Inhibiting deleterious control coupling in an enclosure having multiple HVAC regions
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A thermostat comprising:
- a thermostat housing;
a user interface including an electronic display and one or more input devices;
one or more temperature sensors for determining an ambient air temperature in an area surrounding the thermostat;
one or more processors disposed within the thermostat housing and coupled to the user interface, the one or more processors being in operative communication with the one or more temperature sensors, in operative communication with the one or more input devices of the user interface for determining a setpoint temperature value, and in still further operative communication with a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system to control the HVAC system based at least in part on a comparison of the ambient air temperature measured by the one or more temperature sensors and the setpoint temperature value;
one or more electronic memories;
a control program stored within the one or more electronic memories and executed by the one or more processors that controls operation of the HVAC system by;
receiving settings-adjustment messages from a monitor when the monitor detects an onset of a resonant HVAC cycling frequency that includes an HVAC cycle time change due at least in part to thermal communication between regions associated with the thermostat and at least one other collocated thermostat; and
adjusting a thermostat setting as directed by the settings-adjustment messages in order to disrupt the resonant HVAC cycling frequency in a multi-region building or other multi-region environment.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The current application is related to environmental-conditioning systems controlled by intelligent controllers and, in particular, to an intelligent-thermostat-controlled HVAC system that detects and ameliorates control coupling between intelligent thermostats. Control coupling can lead to inefficient HVAC operation. When control coupling is detected, a settings-adjustment directive is sent to at least one intelligent thermostat to adjust one or more intelligent-thermostat settings, including an HVAC-cycle-initiation delay parameter, swing parameter, and a parameter that indicates whether or not an intelligent thermostat should first obtain confirmation or permission before initiating an HVAC cycle.
177 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A thermostat comprising:
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a thermostat housing; a user interface including an electronic display and one or more input devices; one or more temperature sensors for determining an ambient air temperature in an area surrounding the thermostat; one or more processors disposed within the thermostat housing and coupled to the user interface, the one or more processors being in operative communication with the one or more temperature sensors, in operative communication with the one or more input devices of the user interface for determining a setpoint temperature value, and in still further operative communication with a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system to control the HVAC system based at least in part on a comparison of the ambient air temperature measured by the one or more temperature sensors and the setpoint temperature value; one or more electronic memories; a control program stored within the one or more electronic memories and executed by the one or more processors that controls operation of the HVAC system by; receiving settings-adjustment messages from a monitor when the monitor detects an onset of a resonant HVAC cycling frequency that includes an HVAC cycle time change due at least in part to thermal communication between regions associated with the thermostat and at least one other collocated thermostat; and adjusting a thermostat setting as directed by the settings-adjustment messages in order to disrupt the resonant HVAC cycling frequency in a multi-region building or other multi-region environment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A system comprising:
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one or more processors; one or more electronic memories; a monitor program stored within the one or more electronic memories and executed by the one or more processors that; monitors operation of two or more collocated thermostats; detects an onset of a resonant HVAC cycling frequency that includes HVAC cycle time changes due at least in part to thermal communication between regions associated with the two or more collocated thermostats; and upon detecting the onset of the resonant HVAC cycling frequency, sends one or more settings-adjustment messages to at least one of the two or more collocated thermostats;
wherein upon receipt of the one or more settings-adjustment messages, the at least one of the two or more collocated thermostats disrupts the resonant HVAC cycling frequency. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification