Patents Assigned to Johnson Controls Technology
  • Patent number: 10568228
    Abstract: A field controller adapter includes a bracket that includes a plate having a first side and a second side with a plurality of feet extending therefrom, and a connector assembly coupled to the second side. The connector assembly includes a circuit board, a terminal block coupled to the circuit board, and a connector coupled to the circuit board with a plurality of wires. The first side is configured to facilitate coupling a field controller thereto. The connector is configured to electrically couple the field controller to the circuit board. The plurality of feet are configured to engage with mounts on a housing of a base unit to facilitate mechanically coupling the bracket thereto. The terminal block is configured to engage with a corresponding terminal block on a base circuit board disposed within the housing of the base unit to electrically couple the circuit board to the base circuit board.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Michael Glander, George Elliott Washington, Steven Anthony Gallo, Minoru Suzuki, Matthew Forrest Malcolm
  • Patent number: 10564615
    Abstract: An equipment controller in a building management system (BMS) includes a feature detector and a dynamic point list generator. The feature detector is configured to receive sensor input from a sensor and determine a set of features available to the equipment controller based on the sensor input. The dynamic point list generator is configured to determine unavailable features based on the set of available features and identify one or more points in a complete point list associated with the set of unavailable features. The dynamic point list generator is configured to generate a dynamic point list by removing the identified points from the complete point list and expose the dynamic point list to a BMS controller communicably connected to the equipment controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Christopher R. Amundson, David A. Kondrad, Kraig D. Ritmanich, Aron M. Seiler, Jameel Ahmed, Curtis C. Crane, Vivek V. Gupta, Daniel F. Leising, Brandon A. Sloat, Lisa E. Strand
  • Patent number: 10565844
    Abstract: A building management system includes one or more computer-readable storage media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to receive a plurality of threat events, the received threat events associated with a plurality of threat categories, the plurality of assets associated with a plurality of locations. The instructions cause the one or more processors to generate a location-specific aggregated risk score, generate a category-specific risk metric indicating, and for each of at least two or more of the plurality of threat categories, generate a number of threat events associated with the threat categories, generate user interface data including, within a single interface, visual representations of both the location-specific aggregated risk scores for the two or more locations and the category-specific risk metrics for the two or more threat categories.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Sajjad Pourmohammad, Jacinta Moore
  • Patent number: 10563895
    Abstract: A heat exchanger of an HVAC system including an inlet header, an outlet header, and tubes configured to extend between the inlet header and the outlet header. The system also includes a first interchangeable refrigerant distributor segment of the inlet header, where the first interchangeable refrigerant distributor segment includes first orifices configured to fluidly couple with the tubes to facilitate distribution of refrigerant from the inlet header to the tubes in a first configuration. The system also includes a second interchangeable refrigerant distributor segment of the inlet header, where the second interchangeable refrigerant distributor segment includes second orifices configured to fluidly couple with the tubes to facilitate distribution of refrigerant from the inlet header to the tubes in a second configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventor: Nicholas P. Mislak
  • Patent number: 10565838
    Abstract: A method for controlling access to at least a portion of a building includes providing a temporal model identifying relationships between a first set of access control events based on times at which the first set of access control events occurred, providing a spatial model identifying relationships between a second set of access control events based on locations associated with the second set of access control events, providing a user model identifying patterns of user behavior based on a third set of access control events, receiving a fourth set of access control events comprising time data, and location data, and user data associated with the access control events, and determining whether to generate alarms responsive to receiving the fourth set of access control events using the temporal model, the spatial model, and the user model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Donagh S Horgan, Jan R Holliday, Eamonn O'Toole
  • Patent number: 10564616
    Abstract: A building management system includes at least one of a meter or equipment configured to provide data samples for a point and a point mapping system configured to store a point object corresponding to the point and including a unit attribute, store a template object corresponding to a building equipment metric and including an allowed units attribute, access the point object to read the unit attribute, access the template object to read the allowed units attribute, in response to a request to map the point object to the template object, determine whether the unit attribute matches the allowed units attribute, and, in response to a determination that the unit attribute matches the allowed units attribute, automatically map the point object to the template object. The building management system also includes a system manager configured to calculate the building equipment metric using the samples for the point and operate building equipment using the building equipment metric.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Rajesh C. Nayak, Abhigyan Chatterjee, Barkha Shah
  • Patent number: 10564612
    Abstract: A model predictive control system is used to optimize energy cost in a variable refrigerant flow (VRF) system. The VRF system includes an outdoor subsystem and a plurality of indoor subsystems. The model predictive control system includes a high-level model predictive controller (MPC) and a plurality of low-level indoor MPCs. The high-level MPC performs a high-level optimization to generate an optimal indoor subsystem load profile for each of the plurality of indoor subsystems. The optimal indoor subsystem load profiles optimize energy cost. Each of the low-level indoor MPCs performs a low-level optimization to generate optimal indoor setpoints for one or more indoor VRF units of the corresponding indoor subsystem. The indoor setpoints can include temperature setpoints and/or refrigerant flow setpoints for the indoor VRF units.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Nishith R. Patel, Matthew J. Ellis, Michael J. Wenzel, Robert D. Turney, Brett M. Lenhardt
  • Patent number: 10567219
    Abstract: A smart communications controller for building equipment includes an equipment port and a processing circuit including a plurality of autoconfiguration objects. Each of the autoconfiguration objects corresponds to a different communications protocol and is configured to perform a protocol testing process. The protocol testing process includes sending a request message to the building equipment using the corresponding communications protocol. The request message includes a request for an equipment ID. The protocol testing process includes receiving a response message from the building equipment in response to the request message and identifying the corresponding communications protocol as being used by the building equipment in response to the response message including the requested equipment ID.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Eric W. Hamber, Vivek V. Gupta, Sergey A. Galchenko, Daniel F. Leising
  • Patent number: 10563931
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a cooling system includes an evaporator, which further includes an evaporator tube, a first mechanical wave emitter, and a control system communicatively coupled to the first mechanical wave emitter. The cooling system is configured to circulate refrigerant through the evaporator tube to facilitate heat exchange between the refrigerant and fluid surrounding the evaporator tube. The first mechanical wave emitter is configured to output first mechanical waves to the evaporator tube, and the control system is configured to instruct the first mechanical wave emitter to output the first mechanical waves to enhance nucleation of the refrigerant in the evaporator tube.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Nicholas P. Mislak, Douglas A. Kester, Curtis W. Caskey
  • Publication number: 20200049365
    Abstract: A building control system includes a sensor unit, a space controller, and a controlled device. The space controller is configured to operate one or more controlled devices to affect one or more environmental conditions of a first space of a building. The sensor unit is communicably coupled to the space controller and is configured to be disposed in the first space. The sensor unit includes one or more sensors. The sensor unit is configured to determine an environmental condition of the first space based on sensor data from the sensor and configured to provide at least some of the sensor data to the space controller. The controlled device is communicably coupled to the sensor unit and is operable to affect the environmental condition of the first space. The sensor unit is configured to control the controlled device independently from the space controller.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 12, 2019
    Publication date: February 13, 2020
    Applicant: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Mark A. Thoni, Vineet B. Sinha
  • Publication number: 20200049360
    Abstract: A building management system includes connected equipment and a predictive diagnostics system. The connected equipment is configured to measure a plurality of monitored variables. The predictive diagnostics system includes a communications interface, a steady state detector, a controller. The communications interface is configured to receive samples of the monitored variables from the connected equipment. The steady state detector is configured to recursively update a mean and a variance of the samples each time a new sample is received, identify whether each of the samples reflects a steady state or a transient state of operation of the connected equipment using the mean and the variance, and associate each of the samples to the steady state or the transient state as identified. The controller is configured to adjust an operation of the connected equipment based on the steady state or the transient state as identified.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 18, 2019
    Publication date: February 13, 2020
    Applicant: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventor: Carlos Felipe Alcala Perez
  • Publication number: 20200050161
    Abstract: A building management system that includes a plurality of slave devices, a remote server comprising a slave device configuration database, and a master controller. The master controller is configured to receive slave device configuration information stored in the slave device configuration database. The slave device configuration information includes at least one of cooling tower configuration parameters, chilled water pump configuration parameters, condenser water pump configuration parameters, air handling unit configuration parameters, rooftop air handling unit configuration parameters, variable air volume unit configuration parameters, chiller device configuration parameters, a rated device capacity, a rated device power, and a rated device speed. The master controller is further configured to control the plurality of slave devices using the slave device configuration information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 21, 2019
    Publication date: February 13, 2020
    Applicant: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventor: Homero L. Noboa
  • Publication number: 20200049394
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method for determining an efficiency curve of a chiller that includes operating a chiller over a range of operating capacities, measuring a temperature of water entering the chiller at an initial capacity, measuring a temperature of water exiting the chiller at the initial capacity, measuring a power consumption of the chiller at the initial capacity, calculating an initial efficiency of the chiller at the initial capacity, measuring a plurality of temperatures of water entering the chiller at a plurality of capacities, measuring a plurality of temperatures of water exiting the chiller at each of the plurality of capacities, measuring a plurality of power consumptions at each of the plurality of capacities, calculating a plurality of efficiencies at each of the plurality of capacities, and generating an efficiency curve for the chiller with the initial efficiency and the plurality of efficiencies.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 5, 2017
    Publication date: February 13, 2020
    Applicant: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Leland John SZEWERENKO, Joe VILLANI
  • Patent number: 10558177
    Abstract: A control system is configured to operate a multiple-input system to achieve an optimal value for a performance variable of the multiple-input system. The control system includes a mapper configured to generate a mapping from a first number of manipulated variables to a second number of latent variables. The second number is smaller than the first number and each of the latent variables includes a linear combination of the manipulated variables. The control system also includes an extremum-seeking controller configured to receive the performance variable from the multiple-input system as a feedback and modulate values of the second number of latent variables to drive the performance variable to the optimal value. The mapper is further configured to use the mapping to translate modulated values of the second number of latent variables to modulated values of the first number of manipulated variables and provide the modulated values of the first number of manipulated variables to the multiple-input system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Timothy I. Salsbury, Carlos Felipe Alcala Perez, John M. House
  • Patent number: 10558183
    Abstract: Systems and methods for creating and using equipment definitions are provided. An archetypal device used to identify one or more data points associated with the archetypal device. A point definition is generated for each identified data point associated with the archetypal device. Each point definition includes an abstraction of a text string extracted from the corresponding data point that is applicable to multiple different devices of the same type of building equipment. The generated point definitions are used to create an equipment definition for a type of building equipment. The equipment definition can be used to identify data points associated with other devices of the same type of building equipment and to automatically create equipment objects representing such devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Ryan A. Piaskowski, Michael E. Wagner, Daniel J. Sonnemann, Jeffrey Taylor, Corey A. Poquette
  • Patent number: 10557661
    Abstract: A system includes a freezestat assembly that includes a plurality of support brackets disposed in a linear arrangement, and a tubing configured to be disposed in a respective aperture of the each support bracket of the plurality of support brackets, where the tubing is configured to monitor a temperature of a flow of fluid through a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, and where the freezestat assembly is configured to be disposed upstream of an evaporator coil of the HVAC system and downstream of a hot water coil of the HVAC system with respect to the flow of fluid through the HVAC system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventor: Keith L. Glatfelter
  • Patent number: 10559181
    Abstract: A building management system includes one or more computer-readable storage media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to receive a plurality of threats, the plurality of threats comprising a first threat and a second threat, the first threat and the second threat affecting a risk score of an asset and determine whether the first threat is correlated with the second threat. The instructions cause the one or more processors to determine a value of the risk score to be a first value in response to a determination that the first threat is correlated with the second threat and determine the value of the risk score to be a second value in response to a determination that the first threat is not correlated with the second threat.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Sajjad Pourmohammad, Youngchoon Park, Sudhi R. Sinha
  • Patent number: 10558178
    Abstract: Systems and methods for predicting a plurality of thermodynamic states of a plurality of heat, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) devices of an energy plant are disclosed. The system includes a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions when executed causing the processor to: obtain plant netlist data describing the plurality of HVAC devices of the energy plant and connections of the plurality of HVAC devices to corresponding nodes; identify, from the first reduced subset, a second reduced subset of the plurality of thermodynamic states to be predicted by propagating a known value of the plurality of thermodynamic states using a linear solver; predict the second reduced subset of the plurality of thermodynamic states using a non-linear solver; and determine the plurality of thermodynamic states of the energy plant at the plurality of nodes based on the predicted second reduced subset of the plurality of thermodynamic states.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Graeme Willmott, Matthew J. Asmus
  • Patent number: 10559045
    Abstract: A thermostat for a building space. The thermostat includes a communications interface and a processing circuit. The communications interface is configured to engage in bidirectional communications with heating, ventilation, or air conditioning (HVAC) equipment and to receive an indication of a current heating or cooling load from the HVAC equipment. The processing circuit is configured to determine an occupancy of the building space based on the indication of the current heating or cooling load received from the HVAC equipment. The processing circuit is further configured to operate the HVAC equipment based on the determined occupancy of the building space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Jedidiah O. Bentz, Brian D. Rigg, Theresa N. Gillette, Tom R. Tasker, Tyler McCune, John W. Uerkvitz, Shaun B. Atchison, Daniel S. Middleton, Aneek Muhammad Noor, William P. Alberth, Jr., Joseph R. Ribbich
  • Patent number: D875110
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Daniel J. Spors, Michael F. Kornacki, Steven J. Grobschmidt, Vineet Sinha, Mark Thoni, Scott Holland, Hyunchul Kim, Michael Lemon, Nikhil Mathew, Holly Prouty