System and method for commissioning a unit into a networked control system

A heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration system comprising:

• a plurality of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration units;
• a controller to control operation of the plurality of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration units;
• a network to connect the plurality of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration units to each other and to the controller, the network being configured to permit communication between the controller and the plurality of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration units and the network being configured to permit communication between heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration units;
• and
• wherein each heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration unit includes an addressing device to generate an address for that heating, ventilation, air conditioning unit for use by the controller and a single action mechanism to activate the addressing device.

A computer program product embodied on a computer readable medium and executable by a microprocessor for assigning an address to a unit connected to a control network, the computer program product comprising computer instructions for executing the steps of:

• generating a test address for the unit;
• transmitting a first data packet to all other units connected to the control network, wherein the first data packet includes the test address;
• determining that the unit has not received a second data packet from one of the other units connected to the control network, wherein the second data packet being a reply to the transmission of the first data packet;
• determining that the first data packet has been transmitted to all other units connected to the control network a predetermined number of times in response to a determination that the unit has not received a second data packet;
• repeating the steps of transmitting a first data packet and determining that the unit has not received a second data packet in response to a determination that the first data packet has not been transmitted the predetermined number of times to all other units connected to the control network;
• and
• assigning the test address included in the first data packet to the unit in response to a determination that the first data packet has been transmitted the predetermined number of times to all other units connected to the control network.

A method for commissioning a unit into a control system for controlling a plurality of units, the method comprising the steps of:

• generating an address for use by the unit;
• querying all other units in the control system to determine the availability of the address for use by the unit, wherein the query includes the address for use by the unit;
• waiting a predetermined time period for a reply from one unit of all other units indicating that the address included in the query is presently in use by the one unit of all other units;
• determining a number of querying attempts for the address included in the query in response to the expiration of the predetermined time period;
• comparing the number of querying attempts to a predetermined amount;
• repeating the steps of querying all other units and waiting a predetermined time period in response to the number of querying attempts not being equal to the predetermined amount;
• assigning the address included in the query to the unit in response to the number of querying attempts being equal to the predetermined amount;
• and
• transmitting to the control system the assigned address of the unit to commission the unit into the control system.