Pressure Controller for a Mechanical Draft System

Abstract

Systems and method for controlling the flow of air through a mechanical draft system are disclosed herein. A pressure controller for controlling air pressure comprises an appliance controller configured to control the operation of a plurality of appliances, an intake fan controller configured to control the speed of an intake fan, and an exhaust fan controller configured to control the speed of an exhaust fan. The pressure controller also includes a processor configured to receive a differential pressure signal and to control the operation of the appliances, the speed of the intake fan, and the speed of the exhaust fan in response to the differential pressure signal.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation-in-part application of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 712,516, filed Nov. 13, 2003, and entitled “Pressure Controller for a Mechanical Draft System,” which claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 60 / 453,086, filed on Mar. 6, 2003, and entitled “Systems and Methods Involving Modulating Pressure Controls,” both of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety into the present disclosure.TECHNICAL FIELD [0002] The present disclosure generally relates to exhaust systems or mechanical draft systems. More particularly, the disclosure relates to controllers for exhaust systems or mechanical draft systems. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART [0003] The boiler rooms, or mechanical rooms, of a building can house a number of combustion appliances, such as water heaters, furnaces, and boilers, which are used for heating purposes within the building. Within conventional mechanical ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010] Methods and systems for controlling the flow of air through a mechanical draft system are disclosed. One embodiment of a mechanical draft system includes a pressure controller having a wireless interface for communicating to at least one pressure sensor, a plurality of exhaust producing appliances, and an exhaust fan. The pressure controller is configured to: control the speed of the exhaust fan to draw air from an exhaust duct of each of the appliances in response to a pressure reading provided by the at least one pressure sensor, and control the operation of each of the plurality of appliances, the operation providing programmable sequenced operation. The mechanical draft system also includes an auxiliary computing device in communication with the pressure controller.

Problems solved by technology

With the large number of control devices in the mechanical room providing various functions, coordination among the various controllers can be quite complex.

Furthermore, in this regard, components and functions can be unnecessarily duplicated.

However, until now, greater processor functionality has yet to be achieved for simplifying the installation and control of mechanical draft systems.

Because of this deficiency, correcting any problems after installation becomes much more difficult.

One concern that has been identified regarding conventional mechanical draft systems is their lack of intelligent processing functionality for controlling furnaces or boilers during less than optimal conditions.

This all-or-nothing approach can result in a number of machines sitting idly during times of great need.

Therefore, a void exists in the prior art for allowing a system to operate in a low output state during less than optimal conditions and to operate in such conditions without compromising safety and efficiency.

Conventional mechanical draft systems may also present challenging installation and / or reconfiguration scenarios.

Thus, physical obstructions may exist requiring cabling between the controller and related equipment be run for even longer distances or in inconvenient locations.

Another concern with conventional mechanical draft systems is the lack of remote access to the pressure controller.

Yet another problem not addressed by conventional mechanical draft systems is the lack of programmable appliance sequencing.

For example, conventional draft systems are not programmable to prioritize the use of specific appliances to meet a demand based on predefined, and programmable, conditions.

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