Automated functional diagnosis

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9845965-B2
Application number	US-201214111812-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 11, 2012
Priority date	Apr 14, 2011
Publication date	Dec 19, 2017
Grant date	Dec 19, 2017

Abstract

Disclosed is an HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) system which comprises a fluid flow duct ( 1 ), a fluid flow valve ( 7 ) which is arranged therein and has a valve body ( 5 ) in the fluid flow duct ( 1 ) and a valve motor ( 15 ) which moves the valve body ( 5 ), a control circuit for activating the valve motor, a sensor ( 8 ) in the fluid flow duct ( 1 ) and an evaluation module for evaluating signals of the sensor. To produce an automated functional control, the following procedure is adopted: a first actuation signal is preset for the valve motor by the control circuit, and the actuation signal corresponds to a first setpoint position of the valve body ( 5 ), registration of a first signal of the sensor ( 8 ) by the evaluation module, and determination of a functional diagnosis of the fluid flow valve on the basis of the first signal of the sensor.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for automated functional monitoring of an HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) system which comprises
a) a fluid flow duct,
b) a fluid flow valve which is arranged in the fluid flow duct and has a valve body in the fluid flow duct and a valve motor which moves the valve body,
c) a control circuit for actuating the valve motor,
d) a sensor in the fluid flow duct, said sensor being installed in the fluid valve, in a housing or in a tubular part of the fluid flow valve, said sensor comprising an electro-acoustic transducer and a microphone positioned on opposite sides of said valve body and
e) an evaluation module for evaluating signals of the sensor,
comprising the following steps:
f) predefining a first actuation signal to the valve motor by means of the control circuit, wherein the actuation signal corresponds to a first setpoint position of the valve body which is different from a present position of the valve body, whereby the valve motor moves said valve body to said first setpoint position,
g) generating a first signal with the electro-acoustic transducer;
h) registering the first signal received by the microphone by means of the evaluation module, and
i) determining a functional diagnosis of the fluid flow valve based on an attenuation of a sound level of said first signal to determine whether the valve body has been moved to the first setpoint position.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the functional diagnosis is determined as the possible result of at least two setpoint positions of the valve body.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2 , comprising the functional diagnosis is transmitted to a central unit which is configured to monitor a plurality of fluid flow valves.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein, prior to the registration of the first signal of the sensor, a fluid flow is made available in the fluid flow duct of the HVAC system.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first setpoint position is a closed position of the valve body.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein, before the first actuation signal is predefined or after the registration of the first signal of the sensor, the following steps are carried out:
a) predefining a second actuation signal, different from the first actuation signal, to the valve motor by means of the control circuit, wherein the second actuation signal corresponds to a second setpoint position of the fluid flow valve,
b) generating a second signal with the electro-acoustic transducer;
c) registering the second signal received by the microphone, and
d) determining the functional diagnosis of the fluid flow valve based on an attenuation of a sound level of said second signal by means of the evaluation module, to determine whether the valve body has been moved to said first and second setpoint position, respectively.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the functional diagnosis is determined in such a way that the proper seal of the fluid flow duct is determined as a functional state.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the fluid flow valve is a fire damper, and wherein functional diagnosis is determined in such a way that the sealed closing of the fire damper is determined.

9. System for automated functional monitoring of an HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) system, comprising:
a) a fluid flow duct,
b) a fluid flow valve which is arranged in the fluid flow duct and has a valve body in the fluid flow duct and a valve motor which moves the valve body and which has the purpose of actuating the fluid flow valve,
c) a control circuit for controlling the valve motor,
d) a sensor in the fluid flow duct, said sensor being installed in the fluid valve, in a housing or in a tubular part of the fluid flow valve, said sensor comprising an electro-acoustic transducer and a microphone positioned on opposite sides of said valve body,
wherein
e) the control circuit is designed to predefine a first actuation signal to the valve motor corresponding to a first setpoint position of said valve body, and wherein
f) an evaluation module is designed to determine a functional diagnosis of the fluid flow valve on the basis of an attenuation of a sound level of a signal generated by said electro-acoustic transducer and received by the microphone, to determine whether the valve body has been moved to said first setpoint position.

10. The system as claimed in claim 9 , further comprising a fluid flow drive for making available a fluid flow in the fluid flow duct.

11. The system as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the evaluation module has a memory for storing reference data, and wherein the evaluation module is embodied in such a way that the functional diagnosis is determined on the basis of a comparison of the signal of the sensor with the reference data.

12. The system as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the evaluation module is designed in such a way that the adjustment of the fluid flow valve or the sealing of a fluid flow duct are determined on the basis of the signal of the sensor as a functional diagnosis of the HVAC system.

13. A fluid flow valve for installation in a fluid flow duct of an HVAC system, comprising
a) a valve body which can be arranged in the fluid flow duct,
b) a valve motor which moves the valve body and has the purpose of actuating the fluid flow valve,
c) a control circuit for controlling the valve motor,
d) a sensor which can be arranged in the fluid flow duct and which is installed in the fluid valve, in a housing or in a tubular part of the fluid flow valve, said sensor comprising an electro-acoustic transducer and a microphone positioned on opposite sides of said valve body,
e) an evaluation module for evaluating signals of the sensor,
f) wherein the control circuit is designed to predefine a first actuation signal to the valve motor, wherein the actuation signal corresponds to a first setpoint position of the valve body,
g) wherein the evaluation module is designed to register the first signal generated by the electro-acoustic transducer received by the microphone and to calculate a functional diagnosis of the fluid flow duct on the basis of the attenuation of a sound level of said first signal to determine whether the valve body has been moved to said first setpoint position.

14. The fluid flow valve as claimed in claim 13 , wherein a control signal is designed to predefine a second actuation signal and corresponding to a second fluid speed, second fluid pressure or second fluid volume, different from the first actuation signal, to the valve motor, wherein the actuation signal corresponds to a second setpoint position of the fluid flow valve, and wherein, during the determination of the functional diagnosis, the evaluation module takes into account a second signal which is registered by the sensor.

Assignees

• Lehnert Frank
• Schmidlin Peter
• Belimo Holding Ag

Inventors

• Lehnert Frank
• Schmidlin Peter

Classifications

• F24F13/1426

  characterised by actuating means · CPC title

• F24F2140/40

  Damper positions, e.g. open or closed · CPC title

• F16K31/042

  with electric means, e.g. for controlling the motor or a clutch between the valve and the motor · 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

• F16K37/005

  for measuring fluid parameters (F16K37/0033 takes precedence) · CPC title