Alerting system

• US 9,989,960 B2
• Filed: 01/19/2016
• Issued: 06/05/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Wacker, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang, Quan-Zhen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Foxx, Chico A
• Application Number:
  US15/001,180
• Publication Number:
  US 20170206752A1
• Time in Patent Office: 868 Days
• Field of Search: None
• 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 11/32 Responding to malfunctions or emergencies
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/62 characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0235 based on a comparison with predetermined threshold or range, e.g. "classical methods", carried out during normal operation; threshold adaptation or choice; when or how to compare with the threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0264 Control of logging system, e.g. decision on which data to store; time-stamping measurements

Abstract

A program for light commercial building system (LCBS) solutions. Solutions and other systems may incorporate lightweight alerting service, auto-adjustment of gateway poll rates based on the needs of various consuming applications, detecting loss of space comfort control in a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system, HVAC capacity loss alerting using relative degree days and accumulated stage run time with operational equivalency checks, and HVAC alerting for loss of heat or cool capacity using delta temperature and dependent system properties. Also, incorporated may be triggering s subset of analytics by automatically inferring HVAC equipment details from controller configuration details, ensuring reliability of analytics by retaining logical continuity of HVAC equipment operational data even when controllers and other parts of the system are replaced, and an LCBS gateway with workflow and mechanisms to associate to a contractor account.

Claims

1. A notification system of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, the notification system comprising:

a sensor that detects one or more events of equipment of an HVAC system, wherein the equipment comprises at least one or more objects having associated therewith a value having a predetermined allowed bound; and

a report mechanism that provides an alert of the one or more events; and

wherein;

the one or more events indicate a crossing of a threshold,

wherein a crossing of a threshold corresponds to the occurrence of the value of the at least one or more objects becomes outside of the predetermined allowed bound,

wherein the one or more events each indicate a time of occurrence of the crossing of the threshold;

wherein;

at the time of occurrence of the crossing of the threshold is a value exceeding a pre-determined bound, the value of the at least one or more objects lies outside of the predetermined allowed bound; and

the one or more events are logged upon an occurrence along with the value of the at least one or more objects to which the predetermined allowed bound threshold is applied;

if the value of the at least one more objects reenters the predetermined allowed bound recedes from the threshold, the alert remains; and

if the value of the at least one more objects again lies outside of the predetermined allowed bound exceeds the threshold, the alert remains and a latest time that the value of the at least one or more objects has been outside of the predetermined allowed bound exceeded the threshold is logged;

wherein the alert has a priority selected from a group consisting of a plurality of priorities, and each priority indicates a level of urgency for an action relative to the at least one or more objects that should be taken; and

wherein the alert is a pushed notification, and a content of the push notification indicates a recipient of the alert and a mode of delivery to the recipient.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the alert is configured to appear on a page of a display or dashboard selected from a group comprising a pad, notebook, tablet, smartphone, laptop, and office computer.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the alert comprises a record of the one or more events in which a crossing of an event that the threshold has occurred been crossed; and

the record of the one or more events remains if the crossing of the threshold has become reversed.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more additional alerts are set for one or more additional crossings of a threshold, respectively, relative to one an object of the at least one or more objects based on values of the object lying outside a respective predetermined allowed bound applied to that object, respectively.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein each of the one or more additional crossings of the threshold for which a value of the object lies outside of the respective predetermined allowed bound thresholds comprises a predetermined value at which the value of the object crosses a the respective predetermined allowed bound threshold to indicate an alert having a unique priority, in view of priorities of other alerts set for different crossings of a respective threshold.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein whether an alert triggers a push notification is an option that is selected according to a value of an object of the at least one or more objects crossing of a threshold that is crossed.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein if a value of an object the at least one or more objects indicates a crossing of a the threshold to generate an alert, and then the value of the at least one or more objects crosses back across the threshold to a value insufficient to generate an alert, and then the value of the at least one or more objects re-crosses the threshold, then another event is time-stamped and logged, but only one alert remains for that threshold.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein a user sees only the just one alert on a display and then has the option to look at a log of one or more events reflecting the crossing of the threshold by the value of the at least one or more objects.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more events are a result of a complex calculation of parameters of the equipment.

10. A method of alerting a user of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, the method comprising:

reporting an event record of equipment of an HVAC system as an alert,

wherein the equipment comprises at least one or more objects having associated therewith a value having a predetermined allowed bound and the alert corresponds to a value of the at least one or more objects sensed by the sensor;

logging the alert at a time when the alert occurs,

wherein the alert indicates a crossing of a threshold which occurs when the value of the at least one or more objects becomes outside of the predetermined allowed bound;

classifying the alert as having a level of priority selected from a group of priorities, wherein each priority indicates a level of urgency for an action relative to the at least one or more objects that should be taken; and

configuring the alert to appear on a display or dashboard, wherein the alert is a pushed notification and a content of the push notification comprises content about the alert, who is to receive information pertaining to the alert, and a medium for containing the alert; and

wherein;

an event record as an alert is selected from a group consisting of a sensed value of an object of the at least one or more objects, going outside a predetermined allowed bound, and an analytic value exceeding a predetermined allowed bound; and

the alert pertains to a status of the HVAC equipment in a building management system, as determined by a value of the object of the at least one or more objects to which an alert threshold has been applied according to the predetermined allowed bound;

wherein;

if the value of the object of the at least one or more objects reenters the predetermined allowed bound, the alert remains and

if the value of the object of the at least one or more objects again lies outside of the predetermined allowed bound, the alert remains and a latest time that the value of the object of the at least one or more objects has been outside of the predetermined allowed bound is logged.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein each of the group of priorities comprises a different requirement for a responsive action relative to a cause of the alert.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein:

two or more alerts with different thresholds are set on the same object of the at least one or more objects; and

the two or more alerts are set at different thresholds according to predetermined allowed bounds, respectively.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein:

a first threshold for a first alert of the two or more alerts is set for a first value of the object of the at least one or more objects;

a second threshold for a second alert of two or more alerts is set for a second value of the object of the at least one or more objects;

the first alert is classified as low priority;

the second alert is classified as high priority; and

the first and second alerts are progressive with the first alert being an early warning of the second alert.

14. A simple alerting service mechanism comprising:

an indication device;

a processor connected to the indication device via wireless connections; and

a sensor arrangement connected to the processor; and

wherein;

the sensor arrangement obtains one or more parameter values of an at least one or more objects of building equipment of a heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) system, wherein the at least one or more objects has associated therewith a predetermined threshold;

the predetermined threshold is applied to the one or more parameter values of the at least one or more objects;

if a value of the one or more parameter values crosses the predetermined threshold, then an event record of the value that crosses the predetermined threshold is sent by the sensor arrangement to the processor, wherein the event record corresponds to the value that crossed the predetermined threshold and the time that the value crossed the predetermined threshold;

the processor logs an alert of the event record;

provides an alert of the event record to the indication device; and

the alert is classified with a priority level that indicates an urgency level of attention required for the at least one or more objects,

wherein a push notification is triggered by the alert;

the push notification provides information that is tailored to the event record, wherein the information of the push notification indicates the recipient of the alert and a mode of delivery to the recipient and provides an the alert of the event record to the indication device via the mode of delivery to the recipient;

wherein if the value of the one or more parameter values crosses the predetermined threshold back to an un-alert position relative to the predetermined threshold, then an un-alert of the at least one or more objects is provided to the processor; and

if the value of the one or more parameter values re-crosses the predetermined threshold, then another event record of the value is sent to the processor;

the processor provides the same alert for another event record to the indication device but updates a time stamp of a most recent event record.

15. The mechanism of claim 14, wherein the indication device or processor is selected from a group comprising a pad, notebook, tablet, smartphone, laptop and office computer.

16. The mechanism of claim 14, wherein:

if the value of the one or more parameter values crosses the predetermined threshold back to an un-alert position relative to the predetermined threshold, then an un-alert of the object of at least one or more objects is provided to the processor;

if the value of the one or more parameter values re-crosses the predetermined threshold, then another event record of the value is sent to the processor;

the processor provides the same alert for another event record to the indication device but updates a time stamp of a most recent event record; and

virtually all events are recorded in a log that is optionally viewable.

17. The mechanism of claim 14, further comprising:

a cloud; and

wherein the cloud comprises the processor.