PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 16005666
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-06
Publication Date: 2018-10
Patent Classification: ["236", "049300"]

Abstract:
The efficient fan controller includes a microprocessor receiving at least one signal input from thermostat/equipment control terminals to control a fan relay to operate a system fan. The microprocessor monitors a thermostat call for cooling/heating duration and determines a variable fan-off delay based on the cooling/heating cycle duration, and at an end of a cooling/heating cycle energize the fan relay to operate the system fan for the variable fan-off delay. The fan controller avoids false thermostat activation signals and includes a common wire adapter to provide continuous power to a smart communicating thermostat and is configured to evaluate floating, zero, rectified, false positive and active input signals. The fan controller can be embodied on a forced-air-unit control board or thermostat. The fan controller installation methods ensure the system fan/blower operates at high speed for heating and cooling to improve thermal comfort, efficiency and satisfy the thermostat sooner to save energy.

Claim (Index 8):
The fan controller of  claim 1 , wherein the microprocessor performs a fan-only Fault Detection Diagnostic (FDD) procedure for a HVAC thermostat fan control having AUTO and ON or fan-only schedule settings, and the microprocessor corrects a fan-only operating fault by de-energizing a fan relay to override the ON setting and turn off the HVAC thermostat fan control when it is accidentally turned to the ON setting, the microprocessor:\n monitors signals present or absent on a thermostat or an equipment terminals to determine if the HVAC fan control has been accidentally set to the ON setting which results in continuous fan operation; detects the presence of a fan-only operation based on the presence of a fan signal and the absence of a heating signal or a cooling signal on the thermostat or equipment terminals or the presence of the HVAC fan control ON setting without a thermostat call for heating or a thermostat call for cooling; if the fan-only operation continues until a Threshold Fan-only Time (TFT), then the microprocessor performs at least one action selected from the group consisting of:\n de-energizes the fan relay to override the ON setting and turn off the HVAC fan, and \n monitors the HVAC system parameters during the off cycle; and \n if the HVAC fan control turns off prior to reaching the TFT, then the microprocessor performs at least one action selected from the group consisting of:\n de-energizes the fan relay and turning off the HVAC fan, and \n monitors the HVAC system parameters during the off cycle; \n if the heating signal or the cooling signal are detected or the thermostat call for heating or the thermostat call for cooling are detected during what was previously the fan-only operation and prior to reaching the TFT, then the microprocessor performs at least one action selected from the group consisting of:\n energizes the fan relay to continue energizing the HVAC fan, and \n monitors the HVAC system parameters, \n waits for the completion of either the duration of the heating cycle or duration of the cooling cycle P 3  while continuing to energize the HVAC fan, \n upon completion of either the duration of the heating cycle or duration of the cooling cycle P 3 , the microprocessor performs at least one action selected from the group consisting of: \n calculates a fan-off time delay P 2 , \n energizes the fan relay to continue energizing the HVAC fan for the fan-off time delay P 2 , \n waits for the completion of the fan-off time delay P 2 , and \n de-energizes the fan relay to turn off the HVAC fan at the end of the fan-off time delay P 2 .

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 4.0
- Percentile: 94.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.88235
- Patent Class: 236.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: closed
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['15144806', '15251978', '15614600', '15358131', '14168503']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.8502212875969942
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5872678580902527
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.8239259446463201
- Mean Citation Score: 457.42610600000006
- Max Citation Score: 504.2814
- Similarity Product: 446.9918990914821

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 1
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test