Failure detection and compensation in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
HVAC equipment failures in facilities lead to deviations from setpoints, causing uncomfortable conditions and potential critical situations, such as temperature fluctuations that can result in equipment malfunctions or safety issues like frozen water pipes, due to the lack of effective automatic compensation mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system that monitors HVAC equipment and confined areas, detects failures, and automatically adjusts adjacent equipment to compensate by controlling airflow or radiation to maintain setpoints, ensuring continuous operation and comfort within acceptable parameters.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If HVAC equipment is operated independently without inter-area coordination, then each area can be controlled precisely to its setpoint, but the system lacks redundancy and cannot compensate for equipment failures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the control functions of multiple HVAC areas into a unified system where a central controller coordinates equipment across different confined areas. When a failure is detected in one area, the controller automatically redirects conditioned air from adjacent areas to compensate, creating a redundant system that maintains reliability without requiring complex manual intervention protocols
2Ease of operation
If manual intervention is used to mitigate HVAC failures, then occupants can address uncomfortable conditions, but the response time is delayed and productivity is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The HVAC system performs self-service by automatically detecting equipment failures through sensors and diagnostics, then autonomously redirecting conditioned air from adjacent areas to compensate. This eliminates the need for manual intervention by occupants, providing immediate automatic response that maintains comfort while reducing the time loss associated with manual troubleshooting and equipment switching
3Reliability
If additional HVAC equipment is brought in to compensate for failures, then uncomfortable conditions can be mitigated, but the device complexity and operational complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements multi-functionality by designing HVAC equipment that can serve both its primary designated area and adjacent areas as needed. The same HVAC units that normally condition specific confined areas are configured to redirect conditioned air to neighboring areas when failures occur, eliminating the need for dedicated backup equipment and reducing overall system complexity while maintaining comfort reliability
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution ensures that environmental conditions in facilities remain within acceptable limits even during equipment failures, maintaining comfort and preventing critical situations by automatically compensating for HVAC equipment malfunctions, thus minimizing disruptions and ensuring operational continuity.
Implementation Method 1
controlling at least one of the first or a second of the HVAC equipment to cause additional conditioned air to permeate to the first of the confined areas from an adjacent, second of the confined areas
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A method is provided for controlling heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment configured to control environmental conditions in confined areas of a facility. The method includes monitoring at least one of the HVAC equipment or the confined areas. The method includes detecting a failure of a first of the HVAC equipment to control an environmental condition in a first of the confined areas to a setpoint for the environmental condition, with the environmental condition including at least one of temperature, humidity or air quality. The method includes controlling at least one of the first or a second of the HVAC equipment to cause additional conditioned air to permeate to the first of the confined areas from an adjacent, second of the confined areas to move the environmental condition in the first of the confined areas closer to the setpoint to compensate for the failure, automatically as a direct result of detection of the failure.