US-20260126201-A1 - HVAC SYSTEM WITH WIRELESS DAMPER AND ZONING CONTROL

US20260126201A1US 20260126201 A1US20260126201 A1US 20260126201A1US-20260126201-A1

Abstract

A heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system includes a thermostat comprising a processor configured to determine instructions for providing a flow of conditioned air to a first zone of the HVAC system. The HVAC system includes a damper located in a duct associated with the first zone of the HVAC system. The damper includes a moveable plate configured to block the flow of conditioned air through the duct when the movable plate is in a closed position and allow the flow of conditioned air through the duct when the movable plate is in an at least partially open position. The damper includes a wireless receiver and transmitter configured to receive the instructions for providing the flow of conditioned air to the first zone. The damper includes an actuator configured to move the movable plate based at least in part on the received instructions, thereby adjusting the flow of conditioned air to the first zone.

Inventors

Kenneth Scott Carpenter

Assignees

LENNOX INDUSTRIES INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20251231

Claims (16)

1 . A heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system comprising: a thermostat comprising a processor configured to determine instructions for providing a flow of conditioned air to a first zone of the HVAC system; and a first damper located in a duct associated with the first zone of the HVAC system, the first damper comprising: a moveable plate configured to block the flow of conditioned air through the duct when the movable plate is in a closed position and allow the flow of conditioned air through the duct when the movable plate is in an at least partially open position; a wireless receiver and transmitter configured to receive the instructions for providing the flow of conditioned air to the first zone; and an actuator configured to move the movable plate based at least in part on the received instructions, thereby adjusting the flow of conditioned air to the first zone; wherein the HVAC system further comprises one or more sensors configured to measure one or both of an air flowrate in the duct and an air pressure in the duct and the processor of the thermostat is further configured to detect a malfunction of the first damper based on one or both of the measured air flowrate in the duct and the measured air pressure in the duct.
2 . The HVAC system of claim 1 , wherein the HVAC system further comprises a zone temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature of the first zone, wherein the processor of the thermostat is configured to the instructions for providing the flow of conditioned air to the first zone based at least in part on the temperature of the first zone.
3 . The HVAC system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions indicate a degree of openness for the moveable plate, and the actuator causes the moveable plate to open to the indicated degree of openness.
4 . The HVAC system of claim 1 , wherein: the processor of the thermostat is further configured to adjust the instructions for providing the flow of conditioned air to the first zone based on one or both of the measured air flowrate in the duct and the measured air pressure in the duct; and the actuator causes the moveable plate to move to a degree of openness based on the adjusted instructions.
5 . The HVAC system of claim 1 , wherein the wireless receiver and transmitter is a Bluetooth transmitter and receiver in communication with a Bluetooth transmitter and receiver of the thermostat.
6 . The HVAC system of claim 1 , wherein the HVAC system further comprises a second damper located in a duct associated with a second zone of the HVAC system, wherein the second zone is different than the first zone and the second damper is located a greater distance from the thermostat than a distance between the thermostat and the first damper, the second damper comprising a second wireless receiver and transmitter configured to communicate with the thermostat via a mesh network formed by the second damper and the first damper.
7 . A method of operating a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system comprising: receiving, via wireless communication from a zone temperature sensor located in a zone of the HVAC associated with the HVAC system, a temperature of the zone; determining, based at least in part on the temperature of the zone, instructions for providing a flow of conditioned air to the zone; wirelessly transmitting the instructions to a damper located in a duct associated with the zone of the HVAC system; causing a movable plate of the damper to move to a closed position or an at least partially open position based at least in part on the received instructions, thereby adjusting the flow of conditioned air to the zone; receiving one or both of a measured air flowrate in the duct associated with the zone and an air pressure in the duct associated with the zone; and detecting a malfunction of the damper based on one or both of the measured air flowrate in the duct and the measured air pressure in the duct.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the instructions indicate a degree of openness for the moveable plate, and the method comprises opening the moveable plate of the damper to the indicated degree of openness.
9 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising: adjusting the instructions for providing the flow of conditioned air to the zone based on one or both of the measured air flowrate in the duct and the measured air pressure in the duct; and causing the moveable plate to move to a degree of openness based on the adjusted instructions.
10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein wirelessly transmitting the instructions to the damper comprises sending the instructions using a Bluetooth transmitter and receiver of a thermostat of the HVAC system.
11 . A damper located in a duct associated with a zone of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, the damper comprising: a moveable plate configured to block a flow of conditioned air through the duct when the movable plate is in a closed position and allow the flow of conditioned air through the duct when the movable plate is in an at least partially open position; a wireless receiver and transmitter configured to receive instructions from a thermostat of the HVAC system for providing the flow of conditioned air to the zone; and an actuator configured to move the movable plate based at least in part on the received instructions, thereby adjusting the flow of conditioned air to the zone; wherein the HVAC system further comprises one or more sensors configured to measure one or both of an air flowrate in the duct and an air pressure in the duct, wherein the thermostat is further configured to detect a malfunction of the damper based on one or both of the measured air flowrate in the duct and the measured air pressure in the duct.
12 . The damper of claim 11 , wherein the instructions indicate a degree of openness for the moveable plate, and the actuator causes the moveable plate to open to the indicated degree of openness.
13 . The damper of claim 11 , wherein the damper further comprises or is coupled to the one or more sensors configured to measure one or both of an air flowrate in the duct and an air pressure in the duct.
14 . The damper of claim 13 , wherein the actuator causes the moveable plate to move to a degree of openness determined based on one or both of the measured air flowrate in the duct and the measured air pressure in the duct.
15 . The damper of claim 11 , wherein the wireless receiver and transmitter is a Bluetooth transmitter and receiver in communication with a Bluetooth transmitter and receiver of the thermostat of the HVAC system.
16 . The damper of claim 15 , wherein the Bluetooth transmitter and receiver of the damper is in communication with the Bluetooth transmitter and receiver of the thermostat via a mesh network formed at least in part by Bluetooth transmitter and receivers of other dampers of the HVAC system.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION The application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/822,194 filed Aug. 25, 2022, entitled “HVAC SYSTEM WITH WIRELESS DAMPER AND ZONING CONTROL,” which is incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD This disclosure relates generally to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. More particularly, in certain embodiments, this disclosure relates to an HVAC system with wireless damper and zoning control. BACKGROUND Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are used to regulate environmental conditions within an enclosed space. Air is cooled via heat transfer with refrigerant flowing through the HVAC system and returned to the enclosed space as conditioned air. SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE In some cases, it is desirable to provide flows of conditioned air to different zones of a space being serviced by an HVAC system. For example, a single evaporator coil may provide cooled air that can be sent to two or more zones, corresponding, for instance, to different sections or rooms of a building. When cooling is not needed to one zone, a damper may be closed to prevent the flow of conditioned air to that zone. However, in previous HVAC systems it can be difficult (e.g., costly, time-intensive, resource intensive or even impossible (e.g., if sufficient control infrastructure is not already in place) to retrofit an HVAC system to add additional zones. Furthermore, previously available dampers for controlling airflow to separate zones typically only open or close to provide binary on or off states for the flow of conditioned air. No further control of the airflow to different zones was possible. Instead, a signal is sent to open or close the damper to a given zone, and information is not provided to confirm that the action was successful or what impact the action had on the airflow provided to the zone. Additionally, previous zoned HVAC systems are limited on the number of possible zones, for example, because of the limited availability of wired interface connections on conventional control systems. This disclosure solves problems of previous zoned HVAC systems by facilitating improved damper control. The improved zoned HVAC systems of this disclosure include dampers that wirelessly communicate with the thermostat and/or controller that provides instructions for zone operations. For example, a wireless receiver/transmitter of the damper may receive instructions for opening and closing the moveable plate of the damper in order to adjust the flow of air to its corresponding zone. A zone temperature sensor may measure a zone temperature that is used to determine when and/or how much conditioned air should be provided to the zone. The degree of openness of the damper's plate can be adjusted to more effectively and efficiently reach and/or maintain a target or setpoint temperature. In this way, zones can be controlled more effectively, resulting in overall improvements to HVAC system efficiency and the comfort provided to occupants of a space. Furthermore, in some cases, the dampers include or are coupled to one or more sensors, such as flow rate sensors and/or pressure sensors, that can provide feedback regarding how the damper is performing and/or an amount or quality of air provided to a corresponding zone. This feedback can be used to appropriately adjust the degree of openness of the damper's movable plate and/or detect/diagnose problems with the damper (e.g., a broken actuator motor). Additionally, existing HVAC infrastructure may be more readily retrofitted to include the wireless dampers of this disclosure, for example, because additional dampers can be added without extensive rewiring of the control system and because the number of zones is not limited by availability of physical inputs in a controller interface. Certain embodiments may include none, some, or all of the above technical advantages. One or more other technical advantages may be readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the figures, descriptions, and claims included herein. In an embodiment, an HVAC system includes a thermostat comprising a processor configured to determine instructions for providing a flow of conditioned air to a first zone of the HVAC system. The HVAC system includes a damper located in a duct associated with the first zone of the HVAC system. The damper includes a moveable plate configured to block the flow of conditioned air through the duct when the movable plate is in a closed position and allow the flow of conditioned air through the duct when the movable plate is in an at least partially open position. The damper includes a wireless receiver and transmitter configured to receive the instructions for providing the flow of conditioned air to the first zone. The damper includes an actuator configured to move the movable plate based at least in part on the received instructions, thereby adjusting the flow of conditioned air to the fir