Group dynamic environmental control system and method of operation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11143423-B2
Application number	US-201716467363-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 1, 2017
Priority date	Dec 7, 2016
Publication date	Oct 12, 2021
Grant date	Oct 12, 2021

Abstract

A method of conditioning an environment includes generating, by a group feedback analysis system, a first comfort limit based on a first plurality of data points corresponding to user feedback of a group of users in an environment conditioned by an environmental conditioning system, and each associated with temperature and humidity environmental criterions. The method further includes generating a second comfort limit based on a second plurality of data points corresponding to user feedback of the group of users, and associated with the temperature and humidity environmental criterions. The method identifies a constrained comfort zone defined by the first comfort limit, the second comfort limit, predefined lower and upper bounds for the temperature environmental criterion, and predefined lower and upper bounds for the humidity environmental criterion. The environmental system is controlled to maintain the temperature and humidity environmental criterions within the constrained comfort zone.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of conditioning an environment, comprising:
generating, by a group feedback analysis system, a first comfort limit based on a first plurality of data points each associated with a temperature environmental criterion combined with a humidity environmental criterion, and corresponding to user comfort feedback of a group of users in an environment conditioned by an environmental conditioning system;
generating, by the group feedback analysis system, a second comfort limit based on a second plurality of data points each associated with the temperature environmental criterion combined with the humidity environmental criterion, and corresponding to user comfort feedback of the group of users in the environment, wherein the first comfort limit is opposite the second comfort limit;
identifying, by the group feedback analysis system, a preprogrammed constrained comfort zone located between the first and second comfort limits, wherein the preprogrammed constrained comfort zone is defined by and located between lower and upper bounds for the temperature environmental criterion, and is defined by and located between lower and upper bounds for the humidity environmental criterion, and wherein the preprogrammed constrained comfort zone is not established based on user comfort;
receiving, at a user input device, user input registering a comfort level of a user;
identifying a value of the combined temperature and humidity environmental criterions associated with an environment of the user and the user input as being an outlier relative to at least one of the first comfort limit, the second comfort limit, and the preprogrammed constrained comfort zone;
disregarding the user input based on identifing the value of the combined temperature and humidity environmental criterion as being an outlier; and
controlling the environmental conditioning system to maintain the temperature and humidity environmental criterions within the preprogrammed constrained comfort zone and between the first and second comfort limits.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the first comfort limit comprises analyzing the first plurality of data points to identify outliers, and forming the first comfort and second comfort limits to exclude the outliers.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
providing feedback to the user at the user input device indicating that the value of the combined temperature and humidity environmental criterions associated with the environment of the user is an outlier.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
generating a prompt on the user input device to prompt the user to change the user input to correspond to a different value of the combined temperature and humidity environmental criterion.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
assigning a weight to each user input making up the user feedback of the group of users.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the weight is assigned based on at least one of (i) an identity of a user associated with the user input, (ii) a duration of time that the user is in an environment associated with the user, and (iii) a number of complaints, defined as user feedback inputs indicating discomfort, generated by the user.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the first and second comfort limits comprises:
receiving a plurality of user inputs to a plurality of user input devices;
sensing values of the temperature and humidity environmental criterions in one or more enclosed environments based on the plurality of user inputs;
associating the user inputs with the sensed values of the temperature and humidity environmental criterions and the preprogrammed constrained comfort zone; and
generating the first and second comfort limits based on the sensed values of the temperature and humidity environmental criterions.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
establishing, by the group feedback analysis system, a minimum energy setpoint for the combined temperature and humidity environmental criterions within the preprogrammed constrained comfort zone;
establishing, by the group feedback analysis system, a maximum comfort setpoint for the combined temperature and humidity environmental criterions within the preprogrammed constrained comfort zone; and selecting a control setpoint directly located between the minimum energy and maximum comfort setpoints for control of the environmental conditioning system.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein establishing the minimum energy setpoint comprises:
establishing the enthalpy of external ambient air;
calculating enthalpies of the first and second plurality of data points that lie within the preprogrammed constrained comfort zone; and
selecting a data point having the closest enthalpy to the enthalpy of the external ambient air as the minimum energy setpoint.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein establishing the maximum comfort setpoint comprises: averaging the first and second plurality of data points that lie within the preprogrammed constrained comfort zone.

11. An environmental control system, comprising:
a feedback analysis system configured to receive comfort feedback from a group of users corresponding to a comfort level of the users in a group environment in which the group of users is located, to generate data including a first comfort limit and a second comfort limit, the first comfort limit corresponding to the comfort feedback from the group of users at a first extreme of a combined temperature and humidity environmental criterions and the second comfort limit corresponding to the comfort feedback from the group of users at a second extreme of the combined temperature and humidity environmental criterions opposite the first extreme, and the feedback analysis system further configured to identify a preprogrammed constrained comfort zone bounded by the first comfort limit, the second comfort limit, wherein the preprogrammed constrained comfort zone is defined by and located between upper and lower bounds of the temperature environmental criterion, and is defined by and located between upper and lower bounds of the humidity environmental criterion,
a user input device to receive a user input registering a comfort level of a user, wherein the feedback analysis system is configured to identify a value of the combined temperature and humidity environmental criterions associated with an environment of the user and the user input as being an outlier relative to at least one of the first comfort limit, the second comfort limit, and the preprogrammed constrained comfort zone, and disregard the user input based on the value of the combined temperature and humidity environmental criterion being identified as an outlier, and wherein the feedback analysis system is configured to generate control signals for an environmental conditioning system to maintain the group environment within the preprogrammed constrained comfort zone and between the first and second comfort limits, and wherein the preprogrammed constrained comfort zone is not established based on user comfort.

12. The environmental control system of claim 11 , wherein the feedback analysis system is configured to identify outlier user feedback data points and to form the first and second comfort limits to exclude the outlier user feedback data points.

13. The environmental control system of claim 12 , further comprising:
one or more user input devices to receive inputs from users registering a comfort level of the users, wherein the feedback analysis system is configured to generate user feedback data points by identifying temperature and humidity values of the respect

Assignees

• Carrier Corp

Inventors

• Li Keyu
• Ding Jinlei
• Reeve Hayden M
• Sha Danqing

Classifications

• F24F11/50

  characterised by user interfaces or communication · CPC title

• F24F11/64

  using pre-stored data · CPC title

• F24F11/30 Primary

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

• F24F2110/10

  Temperature · 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