Systems and methods for controlling humidity

• US 9,835,348 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2011
• Issued: 12/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trane International Inc. (Trane Technologies plc)
• Original Assignee: Trane International Inc. (Trane Technologies plc)
• Inventors: Storm, Timothy Wayne, Garrett, Carl L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Crenshaw, Henry
• Application Number:
  US13/045,735
• Publication Number:
  US 20120228393A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,461 Days
• Field of Search: 62160, 621761, 621766, 623241, 236 1 B, 236 1 C, 236 44 R, 236 44 C, 236 493, 236 51
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/0008 for air-humidification F24F11/30 takes precedence
• 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 11/65 for selecting an operating mode
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/67 Switching between heating and cooling modes
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/20 Humidity
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 22/02 characterised by the use of electric means

Abstract

An HVAC system has a plurality of humidity sensors and a controller configured to selectively control which of the plurality of humidity sensors affects operation of the HVAC system. A method of controlling humidity includes providing a plurality of humidity sensors, assigning one of the plurality of humidity sensors as a humidity priority sensor, and affecting a humidity in response to feedback from the humidity priority sensor. A system controller for an HVAC system has an interface configured to present a plurality of humidity sensors and the system controller is configured to allow a user to select which of the plurality of humidity sensors affects operation of the HVAC system.

Claims

1. A heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning (HVAC) system, comprising:

a plurality of humidity sensors, wherein each of the plurality of humidity sensors is associated with at least one of a plurality of zones;

a system component configured to adjust a humidity of circulating air in each of the plurality of zones; and

a controller comprising a user interface configured to display a list of the plurality of zones and allow selection of a humidity priority sensor via selection of a humidity priority zone from the list of the plurality of zones displayed on the user interface, wherein a humidity priority indicator is displayed on the user interface to indicate which zone displayed in the list of the plurality of zones is selected as the priority humidity zone, and wherein the controller is configured to operate the system component of the HVAC system to adjust the humidity of circulating air in each of the plurality of zones in response to feedback from only the humidity priority sensor to an exclusion of feedback from each of the other humidity sensors.

2. The HVAC system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of humidity sensors is located remotely from the controller.

3. The HVAC system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to operate the system component of the HVAC system to reduce the humidity of the circulating air in each of the plurality of zones in response to the humidity priority sensor sensing the humidity being greater than a target humidity associated with the humidity priority zone.

4. The HVAC system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to allow a user to specify a different target humidity to each of the plurality of humidity sensors.

18. The HVAC system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to automatically select which of the plurality of humidity sensors affects operation of the HVAC system based on historical feedback from one or more of the plurality of humidity sensors.

19. The HVAC system of claim 18, wherein a manual selection of a different humidity priority sensor via selection of a humidity priority zone from the list of zones displayed on the user interface overrides the automatic selection made by the controller.

20. The HVAC system of claim 3, wherein the controller is configured to operate the system component of the HVAC system to increase the humidity of the circulating air in each of the plurality of zones in response to the humidity priority sensor sensing the humidity being less than a target humidity associated with the humidity priority zone.

5. A method of controlling humidity, comprising:

providing a plurality of humidity sensors, wherein each of the plurality of humidity sensors is associated with at least one of a plurality of zones;

providing a system component configured to adjust a humidity of circulating air in each of the plurality of zones;

providing a system controller comprising a user interface, wherein the system controller is configured to monitor the plurality of humidity sensors;

assigning one of the plurality of humidity sensors as a humidity priority sensor via selection of a humidity priority zone from a list of the plurality of zones displayed on the user interface;

indicating the priority humidity zone on the user interface; and

operating the system component to adjust the humidity of circulating air in each of the plurality of zones in response to feedback received by the system controller from only the humidity priority sensor to an exclusion of feedback from each of the other humidity sensors.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the operating the system component to adjust the humidity occurs in response to a comparison between the humidity in the priority humidity zone as measured by the priority humidity sensor being greater than a target humidity setting associated with the priority humidity zone.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the plurality of humidity sensors are components of a first HVAC system.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein at least one of the plurality of humidity sensors is a component of a first HVAC system, and wherein at least one of the plurality of remaining humidity sensors is a component of a second HVAC system.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the humidity priority sensor is the component of the first HVAC system, and wherein the operating the system component to adjust the humidity comprises operating the first HVAC system.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the humidity priority zone is presented as a virtual button on the user interface, wherein the user interface comprises a touchscreen interface.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein the assigning is performed automatically based on historical feedback from the plurality of humidity sensors.

12. The method of claim 5, wherein the operating the system component to adjust the humidity is performed in response to the humidity in the priority humidity zone as measured by the priority humidity sensor being greater than a target humidity setting associated with the priority humidity zone.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

entering the target humidity into a system controller of at least one of the first HVAC system and the second HVAC system.

14. A system controller for a heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning (HVAC) system, comprising:

a user interface configured to display a list of zones conditioned by the HVAC system, each zone comprising at least one of a plurality of humidity sensors;

wherein the system controller is configured to allow a user to select one of the plurality of humidity sensors as a priority humidity sensor by selecting a priority humidity zone from the list of zones displayed on the user interface, wherein selection of the priority humidity zone on the user interface assigns the humidity sensor from the plurality of humidity sensors associated with the priority humidity zone as the priority humidity sensor, wherein a humidity priority indicator is displayed on the user interface to indicate which zone displayed in the list of zones is selected as the priority humidity zone, and wherein feedback from the priority humidity sensor affects operation of the HVAC system to an exclusion of each of the other non-selected humidity sensors; and

wherein the system controller is configured to operate a system component of the HVAC system to adjust the humidity of circulating air in each of the zones in response to feedback from only the priority humidity sensor to an exclusion of feedback from each of the other humidity sensors.

15. The system controller of claim 14, wherein at least one of the plurality of humidity sensors is located remotely from the system controller.

16. The system controller of claim 14, wherein the system controller is configured to associate a first target humidity with a first humidity sensor of the plurality of humidity sensors for use during the operation of the HVAC system in a cooling mode, and wherein the system controller is configured to associate a second target humidity with the first humidity sensor for use during the operation of the HVAC system in a heating mode.

17. The system controller of claim 16, wherein the first target humidity may be selected from a first range of values and wherein the second target humidity may be selected from a second range of values different from the first range of values.