Energy usage control for a building

• US 8,172,153 B1
• Filed: 12/29/2005
• Issued: 05/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jack Kennedy Metal Products and Buildings, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Kennedy Metal Products & Buildings, Inc.
• Inventors: Kennedy, William R., Kennedy, John Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): Jules, Frantz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rahim, Azim
• Application Number:
  US11/321,171
• Time in Patent Office: 2,322 Days
• Field of Search: 236/1.B, 236/94, 621/29, 621/26, 621/27, 700/276, 700/277
• US Class Current: 236/1.B
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 19/1048 Counting of energy consumption
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/38 Failure diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/46 Improving electric energy efficiency or saving
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/523 for displaying temperature data
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/58 using Internet communication
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/62 characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/64 using pre-stored data
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/84 using valves
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2130/00 Control inputs relating to environmental factors not covered by group F24F2110/00
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2130/10 Weather information or forecasts
• CPC Class Codes: F24H 15/212 Temperature of the water
• CPC Class Codes: F24H 15/242 Pressure
• CPC Class Codes: F24H 15/246 Water level
• CPC Class Codes: F24H 15/25 Temperature of the heat-generating means in the heater
• CPC Class Codes: F24H 15/395 Information to users, e.g. alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1934 each space being provided with one sensor acting on one or more control means
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 30/70 Efficient control or regulation technologies, e.g. for control of refrigerant flow, motor or heating

Abstract

Controlling energy usage of a building. At least one temperature sensor monitors temperature within a zone of a building. A processor determines an off-peak temperature target as a function of a duration of an off-peak operating state of the monitored zone and a desired temperature within the monitored zone during a subsequent peak operating state of the monitored zone. A controller receives the determined off-peak temperature target and is responsive to the received off-peak temperature target to control the temperature within the monitored zone of the building during the off-peak operating state. Other aspects of the invention are directed to computer-readable media for controlling energy usage of a building as described.

Claims

1. A system to control energy usage of a building, said building having a plurality of zones, said zones of the building each having a peak operating state and an off-peak operating state, said system comprising:

at least one temperature sensor in each of the zones to monitor a temperature therewithin,

a processor that executes computer-executable instructions to determine an off-peak temperature target as a function of a duration of an off-peak operating state of the monitored zone, as a function of a desired temperature within the monitored zone during a peak operating state of the monitored zone subsequent to said off-peak operating state, and as a function of a usage goal and energy usage of the building, said processor receiving ambient temperature information from a sensor external to the monitored zone, said ambient temperature information indicative of an ambient temperature outside the monitored zone, said received ambient temperature information corresponding to both a sensed heat and a latent heat in the ambient air outside the monitored zone, wherein the peak operating state represents that the monitored zone is in use or occupied and the off-peak operating state represents that the monitored zone is not in use or is unoccupied, wherein the off-peak temperature target is determined for optimizing overall energy usage of the monitored zone during both the peak and the off-peak operating states thereof, and wherein the processor determines the off-peak temperature target to be based on the received ambient temperature information and to be nearer the ambient temperature outside of the monitored zone, as indicated by the received ambient temperature information, than the desired temperature during the subsequent peak operation state,

a controller associated with the at least one temperature sensor in each of the zones, said controller receiving and responsive to the determined off-peak temperature target for controlling a climate control system of the monitored zone to control the temperature within the monitored zone of the building during the off-peak operating state, said controller controlling the climate control system to maintain the temperature of the monitored zone between the desired temperature and the determined off-peak temperature target during the off-peak operating state, wherein the controller is responsive to the desired temperature to control the climate control system such that the temperature in the monitored zone reaches the desired temperature as said peak operating state begins and to maintain the temperature within the monitored zone of the building at about the desired temperature during the peak operating state,

a network connecting the at least one temperature sensor and the controller associated therewith for the monitored zone of the building to a temperature sensor and a controller associated therewith for another zone of the building, and

a memory that stores historical data representative of the temperature within the monitored zone over a period relative to information representative of a weather condition.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute computer-executable instructions for determining the off-peak temperature target as a function of the information representative of a weather condition.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the information representative of a weather condition is obtained via an external sensor outside of the monitored zone, and wherein the information representative of a weather condition comprises information regarding one or more of the following:

ambient temperature outside of the monitored zone, wind speed, wind direction, humidity, dew point, cloudiness, precipitation, fenestration loss, and sunlight intensity.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein said information representative of a weather condition includes information representative of an ambient temperature outside of the monitored zone, and wherein the controller is connected to the climate control system and controls the climate control system to maintain the temperature within the monitored zone at about the off-peak temperature target during the off-peak operating state.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein a difference between the off-peak temperature target and the desired temperature is greater for a relatively longer duration off-peak operating state than for a relatively shorter duration off-peak operating state.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the stored historical data further comprises the off-peak temperature target over said period.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising computer-executable instructions executed by the processor to limit access to the stored historical data to a user responsible for controlling the temperature within the monitored zone.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the duration of the off-peak operating state is a function of expected building usage in the monitored zone.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the duration of the off-peak operating state and the duration of the peak operating state are preset by a user.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising computer-executable instructions executed by the processor to obtain information representative of an operation of the climate control system of the building to detect performance of the climate control system.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein said information representative of the operation of the climate control system is obtained via a sensor, said information comprising one or more of the following:

steam trap operation, boiler water level, boiler pressure, boiler temperature, hydronic water temperature, hydronic water pressure, and water level in a condensate well.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising computer-executable instructions executed by the processor to:

detect an error in controlling the energy usage of the building; and

provide an alarm in response to the detected error.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said computer-executable instructions to provide the alarm comprise computer-executable instructions to:

obtain a list of one or more numbers in response to the detected error;

call each number of the list of one or more numbers until an acknowledgment is received, whereby for each number called, a message describing said error is communicated for a predetermined period or until the acknowledgment is received; and

repeat said calling if no acknowledgment is received after each number of the list of one or more numbers is called.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions executed by the processor implement a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the network comprises at least one monitoring device to connect the at least one temperature sensor and the controller associated therewith for the monitored zone of the building to the temperature sensor and the controller associated therewith for the other zone of the building.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein said monitoring device further connects the temperature sensors and the controllers to a bus device, said bus device further connecting the monitoring device to the network including the processor.

35. The system of claim 14, wherein the PID controller comprises an enthalpy control algorithm, the enthalpy control algorithm determines the off-peak temperature target based on an external sensor measurement of a sensed heat and a latent heat of ambient air outside the monitored zone.

17. A system for controlling energy usage of a building, said building having a plurality of zones, each of said zones having a peak operating state representing that the zone is in use or occupied and having an off-peak operating state representing that the zone is not in use or is unoccupied, said system comprising:

at least one temperature sensor inside each of the zones for monitoring a temperature within each zone;

at least one temperature sensor external to each of the monitored zones, the external sensor configured to monitor ambient temperature information, said ambient temperature information indicative of both a sensed heat and a latent heat in the ambient air outside the monitored zone;

a processor that executes computer-executable instructions to determine an off-peak temperature target to be based on the received ambient temperature information and to be nearer the ambient temperature outside the monitored zone than the desired temperature during the subsequent peak operation, for optimizing overall energy usage of the monitored zone during both the peak and the off-peak operating states thereof;

said processor determining the off-peak temperature target as a function of a duration of the off-peak operating state of the monitored zone, as a function of a desired temperature within the monitored zone during the peak operating state of the monitored zone subsequent to the off-peak operating state, and as a function of a usage goal and energy usage of the building, said processor further determining the off-peak temperature target to be less than or equal to the desired temperature during heating and greater than or equal to the desired temperature during cooling; and

a controller associated with the at least one temperature sensor in each of the zones for controlling a climate control system to control the temperature within the monitored zone, said controller receiving and responsive to the off-peak temperature target for controlling the climate control system to maintain the temperature of the monitored zone between the desired temperature and the off-peak temperature target during the off-peak operating state, and said controller receiving and responsive to the desired temperature for controlling the climate control system such that the temperature in the monitored zone reaches the desired temperature as the peak operating state begins and to maintain the temperature of the monitored zone at about the desired temperature during the peak operating state; and

a network connecting the at least one temperature sensor and the controller associated therewith for the monitored zone of the building to a temperature sensor and a controller associated therewith for another zone of the building.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to execute computer-executable instructions for determining the off-peak temperature target as a function of information representative of a weather condition.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is configured to execute computer-executable instructions for updating the calculated off-peak temperature target as a function of the information representative of a weather condition during the off-peak operating state.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the information representative of a weather condition is obtained via an external sensor outside of the monitored zone, and wherein the information representative of a weather condition comprises temperature information regarding one or more of the following:

wind speed, wind direction, humidity, dew point, cloudiness, precipitation, fenestration loss, and sunlight intensity.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the controller is connected to the climate control system and controls the climate control system to maintain the temperature within the monitored zone at about the off-peak temperature target during the off-peak operating state.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein a difference between the off-peak temperature target and the desired temperature is greater for a relatively longer duration off-peak operating state than for a relatively shorter duration off-peak operating state.

23. The system of claim 17, further comprising a memory that stores historical data representative of the temperature within the monitored zone over a period relative to information representative of a weather condition.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the stored historical data further comprises the off-peak temperature target over the period.

25. The system of claim 23, further comprising computer-executable instructions executed by the processor to limit access to the stored historical data to a user responsible for controlling the temperature within the monitored zone.

26. The system of claim 17, wherein the duration of the off-peak operating state is a function of expected building usage in the monitored zone.

27. The system of claim 17, wherein the duration of the off-peak operating state and the duration of the peak operating state are preset by a user.

28. The system of claim 17, further comprising computer-executable instructions executed by the processor to obtain information representative of an operation of the climate control system to detect performance thereof.

29. The system of claim 28, further comprising a sensor for collecting the information representative of the operation of the climate control system and wherein the information representative of the operation of the climate control system comprises one or more of the following:

steam trap operation, boiler water level, boiler pressure, boiler temperature, hydronic water temperature, hydronic water pressure, and water level in a condensate well.

30. The system of claim 17, further comprising computer-executable instructions executed by the processor to:

detect an error in controlling the energy usage of the building; and

provide an alarm in response to the detected error.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the computer-executable instructions executed by the processor to provide the alarm comprise computer-executable instructions to:

obtain a list of one or more numbers in response to the detected error;

call each number of the list of one or more numbers until an acknowledgment is received, whereby for each number called, a message describing said error is communicated for a predetermined period or until the acknowledgment is received; and

repeat the calling if no acknowledgment is received after each number of the list of one or more numbers is called.

32. The system of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions executed by the processor implement a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller.

33. The system of claim 17, wherein the network comprises at least one monitoring device to connect the at least one temperature sensor and the controller associated therewith for the monitored zone of the building to the temperature sensor and the controller associated therewith for the other zone of the building.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the monitoring device further connects the temperature sensors and the controllers to a bus device, said bus device further connecting the monitoring device to the network including the processor.