Method of measuring the health of a house
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing technologies lack a comprehensive mechanism to measure and assess the health of a building in relation to indoor air quality, which is crucial for occupant health and wellbeing, and for determining the need for renovations or maintenance.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method and system that uses data from sensors installed in a building to measure parameters such as room temperature, CO2 levels, and differential pressure, and calculates a building health index over a measurement window, which can be displayed on user interfaces to inform decisions on ventilation, heating, and maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If multiple sensors are installed to measure various parameters (temperature, moisture, pressure differential, air pollutants), then the measurement precision and reliability of indoor air quality assessment is improved, but the device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple sensor measurements (temperature, moisture, pressure differential, air pollutants) into a single integrated building health index. This merging approach allows comprehensive air quality assessment through one unified metric rather than requiring separate analysis of each parameter, thereby improving measurement precision while managing device complexity through systematic integration.
Solution Approach 2:
The building health index serves as an intermediary that translates complex multi-parameter sensor data into a simplified, interpretable metric. This intermediary representation enables accurate indoor air quality assessment without requiring users to directly interpret individual sensor readings, effectively bridging the gap between complex measurements and practical decision-making.
2Reliability
If a comprehensive building health index is calculated using multiple parameters over a measurement window, then the reliability of building health assessment is improved, but the loss of time for data processing and analysis increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by continuously collecting and pre-processing sensor data over a defined measurement window, maintaining a ready-to-analyze data buffer. This preliminary data preparation ensures that when building health assessment is needed, the calculation can be performed quickly using pre-organized data, thereby improving reliability without significant time loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms multiple time-varying parameters (temperature, moisture, pressure, pollutants) into a single aggregated building health index parameter. This parameter transformation consolidates complex multi-dimensional data into one comprehensive metric, improving assessment reliability while reducing the computational burden and time required for analysis.
3Productivity
If the system continuously monitors and calculates building health index, then the productivity of building maintenance decision-making is improved, but the use of energy for data collection and processing increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements periodic monitoring and calculation of the building health index rather than continuous real-time processing. By updating the building health index at regular intervals based on collected sensor data, the system improves maintenance decision-making productivity through timely assessments while reducing energy consumption compared to continuous processing.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are methods for measuring building health index using some mandatory and set of optionally configured parameters and utilizing building monitoring system having a connection to sensors in or pertaining to a building, and including central computing environment and one or more display devices showing the measurement. A building utilizing this method may be installed with one or more sensors, and which may be communicating to a locally installed communication device or a centrally installed computing environment that can collect the measurements over a period.