System and method for controlling operations of air-conditioning system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10145576-B2
Application number	US-201514714428-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 18, 2015
Priority date	Mar 6, 2015
Publication date	Dec 4, 2018
Grant date	Dec 4, 2018

Abstract

A method determines values of the airflow measured in the conditioned environment during the operation of the air-conditioning system and selects, from a set of regimes predetermined for the conditioned environment, a regime of the airflow matching the measured values of the airflow. The method selects, from a set of models of the airflow predetermined for the conditioned environment, a model of airflow corresponding to the selected regime and models the airflow using the selected model. The operation of the air-conditioning system is controlled using the modeled airflow.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for controlling an operation of an air-conditioning system generating airflow in a conditioned environment, comprising:
determining values of the airflow measured in the conditioned environment during the operation of the air-conditioning system, wherein the air-conditioning system includes operatively controllable components;
selecting, from a set of regimes predetermined for the conditioned environment, a regime of the airflow matching the measured values of the airflow;
wherein the values of the airflow include velocity and temperature measurements of the airflow at a set of locations in the conditioned environment, and wherein the selecting the regime comprises: comparing a function of the values of the airflow against constraints representing a structure of each predetermined regime;
selecting, from a set of models of the airflow predetermined for the conditioned environment, a model of airflow corresponding to the selected regime;
modeling the airflow using the selected model; and
controlling the operation of the air-conditioning system using the modeled airflow by controllably changing a state of at least one component, wherein steps of the method are performed using at least one processor of a controller.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining, using the measured values, partial information of a pattern of movement of the airflow in the controlled environment; and comparing the partial information with corresponding values of patterns of each regime to select the best regime matching the measured values of the airflow.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
comparing the measured values of the airflow with patterns of each regime using a compressed sensing to select the regime best matching the measured values of the airflow.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a set of regimes of the airflow by parametrizing patterns of the airflow arising from different configurations and boundary conditions in the control environment; and
comparing the measured values of the airflow with each regime using a compressed sensing to select the matching regime.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein each regime in the set of regimes of the airflow is represented as a block of basis elements; and
comparing the measured values of the airflow with each regime using compressed sensing to select the matching regime according to

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wherein ŷ is a vector of the measured values, Φ k a matrix representing the set of regimes, and α is a vector of modal coefficients for selecting elements from the set of regimes Φ k .

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the blocks of basis elements include approximation of Koopman eigenmodes determined as eigenvectors of a dynamic mode decomposition (DMD).

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the blocks of basis elements are augmented with time evolution of the basis elements based on eigenvalues of a dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) representing dynamics of the basis elements.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
selecting the regime iteratively using the values of the airflow measured at multiple instances of time by comparing the augmented basis elements with the values of the airflow changing over the multiple instances of time.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the controlling comprises:
changing a state of at least one component of the air-conditioning system by the controller connected to at least one control device, the controller transforms at least one control signal into at least one specific control input for at least one corresponding component.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the controlling comprises:
updating at least one control input for at least one component of the air-conditioning system to optimize a metric of performance determined using the model.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the controlling changes a vent angle of the air-conditioning system.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
updating the model of airflow connecting values of flow and temperature of the airflow conditioned during the operation of the air-conditioning system, wherein the updating iteratively reduces an error between values of the airflow determined according to the model and the measured values of the airflow.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the model includes a reduced order model having a number of parameters less than a physical model of the airflow according to a Boussinesq equation, wherein the Boussinesq equation is a partial differential equation (PDE), and wherein the reduced order model is an ordinary differential equation (ODE).

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the model includes a stability parameter representing a difference between the reduced order model and the physical model, and wherein the updating comprises:
updating only the stability parameter of the model in response to detecting the error.

15. A system for controlling an air-conditioning system generating a flow of fluid in a conditioned environment, comprising:
a set of sensors for measuring values of the flow in the conditioned environment;
a memory storing a set of regimes of fluid dynamic in the conditioned environment and a corresponding set of models of flow dynamics connecting values of velocity and temperature of fluid conditioned during the operation of the system, wherein the system includes operatively controllable components;
a controller for controlling the operation of the system based on a modeled flow, wherein the controller includes a processor for selecting a regime matching the measured values of the flow, for selecting a model corresponding to the selected regime, and for determining the modeled flow using the selected model, wherein the controller controls the operation of the system by controllably changing a state of at least one component of the system, and wherein selecting the regime comprises: comparing a function of the values of the airflow against constraints representing a structure of each predetermined regime.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the air-conditioning system generates the flow of ai

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Electric Res Laboratories Inc

Inventors

• Boufounos Petros T
• Grover Piyush
• Kramer Boris
• Benosman Mouhacine

Classifications

• F24F11/65

  for selecting an operating mode · CPC title

• F24F11/62

  characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values · CPC title

• G05B17/02

  electric · CPC title

• G05B13/04

  involving the use of models or simulators · CPC title

• G05D23/1917

  using digital means · CPC title