Building Environment Data Collection Systems

• US 20160054910A1
• Filed: 08/25/2015
• Published: 02/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Battelle Memorial Institute
• Original Assignee: Battelle Memorial Institute
• Inventors: Hughes, Michael A., Skorpik, James R., Brambley, Michael R., Gonzalez, Eric G., Huang, Yunzhi
• Granted Patent: US 10,161,833 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 99/005 Testing of complete machines, e.g. washing-machines or mobile phones testing of machine parts G01M13/00; testing of electric apparatus or components G01R31/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2827 Reporting to a device within the home network; wherein the reception of the information reported automatically triggers the execution of a home appliance functionality

Abstract

Building environment data collection systems and methods are described. According to one aspect, a system includes a plurality of sensor devices which store different types of environment data, a base system comprising a plurality of interface devices configured to receive the environment data from the sensor devices, storage circuitry configured to store the environment data, and communications circuitry configured to implement communications, and a user interface apparatus comprising communications circuitry configured to communicate with the communications circuitry of the base system, a user interface configured to receive user inputs during installation of the sensor devices, and processing circuitry configured to control the user interface to generate the displayed information and to process the user inputs received via the user interface, and wherein different ones of the sensor devices are configured to generate the different types of environment data as a result of the user inputs.

Claims

1. A building environment data collection system comprising:

a plurality of sensor devices configured to generate and store different types of environment data from different locations of a building;

a base system comprising;

a plurality of interface devices configured to couple with the sensor devices and receive the environment data from the sensor devices;

storage circuitry configured to store the environment data; and

communications circuitry configured to implement communications externally of the base system; and

a user interface apparatus comprising;

communications circuitry configured to communicate with the communications circuitry of the base system;

a user interface configured to display information for observation by a user and to receive user inputs during installation of the sensor devices in the different locations of the building; and

processing circuitry configured to control the user interface to generate the displayed information and to process the user inputs received via the user interface; and

wherein different ones of the sensor devices are configured to generate the different types of environment data as a result of the user inputs.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the user interface receives a plurality of additional user inputs which include location information which identify the different locations of the sensor devices in the building, and the location information for one of the sensor devices is stored using storage circuitry of the one of the sensor devices.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the user inputs activate different sensors of the sensor devices to generate the different types of environment data.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the display to depict respective ones of a plurality of different installation instructions as a result of the user inputs instructing different ones of the sensor devices to collect the different types of environment data.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the user inputs configure the sensor devices to generate the different types of environment data including lighting data, temperature data and vibration data.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the sensor devices generate the environment data at a plurality of moments in time which are separated from one another by a common interval.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the sensor devices are configured to generate the different types of environment data according to different intervals.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the sensor devices individually comprise storage circuitry which stores the environment data generated by the respective individual sensor device.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the storage circuitry of the sensor devices stores time data associated with environment data and which is indicative of the time of generation of the environment data.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein one of the sensor devices is configured to generate one of the different types of environment data in the building and the one of the sensor devices is configured to generate another of the different types of environment data in another building.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein one of the sensor devices generates and stores only a first of the different types of environment data and a second of the sensor devices generates and stores only a second of the different types of environment data.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein one of the sensor devices is configured to generate vibration data which is indicative of vibrations of a HVAC system and is useable to determine the operational mode of the HVAC system.

13. A building environment data collection system comprising:

a plurality of sensor devices configured to generate and store different types of environment data from different locations of a building;

a base system comprising;

a plurality of interface devices configured to couple with the sensor devices and receive the environment data from the sensor devices;

storage circuitry configured to store the environment data; and

communications circuitry configured to implement communications externally of the base system; and

a user interface apparatus comprising;

communications circuitry configured to communicate with the communications circuitry of the base system;

a user interface configured to display information for observation by a user and to receive user inputs during installation of the sensor devices in the different locations of the building;

storage circuitry storing different installation instructions to assist the user with installation of the sensor devices to collect the different types of environment data;

processing circuitry configured to control the user interface to generate the displayed information and to process the user inputs received via the user interface; and

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the display to depict respective ones of a plurality of different installation instructions as a result of the user inputs instructing different ones of the sensor devices to collect the different types of environment data.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the user interface receives a plurality of additional user inputs which include location information which identify the different locations of the sensor devices in the building, and the location information for one of the sensor devices is stored using storage circuitry of the one of the sensor devices.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the user inputs configure the sensor devices to generate the different types of environment data include lighting data, temperature data and vibration data.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the sensor devices generate the environment data at a plurality of moments in time which are separated from one another by a common interval.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the sensor devices are configured to generate the different types of environment data according to different intervals.

18. The system of claim 13 wherein the sensor devices individually comprise storage circuitry which stores the environment data generated by the respective individual sensor device.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the storage circuitry of the sensor devices stores time data associated with environment data and which is indicative of the time of generation of the environment data.

20. A building environment data processing method comprising:

accessing a plurality of data values which are indicative of an amount of vibration energy of a HVAC system at a plurality of different moments in time;

processing the data values to identify a plurality of thresholds; and

comparing individual ones of the data values with respect to the thresholds to identify an operation of the HVAC system in one of a plurality of different operational modes at the different moments in time.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the data values correspond to a plurality of different axes, and the processing comprises identifying at least one of the axes as comprising the data values which contain an increased amount of the vibration energy of the HVAC system compared with the data values of another of the axes.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the processing and comparing comprise processing and comparing using only the data values of the identified at least one axis.

23. The method of claim 20 wherein the comparing identifies the operation of the HVAC system in the different operational modes including:

Off, Ventilating and On at the different moments in time.

24. The method of claim 20 further comprising using the data values to identify a potential problem regarding installation of a sensor device which sensed the vibrations of the HVAC system.

25. A non-transitory storage media storing executable instructions which program processing circuitry to perform the method of claim 20.