Integrated smart actuator and valve device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10359208-B2
Application number	US-201715685924-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 24, 2017
Priority date	Jan 5, 2017
Publication date	Jul 23, 2019
Grant date	Jul 23, 2019

Abstract

A cascaded control system configured to modify an environmental condition of a building includes a valve configured to regulate a flow of a fluid through a conduit, an actuator including a motor and a drive device, and a communications mechanism. The communications mechanism is configured to receive a flow rate setpoint from an external control device of an outer control loop. The cascaded control system further includes a processing circuit coupled to the motor and the communications mechanism. The processing circuit is configured to determine an actuator position setpoint using a cascaded feedback control mechanism based on the flow rate setpoint and a flow rate measurement from a flow rate sensor of an inner control loop and to operate the motor to drive the drive device to the actuator position setpoint.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cascaded control system configured to modify an environmental condition of a building, the cascaded control system comprising:
a valve configured to regulate a flow of a fluid through a conduit;
an actuator comprising a motor and a drive coupling, the drive coupling driven by the motor and coupled to the valve for driving the valve between multiple positions;
a communications circuit configured to receive a flow rate setpoint from a primary controller of an outer control loop; and
a processing circuit coupled to the motor and the communications circuit and configured to:
determine an actuator position setpoint using a cascaded feedback control technique based on the flow rate setpoint and a flow rate measurement from a flow rate sensor of an inner control loop;
operate the motor to drive the drive coupling to the actuator position setpoint; and
determine a pump pressure setpoint based at least in part on the actuator position setpoint.

2. The cascaded control system of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is further configured to detect a fault condition based at least in part on sensor data received from the flow rate sensor.

3. The cascaded control system of claim 2 , wherein the flow rate sensor is a heated thermistor flow rate sensor.

4. The cascaded control system of claim 3 , wherein the heated thermistor flow rate sensor is configured to measure a temperature of the fluid flowing through the valve.

5. The cascaded control system of claim 2 , wherein the flow rate sensor is configured to measure a flow rate via acoustic detection of vortices in the fluid.

6. The cascaded control system of claim 2 , wherein the fault condition is caused by a buildup of debris within at least one of the valve and the actuator.

7. The cascaded control system of claim 1 , wherein the communications circuit is further configured to transmit at least one of a fault status and a valve position to an external network.

8. An integrated device in an HVAC system configured to modify an environmental condition of a building, the integrated device comprising:
a valve configured to regulate a flow of a fluid through a conduit;
an actuator comprising a motor and a drive coupling, the drive coupling driven by the motor and coupled to the valve for driving the valve between multiple positions;
a communications circuit configured to receive a heat transfer setpoint from a primary controller of an outer control loop; and
a processing circuit coupled to the motor and the communications circuit and configured to:
determine an actuator position setpoint using a cascaded feedback control technique based on the heat transfer setpoint and a flow rate measurement from a flow rate sensor of an inner control loop, wherein the heat transfer setpoint is at least one of a flow rate setpoint and a zone temperature setpoint;
operate the motor to drive the drive coupling to the actuator position setpoint;

wherein the valve, the actuator, the communications circuit, and the processing circuit are located within a common integrated device chassis.

9. The integrated device of claim 8 , wherein the communications circuit is further configured to transmit at least one of a fault status and a valve position to an external network.

10. An integrated device in an HVAC system configured to modify an environmental condition of a building, the integrated device comprising:
a valve configured to regulate a flow of fluid through a conduit;
an actuator comprising a motor and a drive coupling, the drive coupling driven by the motor and coupled to the valve for driving the valve between multiple positions;
a communications circuit configured to receive data from a plurality of connected valves;
a data cleanser configured to:
receive data comprising at least one of a fault status and a position from each of the plurality of connected valves; and
classify the data as in zone data or out of zone data based on at least one of the fault status and the position of each of the plurality of connected valves;

a setpoint generator configured to optimize a pressure setpoint value using a feedback loop technique based on the in zone data; and
a feedback controller configured to modulate a capacity of a system pump to achieve the pressure setpoint value;
wherein the valve, the actuator, the communications circuit, the data cleanser, the setpoint generator, and the feedback controller are located within a common integrated device chassis.

11. The integrated device of claim 10 , wherein classifying the data as in zone data or out of zone data comprises using a trimmed mean technique.

12. The integrated device of claim 10 , wherein optimizing the pressure setpoint value comprises increasing the pressure setpoint value when more than one of the plurality of connected valves is in a fully open position.

13. The integrated device of claim 10 , wherein optimizing the pressure setpoint value comprises decreasing the pressure setpoint value when all of the plurality of connected valves are in a throttling position.

14. The integrated device of claim 10 , wherein the feedback loop technique is an integral only feedback loop.

15. The integrated device of claim 10 , wherein modulating a capacity of a system pump comprises varying a speed of the system pump.

16. The integrated device of claim 10 , wherein the position of each of the plurality of connected valves is received by the data cleanser as at least one of a number of degrees of rotation of the drive coupling relative to a fixed position, a number of revolutions of the motor, and a number of Hall sensor counts.

Assignees

• Johnson Controls Tech Co

Inventors

• Drees Kirk H
• Doll Herbert J
• Duenkel Gerald A
• Passoni Marcello

Classifications

• F24F11/76 Primary

  by means responsive to temperature, e.g. bimetal springs · CPC title

• F24F2130/40

  Noise · CPC title

• F24F2140/12

  Heat-exchange fluid pressure · CPC title

• F24F11/83

  by controlling the supply of heat-exchange fluids to heat-exchangers · CPC title

• F24F11/32

  Responding to malfunctions or emergencies · CPC title