HVAC System Fault Root Cause Self-Determination

Abstract

A method for self-determining a root cause of a system fault in a heating, ventilation, and cooling (HVAC) system includes receiving a fault message indicative of a fault condition in an operating characteristic of the HVAC system; determining a causal relationship between the fault condition and a predetermined list of root causes associated with the fault condition; receiving information indicative of operating conditions of the HVAC system; and eliminating at least one root cause that is unrelated to the fault condition in response to the receiving of the information.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61 / 590,934 filed Jan. 26, 2012, the contents of which are incorporated by referenced herein in their entirety.FIELD OF INVENTION[0002]This invention relates generally to heating, ventilation, and cooling (HVAC) systems for residential or light commercial air conditioning applications and, more particularly, to a method and system for a root cause self-determination of fault conditions in an HVAC system.DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART[0003]HVAC systems often do not function as well as expected due to faults developed during routine operation. While these faults are indicative of a failure mode, many faults do not result in immediate system shut down or costly damages. However, most faults, if unnoticed for a long period of time, could adversely affect system performance, life, and lifecycle cost.[0004]Fault diagnostics refer to detection of faults and identifica...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention is about a system for controlling the environment in a car using an HVAC system. It has a control unit that can set the desired temperature and other settings for different zones in the car. There is also a unit controller that stores information about the car's system parameters and receives a message if there is a problem with the car's operation. The control unit analyzes the problem and suggests possible causes, and then eliminates one of the suggested causes if the information indicates that it is the root cause of the problem. This makes it easier to fix problems in the car's HVAC system.

Problems solved by technology

HVAC systems often do not function as well as expected due to faults developed during routine operation.

However, most faults, if unnoticed for a long period of time, could adversely affect system performance, life, and lifecycle cost.

A fault mode in one system component may cause issues in another component.

Misdiagnosis of a root cause for the fault may result in good operating components to be replaced, resulting in repeated callbacks for a service technician and increased warranty costs.

Additionally, dedicated sensors for diagnosis are typically costly to implement.

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