Alerting system

• US 10,248,113 B2
• Filed: 05/07/2018
• Issued: 04/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Wacker, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Foxx, Chico A
• Application Number:
  US15/973,412
• Publication Number:
  US 20180253089A1
• Time in Patent Office: 330 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/32 Responding to malfunctions or emergencies
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/62 characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0235 based on a comparison with predetermined threshold or range, e.g. "classical methods", carried out during normal operation; threshold adaptation or choice; when or how to compare with the threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0264 Control of logging system, e.g. decision on which data to store; time-stamping measurements

Abstract

A program for light commercial building system (LCBS) solutions. Solutions and other systems may incorporate lightweight alerting service, auto-adjustment of gateway poll rates based on the needs of various consuming applications, detecting loss of space comfort control in a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system, HVAC capacity loss alerting using relative degree days and accumulated stage run time with operational equivalency checks, and HVAC alerting for loss of heat or cool capacity using delta temperature and dependent system properties. Also, incorporated may be triggering s subset of analytics by automatically inferring HVAC equipment details from controller configuration details, ensuring reliability of analytics by retaining logical continuity of HVAC equipment operational data even when controllers and other parts of the system are replaced, and an LCBS gateway with workflow and mechanisms to associate to a contractor account.

Claims

1. A notification component of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, the notification component comprising:

a sensor of an sensor arrangement, for the HVAC system, adapted to obtain one or more parameter values of an object of one or more objects of building equipment, the one or more parameter values having a predetermined bound and adapted to detect one or more events of equipment of the HVAC system, wherein an event is defined as a crossing of a threshold value of the predetermined bound of the one or more parameter values; and

a processor connected to the sensor arrangement that provides an alert indicating that one or more events corresponding to said event have occurred; and

wherein;

the one or more events each indicate a time of occurrence of the crossing of the threshold value;

when a parameter value of the one or more parameter values of an object reenters the predetermined allowed bound, the alert remains; and

when the parameter value of the one or more parameter values of the object again lies outside of the predetermined allowed bound, the alert remains and a latest time that the parameter value of the one or more parameter values of the object has been outside of the predetermined allowed bound is logged.

2. The notification component of claim 1, wherein the alert is configured to appear on a page of a display or dashboard selected from a group comprising a pad, notebook, tablet, smartphone, laptop, and office computer.

3. The notification component of claim 1, wherein the one or more events are logged upon an occurrence of the crossing of the threshold value along with the one or more parameter values of the object to which the predetermined allowed bound is applied.

4. The notification component of claim 3, wherein the alert has an assigned priority selected from a plurality of priorities, and each priority of the plurality of priorities indicates a level of urgency for an action which should be taken.

5. The notification component of claim 1, wherein whether an alert triggers a push notification is an option that is selected according to the one or more parameter values of the object when the threshold value is crossed.

6. The notification component of claim 5, wherein when the alert is a pushed notification, and a content of the push notification indicates a recipient of the alert and a mode of delivery to the recipient.

7. The notification component of claim 1, wherein when one or more parameter values of the object has crossed the threshold value to generate an alert, and then the parameter value of the object reenters the predetermined allowed bound, an additional event is time-stamped and logged, but only one alert remains for that threshold value.

8. The notification component of claim 7, wherein a user sees only one alert on a display and has an option to examine a log of one or more events reflecting the crossing of a threshold value of the predetermined bound of the one or more parameter values of the object.

9. The notification component of claim 1, wherein the one or more events are a result of a complex calculation of parameter values of one or more objects of building equipment.

10. The notification component of claim 9, wherein the one or more events are a result of a complex calculation of parameter values of more than one objects of building equipment.

11. A method of alerting a user of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system comprising:

reporting an event record of equipment of an HVAC system as an alert, wherein equipment of the HVAC system comprises at least one or more objects having associated therewith a parameter value having a predetermined allowed bound and the alert corresponds to a parameter value of the at least one or more objects sensed by a sensor which is outside of the predetermined allowed bound;

logging a time of the alert when the alert occurs;

classifying the alert as having a level of priority selected from a group of priorities, wherein each priority indicates a level of urgency for an action relative to the at least one or more objects that should be taken; and

configuring the alert to appear on a display or dashboard, wherein the alert is a pushed notification and a content of the push notification comprises content about the alert, a person to receive information pertaining to the alert, and a medium for containing the alert; and

wherein;

an event record of an alert is selected from a group consisting of a sensed value of an object of the at least one or more objects, an excursion outside a predetermined allowed bound of a parameter value, and an analytic value exceeding a predetermined allowed bound;

wherein the alert pertains to a status of HVAC equipment in a building management system, as determined by a parameter value of the object of the at least one or more objects to which an alert threshold has been applied according to the predetermined allowed bound; and

wherein when the parameter value of the object of the at least one or more objects reenters the predetermined allowed bound, the alert remains, and when the parameter value of the object of the at least one or more objects again lies outside of the predetermined allowed bound, the alert remains and a latest time that the parameter value of the object of the at least one or more objects has been outside of the predetermined allowed bound is logged.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein each level of priority of the group of priorities comprises a different requirement for a responsive action relative to a cause of the alert.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein two or more alerts having different predetermined allowed bound are set on the same object of the at least one or more objects.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein:

a first predetermined allowed bound for a first alert of the two or more alerts is set for a first parameter value of the object of the at least one or more objects and a second predetermined allowed bound for a second alert of two or more alerts is set for a second parameter value of the object of the at least one or more objects;

a first alert of the two or more alerts is classified as low priority;

a second alert of the two or more alerts is classified as high priority; and

the first and second alerts are progressive with the first alert being an early warning of the second alert.

15. A simple alerting service mechanism comprising:

an indication device;

a processor having a connection to the indication device; and

a sensor arrangement connected to the processor; and

wherein the sensor arrangement obtains one or more parameter values of at least one or more objects of a heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) system of building equipment, wherein the at least one or more objects have associated therewith a predetermined allowed bound, wherein the predetermined allowed bound, is applied to the one or more parameter values of the at least one or more objects; and

wherein;

when a parameter value of the one or more parameter values is no longer within the predetermined allowed bound, an event record of the parameter value that is no longer within the predetermined allowed bound is sent by the sensor arrangement to the processor;

the event record comprises the parameter value that is no longer within the predetermined allowed bound and a time at which the parameter value was no longer within the predetermined allowed bound;

the processor logs an alert of the event record, and provides an alert of the event record to the indication device; and

the alert is classified with a priority level that indicates an urgency level of attention required for the at least one or more objects, wherein a push notification is triggered by the alert; and

the push notification provides information that is tailored to the event record, wherein the information of the push notification indicates a recipient of the alert and a mode of delivery to the recipient and provides an the alert of the event record to the indication device via the mode of delivery to the recipient;

when the parameter value of the one or more parameter values returns within the predetermined allowed bound, an un-alert of the at least one or more objects is provided to the processor;

when the parameter value of the one or more parameter values is again not within the predetermined allowed bound, then another event record of the parameter value is sent to the processor; and

the processor provides the same alert for another event record to the indication device but updates a time stamp of a most recent event record.

16. The simple alerting service mechanism of claim 15, wherein the connection of the processor to the indication device is a wireless connection.

17. The simple alerting service mechanism of claim 15, wherein the connection of the processor to the indication device is a wired connection.

18. The simple alerting service mechanism of claim 15, wherein the indication device is selected from a group comprising a pad, notebook, tablet, smartphone, laptop and office computer.

19. The simple alerting service mechanism of claim 15, wherein the processor is selected from a group comprising a pad, notebook, tablet, smartphone, laptop and office computer.

20. The simple alerting service mechanism of claim 15, wherein:

when the parameter value of the one or more parameter values reenters the predetermined allowed bound to an un-alert position relative to the predetermined allowed bound, then an un-alert of an object of at least one or more objects is provided to the processor;

when the parameter value of the one or more parameter values reenters the predetermined allowed bound, then another event record of the parameter value is sent to the processor;

the processor provides the same alert for another event record to the indication device but updates a time stamp of a most recent event record; and

virtually all events are recorded in a log that is optionally viewable.