Granted Patent B2

US 12,656,010 · App. 18/031,226 · Granted Jun 16, 2026

Inventors: Janne Paiho (Motala, SE); Magnus Bladh (Stockholm, SE)

Assignee: ZEHNDER GROUP INTERNATIONAL AG

F24F11/65F24F3/16F24F2110/50

Abstract

Claims (50)

1 . A computer implemented method of operating an air cleaning cluster ( 20 , 20 ′) comprising a plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 , 10 . 1 - 10 . n ) arranged in a room comprising a volume of air ( 100 ), the method comprising:

receiving, by one or more control device(s) ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ), data indicative of air quality within the volume of air ( 100 );

receiving, by the control device(s) ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ), data indicative of operational state(s) of the plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 , 10 . 1 - 10 . n ); and

the control device(s) ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ) controlling one or more of the plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 , 10 . 1 - 10 . n ) of the air cleaning cluster ( 20 , 20 ′) such as to influence the indoor air quality within the volume of air ( 100 ), using the data indicative of the indoor air quality and the data indicative of an operational state of the plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 , 10 . 1 - 10 . n ), wherein the step of controlling the air cleaning cluster ( 20 , 20 ′) comprises controlling the plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 , 10 . 1 - 10 . n ) of the air cleaning cluster ( 20 , 20 ′) such that the data indicative of the air quality corresponds to an indoor air quality target value; and

wherein the step of controlling the air cleaning cluster ( 20 , 20 ′) comprises controlling the plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 , 10 . 1 - 10 . n ) to remove at least a portion of contaminants from the volume of air ( 100 ) by recirculating within the volume of air ( 100 ) comprised by the room in which the plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 , 10 . 1 - 10 . n ) are arranged in, the recirculation comprising

drawing in air through an air inlet ( 12 ) of each air cleaning device ( 10 , 10 . 1 - 10 . n ),

forcing, by air propelling means ( 15 ), at least a portion of the drawn-in air through one or more air cleaning filters ( 14 ) of each air cleaning device ( 10 , 10 . 1 - 10 . n ) to physically capture a portion of contaminants from the portion of the drawn0in air, and

returning at least a portion of the filtered air through an air outlet ( 16 ) of each air cleaning device ( 10 , 10 . 1 - 10 . n ).

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more control device(s) ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″, 30 . 1 - 30 . n ) comprises a plurality of control devices ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ), the method further comprising:

establishing a data communication link between the plurality of control devices ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n );

establishing a data communication link between each of the plurality of control devices ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ) and one or more of the plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 , 10 . 1 - 10 . n ); and

the plurality of control devices ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ) exchanging data indicative of the respective control device ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ) controlling one or more of the plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 , 10 . 1 - 10 . n ) of the air cleaning cluster ( 20 , 20 ′).

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the operational state(s) comprise data indicative of a load level of the plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 , 10 . 1 - 10 . n ), the method further comprising the control device ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ) controlling the air cleaning cluster ( 20 , 20 ′) such as to:

achieve a load balance between the plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 , 10 . 1 - 10 . n ); and/or

set one or more of the plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 , 10 . 1 - 10 . n ) to a load level of a threshold efficiency level; and/or

set one or more of the plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 , 10 . 1 - 10 . n ) to a load level below an increased wear level.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the operational state(s) comprises data indicative of a degradation level of a first air cleaning device ( 10 . 1 ) of the plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 , 10 . 1 - 10 . n ), the method further comprising the control device ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ) controlling one or more of the plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 . 2 - 10 . n ) other than the first air cleaning device ( 10 . 1 ) such as to compensate for the degradation level of the first air cleaning device ( 10 . 1 ).

5 . The method according to claim 4 , further comprising:

the control device ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ) switching the first air cleaning device ( 10 . 1 ) into a service state; and/or

generate an alert signal identifying the first air cleaning device ( 10 . 1 ),

if the data indicative of a degradation level is above a service threshold.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data indicative of air quality comprises data indicative of a contamination type within the volume of air ( 100 ), the method further comprising:

receiving, by the control device ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ), data indicative of a contamination type each of the plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 ) is configured to remove from the volume of air ( 100 ); and

the control device ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ) controlling the air cleaning cluster ( 20 , 20 ′) using the data indicative of a contamination type each of the plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 ) is configured to remove and the data indicative of a contamination type of the volume of air ( 100 ).

7 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

the control device ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ) receiving data indicative of an expected indoor air quality impact;

the control device ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ) controlling the air cleaning cluster ( 20 , 20 ′) further using the data indicative of an expected air quality impact.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a remote server ( 50 ) collecting data indicative of indoor air quality and data indicative of operational state(s) from a plurality of air cleaning clusters ( 20 , 20 ′) arranged within a plurality of volumes of air ( 100 , 100 ′);

the remote server ( 50 ) generating control parameters using the data collected from the plurality of air cleaning clusters ( 20 , 20 ′);

the remote server ( 50 ) transmitting the control parameters to the control device(s) ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ); and

the control device(s) ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ) controlling the air cleaning cluster ( 20 , 20 ′) further using the control parameters transmitted by the remote server ( 50 ).

9 . A control device ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ) comprising processing means ( 32 ) and storage means ( 36 ), the storage means ( 36 ) comprising computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the processing means ( 32 ) cause the control device ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ) to carry out the method according to claim 1 .

10 . An air cleaning device ( 10 ) comprising:

a control device ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ) according to claim 9 ;

an air inlet ( 12 );

one or more air cleaning filters ( 14 );

air propelling means ( 15 ); and

an air outlet ( 16 ),

the air cleaning device ( 10 ) being configured to remove at least a portion of contaminants from a volume of air ( 100 ) by recirculation within the volume of air ( 100 ) comprised by a room in which the air cleaning device ( 10 , 10 . 1 - 10 . n ) is arranged in, the recirculation comprising

drawing in air from the volume of air ( 100 ) through the air inlet ( 12 );

forcing, by the air propelling means ( 15 ), at least a portion of the drawn-in air through the one or more air cleaning filters ( 14 ) to physically capture a portion of contaminants from the portion of the drawn-in air; and

returning at least a portion of the filtered air through the air outlet ( 16 ) back to the volume of air ( 100 ).

11 . An air cleaning system ( 1 ) comprising:

an air cleaning cluster ( 20 , 20 ′) comprising a plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 ) arranged in a room comprising a volume of air ( 100 ), the plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 ) configured to remove at least a portion of contaminants from the volume of air ( 100 ) by recirculation within the volume of air ( 100 ) comprised by the room within which the plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 , 10 . 1 - 10 . n ) are arranged, and configured to make available data indicative of their operational state(s);

one or more air quality data sensors ( 40 , 40 . 1 - 40 . 2 , 40 ′) configured to measure an air quality within the volume of air ( 100 ) and to make available data indicative of air quality within the volume of air ( 100 ); and

one or more control device(s) ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ) according to claim 9 .

12 . The air cleaning system ( 1 ) according to claim 11 , wherein the control device(s) ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ) is/are located physically remote from the air cleaning devices ( 10 ).

13 . The air cleaning system ( 1 ) according to claim 11 , wherein the control devices ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ) are comprised by the plurality of air cleaning devices ( 10 ).

14 . A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions, which when executed by a processing unit ( 34 ) of one or more control device(s) ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ) cause the control device(s) ( 30 , 30 ′, 30 ″ 30 . 1 - 30 . n ) to carry out the method according to claim 1 .

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (18)