Prognostics system and method for hvac system comfort failure forecasting

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a method of operating a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) analytics system is provided. The method comprising: obtaining HVAC data for an HVAC unit in electronic communication with the HVAC analytics system; obtaining an HVAC unit characteristic of the HVAC unit; determining an HVAC comfort performance index (CPI) in response to the HVAC data and the HVAC unit characteristic; determining an HVAC CPI degradation trend line in response to the HVAC comfort performance index; obtaining weather data for a geographical area where the HVAC system is located, the weather data including a predicted outside air temperature (OAT); and determining a point in time where the predicted OAT is equivalent to the HVAC CPI degradation trend line.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of operating a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) analytics system, the method comprising:
 obtaining HVAC data for an HVAC unit in electronic communication with the HVAC analytics system;   obtaining an HVAC unit characteristic of the HVAC unit;   determining an HVAC comfort performance index (CPI) in response to the HVAC data and the HVAC unit characteristic;   determining an HVAC CPI degradation trend line in response to the HVAC comfort performance index;   obtaining weather data for a geographical area where the HVAC system is located, the weather data including a predicted outside air temperature (OAT); and   determining a point in time where the predicted OAT is equivalent to the HVAC CPI degradation trend line.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 generating an HVAC performance report in response to the predicted OAT and the HVAC CPI degradation trend; and   transmitting the HVAC performance report to a user device.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 activating an alarm a selected time period in advance of the point in time.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the HVAC CPI is a comfort OAT limit.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein:
 the comfort OAT limit is calculated by determining an OAT value when an HVAC map of the HVAC system is equivalent to a trend line for a required capacity of the HVAC system as a function of the indoor air temperature (IAT) and the OAT or as a function of a difference between the IAT and the OAT.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein:
 the comfort OAT limit is calculated by determining an OAT value when an indoor air temperature rate (IATR) of zero is equivalent to a trend line representing an average IATR of the HVAC system as a function of the IAT and the OAT or as a function of a difference between the IAT and the OAT.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the HVAC data includes at least one of an IAT produced by the HVAC unit, an OAT of a geographical area where the HVAC unit is located, and a runtime of the HVAC unit.   
     
     
         8 . A heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) analytics system comprising:
 an HVAC unit configured to deliver conditioned air to a targeted area;   an HVAC analytics engine in electronic communication with the HVAC unit, HVAC analytics engine comprising:
 a processor; 
 a memory comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:
 obtaining HVAC data for the HVAC unit; 
 obtaining an HVAC unit characteristic of the HVAC unit; 
 determining an HVAC comfort performance index (CPI) in response to the HVAC data and the HVAC unit characteristic; 
 determining an HVAC CPI degradation trend line in response to the HVAC comfort performance index; 
 obtaining weather data for a geographical area where the HVAC unit is located, the weather data including a predicted outside air temperature (OAT); and 
 determining a point in time where the predicted OAT is equivalent to the HVAC CPI degradation trend line. 
 
   
     
     
         9 . The HVAC analytics system of  claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform the operations:
 generating an HVAC performance report in response to the predicted OAT and the HVAC CPI degradation trend; and   transmitting the HVAC performance report to a user device.   
     
     
         10 . The HVAC analytics system of  claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform the operations:
 activating an alarm a selected time period in advance of the point in time.   
     
     
         11 . The HVAC analytics system of  claim 8 , wherein:
 the HVAC CPI is a comfort OAT limit.   
     
     
         12 . The HVAC analytics system of  claim 11 , wherein:
 the comfort OAT limit is calculated by determining an OAT value when an HVAC map of the HVAC system is equivalent to a trend line for a required capacity of the HVAC system as a function of the indoor air temperature (IAT) and the OAT or as a function of a difference between the IAT and the OAT.   
     
     
         13 . The HVAC analytics system of  claim 12 , wherein:
 the comfort OAT limit is calculated by determining an OAT value when an indoor air temperature rate (IATR) of zero is equivalent to a trend line representing an average IATR of the HVAC system as a function of the IAT and the OAT or as a function of a difference between the IAT and the OAT.   
     
     
         14 . The HVAC analytics system of  claim 8 , wherein:
 the HVAC data includes at least one of an IAT produced by the HVAC unit, an OAT of a geographical area where the HVAC unit is located, and a runtime of the HVAC unit.   
     
     
         15 . The HVAC analytics system of  claim 8 , wherein:
 the HVAC analytics engine is separate and apart from the HVAC unit, and   wherein the HVAC analytics engine is in electronic communication through a wireless communication network.   
     
     
         16 . The HVAC analytics system of  claim 8 , wherein:
 the HVAC analytics engine is embedded within at least one of the HVAC unit and a controller in communication with the HVAC unit.   
     
     
         17 . A computer program product tangibly embodied on a computer readable medium, the computer program product including instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
 obtaining heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) data for an HVAC unit in electronic communication with an HVAC analytics system;   obtaining an HVAC unit characteristic of the HVAC unit;   determining an HVAC comfort performance index (CPI) in response to the HVAC data and the HVAC unit characteristic;   determining an HVAC CPI degradation trend line in response to the HVAC comfort performance index;   obtaining weather data for a geographical area where the HVAC system is located, the weather data including a predicted outside air temperature (OAT); and   determining a point in time where the predicted OAT is equivalent to the HVAC CPI degradation trend line.   
     
     
         18 . The computer program product of  claim 17 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 generating an HVAC performance report in response to the predicted OAT and the HVAC CPI degradation trend; and   transmitting the HVAC performance report to a user device.   
     
     
         19 . The computer program product of  claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 activating an alarm a selected time period in advance of the point in time.   
     
     
         20 . The computer program product of  claim 17 , wherein:
 the HVAC CPI is a comfort OAT limit.