Building management system with active building skin, an environmental resource collector for use in such a system and a method of managing resources used in a building
First Claim
1. A system for using environmental resources external to a building envelope to support internal demand for utility resources in a building, the system comprising:
- a measurement system configured to measure a demand for utility resources inside the building;
a plurality of collectors mounted on the building envelope and configured to harvest environmental resources available outside the building, wherein at least one of the plurality of collectors are shaped as funnels that extend from the building envelope with a wide part of the funnel being directed away from the building;
a sensor system configured to measure availability of environmental resources outside the building; and
a controller configuredto control the harvesting of the environmental resources available outside the building based on said measured demand for utility resources inside the building and measured availability of environmental resources outside the building, andto tune a size of the harvest of environmental resources to a size of the measured demand for utility resources.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A building management system (100) comprises a measurement system for measuring a demand for resources inside the building and a collecting system for harvesting natural resources available outside the building. The building management system is further provided with a storage system for storing surplus resources and a sensor system (112,114,116,118,120) for measuring resource availability outside the building and/or resources stored in the storage system. Further, a controller (102) arranged to receive data from the measurement system, the sensor system and the storage system is provided. The controller controls the collecting system based on said data to tune the collection of resources by the collection system to a present and/or an expected demand for resources.
17 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A system for using environmental resources external to a building envelope to support internal demand for utility resources in a building, the system comprising:
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a measurement system configured to measure a demand for utility resources inside the building; a plurality of collectors mounted on the building envelope and configured to harvest environmental resources available outside the building, wherein at least one of the plurality of collectors are shaped as funnels that extend from the building envelope with a wide part of the funnel being directed away from the building; a sensor system configured to measure availability of environmental resources outside the building; and a controller configured to control the harvesting of the environmental resources available outside the building based on said measured demand for utility resources inside the building and measured availability of environmental resources outside the building, and to tune a size of the harvest of environmental resources to a size of the measured demand for utility resources. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of using environmental resources external to a building envelope to support internal demand for utility resources in a building, the method comprising acts of:
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measuring a demand for utility resources inside the building; measuring availability of environmental resources outside the building;
harvesting environmental resources available outside the building, using at least one collector that is shaped as a funnel that extends from the building with a wide part of the funnel being directed away from the building, based on the measurements relating to the demand for utility resources inside the building and the availability of environmental resources outside the building; andtuning an amount of harvested resources to an amount of the measured demand for utility resources. - View Dependent Claims (21)
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22. A method of managing utility resources used in a building, the method comprising acts of:
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measuring a demand for utility resources inside the building; measuring availability of environmental resources outside the building; harvesting environmental resources available outside the building, using at least one collector that is shaped as a funnel that extends from the building with a wide part of the funnel being directed away from the building, based on the measurements relating to the demand for utility resources inside the building and the availability of environmental resources outside the building; and balancing the harvesting of environmental resources with the measured demand for utility resources. - View Dependent Claims (23)
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Specification