BUILDING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM WITH ACTIVE BUILDING SKIN, AN ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCE COLLECTOR FOR USE IN SUCH A SYSTEM AND A METHOD OF MANAGING RESOURCES USED IN A BUILDING

• US 20110046789A1
• Filed: 09/29/2008
• Published: 02/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Vanheerden, Clive, Mama, Kyriakos, Duester, Thomas, Dobrusskin, Christoph
• Granted Patent: US 8,676,384 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/275
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric

Abstract

A building management system (100) comprises a measurement system for measuring a demand for resources inside the building and a collecting system for harvesting natural resources available outside the building. The building management system is further provided with a storage system for storing surplus resources and a sensor system (112,114,116,118,120) for measuring resource availability outside the building and/or resources stored in the storage system. Further, a controller (102) arranged to receive data from the measurement system, the sensor system and the storage system is provided. The controller controls the collecting system based on said data to tune the collection of resources by the collection system to a present and/or an expected demand for resources.

Claims

1. Building management system for use in a building, the system comprising:

a measurement system constructed and arranged to measure a demand for resources inside the building;

a collecting system constructed and arranged to harvest resources available outside the building;

a sensor system constructed and arranged to measure resource availability outside the building

a controller arranged to receive data from the measurement system, the sensor system and the storage system, wherein the controller is further arranged to control the collecting system based on said data to tune the collection of resources by the collection system to a present and/or an expected demand for resources.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a storage system constructed to store surplus harvested resources, wherein the sensor system is further constructed and arranged to measure resource availability in the storage system.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the collecting system comprises an assembly of collectors mounted on the outside of the building.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the assembly of collectors is arranged to harvest one or more of the group of resources consisting of solar energy, precipitation, wind energy and temperature differences between the building and its surroundings.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the assembly of collectors comprises multiple types of collectors that are dedicated to harvesting a specific resource.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the assembly of collectors comprises a single type of collectors that can harvest one or more resources.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the collectors are moveably constructed and are associated with drive means, said drive means being under control of the controller, wherein the drive means are constructed to change a position and/or an orientation of the collectors with respect to the building.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the controller comprises a sub-controller for locally optimizing the position and/or the orientation of the assembly of collectors in view of the available resources outside the building.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the system comprises a memory capable of storing information on a usage pattern of the building, said information being available to the controller.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the memory is capable of being connected to a weather forecasting system.

11. The system of claim 2, wherein the collectors of the collecting system are shaped as funnels that extend from the outside of the building and having the wide part of the funnel directed away from the building.

12. The system of claim 2, wherein the collectors comprise an inner surface that is provided with a covering of photovoltaic cells constructed to convert solar energy into electrical energy.

13. The system of claim 2, wherein the collectors comprise an inner surface that has reflective properties, so as to reflect incoming light towards a focal point.

14. The system of claim 2, wherein the collectors are provided with a wind driven impeller constructed to convert wind energy into electrical energy.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the collectors are associated with further drive means that are constructed and arranged to change the size of the wide part of the collector, which further drive means are under control of the controller.

16. The system of claim 2, wherein each collector is associated with a dedicated sensor to locally measure the availability of resources.

17. The system according to claim 2, wherein the collectors are mounted on the envelope of the building.

18. The system of claim 1 further comprising energy conversion means constructed and arranged to convert the energy contained in the harvested resources into another form of energy.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the collecting system is part of an active building skin that can, under control of the controller, actively harvest resources available outside the building.

20. A building comprising a building management system according to claim 1.

22. The resource collector of claim 20, wherein the main body comprises inner surface that is provided with a covering of photovoltaic cells.

23. The resource collector of claim 20, wherein the collector comprises an inner surface that has reflective properties, so as to reflect incoming light towards a focal point.

24. The resource collector of claim 20, wherein a flow operable impeller is provided between the wide part and the narrow part of the main body.

25. The resource collector of claim 20, wherein the resource collector has shape-changing properties.

21. An environmental resource collector, comprising a substantially funnel-shaped main body, whereby the main body is open at both the wide part and narrow part thereof, providing a passage for environmental resources from the wide part to the narrow part of the main body.

26. A method of managing resources used in a building, comprising:

measuring a demand for resources inside the building;

harvesting resources available outside the building using a collecting system;

measuring resource availability outside the building;

supplying data relating to the demand for resources inside the building and data relating to the availability of resources outside the building to a controller, and

tuning the harvesting of resources by the collection system to present and/or expected demand for resources using the data supplied to the controller.

27. The method of claim 26, comprising

storing a surplus of harvested resources in a storage system;

measuring resource availability in the storage system;

supplying data relating to the availability of resources in the storage system to the controller.

28. A method of managing resources used in a building, comprising:

measuring a demand for resources inside the building;

harvesting resources available outside the building using a collecting system;

measuring resource availability outside the building;

supplying data relating to the demand for resources inside the building and data relating to the availability of resources outside the building to a controller, and

at least balancing the harvesting of resources by the collection system with present and/or expected demand for resources using the data supplied to the controller.

29. The method of claim 28, comprising

storing a surplus of harvested resources in a storage system;

measuring resource availability in the storage system;

supplying data relating to the availability of resources in the storage system to the controller.