U.S. patent application number 14/941651 was filed with the patent office on 2016-05-26 for vent apparatus and method.
This patent application is currently assigned to INTELISENSE, INC.. The applicant listed for this patent is INTELISENSE, INC.. Invention is credited to Hamid Najafi.
Application Number | 20160146489 14/941651 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 56009839 |
Filed Date | 2016-05-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20160146489 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Najafi; Hamid |
May 26, 2016 |
VENT APPARATUS AND METHOD
Abstract
A smart vent comprises a thermoelectric generator coupled to a
power storage. The thermoelectric generator that generates voltage
or electrical energy based on a temperature differential between a
room temperature and a temperature in a duct where the smart vent
is installed. The generator charges the storage using the generated
voltage. A radio is coupled to the power storage and receives a
wireless command from a device to open a vent so that air flows
from the duct to the room. A processor, coupled to the storage and
the radio, determines if there is sufficient charge in the power
storage to open the vent apparatus; sends a command to a motor to
open the vent if there is sufficient charge. A motor, coupled to
the storage and processor, opens the vent upon receiving the
command, thereby ceasing charging the power storage as the
temperature differential decreases.
Inventors: |
Najafi; Hamid; (Half Moon
Bay, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
INTELISENSE, INC. |
Redwood City |
CA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
INTELISENSE, INC.
Redwood City
CA
|
Family ID: |
56009839 |
Appl. No.: |
14/941651 |
Filed: |
November 15, 2015 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
62123629 |
Nov 24, 2014 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
236/49.3 ;
236/51; 454/256 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F24F 11/30 20180101;
F24F 2120/10 20180101; F24F 2110/10 20180101; F24F 2110/20
20180101; F24F 11/0001 20130101; F24F 2110/40 20180101 |
International
Class: |
F24F 11/00 20060101
F24F011/00; F24F 13/14 20060101 F24F013/14; F24F 11/04 20060101
F24F011/04 |
Claims
1. A method, comprising: charging a power storage using a
thermoelectric generator in a vent apparatus based on a temperature
differential between a room temperature and a temperature in a duct
where the vent apparatus is installed; receiving a command from a
device to open the vent apparatus so that air flows from the duct
to the room; determining if there is sufficient charge in the power
storage to open the vent apparatus; opening the vent apparatus if
there is sufficient charge; and cease charging the power storage
when the temperature differential is no longer sufficient for the
TEG to generate energy.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising received a command to
close the vent apparatus and closing the vent apparatus.
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising forcing air through
ducts when the vent apparatus is closed.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the device sends the wireless
command when the device measures a preset temperature.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the charging further comprises
conditioning and converting voltage from thermoelectric generator
to direct current.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the thermoelectric generator
comprises a heat side and a cool side and wherein insulation is
placed there between to maximize a heat differential.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the one of the sides is located
within an insulated compartment.
8. The method of claim 6, wherein one of the sides has elements
with a higher temperature coefficient than the other side.
9. The method of claim 6, further comprising placing one side in
the room and the other side within the duct.
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising measuring air
pressure within the duct and ceasing the air flow within the duct
or opening the vent if the pressure exceeds a predetermined
threshold.
11. The method of claim 1, further comprising measuring an air
quality within the duct and closing the vent if the air quality
measurement indicates a presence of a hazardous substance.
12. The method of claim 1, further comprising measuring CO2 within
the room and determine the presence of people within the room based
on the CO2 measurement.
13. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a
presence of people within the room and closing the vent if no
people are detected.
14. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a voice
command and adjusting opening of the vent apparatus according to
the command.
15. An apparatus, comprising: a thermoelectric generator that
generates voltage based on a temperature differential between a
room temperature and a temperature in a duct where the apparatus is
installed; a power storage coupled to the generator, wherein the
generator is configured to charge the storage; a radio, coupled to
the power storage, configured to receive a wireless command from a
device to open a vent so that air flows from the duct to the room;
and a processor, coupled to the storage and the radio, configured
to determine if there is sufficient charge in the power storage to
open the vent apparatus; send a command to a motor to open the vent
if there is sufficient charge; and a motor, coupled to the storage
and processor, configured to open the vent upon receiving the
commend, thereby ceasing charging the power storage as the
temperature differential decreases.
16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the radio is further
configured to receive a command to close the vent apparatus and the
processor is further configured to send a command to the motor to
close the vent.
17. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising a blower
configured to forcing air through the duct when the vent is
closed.
18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the device is configured to
send the wireless command when the device measures a preset
temperature.
19. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising a power
management circuit, coupled to the generator and storage,
configured to condition and convert voltage from the thermoelectric
generator to direct current.
20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the thermoelectric generator
comprises a heat side and a cool side and insulation is located
there between to maximize a heat differential.
21. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising an insulated
compartment holding one of the sides.
22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein one of the sides has
elements with a higher temperature coefficient than the other
side.
23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein one side located within the
room and the other side within the duct.
24. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising a pressure sensor
within the duct and the processor is further configured to send a
command to cease the air flow within the duct or open the vent if
the pressure exceeds a predetermined threshold.
25. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising an air quality
sensor and the processor is further configured to send to a command
to close the vent if an air quality measurement indicates a
presence of a hazardous substance.
26. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising a CO2 sensor and
wherein the processor is configured to determine the presence of
people within the room based on a CO2 measurement.
27. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising an optical sensor
configured to determine a presence of people within the room and
wherein the process is further configured to send a command to
close the vent if no people are detected.
28. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising a microphone
configured to receive voice commands and the processor is further
configured to send to a command to adjust opening of the vent based
on the received command.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This applications claims priority to and incorporates by
reference U.S. Patent Applications No. 62/123,629 filed Nov. 24,
2014 by Hamid Najafi.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] At least one embodiment of the present invention pertains to
smart vents, and more particularly, to a smart vent apparatus with
thermoelectric generator and related method.
BACKGROUND
[0003] A vast majority of homes and offices in the U.S. and many
other countries use a "Forced Air" system for heating and cooling
the interior of the building. In these systems, there is normally
just one thermostat in one location and there are vents in each
room for the air to flow through. This thermostat is the only
control for the whole house temperature control.
[0004] If the door to a room is partially or completely closed or
if the room is remote from the thermostat, the temperature in the
room can differ significantly compared to the temperature of the
thermostat. It can get either too hot or too cold depending on many
variables like the size of the room, the size of the house, the
location of the room, etc.
[0005] Also, there is no way for the occupants to set different
temperatures for each room. For instance, parents might want to
keep the children's bedroom(s) warmer than the master bedroom. Or
the office room may not need to be heated at all during the night
when vacant.
[0006] Accordingly, the lack of individual control for each area in
the house makes the conventional system very inefficient both in
terms of individual comfort and energy savings.
SUMMARY
[0007] This summary is provided to introduce in a simplified form
certain concepts that are further described in the Detailed
Description below and the drawings. This summary is not intended to
identify essential features of the claimed subject matter or to
limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
[0008] In an embodiment, a smart vent comprises a thermoelectric
generator coupled to a power storage. The thermoelectric generator
that generates voltage or electrical energy based on a temperature
differential between a room temperature and a temperature in a duct
where the smart vent is installed. The generator charges the
storage using the generated voltage. A radio is coupled to the
power storage and receives a wireless command from a device to open
a vent so that air flows from the duct to the room. A processor,
coupled to the storage and the radio, determines if there is
sufficient charge in the power storage to open the vent apparatus;
sends a command to a motor to open the vent if there is sufficient
charge. A motor, coupled to the storage and processor, opens the
vent upon receiving the command, thereby ceasing charging the power
storage as the temperature differential decreases.
[0009] In an embodiment, a method comprises: charging a power
storage using a thermoelectric generator in a vent apparatus based
on a temperature differential between a room temperature and a
temperature in a duct where the vent apparatus is installed;
receiving a command from a device to open the vent apparatus so
that air flows from the duct to the room; determining if there is
sufficient charge in the power storage to open the vent apparatus;
opening the vent apparatus if there is sufficient charge; and cease
charging the power storage when the temperature differential
decreases.
[0010] Other aspects of the technique will be apparent from the
accompanying figures and detailed description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] One or more embodiments of the present invention are
illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of
the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate
similar elements.
[0012] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system.
[0013] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a smart vent of the
system of FIG. 1.
[0014] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a controller of the
smart vent of FIG. 2.
[0015] FIG. 4 is block diagram illustrating a memory of the
controller of FIG. 3.
[0016] FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a thermostat.
[0017] FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating the
smart vent of FIG. 2.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0018] References in this description to "an embodiment", "one
embodiment", or the like, mean that the particular feature,
function, structure or characteristic being described is included
in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Occurrences of
such phrases in this specification do not necessarily all refer to
the same embodiment. On the other hand, such references are not
necessarily mutually exclusive either.
[0019] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system 100. The
system 100 is located within a room and comprises a smart vent 120
and a wireless thermostat 110 and/or smart phone 130 and/or other
temperature control device. The wireless thermostat 110 talks to
the vent 120 and commands it to close or to open so the temperature
in the room is fixed according to the setting on the wireless
thermostat.
[0020] The wireless thermostat 110 can typically be powered by
plugging it into a wall outlet but the smart vent 120 is often away
from power outlets and it needs a source of energy to operate the
motorized vent and to receive radio signals from the wireless
thermostat 110. The source of energy can be batteries or a power
cord connected to a wall outlet. Power cord connection is
cumbersome since there may not be a wall outlet right near the
vent. Batteries will work but they need to be replaced or
recharged. This adds cost and inconvenience.
[0021] Accordingly, the smart vent 120 uses a thermoelectric
generator (TEG) device and circuitry that takes advantage of the
temperature difference between the "front" and the "behind" of the
vent and converts this temperature difference, DT, to
electricity.
[0022] When the vent is closed, but a forced air heater is working
and forcing warm air through ducts in building, the temperature
Duct side ("behind" the vent) will rise while the temperature in
the room side of the vent (which is the same as the room
temperature) will be lower than Duct side and, with no hot air
flowing into the room, will drop gradually. This DT between the
Duct side and the Room side is used by the TEG to charge a battery
or a capacitor. Once the thermostat 110 in the room drops to a set
temperature, it will automatically send a wireless signal to the
smart vent 120 to open. Once the vent is opened, the TEG will no
longer see a Delta T and will not harvest energy until the
thermostat orders the vent to close again. Also note that the
system 100 will work in the inverse with cold forced air instead of
warm or hot air.
[0023] This system 100 is simple to install. One just plugs in the
wireless thermostat to a wall outlet away from the vent 120 and
removes the existing vent grill and drops in the smart vent 120 in
the duct opening. Then one sets the temperature on the wireless
thermostat. There is no need to replace an existing thermostat or
change anything else. The system 100 will save energy and provide
much more comfort than a conventional system.
[0024] In another embodiment, thermostats 110 can be placed in
multiple rooms and each send the temperature in each room
wirelessly to a main thermostat in the building. Once the main
thermostat detects that ALL rooms have reached their desired
temperature, it will shut off the blower and wait for a room
thermostat 110 to report a drop in temperature enough to turn on
the heat again (or a raise for cold air).
[0025] In an embodiment, the wireless thermostat 110 can be
replaced or augmented by a smart phone 130 that has an ambient
temperature sensor and a Bluetooth low energy radio and that could
also program all the individual room thermostats for the entire
building.
[0026] In an embodiment, wired and/or wireless communications can
be other than Bluetooth. For example, WiFi, powerline, Zigbee, etc.
can be used.
[0027] In another embodiment, the wireless thermostat 110 is
replaced by an infrared, or other similar, sensor to measure
temperature built into the vent eliminating the need for an
external thermostat and making it easier to install the vent,
having only a single piece of equipment, namely the vent, to be
installed. This saves cost and adds simplicity to the design.
[0028] In another embodiment, "cold" and "hot" plates of the TEG
device are designed such that energy harvesting is possible even
when the vent is open. This is accomplished by installing one side
of the TEG in the duct allowing it to get hot (cold) by the hot
(cold) air flow and keeping the other side of the TEG in an
insulated compartment unexposed to the air flow. The insulated
section keeps the temperature of one side of the TEG relatively
constant allowing for the delta temperature between the plates even
when the vent is open and only as long as hot (cold) air flows
through the vent. Maintaining this delta temperature allows the TEG
to continue harvesting energy thus extending the time energy
harvested resulting in a higher amount of energy generated.
[0029] In another embodiment, the heat sinks used for the "cold"
and "hot" sides of the TEG device are made of two different
material one with a low temperature coefficient and other with a
high temperature coefficient. The side with material with higher
temperature coefficient helps the side of the TEG exposed to the
air flow (hot or cold) to change (rise or drop) its temperature
faster. The other side, which is insulated from the air flow, uses
a material with lower temperature coefficient to help keep its
temperature from rising or falling rapidly and therefore extending
the time delta T is high enough for energy harvesting. A low
temperature coefficient material can be Aluminum and a high
temperature coefficient material can be copper for instance.
[0030] In another embodiment, the vent communicates to a remote
server, or a "cloud", and the cloud communicates the vent
information to a smart thermostat or other smart device, instead of
directly communicating with the smart thermostat or smart device
through local wireless connections.
[0031] In another embodiment, more sensors are added to the vent.
This includes a humidity sensor to measure room air humidity and
report this information to a cloud or smart phone or other smart
device. Another sensor is a pressure sensor that measures air
pressure near the vent, inside the duct and reports this to another
smart device, such as a smart thermostat to stop the flow of air or
to open the vent to prevent air pressure build up in the ducts that
can be hazardous (when a predetermined pressure threshold is
exceeded).
[0032] In another embodiment, a microphone and voice recognition
circuits are embedded in the vent to allow the user to control the
vent functions by voice commands such as "hotter, colder, on, off".
To save power and complexity, the voice recognition circuit is
designed to detect one or two "trigger words". By uttering the
trigger words, the user gets the attention of the vent. The vent
turns on voice recognition to full power operation where more words
can be recognized.
[0033] In another embodiment, an air quality sensor is added to the
vent to determine the quality of air in the duct and/or the room to
close the vent when a hazardous substance, such as smoke, CO, etc.
is detected, to activate an alarm, or to report air quality to a
cloud server or other smart device. CO2 measurement can also be
used to determine the presence and the number of the people in the
room as the amount of CO2 rises with more people exhaling air.
[0034] In another embodiment, an optical sensor is used in the vent
to determine when people enter or exit the room. This can be used
to turn the vent on/off to save energy when no one is in the room.
Instead of an optical sensor, an embodiment can use an electric
field disturbance detector to detect presence of people or animal
in the room.
[0035] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the smart vent 120 of
the system 100 of FIG. 1. The smart vent 120 comprises a radio 210
coupled to an antenna 200. In an embodiment, the radio 210 includes
a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) radio (e.g., a Nordic semiconductor
BLE radio). The radio 210 is coupled to a controller 220 (e.g., a
Cortex M0 controller), which processes the received commands which
drives a motor 230 for closing or opening the vent.
[0036] The smart vent 120 further comprises a thermoelectric
generator (TEG) 240 coupled to a power management circuit 260
(e.g., Spansion part number MB39C811), which is coupled to a power
storage 260 and the controller 220. The TEG 240 can include a
Yamaha GKB10 or other energy harvesting circuit that converts DT to
electric voltage. The thermoelectric generator 240 has a heat side
and a cool side and insulation is placed there between to maximize
a heat differential. One side is placed in the room and the other
side within the duct.
[0037] The power management circuit 250 converts and conditions the
voltage to a DC level. The DC level is applied to the power storage
260, such as a rechargeable battery or high capacity capacitor for
storage of electric energy to drive all the circuits of the Smart
vent 120. The power management circuit 250 also reads the
battery/capacitor voltage for managing the power consumption of the
circuits.
[0038] In an embodiment, the smart vent 120 can also include an air
pressure monitor, air quality monitor, CO2 monitor, and/or optical
sensor.
[0039] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the controller 220 of
FIG. 2. The controller 220 includes one or more processors 300 and
memory 310 coupled to an interconnect 330. The interconnect 330
shown in FIG. 3 is an abstraction that represents any one or more
separate physical buses, point to point connections, or both,
connected by appropriate bridges, adapters, or controllers. The
interconnect 330, therefore, may include, for example, a system
bus, a form of Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, a
HyperTransport or industry standard architecture (ISA) bus, a small
computer system interface (SCSI) bus, a universal serial bus (USB),
IIC (I2C) bus, or an Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) standard 1394 bus, also called "Firewire", and/or
any other suitable form of physical connection.
[0040] The processor(s) 300 is/are the central processing unit
(CPU) of the controller 220 and, thus, control the overall
operation of the controller 220. In certain embodiments, the
processor(s) 300 accomplish this by executing software or firmware
stored in memory 310. The processor(s) 300 may be, or may include,
one or more programmable general-purpose or special-purpose
microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), programmable
controllers, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs),
programmable logic devices (PLDs), or the like, or a combination of
such devices.
[0041] The memory 310 is or includes the main memory of the
controller 220. The memory 310 represents any form of random access
memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, or the like, or
a combination of such devices. In use, the memory 310 may contain,
among other things, software or firmware code 315 for use in
implementing at least some of the techniques introduced herein.
[0042] Also connected to the processor(s) 300 through the
interconnect 330 is an input/output (I/O) interface 320. The I/O
interfaces provides the controller 220 with the ability to
communicate with other components in the smart vent 220, such as
the radio 210 and the motor 230. In an embodiment, the I/O
interface 320 is configured to receive aural data (e.g., voice
commands) from a microphone in the vent 120.
[0043] FIG. 4 is block diagram illustrating the memory 310 and
specifically the software 310. The software includes a thermostat
engine 410, a motor engine 420 and a power consumption engine 430.
Each of the various engines shown in FIG. 4, while shown as
software, can be alternatively implemented in pure hardware (e.g.,
specially-designed dedicated circuitry such as one or more
application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs)), or in
programmable circuitry appropriately programmed with software
and/or firmware, or in a combination of pure hardware and
programmable circuitry.
[0044] The thermostat engine 410 receives commands via the radio
210 to open/close the vent. The power consumption engine 430 then
determines if there is enough power to act on the received command.
If the power consumption engine 430 determines there is enough
power, then the motor engine 420 issues a command to the motor 230
to open/close the vent. In other embodiments, the motor engine 420
can also issue commands to open/close the vent based on pressure
readings, air quality readings, voice commands, and/or the presence
of people within the room. Further, the memory 410 can include
logic to interact with the air pressure monitor, air quality
monitor, CO2 monitor, microphone or optical sensor.
[0045] FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the thermostat 110 of
FIG. 1. The wireless Thermostat comprise a radio 540 coupled to an
antenna (e.g., a BLE radio), a controller 530 coupled to the radio
540, a temperature sensor 520 coupled to the controller 530, and a
few keys 560 for user control of the temperature settings. It also
has a display 550 to show the current temperature as well as the
target (desired) temperature. The wireless Thermostat 110 can also
be programmed remotely using a smart phone 130.
[0046] In an embodiment, the radio 540 comprises a Nordic
semiconductor BLE radio. The controller 530 includes a Cortex M0
controller. The display 550 may comprise a 7-segment three digit
LED or LCD. The temperature sensor 520 includes a thermistor the
whole device 110 is powered by being plugged into a wall outlet or
battery. Typical transformer and rectifying circuits used for
converting AC to DC to power the Thermostat are used.
[0047] FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method 600 of operating
the smart vent 120 of FIG. 2. Initially, the vent of the smart vent
120 is closed (610) and the TEG 240 charges (620) the power storage
260. The smart vent's antenna 200 then receives (630) a command to
open the vent as there is a temperature differential in the room
between a measured temperature and a set temperature. The power
consumption engine 430 then determines (640) if there is sufficient
power in the power storage 260 to open the vent. If there is, the
motor engine 420 issues a command to the motor 230 to open the
vent, which causes the motor (650) to open the vent. If there is
not, the method 600 returns to the charging (620). The method 600
ends when the temperature differential ends, leading to the TEG 240
ceasing to charge the power storage 260.
[0048] Also note that the method 600 can be executed inversely.
That is, the initial state may be that the vent is open and the
motor 230 closes the vent when the room temperature differential
between the set temperature and measured temperate is at or close
to zero. The method 600 then awaits a command to open the vent and
charges the power storage 260 when the vent is closed.
[0049] The techniques introduced above can be implemented by
programmable circuitry programmed/configured by software and/or
firmware, or entirely by special-purpose circuitry, or by a
combination of such forms. Such special-purpose circuitry (if any)
can be in the form of, for example, one or more
application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable
logic devices (PLDs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),
etc.
[0050] Software or firmware to implement the techniques introduced
here may be stored on a machine-readable storage medium and may be
executed by one or more general-purpose or special-purpose
programmable microprocessors. A "machine-readable medium", as the
term is used herein, includes any mechanism that can store
information in a form accessible by a machine (a machine may be,
for example, a computer, network device, cellular phone, personal
digital assistant (PDA), manufacturing tool, any device with one or
more processors, etc.). For example, a machine-accessible medium
includes recordable/non-recordable media (e.g., read-only memory
(ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media;
optical storage media; flash memory devices; etc.), etc.
[0051] The term "logic", as used herein, means: a) special-purpose
hardwired circuitry, such as one or more application-specific
integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs),
field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other similar device(s);
b) programmable circuitry programmed with software and/or firmware,
such as one or more programmed general-purpose microprocessors,
digital signal processors (DSPs) and/or microcontrollers, or other
similar device(s); or c) a combination of the forms mentioned in a)
and b).
[0052] Note that any and all of the embodiments described above can
be combined with each other, except to the extent that it may be
stated otherwise above or to the extent that any such embodiments
might be mutually exclusive in function and/or structure.
[0053] Although the present invention has been described with
reference to specific exemplary embodiments, it will be recognized
that the invention is not limited to the embodiments described, but
can be practiced with modification and alteration within the spirit
and scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, the specification
and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather
than a restrictive sense.
* * * * *