Hvac control using home automation hub
OwnerReid Alan Baldwininventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A zoned heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system is controlled via a home automation hub. The home automation hub communicates commands to an air handler via either a zoning interface module or a specially adapted thermostat. The zoning interface module or specially adapted thermostat are programmed to send commands to the air handler based on a default strategy whenever communication with the hub is lost, thereby mitigating the impact of a hub failure of communications failure. The zoning interface module additionally forwards commands from the hub to zone dampers. A user may conveniently indicate the type of equipment by inserting a removable equipment identifier from a set of provided removable equipment identifiers.
Claims18
An HVAC control device comprising:
- an equipment terminal block having a plurality of terminals;
- a plurality of equipment identifiers, each associated with a category of HVAC equipment;
- a housing defining a slot configured to receive one equipment identifier of the plurality of equipment identifiers;
- a processor programmed to:
- determine which one of the equipment identifiers is present in the slot;
- generate commands for heating or cooling;
- and
- communicate the commands by selectively energizing a subset of the terminals, wherein which terminals are energized varies based on which equipment identifier is present in the slot.
An HVAC control device comprising:
- a terminal block having a plurality of terminals;
- a housing defining a slot configured to receive one of a plurality of equipment identifiers;
- one or more sensors configured to interface with an equipment identifier in the slot;
- a processor programmed to:
- distinguish between equipment identifiers of the plurality of equipment identifiers based on signals from the sensors;
- generate commands for heating or cooling;
- and
- communicate the commands by selectively energizing a subset of the terminals, wherein which terminals are energized varies depending on which equipment identifier is present in the slot.
A method of controlling HVAC equipment, the method comprising:
- determining which equipment identifier of a plurality of equipment identifiers is present in an HVAC control device;
- generating commands for heating or cooling;
- and
- communicating the commands by selectively energizing a subset of a plurality of terminals of the HVAC control device, wherein which terminals are energized varies depending on which equipment identifier is present in the HVAC control device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.