Patent ID: 8606374

Claim:
A method for modeling internal environmental behavior of an enclosure for use by a control system of an HVAC system installed in the enclosure comprising: creating, over time, an occupancy model of the enclosure capable of predicting when there will be no occupants in the enclosure; determining an error in a current environmental model for the enclosure, wherein the current environmental model describes behavior of the enclosure for use by the control system, by comparing (i) predicted HVAC system performance according the current environmental model, with (ii) actual HVAC system performance; and updating the current environmental model, if the error exceeds a particular threshold, by: predicting, from the occupancy model, a period of time when there will be no occupants in the enclosure; accessing a weather forecast corresponding to the period of time; and determining if an exterior temperature according to the accessed weather forecast is within a particular range, and if so: actively inducing, during the period of time, a change in an internal environment of the enclosure; measuring a response of the internal environment of the enclosure at least in part due to the induced change; and updating with a processing system the current environmental model, the updating being based at least in part on the measurement of the response from the induced change.