Continuous fan adjustment method
First Claim
1. A method for use with a heating and/or cooling system including a blower fan, a blower motor for driving said blower fan, said blower motor having at least one heating speed and a cooling speed, a thermostat having a mode selector switch which has a heating position associated with a call for heating, a cooling position associated with a call for cooling, and an off position, said thermostat also having a fan switch that has a "fan on" position associated with running said blower fan at a continuous fan speed and an auto position associated with running said blower fan at one of said at least one heating speed and cooling speed, and a controller connected to said thermostat for generating a speed select signal for use in setting the speed of said blower motor, comprising:
- providing said controller with a stored program that;
(a) when there is no call for heating or cooling at said thermostat, causes said controller to recognize predetermined changes in the position of said fan switch as requests for changes in said continuous fan speed;
(b) defines a plurality of different values for said speed select signal, said different values corresponding to different respective ones of said at least one heating speed and cooling speed; and
(c) responds to said requests by changing the speed select signal which is generated when said fan switch is in said "fan on" position, thereby changing said continuous fan speed.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for adjusting the continuous speed of the blower of a heating and/or cooling system of the type including a thermostat having a mode selector switch which has at least one heating position, a cooling position, and an off position, a fan switch having an on position or state and an auto position or state, and a programmable control device responsive to the thermostat for generating speed select signals for use in setting the speed of the blower motor. The programmable control device is programmed or reprogrammed so that, when the mode selector switch is in its off position or when there is no call for heating or cooling at the thermostat, time dependent movements of the fan switch away from and back to its on position are recognized as requests for changes in the continuous speed of the blower motor. The programmable control device is further programmed or reprogrammed to change the blower speed from one value to the next adjacent value each time the programmable control device recognizes the occurrence of a request for a change in speed.
95 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method for use with a heating and/or cooling system including a blower fan, a blower motor for driving said blower fan, said blower motor having at least one heating speed and a cooling speed, a thermostat having a mode selector switch which has a heating position associated with a call for heating, a cooling position associated with a call for cooling, and an off position, said thermostat also having a fan switch that has a "fan on" position associated with running said blower fan at a continuous fan speed and an auto position associated with running said blower fan at one of said at least one heating speed and cooling speed, and a controller connected to said thermostat for generating a speed select signal for use in setting the speed of said blower motor, comprising:
providing said controller with a stored program that; (a) when there is no call for heating or cooling at said thermostat, causes said controller to recognize predetermined changes in the position of said fan switch as requests for changes in said continuous fan speed; (b) defines a plurality of different values for said speed select signal, said different values corresponding to different respective ones of said at least one heating speed and cooling speed; and (c) responds to said requests by changing the speed select signal which is generated when said fan switch is in said "fan on" position, thereby changing said continuous fan speed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for use with a heating and/or cooling system including a blower fan, a blower motor for driving said blower fan, said blower motor having at least one heating speed and a cooling speed, a thermostat having a mode selector switch which has a heating position associated with a call for heating, a cooling position associated with a call for cooling, and an off position, said thermostat also having a fan switch that has a "fan on" position associated with running said blower fan at a continuous fan speed and an auto position associated with running said blower fan at one of said at least one heating speed and cooling speed, and a controller responsive to said thermostat for generating a speed select signal for use in setting the speed of said blower motor, comprising:
programming of said controller to; (a) define a plurality of different values for said speed select signal; (b) define an occurrence of a request for a change in said continuous fan speed as predetermined time dependent changes in the position of said fan switch; (c) sample the position of said fan switch to detect the occurrence of a request for a change in said continuous fan speed; and (d) change the value of the speed select signal which is generated when said fan switch is in its "fan on" position, if a request for a change in said continuous fan speed is detected. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for use with a heating and/or cooling system including a blower fan, a blower motor for driving said blower fan, said blower motor having at least one heating speed and a cooling speed, a thermostat having a mode selector switch which has a heating position associated with a call for heating, a cooling position associated with a call for cooling, and an off position, said thermostat also having a fan switch that has a "fan on" position associated with running said blower fan at a continuous fan speed and an auto position associated with running said blower fan at one of said at least one heating speed and cooling speed, a plurality of fan speed relays for controllably causing said blower motor to operate at one of said at least one heating speed and cooling speed, and a controller connected to said thermostat for generating a speed select signal that specifies which of said fan speed relays are to be actuated and thereby setting the speed of said blower motor, said method comprising:
providing said controller with a stored program that; (a) when there is no call for heating or cooling at said thermostat, causes said controller to recognize predetermined changes in the position of said fan switch as a request for a change in said continuous fan speed; (b) defines a plurality of different values for said speed select signal, and (c) responds to a request for a change in said continuous fan speed by changing the value of the speed select signal which is generated when said fan switch is in said "fan on" position. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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19. A method for use with a heating and/or cooling system including a blower fan, a blower motor for driving said blower fan, said blower motor being adapted to operate at any of a plurality of different speeds to establish a corresponding number of different blower airflow values, a thermostat having a mode selector switch which has a heating position associated with a call for heating, a cooling position associated with a call for cooling, and an off position said thermostat also having a fan switch that has a "fan on" position associated with running said blower fan at a continuous fan speed and an auto position associated with running said blower fan at one of said plurality of different speeds, and a controller responsive to said thermostat for generating a speed select signal that specifies the blower airflow value to be established by said blower motor, said method comprising:
programming of said controller to; (a) define a plurality of different values for said speed select signal; (b) define a speed change request as predetermined time dependent changes in the position of said fan switch, (c) sample the position of said fan switch to detect the occurrence of a speed change request; and (d) change the value of said speed select signal, if a speed change request is detected, and thereby cause said continuous fan seed to assume a new value equal to one of said plurality of different speeds.
Specification