Building energy split calculation and visualization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current commercial building energy bills are calculated at the building level, making it difficult for individual occupants to understand and improve energy efficiency, as they lack personalized energy usage data, which is essential for motivating energy savings.
Innovation Solution
A software-centric approach that collects sensor data from VAV boxes, electric meters, and gas meters to split whole building energy consumption across zones, providing each zone's energy consumption and an energy index, allowing for visualization and incentives to promote better energy use without the need for additional hardware installation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If additional hardware sensors are installed to monitor energy usage at individual room or zone level, then measurement precision of zone energy consumption is improved, but device complexity and investment cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses existing VAV box sensors as intermediary devices to infer zone energy consumption. Instead of installing new sensors, the system leverages the airflow measurement capabilities of existing VAV boxes to calculate heating, cooling, and ventilation energy consumption for each zone, thereby achieving zone-level measurement without additional hardware installation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical approach of installing physical sensors in each zone with a software-based calculation system. The energy split computer uses algorithms to process data from existing VAV boxes and calculate zone energy consumption, substituting computational methods for physical measurement infrastructure
2Device complexity
If building-level energy calculation is maintained, then device complexity is reduced, but loss of information about individual zone energy usage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the building-level energy consumption data into individual zone components. By using the relationship between VAV box airflow measurements and total building energy consumption, the system divides the aggregate energy data into heating, cooling, and ventilation portions for each specific zone, enabling individualized energy information without complicating the overall system architecture
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method of splitting whole building energy consumption includes collecting sensor data from a plurality Variable Air Volume (VAV) boxes in a building, an electric meter in the building, and a gas meter in the building. The total heating energy consumption is split across a plurality of zones within the building using the sensor data, thereby yielding heating energy consumption for each zone. The total cooling energy consumption is split across the plurality of zones using the sensor data, thereby yielding cooling energy consumption for each zone and the total ventilation energy consumption is split across the plurality of zones using the sensor data, thereby yielding ventilation energy consumption for each zone. Zone energy consumption by aggregating the heating energy consumption for the zone, the cooling energy consumption for the zone, and the ventilation energy consumption for the zone.