Smart thermostat for controlling adjacent room temperatures
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing thermostats struggle to effectively regulate ambient air temperatures in multiple rooms, especially when located in a central area, as external factors like sunlight exposure can cause rapid temperature changes in individual rooms.
Innovation Solution
A smart thermostat system that includes a temperature sensor, an HVAC interface, memory for storing instructions, a desired setpoint temperature, and a setpoint modification factor, allowing it to receive temperature readings, automatically adjust setpoint temperatures based on modification factors, and control HVAC equipment accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a single thermostat is located in a central area to control ambient air temperature in all rooms, then the thermostat can regulate temperature in a centralized manner, but it fails to maintain adequate temperature control in individual rooms due to rapid external temperature influences
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by allowing each room to have its own thermostat that independently measures and controls the temperature in that specific room. This enables each room to be treated as a separate controlled environment with its own temperature sensor and control logic, rather than relying on a single centralized thermostat that cannot detect rapid local temperature changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the temperature control function by providing individual thermostats for different rooms, each capable of independent operation. This segmentation allows each room's temperature to be regulated separately based on its specific conditions, resolving the issue of a single thermostat being unable to respond to rapid temperature changes in individual rooms.
2Loss of time
If a thermostat is located in a hallway or on the northern side of the home, then it can be positioned in a central location, but the ambient air temperature near the thermostat does not rise until many minutes or hours after southern facing rooms heat up
Solution Approach 1:
By placing temperature sensors and thermostats in each individual room, the system captures local temperature conditions immediately as they occur. This eliminates the time delay inherent in centralized thermostat locations, as each room's temperature changes are detected and responded to at the source rather than from a remote central location.
Solution Approach 2:
The distributed thermostat system performs preliminary action by detecting and responding to temperature changes in each room as they occur, rather than waiting for temperature changes to propagate to a central location. This allows the HVAC system to be adjusted proactively based on actual room conditions.
3Device complexity
If a single thermostat with an internal thermal sensor is used to control ambient air temperature in multiple areas, then the device complexity is reduced, but the ability to effectively regulate temperatures in each area is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by equipping each room with its own thermostat and temperature sensor, enabling independent temperature measurement and control for each space. This approach prioritizes temperature control effectiveness over device simplicity, as each room's unique thermal characteristics can be addressed individually.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the temperature control functionality across multiple independent thermostats, one per room. This segmentation allows each thermostat to independently regulate its associated room's temperature, improving overall system reliability and effectiveness despite increasing the total number of devices.
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
The smart thermostat system improves temperature control in multiple rooms by dynamically adjusting setpoint temperatures based on factors like time of day, season, orientation, and weather conditions, thereby maintaining desired temperatures more effectively.
Implementation Method 1
receive temperature readings from the temperature sensor of ambient air in the second area
Data Source
AI summary
A smart thermostat for controlling the ambient air temperature in a first area when the smart thermostat is located in a second area. One or more desired setpoint temperatures are changed automatically by the smart thermostat based on one or more setpoint modification factors, such as the time of day, current season, location, orientation and present and future weather conditions.