Patents Assigned to Johnson Controls Technology
  • Publication number: 20200356087
    Abstract: A model predictive maintenance (MPM) system for building equipment includes one or more processing circuits including one or more processors and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations. The operations include obtaining one or more performance indicators for the building equipment and determining whether a trigger condition has been satisfied based on the one or more performance indicators. The operations include triggering a model predictive maintenance process to generate a maintenance schedule for the building equipment in response to determining that the trigger condition has been satisfied. The operations include initiating a maintenance activity for the building equipment in accordance with the maintenance schedule.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2020
    Publication date: November 12, 2020
    Applicant: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Mohammad N. ELBSAT, Michael J. WENZEL, Farhad BALALI, Robert D. TURNEY
  • Publication number: 20200355391
    Abstract: A building control system includes one or more controllers configured to obtain comfort feedback provided by one or more occupants of a building in response to exposing the one or more occupants to a first set of environmental conditions of the building. The one or more controllers are also configured to generate, based on the comfort feedback, one or more thresholds defining a range of values for an environmental condition of the building within which the one or more occupants are predicted to be comfortable, execute a predictive control process subject to one or more constraints based on the one or more thresholds to generate setpoints for building equipment, and operate the building equipment to drive the environmental condition of the building toward the setpoints.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2020
    Publication date: November 12, 2020
    Applicant: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Michael J. WENZEL, Mohammad N. ELBSAT, Fang DU, Nicolaus P. MEYER, Anas W. I. ALANQAR, Robert D. TURNEY
  • Patent number: 10830510
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a vapor compression system that includes a refrigerant loop, a compressor disposed along the refrigerant loop and configured to circulate refrigerant through the refrigerant loop, a condenser disposed downstream of the compressor along the refrigerant loop, where the condenser includes a plurality of tubes disposed in a shell and a diffusion area configured to enhance thermal energy transfer within the condenser, where the diffusion area is defined by a cavity of the condenser without a tube of the plurality of tubes, and an evaporator disposed downstream of the condenser along the refrigerant loop.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Jeb W. Schreiber, Eric H. Albrecht, Kevin D. Krebs, Justin P. Kauffman, Brian L. Stauffer
  • Patent number: 10830460
    Abstract: In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a latch assembly for an access panel of a housing includes a latch structure having a first surface, a second surface, and an intermediate step therebetween. The latch assembly also includes a fastener configured to facilitate coupling of the first surface to the access panel, and a locking system configured to engage with a structural support of the housing via the second surface. The locking system is configured to be rotated to secure the second surface to the structural support and rotated to release the second surface from the structural support.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Ravindra B. Salunkhe, Siddappa R. Bidari, Praveen Y R, Kunal J. Gandevia
  • Patent number: 10830482
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a communication cable for a heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning (HVAC) system having a set of conductors extending between a first end of the communication cable and a second end of the communication cable, and a cable shield surrounding the plurality of conductors. The cable shield has a first shield connector at the first end of the communication cable and a second shield connector at the second end of the communication cable. The first end is configured to couple to a first controller of the HVAC system, the second end is configured to couple to a second controller of the HVAC system, and the cable shield is configured to electrically couple to a single electrical ground point via one or both of the first and second shield connectors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Brian Loughman, Nicholas S. Cummings, Marcel P. Ferrere, Jr., Aron M. Seiler, Earl J. Rightmier
  • Patent number: 10830472
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed that calibrate a defrost threshold used to determine when a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system enters a defrost mode, and, more particularly, determine frost temperature differences used to determine the defrost threshold when the HVAC system is in a stable condition. A frost temperature difference is a difference between an outdoor ambient temperature and a refrigerant temperature. The HVAC system determines that it is in the stable condition by determining that a standard deviation of a current frost temperature difference from a previous frost temperature difference is below a standard deviation threshold. When the HVAC system is in the stable condition, the frost temperature differences are determined, and the defrost threshold is determined from the frost temperature differences.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Shawn A. Hern, Tyler P. McCune, Aneek M. Noor, Drew H. Carlton, Cody J. Kaiser
  • Patent number: 10830459
    Abstract: A system includes a coil of an outdoor unit, where tubing forming the coil is configured to circulate a refrigerant therethrough, a fan configured to direct air from within an inner chamber formed by a structure of the coil such that air is in a heat exchange relationship with the refrigerant, a motor located within the inner chamber, where the motor is configured to rotate the fan, a panel coupled to the coil, a fan controller mounted to the panel such that the fan controller is positioned within the inner chamber remote from the fan and the motor, where the fan controller is coupled to the motor, and the fan controller is configured to supply power to the motor to adjust a speed of the fan, and a rain shield disposed over the fan controller and configured to block contaminants from entering a housing of the fan controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Robert L. Eskew, Jeremiah M. Horn, Nicholas A. Kauffman, Paul Lucas
  • Patent number: 10831163
    Abstract: A computerized method of assigning a building automation system point type to a plurality of unclassified data points is provided. The method includes receiving unclassified data points and attributes for each data point. The method includes receiving classifications for a first subset of the unclassified data points. Each classification associates a data point with a building automation system point type. The method includes generating a term set containing substrings that appear in the attributes. The method includes generating a first matrix describing a frequency that the substrings appear in the attributes. The method includes calculating an indicator of a probability that the presence of the selected substring results in the data point belonging to the selected point type. The method includes assigning a point type to a second subset by finding the substring and potential point type pair having the greatest indication of probability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventor: Youngchoon Park
  • Patent number: 10830501
    Abstract: A heating and cooling system includes a reversing valve configured to adjust a flow of refrigerant through the heating and cooling system, where the reversing valve includes a first configuration to flow the refrigerant through a first circuit of the heating and cooling system and a second configuration to flow the refrigerant through a second circuit of the heating and cooling system. The heating and cooling system also includes a controller configured to determine an operating parameter of a compressor of the heating and cooling system, where the controller is configured to adjust operation of the compressor based on the operating parameter to adjust a position of the reversing valve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventor: Shawn A. Hern
  • Patent number: 10830503
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a refrigeration system that includes an evaporator disposed along an evaporator line, a compressor system disposed along a compressor line, a condenser disposed along a condenser line and configured to condense the refrigerant compressed by the compressor system to heat a second fluid stream, and an outdoor coil disposed along a coil line and configured to receive the refrigerant from the condenser or from a discharge line, to selectively transfer heat to or from the refrigerant, and to selectively transfer the refrigerant to the evaporator or to a suction line. The refrigeration system includes two valves and three expansion valves disposed along the different refrigerant flow lines, and a controller configured to determine a simultaneous heating/cooling operating mode of the refrigeration system and to control the valves and expansion valves to operate the refrigeration system in the desired mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventor: William L. Kopko
  • Patent number: 10832563
    Abstract: A system for preventing a false alarm that occurs at a building, the system includes a processing circuit configured to receive, via a communications interface, building data including events for the building devices. The processing circuit is configured to determine, based on the events, whether a false alarm rule has triggered, where the false alarm rule indicates relationships between one or more of the events that is indicative of a situation at the building site that causes the false alarm, generate a parameter update for at least one of the plurality of building devices in response to determining that the false alarm rule has triggered, and implement the parameter update by providing, via the communications interface, the parameter update to the at least one of the building devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Gopi Subramanian, Christine Trainor, Jason Kapuschat
  • Patent number: 10830475
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a zoning system for climate control including a controller configured to operate the zoning system to supply conditioned air to a first zone of a plurality of zones through a first supply air damper to thermally charge the first zone. The controller is also configured to close the first supply air damper of the first zone and open a second supply air damper of a second zone of the plurality of zones after the first zone is thermally charged. The controller is further configured to operate the zoning system to draw the conditioned air from the first zone and supply the conditioned air to the second zone through the second supply air damper.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Brian D. Rigg, Shawn A. Hern, Andrew M. Boyd, Noel A. Grajeda-Trevizo, Cody J. Kaiser, Tom R. Tasker, Theresa N. Gillette, Jonathan A. Burns, Tyler P. McCune
  • Patent number: 10830479
    Abstract: The present disclosure includes a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system having a control system suitable to control operation of a device in the HVAC system. The control system may include a zone control panel that may maintain an instance of each schedule used by one or more devices in the HVAC system to operate. Further, the zone control panel may include a set of one or more status flags, which may each indicate whether data associated with a respective flag is available to be retrieved. Accordingly, the zone control panel may communicate information, such as an update to a schedule, rapidly between devices in the HVAC system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Shaun B. Atchison, Theresa N. Gillette
  • Patent number: 10830473
    Abstract: The techniques described herein provide systems and methods for guiding a user to accurately measure the volume of each room in a zoned HVAC system using a mobile device. An application on the mobile device guides the user in taking photographs of each room from various positions, various angles, or both. After the mobile device has acquired the photographs, stereophotogrammetry may be used with the acquired photographs to determine the volume of each room. A control system may then calculate an appropriate airflow to be provided to each room based on the volume of each room.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventor: Andrew M. Boyd
  • Patent number: 10830476
    Abstract: The present disclosure presents techniques for improving operational efficiency of climate control systems. A climate control system may include climate control equipment, a sensor that measures temperature in a building, and a control system that controls operation of the equipment using a first temperature schedule, which associates each time step with a temperature setpoint, when the building is occupied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Brian D. Rigg, Shawn A. Hern, Cody J. Kaiser, Noel A. Grajeda-Trevizo, Tom R. Tasker, Andrew M. Boyd
  • Patent number: 10829986
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to an HVAC system door assembly that includes a door that includes a panel having a first side and a second side opposite the first side, and a first seal circuit. The first seal circuit is disposed on the first side. The HVAC system door assembly also includes a door frame that includes a second seal circuit. HVAC system door assembly further includes a ridge projecting from one of the first seal circuit or the second seal circuit configured to align with and engage a central portion of the other of the first seal circuit or the second seal circuit when the door is in a closed position with respect to the door frame. The ridge includes a cross-sectional profile having a flattened peak section with sloping side sections that extend from boundaries of the flattened peak section to a base of the ridge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: John L. McElvany, Sriram Ramanujam, Uttam Kumar Sharma, Curtis A. Trammell
  • Patent number: 10830538
    Abstract: A heat exchanger that includes a plurality of conduits that transmit a refrigerant therethrough. A valve that actuates to fluidly couple a first set of conduits of the plurality of conduits in a first setting and fluidly couple a second set of conduits of the plurality of conduits in a second setting.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Ryan L. Snider, Nicholas P. Mislak, Kristen Velez-Diaz, Kevin R. Stockton, Stacy S. Lemkelde, Douglas A. Kester
  • Patent number: 10830490
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a liquid drainage system for a heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning (HVAC) system, where the liquid drainage system includes a drain pan configured to collect and drain condensate within a housing. The drain pan is configured to be mounted within the housing separate from an evaporator assembly and is removable from the housing independent of the evaporator assembly. The liquid drainage system also includes a drain pan extension plate configured to collect and drain condensate to the drain pan, where the drain pan extension plate is configured be removably mounted within the housing. The drain pan extension plate and the drain pan are configured to overlap with one another, in an assembled configuration, along a direction of airflow across the evaporator assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Dnyaneshwar G. Rokade, Sriram Ramanujam, Karan Garg
  • Patent number: 10832564
    Abstract: A system for generating a false alarm rule for preventing a false alarm that occurs at a building includes a processing circuit configured to receive, via a communications interface, building data including events for the building devices. The building events include a first non-alarm event, a second non-alarm event different than the first non-alarm event, and a false alarm event. The processing circuit is configured to generate an event sequence based on the events, where the event sequence includes the first non-alarm event and the second non-alarm event and indicates a relationship between the first non-alarm event and the second non-alarm event that is indicative of a situation at the building that causes the false alarm event to occur. The processing circuit is configured to generate the false alarm rule based on the event sequence. The false alarm rule includes a recommendation for preventing the false alarm event from occurring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Gopi Subramanian, Christine Trainor, Jason Kapuschat, Michael C. Stewart
  • Patent number: 10830488
    Abstract: The present disclosure includes an HVAC system that includes a plurality of dampers each corresponding to one building zone of a plurality of building zones, a plurality of sensors each corresponding to the one of the plurality of building zones, and a control board communicatively coupled with the plurality of dampers and sensors. The control board includes a plurality of status light sources, each corresponding to one damper the plurality of dampers, a plurality of communication light sources each corresponding to one sensor of the plurality of sensors, and a microcontroller programmed to control operation of equipment in the HVAC system. The microcontroller is configured to perform “a hardware test mode” to facilitate diagnosis of the plurality of dampers by causing the plurality of status light sources to sequentially execute a first light scheme or a second light scheme in response to instructions to the plurality of dampers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventor: Shaun B. Atchison