Building control system with distributed control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9879873-B2
Application number	US-201314766119-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 7, 2013
Priority date	Feb 7, 2013
Publication date	Jan 30, 2018
Grant date	Jan 30, 2018

Abstract

A building control system that includes a central coordinator and one or more discrete air conditioner controllers configured to communicate with one or more discrete air conditioner units. The discrete air conditioner controller may include a wireless I/O block for receiving signals in a first signal format from the central coordinator and for transmitting signals to the one or more discrete air conditioner units in a second signal format. In some instances, the discrete air conditioner controller may be configured to wirelessly transmit a signal to at least one discrete air conditioner unit in response to receiving a signal from the central coordinator. This configuration may provide a measure of distributed control of the building control system in a cost effective and efficient manner.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A building control system for controlling one or more building components that service a building, the system comprising:
a discrete air conditioner controller configured to communicate with and control one or more discrete air conditioner units servicing the building, the discrete air conditioner controller including a memory and a controller located within a housing, the memory storing a programmable operating schedule for operating the one or more discrete air conditioner units, wherein the programmable operating schedule includes two or more time periods, and each time period includes a corresponding programmable temperature set point, the controller configured to send out one or more commands to the one or more discrete air conditioner units in accordance with the programmable operating schedule stored in the memory; and
a central coordinator including a user interface, a memory, and a controller, wherein the controller of the central coordinator is configured to accept one or more parameters of the programmable operating schedule from a user via the user interface of the central coordinator, and to send at least a portion of the programmable operating schedule, including one or more parameters accepted from a user, to the discrete air conditioner controller, wherein at least a portion of the programmable operating schedule sent to the discrete air conditioner controller is stored in the memory of the discrete air conditioner controller.

2. The building control system according to claim 1 , wherein the discrete air conditioner controller includes a first wireless interface and a second wireless interface, wherein the central controller sends at least a portion of the programmable operating schedule via the first wireless interface, and the discrete air conditioner controller sends out one or more commands to the one or more discrete air conditioner units via the second wireless interface.

3. The building control system according to claim 2 , wherein the first wireless interface includes a radio frequency (RF) wireless interface, and the second wireless interface includes an Infrared (IR) wireless interface.

4. The building control system according to claim 2 , wherein the discrete air conditioner controller includes an occupancy sensor, and the controller of the discrete air conditioner controller sends an indication of occupancy to the central coordinator via the first wireless interface.

5. The building control system according to claim 4 , wherein the controller of the central coordinator displays in indication of occupancy on the user interface of the central coordinator.

6. The building control system according to claim 4 , wherein the controller of the central coordinator sends one or more signals to a lighting controller based on the indication of occupancy received from the discrete air conditioner controller.

7. The building control system according to claim 2 , wherein the discrete air conditioner controller includes a temperature sensor, and the controller of the discrete air conditioner controller sends an indication of temperature to the central coordinator via the first wireless interface.

8. The building control system according to claim 7 , wherein the controller of the central coordinator displays in indication of temperature on the user interface of the central coordinator.

9. The building control system according to claim 3 , wherein the first wireless interface is a WiFi interface and the second wireless interface is a mesh wireless interface.

10. The building control system according to claim 1 , wherein the user interface, the memory, and the controller of the central coordinator are all within a common housing.

11. The building control system according to claim 1 , wherein the memory and the controller of the central coordinator are within a common housing, and the user interface is remote from the common housing.

12. The building control system according to claim 11 , wherein user interface is part of a remote device that is located remotely from the common housing.

13. The building control system according to claim 12 , wherein the remote device is a portable computing device, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a lap top computer, or a desktop computer.

14. The building control system according to claim 1 , further comprising a discrete air conditioner unit for servicing the building configured to receive one or more commands from the discrete air conditioner controller.

15. The building control system according to claim 14 , further comprising a current sensor unit operatively coupled the discrete air conditioner unit to monitor current drawn by the discrete air conditioner unit, wherein the current sensor unit is configured to send a signal indicative of the current drawn to the central coordinator.

16. The building control system according to claim 15 , wherein the central coordinator uses the signal indicative of the current drawn to confirm that the one or more commands sent to the discrete air conditioner unit was actually received by the discrete air conditioner unit.

17. The building control system according to claim 1 , further comprising one or more lighting banks including at least one light, wherein the one or more lighting banks are configured to receive a command from the central coordinator for operating the at least one light.

18. The building control system according to claim 1 , wherein the controller of the discrete air conditioner controller is configured to learn one or more codes for controlling one or more discrete air conditioner units by receiving one or more infrared signals via a wireless interface, and to store the one or more codes in the memory of the discrete air conditioner controller.

19. A building control system for controlling one or more building components that service a building, the system comprising:
a central coordinator including an input/output port for sending and/or receiving one or more signals over a wireless network, a user interface for accepting one or more interactions from a user, and a controller operatively coupled to the input/output port, the user interface and the memory;
a discrete air conditioner controller configured to communicate with and control one or more discrete air conditioner units that service the building, the discrete air conditioner controller including a wireless I/O block for receiving signals in a first signal format from the central coordinator and for transmitting signals to the one or more discrete air conditioner units in a second signal format, a memory, and a controller operatively coupled to the wireless I/O block and the memory, the controller of the discrete air conditioner controller configured to wirelessly transmit a signal for controlling at least one discrete air conditioner unit in response to receiving a signal from the central coordinator; and
the discrete air conditioner controller including one or more of a temperature sensor and an occupancy sensor.

20. The building control system according to claim 19 , wherein the wireless I/O block includes a wireless radio frequency (RF) interface and a wireless infrared (IR) interface.

21. The system according to claim 19 , wherein the central coordinator is configured to send a signal to the discrete air conditioner controller for controlling the one or more discrete air conditioner units in response to a signal indicative of a sensed parameter received from the temperature sensor and/or the occupancy sensor.

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Malve Sharath Babu
• Thanikachalam Guhapriyan
• Rajan Kathrick Dasu
• Trivedi Ishit
• Anand Anurag
• Shivashankar Ganesh
• Venugopal Shankar M
• Gudi Balakrishna G

Classifications

• F24F2140/00

  Control inputs relating to system states · CPC title

• F24F11/88

  Electrical aspects, e.g. circuits · CPC title

• F24F11/66

  Sleep mode · CPC title

• F24F11/58

  using Internet communication · CPC title

• F24F11/52

  Indication arrangements, e.g. displays · CPC title