Thermostats and Operational Methods

Abstract

Thermostats and operational methods are described. According to one aspect, a thermostat includes an interface configured to receive a control signal, wherein the control signal comprises fast components and slow components, and the fast components change at an increased rate compared with slow components of the control signal, control circuitry including a fast response controller configured to use the fast components of the control signal to generate a fast temperature offset, a slow response controller configured to use the slow components of the control signal to generate a slow temperature offset, and wherein the control circuitry is configured to use the fast temperature offset and the slow temperature offset to control a conditioning apparatus to at least one of heat and cool a conditioned area at a plurality of moments in time.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A thermostat comprising:
 an interface configured to receive a control signal, wherein the control signal comprises fast components and slow components, and the fast components change at an increased rate compared with the slow components of the control signal;   control circuitry comprising:
 a fast response controller configured to use the fast components of the control signal to generate a fast temperature offset; 
 a slow response controller configured to use the slow components of the control signal to generate a slow temperature offset; and 
 wherein the control circuitry is configured to use the fast temperature offset and the slow temperature offset to control a conditioning apparatus to at least one of heat and cool a conditioned area at a plurality of moments in time. 
   
     
     
         2 . The thermostat of  claim 1  wherein the fast response controller is configured to filter the slow components of the control signal and the slow response controller is configured to filter the fast components of the control signal. 
     
     
         3 . The thermostat of  claim 1  wherein the control circuitry is configured to use a comfort setting of a customer which is indicative of a customer preference of comfort with respect to temperature to generate the fast and slow temperature offsets. 
     
     
         4 . The thermostat of  claim 1  wherein the control circuitry is configured to use a mass temperature of the conditioned area, a desired temperature set point of the conditioned area, and an air temperature of the conditioned area to control the operation of the conditioning apparatus to at least one of heat and cool the conditioned area. 
     
     
         5 . The thermostat of  claim 4  wherein the control circuitry is configured to:
 determine a first difference between the slow temperature offset and a mass temperature of the conditioned area; 
 add the first difference to the fast temperature offset to provide a combined temperature offset; 
 add the combined temperature offset to the desired temperature set point of the conditioned area to provide an adjusted temperature set point; 
 determine a second difference between the adjusted temperature set point and the air temperature of the conditioned area; and 
 use the second difference to control the conditioning apparatus. 
 
     
     
         6 . The thermostat of  claim 1  wherein the control signal is indicative of price of electrical energy which is supplied to the conditioning apparatus. 
     
     
         7 . The thermostat of  claim 6  wherein the control signal changes as a result of changes in the price of electrical energy which is supplied to the conditioning apparatus. 
     
     
         8 . The thermostat of  claim 1  wherein the control circuitry is configured to control operation of the conditioning apparatus in different operational modes at different discrete moments in time to at least one of heat and cool the conditioned area. 
     
     
         9 . The thermostat of  claim 8  wherein the control circuitry is configured to use the fast and slow temperature offsets to determine that a change of the conditioning apparatus from a first operational mode to a second operational mode is appropriate, and to control the conditioning apparatus to change from the first operational mode to the second operational mode with zero deadband and without hysteresis. 
     
     
         10 . The thermostat of  claim 1  wherein the control circuity comprises discrete control circuitry configured to change an operational mode of the conditioning apparatus only at a plurality of discrete moments in time. 
     
     
         11 . The thermostat of  claim 10  wherein the control circuity is configured to change the operational mode at the discrete moments in time which are defined by an interval. 
     
     
         12 . The thermostat of  claim 11  wherein the control circuitry is configured to maintain the conditioning apparatus in the same operational mode for an entirety of the interval. 
     
     
         13 . The thermostat of  claim 11  wherein the discrete moments in time correspond to updates in the price signal at different moments in time. 
     
     
         14 . The thermostat of  claim 11  wherein the mass temperature information is generated by a state estimator which samples the air temperature of the conditioned area at an increased rate compared with the rate of the discrete moments in time defined by the interval. 
     
     
         15 . The thermostat of  claim 11  wherein the interval is greater than a minimum runtime of the conditioning apparatus. 
     
     
         16 . The thermostat of  claim 1  wherein the fast and slow response controllers are configured to use a maximum allowed temperature deviation from a desired temperature set point of the conditioned area to generate the fast and slow temperature offsets.