HVAC ZONING DEVICES, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS

• US 20150369504A1
• Filed: 06/19/2015
• Published: 12/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ademco Inc. (Resideo Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Flaherty, James, Kraft, Nathaniel D., Gilmer, Preston, Emmons, David
• Granted Patent: US 10,126,009 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/46 Improving electric energy efficiency or saving
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/52 Indication arrangements, e.g. displays
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/54 using one central controller connected to several sub-controllers
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/56 Remote control
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/58 using Internet communication
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/62 characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/64 using pre-stored data
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/65 for selecting an operating mode
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/70 Control systems characterised by their outputs; Constructional details thereof
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/74 for controlling air flow rate or air velocity
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/00 Control inputs relating to air properties
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/10 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/20 Humidity
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/50 Air quality properties
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2120/00 Control inputs relating to users or occupants
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2120/20 Feedback from users
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2130/20 Sunlight
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2140/40 Damper positions, e.g. open or closed
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/13 Architectural design, e.g. computer-aided architectural design [CAAD] related to design of buildings, bridges, landscapes, production plants or roads
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 30/70 : Efficient control or regulation technologies, e.g. for control of refrigerant flow, motor or heating

Abstract

A heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system may be zoned into one or more zone. The HVAC system may include one or more register vents that may include vent dampers. The HVAC system may be controlled by an HVAC control system including a communications port or block, a controller operatively coupled to the communications block, and a user interface. The controller may receive sensed data received at the communications block from sensors of the HVAC system. Based, at least in part, on the received sensed data, the controller my determine recommended settings for at least one of the manually adjustable register vent dampers and display the recommended settings on the user interface.

Claims

1. An HVAC control system for controlling an HVAC system of a building, the HVAC system including a plurality of register vent dampers including one or more manually adjustable register vent dampers for delivering conditioned air to the building, the HVAC control system comprising:

a communications block for receiving sensed data from each of two or more sensing devices located at different spaced sensor locations within the building;

a controller operatively coupled to the communications block, the controller configured to receive the sensed data from the communications block, and based at least in part on the received sensed data, determine a recommended setting for at least one of the manually adjustable register vent dampers; and

a user interface operatively coupled to the controller for displaying the recommended setting for at least one of the manually adjustable register vent dampers.

2. The HVAC control system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to receive a confirmation from a user via the user interface that the recommended setting for the at least one of the manually adjustable register vent dampers has been made by the user.

3. The HVAC control system of claim 1, further comprising a memory configured to store an indicator of the sensor location of each of the two or more sensing devices within the building, and wherein the controller is configured to determine the recommended setting for at least one of the manually adjustable register vent dampers based at least in part on the received sensed data and the stored indicators of the sensor locations for the two or more sensing devices within the building.

4. The HVAC control system of claim 3, wherein the memory is further configured to store an indicator of the register location of a least one of the plurality of register vent dampers within the building, and wherein the controller is further configured to determine the recommended setting for at least one of the manually adjustable register vent dampers based at least in part on the received sensed data, the stored indicators of the sensor locations, and the stored indicators of the register locations.

5. The HVAC control system of claim 4, wherein at least one of the plurality of register vent dampers is an electronically controllable vent damper, and the controller is configured to control at least one electronically controllable vent damper.

6. The HVAC control system of claim 5, wherein the controller is configured to control at least one electronically controllable vent damper based at least in part on a current setting of at least some of the manually adjustable register vent dampers.

7. The HVAC control system of claim 5, wherein:

the controller is configured to control electronically controllable vent dampers and determine recommend settings for manually adjustable register vent dampers associated within a zone of the building; and

the controller is configured to control or determine recommended settings for one or more of the electronically controllable vent dampers of the zone and manually adjustable register vent dampers to form a sub-zone within the zone.

8. The HVAC control system of claim 4, wherein all of the plurality of register vent dampers are electronically controllable vent dampers, and the controller is configured to control all of the plurality of register vent dampers.

9. The HVAC control system of claim 1, wherein the recommended setting for at least one of the manually adjustable register vent dampers is configured to result in an improved uniformity in temperature between the different spaced sensor locations.

10. The HVAC control system of claim 1, wherein the recommended setting for at one of the manually adjustable register vent dampers is configured to allow at least a minimum air flow from the HVAC system to help protect the HVAC system from damage.

11. The HVAC control system of claim 10, wherein the recommended setting for at least one of the manually adjustable register vent dampers maintains at least a minimum number of the manually adjustable register vent damper in an open state.

12. The HVAC control system of claim 1, wherein the one or more manually adjustable register vent dampers include two or more manually adjustable register vent dampers, wherein a first one of the two or more manually adjustable register vent dampers services a first HVAC zone and wherein a second one of the two or more manually adjustable register vent dampers services a second HVAC zone;

the controller is configured to determine a first recommended setting for at least one of the manually adjustable register vent dampers that services the first HVAC zone and a second recommended setting for at least one of the manually adjustable register vent dampers that services the second HVAC zone.

13. The HVAC control system of claim 1, further comprising:

a memory for storing the sensed data, an indicator of the sensor location of each of the two or more sensing devices within the building, and an indicator of a register location of each of the plurality of register vent dampers within the building; and

the controller configured to determine the recommended setting for at least one of the manually adjustable register vent dampers based at least in part on the sensed data, the indicator of the sensor location of at least some of the two or more sensing devices within the building, and the indicator of the register location of at least some of the plurality of register vent dampers within the building.

14. The HVAC control system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to determine if a replacement of one or more of the manually adjustable register vent damper to an electronically controllable register would be desirable, and if so, to make a replacement recommendation via the user interface.

15. The HVAC control system of claim 1, wherein at least part of the controller of the HVAC control system is implemented in the cloud.

16. The HVAC control system of claim 1, wherein the user interface is implemented as part of a thermostat of the HVAC control system that is located within the building and/or as part of a mobile application running on a mobile device.

17. The HVAC control system of claim 1, wherein the controller of the HVAC control system is configured to determine the recommended setting based at least in part on an analysis of a number of thermodynamic properties of the building and at least some historical sensed data received from the communications block.

19. The HVAC system of claim 1, wherein:

the controller receives sensed data from a plurality of remote HVAC systems; and

the controller is configured to suggest the setting for one or more of the manually operated vent dampers based at least in part on the sensed data received from at least two of the plurality of remote HVAC systems.

18. An HVAC system comprising:

a plurality of register vents in fluid communication with a duct extending from an HVAC device, one or more of the plurality of register vents including a vent damper;

one or more of the plurality of register vents including a manually operated vent damper;

two or more sensors configured to sense environmental parameters at two or more different locations; and

a controller in communication with the two or more sensors, the controller is configured to suggest a setting for one or more of the manually operated vent dampers based at least in part on the sensed environmental parameters at the two or more different locations.

20. A cloud server configured to communicate with a plurality of HVAC systems each in a separate building, wherein each of the plurality of HVAC systems includes two or more spaced sensing devices and an HVAC controller for controlling one or more HVAC components of the corresponding HVAC system and one or more manually adjustable register vent dampers for delivering conditioned air to the corresponding building, the cloud server comprising:

a communications block configured to receive HVAC data from each of the plurality of HVAC systems, wherein the HVAC data includes environmental data that is based at least in part on one or more environmental parameters sensed by the two or more spaced sensing devices of each HVAC system;

a memory for storing the received HVAC data;

a controller configured to analyze at least part of the received HVAC data stored in the memory and to determine a recommended setting for at least one of the manually adjustable register vent dampers for one of the HVAC systems; and

the controller is further configured to output the recommended setting to a user interface via the communications block, wherein the user interface is located remotely from the cloud server.

21. The cloud server of claim 20, wherein the user interface is implemented as part of an HVAC controller of a first HVAC system or as part of a mobile application running on a mobile device.