Smart fan controller
First Claim
1. A smart fan controller (817) for a Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning (HVAC) system, comprising:
- a microprocessor (304);
a thermostat element (806) configured to receive a first analog control signal (341) and a second analog control signal (342) from a thermostat (201 or 800), where the thermostat element (806) is configured to rectify and combine the first analog control signal (341) and the second analog control signal (342) into a third analog control signal (343);
an HVAC element (814) configured to receive the third analog control signal (343) from thermostat element (806) and provide a fourth digital control signal (344) to the microprocessor (304) in response to the third analog control signal (343);
an Alternating Current to Direct Current (AC-DC) converter (303) configured to provide a fifth digital timing control signal (345) to the microprocessor (304) synchronous with a low voltage power signal from a system transformer (210);
a signal conditioning element (308) configured to receive an at least one sixth analog control signal (346) from the thermostat (201 or 800) and convert the at least one sixth analog control signal (346) to an at least one seventh digital control signal (347) provided to the microprocessor (304) wherein the at least one seventh digital control signal (347) is selected from the group consisting of;
a digital fan signal, a digital AC/HP compressor signal, and a digital heat signal;
a first switching device (836) configured with a wired electrical output (212) or a wireless (WIFI) communication channel (847) for the microprocessor (304) to use an eighth digital control signal (348) to energize or de-energize at least one HVAC device (340) selected from the group consisting of;
an AC/HP compressor (203), a HP reversing valve (263 or 264), and a heat source (202);
a second switching device (301) configured with a wired electrical output (212) or a wireless (WIFI) communication channel (847) for the microprocessor (304) to use a ninth digital control signal (349) to energize or de-energize a fan relay (205);
wherein the microprocessor (304) is further configured to perform at least one action selected from the group consisting of;
monitor a cooling cycle duration and determine a variable fan-off delay time based on the cooling cycle duration and at an end of the cooling on cycle, either activate or continue to active the ninth digital control signal (349) to operate the fan relay (205) until the variable fan-off delay time has expired; and
monitor a heating cycle duration and determine the variable fan-off delay time based on the heating cycle duration and at an end of a heating on cycle, either activate or continue to activate the ninth digital control signal (349) to operate the fan relay (205) until the variable fan-off delay time has expired.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The efficient fan controller includes a microprocessor receiving at least one signal input from thermostat/equipment control terminals to control a fan relay to operate a system fan. The microprocessor monitors a thermostat call for cooling/heating duration and determines a variable fan-off delay based on the cooling/heating cycle duration, and at an end of a cooling/heating cycle energize the fan relay to operate the system fan for the variable fan-off delay. The fan controller avoids false thermostat activation signals and includes a common wire adapter to provide continuous power to a smart communicating thermostat and is configured to evaluate floating, zero, rectified, false positive and active input signals. The fan controller can be embodied on a forced-air-unit control board or thermostat. The fan controller installation methods ensure the system fan/blower operates at high speed for heating and cooling to improve thermal comfort, efficiency and satisfy the thermostat sooner to save energy.
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Citations
50 Claims
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1. A smart fan controller (817) for a Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning (HVAC) system, comprising:
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a microprocessor (304); a thermostat element (806) configured to receive a first analog control signal (341) and a second analog control signal (342) from a thermostat (201 or 800), where the thermostat element (806) is configured to rectify and combine the first analog control signal (341) and the second analog control signal (342) into a third analog control signal (343); an HVAC element (814) configured to receive the third analog control signal (343) from thermostat element (806) and provide a fourth digital control signal (344) to the microprocessor (304) in response to the third analog control signal (343); an Alternating Current to Direct Current (AC-DC) converter (303) configured to provide a fifth digital timing control signal (345) to the microprocessor (304) synchronous with a low voltage power signal from a system transformer (210); a signal conditioning element (308) configured to receive an at least one sixth analog control signal (346) from the thermostat (201 or 800) and convert the at least one sixth analog control signal (346) to an at least one seventh digital control signal (347) provided to the microprocessor (304) wherein the at least one seventh digital control signal (347) is selected from the group consisting of;
a digital fan signal, a digital AC/HP compressor signal, and a digital heat signal;a first switching device (836) configured with a wired electrical output (212) or a wireless (WIFI) communication channel (847) for the microprocessor (304) to use an eighth digital control signal (348) to energize or de-energize at least one HVAC device (340) selected from the group consisting of;
an AC/HP compressor (203), a HP reversing valve (263 or 264), and a heat source (202);a second switching device (301) configured with a wired electrical output (212) or a wireless (WIFI) communication channel (847) for the microprocessor (304) to use a ninth digital control signal (349) to energize or de-energize a fan relay (205); wherein the microprocessor (304) is further configured to perform at least one action selected from the group consisting of; monitor a cooling cycle duration and determine a variable fan-off delay time based on the cooling cycle duration and at an end of the cooling on cycle, either activate or continue to active the ninth digital control signal (349) to operate the fan relay (205) until the variable fan-off delay time has expired; and monitor a heating cycle duration and determine the variable fan-off delay time based on the heating cycle duration and at an end of a heating on cycle, either activate or continue to activate the ninth digital control signal (349) to operate the fan relay (205) until the variable fan-off delay time has expired. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A smart fan controller (817) for a Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning (HVAC) system, comprising:
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a microprocessor (304); a thermostat element (806) configured to receive a first analog control signal (341) and a second analog control signal (342) from a thermostat (201 or 800), where the thermostat element (806) is configured to rectify and combine the first analog control signal (341) and the second analog control signal (342) into a third analog control signal (343); an HVAC element (814) configured to receive the third analog control signal (343) from thermostat element (806) and provide a fourth digital control signal (344) to the microprocessor (304) in response to the third analog control signal (343); an Alternating Current to Direct Current (AC-DC) converter (303) configured to provide a fifth digital timing control signal (345) to the microprocessor (304) synchronous with a low voltage power signal from a system transformer (210); a signal conditioning element (308) configured to receive at least one sixth analog control signal (346) from the thermostat (201 or 800) and convert the at least one sixth analog control signal (346) to an at least one seventh digital control signal (347) provided to the microprocessor (304) wherein the at least one seventh digital control signal (347) is selected from the group consisting of;
a digital fan signal, a digital AC/HP compressor signal, and a digital heat signal;at least one electrical input for at least one temperature sensor measurement used by the microprocessor (304) to monitor at least one air temperature; a first switching device (836) configured with a wired electrical output (212) or a wireless (WIFI) communication channel (847) for the microprocessor (304) to use an eighth digital control signal (348) to energize or de-energize at least one HVAC device (340) selected from the group consisting of;
an AC/HP compressor (203), a HP reversing valve (263 or 264), and a heat source (202);a second switching device (301) configured with a wired electrical output (212) or a wireless (WIFI) communication channel (847) for the microprocessor (304) to use a ninth digital control signal (349) to energize or de-energize a fan relay (205); wherein the microprocessor (304) is further configured to perform at least one action selected from the group consisting of; monitor a cooling cycle duration and determine a variable fan-off delay time based on the cooling cycle duration and at an end of the cooling on cycle, either activate or continue to active the ninth digital control signal (349) to operate the fan relay (205) until the variable fan-off delay time has expired; monitor a heating cycle duration and determine the variable fan-off delay time based on the heating cycle duration and at an end of a heating on cycle, either activate or continue to activate the ninth digital control signal (349) to operate the fan relay (205) until the variable fan-off delay time has expired; and monitor the temperature sensor measurement, and at an end of the cooling cycle or heating cycle either energize or continue to energize the switching device (301) and the fan relay (205) to operate a system fan/blower (206) for the variable fan-off delay time to deliver additional cooling or heating energy to a conditioned space wherein the variable fan-off delay time is based on at least one Conditioned Space Temperature (CST) measurement threshold selected from the group consisting of;
the CST reaches a heating fan-off delay differential offset (363), the CST reaches a cooling fan-off delay differential offset (374), and the CST reaches an inflection point where the rate of change of the CST with respect to time equals zero plus or minus a confidence interval tolerance. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A smart fan controller for a Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning (HVAC) system, comprising:
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a microprocessor (304); at least one electrical input (845) to receive at least one HVAC control signal (341) from a thermostat or equipment control terminal (201) or a smart communicating thermostat (800) wherein the at least one HVAC control signal (341) is selected from the group consisting of;
a fan signal, an Air Conditioning/Heat Pump (AC/HP) compressor signal, and a heat signal;a signal conditioning element (308) configured to receive the at least one HVAC control signal (341) and convert the at least one HVAC control signal (341) to at least one digital control signal (347) provided to the microprocessor (304) wherein the at least one digital HVAC control signal (347) is selected from the group consisting of;
a digital fan signal, a digital AC/HP compressor signal, and a digital heat signal;an Alternating Current to Direct Current (AC-DC) converter (303) configured to provide a digital timing control signal (345) to the microprocessor (304) synchronous with a low voltage power signal from a system transformer (210); a switching device (301) configured with a wired electrical output (212) or a wireless (WIFI) communication channel (847) for the microprocessor (304) to energize or de-energize a fan relay (205); wherein the microprocessor (304) is further configured to perform at least one action selected from the group consisting of; monitor a cooling cycle duration and determine a variable fan-off delay time based on the cooling cycle duration and at an end of the cooling on cycle, either energize or continue to energize the fan relay (205) until the variable fan-off delay time has expired in order to improve energy efficiency; and monitor a heating cycle duration and determine the variable fan-off delay time based on the heating cycle duration and at an end of a heating on cycle, either energize or continue to energize fan relay (205) until the variable fan-off delay time has expired in order to improve energy efficiency. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. A smart fan controller for a Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning (HVAC) system, comprising:
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a microprocessor (304); at least one wired electrical input (845) or a wireless (WIFI) communication channel (847) to receive at an least one HVAC control signal (341) from a thermostat or equipment control terminal (201) or a smart communicating thermostat (800), wherein the at least one HVAC control signal (341) is selected from the group consisting of;
a fan signal, an Air Conditioning/Heat Pump (AC/HP) compressor signal, and a heat signal;a signal conditioning element (308) configured to receive the at least one HVAC control signal (341) and convert the at least one HVAC control signal (341) to at least one digital control signal (347) provided to the microprocessor (304) wherein the at least one digital HVAC control signal (347) is selected from the group consisting of;
a digital fan signal, a digital AC/HP compressor signal, and a digital heat signal;an Alternating Current to Direct Current (AC-DC) converter (303) configured to provide a digital timing control signal (345) to the microprocessor (304) synchronous with a low voltage power signal from a system transformer (210); a switching device (301) configured with a wired electrical output (212) or a wireless (WIFI) communication channel (847) for the microprocessor (304) to energize or de-energize a fan relay (205); wherein the microprocessor (304) is configured to; monitor signals present or absent on a thermostat or equipment terminal (201) or a smart communicating thermostat (800) with a fan control having an AUTO setting and a fan-only ON setting to perform a fan-only Fault Detection Diagnostic (FDD) procedure; detect and monitor the fan-only ON setting based on the presence of a fan signal and the absence of;
a heat signal, a cool signal, and a fan signal during a fan-off delay;correct a fan-only ON setting fault by de-energizing a fan relay (205) to override the fan-only ON setting after a Threshold Fan-on Time (TFT) based on the presence throughout the TFT of the fan-only signal with or without a thermostat call for cooling or heating. - View Dependent Claims (50)
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Specification