Systems and methods for optimizing the efficiency of HVAC systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9638435-B2
Application number	US-201414168941-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2014
Priority date	Apr 18, 2013
Publication date	May 2, 2017
Grant date	May 2, 2017

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure disclose systems and methods for controlling the operation and shut down of a plurality of HVAC units in a facility to improve efficiency. More particularly, a target number of inefficient HVAC units may be identified and systematically shut down while monitoring the environmental conditions in the facility to determine if additional HVAC units may be shut down or alternately should be restarted automatically.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for controlling the operation of one or more heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) units comprising:
a database comprising HVAC unit data and environmental condition threshold data; and
a processor to communicate with one or more sensors, the database, and a plurality of HVAC units, the one or more sensors to measure at least one environmental condition and generate environmental condition data, the processor to:
obtain a target number of the one or more HVAC units to be shut down;
obtain environmental condition data from the one or more sensors;
identify an inefficient HVAC unit of the plurality HVAC units;
generate a shutdown signal to shut down the inefficient HVAC unit;
obtain the environmental condition data from the one or more sensors after the shutdown of the inefficient HVAC unit; and
determine if the shutdown of the inefficient unit has an adverse impact on the environmental condition data.

2. The system of claim 1 , when the shutdown of the inefficient unit has an adverse impact on the environmental condition data, the processor to:
terminate the shutdown signal to the inefficient HVAC unit; and
obtain environmental condition data from the one or more sensors after the inefficient HVAC unit has resumed operation; and
determine if the resumed operation of the inefficient HVAC unit remedies the adverse impact on the environmental condition data.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the resumed operation of the inefficient HVAC unit remedies the adverse impact, the system further comprising:
the processor to:
decrease the target number by one.

4. The system of claim 1 , when the shutdown of the inefficient unit does not have the adverse impact on the environmental condition data, the processor to:
identify another inefficient HVAC unit of the plurality of HVAC units, wherein the other inefficient HVAC unit is the least efficient HVAC unit still in operation;
generate the shutdown signal to shut down the other inefficient HVAC unit;
obtain the environmental condition data generated by the one or more sensors after the shutdown of the other inefficient HVAC unit; and
determine any changes between the environmental condition data obtained before the shutdown of the inefficient HVAC unit and the environmental condition data obtained after the shutdown of the other inefficient HVAC unit or between the environmental condition data obtained after the shutdown of the inefficient HVAC unit and the environmental condition data obtained after the shutdown of the other inefficient HVAC unit.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the shutdown of the inefficient unit or the shutdown of the other inefficient unit does not cause the adverse impact on the environmental condition data, the system further comprising:
the processor to:
continuously and repeatedly obtain additional environmental condition data from the one or more sensors;
identify additional inefficient HVAC units; and
generate additional shutdown signals until the target number has been reached.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the most inefficient HVAC unit of the plurality of HVAC units is shutdown first and the additional inefficient HVAC units are shutdown in an order based on increasing efficiency.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one environmental condition is selected from a group consisting of air temperature, outside air temperature, humidity, relative humidity, differential pressure, static pressure, and combinations thereof.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the adverse impact comprises at least one of a temperature reading above a maximum threshold value, a maximum humidity reading above a maximum threshold value, a minimum humidity reading below a minimum threshold value, a differential pressure below a threshold value, a static pressure below a threshold value, or insufficient communication between the processor and at least one of the one or more sensors.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the target number of the plurality of HVAC units to be shutdown is determined automatically by the processor or based on input by a user of the system.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor automatically determines the target number of the plurality of HVAC units to be shutdown, the processor to:
obtain a total electrical load drawn from a direct current power plant and an uninterruptable power supply by equipment cooled by the plurality of HVAC units;
obtain a required electric load required by the plurality of HVAC units to achieve a total sensible cooling capacity for a facility using the system;
obtain the difference between the total electric load and the required electrical load to determine an excessive cooling capacity drawn by the plurality of HVAC units; and
divide the excess cooling capacity by a total number of the plurality of HVAC units to obtain the target number.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the target number is rounded down to the nearest integer.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more sensors is a wireless sensor.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more sensors is located within an area of impact for at least one of the plurality of HVAC units.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein a facility using the system is divided into a plurality zones, and each zone includes at least one of the plurality of HVAC units, the system further comprising:
the processor to:
determine if an adverse impact on the environmental condition data is in response to the at least one environmental condition measured at two or more of sensors in at least one zone of the plurality of zones;
terminate the shutdown signal sent to all HVAC units in the at least one zone.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein a facility using the system is divided into a plurality zones, and each zone includes at least one of the plurality of HVAC units, the system further comprising:
the processor to:
determine if an adverse impact on the at least one environmental condition is measured by at least one sensor of the one or more sensors in two or more zones of the plurality of zones;
terminate the shutdown signal sent to all HVAC units in the facility.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the inefficient HVAC unit draws the electric load in excess of the required electric load.

17. The system of claim 1 further comprising:
one or more multi-terminal relay switch in communication with at least one HVAC unit of the plurality of HVAC units, wherein the shutdown signal generated by the processor closes the multi-terminal relay switch to shut down the inefficient HVAC unit.

18. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the one or more sensors measures a differential pressure in a coolant loop of the plurality of HVAC units, the system further comprising the processor to:
determine if the differential pressure increases above a threshold level after the shutdown of the inefficient HVAC unit; and
generate a control signal to a coolant pump of the cooling loop to decrease the pressure within the coolant loop, wherein the control signal decreases the electrical load at the coolant pump.

19. The system of claim 1 , when the shutdown signal also closes an isolation valve of the inefficient HVAC unit.

20. A method for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) units comprising:
identifying a target number of the plurality of HVAC units to be shutdown;

Assignees

• Level 3 Communications Llc

Inventors

• Ambriz Robert
• Pittman Michael Shane
• Fiordaliso Robert Gerald
• Gillard Ii Robert G
• Basantes Louis
• Badley Rodney David
• Griffin Dana Robert
• Ratcliff Joseph
• Goyette Frank
• Grogean Steve

Classifications

• F24F2140/00

  Control inputs relating to system states · CPC title

• F24F11/64

  using pre-stored data · CPC title

• F24F11/58

  using Internet communication · CPC title

• F24F11/57

  using telephone networks · CPC title

• F24F11/526

  giving audible indications · CPC title