Control system
First Claim
1. A method of controlling the operation of a plurality of controllable devices that are each thermostatically controlled and include means for initiating a demand and means for operating each device, said method comprising;
- storing an indication of each device that is demanding,operating only a predetermined number of devices less than the plurality of demanding devices,storing an indication of each device that has demanded but is inhibited from operation,sensing an operating device being satisfied and terminating operation of the device,and terminating operation of the longest running device when a unit indicated as being inhibited has been in the inhibited state a preselected period of time.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
This system is of the power management type and is for controlling the operation of the various stages within a number of units such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning units commonly referred to as HVAC units which may be of conventional design and for use in commercial buildings.
The system permits only a limited number of stages, fewer than the total number contained in all the HVAC units to be predeterminedly operated at one time but preferably stores an indication of all stages which are demanding operation of the total number of HVAC units in the building. If a greater number of stages are demanding than the system has been pre-set to operate then an indication of the unsatisfied or inhibited unit or units is stored. If this condition persists for a predetermined period of time such as 5 minutes then the longest running stage, even though it is sill demanding, is dropped or stopped and the longest waiting inhibited stage is satisfied or started. A further aspect of the system is to provide a counter that keeps a cumulative count of the occupants in the building at any one time. This count in turn controls operation of the action of the ventilating fans as well as the damper operations to reduce the total volume of outside air introduced to the building when the count decreases or is at a minimum and to increase the total volume of outside air by opening the dampers and starting ventilating fans as required when the count increases. The system can be predeterminedly set for a minimum pre-established amount of ventilation air introduced to the building as well as correlating the numbers of people as to when it introduces additional air to the building.
66 Citations
15 Claims
-
1. A method of controlling the operation of a plurality of controllable devices that are each thermostatically controlled and include means for initiating a demand and means for operating each device, said method comprising;
-
storing an indication of each device that is demanding, operating only a predetermined number of devices less than the plurality of demanding devices, storing an indication of each device that has demanded but is inhibited from operation, sensing an operating device being satisfied and terminating operation of the device, and terminating operation of the longest running device when a unit indicated as being inhibited has been in the inhibited state a preselected period of time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
-
-
5. A system for controlling the ventilation section of a heating, air-conditioning and ventilating system to regulate outside air admitted to the building, said control system comprising;
-
means for registering a running count of the number of persons in the building at a time, means responsive to said running count for establishing a damper control count proportional to said running count, said ventilating section including a controllable damper means for enabling outside air admittance having at least two positions, and means responsive to the magnitude of said damper control count for controlling said damper means between positions as a function of count to admit more air as the running count increases, said damper means being established at a first position at a first predetermined running count and at a second position at a second larger magnitude predetermined count. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
- 14. A method for controlling a ventilating means including a damper means for enabling outside air admittance having at least two positions and disposed in a building, said method comprising the steps of registering a running count of the number of persons in the building at a time, establishing from said running count a damper control count proportional to said running count, and controlling, in accordance with said damper control count, said damper means between positions as a function of count to admit more ventilating air as the people count increases, whereby said damper means is controlled to a first position at a first predetermined count and to a second position at a second predetermined count.
Specification