HVAC control with utility time of day pricing support

• US 8,538,586 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2010
• Issued: 09/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ademco Inc. (Resideo Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Amundson, John, Boll, Jeffrey, Erickson, Peter Joseph, Lunacek, Michael, Tessier, Patrick C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali, Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): WHITTINGTON, ANTHONY T
• Application Number:
  US12/692,334
• Publication Number:
  US 20110184564A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,334 Days
• Field of Search: 700/276, 705/40, 165/268
• US Class Current: 700/276
• 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 11/46 Improving electric energy efficiency or saving
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/10 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1923 using thermal energy, the cost of which varies in function of time

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method for operating a utility-powered HVAC system for conditioning inside air of a building. In an illustrative but non-limiting example, a nominal schedule is maintained by a local HVAC controller, where the nominal schedule has a number of days and one or more time periods for each of at least some of the days. The nominal schedule also has at least one setpoint associated with each of the time periods. The local HVAC controller is configured to accept manual input from a user via a user interface. The manual input may include accepting entry of a utility pricing schedule that corresponds to scheduled price changes of a utility. The utility pricing schedule may include at least one enhanced pricing time period. Entry of at least one utility price level setpoint may also be accepted to correspond to each of the enhanced pricing time periods. The nominal schedule may then be modified or overridden to include the utility pricing schedule, resulting in a utility pricing operating schedule. One or more HVAC units may then be controlled by the local HVAC controller in accordance with the utility pricing operating schedule.

Claims

1. A method for operating a utility-powered HVAC system for conditioning inside air of a building, the HVAC system having one or more HVAC units and a local HVAC controller having a user interface, the method comprising:

maintaining in a memory of the local HVAC controller a nominal schedule, the nominal schedule having a number of days and one or more time periods for each of at least some of the days, the nominal schedule further having at least one setpoint associated with each of the one or more time periods;

receiving manual input via the user interface of the local HVAC controller, the manual input including;

accepting entry of a utility pricing schedule that corresponds to scheduled price changes of a utility, including at least one enhanced pricing time period;

accepting entry of at least one utility price level setpoint to correspond to each of the at least one enhanced pricing time periods;

modifying or overriding the nominal schedule to include the utility pricing schedule, resulting in a utility pricing operating schedule; and

controlling the one or more HVAC units with the local HVAC controller in accordance with the utility pricing operating schedule.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the utility pricing schedule is provided by the utility and includes at least one recurring enhanced pricing time period.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one recurring enhanced pricing time recurs weekly.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the utility pricing schedule includes at least two seasons, wherein the at least one recurring enhanced pricing time period corresponds to one of the two seasons.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving manual input via the user interface includes accepting entry of a utility price level for each of the scheduled price changes of the utility.

6. The method of claim 5, further including accepting entry of the at least one utility price level setpoint for each of the utility price levels.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accepting entry of one or more utility price levels

associating one of the one or more utility price levels with each of the scheduled price changes of the utility;

associating at least one of the at least one utility price level setpoints with each of the utility price levels.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the utility pricing operating schedule includes, at every time during each of the enhanced pricing time periods, a current operating setpoint chosen from the at least one utility price level setpoint that corresponds to a current enhanced pricing time period, and the at least one setpoint associated with a current time period of the nominal schedule, further wherein the current operating setpoint is chosen to result in greatest economy for a current mode of the HVAC system, the current mode being either a heating mode or a cooling mode.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of modifying or overriding the nominal schedule to include the utility pricing schedule includes:

at every start time of either a current time period of the nominal schedule or a current enhanced pricing time period, using as the current operating setpoint the most economical of the at least one setpoint associated with the current time period of the nominal schedule and the at least one utility price level setpoint corresponding to the current enhanced pricing time period, consistent with a current heating or cooling mode of the HVAC system.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the utility pricing operating schedule includes a pre-cooling time period.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving via the user interface a manual selection of whether to enable or disable control in accordance with the utility pricing operating schedule; and

controlling the one or more HVAC units with the local HVAC controller in accordance with the nominal schedule if manual selection to disable control in accordance with the utility pricing operating schedule is received.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface of the local HVAC controller includes a display screen and buttons, and wherein the receiving manual input is performed by a user interacting with the display screen and/or buttons.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the display screen is a touchscreen, and at least one of the buttons is a touchscreen button.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the local HVAC controller is a thermostat.

15. A method for operating a utility-powered HVAC system for conditioning inside air of a building, the HVAC system having one or more HVAC units and a thermostat, the method comprising:

maintaining in a memory of the thermostat a nominal schedule, the nominal schedule having a number of days and one or more time periods for each of at least some of the days, the nominal schedule further having at least one setpoint associated with each of the one or more time periods;

receiving manual input from a user of the thermostat of a utility pricing schedule that corresponds to scheduled price changes of a utility, wherein the utility pricing schedule includes at least one enhanced pricing time period with a corresponding utility pricing level selected from at least two utility pricing levels;

receiving manual input from the user of the thermostat of at least one utility pricing level setpoint to correspond to each of the at least two utility pricing levels;

modifying or overriding the nominal schedule with the utility pricing schedule to result in a utility pricing operating schedule, wherein for each of the at least one enhanced pricing time period, one of the at least one utility pricing level setpoint(s) that corresponds to one of the at least two utility pricing levels of the at least one enhanced pricing time period is used as an operating setpoint of the utility pricing operating schedule for the enhanced pricing time period; and

controlling the one or more HVAC units with the thermostat in accordance with the utility pricing operating schedule.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the utility pricing schedule includes at least one weekly utility pricing schedule, where the at least one weekly utility pricing schedule includes one or more recurring enhanced pricing time periods that recur weekly.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one weekly utility pricing schedule includes one or more weekly groups of days, each of the one or more weekly groups of days including one or more days, further wherein at least one of the one or more recurring enhanced pricing time periods recurs each day of one of the one or more weekly groups of days.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the utility pricing schedule includes at least two seasons, wherein each of the at least one weekly utility pricing schedules is associated with one of the at least two seasons.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the thermostat includes a touchscreen, and wherein the receiving manual input can be performed by a user interacting with the touchscreen.

20. A thermostat configured to operate a utility-powered HVAC system for conditioning inside air of a building, the HVAC system having one or more HVAC units, the thermostat comprising:

a user interface configured to receive manual input from a user of a nominal setpoint schedule, as well as a utility pricing schedule that corresponds to scheduled price changes of a utility;

a memory configured to retain the nominal schedule and the utility pricing schedule; and

at least one output configured to issue operational commands to the one or more HVAC units of the HVAC system;

wherein the nominal setpoint schedule includes a number of days and one or more time periods for each of at least some of the days, the nominal schedule further having at least one setpoint associated with each of the one or more time periods;

wherein the utility pricing schedule includes at least one enhanced pricing time period with a corresponding utility pricing level setpoint; and

wherein the thermostat is configured to modify or override the nominal setpoint schedule in accordance with the utility pricing schedule to result in a utility pricing operating schedule, and to control the one or more HVAC units in accordance with the utility pricing operating schedule.

21. The thermostat of claim 20, wherein the utility pricing operating schedule includes, at every time during each of the enhanced pricing time periods, a current operating setpoint chosen from the corresponding utility pricing level setpoint and the at least one setpoint associated with a current time period of the nominal schedule, further wherein the current operating setpoint is chosen to result in greatest economy for a current mode of the HVAC system, the current mode being either a heating mode or a cooling mode.