Room thermal comfort monitor
First Claim
1. A method for zone thermal comfort management comprising:
- obtaining sensor data of a zone, wherein the sensor data comprise;
air temperature, air relative humidity, and air speed of the zone;
computing thermal comfort level information based on, at least the air temperature, the air relative humidity, and the air speed of the zone;
quantifying the thermal comfort level information in terms of a thermal comfort level index;
thresholding the quantified thermal comfort level information into a plurality of thermal comfort level categories, wherein;
the plurality of thermal comfort level categories comprise at least a comfort ok category, a cooling and/or heating savings opportunity category, and a comfort violated category;
the comfort ok category includes index values, in terms of the thermal comfort level index, that meet a rule of thermal comfort established for one or more occupants of the zone;
the cooling and/or heating savings opportunity category includes index values, in terms of the thermal comfort level index, that meet the rule established for the one or more occupants of the zone and that provide greater energy savings than the comfort ok category; and
the comfort violated category includes index values, in terms of the thermal comfort level index, that do not meet the rule established for the one or more occupants of the zone;
processing a request for a thermal comfort level;
providing at least one of the index values that are included in the comfort ok category, or the cooling and/or heating savings opportunity category that meet the request;
determining a new thermal comfort index setpoint based on the at least one of the index values; and
adjusting a system setpoint based on the new thermal comfort index setpoint.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for monitoring thermal comfort of a room. Sensor data concerning temperature, relative humidity, air speed and air flow may be collected from the room. The sensor data may provide thermal comfort level information about the room. The level information may be quantified in terms of a thermal comfort level index, such as a predicted mean vote, which can be used to identify one or more thermal comfort levels in the room with a numerical measure. The one or more levels may be portrayed as a visualization in terms of a 3D plot of temperature, humidity and air speed, several 2D plots, a dashboard, or other items. The visualization may easily enable one to see where setpoint adjustment is possible in a heating, ventilation and air conditioning system to save energy while maintaining thermal comfort acceptable to occupants in the room, whether during a heating season or a cooling season.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method for zone thermal comfort management comprising:
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obtaining sensor data of a zone, wherein the sensor data comprise;
air temperature, air relative humidity, and air speed of the zone;computing thermal comfort level information based on, at least the air temperature, the air relative humidity, and the air speed of the zone; quantifying the thermal comfort level information in terms of a thermal comfort level index; thresholding the quantified thermal comfort level information into a plurality of thermal comfort level categories, wherein; the plurality of thermal comfort level categories comprise at least a comfort ok category, a cooling and/or heating savings opportunity category, and a comfort violated category; the comfort ok category includes index values, in terms of the thermal comfort level index, that meet a rule of thermal comfort established for one or more occupants of the zone; the cooling and/or heating savings opportunity category includes index values, in terms of the thermal comfort level index, that meet the rule established for the one or more occupants of the zone and that provide greater energy savings than the comfort ok category; and the comfort violated category includes index values, in terms of the thermal comfort level index, that do not meet the rule established for the one or more occupants of the zone; processing a request for a thermal comfort level; providing at least one of the index values that are included in the comfort ok category, or the cooling and/or heating savings opportunity category that meet the request; determining a new thermal comfort index setpoint based on the at least one of the index values; and adjusting a system setpoint based on the new thermal comfort index setpoint. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A system for zone thermal comfort management comprising:
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one or more sensors for determining air temperature, air relative humidity and air speed of a zone; a first mechanism configured for calculating thermal comfort level information based on at least the air temperature, air relative humidity and the air speed of the zone, the first mechanism further configured for quantifying the thermal comfort level information in terms of a thermal comfort level index; a second mechanism configured for setting thresholds of the thermal comfort level information to indicate a plurality of thermal comfort level categories, wherein; the plurality of thermal comfort level categories comprise at least a comfort ok category, a cooling and/or heating savings opportunity category, and a comfort violated category; the comfort ok category includes index values, in terms of the thermal comfort level index, that meet a rule of thermal comfort established for one or more occupants of the zone; the cooling and/or heating savings opportunity category includes index values, in terms of the thermal comfort level index, that meet the rule established for the one or more occupants of the zone and that provide greater energy savings than the comfort ok category; and the comfort violated category includes index values, in terms of the thermal comfort level index, that do not meet the rule established for the one or more occupants of the zone; and a third mechanism configured for; processing a request for a thermal comfort level; providing at least one of the index values that are included in the comfort ok category, or the cooling and/or heating savings opportunity category that meet the request; determining a new thermal comfort index setpoint based on the at least one of the index values; and adjusting a system setpoint based on the new thermal comfort index setpoint. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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Specification