Patent Description:
Building performance relates to how well a building meets certain building performance objectives of a building. These objectives can include, for example, building sustainability objectives, building productivity objectives and healthy building objectives. Building sustainability may related to how well the building meets certain building sustainability criteria such as energy efficiency, water usage efficiency, CO2 emissions, indoor environmental quality, and efficient operation and maintenance practices of the building. Building productivity may relate to how well the building creates a productive environment for the building occupants. Building productivity can be influenced by, for example, temperature, humidity, ventilation, CO levels, air flow, lighting, noise and/or other factors in the building. Healthy building objectives may relate to how well the building creates a healthy environment for the building occupants. Creating a healthy environment for the building occupants can be influenced by temperature, humidity, ventilation rates, filtering, UVC sanitization, cleaning schedules, contactless security checkpoints, occupant behavior such as monitoring and maintaining social distancing, mask compliance, identifying coughing, sneezing, and elevated skin temperature, etc. It is noted that building sustainability, building productivity and healthy building objectives can be competing against one another. For example, elevating the temperature and humidity in a building may increase occupant productivity, but may reduce energy efficiency. In another example, reducing outside air ventilation may increase energy efficiency, but may reduce occupant productivity and occupant health.

In many cases, the facility manager does not or is not able to track the overall performance of their building. In some cases, a particular building may not have the equipment necessary for monitoring and/or improving one or more building performance objectives, and/or the facilities manager may not have the expertise to identify and manage the often complex interrelated and competing nature of various building performance factors. A need remains for ways to determine a building's current performance as well as provide recommendations on how to improve the building's performance.

<CIT>, which discloses an air monitoring system is disclosed having an air monitoring unit with at least one sensor for measuring data of an air quality parameter and a computer for storing the air quality parameter data received from the sensor. The air monitoring unit may use an installed or a portable system, or a combination of both, for measuring the air quality parameters of interest. A remote data center may be provided, and the data may be uploaded to the data center from the unit by a communications media such as the Internet. Information or instructions may also be downloaded from the data center to the unit via the communications media for controlling or modifying the function of the unit. An expert system may be provided with the air monitoring system for controlling the unit. The information or instructions downloaded to the unit may be generated by the expert system. [<NUM>] <CIT>, which discloses an indoor air purification system installed in a heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) system of a residential or commercial building. The air purification system includes an indoor air quality (IAQ) monitor mounted in a return duct of the HVAC system to detect various undesirable gases, as well as climatic conditions, and controls a bi-polar ionization unit to help alleviate undesirable air quality issues that can be considered health risks at excessive levels. The IAQ monitor communicates electronically with the ionization unit and with a building HVAC automation system via wireless and/or wired electronic communication networks. The building HVAC automation system can utilize data from the IAQ monitor to control some HVAC functions to optimize HVAC efficiency.

The present disclosure pertains to method and systems for improving performance of a building. The present disclosure can be used to determine a building's current performance, including determining a current building sustainability performance, current building productivity performance, a healthy building performance and/or any other performance objective and/or criteria, as well as provide recommendations on how to improve the building's current performance. While healthy building performance is used as a detailed example below, it is contemplated that building sustainability performance, building productivity performance and/or other building performance objectives and/or criteria may be used in a similar manner. It is also contemplated that the recommendations on how to improve a building's current performance may take into account the often complex interrelated and competing nature of various building performance factors, sometimes with input from a facility manager as to the particular needs of the particular building. This may be accomplished by, for example, computing and presenting a building sustainability score, a building productivity score and a healthy building score. In some cases, the facility manager may indicate that building sustainability (e.g. energy usage) should be prioritized over building productivity and healthy building objectives, and thus may be willing to accept a lower building productivity score and a lower healthy building score to achieve a high building sustainability score. In other cases, the facility manager may indicate that healthy building objectives should be prioritized over building sustainability and building productivity during a pandemic, and thus may be willing to accept a lower building sustainability score and a lower building productivity score to achieve a high healthy building score. In some cases, this tradeoff may be time dependent. For example, the facility manager may priorities building sustainability (e.g. energy usage) during unoccupied time periods and building productivity and/or healthy building objectives during occupied time periods. These are just examples.

In one example, a kit may be used for ascertaining a current healthy building performance of a building and determining recommendations for improving the healthy building performance of the building. The healthy building performance may be based upon a plurality of healthy building criteria each defining a desired range for a corresponding healthy building parameter. The illustrative kit includes a plurality of hand-held sensors that are each configured to provide a current value of one or more of the healthy building parameters. The kit also includes a portable device that includes a user interface, a memory and a processor operably coupled to the user interface and to the memory. The processor is configured to generate one or more screens displayable on the user interface that solicit a user to enter information pertaining to healthy building equipment that is currently in use within the building and to generate one or more screens displayable on the user interface instructing the user to employ one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors to measure a current value of one or more of the healthy building parameters. The portable device is configured to capture and store in the memory the measured current values of the one or more of the healthy building parameters that were measured using the one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors. The portable device is configured to determine a healthy building score and one or more recommendations for improving the healthy building score of the building based at least in part on the entered information pertaining to currently installed healthy building equipment, the captured measured current values for each of the one or more of the healthy building parameters that were measured using the one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors, and the plurality of healthy building criteria. The portable device is configured to output the healthy building score and the one or more recommendations for improving the healthy building score of the building via the user interface.

In another example, a system may be used for ascertaining a current healthy building performance of a building and making recommendations for improving the healthy building performance of the building. The healthy building performance may be based upon a plurality of healthy building criteria each defining a desired range for a corresponding healthy building parameter, the building including a plurality of zones. The illustrative system includes a plurality of hand-held sensors that are each configured to provide a measure of a current value for one of the plurality of healthy building criteria. The system also includes a portable device that includes a user interface, a memory and a processor operably coupled to the user interface and to the memory. The processor is configured to generate one or more screens displayable on the user interface in order to solicit a user to enter information pertaining to healthy building equipment that is currently in use within the building and to generate one or more screens displayable on the user interface instructing the user to employ one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors to measure a current value of one or more of the healthy building parameters within each zone of the plurality of zones of the building. The processor is configured to capture and store in the memory the measured current values of the one or more of the healthy building parameters that were measured for each of the plurality of zones using the one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors. The processor is configured to determine a healthy building score for each of the plurality of zones based at least in part on the entered information pertaining to currently installed healthy building equipment, the captured measured current values for each of the one or more of the healthy building parameters that were measured for the corresponding one of the plurality of zones and the plurality of healthy building criteria. The processor is configured to aggregate the healthy building score for each of the plurality of zones to determine an aggregate healthy building score for the building and to display via the user interface a dashboard that provides the aggregated healthy building score for the building.

Another example is a non-transient, computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon. When the instructions are executed by one or more processors of a portable device, the one or more processors are caused to generate one or more screens displayable on a user interface of the portable device in order to solicit a user to enter information pertaining to building equipment that is currently in use within a building and to generate one or more screens displayable on the user interface instructing the user to employ one or more of a plurality of hand-held sensors to measure a current value for one or more of a plurality of building parameters. The one or more processors are caused to capture and store in a memory of the portable device the measured current values for each of the one or more of the plurality of building parameters that were measured using the one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors. The one or more processors are caused to determine a building score and one or more recommendations for improving the building score of the building based at least in part on the entered information pertaining to currently installed building equipment, the captured measured current values for each of the one or more of the plurality of building parameters that were measured using the one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors, and one or more building performance criteria, at least some of which define a desired range for a corresponding one of the plurality of building parameters that were measured using the one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors. The one or more processors are caused to output the building score and the one or more recommendations for improving the building score of the building via the user interface.

The preceding summary is provided to facilitate an understanding of some of the features of the present disclosure and is not intended to be a full description. A full appreciation of the disclosure can be gained by taking the entire specification, claims, drawings, and abstract as a whole.

The disclosure may be more completely understood in consideration of the following description of various illustrative embodiments of the disclosure in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:.

It should be understood, however, that the intention is not to limit aspects of the disclosure to the particular illustrative embodiments described.

The following description should be read with reference to the drawings wherein like reference numerals indicate like elements. The drawings, which are not necessarily to scale, are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure. In some of the figures, elements not believed necessary to an understanding of relationships among illustrated components may have been omitted for clarity.

It is noted that references in the specification to "an embodiment", "some embodiments", "other embodiments", etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is contemplated that the feature, structure, or characteristic may be applied to other embodiments whether or not explicitly described unless clearly stated to the contrary.

The present disclosure can be used to determine a building's current performance, including determining a current building sustainability performance, current building productivity performance, a healthy building performance and/or any other performance objective and/or criteria, as well as provide recommendations on how to improve the building's current performance. The following description uses healthy building performance as a detailed example. However, it should be understood that building sustainability performance, building productivity performance and/or other building performance objectives and/or criteria may be used in a similar manner. It is also contemplated that the recommendations on how to improve a building's current performance may take into account the often complex interrelated and competing nature of various building performance factors, sometimes with input from a facility manager as to the particular needs of the particular building. This may be accomplished by, for example, computing and presenting a building sustainability score, a building productivity score and a healthy building score. In some cases, the facility manager may indicate that building sustainability (e.g. energy usage) should be prioritized over building productivity and healthy building objectives, and thus may be willing to accept a lower building productivity score and a lower healthy building score to achieve a high building sustainability score. In other cases, the facility manager may indicate that healthy building objectives should be prioritized over building sustainability and building productivity during a pandemic, and thus may be willing to accept a lower building sustainability score and a lower building productivity score to achieve a high healthy building score. In some cases, this tradeoff may be time dependent. For example, the facility manager may priorities building sustainability (e.g. energy usage) during unoccupied time periods and building productivity and/or healthy building objectives during occupied time periods. These are just examples.

Facilities often include building automation systems (e.g., heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, surveillance systems, security systems, energy management systems, etc.). Various organizations worldwide (e.g., government organizations, educational organizations, etc.) have provided guidelines on how to operate building automation system to reduce risk of disease transmissions within facilities. Similarly, various organizations worldwide have provided guidelines on how occupants of a facility and monitoring occupancy can reduced risk of disease transmission. Other guidelines relating to facilities and transmission of infectious disease are contemplated and may be adapted and used, depending on the facility. In some cases, a facility may meet one or more healthy building guidelines, but may be lacking with respect to other healthy building guidelines. Facility managers may, for example, wish to find out how to improve their facility's performance with respect to the healthy building guidelines. In some cases, facility managers may, for example, wish to find out how to improve their facility's performance with respect to the building sustainability performance and/or building productivity performance. In some cases, a kit may be used to help the facility manager learn their building's current building performance as well as learning ways that they can improve their building's building performance. This may include adding additional equipment, for example, or changing how they are utilizing building equipment they already have.

<FIG> is a schematic block diagram of an illustrative kit <NUM>. The kit <NUM> is configured for ascertaining a current healthy building performance of a building and determining recommendations for improving the healthy building performance of the building, the healthy building performance based upon a plurality of healthy building criteria each defining a desired range for a corresponding healthy building parameter. The illustrative kit <NUM> includes a number of hand-held sensors <NUM>, individually labeled as 12a, 12b, 12c. Each hand-held sensor <NUM> may be configured to detect a single healthy building parameter. In some cases, one of the hand-held sensors <NUM> may be configured to detect two, three or more distinct healthy building parameters. Healthy building parameters include but are not limited to indoor air temperature, outdoor air temperature, indoor relative humidity, outdoor relative humidity, particulate matter concentrations, carbon dioxide concentration (can be used as a rough indicator of relative occupancy, since humans exhale carbon dioxide), and volatile organic compound concentration. Each of the hand-held sensors <NUM> may, for example, represent one or more of a humidity sensor, a temperature sensor, a particulate matter sensor, a carbon dioxide sensor or a volatile organic compound sensor. These are just examples, and other types of sensors are also contemplated. In some cases, the hand-held sensors <NUM> are distinct from any sensors a particular building may already have.

For example, a Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system within a building may employ a number of temperature sensors and/or humidity sensors that are disposed about the building and that are configured to provide periodic or even continuous signals reporting measured temperatures and/or measured relative humidity values throughout the building. The hand-held sensors <NUM> may be distinct from these sensors, and may be configured to be able to be used by a person walking around in a building and using the hand-held sensors <NUM> to take readings of any of a variety of different healthy building parameters throughout the building. The hand-held sensors <NUM> may be considered as providing a check against the accuracy of any sensors already present and operational within a building and thus may be useful in detecting installed sensors that are not working correctly, or are in need of calibration. The hand-held sensors <NUM> can be used to measure a variety of healthy building parameters at various points around a building, even in cases where the building itself does not already have sensors that can measure the corresponding healthy building parameters in question.

In the example shown, the hand-held sensors <NUM> are configured to work in combination with a portable device <NUM>. In some instances, the portable device <NUM> may be a tablet or a smart phone. In some cases, the portable device <NUM> may be a purpose-built device. The portable device <NUM> includes a user interface <NUM>, a memory <NUM> and a processor <NUM> that is operably coupled to the user interface <NUM> and to the memory <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may be configured to display any of a variety of different screens on the user interface <NUM>. These screens may provide instructions to a user to enter a variety of different information, for example. The user may be instructed to enter healthy building parameter values detected by one or more of the hand-held sensors <NUM>. In some cases, the user may be instructed to facilitate wireless communication between the hand-held sensors <NUM> and the portable device <NUM> so that the portable device <NUM> can capture the healthy building parameter values obtained by the hand-held sensors <NUM> directly from the hand-held sensors <NUM>. The user may be instructed to answer a variety of questions pertaining to the equipment currently in operation within the building, for example. The screens may be used to output a current healthy building score in combination with one or more recommendations on how to improve the healthy building score for that building.

The processor <NUM> may be configured to carry out a variety of different steps. <FIG> are flow diagrams providing a representation of what the processor <NUM> is configured to do in order to assist a user of the kit <NUM> in determining a current healthy building score for a particular building as well as one or more recommendations on how to improve the healthy building score for the particular building.

<FIG> is a flow diagram showing an illustrative set of steps <NUM> that provide an example of some of the functionality the processor <NUM> is configured to accomplish. In some instances, the processor <NUM> is configured to generate one or more screens displayable on the user interface <NUM> that solicit a user to enter information pertaining to healthy building equipment that is currently in use within the building, as indicated at block <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may be configured to generate one or more screens displayable on the user interface <NUM> instructing the user to employ one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors <NUM> to measure a current value of one or more of the healthy building parameters, as indicated at block <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may be configured to capture and store in the memory the measured current values of the one or more of the healthy building parameters that were measured using the one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors <NUM>, as indicated at block <NUM>.

In some cases, and as indicated at block <NUM>, the processor <NUM> may be configured to determine a healthy building score and one or more recommendations for improving the healthy building score of the building. This may be based at least in part on the entered information pertaining to currently installed healthy building equipment, as indicated at block 30a, the captured measured current values for each of the one or more of the healthy building parameters that were measured using the one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors <NUM>, as indicated at block 30b, and the plurality of healthy building criteria, as indicated at block 30c. The information pertaining to healthy building equipment that is currently in use within the building may include whether the building currently has one or more of a humidity sensor, a humidifier and/or a dehumidifier. The information pertaining to healthy building equipment that is currently in use within the building may include whether the building currently has one or more of an Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) sensor, fresh air ventilation capability, and air filtration capability. The processor <NUM> may be configured to output the healthy building score and the one or more recommendations for improving the healthy building score of the building via the user interface, as indicated at block <NUM>.

In some cases, the processor <NUM> may be configured to perform the capturing step (block <NUM>) and the determining step (block <NUM>) for each zone of a plurality of zones within a building. The processor <NUM> may be configured to determine a healthy building score that represents a compilation of a healthy building score for each zone of the plurality of zones. In some cases, the processor <NUM> may be configured to determine the one or more recommendations for improving the healthy building score by aggregating recommendations for improving the healthy building score for each zone of the plurality of zones.

<FIG> is a flow diagram showing an illustrative set of steps <NUM> that provide an example of some of the functionality the processor <NUM> is configured to accomplish. In some instances, the processor <NUM> is configured to generate one or more screens displayable on the user interface <NUM> that solicit a user to enter information pertaining to healthy building equipment that is currently in use within the building, as indicated at block <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may be configured to generate one or more screens displayable on the user interface <NUM> instructing the user to employ one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors <NUM> to measure a current value of one or more of the healthy building parameters, as indicated at block <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may be configured to establish a wireless communication between the portable device <NUM> and each of the one or more hand-held sensors <NUM>, as indicated at block <NUM>. The measured current values may be communicated via the wireless communication from each of the one or more hand-held sensors <NUM> to the portable device <NUM>, as indicated at block <NUM>.

In some cases, and as indicated at block <NUM>, the processor <NUM> may be configured to determine a healthy building score and one or more recommendations for improving the healthy building score of the building. This may be based at least in part on the entered information pertaining to currently installed healthy building equipment, the captured measured current values for each of the one or more of the healthy building parameters that were measured using the one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors, and the plurality of healthy building criteria. The information pertaining to healthy building equipment that is currently in use within the building may include whether the building currently has one or more of a humidity sensor, a humidifier and/or a dehumidifier. The information pertaining to healthy building equipment that is currently in use within the building may include whether the building currently has one or more of an Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) sensor, fresh air ventilation capability, and air filtration capability. The processor <NUM> may be configured to output the healthy building score and the one or more recommendations for improving the healthy building score of the building via the user interface <NUM>, as indicated at block <NUM>.

<FIG> is a flow diagram showing an illustrative set of steps <NUM> that provide an example of some of the functionality the processor <NUM> is configured to accomplish. In some instances, the processor <NUM> is configured to generate one or more screens displayable on the user interface <NUM> that solicit a user to enter information pertaining to healthy building equipment that is currently in use within the building, as indicated at block <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may be configured to generate one or more screens displayable on the user interface <NUM> instructing the user to employ one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors <NUM> to measure a current value of one or more of the healthy building parameters, as indicated at block <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may be configured to generate and display one or more screens on the user interface <NUM> instructing the user to enter the measured current values from each of the one or more hand-held sensors <NUM>, as indicated at block <NUM>. The inputted values may be accepted, as indicated at block <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may be configured to store the inputted values to the memory <NUM>, as indicated at block <NUM>.

<FIG> is a flow diagram showing an illustrative set of steps <NUM> that provide an example of some of the functionality the processor <NUM> is configured to accomplish. In some instances, the processor <NUM> is configured to generate one or more screens displayable on the user interface <NUM> that solicit a user to enter information pertaining to healthy building equipment that is currently in use within the building, as indicated at block <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may be configured to generate one or more screens displayable on the user interface <NUM> instructing the user to employ one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors <NUM> to measure a current value of one or more of the healthy building parameters, as indicated at block <NUM>.

The processor <NUM> may be configured to display one or more screens on the user interface <NUM> soliciting the user to enter information pertaining to an estimate of a current outside air ventilation rate for the building, as indicated at block <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may be configured to display one or more screens on the user interface <NUM> soliciting the user to enter information regarding occupancy levels, as indicated at block <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may be configured to display one or more screens on the user interface <NUM> soliciting the user to enter information regarding compliance with a mask standard, as indicated at block <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may be configured to display one or more screens on the user interface <NUM> soliciting the user to enter information regarding compliance with a body temperature standard, as indicated at block <NUM>. It will be appreciated that in some cases, there may not be a suitable hand-held sensor <NUM> that is configured to ascertain an air ventilation rate and/or ascertain occupancy levels and/or ascertain compliance with mask standards and/or ascertain compliance with body temperature standards, for example.

<FIG> is a schematic block diagram of an illustrative system <NUM>. It will be appreciated that the components of the system <NUM>, as will be described, are quite similar to the components of the kit <NUM> described with respect to <FIG>. Particular features described with respect to the kit <NUM> may be considered as applying equally to the system <NUM>. Particular features described with respect to the system <NUM> may be considered as applying equally to the kit <NUM>. The system <NUM> is configured for ascertaining a current healthy building performance of a building and determining recommendations for improving the healthy building performance of the building, the healthy building performance based upon a plurality of healthy building criteria each defining a desired range for a corresponding healthy building parameter.

The system <NUM> includes a number of hand-held sensors <NUM>, individually labeled as 84a, 84b, 84c. The hand-held sensors <NUM> may be considered as being equivalent to the hand-held sensors <NUM>. Each hand-held sensor <NUM> may be configured to detect a single healthy building parameter. In some cases, one of the hand-held sensors <NUM> may be configured to detect two, three or more distinct healthy building parameters. Healthy building parameters include but are not limited to indoor air temperature, outdoor air temperature, indoor relative humidity, outdoor relative humidity, particulate matter concentrations, carbon dioxide concentration (can be used as a rough indicator of relative occupancy, since humans exhale carbon dioxide), and volatile organic compound concentration. Each of the hand-held sensors <NUM> may, for example, represent one or more of a humidity sensor, a temperature sensor, a particulate matter sensor, a carbon dioxide sensor or a volatile organic compound sensor. These are just examples, and other types of sensors are also contemplated. The hand-held sensors <NUM> are distinct from any sensors a particular building may already have.

For example, a Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system within a building may employ a number of temperature sensors and/or humidity sensors that are disposed about the building and that are configured to provide periodic or even continuous signals reporting measured temperatures and/or measured relative humidity values throughout the building. The hand-held sensors <NUM> are distinct from these sensors, and are configured to be able to be used by a person walking around in a building and using the hand-held sensors <NUM> to take readings of any of a variety of different healthy building parameters throughout the building. The hand-held sensors <NUM> may be considered as providing a check against the accuracy of any sensors already present and operational within a building and thus may be useful in detecting installed sensors that are not working correctly, or are in need of calibration. The hand-held sensors <NUM> can be used to measure a variety of healthy building parameters at various points around a building, even in cases where the building itself does not already have sensors that can measure the healthy building parameters in question.

The hand-held sensors <NUM> are configured to work in combination with a portable device <NUM>. The portable device <NUM> may be considered as being similar to the portable device <NUM>. In some instances, the portable device <NUM> may be a tablet or a smart phone. In some cases, the portable device <NUM> may be a purpose-built device. The portable device <NUM> includes a user interface <NUM> with a dashboard <NUM>, a memory <NUM> and a processor <NUM> that is operably coupled to the user interface <NUM> and to the memory <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may be configured to display any of a variety of different screens on the user interface <NUM>. These screens may provide instructions to a user to enter a variety of different information, for example. The user may be instructed to enter healthy building parameter values detected by one or more of the hand-held sensors <NUM>. The user may be instructed to facilitate wireless communication between the hand-held sensors <NUM> and the portable device <NUM> so that the portable device <NUM> can capture the healthy building parameter values obtained by the hand-held sensors <NUM> directly from the hand-held sensors <NUM>. The user may be instructed to answer a variety of questions pertaining to the equipment currently in operation within the building, for example. The screens may be used to output a current healthy building score in combination with one or more recommendations on how to improve the healthy building score for that building.

The processor <NUM> may be configured to carry out a variety of different steps. <FIG> is a flow diagram providing a representation of what the processor <NUM> is configured to do in order to assist a user of the system <NUM> in determining a current healthy building score for a particular building as well as one or more recommendations on how to improve the healthy building score for the particular building. The processor <NUM> may be configured to generate one or more screens displayable on the user interface <NUM> in order to solicit a user to enter information pertaining to healthy building equipment that is currently in use within the building, as indicated at block <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may be configured to generate one or more screens displayable on the user interface <NUM> instructing the user to employ one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors <NUM> to measure a current value of one or more of the healthy building parameters within each zone of the plurality of zones of the building, as indicated at block <NUM>.

The processor <NUM> may be configured to capture and store in the memory <NUM> the measured current values of the one or more of the healthy building parameters that were measured for each of the plurality of zones using the one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors <NUM>, as indicated at block <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may be configured to determine a healthy building score for each of the plurality of zones, as indicated at block <NUM>. The healthy building score for each of the plurality of zones may be based at least in part on the entered information pertaining to currently installed healthy building equipment, as indicated at block 102a, the captured measured current values for each of the one or more of the healthy building parameters that were measured for the corresponding one of the plurality of zones, as indicated at block 102b, and the plurality of healthy building criteria, as indicated at block 102c.

The processor <NUM> may be configured to aggregate the healthy building score for each of the plurality of zones to determine an aggregate healthy building score for the building, as indicated at block <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may be configured to display via the user interface <NUM> a dashboard (such as the dashboard <NUM>) that provides the aggregated healthy building score for the building. In some cases, the processor <NUM> may be configured to also display each of the individual healthy building scores for each of the zones. This may aid a user in determining, for example, if the overall healthy building score is skewed by a particular zone that is either substantially underperforming relative to the other zones or is substantially overperforming relative to the other zones.

<FIG> is a flow diagram showing an illustrative method <NUM> that may be carried out using either the kit <NUM> or the system <NUM>. One or more screens may be generated that are displayable on a user interface of the portable device in order to solicit a user to enter information pertaining to building equipment that is currently in use within a building, as indicated at block <NUM>. One or more screens may be generated that are displayable on the user interface instructing the user to employ one or more of a plurality of hand-held sensors to measure a current value for one or more of a plurality of building parameters, as indicated at block <NUM>. The measured current values for each of the one or more of the plurality of building parameters that were measured using the one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors may be captured and stored in memory, as indicated at block <NUM>. A building score and one or more recommendations for improving the building score of the building may be determined, as indicated at block <NUM>.

The building score and the one or more recommendations may be based at least in part on the entered information pertaining to currently installed building equipment, as indicated at block 116a, the captured measured current values for each of the one or more of the plurality of building parameters that were measured using the one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors, as indicated at block 116b and one or more building performance criteria, at least some of which define a desired range for a corresponding one of the plurality of building parameters that were measured using the one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors, as indicated at block 116c. The building score and the one or more recommendations for improving the building score of the building may be outputted via the user interface.

In some cases, the building score and one or more recommendations may include a healthy building score and one or more one or more recommendations for improving the healthy building score of the building. The building score and one or more recommendations may include a building productivity score and one or more one or more recommendations for improving the building productivity score of the building. In some cases, the building score and one or more recommendations may include a building sustainability score and one or more one or more recommendations for improving the building sustainability score of the building.

<FIG> is a screen shot showing a simple example, in spreadsheet form, of determining a healthy building score that is based on both observations entered using a portable device <NUM>, <NUM> as well as current values for particular healthy building parameters that were captured by the hand-held sensors <NUM>, <NUM>. <FIG> shows a screen <NUM> that includes a Pillar column <NUM> that lists out each the pillars being considered, such as Air Quality, Ventilation, Safety and Security, and Space Treatment. A Measure column <NUM> lists the particular healthy building parameters being considered for each of the pillars. The Measure column <NUM> includes, for each of the plurality of healthy building parameters, both a category describing whether the facility being evaluated is currently monitoring and/or managing that particular healthy building parameter, but also includes a category describing a current value for each healthy building parameter. At least some of the current values are determined using the hand-held sensors <NUM>, <NUM>, for example.

A Points column <NUM> lists out the possible points that can be awarded for each of the categories. A Readings column <NUM> provides current values for each of the healthy building parameters. A Score column <NUM> provides an actual score for each of the healthy building parameters. The actual score may be calculated by multiplying the current value as listed in the Readings column <NUM> or a numerical representation thereof by the possible score as listed in the Points column <NUM>. The numerical representation may be the number "<NUM>" if the value provided in the Reading column <NUM> is a "yes" and may be the number <NUM>" if the value provided in the Reading column <NUM> is a "no". The numerical representation may be the number "<NUM>" if the current value is within a desired range for that particular healthy building parameter, and may be the number "<NUM>" if the current value is not within the desired range for that particular healthy building parameter. In some cases, the numerical representation may be the number "<NUM>" if the current value is within a desired range for that particular healthy building parameter, and may be the number "<NUM>", or another number less than <NUM> and greater than <NUM>, if the current value is outside the desired range but is within an acceptable range for that particular healthy building parameter.

A Pillar Score column <NUM> provides a total score for each of the pillars. A Pillar Rating column <NUM> provides another representation of the total score for each of the pillars. For example, the total pillar score for the Air Quality pillar is <NUM>/<NUM>, as seen in the Pillar Score column <NUM>, or a total of <NUM> stars, as seen in the Pillar Rating column <NUM>. It will be appreciated that each of the columns <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may be repeated within a spreadsheet for zone of a plurality of zones, if the building has more than one zone. For simplicity, <FIG> only shows results for a single zone.

The Pillar column <NUM> references an Air Quality section <NUM>, a Ventilation section <NUM>, a Safety & Security section <NUM> and a Space Treatment section <NUM>. Looking at the Air Quality section <NUM>, for example, it can be seen that this particular facility, at the time tested, got <NUM>/<NUM> points for monitoring relative humidity. This can mean that the facility has, at a minimum, a working relative humidity sensor. This may also mean that the facility includes the equipment necessary to actively change or control the relative humidity. Using one of the hand-held sensors <NUM>, <NUM>, the facility has a current relative humidity value of <NUM>%. This is within the desired range of <NUM>% to <NUM>% relative humidity, so the facility is awarded <NUM>/<NUM> points for the current relative humidity value. While this may not indicate that the relative humidity within the facility is always within the desired range, the relative humidity within the facility, or within the portion of the facility in which the relative humidity was measured, is currently within the desired range.

Looking at the Ventilation section <NUM>, it can be seen that the facility being evaluated has only scored <NUM> points out a possible <NUM> points, and has a <NUM> star rating. Looking at the specifics within the Measure column <NUM>, it can be seen that the facility has been awarded <NUM>/<NUM> points for monitoring carbon dioxide levels and has been awarded <NUM>/<NUM> points for having a current carbon dioxide level, as measured using one of the hand-held sensors <NUM>, <NUM>, that is within the desired range. However, the facility has been awarded <NUM>/<NUM> points because the facility is not monitoring and/or managing a ventilation rate. Moreover, the facility has been awarded <NUM>/<NUM> points because the determined ventilation rate of <NUM> air change per hour is below the desired minimum of <NUM> air changes per hour.

Looking at the Safety & Security section <NUM>, the facility being tested has scored fairly well, only losing points for not monitoring crowding incidents in which people do not pay attention to social distancing guidelines. Looking at the Space Treatment section <NUM>, the facility being tested has scored <NUM>/<NUM> points for having installed an Electronic Air Cleaner (EAC) as well as a UV light such as but not limited to a UVC light. The facility gets no points for Surface UVC or for Needle Point Ionization. Altogether, the facility has an overall score of <NUM> points out of a possible <NUM> points, and has received a <NUM> star rating. One recommendation that could improve the healthy building score for this facility, as can be seen, would be to recommend adding the appropriate equipment to monitor and manage appropriate ventilation rates that would yield at least <NUM> air changes per hour.

An additional recommendation would be to install equipment that would utilize UVC to sterilize surfaces. UV light may produce light that falls within a spectrum of about <NUM> nanometers (nm) to about <NUM>. This UV light spectrum includes UV-A, which ranges from <NUM> to <NUM>. This UV light spectrum also includes UV-B, which ranges from <NUM> to <NUM>. UV-C, which ranges from <NUM> to <NUM>, is particularly effective for disinfecting. There is also Far-UVC, which ranges from <NUM> to <NUM> and thus is a subset of the UV-C light spectrum. Far-UVC is also particularly effective for disinfecting, and is believed to be safe for human skin and eyes. The UV light spectrum also includes VUV Far-UV, which ranges from <NUM> to <NUM>.

Another recommendation would be to install Needle Point Ionization. Needlepoint bipolar ionization is a commercially available technology that produces a stream of ions that can capture gaseous and particulate contaminants in the air, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and odors. Negative and positive ions are produced when electricity is applied to a tube with two electrodes, and which in turn react with water vapor and oxygen in the air to create free radicals. The free radicals can kill microorganisms and break down odors, improving indoor air quality, for example.

While a healthy building score is used in this example, a similar approach may be used to compute a building sustainability score and/or a building productivity score. This may be useful to present the often complex interrelated and competing nature of various building performance factors of a building. For example, a facility manager may indicate that building sustainability (e.g. energy usage) should be prioritized over building productivity and healthy building objectives, and thus may be willing to accept a lower building productivity score and a lower healthy building score to achieve a high building sustainability score. In other cases, the facility manager may indicate that healthy building objectives should be prioritized over building sustainability and building productivity during a pandemic, and thus may be willing to accept a lower building sustainability score and a lower building productivity score to achieve a high healthy building score. In some cases, this tradeoff may be time dependent. For example, the facility manager may priorities building sustainability (e.g. energy usage) during unoccupied time periods and building productivity and/or healthy building objectives during occupied time periods. These are just examples.

<FIG> provide screen shots that may be generated when using the portable device <NUM>, <NUM> to evaluate a building to ascertain its healthy building performance. <FIG> provides a screen <NUM> that may be displayed by the portable device <NUM>, <NUM> when a user is evaluating air quality. The screen <NUM> includes a box <NUM> that allows a user to enter a name of a particular zone. The screen <NUM> includes a number of check boxes <NUM> that allow a user to indicate which sensors are already in use within the named zone. The check boxes <NUM> include a temperature check box 154a, a humidity check box 154b, a CO2 check box 154c, an Air Changes check box 154d, a TVOC check box 154e and a PM2. <NUM> check box 154f. As indicated, the user has checked the temperature check box 154a, indicating that the named zone includes at least one temperature sensor. A box <NUM> allows the user to enter a current temperature value as obtained by using an appropriate one of the plurality of hand-held sensors <NUM>, <NUM>. In some cases, additional boxes may be displayed in order to allow entry of other healthy building parameters measured by one of the hand-held sensors <NUM>, <NUM>, even if the named zone does not currently include an installed sensor of that type. An ADD ZONE button <NUM> allows a user to enter information for an additional zone. A NEXT button <NUM> allows a user to move to a subsequent screen. While not shown, in some cases the screen <NUM> may include a CANCEL or BACK button that allows the user to move back to a previously displayed screen.

<FIG> provides a screen <NUM> that may be displayed by the portable device <NUM>, <NUM> when a user is evaluating safety and security compliance. It will be appreciated that while air quality measurements may take place anywhere within the facility, safety and security compliance may be tied to a particular location, such as an entrance or other access point. The screen <NUM> includes a box <NUM> that indicates a particular access point, in this case, the "East Entrance". A photo icon <NUM> allows a user to take a picture of the particular location, should they desire to do so. The screen <NUM> includes a section <NUM> that allows a user to specify which of the safety and security compliance categories the facility monitors automatically. The section <NUM> includes a Mask and PPE check box 176a, an Elevated Body Temperature check box 176b, an Occupancy Level check box 176c and a Social Distancing check box 176d.

As illustrated, the user has checked the Mask and PPE check box 176a. Accordingly, the screen <NUM> includes a counter <NUM> that the user can increment or decrement in order to indicate how many devices are being used to monitor Mask and PPE compliance, a counter <NUM> that the user can increment or decrement in order to indicate how many incidents have been detected in a day (or other suitable time frame), and a box <NUM> in which the user can indicate what technology is being used to monitor Mask and PPE compliance. The screen <NUM> includes an Add Access Point button <NUM> that allows a user to enter information for an additional access point. A NEXT button <NUM> allows a user to move to a subsequent screen. While not shown, in some cases the screen <NUM> may include a CANCEL or BACK button that allows the user to move back to a previously displayed screen.

<FIG> provides a screen <NUM> that may be displayed by the portable device <NUM>, <NUM> when a user is providing information as to how compliance is being monitored. The screen <NUM> includes a monitoring section <NUM> that solicits information as to how monitoring is achieved, and includes an Integrated Overview Dashboard check box 192a, a Locally check box 192b and a Not Monitored check box 192c. In this example, the user has selected the Locally check box 192b. The screen <NUM> also includes an action section <NUM> that solicits information as to what action is taken when a compliance issue is detected via monitoring. The action section <NUM> includes a Fully Automated check box 194a, a Semi Automated check box 194b and a Manual Intervention check box 194c. As shown, the user has selected the Manual Intervention check box 194c. The screen <NUM> also includes a SUBMIT button <NUM> that may be used to submit the entered information.

<FIG> provides a screen <NUM> that may be displayed by the portable device <NUM>, <NUM>, informing the user of the Healthy Building Audit Score for their facility. It will be appreciated that the screen <NUM> does not reflect the numbers shown in the example illustrated in <FIG>. In this example, the screen <NUM> displays an overall score <NUM> that reads "<NUM>" and a star rating <NUM> that reads "<NUM> stars", indicating that the particular building could certainly improve its performance. The screen <NUM> includes a section <NUM> that compares the current performance to the scores needed to achieve a WELL building Standard Silver certification, for example, as well as a comparison to similar buildings. The screen <NUM> also includes a recommendations section <NUM> that shows the user particular recommendations to achieve a desired star rating, as selected by the user by moving a slider <NUM>. The use can move the slider <NUM> to see recommendations that would allow their facility to achieve, instead of its current <NUM> star rating, a three star rating, a four star rating or even a five star rating.

<FIG> provides a screen <NUM> that includes an Air Quality section <NUM>, a Safety & Security section <NUM> and a Monitoring Services section <NUM>. The Air Quality section <NUM> includes a list of recommended new equipment as well as an indication of where each new piece of equipment should be installed for optimal results. Similarly, the Safety & Security section <NUM> includes a list of recommended new equipment as well as an indication of where each new piece of equipment should be installed for optimal results. The Monitoring Services section <NUM> provides a list of available monitoring services that could be chosen by the facility in order to improve its performance.

Claim 1:
A kit (<NUM>) for ascertaining a current healthy building performance of a building and determining recommendations for improving the healthy building performance of the building, the healthy building performance based upon a plurality of healthy building criteria each defining a desired range for a corresponding healthy building parameter, the kit comprising:
a plurality of hand-held sensors (12a,12b,12c) that are each configured to provide a current value of one or more of the healthy building parameters;
a portable device (<NUM>) that includes a user interface (<NUM>), a memory (<NUM>) and a processor (<NUM>) operably coupled to the user interface and to the memory, the processor (<NUM>) configured to
generate (<NUM>) one or more screens displayable on the user interface that solicit a user to enter information pertaining to healthy building equipment that is currently in use within the building;
generate (<NUM>) one or more screens displayable on the user interface instructing the user to employ one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors to measure a current value of one or more of the healthy building parameters;
capture ( <NUM>) and store in the memory the measured current values of the one or more of the healthy building parameters that were measured using the one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors;
determine (<NUM>) a healthy building score and one or more recommendations for improving the healthy building score of the building based at least in part on:
the entered information (30a) pertaining to currently installed healthy building equipment;
the captured measured current values (30b) for each of the one or more of the healthy building parameters that were measured using the one or more of the plurality of hand-held sensors;
the plurality of healthy building criteria (30c);
wherein the one or more recommendations include a listing of recommended new equipment for the building and an indication of where each new piece of equipment should be installed in the building;
and
output (<NUM>) the healthy building score and the one or more recommendations for improving the healthy building score of the building via the user interface.