ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL EQUIPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL SYSTEM

Abstract

This environmental control equipment controls a plurality of environmental devices for adjusting the environment of an area including a plurality of subareas and comprises: an acquisition unit that acquires environmental information indicating the environment of each of the plurality of subareas and a subarea restriction indicating the restrictions on the environment of each subarea; a target value calculation unit that uses the environmental information and the subarea restriction as a basis to select a control subarea, for which the environment thereof is to be changed, from among the plurality of subareas and determines a target value for the environment of the control subarea; and an influence calculation unit for determining whether or not the change in the environment of subareas other than the control subarea caused by controlling an environmental device in order to satisfy the target value of the control subarea satisfies the subarea restrictions of the other subareas.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to environmental control equipment and an environmental control system.

BACKGROUND ART

Recently, Home Energy Management System (HEMS), a technology for reducing household energy consumption, has been drawing attention. In particular, equipment control is needed not only for saving energy but also for maintaining comfort levels. Examples of comfort indices for objective evaluation of comfort levels include the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV). According to PTL 1, control for achieving both energy saving and comfort is performed so as to provide a maximum effect based on a user's sense of value after the state of equipment is changed.

In general, on an office floor in a building, in a work area in a factory, or in a classroom in a school or university campus, a plurality of workers, students, or other people usually behave differently in a single room. Thus, different people feel comfortable in different environments depending on their natures and behaviors. Accordingly, controlling the environmental equipment on the basis of a particular person's nature or behavior may create an environment where other people feel uncomfortable. PTL 2 thus proposes providing a higher comfort level suitable for operations of individual persons, by monitoring presence/absence of a person and how the person is performing operations in the area and by providing the suitable control depending on how the person being present is performing operations.

According to PTL 3, a room, which is the control target region, is divided into areas each of which corresponds to one of a plurality of light emitting diode (LED) lamps, and whether an employee is present/absent in each area is determined. For an area where an employee is present, a target illuminance level is determined depending on the posture of the employee, while for an area where no employee is present, an illuminance level is determined, as the target illuminance level, on the basis of a distance from the area where an employee has most recently been present.

CITATION LIST

Patent Literature

[PTL 1] Japanese Patent No. 5491891

[PTL 2] Japanese Patent No. 5514507

[PTL 3] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2014-89841

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

Technical Problem

In office floors, factories, or other sites, placing a plurality of environmental devices in a single room may cause interference between results of controls provided by the environmental devices. According to PTL 3, a plurality of LED lamps are controlled in terms of their emission intensities so that a target illuminance distribution is achieved inside a room, which is the control target. Although succeeding in controlling the illuminance level in an area depending on the posture of each employee, PTL 3 fails to consider having an influence of the control for achieving a target illuminance level in one certain area on the illuminance level in another area. Hence, in spite of determining an illuminance level for each area depending on the posture of each employee, the target illuminance level may not actually be achieved due to interference between devices.

An object of the present invention is, for the cases where control is provided to set a specific subarea in the target environment, to provide a mechanism for controlling environmental devices taking into consideration the influence on the environment in another subarea.

Solution to Problem

Environmental control equipment, according to the present invention, controlling a plurality of environmental devices that adjust an environment in an area including a plurality of subareas comprises:

an acquisition unit that acquires environmental information indicating an environment in each of the plurality of subareas and a subarea restriction indicating a limitation on an environment in each of the subareas;

a target value calculation unit that selects, from the plurality of subareas, and on the basis of the environmental information and the subarea restriction, a target subarea whose environment is to be changed, and determines a target value for the environment in the target subarea; and an influence calculation unit that determines whether an environmental change in another subarea, which is one of the plurality of subareas and is different from the target subarea, satisfies the subarea restriction on said another subarea, the environmental change being caused by controlling the environmental device to satisfy the target value for the target subarea.

An environmental control system, according to the present invention, comprises:

an environmental device that adjusts an environment in an area including a plurality of subareas;

an environmental information detecting unit that detects environmental information regarding the subareas, and

control equipment that communicates with the environmental device, the environmental information detecting unit, and the activity information detecting unit,

wherein the control equipment comprises:

an acquisition unit that acquires the environmental information indicating the environment in each of the plurality of subareas and a subarea restriction indicating a limitation on the an environment in each of the subareas;

a target value calculation unit that selects, from the plurality of subareas, and on the basis of the environmental information and the subarea restriction, a target subarea whose environment is to be changed, and determines a target value for the an environment in the target subarea; and

an influence calculation unit that determines whether an environmental change in another subarea, which is one of the plurality of subareas and is different from the target subarea, satisfies the subarea restriction on said another subarea, the environmental change being caused by controlling the environmental device to satisfying the target value for the target subarea.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

According to the present invention, in the cases where control is provided to set a specific subarea in the target environment, environmental devices can be controlled taking into consideration the influence exerted on the environment in another subarea.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an example configuration of an environmental control system according to the present example embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an example user interface for inputting subjective environmental information according to the present example embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an example user interface for inputting subjective environmental information according to the present example embodiment.

FIG. 4 is example functional blocks of the environmental control equipment according to the present example embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an operation flow for the environmental control equipment according to the present example embodiment.

FIG. 6A is a specific example of control and environmental changes according to the present example embodiment.

FIG. 6B is a specific example of control and environmental changes according to the present example embodiment.

FIG. 6C is a specific example of control and environmental changes according to the present example embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an operation flow for the environmental control equipment according to the present example embodiment.

FIG. 8A is a specific example of control and environmental changes according to the present example embodiment.

FIG. 8B is a specific example of control and environmental changes according to the present example embodiment.

FIG. 8C is a specific example of control and environmental changes according to the present example embodiment.

FIG. 9A is a specific example of control and environmental changes according to the present example embodiment.

FIG. 9B is a specific example of control and environmental changes according to the present example embodiment.

FIG. 9C is a specific example of control and environmental changes according to the present example embodiment.

FIG. 9D is a specific example of control and environmental changes according to the present example embodiment.

FIG. 10 is example functional blocks of the environmental control equipment according to the present example embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

An environmental control system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will now be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

First Exemplary Embodiment

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the environmental control system according to the present exemplary embodiment. The environmental control system according to the present exemplary embodiment includes environmental devices 20 for adjusting environment in an area 200 having a plurality of subareas, an electric power information detecting unit 21, an environmental information detecting unit 22, an activity information detecting unit 23, and control equipment (environmental control equipment) 100. The environmental devices 20, the electric power information detecting unit 21, the environmental information detecting unit 22, and the activity information detecting unit 23 are connected to the control equipment 100 via a network, and thus data can be sent/received in between. Note that the orientation indicated by an arrow in the figure represents an example only, and it does not limit the direction of a signal between blocks.

The environmental devices 20 adjust the environment in the area 200, which has a plurality of subareas influencing one another. The environment in an area refers to, for example, temperature, humidity, illuminance, air volume, air direction, noise, and odor in the area. Examples of the environmental devices 20 include an air conditioner, a lighting apparatus, an air cleaner, and a window blind.

The area 200 is a room or space where a plurality of human beings are engaged in various operations, works, studies, and the like (hereinafter simply called operations). In addition, the area 200 has a plurality of subareas. Specific examples of the area 200 include an office building, a school building, a commercial facility, a factory, and any other similar area having at least one building. A subarea may be each one of sections into which a single room is divided. A subarea may also be a single room or a single floor. In the case where a single room is partitioned into a plurality of subareas, how the room is partitioned is not limited to a specific method. For example, a single room may be separated into equally spaced parts or may be separated into parts based on distances from an air outlet or a lamp. Alternatively, a room may be separated into spaces depending on their applications. For example, a subarea may be each of separate spaces such as a meeting space, an office space, a reception space, and a relaxation space.

“A plurality of subareas influencing one another” means that the control provided by an environmental device 20 to one subarea influences an environmental change in another subarea. For example, different places within a room or a plurality of floors having a common limit on electric power consumption may be examples of the subareas influencing one another.

The electric power information detecting unit 21 detects electric power information indicating the electric power consumed in the area 200. The electric power consumed in the area 200 may be the electric power consumed by loads including the environmental devices 20 or may be the electric power supplied to loads including the environmental devices 20. As examples of the electric power information detecting unit 21, an electric power meter, a Home Management System (HEMS), or an electric power sensor may be used. The electric power information detecting unit 21 sends the detected electric power information to the control equipment 100 via a communication network.

How the electric power information detecting unit 21 acquires the electric power information is not limited to a specific method. For example, electric power consumption obtained by individual electric power sensors disposed on every load and every electric outlet may be used as the electric power information. Acquiring electric power consumption on each load, as the electric power information, makes it possible to detect the operational state of each load. Alternatively, electric power consumption in the area 200 may be acquired from a distribution board or an electric power meter, as the electric power information.

The environmental information detecting unit 22 acquires, as information indicating an environment in a subarea, objective environmental information and subjective environmental information. The objective environmental information represents information regarding the subarea environment that can be detected by a sensor. Examples of the objective environmental information include temperature, humidity, air direction, air volume, light illuminance, color tone, lighting amount (direct light and indirect light), sound volume, sound frequency, and odor. As an example of the environmental information detecting unit detecting objective environmental information, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, a human detection sensor, or a sound sensor may be used. By disposing a plurality of such sensors, objective environmental information regarding each subarea can be detected. Note that a single sensor may obtain environmental information regarding one subarea, or a single sensor may obtain environmental information regarding a plurality of subareas. Alternatively, a plurality of sensors may be disposed in a single subarea. Alternatively, an administrator or user of an area may use any input device to input objective environmental information displayed on a thermometer, a hygrometer, or the like.

The subjective environmental information represents evaluations of the environment made by users of a subarea. Subjective environmental information is the information varying with users of the subarea or with behaviors or conditions of a user of the subarea. Subjective environmental information may be, for example, evaluations indicating being comfortable or not. Other example evaluations may include hot or cold with respect to temperature or humidity, noisy or quiet with respect to sound, bright or dark with respect to light, or stinking.

How the environmental information detecting unit 22 detects the subjective environmental information is not limited to a specific method. For example, the subjective environmental information may be acquired from users of an area through the use of questionnaires or input devices. FIG. 2 illustrates an example screen displayed on the terminal for acquiring subjective environmental information. Owing to users of an area inputting their evaluations to the terminal, the environmental information detecting unit 22 can acquire the subjective environmental information. As seen in the example in FIG. 3, the type or granularity of the subjective environmental information to be acquired can be changed by offering questions or options displayed on the input screen. Alternatively, subjective environmental information may be detected by using a human detection sensor, a camera, or the like. For example, the action of waving a paper fan or taking off a jacket by the user of a subarea may be detected as the subjective environmental information indicating it is hot.

Alternatively, thermal indices that are calculated on the basis of the objective environmental information detected by the environmental information detecting unit 22 may be detected as the subjective environmental information. Examples of thermal indices include Corrected Effective Temperature (CET), New Effective Temperature (ET*), Standard New Effective Temperature (SET*), and Predicted Mean Vote (PMV). Any of the above-listed indices can be selected as appropriate depending on the detected objective environmental information.

The environmental information detecting unit 22 sends the detected objective environmental information and subjective environmental information to the control equipment 100, with each of the environmental information pieces being associated with the positional information for uniquely identifying the position at which the information has been detected. The positional information may be the information for uniquely identifying the subarea where the environmental information has been detected. Alternatively, the positional information may be the information for uniquely identifying the environmental information detecting unit 22, such as a sensor which has obtained the environmental information.

The activity information detecting unit 23 acquires activity information, which represents details of activity of a user in each of the subareas. Details of activity of a user in a subarea may be, for example, presence/absence of a person in the area, the number of people present in the subarea, or the posture of the user (e.g., standing, seated, or degree of gesture) in the area. Instead, a statement of work, activities, or a schedule of the user of the area may also be used.

As the activity information detecting unit 23, a human detection sensor, a monitoring camera, or the like may be used. Alternatively, the user of a subarea may use an input device or the like provided in the area to input the user statement of work or activities. The activity information detecting unit 23 sends the detected activity information to the control equipment 100, with the activity information being associated with a subarea identifier for uniquely identifying the subarea where the activity information has been detected.

The control equipment 100 gives an instruction to control the environmental devices 20 on the basis of the acquired information. FIG. 4 is an example functional block diagram illustrating the control equipment 100. The control equipment 100 according to the present exemplary embodiment includes an acquisition unit 50, a calculation unit 60, and a control instructing unit 70. The calculation unit 60 includes a target value calculation unit 61, an operation calculation unit 62, and an influence calculation unit 63.

The acquisition unit 50 acquires the objective environmental information and subjective environmental information from the environmental information detecting unit 22, while acquiring the activity information from the activity information detecting unit 23. In addition, the acquisition unit 50 acquires a subarea restriction that indicates a limitation on the environment in each of the subareas. The acquisition unit 50 may further acquire electric power information indicating electric power consumption in the area, or an area restriction indicating a limitation on the environment in the area 200, which has a plurality of subareas.

The acquisition unit 50 sends the acquired information to the calculation unit 60. The acquired information may further be sent to a storage unit (not illustrated).

A subarea restriction indicates a limitation on the environment in each subarea. In other words, a subarea restriction indicates an acceptable range of the environment in each subarea. For example, a subarea restriction may define a range of levels of temperature, illuminance, air volume, or the like indicated in the objective environmental information regarding the subarea, or may define a range of a distribution or the numbers of environmental evaluations indicated in the subjective environmental information. Alternatively, a subarea restriction may define an environmental range varying with the activity indicated in the activity information, or may define a range of an environmental evaluation varying with the activity. Alternatively, a subarea restriction may be any combination of the foregoing, or may define a range of index values based on the objective or subjective environmental information. How such subarea restrictions are determined is not limited to any specific method.

For example, a subarea restriction may be determined for maintaining the comfort level for users of the subarea. In this case, thresholds of Predicted Percent of Dissatisfied (PPD), for example, may be given as a subarea restriction. PPD is an index calculated from, for example, temperature, humidity, metabolic rate, amount of clothing, or air volume. Thus, a PPD value may be calculated from values indicated in the objective environmental information and, when the calculated value exceeds a threshold (that is, a larger number of people may be dissatisfied), control may be provided so as to decrease the PPD value. The control may be, for example, raising or lowering the temperature setting or adjusting the air volume on an air conditioner. In addition, different PPD thresholds may be given to different rooms or different seasons. This is because the metabolic rate may be different between the subarea where an individual is doing desk work and the subarea where people are standing and having a vigorous discussion, or the amount of clothing may be different between summer and winter.

Alternatively, a subarea restriction may be generated so as to maintain a constant level of productivity in a subarea. Thresholds of the amount of activity in a subarea may be set, being derived from the activity information acquired by the activity information detecting unit 23. If historical data about the amount of activity is available, the target amount of activity may be set, and the device may be controlled when, for example, the current amount of activity falls below the target amount by several percent. For example, assuming that a worker is creating a document by typing at a keyboard in a subarea, the amount of typed letters per unit time when the worker feels comfortable may be acquired as the activity information, and the environmental device may be controlled when the amount of typed letters decreases by 10%.

If the administrative owner of the area desires to keep the electricity cost not exceeding a certain amount, the target electricity cost may be set as a subarea restriction. For example, some target electricity cost for the whole area may be determined, and its subareas may be controlled so as not to exceed the cost. If a single air conditioner is installed for the whole area, the total electricity cost may be calculated on the assumption that different settings are applied to different subareas. If each subarea has its own air conditioner, the electricity cost may be obtained by calculating the individual electricity costs for the air conditioners and summing them.

The acquisition unit 50 may acquire a subarea restriction that is associated with an identifier for the corresponding subarea. An area restriction indicates a limitation on the environment in the area 200, which has a plurality of subareas. An area restriction may be, for example, an upper or lower limit value of electric power consumption in the area 200. Alternatively, an area restriction may be an upper or lower limit value of the rate of utilization or the number of operational devices among a plurality of environmental devices 20 in the area 200. Alternatively, an area restriction may be, for example, an average value of temperature, humidity, or other objective environmental information regarding the area 200, or may be the number of evaluations of the environment made by users as indicated in the subjective environmental information. For example, the number of evaluations may be the number of evaluations of the environment made by users of a subarea concerning whether they feel comfortable or uncomfortable.

How the acquisition unit 50 acquires a subarea restriction and an area restriction is not limited to any specific method. For example, the acquisition unit 50 may acquire, via a communication network, a subarea restriction or area restriction that is held in an external computer or server. Alternatively, the acquisition unit 50 may receive a subarea restriction or area restriction sent from the administrator or user of the area.

The target value calculation unit 61 obtains subjective environmental information, objective environmental information, activity information, and a subarea restriction from the acquisition unit 50. The target value calculation unit 61 compares the obtained environmental information with the subarea restriction to determine whether the obtained environmental information satisfies the subarea restriction. The target value calculation unit 61 determines whether the evaluations of the environment made by users of a subarea as indicated in the subjective environmental information are within an acceptable range. By way of example, it is assumed that the target value calculation unit 61 has obtained a subarea restriction indicating a lower limit value of the number of “Comfortable” evaluations. The target value calculation unit 61 determines that a subarea restriction is satisfied if the number of “Comfortable” evaluations included in the subjective environmental information is equal to or greater than the lower limit value indicated in the subarea restriction.

Alternatively, it is assumed that the target value calculation unit 61 has obtained a subarea restriction containing the types of activities and their associated ranges of temperature in the subarea where the activities are conducted. In this case, the target value calculation unit 61 determines whether the activities of the subarea users as indicated in the obtained activity information and the temperature in the subarea as indicated in the objective environmental information satisfy the corresponding subarea restriction.

In another example, the target value calculation unit 61 may calculate an index by using at least one of the subjective environmental information, the objective environmental information, and the activity information that have been obtained. The target value calculation unit 61 may determine whether the calculated index satisfies the subarea restriction. For example, on the basis of the activity information, an operational efficiency index may be determined for evaluating the details, quality, and quantity of operations performed in the subarea. The operational efficiency index is determined on the basis of the activity that greatly contributes to achieving the goals of operations performed by users of the subarea. Details of the activity and the operational efficiency index may be fixed, or may vary depending on the department or role of the user of a subarea or on the phase of activity. The target value calculation unit 61 may determine whether the calculated operational efficiency index falls within a range of the operational efficiency index indicated in the subarea restriction. By calculating an index using at least one of the subjective environmental information, the objective environmental information, and the activity information, a univocal target value based on a plurality of information pieces can be determined.

For a subarea failing to satisfy its subarea restriction, the target value calculation unit 61 determines a target value for an environment satisfying the subarea restriction. For example, concerning a subarea having the subarea restriction requiring “a half of the subarea users evaluate as comfortable”, suppose that the acquired subjective environmental information represents that a majority of the users evaluate the subarea as “hot”. Then, the target value calculation unit 61 determines, as a target value, a temperature that will make a majority of the subarea users evaluate the subarea as comfortable.

The operation calculation unit 62 determines the specific environmental device 20 necessary for making the environment in the controlled subarea be equivalent to the target value, and determines operations of the environmental device 20. Here, making the environment in a subarea be equivalent to the target value, as stated above, may include making the environment in the subarea approximated to the target value. For example, when a target value regarding temperature has been obtained from the target value calculation unit 61, the operation calculation unit 62 selects an air conditioner as the environmental device 20 to be operated. In another example, when a target value regarding illuminance has been obtained from the target value calculation unit 61, the operation calculation unit 62 selects a lamp, a window blind, or the like as the environmental device 20 to be operated. The operation calculation unit 62 determines operations of the selected environmental device 20. The operation calculation unit 62 determines operations of the environmental device 20, such as turning on/off, operation mode, and set values, in such a way that an objective environment in the operated area achieves the target value. The operation calculation unit 62 sends the determined operations to the influence calculation unit 63.

The influence calculation unit 63 determines environmental change in another subarea to be caused when the environmental device 20 is operated in accordance with the operations determined by the operation calculation unit 62. The influence calculation unit 63 determines environmental change in another subarea to be caused when the environmental device 20 is operated on the basis of the operations obtained from the operation calculation unit 62 and on the environmental information regarding the other subarea.

Examples of environmental change include objective environmental change, such as temperature, humidity, air direction, air volume, lighting, sound volume, interior, and odor, which can be detected by sensors, as well as including a subjective environmental change representing subjective reactions or evaluations made by human beings on the environment. Environmental change includes the direction and amount of environmental change. For example, if the operated environmental device 20 is an air conditioner, the temperature change, i.e., either an increase or decrease and the degree of change, is determined. For a subjective environmental change, it may be predicted whether subarea users will make more positive or more negative evaluations on the environment. In another example, a change in an index representing a comfort level or production efficiency may be calculated on the basis of an objective environmental change and a subjective environmental change. Or, in the case where the obtained area restriction indicates an upper limit value of the amount of energy consumption, a change in the amount of energy consumption in the area to be caused when the environmental device 20 is operated so as to achieve the target value may be calculated. No specific limitation is imposed on how evaluations to be made by subarea users on the environment are predicted from an objective environmental change. For example, evaluations of the environment to be made after operations of the environmental device 20 may be predicted by referring to previously acquired requests and evaluations that were made by subarea users on the environment. Alternatively, an objective environmental range corresponding to the evaluation “comfortable” previously made by a user may be recorded, and it may be determined that the user has made a positive evaluation on the environment if the subarea where the user is present falls within the range after the operations of the environmental device 20.

Note that the influence calculation unit 63 may determine environmental changes in all the other subareas than the subarea to be operated, or may select any of the other subareas whose environmental change is to be calculated, depending on the operated environmental device 20 and its operations identified by the operation calculation unit 62. The influence calculation unit 63 can select another subarea depending on the distance from, or the position relative to, the subarea to be operated or the environmental device 20 to be operated. For example, assume that the environmental device 20 to be operated is an air conditioner having a plurality of air outlets, and that there is a correlation among air volumes at the individual air outlets. Then, any subarea falling within a predetermined distance from the individual air outlets may be identified as another subarea whose environmental change is to be calculated. Alternatively, any subarea immediately adjacent to the subarea to be operated may be identified as another subarea whose environmental change is to be calculated.

The influence calculation unit 63 obtains a subarea restriction on the other subarea from the acquisition unit 50, and determines whether an environmental change in the other subarea falls within a range of the corresponding subarea restriction. If the environmental change in the other subarea falls within a range of the subarea restriction, the influence calculation unit 63 sends the operations of the environmental device 20, as obtained from the operation calculation unit 62, to the control instructing unit 70. On the other hand, if the environmental change in the other subarea is out of a range of the subarea restriction, the influence calculation unit 62 instructs the operation calculation unit 62 to re-calculate operations. In addition to instructing the re-calculation, the influence calculation unit 63 may send an area identifier for identifying the other subarea failing to satisfy the subarea restriction to the operation calculation unit 62. If the area has an area restriction, the influence calculation unit 63 further determines whether operations of the environmental device 20 satisfy the area restriction. For example, the influence calculation unit 63 may determine whether the energy consumption in the area will satisfy the area restriction after the environmental device 20 is operated. Alternatively, the influence calculation unit 63 may determine whether an environment in, or an index for, the whole area having a plurality of subareas satisfies the area restriction. If the area restriction is not satisfied, a target value and operations may be re- calculated so that the area satisfies the area restriction, or the number of subareas to be operated may be changed.

The control instructing unit 70 outputs an operation instruction for the target environmental device 20. The control instructing unit 70 may be connected to the environmental device 20 via a network and may send a control signal directly to the environmental device 20. Alternatively, the control instructing unit 70 may send a control signal to a server or to a terminal possessed by an administrator or user of the area. The administrator or user of the area may control the environmental device 20 according to the obtained control signal, or the terminal having received the control signal may send the signal to the environmental device 20.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating example operations of the control equipment 100 according to the present exemplary embodiment.

In Step S101, the acquisition unit 50 acquires objective environmental information, which represents the environmental information that can be detected by sensors regarding each subarea, and subjective environmental information, which represents evaluations made by users of the subarea on the environment. The acquisition unit 50 sends the acquired objective environmental information and subjective environmental information to the calculation unit 60.

In Step S102, the acquisition unit 50 acquires activity information, which represents details of the activity of a user in each subarea. The acquisition unit 50 sends the acquired activity information to the calculation unit 60.

In Step S103, the acquisition unit 50 acquires a subarea restriction, which indicates a limitation on the environment in each subarea. How the acquisition unit 50 acquires a subarea restriction is not limited to any specific method. For example, a storage unit (not illustrated) may hold a table in which an identifier for identifying each subarea is associated with its corresponding subarea restriction, and the acquisition unit 50 may refer to the table to acquire a subarea restriction on a subarea. Alternatively, the acquisition unit 50 may generate a subarea restriction on the basis of the acquired activity information and of a user identifier for identifying the subarea user. The acquisition unit 50 sends the acquired subarea restriction to the calculation unit 60.

In Step S104, the target value calculation unit 61 determines whether the acquired environmental information satisfies the subarea restriction. If the acquired environmental information regarding each subarea satisfies the subarea restriction on each subarea, operations of the control equipment 100 are ended.

On the other hand, if the acquired environmental information regarding any subarea does not satisfy its subarea restriction, the processing goes to Step S105. In Step S105, concerning the subarea failing to satisfy the subarea restriction, the target value calculation unit 61 calculates a target value for an environment necessary for satisfying the subarea restriction. The target value calculation unit 61 sends the determined target value to the operation amount calculation unit 62.

In Step S106, the operation calculation unit 62 obtains the subarea to be operated and its target value from the target value calculation unit 61. The operation calculation unit 62 determines the specific environmental device 20 to be operated and its operations on the basis of the obtained target value. The operation calculation unit 61 notifies the influence calculation unit 63 of the environmental device 20 to be operated and its operations.

In Step S107, the influence calculation unit 63 calculates environmental change in another subarea to be caused when the environmental device 20 is operated in accordance with the operations obtained from the operation calculation unit 62. The environmental change in another subarea may be an objective environmental change, such as a change in temperature, illuminance, or sound to be caused when the environmental device 20 is controlled, or may be a calculated subjective environmental change representing a change in evaluations made by users of the other subarea on the environment, the evaluation change being caused by the objective environmental change. For example, the number of users who change their evaluations from “comfortable” to “hot” when the temperature in the other subarea is increased by 1° C. may be calculated.

How an objective environmental change is calculated is not limited to a specific method. For example, a distribution of temperature, airflow, or the like in a subarea may be obtained by using a distributed system flow analysis method. The distributed system flow analysis method is a technique for obtaining a distribution of temperature or airflow in a space from boundary conditions, on the basis of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Alternatively, a change in illuminance in each subarea may be calculated on the basis of the illuminance contribution rates of lamps disposed in the area 200. To obtain the illuminance contribution rate, the method described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2014-89841, for example, may be used. A distribution of any other objective environment in each subarea in the area 200 may be calculated by using a known method, and an objective environmental change may be determined on the basis of the calculation result.

How a change in user evaluations of an environment is calculated is not limited to any specific method. For example, the influence calculation unit 63 may keep a table in which previous objective environmental information is associated with previous subjective environmental information. The influence calculation unit 63 may calculate the subjective environment corresponding to the objective environment by referring to the table, and may use the calculated subjective environment as the subjective environmental information to be provided after operations. Alternatively, a subjective environmental change may be predicted on the basis of the objective environmental change predicted by the influence calculation unit 63. For example, a new effective temperature (ET*) may be calculated by using temperature and humidity. The ET* has comfort thresholds defined through experiments under various conditions. The influence calculation unit 63 may estimate that users will feel uncomfortable if the ET* value is out of a range of such comfort thresholds. Note that any other known method may be used to calculate evaluations of an environment.

In Step S108, the influence calculation unit 63 determines whether the calculated environmental change in the other subarea satisfies the subarea restriction imposed on the other subarea. The influence calculation unit 63 determines whether the obtained subjective environment satisfies the subjective environment indicated in the subarea restriction. Alternatively, the influence calculation unit 63 determines whether the objective environment resulting from the change in the other subarea falls within an acceptable range of an objective environment for doing the activity indicated in the activity information regarding the other subarea.

If the environmental change in the other subarea fails to satisfy the other subarea restriction, the influence calculation unit 63 instructs the target value calculation unit 61 and the operation calculation unit 62 to change operations. Upon receipt of the instruction to change, the target value calculation unit 61 may change the target value. Or, instead of changing the target value, the operation calculation unit 62 may change operations of the environmental device 20 or change the environmental device 20 to be operated. If the environmental change in the other subarea satisfies the other subarea restriction, the influence calculation unit 63 sends information indicating the environmental device 20 to be operated and its operations to the control instructing unit 70.

In Step S109, the control instructing unit 70 instructs the target environmental device 20 to be operated to run in accordance with the operations obtained from the influence calculation unit 63. The control instructing unit 70 may send an instruction signal indicating the operations to the environmental device 20, which may in turn run in accordance with the instruction signal. Alternatively, the control instructing unit 70 may send information indicating the target environmental device 20 to be operated and its operations to a computer or an output device possessed by a user or administrator of the subarea or area. The user or administrator of the subarea or area can then operate the environmental device 20 based on the obtained information.

Note that, in the above example, it is determined whether the environmental information regarding a subarea, as acquired by the acquisition unit 50, satisfies the subarea restriction, but determination is not limited to this. For example, an index may be calculated on the basis of at least one of the environmental information and the activity information, and then it may be determined whether the calculated index satisfies the subarea restriction. As an example of an index to be calculated, a productivity index may be defined for evaluating production efficiency of operations performed in a subarea. An example productivity index is shown below. The productivity index can be expressed as a function of calculated index values of an objective environment index, a subjective environment index, and an operation efficiency index:

Productivity Index=Function (Objective Environment Index Value, Subjective Environment Index Value, Operation Efficiency Index Value)   Equation (1)

An objective environment index value, a subjective environment index value, and an operation efficiency index value can be calculated by quantifying the objective environmental information, the subjective environmental information, and the activity information, respectively. The objective environment index may be obtained from a function of, for example, temperature, humidity, air direction, air volume, or the like. For the subjective environment index, a parameter and its numeric value are determined from evaluations on the subarea environment. For example, an amount inputted by a subarea user may be used as it is, or a parameter calculated from the inputted amount may be used. A method of using an evaluation made by a user as it is may be, for example, quantifying the evaluations of temperature, “hot”, “cold”, and “comfortable”. Alternatively, secondary information or meta information regarding the subjective environmental information, such as a time period for the user to make evaluations or the number of entries of evaluations, may be used as a parameter.

An operation efficiency index reflects, for example, details, quality, and quantity of operations or works carried out by subarea users. An operation efficiency index can be calculated on the basis of details of activities conducted by users of each subarea as indicated in the activity information. For example, operation details and the posture of a subarea user may be acquired as the activity information. For example, if the acquired operation details represent paperwork, the time period when the user is seated may be used as an operation efficiency index. An operation efficiency index may be changed as appropriate depending on the department, job type, job position, or operation phase. For an operation efficiency index, on the basis of a predetermined criterion for calculating operation efficiency, a measured amount relative to the criterion can be quantified. For an operation efficiency index, the amount of text created within a predetermined time, the amount of typed keys on a personal computer, or the number of assembled or defective products in a factory may be measured, for example.

The form of a function for a productivity index may be, for example, a linear combination of index elements, or may be a function of a function. The following shows an example of a linear function in which index elements are weighted:

Productivity Index=Σ (Individual Index Weights×Individual Index Values)   Equation (2)

Individual Index Values in Equation (2) represent an objective environment index value, a subjective environment index value, and an operation efficiency index value, and Equation (2) is a linear combination function in which individual indices are weighted with their index weights. It is preferable to calculate an index weight depending on the importance of an index element in evaluation of the productivity index. Concerning an index weight, it is preferable to determine a weight on the corresponding index element depending on the importance to work/operation details or to a work environment indicated in the activity information. With the productivity index calculated by using Equation (2), it can be determined whether the productivity indicated in the subarea restriction is maintained.

According to the present exemplary embodiment described above, control may be performed to change the environment in the target subarea to be operated when an environmental change in another subarea satisfies its corresponding subarea restriction. According to the present exemplary embodiment, operations of the environmental device 20, which is the control target, are determined taking into consideration the influence on the environment in a subarea, which is not the control target. Thus, when the environment in the controlled subarea is changed, other subareas can be kept within ranges of their corresponding subarea restrictions.

In addition, when the target subarea is controlled to achieve a target value, environmental changes in other subareas are considered, thereby reducing the inconveniences of preventing the actual environment from keeping at the determined environmental target value, due to interference among a plurality of environmental devices.

SPECIFIC OPERATION EXAMPLE 1

Operations of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will now be described with specific examples. By way of example, the following assumes that a single office floor constitutes a single area. The area includes a plurality of meeting rooms, a plurality of meeting areas, and a plurality of work desks, each of which is regarded as a subarea. It is assumed that the environmental device 20 is an air conditioner having one heat source and three air outlets. In addition, it is assumed that subarea users A, B, C, and D are present in the area.

First, the control equipment 100 acquires the current objective environmental information and subjective environmental information from the environmental information detecting unit 22. The present specific example assumes that subarea temperatures are acquired as the objective environmental information and that an evaluation made by each of the subarea users, namely Hot, Comfortable, or Cold, is acquired as the subjective environmental information. FIGS. 6A and 6C illustrate examples of the acquired objective environmental information and subjective environmental information, a subarea, and a subarea user, which are associated with one another. The present specific example assumes that Worker A is at a worker desk, while Workers B, C, and D are present in a meeting room.

Next, the acquisition unit 50 acquires the subarea restriction imposed on each of the work desks and meeting rooms. In this example, every work desk and every meeting room has the subarea restriction to the effect that “the condition in which half or more than half of the workers feel comfortable has to be satisfied”.

The target value calculation unit 61 determines whether each of the subareas satisfies the area restriction, on the basis of the acquired objective environmental information and subjective environmental information and of the subarea restriction. Since Worker A feels “hot”, the work desk at which Worker A is sitting fails to satisfy the subarea restriction. Thus, the target value calculation unit 61 determines a target value for the work desk.

If the acquired subjective environmental information includes a desire for an objective environment like “I want the temperature in the subarea to be xx degrees”, the desire for an objective environment indicated in the acquired subject environmental information may be used as it is as a target value. In the present specific example, the acquired subjective environmental information indicates a sensible temperature, which expresses heat or cold perceived by a human being in a numeric value, and thus temperature data is taken as the objective environmental information from the temperature sensor corresponding to the subarea where the subjective environmental information was entered. Since Worker A has entered “Hot”, a temperature lower by one degree than that at the work desk where Worker A is sitting is set as the target value.

The operation calculation unit 62 selects the environment device 20 to be operated, and calculate its operations. Calculated operations are shown in FIG. 6B. The operation calculation unit 62 selects an air conditioner as the environment device 20 to be operated, determines that the temperature setting at Heat Source is to be 26° C., the air volume at Outlet 1, which is closest to the work desk, is to be High, the air volume at Outlet 2, which is closest to the meeting room, is to be Low, and the air volume at Outlet 3, which is near another subarea having no occupant, is to be Middle.

Next, the influence calculation unit 63 predicts temperatures in the individual subareas and changes in evaluations made by users on the environment in each of the subareas. FIG. 6C shows an example of calculated predictions given by the influence calculation unit 63. Once temperatures at the observation points are calculated, then predictions are made about changes in the subjective environmental information, which indicates evaluations on the environment in a subarea where a worker is present. This is achieved by referring to a value from the environmental information detecting unit 22 located near a worker. In the present specific example, the influence calculation unit 63 keeps a history in which a subarea identifier, a temperature, and an environmental change are associated with one another. From the temperature to be reached in each subarea after operations, the influence calculation unit 63 can predict a change in evaluations of the environment in the subarea. FIG. 6C shows an example of the objective environmental information and subjective environmental information to be provided after operations, as predicted by the influence calculation unit 63.

Next, the influence calculation unit 63 determines whether a subarea other than the controlled subarea satisfies the corresponding other subarea restriction. In the example in FIG. 6C, Worker A, who is a user of the subarea to be operated, provides the subjective environmental information “Comfortable”, which means that the subarea satisfies its subarea restriction. In addition, not less than half of the workers evaluate as “Comfortable” in the meeting room, which is not the target subarea to be operated, and thus it is determined that the meeting room, which is another subarea, also satisfies its subarea restriction. Accordingly, the influence calculation unit 63 sends the operations described in FIG. 6B to the control instructing unit 70, which in turn controls the air conditioner.

Second Example Embodiment

Environmental control may sometimes encounter a difficulty in satisfying desires for all the subareas, arising from limitations to energy consumption or restrictions on the layout or output of environmental devices 20. Conventionally, such cases have been dealt with manually by, for example, stopping a portion of an environmental device 20 having lower priority, and it has been difficult to deal with such cases automatically. In the present exemplary embodiment, operations of the environmental device 20 are determined taking into consideration the influence on the environments in other subareas and priorities among subareas.

An example functional block diagram of control equipment 100 according to the present exemplary embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 4, in common with the first exemplary embodiment. The control equipment 100 according to the present exemplary embodiment includes an acquisition unit 50, a calculation unit 60, and a control instructing unit 70. The calculation unit 60 includes a target value calculation unit 61, an operation calculation unit 62, and an influence calculation unit 63. Following descriptions about functions similar to those in the first exemplary embodiment are omitted properly.

The acquisition unit 50 acquires environmental information, activity information, priority information, and a subarea restriction. In addition, electric power information and an area restriction may be acquired.

The priority information indicates a priority level given to the environmental control in a subarea. For example, assuming that there are a plurality of subareas, such as a plurality of small rooms or work spaces, a priority level may be given to the subarea of a specific place for the purpose of, for example, giving higher priority to the work space used for customer relations or used by an important person, or, a priority level may be given to the subarea having specific activity information to be prioritized, such as “a place where people are having the most vigorous discussion”. Alternatively, a priority level may be given to a specific level of comfort or operation efficiency index calculated on the basis of the detected subjective environmental information or the environmental information, for the purpose of, for example, “giving higher priority to a subarea having a larger number of negative evaluations made by users of the subarea on the environment”. A priority level may be given to each of a plurality of subareas, or a priority level may be given to each group of two or more subareas.

How the acquisition unit 50 acquires priority information is not limited to a specific method. For example, a storage unit (not illustrated) for the control equipment 100 or a server may hold the priority information in advance. The acquisition unit 50 may access the storage unit or the server to acquire the priority information. The acquisition unit 50 sends the acquired information to the calculation unit 60.

The target value calculation unit 61 obtains environmental information, activity information, and a subarea restriction, which have been received from the acquisition unit 50. The target value calculation unit 61 compares the acquired environmental information with the subarea restriction to determine whether the acquired environmental information satisfies the subarea restriction. For a subarea failing to satisfy the subarea restriction, the target value calculation unit 61 determines a target value for the environment so that the subarea restriction is satisfied. The target value calculation unit 61 sends the determined target value to the operation calculation unit 62.

The operation calculation unit 62 selects the environmental device 20 needed for achieving the target value and determines operations of the environmental device 20. The operation calculation unit 62 identifies the environmental device 20 needed for making the objective environmental information regarding the controlled subarea be the target value, and determines operations of the identified environmental device 20. For example, when a target value regarding temperature has been obtained from the target value calculation unit 61, the operation calculation unit 62 selects an air conditioner as the environmental device 20 to be operated. In another example, when a target value regarding illuminance has been obtained from the target value calculation unit 61, the operation calculation unit 62 selects a lamp, a window blind, or the like as the environmental device 20 to be operated. The operation calculation unit 62 determines operations of the selected environmental device 20. The operation calculation unit 62 determines operations of the environmental device 20, such as turning on/off, operation mode, and set values, in such a way that the environment in the operated subarea achieves the target value. The operation calculation unit 62 sends the determined operations to the influence calculation unit 63.

The influence calculation unit 63 obtains a subarea restriction on another subarea from the acquisition unit 50, and determines whether an environmental change in the other subarea falls within a range of the corresponding subarea restriction. If the environmental change in the other subarea falls within a range of the subarea restriction, the influence calculation unit 63 sends the operations of the environmental device 20, as obtained from the operation calculation unit 62, to the control instructing unit 70. If the area has an area restriction, the influence calculation unit 63 further determines whether operations of the environmental device 20 satisfy the area restriction. For example, the influence calculation unit 63 may determine whether the energy consumption in the area 200 will satisfy the area restriction after the environmental device 20 is operated. Alternatively, the influence calculation unit 63 may determine whether the environment in, or an index for, the area 200 having a plurality of subareas satisfies the area restriction. If the area restriction is not satisfied, a target value and operations may be re-calculated so that the area satisfies the area restriction. The number of subareas to be operated may also be changed.

If another subarea fails to satisfy its subarea restriction, the influence calculation unit 63 compares priority levels between the other subarea failing to satisfy the subarea restriction and the subarea to be operated.

If the priority level of the subarea to be operated is higher than the priority level of the other subarea, the influence calculation unit 63 determines that the environmental device 20 should be operated according to the operations calculated by the operation calculation unit 62. The influence calculation unit 63 sends an identifier for the determined environmental device 20 to be operated along with the operations of the environmental device 20 to the control instructing unit 70.

If the priority level of the other subarea is higher than the priority level of the subarea to be operated, the influence calculation unit 63 discards the operations calculated by the operation calculation unit 62. The influence calculation unit 63 instructs the target value calculation unit 61 and the operation calculation unit 62 to re-calculate at least either a target value or operations. In addition to instructing the re-calculation, the influence calculation unit 63 may send a subarea identifier for identifying the other subarea failing to satisfy the subarea restriction to the operation calculation unit 62.

The control instructing unit 70 receives the identifier indicating the environmental device 20 to be operated and the information indicating operations of the environmental device 20 from the influence calculation unit 63. The control instructing unit 70 may send such operations to the environmental device 20 to be operated to control the environmental device 20. Alternatively, the control instructing unit 70 may send the identifier indicating the environmental device 20 to be operated and the information indicating its operations to a computer used by the administrator or user of the area 200. The administrator or user of the area can control the environmental device 20 based on the information displayed on the display unit of the computer.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating example operations of the control equipment 100 according to the present exemplary embodiment.

In Step S201, the acquisition unit 50 acquires objective environmental information, which represents the environmental information that can be detected by sensors regarding each subarea, and subjective environmental information, which represents evaluations made by users of the subarea on the environment. The acquisition unit 50 sends the acquired objective environmental information and subjective environmental information to the calculation unit 60.

In Step S202, the acquisition unit 50 acquires activity information, which represents details of the activity of a user in each subarea. The acquisition unit 50 sends the acquired activity information to the calculation unit 60.

In Step S203, the acquisition unit 50 acquires a subarea restriction, which indicates a limitation on the environment in each subarea. How the acquisition unit 50 acquires a subarea restriction is not limited to any specific method. For example, a storage unit may hold a table in which an identifier for identifying each subarea is associated with its corresponding subarea restriction. The acquisition unit 50 may refer to the table to acquire the subarea restriction on each subarea. The acquisition unit 50 sends the acquired subarea restriction to the calculation unit 60.

In Step S204, the acquisition unit 50 acquires a priority level given to the environmental control of a subarea. How the priority level given to a subarea is acquired is not limited to any specific method. For example, a storage unit may hold a table in which an identifier for identifying each subarea is associated with its corresponding priority level. Alternatively, the priority level entered by the administrator or user of the area 200 may be obtained.

In Step S205, the target value calculation unit 61 determines whether the acquired environmental information satisfies the subarea restriction. If the acquired environmental information and activity information regarding each subarea satisfies the subarea restriction, operations of the control equipment 100 are ended.

On the other hand, if the acquired environmental information and activity information regarding any subarea does not satisfy its subarea restriction, the processing goes to Step S206.

In Step S206, concerning a subarea failing to satisfy the subarea restriction, the target value calculation unit 61 determines a target value so that the subarea satisfies the subarea restriction. The target value, as used here, refers to a value applicable to the objective environmental information regarding the subarea to be operated. If any of the comfort, operation efficiency, and productivity indices that have been obtained on the basis of the subjective environmental information or environmental information fails to satisfy the subarea restriction, the target value calculation unit 61 determines a value applicable to the objective environmental information so that these indices satisfy the subarea restriction. The target value calculation unit 61 sends the determined target value to the operation calculation unit 62.

In Step S207, the operation calculation unit 62 obtains the target value for the subarea to be operated from the target value calculation unit 61. The operation calculation unit 62 selects the environmental device 20 which is to be operated in order that the objective environmental information regarding the operated subarea achieves the target value. In addition, the operation calculation unit 62 determines operations of the selected environmental device 20. Operations of the environmental device 20, as used here, refer to outputs of the environmental device 20. For example, such operations may include turning on or off the environmental device 20, its operation mode, high or low set value, orientation, and the like. The operation calculation unit 62 notifies the influence calculation unit 63 of the selected environmental device 20 to be operated and its operations.

In Step S208, the influence calculation unit 63 obtains the information about the environmental device 20 to be operated and operations of the environmental device 20, as received from the operation calculation unit 62. The influence calculation unit 63 determines an environmental change to be caused in another subarea other than the subarea to be operated, the change to be caused by the operations of the environmental device 20 as determined by the operation calculation unit 62. The influence calculation unit 63 determines whether the environmental change in the other subarea satisfies the subarea restriction imposed on the other subarea. If the environmental change in the other subarea satisfies the subarea restriction on the other subarea, the influence calculation unit 63 sends information indicating the environmental device 20 to be operated and its operations to the control instructing unit 70.

If the environmental change in the other subarea fails to satisfy the restriction on the other subarea, the processing goes to Step S209. In Step S209, the influence calculation unit 63 compares the priority level of the subarea to be operated with the priority level of the other subarea failing to satisfy the restriction. If the priority level of the subarea to be operated is higher than the priority level of the other subarea, it is determined that the environmental device 20 should be operated according to the operations determined by the operation calculation unit 62.

On the other hand, if the priority level of the subarea to be operated is lower than the priority level of the other subarea, the influence calculation unit 63 discards the operations determined by the operation calculation unit 62. The influence calculation unit 63 may give an instruction that operations should be performed so that change in the environment or activity in the other subarea having a higher priority falls within a range in the restrictive conditions imposed on the other subarea. Alternatively, the influence calculation unit 63 may determine that no operation is to be performed on the environmental device 20.

In Step S210, the control instructing unit 70 obtains the information indicating the environmental device 20 to be operated and operations of the environmental device 20 from the calculation unit 60. The control instructing unit 70 may send an operation signal indicating the operations to the environmental device 20. Alternatively, the control instructing unit 70 may send the operation signal via a communication network to a computer or terminal used by the administrator or user of the area. Upon receipt of the operation signal, the computer displays the environmental device 20 to be operated and its operations on the display unit. The administrator or user of the area may operate the environmental device 20 in accordance with the displayed information.

According to the present exemplary embodiment described above, operations are re-calculated if a subarea having higher priority does not satisfy its subarea restriction. According to the present exemplary embodiment, the environmental device 20 can be operated so as to maintain the environment in which a subarea having higher priority satisfies its subarea restriction.

SPECIFIC OPERATION EXAMPLE 2

It is assumed that there are a plurality of meeting rooms, a plurality of meeting areas, and a plurality of seats, each of which is regarded as a subarea, on a single office floor. It is assumed that the environmental device 20 is an air conditioner having one heat source and a plurality of air outlets.

First, the acquisition unit 50 of the control equipment 100 acquires the current environmental information from the environmental information detecting unit 22. As a method for acquiring the environmental information, temperature sensors capable of automatically sending temperatures to a server wirelessly or humidity sensors or illuminance sensors may be installed at a plurality of locations in a room, or a temperature sensor or humidity sensor equipped with an air conditioner may be used; or alternatively the administrator may manually input values measured with a thermometer or hygrometer in regular intervals.

Next, the acquisition unit 50 acquires a control target value from the administrator or the like. The target value may be specific to each subarea or may be a single value, e.g., 28° C., for the whole area. The present example uses the setting of 28° C. for the whole area. For calculations to be later performed by the target value calculation unit 61, it is assumed that the value acquired by the acquisition unit 50 has already been converted to target values for the individual subareas' temperature observation points as shown in FIG. 8A. Subareas do not necessarily correspond to temperature observation points on a one-on-one basis, and thus one subarea may have a plurality of temperature observation points as in FIG. 8A.

Next, the acquisition unit 50 acquires a subarea restriction and priority information regarding each subarea. It is assumed here that subarea restrictions are entered by the administrator belonging to the management company responsible for the environmental devices 20 on the office floor, while the priority information is specified by the responsible person in charge of the company residing on the floor. A subarea restriction may be, for example, the contracted electric power value specified in a contract between the building and the electric power company, or may be a target electric power value defined for energy saving on the basis of the contracted electric power. A subarea restriction may also be a target temperature set on each air conditioner, the set temperature being specified on the basis of target energy savings and notified to each floor as a rule. In the present specific example, an upper limit value of electric power consumption in the whole area is used as a subarea restriction. FIG. 8B shows an example of priority level settings. Compared with other areas, higher priority levels are given to Meeting Rooms A and B, which may receive visiting customers.

The target value calculation unit 61 obtains a target value from the acquisition unit 50. The target value calculation unit 61 selects, as the subareas whose environments should be changed, Meeting Room A, Meeting Room B, Worker's Desk Area B, and Worker's Desk Area C, and determines that the target value is a room temperature of 28° C.

Next, the operation calculation unit 62 calculates operations of the environmental device 20 necessary for achieving the target value. FIG. 8C shows an example of calculation results. This example shows that the temperature set for Heat Source should be changed to 26° C. and air volumes at Outlets 1, 2, and 3 should be set to High, Low, and Middle, respectively. In the case where one heat source has a plurality of air outlets, air volumes from the outlets are correlated with one another; for example, setting a maximum level for an air outlet near the heat source will reduce an air volume at an outlet located far from the heat source. Thus, operations should be determined giving consideration to such correlation.

After the operations are calculated, the influence calculation unit 63 calculates environmental changes in other subareas to be caused by such operations. In addition, since the subarea restriction represents the electric power consumption in the whole area, the influence calculation unit 63 calculates the electric power necessary for performing the operations. The influence calculation unit 63 then determines whether the calculated result satisfies the subarea restriction. If any subarea fails to satisfy the subarea restriction, re-calculations are done by the target value calculation unit 61 and by the operation calculation unit 62. In performing the re-calculations, settings for the areas having lower priorities are fine-tuned on the basis of the table of priorities in FIG. 8B. For example, concerning Temperature Observation Point 3 in Worker's Desk Area B and Temperature Observation Point 4 in Worker's Desk Area C, which have low priorities as seen in FIGS. 8A and 8B, determination is made not to change their environments. Alternatively, the target value may be increased or decreased by 1° C. concerning Worker's Desk Area B and Worker's Desk Area C, which have low priorities. Such re-calculations are continued until environmental changes in other subareas calculated by the influence calculation unit 63 satisfy a value corresponding to subarea restriction, and once the value is determined, the air conditioner is actually controlled.

SPECIFIC OPERATION EXAMPLE 3

The present specific example assumes that a plurality of assembly lines are present on a single floor in a component assembly factory. Each of the assembly lines is regarded as a subarea. It is assumed that the environmental device 20 is an air conditioner having one heat source and a plurality of air outlets.

The acquisition unit 50 acquires temperatures at the individual subareas from the environmental information detecting unit 22 while acquiring production volumes at the individual subareas as the activity information. FIG. 9A shows an example of the acquired temperatures and activity information regarding the individual subareas.

Next, the acquisition unit 50 acquires priority levels from the line administrator. FIG. 9B shows an example of priority levels. In an assembly factory, some lines must always be operational, while some lines, for example, a line where products having an imminent deadline are flowing, may have fluctuating priority levels. The administrator sets appropriate priority levels from time to time.

Next, the acquisition unit 50 acquires subarea restrictions from the line administrator. The subarea restriction acquired here indicates the smallest number of assembled products per unit time (productivity) on each line. FIG. 9C shows an example of subarea restrictions. This example shows that each line has its own subarea restriction because different lines have different work complexities, but alternatively all the lines may use a common restriction value.

On the basis of the acquired activity information and subarea restrictions, the target value calculation unit 61 selects a specific subarea whose environment should be changed. According to FIGS. 9A and 9C, Product Box Packaging Line B fails to satisfy the subarea restriction, and thus the target value calculation unit 61 calculates a target value so that the subarea restriction is satisfied. It is assumed here that the target value, “the number of products packed into boxes is 20”, has been calculated.

Next, the operation calculation unit 62 calculates operations of the environmental device 20 necessary for achieving the target value. It is assumed that the calculation results are the same as those in FIG. 8C. The influence calculation unit 63 calculates environmental changes in other subareas to be caused when the environmental device 20 is operated in accordance with the operations calculated by the operation calculation unit 62. Since each subarea restriction represents productivity, the influence calculation unit 63 first calculates predicted temperatures at the individual subareas to reach after the environmental device 20 is operated in accordance with FIG. 8C, and then estimates productivity levels at the respective temperatures. Productivity levels may be estimated by, for example, referring to the data in which previous temperatures are associated with productivity levels at the temperatures. FIG. 9D shows an example of influences on other subareas calculated by the influence calculation unit 63.

The influence calculation unit 63 determines whether the calculated productivity levels of the other subareas satisfy their corresponding subarea restrictions. The example in FIG. 9D shows that the productivity levels of Component Assembly Line B and Product Box Packaging Line A fail to satisfy the subarea restrictions. Here, in terms of priority level, Component Assembly Line B is equal to Product Box Packaging Line B, which is the target subarea to be operated, while Product Box Packaging Line A is lower than Product Box Packaging Line B, which is the target subarea to be operated. Thus, a re-calculation of operations is carried out so that Component Assembly Line B, which is one of the other subareas, satisfies the corresponding subarea restriction. The re-calculation may be performed by, for example, changing the current target temperature for Component Assembly Line B to another temperature, in the case where device operations are determined on the basis of target temperatures set for the individual temperature observation points. When the re-calculation results in producing operations satisfying the subarea restriction, such operations are determined to be the final operations. If other operations have additionally been calculated so that Product Box Packaging Line A, which has lower priority, satisfies the subarea restriction for the reason of the installation location of the environmental device 20 or interference among a plurality of air outlets, such other operations may be used as the final operations.

Although the number of restrictions is one in the above examples, it may be two or more. If a plurality of restrictions are present, a control method may be calculated so that all the restrictions are satisfied. Further, if restrictions are inconsistent with one another, a control method may be calculated so that a restriction with higher priority is satisfied. For example, in some cases a productivity level and an upper limit value of energy consumption may be given as restrictions, where the restriction on energy has higher priority than the restriction on productivity. In such cases, not all the subareas are required to satisfy the restriction on productivity. A control method ensuring that all the subareas satisfy at least the restriction on energy limitation may be used as the final operations.

SPECIFIC OPERATION EXAMPLE 4

The present specific example assumes that consumers visit a store selling clothing and others for shopping. The store is divided into a plurality of subareas. It is assumed that the environmental device 20 is an air conditioner having one heat source and a plurality of air outlets. According to the definition of the present specific example, the number of people in a subarea is acquired as the activity information, and a higher priority level is given to a subarea having a larger number of people.

The activity information detecting unit 23 detects the position of any person present in a subarea to acquire the number of people present in each subarea. The number of people may be acquired through the use of a human detection sensor or infrared sensor, or may be detected on a camera image. Alternatively, the number of people may be counted by receivers installed on pillars or desks in the store by receiving Bluetooth® radio waves transmitted from consumers' smartphones or cellular phones.

Regarding the store constituting an area, the acquisition unit 50 acquires environmental information, activity information, priority levels, and subarea restrictions. It is assumed here that the acquired subarea restriction represents an upper limit value of the electric power consumption permitted for the store. As the activity information, the numbers of people present in the individual subareas, as detected by the activity information detecting unit 23, are acquired. Regarding priority definition, a higher priority level is given to a subarea having a larger number of people.

For a subarea failing to satisfy the subarea restriction, the target value calculation unit 61 determines a target value of the electric power consumption so that the energy consumption does not exceed the upper limit value. The operation calculation unit 62 determines operations of an air conditioner so that the electric power consumption achieves the target value.

On the basis of the operations determined by the operation calculation unit 62, the influence calculation unit 63 calculates environmental changes in other subareas. If any subarea fails to satisfy its corresponding subarea restriction, a target temperature is re-calculated for each of the priority levels and subareas. For example, during the period when the air conditioner is used for cooling, target temperatures are re-calculated so that a subarea with the largest number of people has a lower target temperature while a subarea with few or no people has an unchanged or higher target temperature.

Third Example Embodiment

A subarea having a high priority level may not always be treated with priority when there is no people in the subarea or the demand for comfort is low, or the like. On the other hand, a subarea with low priority may sometimes be in a greater demand for the environment. In such cases, there may be caused the inconvenience of not improving the environment in a subarea whose change is greatly demanded, because of maintaining the environment of a subarea whose change is less demanded. Hence, an environmental control system according to the present exemplary embodiment controls the environmental device 20 on the basis of a priority level given to a subarea and on the strength of demand for an environmental change in a subarea.

An example of functional blocks of control equipment 100 according to the present exemplary embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 10. The control equipment 100 according to the present exemplary embodiment includes an acquisition unit 50; a calculation unit 60 having a target value calculation unit 61, an operation calculation unit 62, an influence calculation unit 63, and a demand level calculation unit 64; and a control instructing unit 70. If appropriate, some descriptions are omitted below for functions in common with the first and second exemplary embodiments.

The acquisition unit 50 acquires objective environmental information, subjective environmental information, activity information, a priority level, and a subarea restriction. In addition, electric power information and an area restriction may be acquired. The acquisition unit 50 sends the acquired objective environmental information, subjective environmental information, activity information, subarea restriction, and priority level to the calculation unit 60.

The demand level calculation unit 64 calculates a demand level by using the environmental information obtained from the acquisition unit 50. Further, the demand level may be calculated by using the activity information. For example, the number of users in a subarea may be acquired as the activity information. Regarding environmental evaluations with respect to the number of people in a subarea acquired as the subjective environmental information, the number of the environmental evaluations or the corresponding percentage of people may be determined, and an evaluation accounting for a higher percentage may be regarded as a higher demand level. The demand level calculation unit 64 sends the calculated demand level to the influence calculation unit 63.

A demand level represents the strength of demand for an environmental change in a subarea. A higher demand level represents a stronger desire to maintain or change the environment in a subarea.

The demand level calculation unit 64 may determine a demand level from the frequency of detecting the subjective environmental information by the environmental information detecting unit 22 or from the number of evaluations included in the subjective environmental information. For example, the demand level may be the number of entries of subjective environmental information by subarea users within a predetermined time period, or the number of people who entered subjective environmental information. For example, an evaluation made by a larger number of people or an evaluation entered a larger number of times within a predetermined time period may be regarded as a higher demand level. Alternatively, if the acquired subjective environmental information is an evaluation having several scale points like “very hot, hot, comfortable, cold, very cold”, the evaluations “very hot” and “very cold” are regarded as higher demand levels than the evaluations “hot” and “cold”.

The target value calculation unit 61 obtains subjective environmental information, objective environmental information, activity information, and a subarea restriction from the acquisition unit 50. In addition, electric power information and an area restriction may be obtained. The target value calculation unit 61 compares the obtained environmental information with the subarea restriction to determine whether the acquired environmental information satisfies the subarea restriction. Furthermore, it may be determined whether an index calculated on the basis of at least one of the subjective environmental information, the objective environmental information, and the activity information satisfies the subarea restriction. If at least one of a plurality of subareas fails to satisfy the subarea restriction, the target value calculation unit 61 re-calculates an environmental target value for the subarea failing to satisfy the subarea restriction. The target value calculation unit 61 sends the target value to the operation calculation unit 62.

The operation calculation unit 62 selects the environmental device 20 necessary for making the environment in the control target subarea be equivalent indicated by the target value, and determines operations of the environmental device 20. Making the environment in a subarea be equivalent indicated by the target value, as stated above, may include making the environment in the subarea be closer condition indicated by the target value. The operation calculation unit 62 determines operations of the environmental device 20 so that an objective environment in the area to be operated achieves condition indicated by the target value, the operations indicating, for example, the running state of the environmental device 20 (on/off and operation mode) and set values for the environmental device 20. The operation calculation unit 62 sends the determined operations to the influence calculation unit 63.

The influence calculation unit 63 determines an environmental change in another subarea to be caused when the environmental device 20 is operated in accordance with the operations determined by the operation calculation unit 62. The influence calculation unit 63 determines an environmental change in another subarea to be caused when the environmental device 20 is operated on the basis of the operations obtained from the operation calculation unit 62 and on the environmental information regarding the other subarea. The operation calculation unit 62 may further predict an environmental change in still another subarea on the basis of the amount of environmental change in the other subarea.

The influence calculation unit 63 determines whether the environmental change in the other subarea satisfies the corresponding subarea restriction. If the other subarea fails to satisfy its subarea restriction, the influence calculation unit 63 acquires priority levels and demand levels in the other subarea failing to satisfy its subarea restriction and the subarea to be operated, respectively. If the subarea to be operated has a higher priority level and a higher demand level than those of the other subarea, the influence calculation unit 63 determines that the environmental device 20 should be operated according to the operations calculated by the operation calculation unit 62. On the other hand, if the subarea to be operated has a higher priority level and a lower demand level than those of the other subarea, the influence calculation unit 63 refuses operation according to the operations determined by the operation calculation unit 62. The influence calculation unit 63 instructs the target value calculation unit 61 and the operation calculation unit 62 to re-calculate at least either a target value or operations. In addition to instructing the re-calculation, the influence calculation unit 63 may send a subarea identifier for identifying the other subarea failing to satisfy the subarea restriction to the operation calculation unit 62.

In this way, whether to operate the environmental device 20 is determined by using a priority level and a demand level. Accordingly, a demand level that varies depending on the subarea user or the state of the user can be reflected relative to a priority level.

The control instructing unit 70 receives the identifier indicating the environmental device 20 to be operated and the information indicating operations of the environmental device 20 from the influence calculation unit 63. The control instructing unit 70 may send the operations to the environmental device 20 to be operated to control the environmental device 20. Alternatively, the control instructing unit 70 may send the identifier indicating the environmental device 20 to be operated and the information indicating its operations to a computer used by the administrator or user of the area. The administrator or user of the area can control the environmental device 20 based on the information displayed on the display unit of the computer.

According to the present exemplary embodiment described above, an environmental device 20 can be controlled on the basis of the priority level given to a subarea and on the strength of demand for an environmental change in the subarea. According to the present exemplary embodiment, prioritized subareas can be switched depending on the demand level for an environmental change. Thus, an environmental device 20 can be controlled on the basis of presence/absence of a person or an activity of a user in a subarea.

In addition, according to the present exemplary embodiment, an environmental device 20 is controlled on the basis of demand levels. Thus, it becomes possible to determine a target value and operations of an environmental device 20 so that the subarea having the higher demand level of any two subareas having similar priority levels satisfies the subarea restriction.

A program for implementing all or part of the functions according to the above-described exemplary embodiments may be recorded into a computer-readable recording medium, and then the program recorded in the recording medium may be loaded into, and executed on, a computer (or a computer system) to carry out the processes handled by the individual units. Examples of the “computer” may include a central processing unit (CPU). The “computer-readable recording medium” may be, for example, a non-transitory storage device. Examples of the non-transitory storage device may include a portable medium such as a magneto-optical disk, read only memory (ROM), or non-volatile semiconductor memory, and a hard disk built into the computer system. The “computer-readable recording medium” may also be a transitory storage device. Examples of the transitory storage device may include a communication wire which transmits a program via a network like the Internet or via a communication line like a telephone line, or volatile memory located inside the computer system. The aforementioned program may be a program implementing part of the above-described functions, or may be a program implementing the above-described functions in combination with another program that is already recorded in the computer system.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, the invention is not limited to these embodiments. It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the claims.

(Supplementary Note 1)

Environmental control equipment controlling a plurality of environmental devices that adjust an environment in an area including a plurality of subareas, the equipment comprising:

an acquisition unit that acquires environmental information indicating an environment in each of the plurality of subareas and a subarea restriction indicating a limitation on an environment in each of the subareas;

a target value calculation unit that selects, from the plurality of subareas, and on the basis of the environmental information and the subarea restriction, a target subarea whose environment is to be changed, and determines a target value for the environment in the target subarea; and

an influence calculation unit that determines whether an environmental change in another subarea, which is one of the plurality of subareas and is different from the target subarea, satisfies the subarea restriction on said another subarea, the environmental change being caused by controlling the environmental device to satisfy the target value for the target subarea.

(Supplementary Note 2)

The environmental control equipment according to Supplementary note 1,

wherein the acquisition unit further acquires activity information indicating an activity in each of the plurality of subareas,

and wherein the target value calculation unit determines the target subarea and the target value for the environment in the target subarea, on the basis of the environmental information, the activity information, and the subarea restriction.

(Supplementary Note 3)

The environmental control equipment according to Supplementary note 1 or 2, further comprising a control instructing unit,

wherein, when the environmental change in said another subarea to be caused by controlling the environmental device to satisfy the target value for the target subarea satisfies the subarea restriction on said another subarea,

the control instructing unit outputs an instruction to control the environmental device to be operated.

(Supplementary Note 4)

The environmental control equipment according to Supplementary note 1 or 2,

wherein, when the environmental change in said another subarea to be caused by controlling the environmental device to satisfy the target value for the target subarea does not satisfy the subarea restriction on said another subarea,

the influence calculation unit instructs the target calculation unit to re-calculate the target value.

(Supplementary Note 5)

The environmental control equipment according to any one of Supplementary notes 1 to 3,

wherein the environmental information includes objective environmental information indicating a subarea environment that can be detected by a sensor and subjective environmental information indicating an evaluation of an environment, the evaluation being made by a user of the subarea.

(Supplementary Note 6)

The environmental control equipment according to any one of Supplementary notes 1 to 5,

wherein the environmental change indicates a change in at least one of a subarea environment that can be detected by a sensor and an evaluation of the subarea environment, the evaluation being made by a user of the subarea.

(Supplementary Note 7)

The environmental control equipment according to any one of Supplementary notes 1 to 6, further comprising an operation calculation unit that calculates operations of the environmental device to satisfy the target value for the target subarea,

wherein, on the basis of operations of the environmental device, the influence calculation unit selects as said another subarea a subarea to be influenced by the operations.

(Supplementary Note 8)

The environmental control equipment according to any one of Supplementary notes 1 to 7,

wherein the acquisition unit further acquires an area restriction indicating a limitation on control of an area having a plurality of subareas,

and wherein the target calculation unit determines the target value so that the area restriction is satisfied.

Supplementary Note 9)

The environmental control equipment according to any one of Supplementary notes 1 to 8,

wherein priority levels given to environmental controls of the plurality of subareas are acquired, wherein, when the environmental change in said another subarea does not satisfy the subarea restriction on said another subarea, the influence calculation unit makes a comparison between the priority level of the target subarea and the priority level of said another subarea,

and wherein it is determined whether to operate the environmental device on the basis of a result of the comparison.

(Supplementary Note 10)

The environmental control equipment according to Supplementary note 9,

wherein, when the priority level of the target subarea is lower than the priority level of said another subarea, the target value calculation unit re-calculates the target value so that the environmental change in said another subarea satisfies the subarea restriction on said another subarea.

(Supplementary Note 11)

The environmental control equipment according to any one of Supplementary notes 1 to 8,

wherein, when the priority level of the target subarea is higher than the priority level of said another subarea, the control instructing unit outputs the instruction to control an environmental device to be operated.

(Supplementary Note 12)

The environmental control equipment according to any one of Supplementary notes 2 to 11,

wherein the target value calculation unit calculates the target value so that a productivity index, which indicates a degree of productivity calculated by using the environmental information and the activity information, satisfies the subarea restriction,

and wherein the influence calculation unit determines whether a change in the productivity index regarding said another subarea, the change to be caused by controlling the environmental device to satisfy the target value, satisfies the corresponding subarea restriction.

(Supplementary Note 13)

An environmental control system comprising:

an environmental device that adjusts an environment in an area including a plurality of subareas;

an environmental information detecting unit that detects environmental information regarding the subareas, and

control equipment that communicates with the environmental device, the environmental information detecting unit, and the activity information detecting unit,

wherein the control equipment comprises:

an acquisition unit that acquires the environmental information indicating the environment in each of the plurality of subareas and a subarea restriction indicating a limitation on the environment in each of the subareas;

a target value calculation unit that selects, from the plurality of subareas, and on the basis of the environmental information and the subarea restriction, a target subarea whose environment is to be changed, and determines a target value for the environment in the target subarea; and

an influence calculation unit that determines whether an environmental change in another subarea, which is one of the plurality of subareas and is different from the target subarea, satisfies the subarea restriction on said another subarea, the environmental change being caused by controlling the environmental device to satisfy the target value for the target subarea.

(Supplementary Note 14)

A control method including:

acquiring environmental information indicating an environment in each of a plurality of subareas and a subarea restriction indicating a limitation on the environment in each of the subareas;

selecting, from the plurality of subareas, and on the basis of the environmental information and the subarea restriction, a target subarea whose environment is to be changed;

determining a target value for the environment in the target subarea; and

determining whether an environmental change in another subarea, which is one of the plurality of subareas and is different from the target subarea, satisfies the subarea restriction on the other subarea, the environmental change being caused by controlling an environmental device to satisfy the target value for the target subarea.

(Supplementary Note 15)

A program causing a computer to execute:

acquiring environmental information indicating an environment in each of a plurality of subareas and a subarea restriction indicating a limitation on the environment in each of the subareas;

selecting, from the plurality of subareas, and on the basis of the environmental information and the subarea restriction, a target subarea whose environment is to be changed;

determining a target value for the environment in the target subarea; and

determining whether an environmental change in another subarea, which is one of the plurality of subareas and is different from the target subarea, satisfies the subarea restriction on the other subarea, the environmental change being caused by controlling an environmental device to satisfy the target value for the target subarea.

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese patent application No. 2014-242726, filed on Dec. 1, 2014, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirely by reference.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

100 Control equipment

200 Area

20 Environmental device

21 Electric power information detecting unit

22 Environmental information detecting unit

23 Activity information detecting unit

50 Acquisition unit

60 Calculation unit

70 Control instructing unit

Claims

1. Environmental control equipment controlling a plurality of environmental devices that adjust an environment in an area including a plurality of subareas, the equipment comprising:

an acquisition unit that acquires environmental information indicating an environment in each of the plurality of subareas and a subarea restriction indicating a limitation on an environment in each of the subareas;

a target value calculation unit that selects, from the plurality of subareas, and on the basis of the environmental information and the subarea restriction, a target subarea whose environment is to be changed, and determines a target value for the environment in the target subarea; and

an influence calculation unit that determines whether an environmental change in another subarea, which is one of the plurality of subareas and is different from the target subarea, satisfies the subarea restriction on said another subarea, the environmental change being caused by controlling the environmental device to satisfy the target value for the target subarea.

2. The environmental control equipment according to claim 1,

wherein the acquisition unit further acquires activity information indicating an activity in each of the plurality of subareas,

and wherein the target value calculation unit determines the target subarea and the target value for the environment in the target subarea, on the basis of the environmental information, the activity information, and the subarea restriction.

3. The environmental control equipment according to claim 1, further comprising a control instructing unit,

wherein, when the environmental change in said another subarea to be caused by controlling the environmental device to satisfy the target value satisfies the subarea restriction on said another subarea,

the control instructing unit outputs an instruction to control the environmental device to be operated.

4. The environmental control equipment according to claim 1,

wherein, when the environmental change in said another subarea to be caused by controlling the environmental device to satisfy the target value does not satisfy the subarea restriction on said another subarea,

the influence calculation unit instructs the target calculation unit to re-calculate the target value.

5. The environmental control equipment according to claim 1,

wherein the environmental information includes objective environmental information indicating a subarea environment that can be detected by a sensor and subjective environmental information indicating an evaluation of an environment, the evaluation being made by a user of the subarea.

6. The environmental control equipment according to claim 1,

wherein the environmental change indicates a change in at least one of a subarea environment that can be detected by a sensor and an evaluation of the environment, the evaluation being made by a user of the subarea.

7. The environmental control equipment according to claim 1, further comprising an operation calculation unit that calculates operations of the environmental device to satisfy the target value,

wherein, on the basis of operations of the environmental device, the influence calculation unit selects as said another subarea a subarea to be influenced by the operations.

8. The environmental control equipment according to claim 1,

wherein the acquisition unit further acquires an area restriction indicating a limitation on control of an area having a plurality of subareas,

and wherein the target calculation unit determines the target value so that the area restriction is satisfied.

9. The environmental control equipment according to claim 1,

wherein priority levels given to environmental controls of the plurality of subareas are acquired,

wherein, when the environmental change in said another subarea does not satisfy the subarea restriction on said another subarea, the influence calculation unit makes a comparison between the priority level of the target subarea and the priority level of said another subarea,

and wherein it is determined whether to operate the environmental device on the basis of a result of the comparison.

10. The environmental control equipment according to claim 9,

wherein, when the priority level of the target subarea is lower than the priority level of said another subarea,

the target value calculation unit re-calculates the target value so that the environmental change in said another subarea satisfies the subarea restriction on said another subarea.

11. The environmental control equipment according to claim 9,

wherein, when the priority level of the target subarea is higher than the priority level of said another subarea, the control instructing unit outputs the instruction to control an environmental device to be operated.

12. The environmental control equipment according to claim 2,

wherein the target value calculation unit calculates the target value so that a productivity index, which indicates a degree of productivity calculated by using the environmental information and the activity information, satisfies the subarea restriction,

and wherein the influence calculation unit determines whether a change in the productivity index regarding said another subarea, the change to be caused by controlling the environmental device to satisfy the target value, satisfies the corresponding subarea restriction.

13. An environmental control system comprising:

an environmental device that adjusts an environment in an area including a plurality of subareas;

an environmental information detecting unit that detects environmental information regarding the subareas, and

control equipment that communicates with the environmental device, the environmental information detecting unit, and the activity information detecting unit,

wherein the control equipment comprises:

an acquisition unit that acquires the environmental information indicating the environment in each of the plurality of subareas and a subarea restriction indicating a limitation on the environment in each of the subareas;

a target value calculation unit that selects, from the plurality of subareas, and on the basis of the environmental information and the subarea restriction, a target subarea whose environment is to be changed, and determines a target value for the environment in the target subarea; and

an influence calculation unit that determines whether an environmental change in another subarea, which is one of the plurality of subareas and is different from the target subarea, satisfies the subarea restriction on said another subarea, the environmental change being caused by controlling the environmental device to satisfy the target value for the target subarea.