Thermostat with integrated particle sensor
A residential or commercial thermostat incorporating an airborne particle sensor. A standard thermostat device incorporating at least one temperature sensor and at least activation of heating and/or cooling with the addition of an on-board particle sensor. The particulate information could simply be displayed, or could be part of controlling filtration or air-handling equipment.
1 . A thermostat for monitoring air quality and controlling environment in a living space of a residential or commercial building comprising:
a temperature sensor in a wall mounted thermostat enclosure having an external communication interface wherein a measured temperature value and a measured particle count value are communicated to an external device for logging of the measured temperature and particle count values wherein the wall mounted thermostat enclosure has a wiring access to provide power to the thermostat;
at least one control processor in the wall mounted thermostat enclosure, the at least one control processor being configured with a software program to control the external communication interface and operate with a temperature setpoint and a particulate setpoint, the at least one control processor being connected to the temperature sensor and a light sensing airborne particle measurement sensor;
a fan or a blower in the thermostat enclosure that actuates an airflow in the wall mounted thermostat enclosure wherein the airflow passes through a particle sensor inlet and a particle sensor exhaust of the thermostat enclosure;
an actuator control communicating with the at least one control processor, the actuator control generating control signals that control a building air handler device that is external to the wall mounted thermostat enclosure that adjusts at least one of air filtering, heating and cooling in the living space of a residential or commercial building in response to sensor data; and
wherein the light sensing airborne particle measurement sensor in the wall mounted thermostat enclosure is configured to measure a plurality of particles in the airflow wherein the light sensing airborne particle measurement sensor counts a number of particles and communicates measured particle count values to the control processor, each of the particle count values including at least a number of particles counted by size bins, and wherein the actuator control communicates with the building air handler device to control at least one of air filtering, heating and cooling in the living space with the residential or commercial building air handler device and wherein the actuator control actuates an air filtration system when an airborne particle count value rises above the particulate setpoint.
2 . The thermostat of claim 1 , wherein the wall mounted thermostat enclosure further comprises a gas sensor to measure total Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC).
3 . The thermostat of claim 1 , further comprising an additional sensor in communication with the at least one control processor, wherein the sensor data from different sensors is weighted and processed to control the building air handler device.
4 . The thermostat of claim 1 , further comprising a humidity sensor in communication with the at least one control processor, wherein the humidity sensor measures relative humidity.
5 . The thermostat of claim 1 , further comprising a user interface input unit coupled to the at least one control processor such that a user can provide input to the thermostat to adjust a thermostat operation.
6 . The thermostat of claim 1 , wherein each of the sensors are used to control one actuator selected from a plurality of actuators according to one or more pre-defined control algorithms and selectable setpoints to operate an air filter.
7 . The thermostat of claim 1 wherein sensor data is communicated to at least one of a display that includes a user interface and the external device by a wireless interface.
8 . The thermostat of claim 1 further comprising a display that displays the temperature setpoint and the particulate setpoint.
9 . The thermostat of claim 1 wherein the external communication interface comprises a wireless connection to the external device.
10 . The thermostat of claim 1 wherein the external communication interface comprises a web interface.