A Method of Reducing Energy Consumption of Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Equipment in a Multi-Room Building

Abstract

A method of reducing energy consumption of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment in a multi-room building. The energy consumption that would result from a particular candidate room allocation is used in order to determine how to allocate loads across the HVAC equipment. A candidate room allocation can be selected to optimise the efficiency of the HVAC equipment based on the proposed load that the HVAC equipment would be under should that candidate room allocation be selected.

1 - 19 . (canceled) 
     
     
         20 . A method of distributing load across a plurality of compressors in a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system for a multi-room building in which each compressor supplies cooling and/or heating to one or more rooms in said multi-room building, the method comprising the steps:
 (i) obtaining a compressor efficiency profile for each compressor, wherein the compressor efficiency profile for each compressor comprises information regarding the efficiency of said compressor when operated at a specific capacity;   (ii) determining which of a plurality of candidate room allocations to select for at a given time point by:
 analysing the plurality of candidate room allocations to determine a resultant energy consumption for the plurality of compressors when operated at a resultant load for each of said candidate room allocations, 
 determining which candidate room allocation is most energy efficient at the given time point, 
 allocating a next room and respective compressor to be used according to the most energy efficient candidate room allocation. 
   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20  wherein the step of obtaining compressor efficiency profile for each compressor includes the steps:
 gathering in-room power status, 
 gathering HVAC power data, and 
 modelling the relationship between in-room power status and HVAC power data. 
 
     
     
         22 . The method according to  claim 20  wherein the step of determining which candidate room allocation is most energy efficient at the given time point includes the steps:
 constructing an objective function based on the compressor efficiency profile for each compressor, and 
 minimising the objective function to minimise HVAC energy subject to the room occupancy status and room reservation requirements. 
 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 20  wherein the allocating the next room to be used step is carried out using mixed integer programming. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 20  wherein the compressor efficiency profile is built using data from one or more sensors in the plurality of rooms. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 20  wherein the compressor efficiency profile is built using data on power consumption of the HVAC equipment over time. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 24  wherein the sensors are smart thermostats. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 24  wherein the sensors are located in each room. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27  wherein each room is equivalent to a fan coil. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 20  wherein the multi-room building is selected from the group consisting: a school, a hotel, a meeting room facility, an office facility and a nursing home. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 20  wherein the method is a computer implemented method. 
     
     
         31 . The method according to  claim 30  wherein the computer implemented method utilises machine learning to refine the compressor efficiency profiles by gathering data on one or more parameters selected from: time of future room reservation requirements, orientation of room, weather forecast, age of the HVAC equipment, weather forecast and setpoint temperature. 
     
     
         32 . A computer programmed to carry out a method of distributing load across a plurality of compressors in a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system for a multi-room building in which each compressor supplies cooling and/or heating to one or more rooms in said multi-room building, the method comprising the steps:
 (i) obtaining a compressor efficiency profile for each compressor, wherein the compressor efficiency profile for each compressor comprises information regarding the efficiency of said compressor when operated at a specific capacity;   (ii) determining which of a plurality of candidate room allocations to select for at a given time point by:
 analysing the plurality of candidate room allocations to determine a resultant energy consumption for the plurality of compressors when operated at a resultant load for each of said candidate room allocations, 
 determining which candidate room allocation is most energy efficient at the given time point, 
   allocating a next room and respective compressor to be used according to the most energy efficient candidate room allocation.   
     
     
         33 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to carry out a method of distributing load across a plurality of compressors in a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system for a multi-room building in which each compressor supplies cooling and/or heating to one or more rooms in said multi-room building, the method comprising the steps:
 (i) obtaining a compressor efficiency profile for each compressor, wherein the compressor efficiency profile for each compressor comprises information regarding the efficiency of said compressor when operated at a specific capacity;   (ii) determining which of a plurality of candidate room allocations to select for at a given time point by:
 analysing the plurality of candidate room allocations to determine a resultant energy consumption for the plurality of compressors when operated at a resultant load for each of said candidate room allocations, 
 determining which candidate room allocation is most energy efficient at the given time point, 
   allocating a next room and respective compressor to be used according to the most energy efficient candidate room allocation.   
     
     
         34 . (canceled)