Healthy home graphical user interface method and device
AssigneePVT Solar, Inc.
InventorsJoshua Reed Plaisted, Gordon Michael Handelsman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A user display for a healthy home or like building structure. The user display includes a hardware housing and a display device coupled to the hardware housing. The user display further includes a plurality of graphical objects corresponding respectively to a plurality of different loads numbered from a through N, where N is an integer greater than 1. The loads can include, among others, air conditioning, water, heat, electricity, swimming pool, and others. Each of the graphical objects is displayed in a common unit of measurement and comprises a total demand portion and a fraction of renewable energy portion.
Claims22
A method for displaying energy usage from multiple loads and different sources, the method comprising:
- receiving first load information from a first load in a first unit, the first load being one of a plurality of thermal loads associated with a home and configured to use thermal energy having a first renewable energy source fraction produced specifically for the home;
- receiving second load information from a second load in a second unit, the second load being one of a plurality of electrical loads associated with the home and configured to use electrical energy having a second renewable energy source fraction produced specifically for the home;
- processing the first load information and the second load information into a common unit measure;
- running a diagnostic system check on a plurality of hardware associated with the first load and the second load;
- validating at least one of the first load information and the second load information;
- outputting a first graphical indication of energy usage including the first renewable energy source fraction of thermal energy used by the first load in the common unit;
- and
- outputting a second graphical indication of energy usage including the second renewable energy source fraction of electrical energy used by the second load in the common unit.
A user display comprising:
- a hardware housing;
- a single interface display device coupled to the hardware housing and one or more connections to a building renewable energy system;
- a plurality of graphical objects displayed on the single interface display device corresponding respectively to a plurality of different loads, the plurality of different loads including at least one thermal load configured to use both a renewable energy portion produced directly from the building renewable energy system and a portion imported from a public utility, wherein the plurality of graphical objects are displayed upon running a diagnostic system check on a plurality of hardware associated with the plurality of different loads and validating at least one of the plurality of different loads;
- wherein each of the graphical objects is displayed in a common unit of measurement;
- wherein each of the graphical objects comprises a total demand portion and a fraction of renewable energy portions at corresponding one of the plurality of different loads;
- and
- wherein each of the graphical objects are updated and displayed according to a specified scheduling scheme.
A method for outputting energy information in a common unit in graphical form on one or more display devices, the method comprising:
- determining, at a controller, at least one thermal load from a plurality of loads provided in a home or building structure, the at least one thermal load being associated with a thermal load metric measured in a unit consisting of therms;
- determining, at the controller, an energy production including thermal energy in the unit consisting of therms from a renewable energy source being used at the at least one thermal load, the renewable energy source being disposed specifically for the home or building structure;
- running a diagnostic system check at the controller on a plurality of hardware associated with the at least one thermal load;
- validating at least one of the at least one thermal load metrics;
- and
- outputting at least one graphical object on a portion of the display.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.