Resilient operation of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10895396-B2
Application number	US-201514712035-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 14, 2015
Priority date	Jan 19, 2015
Publication date	Jan 19, 2021
Grant date	Jan 19, 2021

Abstract

In one embodiment, an HVAC system includes a first control unit communicatively coupled to a first plurality of HVAC units and a second control unit communicatively coupled to a second plurality of HVAC units. The first control unit may connect to the second control unit using a Wi-Fi direct protocol to create an HVAC control network. The first control unit and second control unit may each detect and connect to a Wi-Fi network comprising a wireless access point. The first and second control units may then communicate concurrently over both the HVAC control network and the Wi-Fi network. The first control unit may detect a user device over the Wi-Fi network, receive a first command from the user device over the Wi-Fi network, and communicate the first command to the second control unit over the Wi-Fi network. The first control unit may detect a communication failure in the Wi-Fi network, communicate with the user device over the HVAC network using the Wi-Fi direct protocol, receive a second command from the user device over the HVAC control network, and transmit the second command to the first plurality of HVAC units.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A resilient heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system, comprising: a first control unit communicatively coupled to a first plurality of HVAC units; a second control unit communicatively coupled to a second plurality of HVAC units, wherein the first control unit is configured to connect to the second control unit using a Wi-Fi direct protocol to create an HVAC control network, wherein the first control unit comprises a first control unit directory comprising network configuration data for the second control unit and the second control unit comprises a second control unit directory comprising network configuration data for the first control unit; and the first control unit and second control unit, each comprising a respective processor, are each configured to detect and join a Wi-Fi network, the Wi-Fi network comprising a wireless access point, wherein upon joining the Wi-Fi network, the first control unit is configured to automatically designate the Wi-Fi network as a primary communications network, the primary communications network used by the first and the second control units to communicate with a user device; the first and second control units configured to communicate concurrently over both the HVAC control network and the Wi-Fi network, wherein the Wi-Fi network and the HVAC control network are separate communication networks; the first control unit is further configured to detect the user device over the Wi-Fi network, receive a first command from the user device over the Wi-Fi network, determine that the first command is associated with a zone corresponding to the second plurality of HVAC units, and communicate the first command to the second control unit over the Wi-Fi network; and the first control unit is further configured to detect a communication failure in the Wi-Fi network, designate the HVAC control network as the primary communications network in response to detecting the communication failure, communicate with the user device over the HVAC control network using the Wi-Fi direct protocol, receive a second command from the user device over the HVAC control network, and transmit the second command to the first plurality of HVAC units.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first and second commands are temperature control commands.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the communication failure is an operational failure of the wireless access point.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the communication failure is due to a failed authentication attempt between the first control unit and the Wi-Fi network.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first control unit is further configured to notify the second control unit of the Wi-Fi network failure using the HVAC control network.

6. A resilient heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system, comprising: a first control unit communicatively coupled to one or more HVAC units, wherein the first control unit, comprising a processor, is configured to connect to a sibling control unit using a Wi-Fi direct protocol to create an HVAC control network, wherein the first control unit comprises a first control unit directory comprising network configuration data for the sibling control unit and the sibling control unit comprises a sibling control unit directory comprising network configuration data for the first control unit; the first control unit configured to detect and connect to a Wi-Fi network, wherein upon connecting to the Wi-Fi network the control unit is configured to automatically designate the Wi-Fi network as a primary communications network, the primary communications network used by the first control unit to communicate with a user device, the Wi-Fi network comprising a wireless access point; the first control unit is further configured to detect the user device over the Wi-Fi network, receive a first command from the user device over the Wi-Fi network, determine that the first command is associated with a zone associated with the sibling control unit, and communicate the first command to the sibling control unit over the Wi-Fi network; and the first control unit further configured to: detect a communication failure in the Wi-Fi network; connect to the user device over the separate HVAC control network using the Wi-Fi direct protocol, wherein the first control unit is configured to designate the HVAC control network as the primary communications network; receive a second command from the user device over the HVAC control network using the Wi-Fi direct protocol; and transmit the second command to the one or more HVAC units.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the first and second commands are temperature control demands.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the communication failure is an operational failure of the wireless access point.

9. The system of claim 6 , wherein the communication failure is due to a failed authentication attempt between the first control unit and the Wi-Fi network.

10. A first control unit for operating a resilient heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system, comprising: an interface configured to facilitate communications with a first plurality of HVAC units; a Wi-Fi module configured to connect to a sibling control unit using a Wi-Fi direct protocol to create an HVAC control network, the sibling control unit communicatively coupled to a second plurality of HVAC units, wherein the first control unit comprises a first control unit directory comprising network configuration data for the sibling control unit and the sibling control unit comprises a sibling control unit directory comprising network configuration data for the first control unit, and a processor communicatively coupled to the interface and the Wi-Fi module, the processor configured to: join, using the Wi-Fi module, a Wi-Fi network, the Wi-Fi network comprising a wireless access point, wherein the Wi-Fi network and the HVAC control network are separate communication networks, the first control unit configured to automatically designate the Wi-Fi network as a primary communications network, the primary communications network used to communicate with a user device; receive a first command from the user device over the Wi-Fi network; determine that the first command is associated with a zone corresponding to the second plurality of HVAC units; communicate the first command to the sibling control unit over the Wi-Fi network; detect a communication failure in the Wi-Fi network; in response to detecting the communication failure, designate the HVAC control network as the primary communications network; communicate with the user device over the HVAC control network using the Wi-Fi direct protocol; receive a second command from the user device over the HVAC control network using the Wi-Fi direct protocol; and communicate the second command to the sibling control unit over the HVAC control network.

11. The first control unit of claim 10 , wherein the first and second commands are temperature control commands.

12. The first control unit of claim 11 , wherein the communication failure is an operational failure of the wireless access point.

13. The first control unit of claim 11 , wherein the communication failure is due to failed authentication information between the first control unit and the Wi-Fi network.

14. The first control unit of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to notify the sibling control unit of the Wi-Fi network failure using the HVAC control network.

15. The first control unit of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to: detect, using the Wi-Fi module, an interactive display over the Wi-Fi networ

Assignees

• Lennox Ind Inc

Inventors

• Castillo Daniel A
• Charavda Jayprakash
• Ho Nguyen T
• Khiani Sunil K

Classifications

• F24F2140/00

  Control inputs relating to system states · CPC title

• F24F11/64

  using pre-stored data · CPC title

• F24F11/58 Primary

  using Internet communication · CPC title

• F24F11/523

  for displaying temperature data · CPC title

• F24F11/38

  Failure diagnosis · CPC title