A thermostat may include one or more memory devices comprising a stored setpoint schedule, one or more temperature sensors configured to provide temperature sensor measurements, and a processing system configured to be in operative communication the one or more memory devices to determine a setpoint temperature, and in still further operative communication with a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system to control the HVAC system based at least in part on the setpoint temperature and the temperature sensor measurements. The processing system may be configured to control the HVAC system by receiving an indication that a total instantaneous energy usage rate for a structure in which the thermostat is installed is projected to exceed a threshold amount; and altering the stored setpoint schedule to reduce an energy usage rate of the HVAC system.

A thermostat my include a stored setpoint schedule, temperature sensors providing temperature sensor measurements; and a processing system configured to control an HVAC system based at least in part on the setpoint temperature and the temperature sensor measurements. The processing system may be configured to control the HVAC system by receiving an indication of a first time interval, where energy is available to the HVAC system at a first rate during the first time interval, energy is available to the HVAC system at a second rate during a second time interval that is outside of the first time interval, and the first rate is higher than the second rate; identifying a first one or more setpoints in the plurality of setpoints of the stored setpoint schedule that occur in the first time interval; and decreasing a temperature component of at least one of the first one or more setpoints.

To provide an air conditioner 1 that includes an outdoor device and an indoor device and performs air conditioning inside a room. The indoor device includes a control unit, a storage unit, and an infrared sensor unit that detects a human by detecting infrared rays. The infrared sensor unit includes thermal-image acquisition elements that detect infrared rays to acquire thermal image data, and a sensor control unit that controls the thermal-image acquisition elements. At a time of reception of the thermal image data transmitted from the infrared sensor unit, the control unit determines whether an error has been occurred in communication for each of the thermal-image acquisition elements. The control unit sets a thermal-image acquisition element whose sum of number of times of determination that an error has occurred in the communication is equal to or larger than a certain number, as a communication-error established element. The control unit performs setting of not acquiring the thermal image data from the thermal-image acquisition element set as the communication-error established element.

A method for controlling HVAC equipment for a building includes generating, based on historical building data, a discomfort tolerance defining an acceptable amount of occupant discomfort, determining a first value of an environmental condition at which the occupant discomfort is predicted to exceed the discomfort tolerance in a first direction, determining a second value of the environmental condition at which the occupant discomfort is predicted to exceed the discomfort tolerance in a second direction opposite the first direction, and controlling the HVAC equipment to maintain the environmental condition between the first value and the second value.

An infrared sensor is installed to one of the corners of a decorative panel to face different directions at the respective corners. A controller controls one of several air direction vanes and thus airflow out of one of air outlets and an air-conditioning apparatus to perform an operation, makes a determination of the installation position of the infrared sensor from one of several divided areas in which a temperature difference in floor surface between before and during an operation of the one of the air direction vanes equals or exceeds a specified value, a disposition position of the one of the air direction vanes, and an installation direction of the infrared sensor, and makes the one of the divided areas in which the temperature difference equals or exceeds the specified value correspond to the one of the air direction vanes to be controlled.

In one aspect, a method of generating a model for HVAC system control is provided. The method includes generating a model of the performance of an HVAC system, providing the generated model to at least one of an optimal control system and a diagnostic system, and automatically tuning the HVAC system using the generated model and at least one of the optimal control system and the diagnostic system.

A control device for a ceiling fan may have a motor drive circuit configured to control a rotational speed of a motor of the ceiling fan, an occupancy sensing circuit, and a control circuit configured to adjust the rotational speed of the motor in response to a detected occupancy or vacancy condition. The control circuit may process the signals generated by the occupancy sensing circuit to eliminate the effects of vibrations and/or wobbling of the ceiling fan. The control circuit may control the motor drive circuit to adjust the rotational speed of the motor in response to an accelerometer to minimize the magnitude of the wobble of the ceiling fan. The control circuit may be configured to learn a preferred rotational speed for the motor. The control circuit may also be configured to control the rotational speed of the motor to affect a thermal comfort level of an occupant.

The purpose of the disclosed thermostat is to prevent age-related diseases, induced by long term cool indoor temperatures. As people age, the body produces progressively less heat while aging-impaired vasoconstriction results in progressively more heat being lost. This age-induced cold stress requires ever greater use of vasoconstriction or behavior to maintain the body's heat balance. When behavioral regulation becomes diminished with age, vasoconstriction becomes progressive throughout life. In at risk elderly, an ongoing mild indoor cold stress can unknowingly maximize negative feedback vasoconstriction leaving it unable to further defend core body temperature. Before hypothermia occurs, positive feedback vasoconstriction activates as a defense mechanism. Like inflammation and fever, this beneficial defense mechanism can also cause harm when its use becomes excessive. The therapeutic function of this medical device is to sense skin temperature and use it to modify the indoor environment, keeping thermoregulation within the effective range of negative feedback vasoconstriction.

A method of managing energy consumption of a building may include performing an optimization for a zone of a building. The method may also include determining an environmental condition setting for the zone based on the optimization. Further, the method may include receiving user feedback of the environmental condition setting. The user feedback may reflect an environmental condition preference of the user. The method may also include modifying the optimization based on the feedback of the environmental condition setting and updating the environmental condition setting based on the modified optimization.

A system for a plurality of thermostats each located in a different building in a neighborhood. Each thermostat includes a processing circuit configured to receive one or more assigned operating time slots from an analytics service and operate building equipment associated with the thermostat based on the one or more assigned operating time slots. The system further includes the analytics service. The analytics service includes a processing circuit configured to receive weather forecast data from a weather service and predict a period of time during which an energy usage peak will occur for the plurality of buildings based on the weather forecast data, determine the one or more operating time slots based on the period of time, assign the one or more operating time slots to each of the plurality of thermostats, and send the one or more assigned operating time slots to the plurality of thermostats.