Debugging methods and debugging systems

Abstract

This application discloses a debugging method and a debugging system. The debugging method includes establishing a debugging task and sending the debugging task to the controller of the HVAC system. The debugging task includes at least one test condition for the object being debugged. The controller of the HVAC system commands the HVAC system and its corresponding digital twin system to each run under the at least one test condition. The HVAC system generates physical data, and the digital twin system generates digital data. The physical data and the digital data are compared, and the object being debugged is diagnosed based on the comparison result. This application enables rapid debugging and yields reliable results.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to a debugging method, specifically a debugging method for an HVAC system. This application also relates to a debugging system for the aforementioned HVAC system. Background Technology

[0002] HVAC is an abbreviation for Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning. HVAC systems used in large spaces have complex structures, making installation time-consuming and labor-intensive. Engineers typically spend several months commissioning the HVAC system to ensure the equipment is installed correctly and functions properly. Currently, on-site engineers develop commissioning plans and schedules based on design drawings and specifications, manually verifying the performance of each device. Because large air conditioning systems have numerous components—a large office building can have tens of thousands of terminal devices (such as fan coil units)—and the relationships between the parameters of various components are intricate, requiring comprehensive consideration during commissioning, even minor adjustments to each parameter can cause significant changes in the entire system's parameters, thus affecting overall system performance. Therefore, manual commissioning is extremely time-consuming. Summary of the Invention

[0003] One problem this application aims to solve is to provide a method for automatically commissioning HVAC systems.

[0004] The debugging method includes:

[0005] A debugging task is created and sent to the controller of the HVAC system, the debugging task including at least one test condition related to the object being debugged;

[0006] The controller of the HVAC system commands the HVAC system and the digital twin system corresponding to the HVAC system to each operate under at least one of the test conditions;

[0007] The HVAC system generates physical data, and the digital twin system generates digital data. The physical data and the digital data are compared, and the debugging object is diagnosed based on the comparison result.

[0008] Another aspect of this application relates to a commissioning system for an HVAC system, the HVAC system including a controller, HVAC components, actuators associated with the HVAC components, and sensing components for detecting the HVAC components, the commissioning system comprising:

[0009] A test condition unit is configured to create a debugging task and send the debugging task to the controller.

[0010] A digital twin system having digital components, digital actuators, and digital sensing components corresponding to the HVAC components, the actuators, and the sensing components, the digital twin system corresponding to the HVAC system and jointly receiving commissioning tasks from the controller.

[0011] A diagnostic engine configured to receive physical data from the HVAC system and digital data from the digital twin system, and to make diagnostic results based on the physical data and the digital data.

[0012] The above solution enables rapid commissioning and reliable results. By using a digital twin model corresponding to the HVAC system, both the HVAC system and the digital twin system operate under identical input conditions. The actual and theoretical outputs of the two systems are compared, allowing the system to automatically determine any anomalies in the system under commissioning and quickly produce results. Furthermore, this solution can be used for equipment-level and system-level inspection and functional testing, reducing on-site engineering work and improving work quality.

[0013] Other aspects and features of this application will become apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it should be understood that the drawings are designed for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of this application, as reference should be made to the appended claims. It should also be understood that the drawings are intended only to conceptually illustrate the structures and processes described herein, and are not necessarily drawn to scale unless otherwise indicated. Attached Figure Description

[0014] This application will be more fully understood by referring to the following detailed description of specific embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which the same reference numerals throughout refer to the same elements in the views. Wherein:

[0015] Figure 1 A structural framework diagram of the HVAC system and the debugging system involved in this application;

[0016] Figure 2 This is one embodiment of the application of this application in the commissioning of a cooling pump. Detailed Implementation

[0017] To help those skilled in the art to accurately understand the subject matter claimed in this application, the specific embodiments of this application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0018] This application discloses a commissioning system and method for HVAC systems, used to test the installation and functionality of equipment during the initial installation of an HVAC system. This ensures the entire system operates normally, meets design requirements, and complies with specifications. These tests cover various aspects of the HVAC system, such as electrical checks, insulation checks, functional tests, operational function tests, alarm / shutdown function tests, start-up and shutdown tests, performance tests, and air conditioning system operation. Commissioning the system reveals any improperly installed or faulty equipment, thus eliminating potential hazards for normal operation.

[0019] Figure 1 This diagram illustrates the architecture of the HVAC system and the commissioning system involved in this application. It shows a three-tiered system / module structure. The first tier is the actual HVAC system being commissioned. HVAC systems are quite complex, consisting of cooling water circulation, chilled water circulation, heat and cold sources, air handling units, and terminal equipment (such as fan coil units). The second tier is a digital twin system corresponding to the physical HVAC system. This digital twin system is a simulation model of the physical HVAC system digitally expressed in virtual space. It has the same equipment, components, and devices as the physical system and can highly reflect the performance and characteristics of these physical devices, components, and devices in reality within the virtual space. The third tier is the commissioning module, which acts as the control center. It generates commands, receives, calculates, analyzes, and processes data to commission the physical system.

[0020] The commissioning module includes a test condition unit and a diagnostic engine. Let's first introduce the test condition unit. The test condition unit is used to establish commissioning tasks, which include at least one test condition related to the object being commissioned. The complexity and scale of HVAC systems mean that commissioning tasks can number in the hundreds, with different tasks targeting different objects. Commissioning tasks include, but are not limited to, airflow balancing commissioning, water pump commissioning, fan coil unit commissioning, cooling tower commissioning, fan (fan) commissioning, fresh air unit / air handling unit commissioning, VAV (variable air volume) / CAV (constant air volume) testing, balancing commissioning of cooling, chilled, and heating water systems, balancing commissioning of fresh air systems, commissioning of cold and heat sources (such as chillers, heat pumps, boilers, etc.), equipment noise commissioning, and test instrument commissioning. The object being commissioned can be a component within the system or the performance of a branch of the system. To test the performance of the target object within the HVAC system, test conditions need to be set to make the system operate in a preset working state. For example, setting the speed of a certain water pump in the system to a certain frequency, or setting a valve to adjust to a predetermined opening degree within a certain time. Current operational condition tests are typically formulated by operators based on design drawings and industry standards. In the commissioning system of this application, test conditions can be either backed-up, empirically-based standard tests; once the commissioning object is identified, the test condition unit can automatically provide the corresponding test conditions, thereby generating a commissioning task. Test conditions can also be established by manually setting targets, such as through a human-machine interface where the operator inputs parameters, and the test condition unit generates the corresponding test conditions. The relationship between commissioning objects and test conditions is not necessarily one-to-one. On the one hand, the same commissioning object can be verified through multiple test conditions where the system operates with different components and / or parameters change. On the other hand, the condition of multiple commissioning objects can be checked within a single test condition.

[0021] The test unit sends debugging tasks to the physical system's controller and diagnostic engine. The diagnostic engine will be discussed below. The controller is the main controller of the physical system, receiving information from the debugging module and sending information to the corresponding components in both the physical and digital twin systems. The HVAC components in the physical system are mapped to the digital components in the digital twin system. A single controller can send instructions to one component in both the physical and digital twin systems, controlling one real component and one virtual component; alternatively, a single controller can send instructions to multiple components in both systems, controlling multiple real components and an equal number of virtual components. Instructions originate from the physical system, ensuring input consistency between the HVAC components and the digital components. HVAC components can be any operating equipment, control components, piping, testing instruments, etc., within an existing HVAC system. Here, HVAC components can include, but are not limited to: main units, compressors, condensers, coolers, cooling towers, fans, evaporators, expansion valves, and various pumps, air / water valves, regulating valves, air / water piping, coils, and switches involved in chilled water systems, cooling systems, heat sources, terminal equipment, and air handling units. Most HVAC components have associated actuators to control their start-up, shutdown, and regulation. Examples include fans and their variable frequency drives, and water pumps and their variable speed drives. The controller can send commands to these drives or actuators to accurately control the associated HVAC components to execute instructions. In a digital twin system, the corresponding digital components and their associated actuators receive instructions from the physical system controller and perform the same commissioning tasks as the physical system.

[0022] In an HVAC system, the operation of HVAC components causes changes in the physical quantities of the components themselves and the system as a whole. For example, when a valve opening is adjusted, the water flow is affected, and this change in physical quantity is detected by sensing components. Sensing components can be sensors in the general sense or feedback devices for the HVAC components. There can be one or more sensing components, which can be arranged independently of the HVAC components or mounted on them. The data detected by the sensing components represents the state variables of the HVAC components operating under test conditions, including but not limited to wind speed, air volume, flow rate, flow rate, power consumption, temperature, hydraulic pressure, and frequency. In a digital twin system, the operation of digital components causes changes in the physical quantities of the digital components themselves and the system. The same detection is performed by the digital sensing components corresponding to the HVAC sensing components. Thus, the HVAC system generates physical data reflecting the actual state of the HVAC system, while the digital twin system generates digital data reflecting the theoretical state. Data from both systems is transmitted to the diagnostic engine.

[0023] Figure 1 The diagnostic engine of the illustrated commissioning system receives data from the physical system and digital twin system, calculates and processes the data, and derives diagnostic results about the commissioned object. The test condition unit also sends commissioning tasks from the HVAC system controller to the diagnostic engine, thus the engine knows which test condition the HVAC system and digital twin system are currently operating in, and therefore knows which data needs to be collected from the HVAC sensing components and digital sensing components. After collecting the required data, the physical and digital data are compared. If the two values ​​are close, the current commissioned object is considered normal, and testing of the next commissioned object can continue. If the two values ​​differ significantly, the current commissioned object may be abnormal, requiring further testing for verification. The diagnostic engine provides a tolerance as a benchmark; when the deviation between the physical and digital data is within the tolerance range, the current commissioned object is diagnosed as normal, the current commissioning task is terminated, and the next step of commissioning can proceed. The diagnostic engine sends the results to the test condition unit, which then creates a new commissioning task. When the deviation between physical and digital data exceeds the tolerance range, it indicates a potential problem with the current debugging object. In this case, the current debugging object is verified by testing other related debugging objects, requiring the creation of a new debugging task. The diagnostic engine transmits this information to the test case unit. The test case unit is responsible for creating new debugging tasks, or it can create new test cases within existing debugging tasks. For example, for a given debugging object, a series of test cases can be implemented consecutively, with multiple test cases corresponding to multiple target state levels. For instance, in the current test case, the system operates at 20% of its maximum load; in the next test case, the system operates at 40% of its maximum load. The diagnostic engine sends the result indicating the need to create a new test case to the test case unit, which then begins creating the new test case. Furthermore, when processing physical and digital data, various calculation methods such as difference and ratio can be used to compare with the tolerance. The tolerance can be a numerical value or a range.

[0024] Figure 2An example of commissioning a cooling pump in an HVAC system according to the present application is shown. The HVAC system is used in a building, which refers to a building structure with a roof and walls. The cooling pump is a water pump in the cooling water circulation of the HVAC system and is connected to the inlet of the cooling tower. The cooling pump controls the cooling water passing through it, thereby controlling the water flow pressed into the cooling tower. The cooling pump is determined as the commissioning object, and the test condition module establishes Test Condition 1, which includes testing the cooling pump and the water valve set in the cooling tower. The test condition unit sends Test Condition 1 to the controller of the HVAC system. The controller commands the operation of the cooling tower and the cooling pump of the HVAC system, and at the same time commands the operation of the cooling tower and the cooling pump of the digital twin system. The cooling towers and cooling pumps of the HVAC system and the digital twin system work to control the cooling water circulation in their respective systems. The controller also sends Test Condition 1 to the diagnostic engine, and the diagnostic engine collects the cooling pump power consumption P 物 and the cooling pump head Pd 物 detected by the HVAC sensors in the HVAC system. The diagnostic engine also collects the cooling pump power consumption P 数 and the cooling pump head Pd 数 detected by the digital sensors in the digital system. Inside the diagnostic engine, the cooling pump power consumption deviation and the cooling pump head deviation of each system are calculated respectively. When (P 物 -P 数 ) / P 数 < tolerance value t, and when (Pd 物 -Pd 数 ) / Pd 数 < t, then the next Test Condition 2 of the cooling tower can be executed. When (P 物 -P 数 ) / P 数 > t, and when (Pd 物 -Pd 数 ) / Pd 数 > t, then Test Condition 3 of the cooling water circuit needs to be executed.

[0025] Although the specific embodiments of the present application have been shown and described in detail to illustrate the principles of the present application, it should be understood that the present application can be implemented in other ways without departing from such principles.

Claims

1. A commissioning method for an HVAC system, characterized by, The commissioning method comprises: establishing a commissioning task and sending the commissioning task to a controller of the HVAC system, the commissioning task comprising at least one test condition about a commissioning object; the controller of the HVAC system instructing the HVAC system and a digital twin system corresponding to the HVAC system to operate in the at least one test condition respectively; the HVAC system generating physical data, the digital twin system generating digital data, comparing the physical data and the digital data, and diagnosing the commissioning object based on a comparison result; wherein the HVAC system comprises a controller, an HVAC component, an actuator associated with the HVAC component, and a sensing component for detecting the HVAC component, and the digital twin system comprises a digital component, a digital actuator, and a digital sensing component corresponding to the HVAC component, the actuator, and the sensing component, sending the commissioning task to a diagnosis engine, the diagnosis engine collecting the physical data and the digital data from the HVAC system and the digital twin system based on the commissioning task, wherein the physical data and the digital data comprise at least one quantity value respectively representing a state of the HVAC component and the digital component under the at least one test condition, and wherein a diagnosis result of the commissioning object is obtained by the diagnosis engine, the diagnosis result comprising any one of the following and being notified to a test condition unit establishing the commissioning task by the diagnosis engine: 1) ending the current commissioning task; 2) replacing the commissioning object and establishing a new commissioning task; 3) replacing the test condition in the original commissioning task, wherein the diagnosis result is obtained by calculating a deviation between a tolerance provided by the diagnosis engine and the physical data and the digital data.

2. The commissioning method of claim 1, wherein: The controller of the HVAC system outputs the same instruction to the HVAC component in the HVAC system specified by the commissioning task and the digital component corresponding to the HVAC component in the digital twin system.

3. The commissioning method of claim 2, wherein: The controller of the HVAC system instructs both the HVAC component and the digital component by controlling the actuator associated with the HVAC component and the digital actuator associated with the digital component.

4. The debug method of claim 1, wherein: The physical data is obtained by the sensing component in the HVAC system detecting the HVAC component; and the digital data is obtained by the sensing component in the digital twin system detecting the digital component.

5. The commissioning method of any of claims 2-4, wherein: The HVAC component comprises any one or a combination of the following group: a host, a compressor, a condenser, a cooler, a cooling tower, a fan, a blower, an evaporator, an expansion valve, a chilled water system, a cooling system, a cold and heat source, various pumps, air / water valves, regulating valves, air / water pipes, coils, and switches involved in terminal equipment and air handling units.

6. A commissioning system for an HVAC system, the HVAC system including a controller, an HVAC component, an actuator associated with the HVAC component, and a sensing component that detects the HVAC component, the commissioning system comprising: a user interface; a communication interface; and a processor configured to: receive, via the communication interface, a signal from the sensing component; determine, based on the signal, a state of the HVAC component; and cause, via the user interface, a display of the state of the HVAC component. The commissioning system comprises: a test condition unit configured to establish a commissioning task and send the commissioning task to the controller, a digital twin system comprising digital components, digital actuators and digital sensing components corresponding to the HVAC components, the actuators and the sensing components, wherein the digital twin system corresponds to the HVAC system and is configured to receive the commissioning tasks from the controller together with the HVAC system, and a diagnostic engine configured to receive physical data from the HVAC system and digital data from the digital twin system, and to make a diagnostic result based on the physical data and the digital data, wherein the test condition unit is further configured to send the commissioning tasks to the diagnostic engine, and wherein the diagnostic engine collects the physical data and the digital data based on the commissioning tasks, wherein the physical data and the digital data comprise at least one quantity value representing the state of the HVAC components and the digital components respectively in the HVAC system and the digital twin system operating in at least one test condition; wherein the diagnostic engine is further configured to send the diagnostic result to the test condition unit, the diagnostic result comprising any one of the following: 1) ending the current commissioning task; 2) replacing the commissioning object and establishing a new commissioning task; 3) replacing the test condition in the original commissioning task, wherein the diagnostic result is obtained by calculating the deviation of the physical data and the digital data from the tolerance provided by the diagnostic engine.

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