Wirelessly controlled heating system
First Claim
1. A system for providing and regulating steam heat in a building which has a plurality of rooms, a boiler and a plurality of radiators in the plurality of rooms, each radiator being connected to the boiler via a network of pipes, the system comprising:
- a central processor configured to monitor and adjust said system;
said central processor including a central processor transceiver;
a plurality of air vent controllers each including an air vent controller transceiver for wireless communication with said central processor and each being adapted to be attachable to a respective radiator;
said plurality of air vent controllers having an open state in which air may flow through the air vent controller and a closed state in which air is prevented from flowing through said air vent controllers, said air vent controllers being separated into a plurality of groups;
a plurality of room thermometers respectively coupled to said plurality of air vent controllers configured to determine a respective room temperature;
each of said air vent controllers being configured to communicate the respective room temperature and the state of the air vent controller to said central processor via said air vent controller transceiver;
said central processor being configured to, at least in part in response to said communication from said air vent controllers, determine that a group of said air vent controllers needs to be placed in the open state and to send an instruction to that group of air vent controllers to change to the open state;
said group of air vent controllers being configured to, in response to said instruction from said central processor, change to the open state.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The system includes a boiler, and multiple radiators connected to the boiler via a network of pipes. It includes a central processor for monitoring and control, air vent controllers that control the flow of steam through the radiators and a boiler control which turns the boiler on and off. The radiators are divided into groups. The central controller communicates with the air vent controllers to determine the conditions in the various groups. Based at least in part on the conditions, central controller may determine that the group requires heat. If heat is required and other parameters agree, central processor determines the state of the boiler. If off, the boiler is instructed to turn on and the air vent controllers in the group are instructed to open. Each air vent controller in that heat zone will then open allowing air to flow through the radiator and heat to be provided.
34 Citations
19 Claims
-
1. A system for providing and regulating steam heat in a building which has a plurality of rooms, a boiler and a plurality of radiators in the plurality of rooms, each radiator being connected to the boiler via a network of pipes, the system comprising:
-
a central processor configured to monitor and adjust said system; said central processor including a central processor transceiver; a plurality of air vent controllers each including an air vent controller transceiver for wireless communication with said central processor and each being adapted to be attachable to a respective radiator;
said plurality of air vent controllers having an open state in which air may flow through the air vent controller and a closed state in which air is prevented from flowing through said air vent controllers, said air vent controllers being separated into a plurality of groups;a plurality of room thermometers respectively coupled to said plurality of air vent controllers configured to determine a respective room temperature; each of said air vent controllers being configured to communicate the respective room temperature and the state of the air vent controller to said central processor via said air vent controller transceiver; said central processor being configured to, at least in part in response to said communication from said air vent controllers, determine that a group of said air vent controllers needs to be placed in the open state and to send an instruction to that group of air vent controllers to change to the open state; said group of air vent controllers being configured to, in response to said instruction from said central processor, change to the open state. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A method of providing steam heat to a building that has a boiler and a plurality of radiators connected to the boiler via a network of pipes, the method comprising:
-
assigning identifiers to a plurality of radiators; separating said plurality of radiators into a plurality of groups based on said identifiers; configuring each of said plurality of radiators within a group to operate on a common set of parameters; monitoring said parameters at a central processor; receiving at said central processor, communications from said plurality of radiators in a group and determining from those communications parameters of the group; determining at said central processor, when said group parameters require said group to provide heat; determining at said central processor, a state of the boiler; sending an instruction to turn on from the central processor to the group of radiators, if the state of the boiler is on; and sending an instruction from the central processor to the boiler to turn on prior to sending said instruction to said group of radiators, if the state of the boiler is off. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A steam heating system comprising:
-
a plurality of radiators, each having an inlet for steam and an outlet for air; wherein at least some of said plurality of radiators are assigned an identifier for grouping said at least some of said plurality of radiators into a plurality of groups of radiators; a source of steam; conduits connecting said source of steam to said inlets of said at least some of said plurality of radiators such that steam from the source of steam is capable of traveling through the conduits to the inlet of each of the at least some of said plurality of radiators pushing colder air through the inlet and out the outlet of each radiator until the outlets are closed; each of said at least some of said plurality of radiators includes an air vent controller coupled to the radiator at said outlet;
said air vent controller automatically closing said outlet when a temperature of said radiator reaches a predetermined temperature thus preventing air to flow through said radiator;a central processor located remote from said radiator, configured to wirelessly communicate with the air vent controllers in said groups of radiators, and configured to signal said air vent controllers to open said radiator outlets as a group based on predetermined parameters for the group; and
,a battery electrically coupled to said air vent controller for providing pulses of electrical current to change the air vent controller from open to closed or closed to open and to provide electrical current for communicating with said central processor. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
-
Specification