ROOM THERMAL COMFORT MONITOR

• US 20120232715A1
• Filed: 03/11/2011
• Published: 09/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Vass, Jiri, Rojicek, Jiri, Beaulieu, Conrad Bruce, Bernhardt, Greg
• Granted Patent: US 8,700,227 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/300
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/47 Responding to energy costs
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 1/045 temperature indication combined with the indication of another variable indicating of human comfort G01W1/17
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/17 Catathermometers for measuring "cooling value" related either to weather conditions or to comfort of other human environment
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2614 HVAC, heating, ventillation, climate control

Abstract

A system for monitoring thermal comfort of a room. Sensor data concerning temperature, relative humidity, air speed and air flow may be collected from the room. The sensor data may provide thermal comfort level information about the room. The level information may be quantified in terms of a thermal comfort level index, such as a predicted mean vote, which can be used to identify one or more thermal comfort levels in the room with a numerical measure. The one or more levels may be portrayed as a visualization in terms of a 3D plot of temperature, humidity and air speed, several 2D plots, a dashboard, or other items. The visualization may easily enable one to see where setpoint adjustment is possible in a heating, ventilation and air conditioning system to save energy while maintaining thermal comfort acceptable to occupants in the room, whether during a heating season or a cooling season.

Claims

1. A method for zone thermal comfort monitoring comprising:

obtaining sensor data of a zone;

computing a thermal comfort level information from the sensor data;

thresholding the thermal comfort level information into one or more thermal comfort level categories; and

outputting a thermal comfort level visualization for the zone in accordance with the one or more thermal comfort level categories.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the thermal comfort level information is quantified in terms of a thermal comfort level index; and

a quantification of the thermal comfort level index identifies each of the one or more thermal comfort level categories with a quantitative measure.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the thermal comfort level index comprises an index selected from a group consisting of a predicted mean vote, thermal comfort observation, heat index, thermal sensation index, discomfort index, and predicted percent dissatisfied.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor data comprise air temperature, air relative humidity, air speed, and/or radiant temperature and/or any zone sensor relevant to occupants'"'"' thermal comfort.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the thermal comfort level information is further computed from parameters of one or more occupants.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the parameters of one or more occupants comprise metabolic rate and/or clothing level.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the thermal comfort level visualization for the zone comprises a plot over time of temperature, relative humidity and air speed of the zone.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the thermal comfort index is greater than or equal to T_low and less than T_OK for luxury cool during a cooling season; and

the thermal comfort index is greater than T_OK and less than or equal to T_high for luxury warm during a heating season.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein T_low≦

T_high≦

T_OK is true for the cooling season and the heating season.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the thermal comfort index is kept between T_OK and T_high to save energy for cooling during the cooling season; and

the thermal comfort index is kept between T_OK and T_low to save energy on heating during the heating season.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

if the thermal comfort index is between T_low and T_high, then most of the occupants are satisfied with their thermal comfort level;

if the thermal comfort index exceeds T_high, then the comfort level is violated as too hot; and

if the thermal comfort index is less than T_low, then the comfort level is violated as too cold.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the thermal comfort level visualization for the zone is plotted in a 3-D graph with relative humidity plotted on an x axis, temperature plotted on a y axis, air speed plotted on a z axis, and the one or more comfort levels indicated by a graphic differentiation.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the thermal comfort level visualization is plotted as thermal comfort levels indicated at a day of the week versus time of day, at a month versus time of the day and/or at a month versus day of the week.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the thermal comfort level visualization is displayed on a dashboard.

15. A system for zone thermal comfort monitoring comprising:

one or more sensors for determining temperature, relative humidity and air speed in a zone;

a first mechanism for calculating a thermal comfort level index from the temperature, relative humidity and/or air speed in the zone;

a second mechanism for setting one or more thresholds of the thermal comfort level index to indicate one or more thermal comfort levels; and

a third mechanism for adjusting the thermal comfort level index to reduce cooling or heating energy and still maintain a desired thermal comfort level of the one or more thermal comfort levels.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein each of the one or more thermal comfort levels is represented by a numerical value that is distinct relative to numerical values representing other comfort levels.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

an occupant parameter indicator connected to the first mechanism; and

wherein;

the occupant parameter indicator provides values describing thermal comfort of occupants in the zone; and

the first mechanism further calculates the thermal comfort level index from the values describing thermal comfort of occupants in the zone.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

a fourth mechanism for visualizing the thermal comfort level index of the zone; and

wherein the thermal comfort level index is adjusted to reduce energy used for heating or cooling without violation of thermal comfort of the one or more occupants.

19. An approach for room thermal comfort monitoring, comprising:

detecting temperature, relative humidity, air speed, and/or radiant temperature;

determining a metabolic rate and/or clothing level of one or more occupants in the room; and

computing a thermal sensation index of the room from the temperature in the room, relative humidity in the room, air speed in the room, and the metabolic rate and/or clothing level of the one or more occupants in the room.

20. The approach of claim 19, further comprising adjusting the temperature, relative humidity and/or air speed to change the thermal sensation index to reduce energy usage and maintain thermal comfort in the room without violating thermal comfort of the one or more occupants in the room.