Energy-efficient air conditioners using Texas Instruments millimeter wave occupancy sensors?
Compared with the past, people in developed and developing countries are increasingly dependent on air conditioning (AC), which makes energy consumption increase rapidly.
According to the report "The Future of Refrigeration" issued by the International Energy Agency (International Energy AssociaTIon), air conditioning accounts for 10% of today's total AC power consumption. It is estimated that by 2050, air-conditioning energy consumption will triple, equivalent to the current total electricity consumption of the United States, the European Union and Japan. By 2050, the number of air conditioners in residential and commercial buildings worldwide will increase from 1.6 billion to 5.6 billion. This is equivalent to selling 10 new air conditioners every second in the next 30 years.
The role of air conditioning in occupancy sensing
Human occupancy sensing can make air conditioners smarter, more efficient and energy-saving by adapting to indoor activity levels and directing airflow to where it is most needed. Figure 1 shows some scenarios. In these scenarios, feedback from occupancy sensing, such as presence/absence, activity and human location detection, helps to save energy and regulates the indoor temperature and directs airflow to the people in the room. , Make the living environment more comfortable.
Figure 1: Scenario describing how the feedback from occupancy sensing determines air conditioning usage
Passive infrared sensors and camera solutions are two technologies used in AC occupancy sensing. Passive infrared sensors have low cost and low power consumption, but have high false detection problems under bright daylight conditions and lack sensitivity to fine motion. In contrast, the camera can provide the highest resolution, but it may have a higher false detection rate, especially in shadows and human photos.
While using resident sensing to achieve energy saving, the industry is moving towards making air conditioners more intelligent through edge processing. In addition to controlling the operation of the air conditioner through presence detection to improve user comfort, it is also developing a single sensor technology. In the future, air conditioners will integrate more user safety monitoring functions, such as fall event detection and vital signs monitoring, including heart rate and respiratory rate.
Advantages of millimeter wave sensors in occupancy sensing
Texas Instruments millimeter wave (mmWave) sensors can provide a rich data set for each object in the relevant area, and provide accurate range, speed and direction of arrival information. Through the implementation of the digital signal processor (DSP) to perform object detection, classification and tracking, personnel occupancy information can be obtained, such as the presence, absence, count and precise location of the personnel relative to the air conditioning equipment. Air conditioning devices can use this information to make informed decisions; for example, when a person enters a room, the sensor will track whether the person is present for a minimum preset duration before turning on. If the person stays in the room, using tracking/location information, the air conditioner can direct the airflow to the person to make them feel comfortable. According to the number of people in the room, the air conditioner temperature will be adjusted accordingly to maximize comfort and save energy.
In addition to the accuracy and precision of data, Texas Instruments' millimeter wave sensors have many advantages when creating smart, energy-efficient air conditioning solutions, including:
1.Reduce false detections.
2.The ability to operate in harsh environments.
3.Beautiful product design and small sensor size.
4.The use of sensing technology instead of cameras reduces privacy issues.
Realize edge intelligence
Texas Instruments' millimeter wave 60 GHz sensor integrates an FM continuous wave transceiver, on-chip monitoring and calibration mechanism, Arm®Cortex®-R4F microcontroller and C674x DSP on a single chip. This integration realizes intelligence on highly integrated sensors and real-time data processing in the device itself.
An example application uses Texas Instruments' IWR6843 60 GHz millimeter wave single-chip sensor to implement occupancy sensing for commercial and residential air conditioners. The sensor that processes the data uses Capon beamforming technology to detect people and classify objects intelligently enough to minimize false detections. This sample application demonstrates the detection accuracy of +/- 10cm for moving and stationary people within a range of up to eight meters indoors. In the indoor counting density of 3 people per two meters, the counting accuracy of less than 5 people is 100%, and the counting accuracy of up to 9 people is 85%.
In the not-too-distant future, air-conditioning will become a fully self-sufficient, data-based system without the need for remote control or interaction with people through the air conditioning control unit. The sensor technology in the air conditioner will continuously collect data to optimize comfort. For example, in an office environment, over time, the sensor will determine when the number of people in the office peaks from 9 am to 5 pm. Based on these data, the system will learn to direct more airflow during peak hours, and limit or turn off airflow during off-peak hours, thereby reducing energy consumption and saving business expenses.
As the demand for residential and commercial air conditioners continues to grow (three times by 2050), occupancy sensing using millimeter wave technology can reduce the total energy consumption of air conditioners by as much as 35%. In the future, millimeter wave technology will not only continue to have a greater impact on the operation of the HVAC system, but also reduce overall emissions to the environment.
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