Staged Valve Control for Simultaneous Room Temperature Transitions
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Solution Overview
Problem
In large buildings, temperature transitions during heating or cooling are inefficient due to hydraulic imbalances, leading to uneven heat distribution, where rooms far from the pump or generator are undersupplied, and those near are oversupplied, causing temperature differences and slow heating or cooling.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a central control unit that manages valves connected to heat exchanger devices in each room, where all valves are initially fully opened, then closed as each room reaches preselected temperature levels, and this process is repeated until all rooms reach their setpoints, ensuring simultaneous temperature transitions without requiring hydraulic calculations or time intervals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If hydraulic balancing is performed with limitable valves to distribute temperature control fluid evenly, then temperature distribution improves, but system complexity and adjustment difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses self-regulating thermostatic valves that automatically adjust flow based on room temperature without requiring manual hydraulic balancing. Each valve contains a thermostat that expands or contracts to modulate the valve opening, enabling the system to self-regulate temperature distribution across all rooms without complex central control or manual adjustment.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the operating parameters of the heating system by using thermostatic valves that dynamically adjust flow resistance based on temperature feedback. Instead of fixed hydraulic balancing, the system allows flow parameters to change automatically in response to temperature deviations, simplifying the control mechanism while improving temperature distribution.
2Temperature
If rooms far from the pump are supplied with sufficient heat, then temperature uniformity improves, but flow rate to nearby rooms must be limited reducing overall efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality by equipping each room with its own thermostatic valve that independently controls heat supply to that specific room. This allows each room to receive exactly the heat it needs based on its local temperature conditions, eliminating the need to limit flow to nearby rooms while ensuring distant rooms receive sufficient heat.
Solution Approach 2:
The thermostatic valves incorporate temperature feedback mechanisms where the valve position is automatically adjusted based on the temperature difference between the setpoint and actual room temperature. This feedback control ensures that heat supply is dynamically optimized for each room, maintaining temperature uniformity across the building without sacrificing overall heating efficiency.
3Speed
If temperature transition is performed quickly in all rooms, then response time improves, but temperature difference between rooms increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the temperature control into independent zones with individual thermostatic valves for each room. This segmentation allows each room to undergo temperature transition at its own rate based on its specific thermal characteristics and distance from the heat source, enabling fast overall response while minimizing temperature differences between rooms through decentralized control.
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 method simplifies the temperature control process, ensures even heating or cooling across all rooms, and reduces the temperature difference between fast and slow-reacting rooms, achieving efficient temperature transitions with minimal effort.
Implementation Method 1
each with heat exchanger devices connected to the supply and return lines provided
Implementation Method 2
a circulatory system operated with a central circulation pump
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
In the context of a method for heating or cooling rooms in a building with a temperature -controlled system, the temperature -controlled system comprises a central heater or cooler with a run-around coil system having a supply line and a return line, a central circulation pump for circulating a temperature-control fluid in the run-around coil system, at least two heat exchanger devices that each thermally supply one room of the building and that are each connected to the supply line and the return line of the run-around coil system, one valve with an actuator for each heat exchanger device, one room temperature sensor for each thermally supplied room, and a central open- and closed-loop control unit which is connected to the actuators of the valves and to the room temperature sensors. The method serves to bring about, in the thermally supplied rooms, a temperature transition from a starting state to an end state, with corresponding room temperature setpoint values, that is different from the starting state, which, according to the invention, proceeds according to an algorithm with at least two intermediate temperature stages. First, the central open- and closed-loop control unit fully opens all of the relevant valves. Upon reaching a temperature stage in one room, measured by the room temperature sensor, the corresponding valve is fully closed, and so on until the last room has also reached this temperature stage. Then, all of the valves are again fully opened, and the algorithm is repeated in further temperature stages until all of the thermally supplied rooms have reached their room temperature setpoint value. This is followed by a closed-loop control phase in which the room temperatures are held at their end temperature levels.