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Smart vents and systems and methods for operating an air conditioning system including such vents

  • US 10,371,399 B1
  • Filed: 03/14/2013
  • Issued: 08/06/2019
  • Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2012
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A system for operating a central air system within a building that includes one or more blowers and ducts communicating from the one or more blowers to rooms within the building, the system comprising:

  • a vent in each of the rooms comprising first and second sets of fins movable independently about first and second axes, respectively, and an actuator coupled to the first and second sets of fins for selectively opening and closing the respective vent and controlling directional flow of air from the central air system through the respective vent;

    an infrared thermal camera mounted to each vent;

    a processor mounted to each vent and coupled to the camera of each vent to acquire heat signature data to detect and locate occupants within the respective room, the processor communicating with the actuator of the respective vent for directing the actuator to open or close the first and second sets of fins of the respective vent based at least in part on the heat signature data and to provide directional flow of air through the respective vent into the respective room;

    a controller remote from and communicating with each vent, wherein the controller is configured to determine whether each of the rooms is occupied based on communications from the processor of each vent, the controller configured to selectively open each vent when the respective room is occupied based on the communications from the processor of each vent to maintain a desired occupancy temperature within the respective room, the controller further configured to selectively close each vent when the respective room is unoccupied to maintain a stand-by temperature that is higher than the desired occupancy temperature; and

    a vent communication interface mounted to each vent for wireless communication with the controller, and wherein the controller is further configured to process heat signature data from the camera of each vent to determine when an occupant in an occupied room of the rooms is leaving the occupied room, the controller is further configured to predict a destination room of the rooms, the destination room being where the occupant is predicted to go within the building when leaving the occupied room and the controller is further configured to actuate the vent in the destination room and the vent in at least one additional room of the rooms,wherein the controller is further configured to actuate the vent in the destination room and the vent in the at least one additional room to increase a rate at which the vent of the at least one additional room and the vent of the destination room are polled to acquire temperature data to detect whether the occupant has entered the destination room.

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