Wireless Sensor Sleep Scheduling for Air Conditioner Maintenance
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Solution Overview
Problem
In air conditioner control systems with multiple wireless measurement terminals, battery depletion occurs at different times, leading to labor-intensive maintenance as each terminal needs to be replaced individually.
Innovation Solution
An air conditioner control system comprising integrated controllers, relay devices, and sensor devices that communicate wirelessly, where the relay device determines sleep times for sensor devices based on their battery charge levels to ensure at least two devices deplete their batteries simultaneously, reducing maintenance labor.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple wireless measurement terminals are deployed to monitor environmental parameters, then measurement coverage and system reliability are improved, but maintenance complexity increases due to batteries depleting at different times
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple sensor devices into coordinated groups where batteries are replaced simultaneously. The relay device manages sleep time settings for multiple sensors, enabling them to be replaced as a unified unit rather than individually, thus reducing maintenance complexity while preserving the reliability benefits of multiple distributed sensors.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent dynamically adjusts the sleep time of sensor devices based on their battery status and operational patterns. By making the sleep time configurable and adaptable, the system optimizes power consumption to extend battery life and coordinate replacement timing across multiple devices, thereby reducing maintenance frequency and complexity.
2Measurement precision
If sensor devices operate continuously in normal mode to ensure accurate environmental monitoring, then measurement precision is maintained, but battery consumption increases leading to more frequent replacements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic operation by alternating between normal mode and sleep mode. Sensors activate periodically to take measurements and then return to sleep mode to conserve battery power. This periodic action maintains measurement precision over time while significantly reducing overall battery consumption compared to continuous operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the operational parameter of sleep time to optimize the balance between measurement precision and battery consumption. By adjusting how long sensors remain in normal mode versus sleep mode, the system maintains adequate monitoring accuracy while extending battery life and reducing replacement frequency.
3Device complexity
If all sensor devices use the same sleep time setting, then device simplicity is maintained, but batteries deplete at different times increasing maintenance labor
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different sleep time settings to different sensor devices based on their individual characteristics and operational patterns. Rather than using a uniform setting, each sensor can have customized sleep time parameters, allowing batteries to deplete at similar rates and enabling coordinated replacement, thus improving maintenance ease without significantly increasing control complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
An air conditioner control system comprises air conditioners configured to condition an environment in a target space, an integrated controller configured to control the air conditioners based on control parameter data, sensor devices configured to measure the temperature of the target space and transmit measurement data, and wireless master devices configured to create control parameter data based on the measurement data. The wireless master devices each determine sleep times so that at least two sensor devices run out of battery charge around the same time according to the remaining charge amount of each of the sensor devices. The sensor devices each will be in the sleep mode in which power consumption is lower than in the normal mode according to the sleep time decided by the wireless master devices.