Patents by Inventor John E. Seem

John E. Seem has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8200344
    Abstract: An extremum seeking control method optimizes a control process for a plant such as an air handling unit. The method compensates for abrupt changes in the operation of the plant by resetting the extremum seeking control strategy in response to a detection of the abrupt change.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2012
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Yaoyu Li, John E. Seem
  • Publication number: 20120083926
    Abstract: A system for regulating the amount of outdoor air that is introduced into a building determines characteristics of the outdoor air using sensor inputs. The system uses extremum seeking control logic to vary the flow of outdoor air provided into the building in response to the cooling load determinations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 14, 2011
    Publication date: April 5, 2012
    Inventor: John E. Seem
  • Patent number: 8096140
    Abstract: A system for regulating the amount of outdoor air that is introduced into a building determines characteristics of the outdoor air using sensor inputs. The system uses extremum seeking control logic to vary the flow of outdoor air provided into the building in response to the cooling load determinations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2012
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventor: John E. Seem
  • Publication number: 20110320045
    Abstract: A fault detection system for detecting a fault in a process system includes a first circuit configured to modify an input of the process system with a modifying signal. The fault detection system further includes a second circuit configured to receive an output from the process system and configured to determine whether the fault exists based on at least one of a reduction of a signal component and an unexpected transformation of the signal component, wherein the signal component corresponds to a function of the modifying signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 6, 2011
    Publication date: December 29, 2011
    Inventors: Timothy Salsbury, John E. Seem, Yaoyu Li
  • Publication number: 20110276180
    Abstract: A system for operating a process includes a processing circuit that uses a self-optimizing control strategy to learn a steady-state relationship between an input and an output. The processing circuit is configured to switch from using the self-optimizing control strategy to using a different control strategy that operates based on the learned steady-state relationship.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 23, 2010
    Publication date: November 10, 2011
    Inventor: John E. Seem
  • Publication number: 20110276182
    Abstract: A system for controlling a cooling tower that cools condenser fluid for a condenser of a chiller includes a cooling tower fan system that controllably varies a speed of at least one fan motor. The system further includes an extremum seeking controller that receives inputs of power expended by the cooling tower fan system and of power expended by the chiller. The extremum seeking controller provides an output to the cooling tower fan system that controls the speed of the at least one fan motor. The extremum seeking controller determines the output by searching for a speed of the at least one fan motor that minimizes the sum of the power expended by the cooling tower fan system and the power expended by the chiller.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 10, 2010
    Publication date: November 10, 2011
    Inventors: John E. Seem, Yaoyu Li
  • Patent number: 8027742
    Abstract: A fault detection system for detecting a fault in a process system includes a first circuit configured to modify an input of the process system with a modifying signal. The fault detection system further includes a second circuit configured to receive an output from the process system and configured to determine whether the fault exists based on at least one of a reduction of a signal component and an unexpected transformation of the signal component, wherein the signal component corresponds to a function of the modifying signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2011
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: John E. Seem, Yaoyu Li, Timothy Salsbury
  • Publication number: 20110056224
    Abstract: Systems and methods for regulating the amount of outdoor air that is introduced into a building are shown and described. These systems and methods utilize extremum seeking control logic to vary the flow of outdoor air into the building in response to cooling load determinations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2010
    Publication date: March 10, 2011
    Inventor: John E. Seem
  • Publication number: 20110036108
    Abstract: A system for regulating the amount of outdoor air that is introduced into a building determines characteristics of the outdoor air using sensor inputs. The system uses extremum seeking control logic to vary the flow of outdoor air provided into the building in response to the cooling load determinations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 26, 2010
    Publication date: February 17, 2011
    Inventor: John E. Seem
  • Publication number: 20110029100
    Abstract: A system for controlling start-up of a feedback controller includes a memory device and a processing circuit. The processing circuit is configured to receive a gain parameter from the feedback controller and to store the gain parameter in the memory device. The processing circuit is further configured to multiply the stored gain parameter and to cause the feedback controller to use the multiplied gain parameter in response to a determination that the feedback controller has restarted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2010
    Publication date: February 3, 2011
    Inventors: John E. Seem, Michael H. Brandt
  • Publication number: 20100324741
    Abstract: A system is disclosed for detecting faults in an environmental control system for a building zone. The environmental control system is controlled by a finite state machine that causes states of the environmental control system to change based on a varying climate condition. A circuit is configured to receive a current value for the climate condition when the environmental control system is in a heating state and to calculate an estimate of the climate condition at which a transition from the heating state to a state of no heating by the environmental control system is expected to be caused by the finite state machine. The circuit is configured to determine that a fault exists based on a comparison of the current value for the climate condition in the heating state and the estimate of the climate condition at which a transition from the heating state to the no heating state is expected to be caused by the finite state machine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 18, 2009
    Publication date: December 23, 2010
    Inventors: John M. House, John E. Seem
  • Patent number: 7827813
    Abstract: Systems and methods to regulate the amount of outdoor air that is introduced into a building. These systems and methods determine the mechanical load requirements based on adaptive control functionality. These systems and methods utilize extremum seeking control logic to vary the flow of outdoor air into the building in response to these load determinations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2010
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventor: John E. Seem
  • Patent number: 7729882
    Abstract: A system is disclosed for scaling performance indicators of control applications in an environmental control system. The system is configured to identify a probability distribution that is characteristic of a fault-free environmental control system and to use the probability distribution of a fault-free environmental control system in calculations to display probability distributions of data from first and second control applications on a common scale.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2010
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventor: John E. Seem
  • Publication number: 20100106328
    Abstract: An extremum seeking control method optimizes a control process for a plant such as an air handling unit. The method compensates for abrupt changes in the operation of the plant by resetting the extremum seeking control strategy in response to a detection of the abrupt change.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2009
    Publication date: April 29, 2010
    Inventors: Yaoyu Li, John E. Seem
  • Publication number: 20100106331
    Abstract: An extremum seeking control method optimizes a control process for a plant such as an air handling unit. The method improves the performance of an extremum seeking control strategy by limiting, removing or preventing the effects of an actuator saturation condition, particularly as the extremum seeking control strategy relates to HVAC applications.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 7, 2010
    Publication date: April 29, 2010
    Inventors: Yaoyu Li, John E. Seem
  • Publication number: 20090144023
    Abstract: A system is disclosed for scaling performance indicators of control applications in an environmental control system. The system is configured to identify a probability distribution that is characteristic of a fault-free environmental control system and to use the probability distribution of a fault-free environmental control system in calculations to display probability distributions of data from first and second control applications on a common scale.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2009
    Publication date: June 4, 2009
    Inventor: John E. Seem
  • Publication number: 20090083583
    Abstract: A fault detection system for detecting a fault in a process system includes a first circuit configured to modify an input of the process system with a modifying signal. The fault detection system further includes a second circuit configured to receive an output from the process system and configured to determine whether the fault exists based on at least one of a reduction of a signal component and an unexpected transformation of the signal component, wherein the signal component corresponds to a function of the modifying signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 25, 2008
    Publication date: March 26, 2009
    Inventors: John E. Seem, Yaoyu Li, Timothy Salsbury
  • Publication number: 20090065596
    Abstract: A method for providing control to a building zone uses a building automation system and a portable wireless device located within the building zone. The method includes the step of identifying the portable wireless device using wireless communications. The method further includes retrieving information from a memory device specific to the identified portable wireless device. The retrieved information comprises a user preference relating to the building automation system. The method further includes adjusting a parameter of the building automation system based on the retrieved information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 28, 2008
    Publication date: March 12, 2009
    Inventors: John E. Seem, James S. Botic, Jerald P. Martocci, Anderlyne M. Canada
  • Patent number: 7496472
    Abstract: A method and system is disclosed for scaling performance indicators of control applications in an environmental control system. The method and system include receiving more than one performance indicator from a first control application, wherein the first control application includes a modulating control output and receiving more than one performance indicator from a second control application, wherein the second control application includes a staged-control output. The method and system further include identifying a probability distribution, wherein the probability distribution is characteristic of a fault-free environmental control system and calculating probability distributions associated with the performance indicators of the first and second control applications. The method and system also include displaying the probability distributions of the first and second control applications on a common scale.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2009
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventor: John E. Seem
  • Publication number: 20080277486
    Abstract: An HVAC control system configured to control the environment of a building zone includes a means for determining a number of people occupying the building zone and a means for determining properties of other heat transferring objects located within the building zone. The HVAC control system may also include a controller, the controller being configured to compute a projected heat gain in a building zone based on the determined number of people occupying the building zone and the determined properties of the other heat transferring objects located within the building zone. The controller may use the computed projected heat gain to determine a zone ventilation setpoint for the building zone.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 9, 2007
    Publication date: November 13, 2008
    Inventors: John E. Seem, Anderlyne M. Canada