HVAC zoning devices, systems, and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10242129-B2
Application number	US-201514744919-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 19, 2015
Priority date	Jun 20, 2014
Publication date	Mar 26, 2019
Grant date	Mar 26, 2019

Abstract

A heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system may be controlled by an HVAC control system. The HVAC control system may include a communications block, a controller and a user interface. The communications block may receive sensed data from sensing devices located within spaces of a building. The sensing devices may be located at different spaced sensor locations within the building. The controller may receive the sensed data from the communications block and based, at least in part, on the received sensed, determine recommended setting changes to the HVAC control system. The user interface may display the recommended setting changes to a user.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) control system of an HVAC system of a building, wherein the HVAC system includes two or more registers located at different spaced register locations within the building, and wherein at least some of the two or more registers are manually adjustable by a user to manually change air flow characteristics of the corresponding register, the HVAC control system comprising:
a communications block for receiving sensed data from each of two or more sensing devices located at different spaced sensor locations within the building;
a memory storing an indicator of the sensor location of each of the two or more sensing devices within the building and an indicator of the register location of each of two or more registers within the building;
a controller operatively coupled to the communications block and the memory, the controller receiving the sensed data from the communications block, and based at least in part on the received sensed data, controls operation of the HVAC system, and based at least in part on the received sensed data, the stored indicators of the sensor locations, and the stored indicators of at least two of the register locations, determines one or more recommended setting changes to the HVAC system including a recommended manual adjustment to one or more of the manually adjustable registers;
a user interface operatively coupled to the controller for displaying the one or more recommended setting changes to the HVAC system; and
wherein after the controller receives confirmation that one or more of the recommended setting changes have been made by the user, the controller controls the HVAC system with the one or more recommended setting changes made.

2. The HVAC control system of claim 1 , wherein one of the recommended setting changes includes a recommendation to replace one or more of the manually adjustable registers with an electronically controllable register.

3. The HVAC control system of claim 1 , wherein one of the recommended setting changes includes a recommendation to change a fan setting of the HVAC system to one of an on mode, an off mode, an auto mode, and a circulation mode.

4. The HVAC control system of claim 1 , wherein one of the recommended setting changes includes a recommendation to change a position of a window treatment of the building.

5. The HVAC control system of claim 1 , wherein at least part of the controller of the HVAC control system is implemented remotely from the building.

6. The HVAC control system of claim 5 , wherein at least part of the controller of the HVAC control system is implemented in a cloud server.

7. The HVAC control system of claim 1 , wherein the user interface is implemented as part of a thermostat of the HVAC control system that is located within the building.

8. The HVAC control system of claim 1 , wherein the user interface is implemented as part of a mobile application running on a mobile device.

9. The HVAC control system of claim 1 , wherein the controller of the HVAC control system determines the one or more recommended setting changes to the HVAC control system based at least in part on an analysis of a number of thermodynamic properties of the building.

10. The HVAC control system of claim 9 , wherein the analysis of the number of thermodynamic properties of the building is based at least in part on historical sensed data that is received from the communications block.

11. A cloud server in communication with a plurality of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems each in a separate building, wherein each of the plurality of HVAC systems includes two or more spaced sensing devices and an HVAC controller for controlling one or more HVAC components of the corresponding HVAC system, and wherein each of the plurality of HVAC systems includes two or more registers located at different spaced register locations within the corresponding building, and wherein at least some of the two or more registers are manually adjustable by a user to manually change air flow characteristics of the corresponding register, the cloud server comprising:
a communications block receiving HVAC data from each of the plurality of HVAC systems, wherein the HVAC data includes environmental data that is based at least in part on one or more environmental parameters sensed by the two or more spaced sensing devices of a corresponding HVAC system, wherein the HVAC controller of a first HVAC system controls operation of the first HVAC system based at least part on one or more of the environmental parameters sensed by the two or more spaced sensing devices of the first HVAC system;
a memory storing the received HVAC data, an indicator of a sensor location for each of the two or more spaced sensing devices for each of the plurality of HVAC systems, and an indicator of the register location for each of two or more registers for each of the plurality of HVAC systems;
a controller operatively coupled to the communications block and the memory, the controller determines one or more recommended setting changes for the first HVAC system of the plurality of HVAC systems including a recommended manual adjustment to one or more of the manually adjustable registers of the first HVAC system based on at least part of the received HVAC data stored in the memory from each of two or more sensing devices of the first HVAC system, the indicators of the sensor location for each of the two or more spaced sensing devices of the first HVAC system, and the indicators of the register location for each of two or more registers of the first HVAC system;
the controller displays the one or more recommended setting changes for the first HVAC system on a user interface via the communications block, wherein the user interface is located remotely from the cloud server and receives a notification that the one or e more recommended setting changes have been made by the user;
after being notified the one or more of the recommended setting changes have been made by the user, the controller notifies the HVAC controller of the first HVAC system of the one or more recommended setting changes that have been made by the user; and
after being notified by the controller that the one or more recommended setting changes have been made by the user, the HVAC controller of the first HVAC system controls the first HVAC system with the one or more recommended setting changes made.

12. The cloud server of claim 11 , wherein the user interface is implemented as part of the HVAC controller of the first HVAC system or as part of a mobile application running on a mobile device.

13. The cloud server of claim 11 , wherein the one or more recommended setting changes includes a recommendation to replace one or more of the manually adjustable registers with an electronically controllable register.

14. A method for operating an heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system of a building, wherein the HVAC system includes two or more registers located at different spaced register locations within the building, and wherein at least some of the two or more registers are manually adjustable by a user to manually change air flow characteristics of the corresponding register, the method comprising:
collecting environmental sensor data via two or more sensing devices located at two or more identified locations within the building;
controlling operation of the HVAC system based at least in part on the collecting environmental sensor data;
determine a recommended setting change to the HVAC system based at least in part on the collected environmental sensor data from a first one of the

Assignees

• Ademco Inc

Inventors

• Flaherty James
• Kraft Nathaniel D
• Gilmer Preston
• Emmons David

Classifications

• F24F2110/20

  Humidity · CPC title

• F24F11/65

  for selecting an operating mode · CPC title

• F24F11/30

  for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring · CPC title

• F24F11/70

  Control systems characterised by their outputs; Constructional details thereof · CPC title

• F24F2120/20

  Feedback from users · CPC title