Thermostat with adaptive operating cycle

In an electronic thermostat adapted to be disposed within a building structure having a temperature modifying apparatus connected to the thermostat so as to be controlled between energized and de-energized states, including means for generating a temperature set-point and means for measuring the ambient temperature at the thermostat, the improvement comprising:

• timer means for generating a control signal operative to maintain the temperature modifying apparatus in its energized state, means for adaptively modifying the period of said control signal as a function of the temperature changes produced at the thermostat the previous times the temperature modifying apparatus was in its energized state and the duration of the previous control signal in order to provide a temperature at the thermostat which is a function of the first set-point temperature following each cycle of energization of the temperature modifying apparatus by the thermostat.

The method of controlling the temperature within an enclosed volume employing apparatus including means for measuring the temperature within the enclosed volume, means for establishing a pair of separated temperature values defining a dead zone, and a temperature modifying apparatus having an energized and a de-energized state and operative when energized to modify the temperature of the enclosed volume in a first direction, comprising:

• switching the temperature modifying apparatus between its energized and de-energized states and maintaining the temperature modifying apparatus in its energized state each time it is energized, for a period of time which is either shorter or alternatively longer than the time period that it was maintained in its energized state the previous time it was energized, depending upon whether the temperature in the enclosed volume did or alternatively did not exceed the limit of the dead zone in said first direction the previous time the temperature modifying apparatus was energized.