Variable refrigerant flow system with electricity consumption apportionment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Variable refrigerant flow systems face challenges in accurately apportioning electricity costs among multiple tenants, as a significant portion of electrical power consumption is attributed to the outdoor condensing unit, which serves multiple indoor units, making it difficult to determine the individual electricity consumption of each tenant.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that includes a variable refrigerant flow management system, which uses outdoor and indoor meters to measure electricity consumption and activation data, calculating a power proportional index for each indoor unit based on compressor request frequency and runtime to apportion the outdoor electricity consumption fairly among the indoor units, ensuring accurate cost allocation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a single outdoor condensing unit serves multiple indoor units, then system efficiency and versatility are improved, but accurate apportionment of electricity costs among tenants becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the shared outdoor unit electricity consumption by creating separate measurement and calculation pathways for each indoor unit. The system divides the total outdoor consumption into individual portions based on activation data, effectively segmenting the shared resource allocation to achieve precise cost apportionment for each tenant.
2Device complexity
If electricity consumption is measured at the outdoor unit level, then measurement simplicity is maintained, but tenant-specific cost allocation accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary calculation layer that processes the outdoor unit electricity consumption measurement. Instead of directly allocating raw measurement data, the system uses activation requests and runtime data as intermediaries to compute proportional shares, thereby maintaining measurement simplicity while achieving allocation precision.
3Measurement precision
If individual meters are installed for each indoor unit, then consumption measurement accuracy is improved, but system complexity and installation cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the measurement function from individual indoor units and consolidates it at the outdoor unit level. By taking out the physical metering hardware from each tenant's space and centralizing it at the shared outdoor unit, the system maintains measurement accuracy through software-based allocation while reducing overall system complexity and installation requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
A variable refrigerant flow system for a building includes a plurality of indoor units, a first outdoor unit, an outdoor meter, and a variable refrigerant flow management system. The plurality of indoor units configured to generate activation requests. The first outdoor unit is configured to receive the activation requests and, in response to the activation requests, provide a refrigerant to the plurality of indoor units. The outdoor meter is configured to provide an outdoor unit electricity consumption measurement. The variable refrigerant flow management system is configured to receive the outdoor unit electricity consumption measurement and activation data indicating the activation requests and apportion an outdoor share of the outdoor electricity consumption measurement to each of the plurality of indoor units based on the activation data.