Systems for and methods of automatically scheduling and executing in situ tests on electrical and mechanical systems
A testing platform tests an electrical and mechanical system such as an HVAC unit according to an algorithm that reduces the total testing time of the components of the system, while ensuring the safety of the system during system-wide testing. The platform uses constraints that are checked both before and during the testing to ensure that HVAC operating conditions are acceptable for starting and maintaining component tests. Preferably, the platform uses finite-state machines for each device to organize the component tests, allowing for monitoring of constraints and starting, pausing, and stopping component tests. Preferably, total test execution time is reduced by running component tests in parallel, running component tests based on loads of the components, or combinations of both.
1. A method of testing an electrical and mechanical system including interconnected devices, each device including one or more components, the method comprising:
identifying a component test for each component tested;
grouping components of the interconnected devices into groups such that components in each of the groups are tested in parallel;
dynamically scheduling execution of the component tests to minimize a total execution time of the component tests based on criteria including the groups, at least one prerequisite constraint for starting execution of the component tests, and at least one prerequisite safety constraint for maintaining execution of the component tests; and
executing the component tests on the interconnected devices based on the scheduling.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the criteria further include states of at least one of the components.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising monitoring changes in the states of the components and updating at least one of the constraints based on the changes in the states of the components.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the at least one of the constraints is updated asynchronously.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting a first set of the components for testing based on loads on the devices;
selecting a second set of the components for testing only after testing of the first set of the components is completed; and
selecting constraints to delay testing of the second set of the components only after testing of the first set of the components is completed.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting a component that is unresponsive to a corresponding component test;
placing the unresponsive component into a recovery state; and
updating the constraints to indicate that the unresponsive component is removed from the groups.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the components are selected from the group consisting of a chiller, a fan, a valve, a duct, an airflow sensor, a thermometer, a heating coil, a vent, a pump, variable air volume boxes, a radiator, a boiler, an actuator, and any combination thereof.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising associating a finite-state machine with each device of the interconnected devices,
wherein states of a finite-state machine correspond to a corresponding component test.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising automatically generating the multiple finite-state machines from the constraints.
10. A testing system for testing an electrical and mechanical system comprising:
a processor; and
a computer readable medium in communication with the processor and having stored thereon computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a test method, the computer-executable instructions including:
multiple finite-state machines, each finite state machine corresponding to one or more interconnected devices of the electrical and mechanical system, wherein states of the multiple finite-state machines correspond to component tests for testing components of the one or more interconnected devices; and
a scheduler configured to (a) query at least one test enabler set, which includes constraints to satisfy in order for one or more component tests to continue executing, before starting the one or more component tests, (b) dynamically control the multiple finite-state machines to execute the component tests according to groups of the components such that components in each group are tested in parallel such that a total execution time of the component tests is minimized, and (c) query at least one test safety set, which includes constraints to satisfy in order for one or more component tests to continue executing, before stopping execution of the one or more component tests.
11. The testing system of claim 10 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprise a condition finite-state machine for monitoring results of the component tests and updating the constraints based on the results.
12. The testing system of claim 10 , wherein the computer readable medium has stored thereon a description file including:
a description of physical interconnections of one or more components; and
a state of each of the one or more components.
13. The testing system of claim 10 , wherein the electrical and mechanical system includes a heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning unit.
14. The testing system of claim 13 , wherein the components are selected from the group consisting of a chiller, a fan, a valve, a duct, an airflow sensor, a thermometer, a heating coil, a vent, a pump, variable air volume boxes, a radiator, a boiler, an actuator, and any combination thereof.
15. The testing system of claim 10 , wherein the testing system is coupled to the electrical and mechanical system over a network.
16. The testing system of claim 15 , wherein the network includes a cloud network.
17. The testing system of claim 10 , wherein each component includes an associated test list package, wherein the test list package includes one or more test lists, and wherein each test list of the one or more test lists includes a list of component tests for testing operation of a component.