Building analysis systems and methods

Abstract

Certain embodiments relate to systems and methods for monitoring and improving the efficiency by which systems maintain building environments. A building management system may analyze values observed by sensors and other devices and determine whether the observed values fall within a range. If the observed values do not fall within the range and the building's control system has not taken appropriate action to ensure that the observed values do fall within the range, the building may generate a floor plan specifying where the failure occurred. A building ranking system may rank a plurality of buildings based upon their relative efficiency. The building ranking system may determine each building's efficiency based on a set of parameters related to the building's energy usage that are normalized for weather, occupancy, and other external parameters.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, implemented on at least one computer device, for determining errors relative to control logic of a building management system associated with a building, comprising:
 receiving a signal indicating sensor data obtained by one or more devices;   determining a range of an output based on the control logic;   detecting a traversal of the sensor data across a boundary of the range;   determining, in response to detecting the traversal, whether an action to be performed by the building management system and specified by the control logic has occurred; and   generating, in response to determining that the action has not occurred, a floor plan of the building for display to a user, the floor plan comprising an indicator specifying one or more locations in the building of the one or more devices that obtained the sensor data.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor data comprises at least one of a temperature value or a humidity value. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor data includes noise. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the indicator comprises a text description. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the control logic is derived from a simulation of a simulated building. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the control logic is derived from a real building. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining whether an action to be performed by the building management system and specified by the control logic has occurred further comprises determining whether the building management system activated an actuator after the sensor data traversed the boundary of the range. 
     
     
         8 . A system for determining errors relative to control logic of a building management system associated with a building, comprising:
 a processor in communication with memory that stores program instructions, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
 process a signal received from one or more devices indicating sensor data obtained by the one or more devices; 
 determine a range of an output based on the control logic; 
 detect a traversal of the sensor data across a boundary of the range; 
 determine, in response to detection of the traversal, whether an action to be performed by the building management system and specified by the control logic has occurred; and 
 generate, in response to a determination that the action has not occurred, a floor plan for display to a user, wherein the floor plan is configured to include an indicator specifying one or more locations in the building of the one or more devices that obtained the sensor data; and 
   a display configured to display the floor plan.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the sensor data comprises at least one of a temperature value or a humidity value. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the sensor data includes noise. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the indicator comprises a text description. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the control logic is derived from a simulation of a simulated building. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the control logic is derived from a real building. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the action comprises the building management system activating an actuator after the sensor data traverses the boundary of the range. 
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory computer storage having stored thereon executable program code that directs a computing system comprising one or more computing devices to implement a process that comprises:
 processing a signal received from one or more devices indicating sensor data obtained by the one or more devices;   determining a range of an output based on control logic of a building management system associated with a building;   detecting a traversal of the sensor data across a boundary of the range;   determining, in response to detecting the traversal, whether an action to be performed by the building management system and specified by the control logic has occurred; and   generating, in response to determining that the action has not occurred, a floor plan of the building for display to a user, the floor plan comprising an indicator specifying one or more locations in the building of the one or more devices that obtained the sensor data.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer storage of  claim 15 , wherein the sensor data comprises at least one of a temperature value or a humidity value. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer storage of  claim 15 , wherein the sensor data includes noise. 
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer storage of  claim 15 , wherein the indicator comprises a text description. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer storage of  claim 15 , wherein the control logic is derived from one of a simulation of a simulated building or a real building. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer storage of  claim 15 , wherein the action comprises the building management system activating an actuator after the sensor data traverses the boundary of the range.