Methods and systems for providing improved service for building control systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
Building control systems, such as HVAC, security, and lighting systems, often lack proactive maintenance, leading to inefficient operation, increased costs, and potential damage due to reactive maintenance approaches, which can result in discomfort and additional expenses for building owners.
Innovation Solution
A remote system and method that communicates with building automation controllers to analyze data, identify client needs, and generate alerts for contractors, enabling them to provide targeted services and improve maintenance efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If building control systems are operated until failure with reactive maintenance, then operational costs increase and building damage occurs, but implementing proactive monitoring and maintenance systems requires additional investment in remote systems and data analysis capabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by continuously monitoring building control system data and identifying potential failures before they occur. The remote system analyzes operational parameters, detects anomalies, and generates maintenance alerts in advance, enabling preventive maintenance that prevents failures rather than responding to them after occurrence.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a remote system as an intermediary between building control systems and maintenance contractors. This intermediary collects data from building controllers, performs analysis, and communicates with contractors, simplifying the overall system architecture while enabling proactive maintenance without requiring direct complex integration between all components.
2Ease of repair
If contractors respond to high-priority failure calls, then immediate repairs can be made, but operational inefficiencies increase and additional expenses are incurred
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables preliminary maintenance actions by identifying issues before they become failures. Contractors receive advance notice of potential problems and can schedule maintenance during convenient times rather than responding to urgent failure calls, improving their operational efficiency while maintaining repair quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The remote system establishes continuous feedback loops by monitoring building control system performance and automatically notifying contractors of maintenance needs. This feedback mechanism allows contractors to plan their schedules efficiently based on actual system conditions rather than reacting to failures, optimizing their productivity.
3Loss of energy
If preventive maintenance is neglected, then system operation costs decrease in the short term, but long-term operational efficiency deteriorates and building damage occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The building control systems perform self-diagnosis through continuous self-monitoring of operational parameters. The remote system automatically detects anomalies and generates maintenance alerts without requiring manual inspection, enabling the system to serve itself in identifying maintenance needs and reducing the time investment required for preventive maintenance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms that continuously monitor energy consumption and operational efficiency parameters. When degradation patterns are detected, the system automatically triggers maintenance alerts, ensuring timely intervention to maintain energy efficiency without requiring excessive manual monitoring time.
Data Source
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AI summary
A system that allows a contractor to remotely monitor and/or interact with its customers' building control systems, such as heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and analyze information obtained from the building control systems over time. Such a system may help the contractor monitor and diagnosis customer building control systems, setup service calls, achieve better customer relations, create more effective marketing opportunities, as well as other functions. In some cases, the disclosed system may include a controller that analyzes data from HVAC systems, determines a thermal model of a space environmentally controlled by an HVAC system, and provides an energy audit of the space that is environmentally controlled by the HVAC system. The controller may output a result of the energy audit to a user.