Computer-Implemented System And Method For Externally Inferring An Effective Indoor Temperature In A Building

摘要

Energy usage data of an indoor climate control system, such as an HVAC system, for a building and ambient temperature data are obtained for a time period of interest with a time resolution that reflects the physically relevant time scales. The data are formed into time series. A fit of the data is performed, by setting the energy usage data as the independent variable to which the ambient temperature data is linearly fit. A fit could be, for instance, an ordinary least squares linear regression, a frequentist regression, a Bayesian regression, or a robust regression. The ambient temperature at the intercept of the fit where the energy usage equals zero is taken as the effective thermostat set point of the indoor climate control system and serves as a surrogate for the effective indoor temperature of the building.

主权项

1. A computer-implemented method for externally inferring an effective indoor temperature in a building, comprising the steps of:
obtaining a usage time series that reflects indoor climate control system usage in a building over a plurality of operating cycles, each operating cycle comprising a “go-to-idle” state transition during which the indoor climate control system transitions from a running state to an at idle state and a “go-to-run” state transition during which the indoor climate control system transitions from an at idle state to a running state, the indoor climate control system running for a period of running time between each “go-to-run” state transition and the next “go-to-idle” state transition, the indoor climate control system remaining at idle for a period of idle time between each “go-to-idle” state transition and the next “go-to-run” state transition, the running time comprising the time necessary to bring the building's interior temperature into a temperature range defined about a desired indoor temperature for the building; obtaining a temperature time series for the temperature ambient to the building over the same plurality of the operating cycles; performing a linear fit of the usage time series and the temperature time series; and extracting the temperature at an intercept of the linear fit at which the usage equals zero as an effective indoor temperature of the building, wherein the steps are performed on a suitably-programmed computer.