ENERGY MANAGEMENT FOR SENSORS

• US 20170016869A1
• Filed: 07/13/2016
• Published: 01/19/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trane International Inc. (Trane Technologies plc)
• Original Assignee: Trane International Inc. (Trane Technologies plc)
• Inventors: Johnson, Tedd P.
• Granted Patent: US 10,191,024 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/004 CO or CO2
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/0073 Control unit therefor

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed to a method for reducing power consumption of a sensor. The method includes determining if a predetermined condition has been met to change at least one of a sensing rate or a sensor resolution, and changing at least one of the sensing rate or sensor resolution if it is determined that the predetermined condition has been met.

Claims

1. A method for reducing power consumption of a sensor, comprising:

determining if a predetermined condition has been met to change at least one of a sensing rate or a sensor resolution; and

changing at least one of the sensing rate or sensor resolution if it is determined that the predetermined condition has been met.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising sensing a monitored gas in a local atmosphere.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein sensing the amount of the monitored gas includes sensing at least one of ethylene, CO, methane, O₂, H₂S, and/or CO₂.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein determining if the predetermined condition has been met includes determining an amount and/or a proportion of the monitored gas in the local atmosphere.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein determining if the predetermined condition has been met includes determining a rate of change of the amount and/or a proportion of the monitored gas over a time.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining if the predetermined condition has been met includes comparing the rate of change of the amount and/or a proportion of the monitored gas to a threshold rate of change to determine whether to change the sensing rate or sensor resolution.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein determining if the predetermined condition has been met includes determining an occupancy state of a building.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining the occupancy state includes referencing a predetermined schedule and comparing a local clock to the predetermined schedule to determine the occupancy state of the building.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein changing the sensing rate or the sensor resolution includes reducing the sensing rate and/or the sensor resolution to a minimum safe sensing rate and/or minimum safe sensor resolution.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein reducing the sensing rate includes reducing the sensing rate from about 1 sensing per minute to about 1 sensing per hour.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein reducing the sensor resolution includes reducing an amount of samples per sensor reading.

12. A sensor for an HVAC system, comprising:

a processor operatively coupled to a memory; and

an energy management module stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, the energy management module configured for;

determining if a predetermined condition has been met to change at least one of a sensing rate or a sensor resolution; and

changing at least one of the sensing rate or sensor resolution if it is determined that the predetermined condition has been met.

13. The sensor of claim 12, wherein determining if the predetermined condition has been met includes determining an amount and/or a proportion of a monitored gas in a local atmosphere.

14. The sensor of claim 13, wherein determining if the predetermined condition has been met includes determining a rate of change of the amount and/or a proportion of the monitored gas over a time.

15. The sensor of claim 14, wherein determining if the predetermined condition has been met includes comparing the rate of change of the amount and/or a proportion of the monitored gas to a threshold rate of change to determine whether to change the sensing rate and/or sensor resolution.

16. The sensor of claim 12, wherein determining if the predetermined condition has been met includes determining an occupancy state of a building.

17. The sensor of claim 16, wherein determining the occupancy state includes referencing a predetermined schedule and comparing a local clock to the predetermined schedule to determine the occupancy state of the building.

18. The sensor of claim 12, wherein changing the sensing rate and/or the sensor resolution includes reducing the sensing rate and/or the sensor resolution to a minimum safe sensing rate and/or minimum safe sensor resolution.

19. The sensor of claim 18, wherein reducing the sensing rate includes reducing the sensing rate from about 1 sensing per minute to about 1 sensing per hour.

20. The sensor of claim 18, wherein reducing the sensor resolution includes reducing an amount of samples per sensor reading.

21. A system for reducing power consumption of sensors, comprising:

at least one computer server configured to be in communication with at least one sensor; and

a power management module stored on the server, the power management module configured for;

determining if a predetermined condition has been met to change at least one of a sensing rate and/or a sensor resolution of the at least one sensor; and

changing at least one of the sensing rate and/or the sensor resolution if it is determined that the predetermined condition has been met.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein determining if the predetermined condition is met includes receiving condition data from the sensor.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein changing at least one of the sensing rate and/or sensor resolution includes outputting a command to the sensor to change at least one of the sensing rate and/or the sensor resolution.