Temperature control system

A heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning (HVAC) system, comprising:

• a system controller comprising a user interface configured to receive an input of a threshold requirement;
• a sensor configured to sense at least one of a humidity and a temperature for each of a plurality of zones for a time period;
• and
• wherein the system controller is configured to:
• receive sensor information from the sensor;
• determine whether an unbalanced zone exists in any of the plurality of zones in response to determining that at least one of the humidity and the temperature in any of the plurality of zones exceeds the threshold requirement;
• calculate an environmental metric, wherein the calculated environmental metric comprises at least one of an average of the temperatures and an average of the humidities;
• determine, in response to comparing the environmental metric to the threshold requirement, whether mixing air of a first selective number of zones of the plurality of zones to create first mixed air causes the unbalanced zone to conform to the threshold requirement for a first time period of operating an indoor fan or whether mixing air of a second selective number of zones of the plurality of zones to create second mixed air causes the unbalanced zone to conform to the threshold requirement for a second time period of operating the indoor fan, wherein the first selective number of zones comprises at least one zone that is different than a zone in the second selective number of zones, wherein the first time period is different than the second time period, and wherein the system controller is configured to determine that mixing the air of the first or the second selective number of zones causes the unbalanced zone to conform to the threshold requirement when the calculated environmental metric is lower than the threshold requirement;
• select either the first selective number of zones or the second selective number of zones based on operating an indoor fan for a lower time period between the first time period and the second time period;
• operate the indoor fan associated with an indoor unit of the HVAC system to cause the indoor fan to mix air between the first selective number of zones or the second selective number of zones by drawing return air from the first selective number of zones or the second selective number of zones via zone return ducts, and selectively deliver at least a portion of the mixed air to the unbalanced zone to bring the unbalanced zone into conformance with the threshold requirement;
• and
• selectively initiate operation of the HVAC system in a cooling mode to provide temperature conditioned air to each zone of the plurality of zones when the unbalanced zone fails to conform to the threshold requirement after operating the indoor fan to mix air between the first selective number of zones or the second selective number of zones for a specified time period.

A method of operating a heating ventilation and/or air conditioning (HVAC) system, comprising:

• inputting a threshold requirement for a first time period and a second time period into at least one of a system controller, and a sensor, wherein the first time period is distinct from the second time period;
• receiving sensor information related to a humidity and a temperature of a plurality of zones sensed by the sensor, wherein the sensor information is received for a time period associated with either the first time period or the second time period;
• determining whether an unbalanced zone exists in any of the plurality of zones in response to determining that at least one of the humidity and temperature exceeds the threshold requirement;
• calculating an environmental metric using at least one of an average of the humidities and an average of the temperatures;
• and
• determining, in response to comparing the environmental metric to the threshold requirement, whether mixing air of a first selective number of zones to create first mixed air causes the unbalanced zone to conform to the threshold requirement for a first time period of operating an indoor fan or whether mixing air of a second selective number of zones of the plurality of zones to create second mixed air causes the unbalanced zone to conform to the threshold requirement for the second time period of operating the indoor fan, wherein the first selective number of zones comprises at least one zone that is different than a zone in the second selective number of zones, wherein the first time period is different than the second time period, and wherein the system controller is configured to determine that mixing the air of the first or the second selective number of zones causes the unbalanced zone to conform to the threshold requirement when the calculated environmental metric is lower than the threshold requirement;
• selecting either first selective number of zones or the second selective number of zones based on operating the indoor fan for a lower time period between the first time period and the second time period
• operating the indoor fan associated with an indoor unit of the HVAC to cause the indoor fan to mix air between the first selective number of zones and the second selective number of zones by drawing return air from each of the first selective number of zones and the second selective number of zones via a first zone return duct and a second zone return duct, respectively, and selectively deliver at least a portion of the mixed air to the unbalanced zone to bring the unbalanced zone into conformance with the threshold requirement;
• and
• selectively initiating operation of the HVAC system in a cooling mode to provide temperature conditioned air to each zone of the plurality of zones when the unbalanced zone fails to conform to the threshold requirement after operating the indoor fan to mix air between the first selective number of zones or the second selective number of zones for a specified time period.

A system controller for a heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning (HVAC) system, comprising:

• at least one processor configured to:
• receive sensor information related to a first temperature of a first air volume sensed by a sensor and a second temperature of a second air volume sensed by the sensor, wherein the sensor information is received for a time period associated with either a first time period or a second time period;
• determine that an unbalanced zone exists when at least one of the first temperature and the second temperature (1) is higher than a threshold requirement when a cooling mode of the HVAC system is selected and (2) is lower than the threshold requirement associated with the sensor information received for the time period associated with either the first time period or the second time period when a heating mode of the HVAC system is selected, wherein the system controller is configured to receive an input of the threshold requirement for the first time period and for the second time period;
• calculate an environmental metric, wherein the calculate environmental metric comprises at least one of an average of the temperatures and an average of humilities;
• determine, in response to comparing the environmental metric to the threshold requirement, whether mixing air of a first selective number of zones of a plurality of zones to create first mixed air causes the unbalanced zone to conform to the threshold requirement for a first time period of operating an indoor fan or whether mixing air of a second selective number of zones of the plurality of zones to create second mixed air causes the unbalanced zone to conform to the threshold requirement for the second time period of operating the indoor fan, wherein the first selective number of zones comprises at least one zone that is different than a zone in the second selective number of zones, wherein the first time period is different than the second time period, and wherein the processor is configured to determine that mixing the air of the first or the second selective number of zones causes the unbalanced zone to conform to the threshold requirement when the calculated environmental metric is lower than the threshold requirement;
• select either the first selective number of zones or the second selective number of zones based on operating the indoor fan for a lower time period between the first time period and the second time period;
• and
• operate the indoor fan associated with an indoor unit of the HVAC system in a FAN ONLY mode for a selectable time period to mix at least a portion of the first air volume and at least a portion of the second air volume by drawing the at least a portion of the first air volume from a first zone via a first zone return duct and the at least a portion of the second air volume from a second zone via a second zone return duct to form a mixed volume of air and selectively deliver at least a portion of the mixed volume of air to each of the first zone and the second zone when at least one of the first temperature and the second temperature exceed the threshold requirement and in response to the at least one processor determining that a calculated average of the first temperature and the second temperature is in conformance with the threshold requirement, wherein the calculated average of the first temperature and the second temperature is in conformance with the threshold requirement when the calculated average is lower than the threshold requirement when the cooling mode of the HVAC system is selected, and wherein the calculated average of the first temperature and the second temperature is in conformance with the threshold requirement when the calculated average is greater than the threshold requirement when the heating mode of the HVAC system is selected.