Electronic evaporative cooler controller with wireless remote sensor

• US 9,500,384 B2
• Filed: 10/16/2013
• Issued: 11/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harold G. Mcfarland
• Original Assignee: Harold G. Mcfarland
• Inventors: McFarland, Harold G
• Primary Examiner(s): Duke, Emmanuel
• Application Number:
  US14/055,211
• Publication Number:
  US 20150102114A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,133 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 11/523 for displaying temperature data
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/56 Remote control
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/58 using Internet communication
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/10 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/20 Humidity
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2130/00 Control inputs relating to environmental factors not covered by group F24F2110/00
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2130/10 Weather information or forecasts

Abstract

A controller system to control and operate a paired evaporative cooler using a wireless remote sensor to detect outside temperature, humidity and barometric pressure transmitted via a radio frequency transceiver to be processed by a programmable main controller unit by a user according to a plurality of programming modes to generate digital control data to be sent to the paired evaporative cooler to control its fan'"'"'s speed and water pump'"'"'s speed; the paired evaporative cooler can also be controlled using wireless communication by a hand held remote control device controlling a switching unit mounted inside the paired evaporative cooler; additionally, the main controller unit can receive control data by an incorporated Wi-Fi receiver and transmitter which will allow real time control and programming of the main controller unit from either a personal computer, or a mobile computing device, or a smart cellular phone.

Claims

1. A wireless, programmable controller system to control and operate a paired evaporative cooler, said controller system comprises:

a main controller unit, used inside a building, to control the building inside temperature and the building inside humidity by operating and controlling a paired evaporative cooler, said main controller unit is programmable in response to input data received which are;

outside measured humidity, outside measured temperature and outside barometric pressure, and said main controller unit is programmable according to a plurality of programming modes to generate digital control data to be sent to the paired evaporative cooler to cause a control of variations of a paired evaporative cooler fan'"'"'s speed and variations of a paired evaporative cooler water pump speed;

a remote sensor unit, operating outside the building, said remote sensor unit is battery-powered, operated by a programmed internal microprocessor to collect outside temperature, outside humidity and outside barometric pressure digital reading data, to be transmitted over a wireless communication medium via a radio frequency transceiver to said main controller unit;

said remote sensor unit is radio frequency-coupled to said main controller unit.

2. The wireless, programmable controller system to control and operate the paired evaporative cooler according to claim 1 wherein said main controller unit comprises:

the radio frequency transceiver to receive wirelessly the outside temperature, the outside humidity and weather forecast data readings;

a front panel of said main controller unit to allow a user to enter manual controls and input data and to display operating data;

electrical and electronic interface connections with the paired evaporative cooler device to be controlled and operated;

a real time clock which allows for a timer control of separate weekday and weekend start and stop functioning of the paired evaporative cooler by making a logical comparison with an incorporated timer'"'"'s time;

a temperature sensor to collect inside temperature data;

a humidity sensor to collect inside humidity data;

a main controller microprocessor programmable by the user;

an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEprom);

a Wi-Fi receiver and transmitter comprising an operating software to allow, through an associated website, real time control and programming of the main controller unit from either a personal

computer, or a mobile computing device or a smart cellular phone;

a receiver for radio transmitted time signal from either a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) or a Global Positioning System (GPS).

3. The wireless, programmable controller system to control and operate the paired evaporative cooler according to claim 2 wherein said front panel comprises:

manual switches which are;

—

a Manual/Auto switch which, when set to;

an Auto position, said main controller unit executes functions based on a logic of an operating program and input data entered by the user;

a Manual position, allows the user to manually control the paired evaporative cooler water pump operation and speed;

a Program/Run switch which, when set to;

a Program position, will cause a programming menu to be displayed and illuminated on a multi-line digital backlit liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit to allow the user to perform a programming sequence;

a Run position, will cause said programming sequence to terminate;

a Off/Low/High Fan switch to manually turn on or off a paired evaporative cooler cooler'"'"'s fan and to manually adjust the fan speed;

—

a Off/On Pump switch to manually turn on or off a paired evaporative cooler'"'"'s water pump;

manual buttons comprising;

Up button to increment a displayed setting by one unit;

—

Down button to decrement a displayed setting by one unit;

Next button to step through programmed functions and to illuminate a LCD display for five seconds;

—

Reset button which causes the main controller microprocessor to re-start and clear a possible malfunction;

a battery cover to hold a backup battery which, in an event of a main controller unit power loss, will maintain time and date data stored inside a real time clock;

a multi-line digital backlit liquid crystal display (LCD) unit to display main controller'"'"'s programming data; and

wherein said front panel allows the user to further program a connected evaporative cooler by entering following setting data;

a desired inside temperature;

—

an upper limit inside humidity;

an upper limit outside humidity;

a current time and day of a week;

a weekday start and stop time;

a weekend start and stop time; and

wherein a unique serial ID number can be entered by the user on said front panel and stored inside a EEprom memory with other user settings, to allow a replacement of a remote sensor, if necessary.

4. The wireless, programmable controller system to control and operate the paired evaporative cooler, according to claim 3, wherein said programming menu comprises a display of the following selections:

Desired inside temperature

Upper limit inside humidity

Upper limit outside humidity

Current date—

Current time

Weekday start of operation

Weekday stop of operation

Weekday Timer On/Off,

Set weekend start day and time

Set weekend end day and time

Weekend Timer On/Off;

and wherein said Current date and Current Time are saved into a real time clock and the rest of the selections are automatically saved by the microprocessor to an EEprom Memory.

5. The wireless, programmable controller system to control and operate the paired evaporative cooler according to claim 2 wherein said main controller microprocessor programmable by the user is an eight core parallel microprocessor designed to:

process user control settings including desired indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity;

process of inside temperature, humidity and outside weather forecast, temperature and humidity data from the remote sensor unit by comparing them to entered user'"'"'s data to issue operating commands for the paired evaporative cooler;

control of the paired evaporative cooler fan operation and selection of the fan'"'"'s speed;

control of a pre-wet feature to provide pre-wetting of cooling pads of the paired evaporative cooler before starting said wireless, programmable controller system or restarting the paired evaporative cooler after an automatic shutdown;

alternate a display of upper limit temperature and upper limit humidity data on said multi-line digital backlit liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit;

load default settings for inside temperature and humidity, and the outside temperature and the humidity when said eight core parallel microprocessor is powered on;

continually cycle through a series of information and status displays on said multi-line digital backlit liquid crystal display (LCD) unit;

said information displayed comprises current inside and the outside temperature and outside humidity, barometric pressure, the barometric pressure history, weather forecast data, complete date and time, desired inside temperature and desired inside humidity settings weekday and weekend timer status, and timer activity status.

6. The wireless, programmable controller system to control and operate the paired evaporative cooler according to claim 2 wherein said EEprom memory is used to store user settings to avoid their loss in case of a power interruption to the main controller unit;

said EEprom memory also stores a unique serial number ID of the remote sensor unit, said unique serial number ID is electronically inserted into all Radio Frequency (RF) communications with the remote sensor unit to electronically receive data only from a paired remote sensor unit;

said EEprom memory also stores the user-entered time zone offset for National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) radio-transmitted time signals or GPS signals.

7. The wireless, programmable controller system to control and operate the paired evaporative cooler, according to claim 2 wherein said main controller microprocessor, programmable by the user, executes:

a) a pre-wet sequence whenever;

a pre-wet internal flag is set to zero and

current inside temperature is greater than a desired inside temperature plus five degrees and

the outside temperature is greater than a desired inside temperature plus one degree and

current inside humidity is less than the user-set upper limit inside humidity and

current outside humidity is less than the user-set upper limit outside humidity;

or

a pre-wet internal flag is set to zero and

current inside temperature is greater than a desired inside temperature less two degrees and

current outside temperature is greater than a desired inside temperature plus one degree and

current inside humidity is less than the user-set upper limit inside humidity and

the outside humidity is less than the user-set upper limit outside humidity;

b) a turning on a cooler'"'"'s water pump and turning on high a cooler fan'"'"'s speed whenever;

a pre-wet internal flag is set to one and

current inside temperature is greater than a desired inside temperature plus five degrees and

current outside temperature is greater than a desired inside temperature plus one degree and

current inside humidity is less than the user-set upper limit inside humidity and

current outside humidity is less than the user-set upper limit outside humidity;

c) a turning on the cooler'"'"'s water pump and the turning on low a cooler'"'"'s fan speed whenever;

a pre-wet internal flag is set to one and current inside temperature is greater than a desired inside temperature less two degrees and

current outside temperature is greater than a desired inside temperature plus one degree and

current inside humidity is less than the user-set upper limit inside humidity and

current outside humidity is less than the user-set upper limit outside humidity;

d) a turning off the cooler'"'"'s water pump and a turning on a cooler'"'"'s fan high speed and setting a pre-wet internal flag to zero whenever;

current inside temperature is greater than a desired inside temperature plus five degrees and

current outside temperature is less than a desired inside temperature or

current inside humidity is greater than the user-set upper limit inside humidity or

current outside humidity is greater than the user-set upper limit outside humidity;

e) a turning off the cooler'"'"'s water pump and turning on low a cooler'"'"'s fan speed and setting a pre-wet internal flag to zero whenever;

current inside temperature is greater than a desired inside temperature less two degrees and

current outside temperature is less than a desired inside temperature or

current inside humidity is greater than the user-set upper limit inside humidity or

current outside humidity is greater than the user-set upper limit outside humidity;

f) a turning off the cooler'"'"'s water pump and turning off a cooler'"'"'s fan and setting a pre-wet internal flag to zero whenever a current inside temperature is less than a desired inside temperature less two degrees.

8. The wireless, programmable controller system to control and operate the paired evaporative cooler, according to claim 7 wherein said pre-wet sequence, is commanded and controlled by a main controller unit logic of a microprocessor, and it is executed before a cooler'"'"'s fan is started for a first time after a time of inactivity, consists in running the cooler'"'"'s water pump for four minutes to wet cooling pads which are mounted in front of a cooler'"'"'s fan inside a controlled evaporative cooler.

9. The wireless, programmable controller system to control and operate the paired evaporative cooler according to claim 1 wherein said remote sensor unit identified with a unique serial number ID electronically inserted into all Radio Frequency (RF) communications, allows said remote sensor unit to electronically communicate data only to a paired main controller unit;

said remote sensor unit comprises;

a front panel to allow a user to enter programming information and receiving operation information of the remote sensor unit, said front panel comprising;

a multi-line digital backlit liquid crystal display (LCD) unit;

manual buttons which comprise;

an up button to increment a displayed setting by one unit;

a Down button to decrement a displayed setting by one unit;

a Next button to step through all functions and to illuminate said multi-line digital backlit liquid LCD display for five seconds;

a Reset button which causes a remote sensor unit microprocessor to re-start and clear any possible malfunction;

a battery cover to hold a backup battery which, in the event of the remote sensor unit power loss, will maintain time and date data stored inside a real time clock;

a real time clock to provide current time data to the remote sensor unit microprocessor;

said real time clock can be set by holding down the UP Button for two seconds to start a programming mode to allow the setting of current day and time;

a temperature sensor to collect the outside temperature data;

a humidity sensor to collect the outside humidity data;

a barometric sensor to detect current the barometric pressure converted into weather forecast data by the remote sensor unit microprocessor;

the radio frequency transceiver to send collected the outside temperature, humidity readings and weather forecast data to the main controller unit via a radio-wave frequency;

a remote sensor unit microprocessor, programmable by the user, which automatically starts collecting from said remote sensor the outside temperature, the outside humidity data and current the barometric pressure readings whenever the remote sensor unit is powered on;

said remote sensor unit microprocessor alternates the display of local time, the outside temperature, the outside humidity and the barometric pressure data on the LCD display unit.

10. The wireless, programmable controller system to control and operate the paired evaporative cooler according to claim 9 wherein said remote sensor microprocessor, programmable by the user, is an eight-core parallel microprocessor designed to:

maintain a real time clock;

command the outside temperature humidity and the barometric pressure sensors to collect the outside temperature, the outside humidity and weather forecast data to be transmitted wirelessly to said main controller unit for processing.

11. The wireless, programmable controller system to control and operate the paired evaporative cooler, according to claim 1 wherein said main controller unit comprises:

a hand held remote control device comprising;

the radio frequency transceiver to receive wirelessly the outside temperature, the outside humidity and the barometric pressure data readings;

a front panel to enter manual controls and user input data and to display operating data;

electrical and electronic interface connections with a wireless-connected switching unit mounted inside an evaporative cooler device to be controlled and operated;

a real time clock which allows for timer control of separate weekday and weekend start and stop functioning of the paired evaporative cooler;

a temperature sensor to collect inside temperature data;

—

a humidity sensor to collect inside humidity data;

a main controller microprocessor programmable by a user;

an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEprom);

a Wi-Fi receiver and transmitter comprising an operating software to allow, through an associated website, real time control and programming of the main controller unit from either a personal computer, or a mobile computing device or a smart cellular phone;

a receiver for radio transmitted time signal from either National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) or GPS; and

wherein said front panel comprises;

a multi-line digital backlit liquid crystal display (LCD) unit;

manual buttons which comprise;

a up button to increment the displayed setting by one unit;

a down button to decrement the displayed setting by one unit;

a next button to step through the functions and illuminate said digital backlit liquid crystal display (LCD) unit for five seconds;

a reset button which causes a main controller unit microprocessor to re-start and clear a possible malfunction; and

wherein said hand held remote control device allows the user to further program a connected evaporative cooler by entering the following setting data;

a desired inside temperature;

an upper limit inside humidity;

an upper limit outside humidity;

a current time and day of a week;

a weekday start and stop time;

a weekend start and stop time;

a switching unit, RF operated, and mounted inside an evaporative cooler to be controlled, said switching unit comprising;

a housing equipped with;

an input power plug to be electrically connected to an existing power plug inside an evaporative cooler to be controlled, that currently supplies uncontrolled electric power to an evaporative cooler'"'"'s electric fan;

an input power plug to be electrically connected to an existing power plug, inside an evaporative cooler to be controlled, that currently supplies uncontrolled electric power to an evaporative cooler'"'"'s electric water pump;

an output power plug to be electrically connected to the evaporative cooler'"'"'s electric fan;

an output power plug to be electrically connected to the evaporative cooler'"'"'s electric water pump;

the radio frequency transceiver to receive wirelessly operating commands from said hand held remote control device;

a hand-held controller unit microprocessor programmable by the user to process commands from said hand held remote control unit to digitally control operation and speed of a paired evaporative cooler'"'"'s water pump and an electric fan.