Methods and functional elements for enhanced thermal management of predominantly enclosed spaces and the use of concurrently obtained sensor data for secondary applications including insurance related applications

Abstract

Disclosed are methods and functional elements for enhanced thermal management of predominantly enclosed spaces. In particular, the invention enables the construction of buildings with reduced power requirements for heating and/or air-conditioning systems since under certain conditions less energy for heating or cooling is required to maintain, within certain boundaries, desirable temperatures inside such buildings, habitats, or other enclosed spaces.In some instances the invention is in part based on dynamically changing functional elements with variable properties, or effective properties, in terms of their electromagnetic radiative behavior and/or their thermal energy storage properties, or the spatial distribution of the stored thermal energy, which permits the application of methods and algorithms to control the overall thermal behavior of the entire structure in such a way that desired levels of inside temperature can be reached with reduced consumption of external energy (typically electricity, gas, oil, or coal).In some instances no conventional heating of cooling is required at all, whereas in other instances the expenditure of external energy for conventional heating or cooling is reduced. In some instances the invention enables the reduction of the time to reach desired temperatures inside such buildings, habitats, or other predominantly enclosed spaces.In some instances the obtained sensor data may be used to detect the occurrence or imminently predicted occurrence of a catastrophic event, including but not limited to fire or flooding, internal or external to the predominantly enclosed space.In some embodiments this information may support any single or any combination of locally or remotely alerting humans, alerting rescue units, activating countermeasures, uploading at least partially said sensor data to off-site computers, determining the cause(s) of said catastrophic event, determining liability, determining insure payments, determining insurance premiums.

1 - 13 . (canceled) 
     
     
         14 . An apparatus for modulating the impact of electromagnetic irradiance on a predominantly enclosed space of a building, comprising:
 one or more of:
 a plurality of functional elements configured to be positioned in an exterior position relative to an outside facing surface of an inner shell of a predominantly enclosed space of a building, wherein the functional elements are spatially adjustable to change the amount of the outside facing surface which is exposed to a radiation source; and 
 one or more panels, containers, or reservoirs, each configured to be at least partially filled with a thermal carrier medium and configured to receive incident primary irradiance, and to increase a thermal capacity of an inner shell of a predominantly enclosed space of a building; and 
   an electronic control system configured to:
 (a) receive sensor data comprising input signals from one or more sensors; 
 (b) in response to (a), detect or predict a catastrophic event internal or external to the predominantly enclosed space; and 
 (c) in response to (b), initiate first countermeasures to reduce the severity of the catastrophic event, wherein the first countermeasures comprises at least one of:
 (1) spatially adjusting said functional elements; and 
 (2) adjusting the spatial distribution of said thermal carrier medium. 
 
   
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein said control system is further configured to:
 be connected to one or more of the internet, a mobile phone network, and a wireless communications network; and   one or more of:
 send status and performance data; 
 enable remote log-ins to display status and performance data on a remote computer or a remote mobile device; and 
 enable remote log-ins to manipulate the operation of said control system, including to change control target data, from a remote computer or a remote mobile device. 
   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the catastrophic event comprises a fire inside or in the vicinity of said predominantly enclosed space. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the catastrophic event comprises a flooding internal to or in the vicinity of said predominantly enclosed space. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the control system is further configured to one or more of:
 send an alert of the fire to at least one of a human and a rescue unit;   activate second countermeasures to prevent said fire or reduce the probable damage level, and   upload at least part of said sensor data to an off-site computer.   
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , wherein the second countermeasures comprises one or more of:
 shutting off electric power supply to said predominantly enclosed space; and   shutting off gas supply to said predominantly enclosed space.   
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the control system is further configured to at least partially use said data from said sensors to determine a cause of the catastrophic event. 
     
     
         21 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the control system is further configured to at least partially use said data from said sensors to determine a cause of said fire. 
     
     
         22 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the control system is further configured to at least partially use said data from said sensors to determine if said fire was caused by arson. 
     
     
         23 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the control system is further configured to at least partially use said data from said sensors to determine one or both of the degree of liability or amount of payments by an insurance. 
     
     
         24 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the control system is further configured to at least partially use said data from said sensors to determine one or both of the degree of liability or amount of payments by an insurance. 
     
     
         25 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the control system is further configured to at least partially use said data from said sensors to determine one or both of the degree of liability or amount of payments by an insurance. 
     
     
         26 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the control system is further configured to at least partially use said data from said sensors to determine insurance premiums for one or both of a particular building or a specific residential, industrial, or other area. 
     
     
         27 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , comprising the plurality of functional elements, wherein:
 outside facing surfaces of said functional elements have higher reflectivity in the visible (VIS) wavelength range and near infrared (NIR) wavelength range relative to the mid-infrared (MIR) wavelength range;   inside facing surfaces of said functional elements have higher reflectivity in the NIR and MIR wavelength range relative to the VIS wavelength range;   a thickness of said functional elements is equal to or smaller than a thickness of said inner shell; and   the plurality of functional elements are mounted in the exterior position with a plurality of support elements small in size and or thermal conductivity compared to the size and or thermal conductivity of the functional element, to reduce thermal conductivity between the functional elements and the inner shell.   
     
     
         28 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the control system is further configured to:
 approximate at least one control target, using the one or more input signals and based on one or more of:   a local user input,   a remote user input,   a remote computer input,   a preset value, and   a computed value.   
     
     
         29 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the data is derived from one or more of: external or internal electromagnetic irradiance, the spectral distribution thereof, the direction thereof, material temperature, air temperature, and thermal carrier medium temperature. 
     
     
         30 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the control system is further configured to:
 when the first countermeasures comprises (1), (1) comprises adjusting said functional elements to a closed position; and   when the first countermeasures comprises (2), (2) comprises redistribution of said thermal carrier medium such that at least one of the probability of the building catching fire is reduced, the extent of a fire is reduced, and the speed with which a fire spreads is reduced.   
     
     
         31 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the first countermeasures further comprises shutting off at least one of electricity, gas and water supply to the building.