Air-conditioning controlling device and method

• US 9,383,736 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2013
• Issued: 07/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Azbil Corporation (Azbil BioVigilant Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Azbil Corporation (Azbil BioVigilant Incorporated)
• Inventors: Saisu, Yukako, Honda, Mitsuhiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Dunn, Darrin
• Application Number:
  US13/957,144
• Publication Number:
  US 20140039689A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,069 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 11/52 Indication arrangements, e.g. displays
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/56 Remote control
• 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 11/65 for selecting an operating mode
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric

Abstract

An air-conditioning controlling device includes an indicator calculating portion that calculates one or more indicators for evaluating, for each individual Pareto solution, similarity of the detail of air-conditioning control based on the operating volumes and/or the state distributions for the Pareto solution, a similarity calculating portion that calculates, for each Pareto solution, similarity of the Pareto solution to a reference Pareto solution, based on the indicators for the Pareto solution and the indicators for the reference Pareto solution, which is selected as a reference from the Pareto solutions, and an air-conditioning instructing portion that sends, to the air-conditioning system, the operating volumes of the Pareto solution with the least similarity to the reference Pareto solution from among the Pareto solutions belonging to the new air-conditioning controlling mode when there is a change, to a new air-conditioning controlling mode, of the air-conditioning controlling mode that is applied to the air-conditioned space.

Claims

1. An air-conditioning controlling device for controlling, to an arbitrary air-conditioning environment, an air-conditioned space through sending, to an air-conditioning system that controls air-conditioning equipment, operating volumes for the air-conditioning equipment, the device comprising:

a distributed system flow analyzing portion that estimates, through a processor performing distributed system flow analysis for a plurality of different operating volumes, respective state distributions that describe the air-conditioning environment produced by the operating volumes;

a Pareto solution identifying portion that identifies from solution candidates including combinations of operating volumes and state distributions, respective Pareto solutions in relation to objective functions through, for each solution candidate, evaluating the solution candidate, via the processor, based on a plurality of objective functions that have been set in advance;

a Pareto solution categorizing portion that respectively categorizes the individual Pareto solutions, via the processor, into a plurality of air-conditioning controlling modes, set in advance, based on the evaluation values of the individual Pareto solutions, calculated by the objective functions;

an indicator calculating portion that calculates, via the processor, one or more indicators for evaluating, for each individual Pareto solution, similarity of the detail of air-conditioning control based on the operating volumes and/or the state distributions for the Pareto solution;

a similarity calculating portion that calculates, via the processor, for each Pareto solution, similarity of the Pareto solution to a reference Pareto solution, based on the indicators for the Pareto solution and the indicators for the reference Pareto solution, which is selected as a reference from the Pareto solutions; and

an air-conditioning controlling portion that controls the air-conditioning system, via the processor, to implement the operating volumes of the Pareto solution with the least similarity to the reference Pareto solution from among the Pareto solutions belonging to the new air-conditioning controlling mode when there is a change, to a new air-conditioning controlling mode, of the air-conditioning controlling mode that is applied to the air-conditioned space.

2. The air-conditioning controlling device as set forth in claim 1, wherein the indicator calculating portion, when calculating the indicators for the Pareto solution, selects, as an indicator, one or more values from among the supply air temperature of the air-conditioned air that is supplied to the air-conditioned space, the total airflow of the air-conditioned air, and/or the blowing airflows of the blowing vents of the air-conditioned space, included in the operating volumes for the Pareto solution.

3. The air-conditioning controlling device as set forth in claim 1, wherein when calculating the similarity of a Pareto solution, the similarity calculating portion calculates, for each type of indicator, the difference between the candidate indicator and the reference indicator, and calculates, as the similarity, an average value for the absolute values of the differences, a maximum value for the absolute values of the differences, or a root mean square of the differences.

4. An air-conditioning controlling method using an air-conditioning controlling device for controlling, to an arbitrary air-conditioning environment, an air-conditioned space through sending, to an air-conditioning system that controls air-conditioning equipment, operating volumes for the air-conditioning equipment, the method comprising:

a distributed system flow analyzing step of estimating by a distributed system flow analyzing portion, through a processor performing distributed system flow analysis for a plurality of different operating volumes, respective state distributions that describe the air-conditioning environment produced by the operating volumes;

a Pareto solution identifying step of identifying by a Pareto solution identifying portion using the processor, from solution candidates including combinations of operating volumes and state distributions, respective Pareto solutions in relation to the objective functions through, for each solution candidate, evaluating the solution candidate based on a plurality of objective functions that have been set in advance;

a Pareto solution categorizing step of respectively categorizing by a Pareto solution categorizing portion using the processor, the individual Pareto solutions into a plurality of air-conditioning controlling modes, set in advance, based on the evaluation values of the individual Pareto solutions, calculated by the objective functions;

an indicator calculating step of calculating by an indicator calculating portion using the processor, one or more indicators for evaluating, for each individual Pareto solution, similarity of the detail of air-conditioning control based on the operating volumes and/or the state distributions for the Pareto solution;

a similarity calculating step of calculating by a similarity calculating portion using the processor, for each Pareto solution, similarity of the Pareto solution to a reference Pareto solution, based on the indicators for the Pareto solution and the indicators for the reference Pareto solution, which is selected as a reference from the Pareto solutions; and

an air-conditioning controlling step of controlling the air-conditioning system, via the processor, to implement the operating volumes of the Pareto solution with the least similarity to the reference Pareto solution from among the Pareto solutions belonging to the new air-conditioning controlling mode when there is a change, to a new air-conditioning controlling mode, of the air-conditioning controlling mode that is applied to the air-conditioned space.

5. A computer-controlled air-conditioning system comprising:

a processor;

an air-conditioning system operatively connected to the processor;

memory, operatively connected to the processor, where the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising;

estimating, by performing distributed system flow analysis for a plurality of different operating volumes, a plurality of respective state distributions that describe the air-conditioning environment produced by the plurality of different operating volumes;

identifying individual Pareto solutions, from a plurality of solution candidates which include combinations of operating volumes and state distributions, by evaluating the plurality of solution candidates based on a plurality of objective functions that have been set in advance;

categorizing the individual Pareto solutions into a plurality of pre-established air-conditioning controlling modes, based on evaluation values of the individual Pareto solutions calculated by the objective functions;

calculating, for each individual Pareto solution, one or more indicators for evaluating similarity of a detail of air-conditioning control, based on at least one of the operating volumes and the state distributions for the individual Pareto solution;

calculating, for each individual Pareto solution, similarity of the individual Pareto solution to a reference Pareto solution, where the calculated similarity is based on the indicators for the Pareto solution and the indicators for the reference Pareto solution, and where the reference Pareto solution is selected from the individual Pareto solutions; and

when a current air-conditioning controlling mode is changed to a new air-conditioning controlling mode, controlling the air-conditioning system to implement the operating volumes of the individual Pareto solution belonging to the new air-conditioning controlling mode and having the least similarity to the reference Pareto solution.