System and method for providing supervisory control of an HVAC system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9645014-B2
Application number	US-201214005891-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 14, 2012
Priority date	Mar 21, 2011
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

Abstract

A sensor surrogate ( 120 ) for causing a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system ( 110 ) to maintain a desired room temperature, contains a temperature sensor ( 122 ) for determining an actual room temperature and logic embodied on at least one non-transitory computer readable medium ( 130 ). The logic ( 130 ) is configured to perform the steps of: calculating a current low temperature that is lower than a pre-programmed HVAC system temperature and providing the HVAC system with a first signal that represents the calculated current low temperature, if the desired temperature is above the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature; and calculating a current high temperature that is above the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature and providing the HVAC system ( 110 ) with a second signal that represents the calculated current high temperature, if the desired room temperature is below the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A sensor surrogate for causing a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system to maintain a desired room temperature, wherein the sensor surrogate comprises:
a temperature sensor for determining an actual room temperature; and
a logic embodied on at least one non-transitory computer readable medium configured to perform the steps of:
if the desired room temperature is above a pre-programmed HVAC system temperature, calculating a current low temperature that is lower than the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature and providing the HVAC system with a first signal that represents the calculated current low temperature thereby causing the HVAC system to function as if the actual room temperature were below the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature; and
if the desired room temperature is below the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature, calculating a current high temperature that is above the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature and providing the HVAC system with a second signal that represents the calculated current high temperature thereby causing the HVAC system to function as if the actual room temperature were above the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature.

2. The sensor surrogate of claim 1 , wherein the step of calculating the current low temperature further comprises the steps of:
determining a difference in temperature between the desired room temperature and the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature; and
subtracting the difference from the actual room temperature, resulting in the current low temperature.

3. The sensor surrogate of claim 1 , wherein the step of calculating the current high temperature further comprises the steps of:
determining a difference in temperature between the desired room temperature and the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature; and
adding the difference to the actual room temperature, resulting in the current high temperature.

4. The sensor surrogate of claim 1 , wherein the logic is further configured to learn the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature over a period of time.

5. The sensor surrogate of claim 1 , further comprising an input device for allowing a user to input the desired room temperature, and wherein the logic is further configured to receive the desired room temperature from the input device.

6. The sensor surrogate of claim 1 , wherein an output of the sensor surrogate is selected from a group consisting of a voltage, a resistance, and a current.

7. A system for causing a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system to maintain a desired temperature, wherein the system comprises: at least one sensor surrogate comprising:
a temperature sensor for determining an actual room temperature; and
a logic embodied on at least one non-transitory computer readable medium configured to function in a first mode or in a second mode, wherein the first mode is characterized by the logic being configured to perform the steps of:
if the desired temperature is above a pre-programmed HVAC system temperature, calculating a current low temperature that is lower than the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature and providing the HVAC system with a first signal that represents the calculated current temperature thereby causing the HVAC system to function as if the actual room temperature were below the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature; and
if the desired temperature is below the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature, calculating a current high temperature that is above the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature and providing the HVAC system with a second signal that represents the calculated current high temperature thereby causing the HVAC system to function as if the actual room temperature were above the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature, and
wherein the second mode is characterized by the logic being configured to perform the step of providing a third signal that represents the actual room temperature; and
a controller for instructing the at least one sensor surrogate to run in either the first mode or the second mode.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the controller communicates with the at least one sensor surrogate through wireless communication.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the controller communicates with the at least one sensor surrogate through wired communication.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the step of calculating the current low temperature further comprises the steps of:
determining a difference in temperature between the desired room temperature and the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature; and
subtracting the difference from the actual room temperature, resulting in the current low temperature.

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the step of calculating the current high temperature further comprises the steps of:
determining a difference in temperature between the desired room temperature and the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature; and
adding the difference to the actual room temperature, resulting in the current high temperature.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein the logic is further configured to learn the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature over a period of time.

13. The system of claim 7 , wherein the sensor surrogate further comprises an input device for allowing a user to input the desired room temperature, and wherein the logic is further configured to receive the desired room temperature from the input device.

14. The system of claim 7 , wherein an output of the sensor surrogate is selected from a group consisting of a voltage, a resistance, and a current.

15. A method for causing a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system to maintain a desired room temperature, wherein the method comprises the steps of:
determining an actual room temperature;
determining if the desired room temperature is above a pre-programmed HVAC system temperature;
if the desired room temperature is above the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature, calculating a current low temperature that is lower than the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature and providing the HVAC system with a first signal that represents the calculated current temperature thereby causing the HVAC system to function as if the actual room temperature were below the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature; and
if the desired room temperature is below the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature, calculating a current high temperature that is above the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature and providing the HVAC system with a second signal that represents the calculated current high temperature thereby causing the HVAC system to function as if the actual room temperature were above the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the step of calculating the current low temperature further comprises the steps of:
determining a difference in temperature between the desired room temperature and the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature; and
subtracting the difference from the actual room temperature, resulting in the current low temperature.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the step of calculating the current high temperature further comprises the steps of:
determining a difference in temperature between the desired room temperature and the pre-programmed HVAC system temperature; and
adding the difference to the actual room temperature, resulting in the current high temperature.

Assignees

• Mcmillan Andrew Hamilton
• Philips Lighting Holding Bv

Inventors

• Mcmillan Andrew Hamilton

Classifications

• F24F11/65

  for selecting an operating mode · CPC title

• F24F11/56

  Remote control · CPC title

• F24F11/47

  Responding to energy costs · CPC title

• F24F2011/0091

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic

• F24F11/006

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic