Granted Patent B2

US 12,571,554 · App. 18/105,710 · Granted Mar 10, 2026

Inventors: Fang Du (Milwaukee, WI); Michael J. Wenzel (Grafton, WI); Anas W.I. Alanqar (Milwaukee, WI); Jonathan D. Douglas (Mequon, WI); Sean Aaron Finn-Samuels (Milwaukee, WI); Michael J. Risbeck (Milwaukee, WI); Mohammad Elbsat (Milwaukee, WI); Kirk H. Drees (Cedarburg, WI)

Assignee: TYCO FIRE & SECURITY GMBH

F24F11/63F24F2110/32F24F2110/64F24F2120/10

Abstract

Claims (84)

1 . A building management system (BMS) for controlling building equipment based on an indoor air quality (IAQ) ventilation analysis of a building, the BMS comprising:

a controller comprising memory and one or more processors configured to:

collect IAQ data from one or more sensors within the building;

determine a transient period of a plurality of transient periods based on analyzing the IAQ data and identifying at least one of (1) a period of time longer than a minimum length of time (2) a peak-to-peak concentration change greater than a minimum peak-to-peak concentration change, (3) a decay rate greater than a minimum decay rate, and (4) a derivative peak in a first half of the period of time;

estimate a plurality of actual outdoor airflow rates for an area of the building during the plurality of transient periods using the IAQ data as input;

generate a time series actual outdoor airflow rate comprising the plurality of actual outdoor airflow rates estimated using the IAQ data; and

modify a control strategy for the area of the building by operating HVAC equipment to control the time series actual outdoor airflow rate in accordance with a ventilation schedule for the area of the building.

2 . The BMS of claim 1 , wherein determining the transient period is further based on detecting, from the one or more sensors, at least one occupant previously entered or previously left one or more areas of the building based on the collected IAQ data.

3 . The BMS of claim 1 , the one or more processors further configured to:

determine an actual outdoor airflow rate of the plurality of actual outdoor airflow rates during the transient period based on:

analyzing a relationship between each of a plurality of possible outdoor airflow rates and a corresponding regression error of a plurality of regression errors of a regression model; and

selecting a possible outdoor airflow rate of the plurality of possible outdoor airflow rates as the actual outdoor airflow rate for the transient period based on identifying a minimum regression error of the relationship.

4 . The BMS of claim 3 , the one or more processors further configured to:

in response to the actual outdoor airflow rate comprising an uncertainty above an uncertainty threshold, select a default outdoor airflow rate as the actual outdoor airflow rate for the transient period.

5 . The BMS of claim 4 , wherein the uncertainty is calculated based on:

defining an objective function based on mapping the plurality of actual outdoor airflow rates to a scaler value;

minimizing the objective function based on determining an outdoor airflow rate of the plurality of actual outdoor airflow rates that results in a minimum objective value; and

determining a range of outdoor airflow rates less than a threshold based on the minimum objective value, wherein the range of outdoor airflow rates is centered around the minimum objective value, and wherein a width of the range is a measure of the uncertainty associated with the minimum objective value.

6 . The BMS of claim 5 , wherein an occupancy estimate and particle generation rate are back calculated based on:

calculating a time series particle disturbance based on the time series actual outdoor airflow rate and the IAQ data, wherein an increase in a portion of the time series particle disturbance indicates an increase in occupancy of the area of the building; and

calculating a particle generation rate based on an occupancy dataset comprising occupant ages and occupant metabolic rates.

7 . The BMS of claim 1 , wherein modifying the control strategy causes the BMS to implement the control strategy to control HVAC equipment of the building, wherein the control strategy further comprises adjusting at least one control of the HVAC equipment based on one or more instructions, and wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

calculate an operating cost of the time series actual outdoor airflow rate according to the ventilation schedule; and

optimize the ventilation schedule based on either (1) maintaining the time series actual outdoor airflow rate to one or more HVAC standards or code and minimizing the operating cost, or (2) maximizing the time series actual outdoor airflow rate and maintaining the operating cost below a predefined threshold.

8 . The BMS of claim 1 , wherein the area is an HVAC zone of the building, and wherein the IAQ data comprises at least indoor CO 2 concentrations and outdoor CO 2 concentrations.

9 . The BMS of claim 1 , the one or more processors further configured to:

determine an area occupancy schedule based on executing an occupancy schedule model, wherein the area occupancy schedule comprises a plurality of occupied periods; and

modify the control strategy for the area of the building based on the area occupancy schedule.

10 . The BMS of claim 9 , the one or more processors further configured to execute the occupancy schedule model by:

determining a time series CO 2 disturbance based on the time series actual outdoor airflow rate and the IAQ data;

filtering the time series CO 2 disturbance to generate a filtered time series CO 2 disturbance;

calculating a first derivative of the filtered time series CO 2 disturbance;

calculating a daily CO 2 disturbance range of the filtered time series CO 2 disturbance to determine one or more outlier days;

determining a first data point of the filtered time series CO 2 disturbance and a second data point of the filtered first derivative time series CO 2 disturbance, wherein the first data point of the filtered time series CO 2 disturbance is a CO 2 disturbance threshold, and wherein the second data point of the filtered first derivative time series CO 2 disturbance is a first derivative CO 2 disturbance threshold, wherein determining the first data point and the second data point is based on executing a regression model excluding the one or more outlier days;

identifying, using the filtered time series CO 2 disturbance, a first occupied time range for a day, the first occupied time range for the day comprises a first start time from the filtered time series CO 2 disturbance that is greater than the CO 2 disturbance threshold and a first end time from the filtered time series CO 2 disturbance that is less than the CO 2 disturbance threshold, wherein the first end time is after the first start time;

identifying, using the filtered first derivative time series CO 2 disturbance, a second occupied time range for the day, the second occupied time range for the day comprises a second start time from the filtered first derivative time series CO 2 disturbance that is greater than the first derivative CO 2 disturbance threshold and a second end time from the filtered first derivative time series CO 2 disturbance that is less than the first derivative CO 2 disturbance threshold, wherein the second end time is after the second start time;

combining the first occupied time range and the second occupied time range for the day based on overlapping occupied time ranges to create the area occupancy schedule; and

updating the ventilation schedule based on the combined occupied time ranges.

11 . The BMS of claim 10 , the one or more processors further configured to:

cluster a plurality of area occupancy schedules that comprises the area occupancy schedule based on a plurality of clustering indexes, wherein the plurality of clustering indexes are determined based on:

calculating a plurality of similar disturbances between the plurality of area occupancy schedules;

plotting the plurality of similar disturbances based on applying hierarchical clustering to the calculated plurality of similar disturbances;

determining a third data point of the plotted plurality of similar disturbances based on executing the regression model, wherein the third data point of the plotted plurality of similar disturbances is an area cluster separation threshold;

clustering each of the plurality of area occupancy schedules into one of the plurality of clustering indexes based on the area cluster separation threshold; and

in response to a number of the plurality of clustering indexes being above a scheduling threshold, re-clustering each of plurality of area occupancy schedules into one of the plurality of clustering indexes based on a maximum area cluster separation threshold.

12 . The BMS of claim 11 , the one or more processors further configured to:

determine a weekly schedule of each of the clustered plurality of area occupancy schedules for each of the plurality of clustering indexes, wherein the weekly schedule is determined based on:

calculating each distance of a plurality of distances between each day of the clustered plurality of area occupancy schedules for one of the plurality of clustering indexes;

plotting the plurality of distances based on applying the hierarchical clustering to the calculated plurality of distances;

determining a fourth data point of the plotted plurality of distances based on executing the regression model, wherein the fourth data point of the plotted plurality of distances is a schedule cluster separation threshold;

clustering each of the clustered plurality of area occupancy schedules into one of a plurality of schedule clustering indexes based on the schedule cluster separation threshold; and

modify the control strategy for a plurality of areas of the building based on the clustered plurality of area occupancy schedules and the plurality of schedule clustering indexes.

13 . A computer-implemented method for controlling building equipment based on an indoor air quality (IAQ) ventilation analysis of a building, the computer-implemented method comprising:

determining, by a processing circuit, an area occupancy schedule based on executing an occupancy schedule model, wherein the area occupancy schedule comprises a plurality of occupied periods, and wherein executing the occupancy schedule model comprises:

determining, by the processing circuit, a time series particle disturbance based on a time series outdoor airflow rate and IAQ data;

determining, by the processing circuit, one or more data points of the time series particle disturbance, wherein each of the one or more data points is a particle disturbance threshold, wherein determining the one or more data points is based on executing a regression model;

identifying, by the processing circuit using the time series particle disturbance, a plurality of occupied time ranges for a day, wherein each of the plurality of occupied time ranges comprises a start time from that is greater than the particle disturbance threshold and an end time from that is less than the particle disturbance threshold; and

combining, by the processing circuit, the plurality of occupied time ranges for the day based on overlapping occupied time ranges to create the area occupancy schedule; and

modifying, by the processing circuit, a control strategy for an area of the building by operating HVAC equipment to control the time series outdoor airflow rate based on the area occupancy schedule.

14 . The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , further comprising:

clustering, by the processing circuit, a plurality of area occupancy schedules that comprises the area occupancy schedule based on a plurality of clustering indexes, wherein the plurality of clustering indexes are determined based on:

calculating, by the processing circuit, a plurality of similar disturbances between the plurality of area occupancy schedules;

plotting, by the processing circuit, the plurality of similar disturbances based on applying hierarchical clustering to the calculated plurality of similar disturbances;

determining, by the processing circuit, a third data point of the plotted plurality of similar disturbances based on executing the regression model, wherein the third data point of the plotted plurality of similar disturbances is an area cluster separation threshold;

clustering, by the processing circuit, each of the plurality of area occupancy schedules into one of the plurality of clustering indexes based on the area cluster separation threshold; and

in response to a number of the plurality of clustering indexes being above a scheduling threshold, re-clustering, by the processing circuit, each of plurality of area occupancy schedules into one of the plurality of clustering indexes based on a maximum area cluster separation threshold.

15 . The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , wherein calculating the plurality of similar disturbances comprises calculating at least one of (1) a hamming distance, (2) a CO 2 correlation, (3) a cosine similarity, or (4) a tanimoto coefficient between the area occupancy schedule and at least another area occupancy schedule.

16 . The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , further comprising:

determining, by the processing circuit, a weekly schedule of each of the clustered plurality of area occupancy schedules for each of the plurality of clustering indexes, wherein the weekly schedule is determined based on:

calculating, by the processing circuit, each distance of a plurality of distances between each day of the clustered plurality of area occupancy schedules for one of the plurality of clustering indexes;

plotting, by the processing circuit, the plurality of distances based on applying the hierarchical clustering to the calculated plurality of distances;

determining, by the processing circuit, a fourth data point of the plotted plurality of distances based on executing the regression model, wherein the fourth data point of the plotted plurality of distances is a schedule cluster separation threshold;

clustering, by the processing circuit, each of the clustered plurality of area occupancy schedules into one of a plurality of schedule clustering indexes based on the schedule cluster separation threshold; and

modifying, by the processing circuit, the control strategy for a plurality of areas of the building based on the clustered plurality of area occupancy schedules and the plurality of schedule clustering indexes.

17 . A building management system (BMS) for controlling building equipment based on an indoor air quality (IAQ) ventilation analysis of a building, the BMS comprising:

a controller comprising memory and one or more processors configured to:

collect IAQ data from one or more sensors within the building;

use the IAQ data to (i) identify a transient time period and (ii) estimate an actual outdoor airflow rate for an area of the building during the transient time period;

determine the transient period based on analyzing the IAQ data and identifying at least one of (1) a period of time longer than a minimum length of time (2) a peak-to-peak concentration change greater than a minimum peak-to-peak concentration change, (3) a decay rate greater than a minimum decay rate, and (4) a derivative peak in a first half of the period of time; and

modify a control strategy for the area of the building in response to detecting a deviation between (i) the actual outdoor airflow rate estimated using the IAQ data and (ii) a ventilation schedule for the area of the building, wherein modifying the control strategy comprises operating HVAC equipment to control the actual outdoor airflow rate in accordance with the ventilation schedule.

18 . The BMS of claim 17 , the one or more processors further configured to:

determine the actual outdoor airflow rate during the transient period based on:

analyzing a relationship between each of a plurality of possible outdoor airflow rates and a corresponding regression error of a plurality of regression errors of a regression model; and

selecting a possible outdoor airflow rate of the plurality of possible outdoor airflow rates as the actual outdoor airflow rate for the transient period based on identifying a minimum regression error of the relationship.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (3)

References Cited (96)