Systems and methods for controlling a building management system

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Solution Overview

Problem

Building management systems often fail to adequately consider local situations and preferences, and they may not be optimized for individual buildings within an enterprise's portfolio, lacking a balanced approach between remote and local control.

Innovation Solution

A building management system that includes a communications interface to receive commands from both cloud-based and local client devices, with a controller that determines priorities to dynamically switch between cloud-based and local settings, ensuring emergency settings have higher priority and optimizing device control based on priority and duration.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If the system implements centralized cloud-based control for building subsystems, then remote monitoring and control capabilities are improved, but the system may not adequately consider local situations and preferences

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveremote monitoring and control capabilityVSAvoidlocal situation consideration

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The control system is segmented into multiple independent control sources (cloud-based controller and local client devices), each capable of issuing commands independently. The BMS controller receives and processes commands from both sources separately, allowing remote centralized control while preserving local autonomy and adaptability to local situations.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements dynamic switching between cloud-based and local control modes based on real-time conditions. The BMS controller dynamically evaluates commands from both sources and determines which to execute based on current system state, enabling the system to adapt between centralized and decentralized control as needed.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

2Adaptability or versatility

If the system implements local control for building subsystems, then local situations and preferences are adequately considered, but the system may not be optimized for individual buildings within an enterprise portfolio

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvelocal preference considerationVSAvoidenterprise-wide optimization capability

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The system implements feedback mechanisms where the BMS controller communicates with both local client devices and the cloud-based controller. Status information and command execution results are fed back to both control sources, enabling enterprise-wide optimization through aggregated data while maintaining local adaptability through localized decision-making based on feedback from actual system performance.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

3Adaptability or versatility

If the BMS controller receives commands from both cloud-based and local sources, then both centralized and local control capabilities are provided, but determining priority and switching between control settings adds system complexity

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedual control capabilityVSAvoidcontrol switching mechanism

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system uses parameter changes in the form of priority levels assigned to different command sources. The BMS controller evaluates commands based on their priority parameters, allowing simple comparison and selection without complex switching logic. This parameter-based approach manages the complexity of dual control capability through standardized priority evaluation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

4Reliability

If the system prioritizes local emergency settings over cloud-based optimization settings, then safety and reliability are improved, but cloud-based optimization capabilities may not be fully utilized

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveemergency response priorityVSAvoidoptimization setting utilization

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The system implements preliminary anti-action by pre-assigning higher priority to local emergency settings before any conflict occurs. This ensures that safety-critical local control always takes precedence over cloud-based optimization commands, preventing potential conflicts between safety and optimization goals while still allowing optimization to operate during normal conditions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #9Preliminary anti-action

Data Source

PatentUS11714391B2Systems and methods for controlling a building management system

Publication Date: 2023.08.01 TYCO FIRE & SECURITY GMBH

AI summary

A Building Management System (BMS) includes a plurality of building subsystems and communications interface. The building subsystems include device(s) for controlling aspect(s) of the building subsystem. The communications interface receives commands from a cloud-based controller and a local client device. The commands from the cloud-based controller and local client device are structured to modify setting(s) for a device of the building subsystems. A BMS controller receives, via the communications interface from the cloud-based controller, a command for modifying a setting of a device for a first building subsystem. The BMS controller identifies a local setting of the device provided by the local client device. The BMS controller identifies a priority of the command from the cloud-based controller in relation to a priority of the local setting. The BMS controller controls the device based on the respective priorities.