Patent ID: 7551983

Claim:
A method of improving environmental comfort in a variable air volume system having a plurality of zones, said system including a flow control box associated with each of said zones for individually regulating flow volume of supply air into each of said zones to maintain room temperature of said individual zones at or near preselected set point temperatures, said supply air being provided at a preselected temperature T, comprising the steps of: determining said flow volume of said supply air flowing through said boxes by directly measuring said flow volume at each of said boxes; and adjusting said supply air temperature to increase said flow volume through said boxes responsive to at least one of said boxes operating in a restricted flow mode whereby environmental comfort is improved; and wherein said adjusting step includes the further steps of: calculating an adjusted supply air temperature based on the thermal load in at least one of said zones; and signaling said system to reset said air supply temperature to said adjusted supply air temperature; and wherein said boxes further comprise a minimum flow volume, the minimum flow volume providing at least minimal non-zero ventilation to the zones associated with said boxes, and wherein the restricted flow mode includes flow volumes exceeding the minimum flow volume.