Cooking exhaust hood ventilation system and related methods
First Claim
1. A method of automatically adjusting a commercial kitchen exhaust hood arrangement over time, the method comprising:
- utilizing a commercial kitchen exhaust hood arrangement installed in a commercial kitchen above one or more cooking appliances, the exhaust hood arrangement having at least one hood section, a controller operable to control exhaust operations in accordance with a set of stored operating parameters, and one or more of (a) a manual override trigger input that enables a user to manually trigger a maximum exhaust mode for the hood section, (b) a thermal load monitoring system that adjusts exhaust flow based upon monitored thermal load, the thermal load monitoring system including at least one temperature sensor for detecting temperature within the hood section or (c) a VOC monitoring system with at least one VOC sensor, wherein the VOC monitoring system is configured to trigger a maximum exhaust mode for the hood section when sensed VOCs exceed a VOC limit;
establishing an initial set of stored operating parameters for the exhaust hood arrangement, the initial set of stored operating parameters affecting control of exhaust operations under varying conditions;
during an established adjustment time period, operating the exhaust hood arrangement as needed for cooking operations in the commercial kitchen;
during the established adjustment time period the controller automatically monitors operation of the exhaust hood arrangement and thereafter adjusts the set of stored operating parameters for use on a going forward basis, wherein the automatic monitoring and adjusting involves;
(a1) tracking a number of manually triggered overrides, determining whether the number of manually triggered overrides exceeds a set number and, if so, adjusting one or more of the stored operating parameters in a manner that will produce increased exhaust flow for a given thermal load condition experienced going forward; and
/or(b1) tracking a number of sensed temperature conditions in excess of an upper temperature limit defined in accordance with the initial set of stored operating parameters, determining whether the number of sensed temperature conditions exceeds a threshold number and, if so, adjusting one or more of the stored operating parameters in a manner that will increase the upper temperature limit going forward; and
/or(c1) tracking a number of sensed VOC conditions in excess of the VOC limit, determining whether the number of sensed VOC conditions exceeds a specific number and, if so, adjusting one or more of the stored operating parameters in a manner that will produce increased exhaust flow for a given thermal load condition experienced going forward.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Controlling an exhaust hood system having multiple hood sections each with an exhaust output having an associated damper, each exhaust output feeding to a common downstream fan, where damper position and fan speed control an exhaust flow rate through each hood section, involves monitoring at least one condition of each hood section and, based upon the monitoring, establishing a target flow rate for each hood section; based upon a sum of the target flow rates, establishing a fan speed; and monitoring an actual flow rate through each hood section and responsively controlling damper position to achieve the target flow rate for the hood section. Adjusting fan speed and damper position until damper position for at least one hood section achieves a predetermined open position, while at the same time each hood section satisfies its associated target flow rate, can reduce energy costs associated with system operation.
-
Citations
12 Claims
-
1. A method of automatically adjusting a commercial kitchen exhaust hood arrangement over time, the method comprising:
-
utilizing a commercial kitchen exhaust hood arrangement installed in a commercial kitchen above one or more cooking appliances, the exhaust hood arrangement having at least one hood section, a controller operable to control exhaust operations in accordance with a set of stored operating parameters, and one or more of (a) a manual override trigger input that enables a user to manually trigger a maximum exhaust mode for the hood section, (b) a thermal load monitoring system that adjusts exhaust flow based upon monitored thermal load, the thermal load monitoring system including at least one temperature sensor for detecting temperature within the hood section or (c) a VOC monitoring system with at least one VOC sensor, wherein the VOC monitoring system is configured to trigger a maximum exhaust mode for the hood section when sensed VOCs exceed a VOC limit; establishing an initial set of stored operating parameters for the exhaust hood arrangement, the initial set of stored operating parameters affecting control of exhaust operations under varying conditions; during an established adjustment time period, operating the exhaust hood arrangement as needed for cooking operations in the commercial kitchen; during the established adjustment time period the controller automatically monitors operation of the exhaust hood arrangement and thereafter adjusts the set of stored operating parameters for use on a going forward basis, wherein the automatic monitoring and adjusting involves; (a1) tracking a number of manually triggered overrides, determining whether the number of manually triggered overrides exceeds a set number and, if so, adjusting one or more of the stored operating parameters in a manner that will produce increased exhaust flow for a given thermal load condition experienced going forward; and
/or(b1) tracking a number of sensed temperature conditions in excess of an upper temperature limit defined in accordance with the initial set of stored operating parameters, determining whether the number of sensed temperature conditions exceeds a threshold number and, if so, adjusting one or more of the stored operating parameters in a manner that will increase the upper temperature limit going forward; and
/or(c1) tracking a number of sensed VOC conditions in excess of the VOC limit, determining whether the number of sensed VOC conditions exceeds a specific number and, if so, adjusting one or more of the stored operating parameters in a manner that will produce increased exhaust flow for a given thermal load condition experienced going forward. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A method of automatically controlling a commercial kitchen exhaust hood arrangement, the method comprising:
-
utilizing a commercial kitchen exhaust hood arrangement installed in a commercial kitchen above one or more cooking appliances, the commercial kitchen exhaust hood arrangement having at least one hood section, a controller operable to control exhaust operations in accordance with a set of stored operating parameters, a thermal load monitoring system that adjusts exhaust flow based upon monitored thermal load, and a manual override trigger input that enables a user to manually trigger a maximum exhaust mode for the hood section; establishing an initial set of stored operating parameters for the exhaust hood arrangement, the initial set of stored operating parameters affecting control of exhaust operations under varying conditions; during an adjustment time period, operating the exhaust hood arrangement as needed for cooking operations in the commercial kitchen, wherein such operating involves responding to a particular thermal load condition by establishing a first flow rate through the hood section; during the adjustment time period the controller automatically monitors operation of the exhaust hood arrangement and thereafter adjusts one or more of the stored operating parameters for use on a going forward basis, wherein the automatic monitoring and adjusting involves; tracking a number of manually triggered overrides, determining whether the number of manually triggered overrides exceeds an override threshold and, if so, adjusting one or more of the stored operating parameters in a manner that will produce a second flow rate through the hood section for the particular thermal load condition going forward, where the second flow rate is different than the first flow rate. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
-
Specification