Virtual Building Controller With Local Failsafe I/O Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional building management systems require frequent and costly upgrades to adapt to changing building requirements, and modifications such as reconfiguring spaces for new tenants involve tedious and expensive processes due to the need for on-site technician visits and reprogramming of centralized controllers.
Innovation Solution
A distributed building management system utilizing a virtual controller hosted on a server and an intelligent IO module that provides local control commands based on sensor values, with fail-safe mechanisms to ensure continuous operation even when communication with the virtual controller is disrupted, allowing for remote management and reduced on-site intervention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a centralized supervisory controller is used to control building management system components, then the system can be managed from a central location, but frequent and costly hardware and software upgrades are required to adapt to changing building requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the building management system into distributed device controllers, each capable of autonomous operation, rather than relying on a single centralized controller. This segmentation allows individual controllers to be updated or modified independently, improving adaptability while maintaining centralized monitoring capabilities through the gateway interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a gateway as an intermediary between the centralized management interface and the distributed device controllers. This gateway enables centralized monitoring and configuration while allowing the actual control functions to reside at the distributed level, thus maintaining ease of centralized operation while improving adaptability to building changes.
2Adaptability or versatility
If device controllers are repositioned or reprogrammed to accommodate building modifications, then the system can adapt to new tenant requirements, but technicians must visit the site which is time-consuming and expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables device controllers to be remotely configured and reprogrammed through the distributed architecture and gateway interface, allowing system adaptations to be performed without on-site technician visits. The controllers can self-configure based on building management system commands, eliminating the need for physical repositioning or manual reprogramming at the device location.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal communication interface and standardized controller architecture that can handle various building modification scenarios through software configuration rather than physical changes. This multi-functional approach allows the same hardware to adapt to different building layouts and requirements through remote programming, reducing the need for site visits.
3Reliability
If communication with the virtual controller is disrupted, then system resilience is improved, but control commands cannot be received from the central system
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements fail-safe control logic that is pre-programmed into the device controllers and IO modules. When communication with the virtual controller is disrupted, these pre-configured fail-safe routines automatically activate to maintain safe and continuous operation, ensuring reliability without requiring real-time centralized control commands.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates redundant control paths and local decision-making capabilities in the device controllers and IO modules. These cushioning measures are built in advance to handle communication failures, allowing the system to maintain operation during disruptions while automatically restoring centralized control capability when communication is re-established.
Data Source
AI summary
A virtual controller is configured to send control commands to an edge controller such as in I/O module that is connected to a building management system component. The IO module is configured to communicate with the virtual controller and to provide local control commands to the building management system component that are based upon the control commands from the virtual controller when communication with the virtual controller is determined by the IO module to be functioning normally and are based upon one or more fail-safe commands generated by the IO module when communication with the virtual controller is determined by the IO module to not be functioning normally.