US 2026/0071773 A1 · Thermostat with Detachable Dial Control

Abstract

A thermostat comprises a detachable dial control unit that may be positioned with an anchoring component. The anchoring component may assume different forms including a wall plate, a wireless recharging dock, or a headless control unit/wall mounted unit that serve different needs of a user. The detachable dial control unit may be removed while still allowing the user to change thermostatic settings of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system by rotating an outer ring indicative of thermostatic information and sending the information to a headless control unit/wall mounted unit via a wireless communication channel. To facilitate alignment of the detachable dial control unit with the anchoring component, each may comprise a plurality of alignment magnets having a magnetic polarity pattern. Also, a wireless charging dock and headless control unit/wall mounted unit may recharge the detachable dial control unit via an activated electromagnetic induction path.

Claims20

Dependent claims

An anchoring component of a thermostat for controlling a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, wherein the anchoring component is configured to:

attach to a detachable dial control unit that is capable of being detached from the anchoring component while enabling a user to enter thermostatic information through the detachable dial control unit, wherein the anchoring component comprises:
at least one terminal connector configured to connect to the HVAC system;
a first wireless receiver configured to receive, from a first wireless transmitter of the detachable dial control unit via a wireless duplex communication channel, the thermostatic information;
a wireless recharging circuit configured to recharge a rechargeable battery of the detachable dial control unit via an electromagnetic induction path;
and
a Hall effect sensor configured to, in response to an activation magnet of the detachable dial control unit being within a predetermined distance from the hall effect sensor, output a signal to initiate an activation of the wireless recharging circuit.

3 more elements

An anchoring component of a thermostat for controlling a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, wherein the anchoring component is configured to:

attach to a detachable dial control unit that is capable of being detached from the anchoring component while enabling a user to enter thermostatic information through the detachable dial control unit, wherein the anchoring component comprises:
at least one terminal connector configured to connect to the HVAC system;
a first wireless receiver configured to receive, from a first wireless transmitter of the detachable dial control unit via a wireless duplex communication channel, the thermostatic information;
and
at least three complementary magnets, wherein each complementary magnet has an opposite magnetic polarity to a corresponding alignment magnet located at the detachable dial control unit and wherein the at least three complementary magnets is characterized by a pattern of magnetic polarities for detecting a misalignment of the detachable dial control unit to anchoring component

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Thermostat with Detachable Dial Control

Life of this patent

Thermostat with Detachable Dial Control

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20