Water heater with electronic mixing valve and automatic tank set point
AssigneeHaier US Appliance Solutions, Inc.
InventorsSukumar Arrojula, Joseph Mark Brian
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods of operating a water heater appliance are provided. The water heater appliance includes a tank, a cold water inlet conduit extending into the tank, a heating element within the tank, a hot water conduit extending from the tank to a mixing valve, a mixed water conduit downstream of the mixing valve, and a user interface. The method includes receiving a user input, determining a tank temperature setpoint value based on the received user input, and adjusting a tank temperature setpoint to the determined tank temperature setpoint value.
Claims17
A method of operating a water heater appliance, the water heater appliance comprising a tank, a cold water inlet conduit extending into the tank, a heating element within the tank, a hot water conduit extending from the tank to a mixing valve, a mixed water conduit downstream of the mixing valve, and a user interface, the method comprising:
- receiving a user input from a remote user interface device via a cloud computing system, wherein the user input does not include a tank temperature setpoint value;
- determining a first tank temperature setpoint value based on the received user input, wherein determining the first tank temperature setpoint value based on the received user input comprises converting, by the cloud computing system, the user input into the first tank temperature setpoint value using a conversion algorithm;
- transmitting sensor data from the water heater appliance to the cloud computing system;
- building, by the cloud computing system, an updated conversion algorithm using the transmitted sensor data;
- determining a second tank temperature setpoint value based on the received user input, wherein determining the second tank temperature setpoint value based on the received user input comprises converting, by the cloud computing system, the user input into the second tank temperature setpoint value using the updated conversion algorithm;
- adjusting a tank temperature setpoint to the determined second tank temperature setpoint value;
- and
- activating the heating element based on the adjusted tank temperature setpoint, whereby water within the tank is heated to the adjusted tank temperature setpoint.
A method of operating a water heater appliance, the water heater appliance comprising a tank, a cold water inlet conduit extending into the tank, a heating element within the tank, a hot water conduit extending from the tank to a mixing valve, a mixed water conduit downstream of the mixing valve, and a user interface, the method comprising:
- receiving a user input other than a tank temperature setpoint value via the user interface;
- determining a first tank temperature setpoint value based on the received user input, wherein determining the first tank temperature setpoint value based on the received user input comprises converting, by the cloud computing system, the user input into the first tank temperature setpoint value using a conversion algorithm;
- transmitting sensor data from the water heater appliance to the cloud computing system;
- building, by the cloud computing system, an updated conversion algorithm using the transmitted sensor data;
- determining a second tank temperature setpoint value based on the received user input, wherein determining the second tank temperature setpoint value based on the received user input comprises converting, by the cloud computing system, the user input into the second tank temperature setpoint value using the updated conversion algorithm;
- adjusting a tank temperature setpoint to the determined second tank temperature setpoint value;
- and
- activating the heating element based on the adjusted tank temperature setpoint, whereby water within the tank is heated to the adjusted tank temperature setpoint.
A method of operating a water heater appliance, the water heater appliance comprising a tank, a cold water inlet conduit extending into the tank, a heating element within the tank, a hot water conduit extending from the tank to a mixing valve, a mixed water conduit downstream of the mixing valve, and a user interface, the method comprising:
- receiving a user input from a remote user interface device via a cloud computing system, wherein the user input consists of a start time, an end time, and no more than two additional parameters;
- determining a first tank temperature setpoint value based on the received user input wherein determining the first tank temperature setpoint value based on the received user input comprises converting, by the cloud computing system, the user input into the first tank temperature setpoint value using a conversion algorithm;
- transmitting sensor data from the water heater appliance to the cloud computing system;
- building, by the cloud computing system, an updated conversion algorithm using the transmitted sensor data;
- determining a second tank temperature setpoint value based on the received user input, wherein determining the second tank temperature setpoint value based on the received user input comprises converting, by the cloud computing system, the user input into the second tank temperature setpoint value using the updated conversion algorithm;
- adjusting a tank temperature setpoint to the determined second tank temperature setpoint value;
- activating the heating element based on the adjusted tank temperature setpoint, whereby water within the tank is heated to the adjusted tank temperature setpoint;
- and
- adjusting a position of the mixing valve based on the adjusted tank temperature setpoint.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.