A thermostat comprises a detachable dial control unit that may be positioned with an anchoring component. The anchoring component may assume different forms including a wall plate, a wireless recharging dock, or a headless control unit/wall mounted unit that serve different needs of a user. The detachable dial control unit may be removed while still allowing the user to change thermostatic settings of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system by rotating an outer ring indicative of thermostatic information and sending the information to a headless control unit/wall mounted unit via a wireless communication channel. To facilitate alignment of the detachable dial control unit with the anchoring component, each may comprise a plurality of alignment magnets having a magnetic polarity pattern. Also, a wireless charging dock and headless control unit/wall mounted unit may recharge the detachable dial control unit via an activated electromagnetic induction path.

A building energy system includes HVAC equipment, green energy generation, a battery, and a predictive controller. The HVAC equipment provide heating or cooling for a building. The green energy generation collect green energy from a green energy source. The battery stores electric energy including at least a portion of the green energy provided by the green energy generation and grid energy purchased from an energy grid and discharges the stored electric energy for use in powering the HVAC equipment. The predictive controller generates a constraint that defines a total energy consumption of the HVAC equipment at each time step of an optimization period as a summation of multiple source-specific energy components and optimizes the predictive cost function subject to the constraint to determine values for each of the source-specific energy components at each time step of the optimization period.

A building energy system includes HVAC equipment, green energy generation, a battery, and a predictive controller. The HVAC equipment provide heating or cooling for a building. The green energy generation collect green energy from a green energy source. The battery stores electric energy including at least a portion of the green energy provided by the green energy generation and grid energy purchased from an energy grid and discharges the stored electric energy for use in powering the HVAC equipment. The predictive controller generates a constraint that defines a total energy consumption of the HVAC equipment at each time step of an optimization period as a summation of multiple source-specific energy components and optimizes the predictive cost function subject to the constraint to determine values for each of the source-specific energy components at each time step of the optimization period.

A ventilation system includes a first ventilation device, a second ventilation device, a sensor, and an electronic controller. The first ventilation device includes a first fan. The second ventilation device includes a second fan. The sensor is attached to the first ventilation device. The sensor is configured to detect a state of air and to transmit a detection signal indicative of the detected state of air. The electronic controller is configured to receive the detection signal of the sensor and to control the first ventilation device and the second ventilation device based on the detection signal.

A control system for a HVAC system for a structure and including a blower that flows air over an indoor heat exchanger. The control system may include a first input device, a first sensor, and a processor in electronic communication with the first input device, the first sensor, and the blower of the HVAC system. The first input device may be operable to accept a zoning mode selection. The first sensor may be sensor operable to measure a first temperature at a first location within the structure. The processor may be programmed to determine a cooling or heating demand on the HVAC system based on an input temperature and the first measured temperature. The processor may be further programmed to adjust an air flow rate produced by the blower based on the demand on the HVAC system and the zoning mode selection.

A control system for a HVAC system for a structure and including a blower that flows air over an indoor heat exchanger. The control system may include a first input device, a first sensor, and a processor in electronic communication with the first input device, the first sensor, and the blower of the HVAC system. The first input device may be operable to accept a zoning mode selection. The first sensor may be sensor operable to measure a first temperature at a first location within the structure. The processor may be programmed to determine a cooling or heating demand on the HVAC system based on an input temperature and the first measured temperature. The processor may be further programmed to adjust an air flow rate produced by the blower based on the demand on the HVAC system and the zoning mode selection.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for a heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning (HVAC) system includes instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to receive an input indicative of a user location, perform a verification that the user location is within a determined distance from the HVAC system, and control access to system settings of the HVAC system based on the verification.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for a heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning (HVAC) system includes instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to receive an input indicative of a user location, perform a verification that the user location is within a determined distance from the HVAC system, and control access to system settings of the HVAC system based on the verification.

There is provided a method of controlling an air-conditioning system associated with a building for optimizing a plurality of building performance parameters in providing an environment with respect to a zone of the building, the method comprising: obtaining zone environmental condition information including zone temperature data associated to the zone, and cooling air temperature data associated to an air handling unit associated to the zone; obtaining, from a zone model generator, zone cooling load parameters associated to the zone with respect to a plurality of time periods and a zone thermal dynamic model; obtaining, from a scheduler, a sequence of optimal cool air supply rates with respect to a plurality of subsequent time periods with respect to the zone determined based on a multi-component cost function including a plurality of components relating to the plurality of building performance parameters; determining, based on the zone thermal dynamic model, a sequence of zone controller set-points corresponding to the sequence of optimal cool air supply rates with respect to the zone using the zone cooling load parameters, the sequence of optimal cool air supply rates, the zone temperature data and the cooling air temperature data associated to the air handling unit; and sending the sequence of zone controller set-points to a zone controller for controlling a temperature of the zone.