Method and apparatus for generalized control of devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing building control systems lack a comprehensive digital model that can translate device inputs into an understandable form, leading to difficulty in managing and optimizing complex building systems, and there is a need for a method to create a digital twin representation of devices to enhance control and automation.
Innovation Solution
A method of translating device inputs into an intermediate internal language using a controller, which determines device characteristics, retrieves information from a database, and creates a digital twin representation, including actor and quanta types, to facilitate efficient control and optimization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a model-free approach is used for building control, then implementation is simple, but management and optimization become difficult as system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a digital twin (a virtual copy) of the building system that mirrors the physical system's behavior and characteristics. This digital model enables complex analysis, optimization, and simulation without affecting the simple operation of the physical system, thus resolving the contradiction between implementation simplicity and management difficulty.
Solution Approach 2:
The digital twin acts as an intermediary layer between the physical building system and the control/optimization processes. It translates complex physical system behaviors into a manageable digital representation, allowing for sophisticated management and optimization while keeping the physical system operationally simple.
2Productivity
If digital model based approaches are used, then control optimization can be enhanced, but the models are limited to known models defined a-priori and lack adaptability
Solution Approach 1:
The digital twin is designed to be dynamic and adaptive, evolving alongside the physical system it represents. It can learn from operational data and adapt to new conditions, devices, and scenarios, moving beyond static a-priori models to provide continuous optimization while maintaining high adaptability to changing building requirements.
3Productivity
If thermodynamic digital system model is created, then control optimization can be achieved, but translation into human understandable format becomes very difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The digital twin provides different levels of detail and representation tailored to specific user needs. It can present highly detailed technical information for optimization purposes while simultaneously providing simplified, human-understandable visualizations and explanations for end users, thus maintaining both optimization capability and understandability.
Data Source
AI summary
Tools and techniques are described to attach a device to a controller, whereby the controller analyzes the device inputs, looks up information about the device in a database, and then determines which inputs on the device match the defined device inputs. It then may translate information received from the device into an intermediate language. It may also use the information received from the device, the location of the device, and information about the device to create a digital twin of the device.