Building Automation System for Automatic Room Identifier Assignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Manual configuration of room identifiers in networked electrical devices in buildings is prone to errors, leading to degradation of system integrity over time, especially during installation and maintenance, due to human mistakes and lack of training.
Innovation Solution
An automation system that uses regression analysis and iterative correlation methods, including Bayes' theorem and Kalman filters, to automatically determine and correct room identifiers, utilizing sensed conditions and external information to generate an address translation table and maintain configuration integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual configuration of room identifiers is used during installation and maintenance, then installers can directly program devices, but configuration errors occur frequently due to human mistakes and lack of training
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs automatic room identifier configuration without requiring manual intervention. Electronic devices autonomously determine their room locations by sensing environmental conditions (temperature, humidity, light, noise) and comparing them with external information from property management systems, eliminating the need for installers to manually program room identifiers and preventing human configuration errors
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-establishes a correlation between sensed environmental conditions and room identifiers before configuration errors can occur. By continuously monitoring environmental parameters and matching them with external building management data, the system proactively determines correct room assignments, preventing the need for corrective reconfiguration later
2Productivity
If installers rush through deployment to complete installation quickly, then productivity increases, but mistakes such as assigning incorrect room identifiers increase
Solution Approach 1:
Electronic devices automatically perform room identifier configuration without requiring installer attention or intervention. The autonomous configuration process eliminates the trade-off between installation speed and accuracy, as the system configures itself correctly regardless of how quickly installers move through the deployment process
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors environmental conditions and receives feedback from property management systems to verify correct room identifier assignment. This feedback mechanism ensures configuration accuracy is maintained even when installation proceeds rapidly, as the system can detect and correct any mismatches between sensed conditions and assigned room identifiers
3Ease of repair
If equipment is manually replaced during maintenance, then failed components can be swapped, but configuration integrity degrades due to improper adaptation of moved equipment
Solution Approach 1:
When equipment is moved or replaced during maintenance, the electronic devices automatically re-determine their room identifiers by sensing environmental conditions and comparing with external information. This self-reconfiguration capability ensures that moved equipment automatically adapts to its new location, maintaining configuration integrity without requiring manual reprogramming by maintenance personnel
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors environmental parameters and receives ongoing feedback from property management systems to detect when equipment has been moved. By comparing current sensed conditions with stored configuration data, the system identifies mismatches and automatically corrects room identifier assignments, preventing configuration drift over time
4Ease of operation
If dip-switches are used for identifier configuration, then devices can be programmed without external tools, but the process is time-consuming and error-prone
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of requiring manual dip-switch configuration, the system enables electronic devices to automatically determine their room identifiers through environmental sensing and external information correlation. This eliminates the time-consuming manual switching process while maintaining the benefit of self-programming, as devices configure themselves autonomously and accurately
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical dip-switch system with an automated electronic configuration process. Instead of physically manipulating switches, the system uses electronic sensors to detect environmental conditions and electronically correlates this data with room identifiers from external systems, dramatically reducing configuration time while eliminating manual errors
Data Source
AI summary
An automation system for deployment in a building with rooms is provided. The automation system includes a server and an electronic device cluster in each room. Each electronic device cluster includes electronic devices of which at least one is configured to sense a condition within the room and at least one is configured to report sensing results to the server. Room locations of the electronic device clusters are undefined for the server at an initial time. The server is receptive of the sensing results from the at least one electronic device in each electronic device cluster in each room and external information. The server is configured to compare the received sensing results with the external information, iteratively determine the room locations of one or more of the electronic device clusters from comparison results and communicate with at least one of the electronic devices of the one or more of the electronic device clusters based on iteratively determined room locations.