Method and apparatus for preventing component malfunction using accelerometers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11796237-B2
Application number	US-202117346656-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 14, 2021
Priority date	Jan 30, 2019
Publication date	Oct 24, 2023
Grant date	Oct 24, 2023

Abstract

A method of minimizing components of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system from malfunctioning, the method includes measuring, by an accelerometer associated with at least one component of the HVAC system, vibration of the at least one component and receiving, by a controller, actual vibration data reflective of the measured vibration. The method further includes determining, using the controller, whether the actual vibration data is greater than pre-defined acceptable baseline vibration data by more than a pre-defined acceptable amount and responsive to a positive determination in the determining step, adding, by the controller, as a deadband frequency, an operational frequency of the at least one component corresponding to the actual vibration data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of minimizing components of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system from malfunctioning, the method comprising:
measuring, by an accelerometer associated with at least one component of the HVAC system, vibration of the at least one component;
receiving, by a controller from the accelerometer associated with at least one component of the HVAC system, actual vibration data reflective of the vibration of the at least one component measured at the measuring step:
determining, using the controller, whether the actual vibration data received by the controller is greater than a manufacturer established pre-defined acceptable baseline vibration data by more than a pre-defined acceptable amount;
responsive to a determination that the actual vibration data received by the controller is greater than the manufacturer established pre-defined acceptable baseline vibration data by more than the pre-defined acceptable amount, adding, by the controller, an operational frequency of the at least one component corresponding to the actual vibration data as a deadband frequency, wherein deadband frequency corresponds to an operational speed at which the controller blocks operation of the at least one component of the HVAC system;
determining whether changes have occurred in the added operational frequency as the deadband frequency, wherein the determination of whether changes have occurred in the added operational frequency as the deadband frequency comprises:
determining whether the added operational frequency of the at least one component is adjacent to the deadband frequency;
responsive to a determination that the added operational frequency of the at least one component is adjacent to the deadband frequency, subsequently measuring, by the accelerometer associated with the at least one component of the HVAC system, vibration of the at least one component;
receiving, by the controller, the actual vibration data reflective of the vibration of the at least one component measured at the subsequent measuring step;
determining, using the controller, whether the actual vibration data reflective of the vibration of the at least one component measured at the subsequent measuring step is greater than the manufacturer established pre-defined acceptable baseline vibration data by more than the pre-defined acceptable amount;
responsive to a determination that the actual vibration data reflective of the vibration of the at least one component measured at the subsequent measuring step is greater than the manufacturer established pre-defined acceptable baseline vibration data by more than the pre-defined acceptable amount, adjusting, by the controller, the added operational frequency of the at least one component to the deadband frequency; and
altering, by the controller, operation of at least one component at the deadband frequency.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein, responsive to a determination that the actual vibration data reflective of the vibration of the at least one component measured at the subsequent measuring step is not greater than the manufacturer established pre-defined acceptable baseline vibration data by more than the pre-defined acceptable amount, removing, by the controller, the added operational frequency of the at least one component as the deadband frequency.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein, at the deadband frequency, the controller adjusts operation of the at least one component.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one component comprises at least one of a variable-speed circulation fan, a variable-speed compressor, a condenser coil, a condenser fan, and an evaporator coil.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the accelerometer is positioned on the variable-speed circulation fan.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the accelerometer is positioned on the variable-speed compressor.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to communicate wirelessly with the accelerometer.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the controller comprises at least one of a processor, a memory, and a user interface.

9. A heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system comprising:
an accelerometer associated with at least one component of the HVAC system, wherein the accelerometer is configured to measure vibration of the at least one component;
a controller configured to communicate with the accelerometer and direct operation of the HVAC system;
wherein the controller is configured to: measure vibration of the at least one component; receive actual vibration data reflective of the vibration of the at least one component measured at the measuring step;
determine whether the actual vibration data received by the controller is greater than a manufacturer established pre-defined acceptable baseline vibration data by more than a pre-defined acceptable amount;
responsive to a determination that the actual vibration data received by the controller is greater than the manufacturer established pre-defined acceptable baseline vibration data by more than the pre-defined acceptable amount, add an operational frequency of the at least one component corresponding to the actual vibration data as a deadband frequency, wherein deadband frequency corresponds to an operational speed at which the controller blocks operation of the at least one component of the HVAC system;
determine whether changes have occurred in the added operational frequency as the deadband frequency, wherein the determination of whether changes have occurred in the added operational frequency as the deadband frequency comprises:
determine whether the added operational frequency of the at least one component is adjacent to the deadband frequency;
responsive to a determination that the added operational frequency of the at least one component is adjacent to the deadband frequency, subsequently measure vibration of the at least one component;
receive the actual vibration data reflective of the vibration of the at least one component measured at the subsequent measuring step;
determine whether the actual vibration data reflective of the vibration of the at least one component measured at the subsequent measuring step is greater than the manufacturer established pre-defined acceptable baseline vibration data by more than the pre-defined acceptable amount;
responsive to a determination that the actual vibration data reflective of the vibration of the at least one component measured at the subsequent measuring step is greater than the manufacturer established pre-defined acceptable baseline vibration data by more than the pre-defined acceptable amount, adjust the added operational frequency of the at least one component to the deadband frequency; and
alter operation of at least one component at the deadband frequency.

10. The HVAC system of claim 9 , wherein, responsive to a determination that the actual vibration data reflective of the vibration of the at least one component measured at the subsequent measuring step is not greater than the manufacturer established pre-defined acceptable baseline vibration data by more than the pre-defined acceptable amount, removing, by the controller, the added operational frequency of the at least one component as the deadband frequency.

11. The HVAC system of claim 9 , wherein, at the deadband frequency, the controller adjusts operation of the at least one component.

12. The HVAC system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one component comprises at least one of a variable-speed circulation fan, a variable-speed compressor, a condenser coil, a condenser fan, and an evaporator coil.

13. The HVAC system of

Assignees

• Lennox Ind Inc

Inventors

• Liu Wenqian
• Gokhale Umesh
• Berg Eric

Classifications

• F25B49/02 Primary

  for compression type machines, plants or systems · CPC title

• F25B49/022

  Compressor control arrangements · CPC title

• F25B49/027

  Condenser control arrangements · CPC title

• G05B19/042

  using digital processors (G05B19/05 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F25B2500/13

  Vibrations · CPC title