 12 is a graph showing impedance at distance 1 from a shorting terminator.

[Fig. 13] Fig. 13 is a view showing a practicable example of the signal coupling circuit according to Embodiment 3.

[Fig. 14] Figure 14 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an air conditioning equipment according to Embodiment 4.

[Fig. 15] Figure 15 is a block diagram showing the details of a signal distribution circuit within an in-room unit according to Embodiment 4.

[Fig. 16] Figure 16 is an explanatory view showing the electrostatic coupling method of a coupler according to Embodiment 4.

[Fig. 17] Figure 17 is an explanatory view showing the inductive coupling method of a coupler according to Embodiment 4.

[Fig. 18] Figure 18 is a block diagram showing an electrical appliance network system employing the air conditioning equipment according to Embodiment 4.

[Fig. 19] Figure 19 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an air conditioning equipment according to Embodiment 5.

[Fig. 20] Figure 20 is a view showing a practicable example of the coupling between the antenna and the refrigerant pipe in an in-room unit according to Embodiment 5.

[Fig. 21] Figure 21 is a block diagram showing an example of a system architecture employing air conditioning equipment according to Embodiment 5.

[Fig. 22] Figure 22 is a block diagram showing another configuration of the air conditioning equipment according to Embodiment 5.

[Fig. 23] Figure 23 is a view showing a practicable configurational example of the electrostatic coupling method of a coupler according to Embodiment 5.

[Fig. 24] Figure 24 is a view showing a practicable configurational example of the inductive coupling method of the coupler according to Embodiment 5.

Description of reference numbers and signs unit outside the room unit inside the room liquid side tube gas side tube refrigerant circuit of the unit outside of the room control circuit of the unit outside of the room signal coupling (signal coupling portion) refrigerant circuit of the unit inside the room control circuit of the unit inside the room outer wall core

11th part core piece connecting terminal coupling clamp

13th contact portion

13b thermal insulating connection portion control signal cable control signal coaxial cable excitation portion

ES 2 386 147 T3 building structure exterior wall unit inside room unit outside room gas side refrigerant tube liquid side refrigerant tube remote controller unit refrigerant circuit inside room control circuit the unit inside the room signal distribution circuit indoor antenna refrigerant circuit of the unit outside the room control circuit of the unit outside the room coupler distributor coupler coupling capacitor induction coil detector information / electrical apparatus external control device first unit inside room second unit inside room first remote controller second remote controller