阅读说明：本技术 组合式传感器系统 (Combined sensor system ) 是由 埃里希·R·克拉文 道格拉斯·S·西尔克伍德 贾森·策德利茨 史蒂芬·C·布朗 扎伊里亚·什 于 2015-09-29 设计创作，主要内容包括：本申请涉及一种组合式传感器系统。某些方面涉及一种组合式传感器,所述组合式传感器包括物理传感器组,所述物理传感器组在结构附近面向不同的方向,并且被配置为沿不同方向测量太阳辐射。所述组合式传感器还包括虚拟立面对准传感器,所述虚拟立面对准传感器被配置为基于来自所述物理传感器组的太阳辐射读数来确定所述结构的立面处的组合式传感器值。(The present application relates to a combined sensor system. Certain aspects relate to a combinational sensor that includes physical sensor groups facing different directions near a structure and configured to measure solar radiation in different directions. The combined sensor further includes a virtual facade alignment sensor configured to determine a combined sensor value at a facade of the structure based on solar radiation readings from the set of physical sensors.)

1. A method of controlling tint of at least one tintable window, the method comprising:

calculating at least one central tendency using at least a portion of sensor readings obtained by physical sensors facing in different directions;

determining a target tint state using the at least one central tendency; and

instructions are provided to transition the at least one tintable window to the target tint state.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the central tendency is determined based at least in part on a rectangular window filter.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the target tint state is determined based, at least in part, on:

(i) a short rectangular window filter that determines a first central tendency of a first set of sensor readings obtained at a first sampling rate; and

(ii) a long rectangular window filter that determines a second central trend of a second set of sensor readings obtained at a second sampling rate, wherein the first sampling rate is faster than the second sampling rate, and wherein the at least one central trend includes the first central trend and the second central trend.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining a value from the short rectangular window filter for use in determining the target tint state based at least in part on determining that a difference between i) a value from the short rectangular window filter and (ii) a value from the long rectangular window filter exceeds a positive threshold.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining a value from the long rectangular window filter for determining the target tint state based at least in part on determining that a difference between i) a value from the short rectangular window filter and (ii) a value from the long rectangular window filter is less than a threshold.

6. An apparatus for controlling tint of at least one tintable window, the apparatus comprising at least one controller configured to:

calculating, or directing the calculation of, at least a portion of the sensor readings obtained using physical sensors facing in different directions;

determining, or directing determination of, a target tint state using the at least one central tendency; and

providing, or directing provision of, instructions to transition the at least one tintable window to the target tint state.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the at least one controller is configured to determine, or direct determination of, the central tendency based at least in part on a rectangular window filter.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the at least one controller is configured to determine, or direct determination of, the target tint state based, at least in part, on:

(i) a short rectangular window filter that determines a first central tendency of a first set of sensor readings obtained at a first sampling rate; and

(ii) a long rectangular window filter that determines a second central trend of a second set of sensor readings obtained at a second sampling rate, wherein the first sampling rate is faster than the second sampling rate, and wherein the at least one central trend includes the first central trend and the second central trend.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising determining, or directing the determination of, a value from the short rectangular window filter for use in determining the target tint state based at least in part on determining that a difference between i) a value from the short rectangular window filter and (ii) a value from the long rectangular window filter exceeds a positive threshold.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising determining, or directing a determination of, a value from the long rectangular window filter for use in determining the target tint state based at least in part on determining that a difference between i) a value from the short rectangular window filter and (ii) a value from the long rectangular window filter is less than a threshold.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to multiple sensor inputs and data processing related to the multiple sensor inputs, in particular, a combined sensor system and a method of determining combined sensor values.

Background

Electrochromism is a phenomenon that exhibits a reversible electrochemically-mediated change in optical properties when a material is placed in different electronic states, typically by being subjected to a change in voltage. The optical property is typically one or more of color, transmittance, absorbance and reflectance. One well-known electrochromic material is tungsten oxide (WO)₃). Tungsten oxide is a cathodic electrochromic material in which the color transition from transparent to blue occurs by electrochemical reduction.

Electrochromic materials may be incorporated into windows for home, commercial, and other uses, for example. The color, transmission, absorption and/or reflectance of such windows can be changed by inducing a change in the electrochromic material, i.e., an electrochromic window is a window that can be darkened or lightened electronically. A small voltage applied to the electrochromic device of the window will darken the window; reversing the voltage would make the window shallower. This capability allows for control of the amount of light passing through the window and gives the electrochromic window an opportunity to act as an energy saving device.

Although electrochromic devices were discovered in the sixties of the twentieth century, unfortunately, electrochromic devices and, in particular, electrochromic windows still suffer from various problems, and despite numerous recent advances in electrochromic technology, equipment, and related methods of making and/or using electrochromic devices, they have not yet begun to realize their full commercial potential.

SUMMARY

In certain aspects, the combined sensor system may be used to improve control of building systems in structures having fewer physical sensors than, for example, facade locations. For example, the combined sensor system may determine a combined sensor value for a virtual sensor that faces outward from a facade (or a facet thereof) that lacks its own physical sensors. A combined sensor system may determine the combined sensor value for the virtual sensor based on readings obtained by two or more physical sensors installed in a building facing different directions.

According to certain aspects, the combined sensor system uses a combination technique or an interpolation technique to determine the combined sensor value. The first technique combines readings from two or more physical sensors to determine an aggregate value that applies to all facade orientations at that time. The readings may be combined by: 1) taking a maximum value of physical sensor readings; 2) taking an average of physical sensor readings; or 3) sum physical sensor readings. A second technique uses a vector algorithm to interpolate readings from two or more physical sensors to a virtual facade alignment sensor. The combined sensor system may use any combination of the above three combination methods.

The combined sensor system generally includes two or more physical sensors facing in substantially different directions (e.g., having an azimuth angle that varies by more than about 80 degrees, more than about 70 degrees, more than about 60 degrees, more than about 50 degrees, etc.). For example, a combined sensor system may include three physical sensors facing in significantly different directions. As another example, a combined sensor system may include four physical sensors facing in significantly different directions. Since these physical sensors face in different directions, they measure solar irradiance values from these distinctly different directions. These solar radiation values are typically recorded periodically over time, for example during the day. The solar radiation distribution of the physical sensor values recorded over time sometimes has a shape similar to a bell-shaped gaussian curve. When the solar radiation distributions from physical sensors facing significantly different azimuth angles overlap, the shapes of the curves are somewhat similar to each other and/or time-shifted from each other. The maximum, average, or sum of the distributions may be used to determine a value for a facade or direction for which no physical sensors are present. In this way, the complexity of having many sensors facing in many directions is avoided. A simpler physical system, i.e. fewer physical sensors, is achieved while maintaining the input as if one physical system had more physical sensors.

In some examples of the combined sensor systems described herein, the physical sensors face in directions that are substantially orthogonal to each other. For example, a combined sensor system may include four physical sensors facing in substantially orthogonal directions (e.g., substantially in north (N), south (S), east (E), and west (W) directions). In other examples, the combined sensor system includes three physical sensors mounted on a building. In some cases, the combined sensor system includes three physical sensors facing in substantially orthogonal directions. In some instances where the building is located at north latitude, three orthogonally oriented physical sensors face approximately W, E and S. In some examples where the building is located in the south dimension, three orthogonally oriented physical sensors face generally at W, E and N.

In certain embodiments, the combined sensor values may be used as inputs to control building systems. For example, the combined sensor values may be used as inputs to a control system that determines coloration decisions in an Electrochromic (EC) window or building and controls the power supply to the window to implement the coloration decisions. An example of such a control system is described in section X. The control system uses profile as intelligence^TMEC control software's operations of "modules A, B and C" etc. to determine shading decisions (wisdom)Can be used for^TMPurchased from View, inc. milpitas, California). In one embodiment, the control system uses module a to determine a tint level that provides comfort to occupants from sunlight penetrating the room to glare in the workspace and uses module B to increase the tint level based on a clear-to-air prediction of solar irradiance during said time of day. Module C may then use irradiance readings obtained by one or more sensors (physical or virtual) to override the tint levels of modules a and B or not. For example, the combined sensor value may be used as an input to module C. Module C may override the tint levels from modules a and B to make the tint levels lighter based on the combined sensor values. That is, if the combined sensor value is higher than the clear sky irradiance level used in modules a and B, module C will not override modules a and B and will ignore the higher combined sensor irradiance value. If the combined sensor value is below the clear sky irradiance level used in modules a and B, module C will override modules a and B. For purposes of illustration, many embodiments are described herein with reference to inputs to modules of that particular control system, however it should be understood that the combined sensor system may also be used to generate combined sensor values as inputs to other control systems that rely on irradiance measurements, e.g., control algorithms of other intelligent window control algorithms or other systems such as HVAC, Building Management System (BMS), sun tracking systems, etc. The disclosed embodiments are used to determine solar irradiance on a surface that does not have a surface-related physical sensor by using a "virtual sensor" that derives an output from readings of physical sensors at other locations. In one embodiment, the combined sensor system includes hardware and software, while other aspects are embodied solely in software and/or method, i.e., without physical components.

In certain embodiments, the combined sensor system comprises a set of at least three physically sensors that are dissimilar in azimuth (i.e., point at different azimuths). In some aspects, the combined sensor system includes four differently oriented physical sensors. In some aspects, the combined sensor system includes three physical sensors that are azimuthally distinct. In some cases, the three azimuthally distinct physical sensors are oriented in substantially orthogonal directions. The physical sensors are typically located on the facade of the building, although this is not essential. The combined sensor system uses these physical sensors to determine solar radiation of other facades that do not have physical sensors on them. In one embodiment, the combined sensor system includes three orthogonally oriented physical sensors pointing north, 90 degrees from north and 270 degrees from north. In one embodiment, the combined sensor system includes three orthogonally oriented physical sensors that are directed 90 degrees from north, 180 degrees from north, and 270 degrees from north. The combined sensor system may comprise more sensors, e.g. between two and twenty sensors, or between two and fifty sensors, or between two and ten sensors, or between two and five sensors, depending on e.g. how many facets and/or levels the structure has, the granularity and level of accuracy of the output required, etc.

Certain aspects relate to a combinational sensor that includes physical sensor groups that face different directions near a structure (e.g., a building). The physical sensors are configured to measure solar radiation in different directions. The combined sensor further includes a virtual facade alignment sensor configured to determine a combined sensor value at a facade of the structure based on solar radiation readings from the physical sensor group.

Certain aspects relate to a method comprising: determining a solar radiation reading obtained by the physical sensor group; and determining a combined sensor value for the virtual facade alignment sensor based on solar radiation readings obtained by the physical sensor group. In some cases, the physical sensor groups face different directions near a structure (e.g., a building) and are configured to measure solar radiation in different directions.

These and other features and embodiments are described in more detail below with reference to the figures.