Real-time global optimization of building setpoints and sequence of operation

Claim 2

A building heating/cooling system energy optimization method for a building having at least one air handling unit (AHU) and a heating/cooling system including a plurality of components comprising at least a condenser unit, a heating unit and a cooling unit, said method comprising the steps: providing a mathematical model of the heating/cooling system including at least an efficiency profile of the components of the heating/cooling system; obtaining real-time weather information including at least outside temperature and outside humidity; reading an input water temperature (IWT) of said heating/cooling system, an output water temperature (OWT) of said heating/cooling system, a supply air temperature (SA) output to the building via the at least one air handling unit and an ambient air temperature (AA) within the building; periodically transferring said real-time weather information, said IWT, said OWT, said SA and said AA, collectively real-time data, to an optimization engine, said optimization engine operative to analyze said real-time data in coordination with said mathematical model by assigning at least three selected values in a range surrounding and including current values of each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA for each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA and calculating the efficiency profile of the components of the heating/cooling system for each of said at least three selected values for each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA, then selecting those values calculated to provide a highest efficiency profile of the components of the heating/cooling system by cooperatively optimizing each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA; and periodically resetting each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA to said values selected by said optimization engine to generally maximize the efficiency profile of the components of the heating/cooling system.

Claim 3

The building heating/cooling system energy optimization method of claim 1 wherein said mathematical model of the heating/cooling system includes energy consumption ratings for components of the heating/cooling system.

Claim 4

The building heating/cooling system energy optimization method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of obtaining an ambient air temperature of a selected zone of the building, obtaining an air terminal unit discharge temperature within the selected zone within the building and comparing said ambient air temperature of the selected zone with said air terminal unit discharge temperature to determine the selected zone's sensible heat load.

Claim 5

The building heating/cooling system energy optimization method of claim 1 wherein said step of analyzing said real-time data in coordination with said mathematical model by assigning at least three selected values in a range surrounding and including current values of each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA for each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA and calculating the efficiency profile of the components of the heating/cooling system for each of said at least three selected values for each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA further comprises selecting first, second, and third values for comparison, the first value corresponding to the current value of each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA, the second value corresponding to the current value plus one degree Fahrenheit (1° F.) for each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA and the third value corresponding to the current value minus one degree Fahrenheit (1° F.) for each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA.

Claim 6

The building heating/cooling system energy optimization method of claim 1 wherein the step of periodically resetting each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA to said values selected by said optimization engine further comprises resetting each of said IWT, said OWT, and said SA to said values selected by said optimization engine hourly.

Claim 7

The building heating/cooling system energy optimization method of claim 1 wherein said real-time weather information comprises predicted weather information for obtaining mid to long term operational efficiency forecasts for operational planning purposes.

Claim 8

The building heating/cooling system energy optimization method of claim 1 wherein said optimization engine is further operative to coordinate multiple heating/cooling systems, analyze said real-time data in coordination with mathematical models of the multiple heating/cooling systems by assigning at least three selected values in a range surrounding and including current values of each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA of each of the multiple heating/cooling systems for each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA and calculating the efficiency profile of the components of each of the multiple heating/cooling systems for each of said at least three selected values for each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA, then selecting those values calculated to provide the highest efficiency profile of the components of the multiple heating/cooling systems by cooperatively optimizing each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA in the multiple heating/cooling systems jointly to coordinate operation of the multiple heating/cooling systems for maximum joint efficiency.

Claim 9

The building heating/cooling system energy optimization method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of obtaining and analyzing real-time utility cost information.

Claim 10

The building heating/cooling system energy optimization method of claim 8 , wherein said real-time utility cost information is obtained over a data network.

Claim 11

The building heating/cooling system energy optimization method of claim 9 , wherein said data network is the Internet.

Claim 12

The building heating/cooling system energy optimization method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of: archiving said real-time data to create archived real-time data; calibrating said mathematical model of said heating/cooling system using said archived real-time data; and generating reports using said calibrated mathematical model in coordination with a weather template based on historical norms for a location of the building.

Claim 13

A building heating/cooling system energy optimization system for a building having at least one air handling unit (AHU) and a heating/cooling system including a plurality of components comprising at least a condenser unit, a heating unit and a cooling unit, said building heating/cooling system energy optimization system comprising: a mathematical model of said heating/cooling system including at least an efficiency profile of the components of the heating/cooling system; weather sensors for obtaining real-time weather information including at least outside temperature and outside humidity; temperature sensors operative to read an input water temperature (IWT) of said heating/cooling system , an output water temperature (OWT) of said heating/cooling system, a supply air temperature (SA) output to the building via the at least one air handling unit and an ambient air temperature (AA) within the building; and an optimization engine operative to periodically obtain said real-time weather information, said IWT, said OWT, said SA and said AA, collectively real-time data, analyze said real-time data in coordination with said mathematical model by assigning at least three selected values in a range surrounding and including current values of each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA for each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA and calculating the efficiency profile of the components of the heating/cooling system for each of said at least three selected values for each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA, and then selecting those values calculated to provide a highest efficiency profile of the components of the heating/cooling system by cooperatively optimizing each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA; a controller operative to engage said heating/cooling system to periodically reset each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA to said values selected by said optimization engine to generally maximize the efficiency profile of the components of the heating/cooling system.

Claim 14

A building heating/cooling system energy optimization system for a building having at least one air handling unit (AHU) and a heating/cooling system including a plurality of components comprising at least a condenser unit, a heating unit and a cooling unit, said building heating/cooling system energy optimization system comprising: a mathematical model of said heating/cooling system including at least an efficiency profile of the components of the heating/cooling system; weather sensors for obtaining real-time weather information including at least outside temperature and outside humidity; temperature sensors operative to read an input water temperature (IWT) of said heating/cooling system , an output water temperature (OWT) of said heating/cooling system, a supply air temperature (SA) output to the building via the at least one air handling unit and an ambient air temperature (AA) within the building; and an optimization engine operative to periodically obtain said real-time weather information, said IWT, said OWT, said SA and said AA, collectively real-time data, analyze said real-time data in coordination with said mathematical model by assigning at least three selected values in a range surrounding and including current values of each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA for each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA and calculating the efficiency profile of the components of the heating/cooling system for each of said at least three selected values for each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA, and then selecting those values calculated to provide a highest efficiency profile of the components of the heating/cooling system by cooperatively optimizing each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA; a controller operative to engage said heating/cooling system to periodically reset each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA to said values selected by said optimization engine to generally maximize the efficiency profile of the components of the heating/cooling system.

Claim 15

The building heating/cooling system energy optimization system of claim 12 wherein said optimization engine is further operative to select first, second, and third values for comparison, the first value corresponding to the current value of each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA, the second value corresponding to the current value plus one degree Fahrenheit (1° F.) for each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA and the third value corresponding to the current value minus one degree Fahrenheit (1° F.) for each of said IWT, said OWT and said SA.

Claim 16

The building heating/cooling system energy optimization system of claim 12 , wherein said optimization engine is further operative to periodically obtain real-time utility cost information.

Claim 17

The building heating/cooling system energy optimization system of claim 14 , wherein said optimization engine is operative to obtain real-time utility cost information over a data network.

Claim 18

The building heating/cooling system energy optimization system of claim 15 , wherein said data network is the Internet.

Claim 19

The building heating/cooling system energy optimization system of claim 12 further comprising: an archive of historical real-time data; a calibrated mathematical model, wherein said mathematical model is calibrated using said archive of historical real-time data; and wherein said optimization engine is further operative to analyze a weather template corresponding to a location of said building in coordination with said calibrated mathematical model and generate reports corresponding to said analysis.

Claim 20

A building heating/cooling system energy optimization method for a building having at least one air handling unit (AHU) and a heating/cooling system including a plurality of components comprising at least a condenser unit, a heating unit and a cooling unit, said building heating/cooling system energy optimization method comprising the steps of: providing a mathematical model of the heating/cooling system including at least efficiency profiles of the components of the heating/cooling system; obtaining real-time weather information including at least outside temperature and outside humidity; reading operational variables of the heating/cooling system components; periodically transferring said real-time weather information and said operational variables to an optimization engine, said optimization engine is operable to: a. select input parameters from said operational variables, b. analyze said real-time weather information and said input parameters in coordination with said mathematical model by assigning at least three selected values in a range surrounding and including current values of each of said input parameters and calculating the efficiency profile of the components of the heating/cooling system for each of said at least three selected values for each of said input parameters, c. select those values calculated to provide a highest efficiency profile of the components of the heating/cooling system by cooperatively optimizing each of said input parameters; and periodically resetting each of said input parameters to said values selected by said optimization engine to generally maximize the efficiency profile of the components of the heating/cooling system.

Claim 21

A building heating/cooling system energy optimization method for a building having at least one air handling unit (AHU) and a heating/cooling system including a plurality of components comprising at least a condenser unit, a heating unit and a cooling unit, said building heating/cooling system energy optimization method comprising the steps of: providing a mathematical model of the heating/cooling system including at least efficiency profiles of the components of the heating/cooling system; obtaining real-time weather information including at least outside temperature and outside humidity; reading operational variables of the heating/cooling system components; periodically transferring said real-time weather information and said operational variables to an optimization engine, said optimization engine is operable to: a. select input parameters from said operational variables, b. analyze said real-time weather information and said input parameters in coordination with said mathematical model by assigning at least three selected values in a range surrounding and including current values of each of said input parameters and calculating the efficiency profile of the components of the heating/cooling system for each of said at least three selected values for each of said input parameters, c. select those values calculated to provide a highest efficiency profile of the components of the heating/cooling system by cooperatively optimizing each of said input parameters; and periodically resetting each of said input parameters to said values selected by said optimization engine to generally maximize the efficiency profile of the components of the heating/cooling system.

Claim 22

The building heating/cooling system energy optimization method of claim 18 , wherein said operational variables are selected from the group consisting of an input water temperature (IWT) of said heating/cooling system, an output water temperature (OWT) of said heating/cooling system, a supply air temperature (SA) output to the building via the at least one air handling unit, and an ambient air temperature (AA) within the building.

Claim 23

The building heating/cooling system energy optimization method of claim 18 , further comprising the step of obtaining and analyzing real-time utility cost information.

Claim 24

The building heating/cooling system energy optimization method of claim 20 , wherein said real-time utility cost information is obtained over a data network.

Claim 25

The building heating/cooling system energy optimization method of claim 21 , wherein said data network is the Internet.

Claim 26

The building heating/cooling system energy optimization method of claim 18 , further comprising the steps of: archiving said real-time weather information and said operational variables to create archived real-time weather information and archived operational variables; calibrating said mathematical model of said heating/cooling system using said archived real-time weather information and said archived operational variables to create a calibrated mathematical model; and generating reports using said calibrated mathematical model in coordination with a weather template based on historical norms for a location of said building.