GB2410342A

GB2410342A - Environmental Control System And Device

Info

Publication number: GB2410342A
Application number: GB0422069A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Klaus-Werner Popplemann
Original assignee: Invensys Controls UK Ltd
Current assignee: Schneider Electric Controls UK Ltd
Priority date: 2004-01-21
Filing date: 2004-10-05
Publication date: 2005-07-27
Anticipated expiration: 2024-10-05
Also published as: GB2410342B; GB0422069D0

Abstract

An environmental control device 6 for controlling operation of apparatus eg. a central heating system or air conditioning which influences the environmental conditions of an inhabited environment has a first mode of operation 10N for providing an environmental condition preselected by an inhabitant of that environment, a second mode 10R of operation for providing an environmental condition lying in a range more restricted than the range of conditions which may be sought in the first mode of operation and delay means 9 to cause the second mode of operation to become operative only when the controlled apparatus is due for inspection or maintenance, said delay means being selectively adjustable on initial installation to allow an installer to set the initial period of operation in the first modes, eg 400 days.

Description

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL SYSTEM AND DEVICE

The present invention relates to an environmental control system and device and in particular, but not exclusively, to a control device for a domestic central heating system fuelled by gas or oil. The invention may also be applied to an air conditioning system.

The expression "environmental control system" as used herein is to be understood to embrace systems which control room temperature or other climatic conditions of an environment as well as, for example, a hot water supply to a dwelling or other inhabited environment. That expression is to be understood also as embracing non climatic environmental conditions such as those of sound and vibration.

Current UK legislation requires landlords and managing agents of rented accommodation to ensure that all gas installations and appliances are tested and certified safe every year.

The approved code of practice for this legislation requires that the landlord or managing agent shall take all reasonable steps to gain access to the rented accommodation.

However landlords have found it difficult sometimes to comply with these statutory requirements if a tenant is unwilling or unable to allow access to the appliance. The approved code of practice leaves a court to decide finally whether all reasonable steps to gain access have been taken and in consequence, in certain circumstances, landlords have been obliged to resort to forcible entry in order to ensure they are not guilty of an offense in respect of their statutory obligations. This has resulted in significant extra expense in repairing doors and / or locks damaged in entering properties.

Conventional heating control devices enable the occupants of domestic premises to control both the operating times of the heating appliance and the ambient temperature of the various parts of their accommodation and thus establish what may be termed a 'comfortable ambient temperature profile'.

Prior art heating control devices which are concerned with this problem seek to coerce the tenant of rented accommodation into allowing checking and servicing of domestic heating appliances by causing the appliance to become inoperative after a pre-determined period of time which, in the UK, is most commonly the 12 month statutory period. UK Patent No. GB 2 346 225 and pending UK Patent No. 2 363 450 are two publications which describe such devices.

However a significant disadvantage of the above mentioned prior art devices is that for certain tenants such as the very young or the elderly or tenants who are ill, and especially in winter, the disabling of central heating, which in many cases is the only source of domestic heating and hot water, may be injurious to their health. Furthermore, in prolonged periods of sub-zero temperatures, rendering the primary heating source inoperative risks damage from frozen plumbing.

In the case of an air conditioning system periodic maintenance is also necessary for correct and safe operation.

The aforedescribed problems have been addressed by the invention the subject of our co-pending UK patent application GB 0401271.2 (publication number GB 2466458A) which teaches an environmental control device for controlling operation of apparatus which influences the environmental conditions of an inhabited environment wherein the control device has a first and a second mode of operation, the first mode of operation causing the apparatus to seek to provide an environmental condition preselected by or for an inhabitant of that environment, the second mode of operation causing the apparatus to seek to provide an environmental condition lying in a range more restricted than the range of conditions which may be sought in the first mode of operation, delay means for causing the second mode of operation to become operative only when the controlled apparatus is due for inspection or maintenance, and reset means for resetting the delay means to allow operation in the first mode subsequent to an inspection or maintenance of the apparatus.

The present invention seeks to provide an environmental control device of a kind such as referred to in the preceding paragraph and which has an improved facility for ease of use.

According to a one aspect of the present invention there is provided an environmental control device for controlling operation of apparatus which influences the environmental conditions of an inhabited environment wherein the control device has a first and a second mode of operation, the first mode of operation causing the apparatus to seek to provide an environmental condition preselected by or for an inhabitant of that environment, the second mode of operation causing the apparatus to seek to provide an environmental condition lying in a range more restricted than the range of conditions which may be sought in the first mode of operation, and delay means for causing the second mode of operation to become operative only when the controlled apparatus is due for inspection or maintenance, said delay means being selectively adjustable, at least on initial installation of the environmental control device, to allow the initial period of operation in the first mode to be set by the installer.

It will thus be appreciated that the present invention allows the time of initial service to be due at a time which is not inconvenient to the service and maintenance provider. Therefore the workload for a service engineer can be planned to provide a substantially uniform level of work over a period of time.

It also allows for installations which are geographically close to one another to have a requirement for substantially concurrent servicing.

Preferably the control device additionally comprises reset means for resetting the delay means to allow operation in the first mode subsequent to an inspection or maintenance of the apparatus. The reset means may be actuatable on-site by a service engineer or may be remotely actuatable via a communication link from a control centre. Preferably the period of operation in the first mode following operation of the reset means is non adjustable or adjustable only within a predetermined range. In contrast, it is envisaged that the initial period of operation in the first mode may be selectively adjustable by an installer to be within a range which is greater than any range provided for in respect of subsequent periods of operation in the first mode. The range of adjustment for the initial period of operation in the first mode preferably allows a maximum period which is no greater than that allowed by the control device for the subsequent periods of operation in the first mode.

The period of operation in the first mode following operation of the reset means may be non-adjustable by on-site installation personnel at the time of installing the control device. The period may be factory set or, for example, remotely set via a communication link between the control device and a control centre operated by the installation company of maintenance provider.

The invention envisages similarly that instead of the period of initial operation in the first mode of operation being adjustable by on-site installation personnel, it may be adjustable or set remotely.

It will be appreciated that implicit to the object of the present invention is a requirement for the control device to possess a security function whereby the operation in the first mode cannot be reset by an inhabitant of the controlled environment or any persons other than those properly authorized.

The environmental control device may comprise counter means for measuring a predetermined elapsed period after which the control device is switched from the first control mode to the second control mode and reset means for resetting the counter means to zero and switching the control device back to the first control mode.

The temperature profile may be that of ambient (air) temperature, or that of the domestic (or other) hot water supply.

The environmental control device may be operable to increment or decrement only the temperature of a hot water supply, or it may be operable additionally to increment or decrement ambient temperature at times when both room heating and water heating are requested by the inhabitant.

Alternatively, the environmental control device may be operable to increment or decrement the temperature of a hot water supply only when room heating is not requested, and to increment or decrement only room heating when both room heating and water heating are requested (or have been requested within an immediately preceding predetermined period of time). Preferably, if full control of water heating is allowed when control of room heating is restricted, a time limitation is imposed so that after a prescribed period, typically a period of at least several days, the water heating is also restricted. That time limitation may be selectively variable by authorised personnel.

The environmental control device may have a second control mode which comprises at least two phases. During a first phase the second control mode may cause a first level of potential relative discomfort, and a greater level of potential relevant discomfort during a second, subsequent phase.

The period of operation in the first phase may be selectively variable by authorised personnel.

The reset means may cause counter means to be reset to a zero reading.

The second control mode may operate by incrementing the temperature profile of the first control mode but preferably the second control mode operates by decrementing the temperature profile of the first control mode.

A predetermined elapsed time period may be twelve months and the reset means may comprise switch means incorporated in the control device or an external plug-in device.

The counter means may comprise a timer or may comprise means for counting on - off cycles of the apparatus.

The environmental control device may comprise alarm means, for example a visual or audible signal, for warning an occupant that the device is about to switch from the first control mode to the second control mode. The warning signal preferably is generated at least three, preferably at least four days, before a mode change occurs such that even if the signal is first given at a weekend, there is time to call a service engineer and arrange for servicing of an appliance to be completed prior to a potential mode change.

The alarm means may comprise a snooze facility whereby it may be rendered inoperative for a prescribed number of hours per day for at feat a limited number of days.

The first control mode may allow the room or water temperature to be selected by the user on a time basis, for example a daily basis.

The second mode of operation may restrict the maximum temperature to a value less than in the first mode and / or may restrict the period of operation of the apparatus and / or may restrict the time of day when the apparatus is operative.

Furthermore in the second mode of operation the degree of restriction may increase with time. The increasing restriction may occur in a gradual or a step wise change manner.

Where the environmental control device is a climate control device which controls the operations of an air conditioning apparatus the second mode of operation may be restrict the minimum temperature available to the inhabitants of the environment.

The present invention also provides an environmental control system comprising an appliance controlled by a control device of the invention. The appliance may be of the type which employs combustible fuel.

The climate control system may further comprise input devices such as room thermostats.

The climate control system may be an air conditioning system or may be a central heating system wherein the combustible fuel may be gas or oil.

Further aspects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, given by way of example only, of one embodiment in conjunction with the following Figures wherein: Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of a conventional domestic central heating system; Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of a climate control device in accordance with the present invention, and Figure 3 and 4 are schematic diagrams showing various ways in which a restricted operation of the climate control unit can be implemented.

Shown in Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a domestic central heating system in which a variable room thermostat (1) in conjunction with a remote time clock (2) control the operation of a boiler (3) which circulates hot water to a radiator (4) positioned within a room (5).

The variable thermostat (1) of Figure 1 is adjustable to control the temperature of the room over the normal full range.

Shown in Figure 2 is a climate control device in accordance with the present invention which is interposed in the communication line between the variable room thermostat (1) and the time clock (2). The climate control device (6) comprises a relay (7) operably controlled by counting means (9) to activate a flip-flop type switch (10). The switch (10) is used to disconnect the time clock (2) from the variable room thermostat (1) and connect it to a restricted range thermostat (8) which, in this embodiment, controls the boiler (3) to operate only if the room temperature is below 10 degrees centigrade.

The counting means (9) comprises an over-ride to allow the number of counted events prior to operation of switch (10) to be selectively varied by the installer for the first period of normal operations such that the first service occurs at a time which is not inconvenient for the servicing company.

In operation the counting means (9) causes the switch (10) to switch the communication line from the variable thermostat (1) to the restricted thermostat (8) after a pre-determined number of events have been counted by the counting means (9). Such events may be of periods of time or may be events such as the switching on and off of the boiler. In this embodiment the counting means is a timer which causes switching after 400 days. The environmental control device (6) thus switches from a first climate control mode to a second climate mode, being of a restricted temperature range in comparison to the first control mode, after a pre- determined number of days have been counted.

In the second climate control mode the restricted thermostat (8) may be such that the maximum temperature available to the inhabitant is substantially lower than that in the first control mode and for example may be restricted to temperatures in the range of O to 10 degrees centigrade.

The climate control device (6) also comprises reset means (11) which can be activated by a service engineer after servicing is completed to reset the counter means to zero and return the system to the first control mode.

The reset means (11) may incorporate a mechanical or electronic lock whereby it can be operated only by use of a key device carried by a service engineer.

Whilst this embodiment of the invention has been described utilising electro mechanical devices, other forms of switching may be used. In another preferred embodiment the function of the relay and switching is accomplished by electronic means.

The interposed climate control device (6) may be incorporated into the remote time clock (2) or the thermostat (1) or into a programmable room thermostat which is a combination of the two.

The control device also incorporates a small loudspeaker to provide an audible signal after 393 days, thereby to provide a warning that within 7 days there will be a restrictions to the available room temperature.

Figures 3 and 4 show various ways in which the restricted range of environmental conditions available to the inhabitant may be implemented in the second control mode. Thus in Figures 3a, 3b and 3c the environmental conditioning apparatus remains continuously operable but the environmental parameter (e.g. temperature) range available to the inhabitant is restricted in comparison to the first control mode. Thus restriction may be implemented wholly when the control device switches from the first control mode to the second control mode as illustrated in Figure 3a, or may be implemented gradually as illustrated in Figure 3b or in a step wise manner as illustrated in Figure 3c. Thus the climate temperature range available to the inhabitant would be reduced when the device switches to the second control mode.

Illustrated in Figure 4 is an alternative method of restricting the environmental conditioning by rendering the environmental conditioning apparatus only intermittently operable in the second control mode as compared to being continuously operable in the first control mode. Again similar to restricted operation illustrated in Figures 3a to 3c, the intermittent operability of the apparatus may be effected immediately or may be gradually made less frequent.

Claims

1. An environmental control device for controlling operation of apparatus which influences the environmental conditions of an inhabited environment wherein the control device has a first and a second mode of operation, the first mode of operation causing the apparatus to seek to provide an environmental condition preselected by or for an inhabitant of that environment, the second mode of operation causing the apparatus to seek to provide an environmental condition lying in a range more restricted than the range of conditions which may be sought in the first mode of operation, and delay means for causing the second mode of operation to become operative only when the controlled apparatus is due for inspection or maintenance, said delay means being selectively adjustable, at least on initial installation of the environmental control device, to allow the initial period of operation in the first mode to be set by the installer.

2. A control device according to claim 1, wherein the initial period of operation in the first mode is selectively adjustable to be within a range which is greater than any range provided for in respect of subsequent periods of operation in the first mode.

3. A control device according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the initial period of operation in the first mode cannot be adjusted to a period greater than that allowed by the control device for the subsequent periods of operation in the first mode.

4. A control device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the delay means is adjustable on-site by an installer in respect of the initial period of operation in the first mode but cannot be adjusted on site in respect of subsequent periods of operation in the first mode.

5. A control device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein a period set by the delay means is remotely variable via a communication link between the control device and a control centre.

6. A control device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the delay means has a security function associated therewith to inhibit adjustment by persons other than those properly authorised.

7. A control device according to any one of the preceding claims and comprising reset means for resetting the delay means to allow operation in the first mode subsequent to an inspection or maintenance of the apparatus.

8. A control device according to claim 7, wherein the reset means has a security function associated therewith to inhibit adjustment by persons other than those properly authorised.

9. A control device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the delay means comprises a counter for counting events occurring in operation of the apparatus.

10. A control device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the delay means comprises means for counting the passage of time.

11. A control device according to claim 10, wherein the delay means causes the second mode of operation become operative after the passage of at least 400 days.

12. A control device according to any one of the preceding claims and operable, in use, in the second mode of operation to restrict the temperature of a hot water supply.

13. A control device according to any one of the preceding claims and operable, in use, in the second mode of operation to restrict a room temperature.

14. A control device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the control device is operable, in use, to control both room heating and water heating, and operates, for at least a restricted period of time, to restrict only room heating when both room heating and water heating have been requested within a prescribed immediately preceding period of time.

15. A control device according to claim 14, wherein restriction of water heating is inhibited for only a predetermined period of time, and thereafter both room heating and water heating are restricted.

16. A control device according to any one of the preceding claims and operable to generate a warning signal a predetermined period in advance of switching from the first to the second mode of operation.

17. A control device according to claim 1 and substantially as hereinbefore described.

18. A control system comprising an environmental conditioning apparatus which influences the environmental conditions of an inhabited environment wherein the environmental conditioning apparatus is controlled by the an environmental control device of any of the preceding claims.

19. A control system according to claim 18, wherein the environmental conditioning apparatus is a central heating appliance.

20. A control system in accordance with claim 18 or claim 19, wherein the environmental conditioning apparatus utilises a combustible fuel.

21. A control system in accordance with any one of claims 19 to 20 and substantially as hereinbefore described.

22. An environmental control device for controlling operation of apparatus which influences the environmental conditions of an inhabited environment wherein the control device has a first and a second mode of operation, the first mode of operation causing the apparatus to seek to provide an environmental condition preselected by or for an inhabitant of that environment, the second mode of operation causing the apparatus to seek to provide an environmental condition lying in a range more restricted than the range of conditions which may be sought in the first mode of operation, and delay means for causing the second mode of operation to become operative only when the controlled apparatus is due for inspection or maintenance, said delay means being selectively adjustable, at least on initial installation of the environmental control device, to allow the initial period of operation in the first mode to be set by the installer, and said control device being operable, in use, to control both room heating and water heating, and operates, for at least a restricted period of time, to restrict only room heating when both room heating and water heating have been requested within a prescribed immediately preceding period of time.