Systems and methods for controlling air properties in structures and inhibiting moisture accumulation and mold propagation in structures

A structure comprising:

• a floor;
• a roof;
• one or more exterior walls, each exterior wall including:
• an exterior wall air flow passageway including:
• one or more exterior wall air flow passageway inlets, and
• one or more exterior wall air flow passageway outlets, each of the exterior
• wall air flow passageway outlets including:
• a passive one-way or unidirectional valve or an active control valve to stop air or water flow into each of the exterior wall air flow passageway outlets;
• a plurality of interior walls;
• a plurality of interior spaces defined by the exterior walls and the interior walls;
• an HVAC unit including:
• one or more HVAC inlet conduits, each of the one or more HVAC inlet conduits including:
• an HVAC inlet, and
• an HVAC inlet active control valve configured to control a supply of unconditioned air or a mixture of unconditioned air and exhaust conditioned air to the HVAC unit;
• one or more HVAC exhaust conduits, each of the one or more HVAC exhaust conduits including:
• an HVAC exhaust inlet, and
• an HVAC exhaust outlet configured to support an air flow of the exhaust conditioned air out of the structure;
• one or more HVAC interior space outlet conduits, each of the one or more HVAC interior space outlet conduits including:
• an HVAC interior space outlet, and
• an HVAC interior space outlet active control valve configured to control a supply of conditioned air to each of the interior spaces;
• one or more HVAC exterior wall conduits, each of the one or more HVAC exterior wall conduits including:
• an HVAC exterior wall outlet, and
• an HVAC exterior wall active control valve configured to support an exterior wall passageway air flow of conditioned air to each of the exterior wall passageways;
• an air flow control system including:
• a processing unit;
• and
• plurality of sensors;
• wherein the HVAC unit, the sensors, and the active control valves are in communication with and under the control of the processing unit, and
• the processing unit is configured to:
• receive input from the sensors,
• control the HVAC unit, and
• control the active control valves so that air flow rates are controlled into the interior spaces and into the passageways,
• wherein the exterior wall air flows reduce, remove, and/or eliminate moisture in the one or more exterior walls.

A multistory structure comprising:

• a plurality of stories, each of the stories including:
• a floor,
• a ceiling, and
• a dead space disposed above the ceiling;
• one or more exterior walls, each of the one or more exterior walls including:
• an exterior wall air flow passageway;
• and
• at least one exterior wall exhaust conduit;
• a plurality of interior walls, each of the interior walls including:
• an interior wall air flow passageway;
• and
• at least one interior wall outlet conduit;
• a plurality of interior spaces defined by the one or more exterior walls and interior walls;
• an air handling system comprising:
• an HVAC unit;
• an HVAC inlet conduit including:
• an HVAC surroundings inlet conduit having:
• a surrounding inlet including:
• a surrounding inlet active control valve configured to supply unconditioned air to the HVAC unit;
• a return conditioned air conduit including:
• a return conduit active control valve configured to control an amount of exhausted conditioned air to the HVAC unit;
• a plurality of floor return conduits, each of the floor return conduits including:
• an inlet disposed in the each of the floor dead spaces including:
• a floor return conduit active control valve configured to control an amount of exhaust conditioned air supplied to the return conduit from each of the dead spaces;
• a main HVAC outlet conduit including;
• a plurality of floor outlet conduits, each of the floor outlet conduits including:
• a floor outlet conduit active control valve configured to control an amount of conditioned air supplied to each of the floors;
• a plurality of interior space outlet conduits, each of the interior space outlet conduits having:
• a plurality of interior space outlets, each of the interior space outlets having an interior space outlet conduit active control valve configured to control an amount of conditioned air supplied to each of the interior space outlets;
• one or more HVAC exhaust conduits, each of the one or more HVAC exhaust conduits including:
• a HVAC exhaust conduit active control valve configured to control an amount of conditioned air exhausted to the surroundings;
• and
• an air flow control system including:
• a processing unit coupled to or associated with a plurality of sensors, the active control valves and the air handling system, wherein the sensors comprise temperature sensors, water/moisture sensors, air flow sensors, chemical sensors, other physical sensors, and combinations thereof;
• one or more of the sensors is disposed in each of the interior spaces;
• one or more of the sensors is disposed in the passageways;
• wherein the processing unit is configured to:
• receive input from the sensors;
• and
• control the HVAC unit and the active control valves based on the sensor inputs to control unconditioned air flow rates into the HVAC, interior space air flow rates from the HVAC, return air flow rates into the HVAC, exhaust air flow rate to the surroundings, and passageway air flow rates through the passageways and into the surroundings.