Generally, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laying Open Gazette No. 2-85634, an air conditioner has been disclosed, in which a single remote controller is connected to a plurality of indoor control units for respectively controlling a plurality of indoor units so that control signals such as operation signals are sent and received between the remote controller and each of the indoor control units to control an air conditioning operation.
Between each indoor control unit and the remote controller, electric power is supplied from a previously designated indoor control unit to the remote controller. In addition, an address of each indoor control unit is set and data including error signals, wind direction signals and the like may be transmitted therebetween.
In the above mentioned air conditioning control machine, the address of the indoor control unit that supplies electric power to the remote controller is conventionally set to 0 by the remote controller. However, power cannot be supplied to the remote controller by the power supply unless the power supply's address is set to each indoor control unit. This creates a communication problem wherein communication is not performed between the remote controller and the indoor control unit such that the address is not automatically set.
One solution is for the address of the control unit that powers the remote controller to be previously set in hardware. This, however, requires that a printed circuit board be manufactured individually so that the indoor control units cannot be standardized.
In view of the above mentioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to supply electric power to the controller in a stable manner, by standardizing the air conditioning control units.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds