Devices and methods for network integration of an hvac device

Abstract

A communication circuit for providing communication to an actuator. The communication circuit includes a device interface and a network interface. The device interface is configured to provide a serial communication link between the communication circuit and a processing circuit of the actuator. The network interface is in electronic communication with the device interface, and configured to communicate with an external network. The device interface is configured to receive data values from the actuator via the serial communication link. The device interface is further configured to populate one or more attributes of an equipment object stored in the device interface with the received data values. The network interface is further configured to map the attributes of the equipment object with individual networking objects, and write the attributes to the mapped individual networking objects. The network interface further configured to communicate the individual networking objects to the external network.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A communication circuit for use with an actuator comprising a processing circuit, the communication circuit comprising:
 a device interface configured to provide a serial communication link between the communication circuit and the processing circuit;   a network interface in communication with the device interface and configured to communicate with an external network;   wherein the device interface is configured to receive data values from the processing circuit via the serial communication link, the device interface being configured by the processing circuit to populate one or more attributes of an equipment object stored in the device interface with the data values; and   wherein the network interface is configured to map the attributes of the equipment object to individual networking objects, and write the attributes of the equipment object to the mapped individual networking objects, the network interface being configured to communicate the individual networking objects to the external network   
     
     
         2 . The communication circuit of  claim 1 , wherein the external network is a BACnet network. 
     
     
         3 . The communication circuit of  claim 1 , wherein the device interface comprises a network layer, the network layer configured to read values contained in the individual networking objects, and transmit the values contained in the individual networking objects to the external network. 
     
     
         4 . The communication circuit of  claim 1 , wherein the network interface comprises a communication link for providing communication between the network interface and the network. 
     
     
         5 . The communication circuit of  claim 4 , wherein the communication link is configured to automatically determine a baud rate for communicating with the network. 
     
     
         6 . The communication circuit of  claim 1 , wherein network interface selectively maps a set of the attributes of the equipment object to the individual networking objects, based on an instruction from the processing circuit. 
     
     
         7 . The communication circuit of  claim 6 , wherein the instruction is to not map attributes of the equipment object that are associated with a static data point of the actuator. 
     
     
         8 . The communication circuit of  claim 1 , wherein the network interface is further configured to write external data values to one or more attributes of the equipment object. The external data values received from the external network. 
     
     
         9 . The communication circuit of  claim 8 , wherein the device interface is further configured to transmit the external data values written to the one or more attributes of the equipment object to the processing circuit of the actuator via the serial communication link. 
     
     
         10 . A communication circuit for providing network communications to an actuator, the communication circuit comprising:
 a processing circuit, the processing circuit comprising:
 a processor, the processor configured to communicate with the actuator device, and configured to receive one or more data values from the actuator; 
 a memory, the memory in communication with the processor and including an equipment object, the equipment object comprising one or more attributes associated with the actuator; 
   wherein the processing circuit is configured to map the one or more received data values to the one or more attributes of the equipment object; and   a network transceiver, the network transceiver configured to transmit the mapped values in the equipment object to a network using a communication interface.   
     
     
         11 . The communication circuit of  claim 10 , wherein the communication interface is an RS-485 interface. 
     
     
         12 . The communication circuit of  claim 10 , wherein the processing circuit is further configured to map the attributes of the equipment object to individual networking objects for transmission to the network using the network transceiver. 
     
     
         13 . The communication circuit of  claim 12 , wherein standard networking objects include at least one of file objects, device objects, analog values, binary values and multistate values. 
     
     
         14 . The communication circuit of  claim 12 , wherein processing circuit is further configured to receive data values from the network, and write the received data to one or more of the individual networking objects. 
     
     
         15 . The communication circuit of  claim 14 , wherein the processing circuit is further configured to map the received data written in the one or more individual networking objects to corresponding attributes in the equipment object. 
     
     
         16 . A method of communicating HVAC device attributes to a network, the method comprising:
 receiving one or more data values associated with the HVAC device at a communication circuit via a communication link;   writing the one or more data values to an equipment object, the equipment object mapping the data values to an associated attribute of the equipment object;   mapping the attributes of the equipment object to one or more standard networking objects; and   transmitting the standard networking object to a network.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the network is a BACnet network. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the standard network objects include at least one of file objects, device objects, analog values, binary values and multistate values. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the communication link is a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) interface. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 receiving a request from the host device to provide data values associated with the equipment object; and   transmitting the requested values to the host device via the communication link.