CONTROL OF ACTIVE CLIMATIC BEAMS

A method of operating a climatic beam air conditioning system includes operably connecting one or more controllers to two or more climatic beams in two or more locations. Inputs are communicated from the two or more locations to the one or more controllers. Each controller of the one or more controllers is operably connected to two or more climatic beams. Independent commands are communicated to each climatic beam of the two or more climatic beams from the one or more controllers to control operation of the two or more climatic beams based on the inputs communicated from the two or more locations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Shown inFIG. 1is a schematic arrangement of a plurality of climatic beams10. Six climatic beams10are shown inFIG. 1, but it is to be appreciated that any number of climatic beams10may be utilized. The climatic beams10are operably connected to electronic controllers12. In the embodiment ofFIG. 1, two climatic beams10are connected to one controller12, but it is to be appreciated that other embodiments may include other quantities of climatic beams10, for example three climatic beams10connected to one controller12. Each controller12includes two or more subcontrollers14, with each climatic beam10connected to a unique subcontroller14. The subcontroller14directly controls operation of the climatic beam10to which it is connected.

The arrangement includes one or more user interfaces16. The user interfaces16are connected to the controllers12and allow input of the user such as desired temperature and the like for a room or other space in which the climatic beams10are located. The controllers12receive further inputs, such as room temperature, CO2level of the room, user room setpoint, and/or setpoint reset, where setpoint reset is an amount the room temperature is permitted to vary from the user setpoint before the system is engaged to heat or cool. Based on these inputs, the controllers12direct operation of the climatic beams10, for example, opening or closing of a fresh air damper, and/or changing a water flow through a valve actuator connected to a coil of the climatic beam10.

In some embodiments, the controllers12are interconnected via a communications bus18, and each subcontroller14is assigned a unique identifier. Such interconnection allows for a layout of a space with climatic beams10and controllers12installed therein to be reconfigured without moving climatic beams10or controllers12, but only reprogramming the subcontrollers14as will be described below with reference toFIGS. 2 and 3.

Referring toFIG. 2, an embodiment of a room layout is shown. The layout includes two rooms20, a first room20aand a second room20b.In this embodiment, climatic beams10a,10b,and10care located in room20a,and climatic beams10d,10e,and10fare located in room20b.The climatic beams10a-10fare connected to subcontrollers14a-14f,respectively. In this embodiment, each subsontroller14a-14freceives common input regarding, for example, outside temperature. The subcontrollers14are linked via the communications bus18, however, so that inputs to the subcontrollers14regarding, for example, room temperature and CO2level are room-specific. For example, in the case of room20a,room-specific inputs are directed from subcontroller14athrough the communications bus18, to subcontrollers14b-14cto control climatic beams10b-10cin the same way as climatic beam10a,since subcontrollers14a-14care identified as residing in room20a.In some embodiments, the room specific inputs are provided by a temperature sensor22and a CO2sensor24located in the room20a.Further, the desired temperature may be provided to the subcontrollers14by a user interface16located in the room20a,or at some centralized location outside of the room20a.As can easily be seen, the same principles apply to control of the climatic beams10d-10flocated in room20b,and could be extrapolated to the control of any number of climatic beams10distributed throughout a space, for example an entire floor or floors of a building.

Interconnecting the subcontrollers14via the communications bus18allows for rearrangement of the rooms20without the need to change or modify climatic beams10or subcontrollers14or wiring. As shown inFIG. 3, room20ais modified to include climate beams10a-10dand their corresponding subcontrollers14a-14d,while room20bnow contains climatic beams10eand10f,and subcontrollers14eand14f.To properly control the environments of modified rooms20aand20b,it is only necessary to change the associations of the subcontrollers14which control climatic beams10with respect to rooms20aand20b,thus ensuring that, for example, climatic beam10dand subcontroller14d(which changed rooms from20bto20a) now receive the correct room-specific inputs, from temperature sensor22and CO2sensor24located in room20a,rather than those located in room20b.Also, the user interface16located in room20acould be now associated with climatic beam10dand subcontroller14d,and will therefore control their operation.