System and method for energy measurement and verification with constant baseline reference

• US 5,717,609 A
• Filed: 08/22/1996
• Issued: 02/10/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: EMV Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: EMV Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Johnson, Keith R., Mason, Jeffrey A., Packa, Daniel E., Hondroulis, James E., Hurley, Thomas L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Trammell, James P.
• Application Number:
  US08/701,487
• Time in Patent Office: 537 Days
• Field of Search: 364/557, 364/551.01, 364/505, 364/506, 73/112, 165/11.1, 165/DIG. 2, 236/94, 274/29, 274/39, 274/43, 274/41, 274/30, 274/44
• US Class Current: 702/130
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 17/06 Measuring quantity of heat conveyed by flowing media, e.g. in heating systems G01K17/02, G01K17/04 take precedencee.g. the quantity of heat in a transporting medium, delivered to or consumed in an expenditure device

Abstract

Disclosed is an energy measurement and verification system and method which provides real time documentation of both baseline and post-retrofit energy consumption. Actual energy savings are calculated with a unique combination of computer hardware, energy and data translation software, measurement protocols, and digital remote sensing equipment which monitor the energy consumption of the retrofit environment and a sample baseline environment.

Claims

1. A method of determining the difference in thermal transfer between a first region and a second region, comprising the steps of:

measuring the temperature at said first region to obtain a first temperature reading;

measuring the temperature at said second region to obtain a second temperature reading;

subtracting the first temperature reading from the second temperature reading to obtain a temperature difference; and

multiplying the temperature difference by a value representative of the heat transfer coefficient for the environment in which the first and second temperature readings are obtained, thereby calculating the heat differential between the first region and the second region;

wherein said first region is representative of a retrofit environment and said second region is representative of a baseline environment.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of multiplying the heat differential by a value representative of an area of a retrofit surface, whereby the total energy savings from the retrofit in comparison to a baseline environment is determined.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the baseline environment comprises a window and the retrofit environment comprises the window with energy saving film applied thereto.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the baseline environment comprises a roof, wall or floor, and the retrofit environment comprises the roof, wall or floor with newly applied insulation applied thereto.

5. A method for measuring the energy savings obtained by retrofitting an environment with one or more energy saving materials, said method comprising the steps of:

providing a first sample region representative of the environment after retrofitting with the one or more energy saving materials;

providing a second sample region representative of the environment prior to retrofitting with the one or more energy saving materials;

calculating a temperature difference between the first sample region and the second sample region; and

calculating the energy savings provided by the one or more energy saving materials on the basis of the temperature difference and the area of the environment to which the energy saving materials has been applied.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the energy savings is calculated according to the following expression:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">Q.sub.SAVINGS =(t.sub.B -t.sub.R)hA

where (t_B -t_R) is the temperature difference between the first sample region and the second sample region, h is the heat transfer coefficient of the region surrounding the first sample region and the second sample region and A is the area of the environment to which the one or more energy saving materials has been applied.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the one or more energy savings materials comprises a film and the environment comprises one or more windows.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the one or more energy savings materials comprises insulation and the environment comprises a roof, floor or wall.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein several pairs of sample regions are provided, each comprising one region representative of the environment prior to retrofitting with the one or more energy saving materials and another region representative of the environment after retrofitting with the one or more energy saving materials, and temperature differences are measured for each of the several pairs of sample regions, whereby the energy savings is calculated on the basis of plural measured temperature differences.

10. The method of claim 5 wherein the temperature of the first sample region and the temperature of the second sample region are measured with respective temperature sensors.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein each temperature sensor provides an output signal in a digital format.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the energy savings is calculated with a processing device that is connected to the temperature sensors.

13. A system for measuring the energy savings in an environment to which one or more energy saving materials has been applied, said system comprising:

at least one temperature sensor to measure a first region of said environment, said first region being representative of said environment after retrofitting with the one or more energy saving materials;

at least one temperature sensors to measure a second region of said environment, said second region being representative of said environment prior to retrofitting with the one or more energy saving materials; and

processing means for calculating energy savings on the basis of temperature readings from said temperature sensors.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the processing means calculates energy savings based upon the following expression:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">Q.sub.SAVINGS =(t.sub.B -t.sub.R)hA

where (t_B -t_R) is the temperature difference between the first region and the second region, h is the heat transfer coefficient of the region surrounding the temperature sensors, and A is the area of the environment to which the one or more energy saving materials has been applied.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the one or more energy savings materials comprises a film and the environment comprises one or more windows.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the one or more energy savings materials comprises insulation and the environment comprises a roof, floor or wall.

17. The system of claim 13 wherein several pairs of temperature sensors are provided throughout the environment, and temperature differences are measured for each of several pairs of regions within the environment, whereby the energy savings is calculated on the basis of plural measured temperature differences.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein each temperature sensor provides an output signal in a digital format.