Apparatus for household dynamic HVAC control

The subject disclosure relates to an Internet Of Things (IoT) system of residential building HVAC control.

Current HVAC air system control methods used for average households employ Heating-Ventilation & Air-Conditioning (HVAC) system paired with an electronic thermostat for centralized control. The thermostat monitors the temperature (usually measured within the thermostat) and turns the HVAC system on/off to achieve the user-defined temperature settings.

While this system is used in almost all households, it suffers from several drawbacks. The ideal temperature setting as defined by the end user is only attained near the thermostat—usually in the living room. The rest of the house experiences temperatures above or below the ideal setting depending on several factors—mainly being outside temperature, house design, time of day, and cardinal orientation of the house. Additionally, hot air rises and cold air falls, thus resulting in a vertical temperature gradient across a multi-storied house. Lateral temperature gradients also occur in single-storied and multi-storied houses when one side is exposed to the sun, or interior walls tangent to the garage contain insufficient thermal insulation.

These uncontrollable temperature gradients are highly undesired, and the size of the variance of the temperature setting within a single house differs from house to house. Furthermore, the temperature gradient results in a wasteful use of energy as residents would modify the thermostat settings to achieve the desired temperature of the occupied room, but lead to other parts of the house being over-heated during winter or over-cooled during summer.

Besides uncontrollable gradients, controllable temperature gradients are desired in situations where multiple occupants have differing temperature preferences, but cannot compromise on one temperature setting for the entire house or dwelling.

One of ordinary skill in the art may consider an electric heater or air-conditioning unit per room. While this may be a commonly employed solution (mainly with electric heaters), it is not a cheap solution with either heaters and/or air-conditioners.

It is therefore an object to provide a novel solution that alleviates the above-mentioned problems, without commissioning significant changes to existing HVAC systems or spending a large sum of money to install a heater and/or cooler per room.

This background serves only to set a scene and allow a person skilled in the art to better appreciate the following description. None of the above argument should be taken as an acknowledgement that this discussion is part of the state-of-the-art technology or is common knowledge.

It should be appreciated that this brief description is provided to introduce ideas in a simplified form which facilitate the reader's conceptual understanding of the present invention, and further defined in the detailed description. This brief description is not intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

The present invention provides the ideal solution for eliminating house-wide temperature gradients as the existing HVAC system does not need to be modified in any way, shape or form. Rather, the end user would simply replace each room's vent with an Automatic Air Vent, add a temperature monitoring device to each room, and replace the central thermostat with a smart IoT thermostat that can wirelessly communicate with every AAV unit and temperature measurement device within the dwelling.

The smart thermostat can control the central HVAC unit to output heating, cooling, and ventilation for the entire house. Additionally, the smart thermostat can monitor feedback data from the temperature devices of each room, and actively adjust the air flow rate of each room by broadcasting commands to each automatic air vent over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

The AAV unit comprises an injection-molded plastic vent, a stepper motor, lead screw, battery and Printed Circuit Board (PCB) for wireless communication and dynamic air flow control. Air flow control is achieved by rotation of a stepper motor, attached to a lead screw, which in turn adjusts the opening or closing of the vent.

The temperature measurement device is composed of a small PCB within a plastic enclosure and a coin cell battery. Bluetooth or Wi-Fi pings are broadcasted periodically to update the smart thermostat with the temperature of each room.

The preceding brief description, as well as the following detailed description of certain examples will be better understood when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. As used herein, a feature, structure, element, component or otherwise introduced in the singular and preceded by the word “a” or “an” should be understood as not necessarily excluding the plural of the features, structures, elements, components etc. Further, references to “one example” or “one embodiment” are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional examples or embodiments that also incorporate the described features, structures, elements, components etc. Reference herein to “example” means that one or more feature, structure, element, component, characteristic and/or operational step described in connection with the example is included in at least one embodiment and/or implementation of the subject matter according to the subject disclosure. Thus, the phrases “an example,” “another example,” and similar language throughout the subject disclosure may, but does not necessarily, refer to the same example. Further, the subject matter characterizing any one example may, but does not necessarily, include the subject matter characterizing any other example.

Unless explicitly stated to the contrary, examples or embodiments “comprising” or “having” or “including” a feature, structure, element, component etc. or a plurality of features, structures, elements, components etc. having a particular property may include additional features, structures, elements, components etc. not having that property. Also, it will be appreciated that the terms “comprise”, “has”, “includes” means “including but not limited to” and the terms “comprising”, “having” and “including” have the same meanings.

As used herein, the term “and/or” can include any and all combinations of one or more of the associated features, structures, elements, components or other subject matter.

Reference herein to “configured” denotes an actual state of configuration that fundamentally ties the feature, structure, element, component or other subject matter to the physical characteristics of the feature, structure, element, component or other subject matter preceding the phrase “configured to.” Thus, “configured” means that the feature, structure, element, component or other subject matter is designed and/or intended to perform a given function. Thus, the use of the term “configured” should not be construed to mean that a given feature, structure, element, component or other subject matter is simply capable of performing a given function but that the feature, structure, element, component or other subject matter is specifically selected, created, implemented, utilized, and/or designed for the purpose of performing the function.

It will be understood that when a feature, structure, element, component or other subject matter is referred to as being “connected” to another feature, structure, element, component or other subject matter, that feature, structure, element, component or other subject matter can be directly connected to the other feature, structure, element, component or other subject matter or intervening features, structures, elements, components or other subject matter may also be present. In contrast, when a feature, structure, element, component or other subject matter is referred to as being “directly connected” to another features, structures, elements, components or other subject matter, there are no intervening features, structures, elements, components or other subject matter present.

As used herein, the terms “approximately” and “about” represent an amount or condition close to the stated amount or condition that results in the desired function being performed or the desired result being achieved. For example, the terms “approximately” and “about” may refer to an amount or condition that is within engineering tolerances to the precise value or condition specified that would be readily appreciated by a person skilled in the art.

Existing HVAC control methodology is presented inwhere a thermostatinterfaces with a Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning system (HVAC). The userinterfaces with the thermostat.

The subject matter is disclosed inwhere several additional apparatuses are introduced to the existing system as shown in. The userinterfaces with the thermostat, which controls the HVAC system. Additional devices such as Automatic Air Ventsand temperature measurement monitorswhich communicate wirelessly with the thermostatthrough a Wi-Fi or a Bluetooth network.

Turning towhere the Automatic Air Vent top view, side view, bottom view, isometric drawing of bottom view, and isometric drawing of top viewis shown. An automatic air ventcontaining air slitsallow air to freely move through the device. A stepper motorconnects to a lead screw assembly through a shaft coupler. The lead screw assembly is composed of a lead nutand a lead screw. The lead nutis mechanically attached to the vent slide door, which contains open slits. A Printed Circuit Boardcontrols the stepper motorand is powered either by the 9V batteryor with a wired connection through the barrel jack connector.

The Automatic Air Vent receives wireless commands from the thermostat indicating the percentage opening of the vent slide door, which is then translated to stepper motor steps to achieve a particular vent opening and result in the desired air flow.

The temperature measurement device comprises a small printed circuit board and a coin-cell battery. This device periodically takes temperatures measurements, transmits them wirelessly to the thermostat, then goes to sleep.

The thermostat, Automatic Air vents, temperature measurement devices, and the HVAC system creates the dynamic HVAC control system that is the subject matter. This HVAC control system can variably adjust airflow to each floor and room within a house to achieve the desired climate.

The Dynamic HVAC Control system is particularly suited for use in conjunction with existing HVAC systems currently installed in households, commercial buildings, business offices, laboratories, workshops, industrial buildings and factories.

The present invention permits the elimination of a temperature gradient, or an intentional implementation of such gradient as different occupants may have varying temperature preferences, and this can be achieved with the use of just one HVAC system for the entire house or building.

Using smart analytics, the dynamic HVAC control system can vary HVAC outputs (heating, cooling, air flow), vary individual room air flow using the automatic air vents employed in each room, and receive feedback through each room's temperature measurement device, and additional data such as time of day, geographical location of the thermostat, et cetera, and build a mathematical transfer function to accurately model each room's input and output parameters over time, such that precise climate control can be achieved with just software.