SENSOR CALIBRATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20160370334A1
• Filed: 06/17/2016
• Published: 12/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trane International Inc. (Trane Technologies plc)
• Original Assignee: Trane International Inc. (Trane Technologies plc)
• Inventors: van Tol, Joshua
• Granted Patent: US 10,690,641 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 18/002 Automatic recalibration G01D18/008 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/0008 Details concerning storage of calibration data, e.g. in EEPROM

Abstract

A system for calibrating sensors includes at least one computer server configured to be in communication with at least one uncalibrated sensor and at least one calibrated sensor, and a calibration module stored on the server. The calibration module may be configured to receive calibrated sensor data from the at least one calibrated sensor, and output calibration data to the at least one uncalibrated sensor.

Claims

1. A system for calibrating sensors, comprising:

at least one computer server configured to be in communication with at least one uncalibrated sensor and at least one calibrated sensor; and

a calibration module stored on the server, the calibration module configured to;

receive calibrated sensor data from the at least one calibrated sensor; and

output calibration data to the at least one uncalibrated sensor.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the calibration module further includes an aging model configured to output the calibration data.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein calibration module is configured to extract calibration coefficients from the calibrated sensor data.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the calibration module is configured to input the calibration coefficients into the aging model.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the calibration module is configured to receive uncalibrated sensor data from the at least one uncalibrated sensor.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the calibration module is configured to input the uncalibrated sensor data into the aging model.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the calibration module is configured to create the aging model based on the calibrated sensor data.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one calibrated sensor is a population of calibrated sensors.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the calibrated sensor data includes at least one of time since last calibration, age of the sensor, one or more environmental conditions, or location from each calibrated sensor.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one uncalibrated sensor is a population of uncalibrated sensors.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the calibration module is configured to output unique calibration data for each uncalibrated sensor based on the uncalibrated sensor data from each uncalibrated sensor.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the uncalibrated sensor data includes at least one of a time since last calibration, age of the sensor, one or more environmental conditions, or a location of each uncalibrated sensor.

13. A sensor for an HVAC system, comprising:

a processor and a memory; and

an auto-calibration module stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, the auto-calibration module configured to;

determine if the sensor may be locally auto-calibrated based on local conditions;

locally auto-calibrate the sensor against a reliable baseline reading if it is determined that the sensor may be locally auto-calibrated; and

receive calibration data from a calibration module of a remote server if it is determined that the sensor cannot be auto-calibrated based on the local conditions.

14. The sensor of claim 13, wherein the auto-calibration module is configured to output uncalibrated sensor data to the calibration module.

15. The sensor of claim 13, wherein the auto-calibration module is configured to output calibrated sensor data to the calibration module if the sensor is locally auto-calibrated.

16. The sensor of claim 13, wherein the local conditions include at least one of local environment conditions, location data of the sensor, an input indication that the sensor cannot be auto-calibrated, a building schedule at a required interval of calibration, or a variance of a current attempted baseline reading versus a previous known baseline reading.

17. A method for calibrating an uncalibrated sensor, comprising:

receiving calibrated sensor data from a population of calibrated sensors; and

outputting calibration data to the uncalibrated sensor to calibrate the uncalibrated sensor.

18. The method of claim 17, further including inputting the calibrated sensor data into an aging model.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising creating the aging model based on the calibrated sensor data.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising receiving uncalibrated sensor data and inputting the uncalibrated sensor data into the aging model to output the calibration data.