APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATIC CLIMATE CONTROL

摘要

An apparatus and method for controlling the operation of (HVAC) equipment (80) or other climate control equipment (560). A user can set a user set point (150). The system (20) determines whether the space is occupied at any given time, and if it is, maintains the temperature at the user set point (270) within a predetermined allowed margin. If the space is not occupied (280) and the temperature drifts outside the allowed margin, then tile system allows the temperature to drift to a maximum allowable margin, or to a newly determined margin, whichever is less (290). The newly determined margin is based upon a determination of the maximum temperature margin to which the system can drift and still drive the temperature back substantially to the user set point within a predetermined maximum recovery time. The recovery time is calculated based upon past temperature-vs.-time data stored for previous cycles of drift and drive (320).