Airflow and water balancing

• US 9,441,848 B2
• Filed: 05/09/2012
• Issued: 09/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Meruva, Jayaprakash, Makam, Ankith, Chandrasekhar, Nallam
• Primary Examiner(s): DUNN, DARRIN D
• Application Number:
  US13/467,508
• Publication Number:
  US 20130304259A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,588 Days
• Field of Search: 700/47, 700/49, 700/254, 700/276, 700/282, 73/13.4, 73/13.5
• 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 11/52 Indication arrangements, e.g. displays
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/54 using one central controller connected to several sub-controllers
• 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 3/0442 with volume control at a constant temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2614 HVAC, heating, ventillation, climate control
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 30/70 Efficient control or regulation technologies, e.g. for control of refrigerant flow, motor or heating

Abstract

Devices and methods for airflow and water balancing are described herein. For example, one or more embodiments include receiving, with a balancing handler, a signal that includes a variable air volume (VAV) balancing command for multiple VAV controllers; determining VAV balancing profiles associated with each of the multiple VAV controllers; and sending the VAV balancing command to the multiple VAV controllers in accordance with the VAV balancing profiles.

Claims

1. A method for airflow and water balancing, comprising:

receiving, with a balancing handler, a signal that includes a variable air volume (VAV) balancing command for multiple VAV controllers, wherein each respective VAV controller is associated with a different VAV box;

determining a VAV balancing profile associated with each of the multiple VAV controllers based, at least in part, on a data model and a balancing application of each of the multiple VAV controllers, wherein the data model has been analyzed in accordance with an authenticated report corresponding to a trusted entity;

splitting the signal into multiple formatted VAV balancing commands in accordance with the VAV balancing profiles;

sending a respective formatted VAV balancing command of the multiple formatted VAV balancing commands to each of the multiple VAV controllers in accordance with the VAV balancing profiles; and

performing airflow and water balancing on each of the different VAV boxes at a same time based on the respective formatted VAV balancing commands.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the multiple VAV controllers has a different VAV balancing profile.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method includes selecting multiple controllers in a zone to perform VAV balancing tasks.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the VAV balancing tasks include, at least one of initializing a duct parameter, initializing a damper parameter, driving a damper motor to a set point, setting a K-factor value, and showing a position of a damper.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving, with the balancing handler, the signal that includes the VAV balancing command includes receiving one VAV balancing command.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the method includes formatting the VAV balancing command in accordance with each respective VAV balancing profile.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the signal that includes the VAV balancing command includes receiving the signal wirelessly from a mobile device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the signal received from the mobile device is an unformatted command.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the method includes storing at least one of the VAV balancing command, a user diagnostic comment associated with one of the multiple VAV controllers, and balancing parameter values.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the method includes:

generating a report based on the at least one of VAV balancing command, a user diagnostic comment associated with one of the multiple VAV controllers, and balancing parameter values; and

signing the report with a trusted certificate.

11. A machine-readable non-transitory medium storing instructions for airflow and water balancing, executable by a machine to cause the machine to:

receive a signal that includes a variable air volume (VAV) balancing command for multiple VAV controllers, wherein each respective VAV controller is associated with a different VAV box, and wherein each of the multiple VAV controllers has a different VAV balancing profile determined based, at least in part, on a data model and a balancing application of each of the multiple VAV controllers, wherein the data model has been analyzed in accordance with an authenticated report corresponding to a trusted entity;

split the signal into multiple VAV balancing commands;

determine a respective format for sending each VAV balancing command to a respective VAV controller of the multiple VAV controllers based on the different VAV balancing profiles;

format each VAV balancing command based on the different VAV balancing profiles;

send the formatted VAV balancing commands to the multiple VAV controllers; and

perform airflow and water balancing on each of the different VAV boxes at a same time based on the respective formatted VAV balancing commands.

12. The medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions executable by the machine to format each VAV balancing command based on the different VAV balancing profiles includes issuing VAV balancing commands that include a same VAV balancing task in different formats for each of the multiple VAV controllers.

13. The medium of claim 11, further comprising instructions to accept diagnostic comments from a user regarding at least one of the multiple VAV controllers.

14. A system for airflow and water balancing, the system comprising a processing resource in communication with a non-transitory computer-readable medium, wherein the computer-readable medium contains a set of instructions and wherein the processing resource is designed to execute the set of instructions to:

receive, from a mobile device, a signal that includes a variable air volume (VAV) balancing command for multiple VAV controllers that are connected via a network in a zone, wherein each respective VAV controller is associated with a different VAV box;

determine, with a VAV balancing handler, a VAV balancing profile for each of the multiple VAV controllers in the zone based, at least in part, on a data model and a balancing application of each of the multiple VAV controllers, wherein the data model has been analyzed in accordance with an authenticated report corresponding to a trusted entity;

split the signal into multiple VAV balancing commands in accordance with the VAV balancing profiles;

format each VAV balancing command in accordance with a respective one of the VAV balancing profiles;

send, with the VAV balancing handler, each of the formatted VAV balancing commands to a respective one of the multiple VAV controllers in the zone;

perform airflow and water balancing on each of the different VAV boxes at a same time based on the respective formatted VAV balancing commands; and

store VAV balancing data associated with each of the multiple VAV controllers.

15. The system of claim of claim 14, wherein the system includes a reporting engine configured to send the VAV balancing data associated with each of the VAV controllers to a global server.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein:

each of the multiple VAV controllers have different VAV balancing profiles; and

a respective formatted VAV balancing command is generated for each of the multiple VAV controllers from the VAV balancing command included in the signal.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the balancing handler is located in an application installed on a computing device that is connected to the network.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein separate VAV balancing commands are received from separate mobile devices in different zones.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the instructions are executed to:

generate a report that includes the stored VAV balancing data stored data in a user selectable format; and

authenticate the report with a trusted certificate.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the instructions are executed to send the formatted VAV balancing commands to multiple VAV controllers in multiple zones.