Dynamic Furnace Control

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to heating, air conditioning, and ventilation (HVAC) systems and more particularly to dynamic furnace control.

BACKGROUND

The atmospheric pressure of an environment in which a furnace is located may impact the performance of both the heat output and the contents of the byproducts as a result of gas combustion. This is because the burning rate of fire is proportional to the ambient pressure, which means that the temperature of the flames produced by the burners of the furnace under high pressure is higher than that under low pressure due to greater heat generation in combustion. This is problematic in scenarios where atmospheric conditions fluctuate within the environment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example use case for dynamic furnace control, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a system for dynamic furnace control, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 3A illustrates a front view of a furnace, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 3B illustrates a perspective view of the furnace of FIG. 3A, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a method for dynamic control of a furnace, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is an example computing device, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

The detailed description is set forth with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawings are provided for purposes of illustration only and merely depict example embodiments of the disclosure. The drawings are provided to facilitate understanding of the disclosure and shall not be deemed to limit the breadth, scope, or applicability of the disclosure. The use of the same reference numerals indicates similar but not necessarily the same or identical components; different reference numerals may be used to identify similar components as well. Various embodiments may utilize elements or components other than those illustrated in the drawings, and some elements and/or components may not be present in various embodiments. The use of singular terminology to describe a component or element may, depending on the context, encompass a plural number of such components or elements and vice versa.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This disclosure relates to, among other things, dynamic furnace control. Particularly, the systems and methods described herein provide for automated control of a furnace to allow the furnace to dynamically adjust to changing atmospheric pressure conditions. Atmospheric pressure conditions may impact the performance of the furnace, particularly aspects of the combustion process that occurs within the furnace. This is because the burning rate of fire is proportional to the ambient pressure, which means that the temperature of the flames produced by the burners of the furnace under high pressure is higher than that under low pressure due to greater heat generation in combustion. Accordingly, the heat output and contents of the byproducts of the combustion process may be impacted.

These pressure changes may be brought about based on a number of different conditions. As a first example, weather patterns may cause changes in atmospheric pressure. A storm front that moves into an area in which the furnace is located may cause a drastic change (e.g., increase or decrease) in the atmospheric pressure in that environment. As a second example, the altitude at which the furnace is located may also impact the atmospheric pressure. The altitude may also not necessarily be fixed, as a furnace may be provided within a moving object, such as a mobile home or a recreational vehicle (RV). Thus, it may not be sufficient for the air-to-gas ratio to simply be established upon installation of the furnace as the atmospheric pressure may vary over time depending on conditions such as these (and others).

To mitigate the impact of these changes in atmospheric pressure on the operation of the furnace, the furnace described herein is configured to automatically adjust the inputs to the combustion process (e.g., the amount of gas and air provided to the combustion chamber of the furnace) to maximize the performance of the furnace for either heating performance and/or byproduct generation in different atmospheric pressure conditions.

In one or more embodiments, the automated adjustments may involve increasing or decreasing the amount of gas or air provided to the combustion chamber of the furnace. The combustion chamber of the furnace is the area within the furnace where the fuel (e.g., gas) and air are mixed to facilitate the combustion process that produces the heat generated by the furnace. One option is to increase or decrease the amount of gas provided to the combustion chamber while maintaining the level of air that is provided to the combustion chamber. The amount of gas that is provided may be regulated using one or more gas valves that are provided within the combustion chamber (for example, in a burner assembly shown in FIG. 3A). To facilitate automated control of the amount of gas that is provided, the gas valves may be modulating gas valves that are capable of being controlled using electrical signals from a controller. However, any other types of gas valves may also be used.

Another option is to increase or decrease the amount of air that is provided to the combustion chamber while maintaining the rate at which the gas is introduced. To accomplish this, the controller may adjust the speed of the inducer motor such that the fan used to draw air into the furnace may either rotate at a greater speed to draw additional air into the furnace or at a lower speed to draw less air into the furnace.

The atmospheric pressure measurements may be performed using one or more barometric pressure sensors. In some instances, the one or more pressure sensors may be disposed within the furnace and/or may be provided on an external surface of the furnace. In this manner, the pressure sensors may be able to directly measure the atmospheric pressure of the environment in which the furnace is located.

In embodiments in which the one or more pressure sensors are disposed within the furnace, the one or more sensors may be selectively disposed at specific locations to mitigate the possibility that the pressure measurements are impacted by any pressure that is induced within the furnace. For example, the one or more pressure sensors may be disposed within the furnace away from the inducer motor and inducer fan, which may cause changes in pressure when the inducer motor is active and air is being drawn into the furnace (for example, to mix with gas to perform the combustion process). However, if the one or more sensors are disposed at locations where the pressure measurements may be impacted by induced pressure, the controller that receives the pressure measurements may adjust the measurements to account for the induced pressure. For example, the controller may also be configured to activate the inducer motor to cause a fan to begin drawing air into the furnace. The controller may have information regarding the rotational rate of the motor and thus the speed of the fan. The controller may be able to determine the induced pressure change based on this information. With the induced pressure known, the controller may subtract the induced pressure from the pressure measurements received from the one or more pressure sensors to obtain the accurate atmospheric pressure readings for the environment.

As another approach to reducing the impact of induced pressure within the furnace on any atmospheric pressure measurements, the pressure measurements may be performed during a “quiet period” of the furnace. For example, the measurements may be performed after the inducer has been turned off for a period of time. The measurements may either be performed while the inducer (the inducer motor and fan may be collectively referred to as the “inducer”) is not active during operation of the furnace or the controller may actively turn off the inducer such that the measurements may then be performed. In certain embodiments, the measurements may be obtained after a threshold amount of time has passed since the inducer was turned off to provide sufficient time for any induced pressure in the furnace to subside. Alternatively, the measurements may still continuously be obtained, but the controller may disregard any measurements that are obtained before the threshold amount of time has passed.

In one or more embodiments, the one or more pressure sensors may also be located remotely from the furnace. In such embodiments, the one or more pressure sensors may transmit pressure data through wired or wireless communications to the controller of the furnace. The one or more pressure sensors may be located within a similar region as the furnace to ensure that the pressure measurements are consistent with the atmospheric pressure proximate to the furnace. For example, any remote pressure sensors may be provided within a threshold distance of the furnace.

Any of the changes in atmospheric pressure as determined by the one or more pressure sensors may also be communicated to a user. For example, the atmospheric pressure measurements performed by the one or more pressure sensors may be transmitted to a thermostat and/or mobile device of the user. This data may then be presented through a user interface of the thermostat or an application of the mobile device of the user. This data may be useful to the user for a number of reasons, such as indicating potential changes in weather in the environment. In some cases, the thermostat or other device may be configured to emit an alarm (e.g., visual, auditory, etc.) to indicate any drastic changes in pressure that might be indicative of an approaching storm.

The one or more pressure sensors may be advantageous for other purposes as well. For example, a furnace may include a pressure switch located near the inducer motor. The pressure switch may be used to disable operation of the furnace if a negative pressure created by the inducer motor is sensed. However, in conditions during which the atmospheric pressure is changing (for example, during changing weather conditions), the pressure switch may intermittently open and close. To prevent this scenario, the pressure switch may in some cases be disregarded depending on the measurements obtained by the one or more pressure sensors. Depending on the measurements obtained from the one or more pressure sensors, the controller may determine whether to disregard the pressure switch and maintain operation of the furnace. For example, if there is a sudden pressure change that causes the pressure switch to open, the measurements from the one or more pressure sensors may be used to verify whether the pressure switch opened based on a condition in which disabling the furnace should occur. For example, the one or more pressure sensors may be used to determine if the pressure switch opened based on a strong gust of wind.

Additionally, the pressure switch itself may also fail, which may impact the operation of the furnace in conditions in which the furnace should otherwise be operational. The measurements from the one or more pressure sensors may also be used to troubleshoot operation of the pressure switch. For example, if the pressure switch is open or closed but the atmospheric pressure measurements from the one or more pressure sensors are not indicative of conditions that should cause the pressure switch to open or close, then the controller may determine that the pressure switch may need to be replaced.

While reference is made specifically herein to furnaces, this is not intended to be limiting and the dynamic controls described herein may be generally applicable to any other type of heating appliance. A heating appliance may generally refer to a device that provides heat to a conditioned space (such as a residential home or a commercial building). Non-limiting examples of such heating appliances may include heat pumps, gas furnaces, etc. A heating appliance may also refer to a water heater or any other type of device that provides heated water to a load (e.g., a sink, a shower, a pool, or any other load that uses warm water or provides warm water to a user).

Additionally, while reference is made to specific types of control actions being taken (e.g., adjusting the gas valve), these control actions are not intended to be limiting. That is, any other control actions may also be taken by the heating appliance based on the pressure data, the type of heating appliance, etc. For example, if the heating appliance is a gas water heater, the blower fan speed may automatically be adjusted to provide sufficient air for optimal combustion at any altitude. That is, the speed of the blower fan may be adjusted to be increased or decreased based on the pressure data while maintaining a constant gas flow rate (e.g., maintaining the gas valve at a current position). In other implementations, both the gas valve and the speed of the blower fan may be adjusted based on the pressure data.

Turning to the figures, FIG. 1 illustrates an example use case 100 for dynamic furnace control. The use case 100 shows one example scenario in which atmospheric pressure changes may occur in an environment 103 that may impact the performance of a furnace 105 in the environment 103. As indicated above, although reference is made to a furnace, this is not necessarily intended to be limiting and any other heating appliance may be applicable as well.

The use case 100 includes a first scene 102 and a second scene 110. The first scene depicts a residential home 104 including a furnace 105, where the residential home 104 and furnace 105 are located in an environment 103. The furnace 105 also includes a barometric pressure sensor 106 that may be used to measure the atmospheric pressure of the environment 103. Although the barometric pressure sensor 106 is shown as being disposed within the furnace 105, the barometric pressure sensor 106 may also be provided on an external surface of the furnace, external to the furnace 105 but within the residential home 104, and/or remote from the furnace 105 and the residential home 104. In some instances, multiple sensors provided at different locations may be used and the measurements from the different sensors may be compared to verify the accuracy of the measurements of any single sensor. The scene 102 shows sunny weather conditions in the environment 103, which may be associated with a first atmospheric pressure.

The second scene 110 shows the same residential home 104 and furnace 105 within the environment 103, however, the weather conditions have changed to stormy weather. The change in weather causes the atmospheric pressure within the environment to decrease, which may impact the heat output and contents of the byproducts of the combustion process of the furnace 105. To mitigate the impact of the decreased pressure caused by the stormy weather, a controller (not shown in the figure) of the furnace 105 may be configured to detect the increased atmospheric pressure within the environment 103 by processing atmospheric pressure measurements from the barometric pressure sensor 106.

Based on the detected increase in atmospheric pressure in the environment 103, the controller may automatically send electrical signals to one or more components of the furnace 105 to adjust the combustion process of the furnace 105. The automated adjustments in this particular scenario may involve decreasing the amount of gas or air provided to the combustion chamber of the furnace. One option is to increase the amount of gas provided to the combustion chamber while maintaining the level of air that is provided to the combustion chamber. Alternatively, the controller may decrease the amount of air that is provided to the combustion chamber while maintaining the rate at which the gas that is introduced. To accomplish this, the controller may adjust the speed of the inducer motor such that the fan used to draw air into the furnace rotates at a lower speed to draw less air into the furnace.

The controller may continue to monitor atmospheric pressure measurements from the barometric pressure sensor 106 either periodically or in real-time. Based on further detected changes in pressure in the environment 103, the controller may continue to send signals to the components of the furnace 105 to adjust the inputs to the combustion process. For example, if the storm clears and the sunny weather returns, the atmospheric pressure may again increase and the controller may adjust the amount of gas and/or air provided to the combustion chamber of the furnace 105. In this manner, the furnace 105 may continue to automatically self-regulate and operate efficiently regardless of any fluctuations in atmospheric pressure within the environment 103.

The use case 100 is merely one example of a scenario that may result in automated adjustments to the operation of the furnace 105 by the controller. The automated adjustments may also be performed based on any other conditions that may cause fluctuations in the atmospheric pressure of the environment 103. For example, if the furnace 105 is provided in an RV, and the RV is being driven up a mountain pass to a higher elevation, the atmospheric pressure may fluctuate depending on the elevation at which the RV is driving. Thus, as the RV progresses up or down the mountain, the controller may continuously perform automated adjustments to the operation of the furnace depending on the changes in atmospheric pressure. In this manner, the furnace 105 may be self-calibrating without requiring any additional hardware to be installed as the elevation of the furnace 105 changes.

FIG. 2 illustrates a system 200 for dynamic heating appliance control. The system 200 includes at least a heating appliance 202, one or more user devices 210, a remote server 220, one or more sensor(s) 230, and a thermostat 240. While reference may be made herein to a single component or multiple components, this is not intended to be limiting. For example, reference to a single heating appliance 202 may similarly be applicable to multiple furnaces.

The heating appliance 202 may include a controller 204 and one or more sensor(s) 206. As indicated above, the heating appliance may refer to a device that provides heat to a conditioned space (such as a residential home or a commercial building). Non-limiting examples of such heating appliances may include heat pumps, gas furnaces, etc. A heating appliance may also refer to a water heater or any other type of device that provides heated water to a load (e.g., a sink, shower, a pool, or any other load that uses warm water or produced warm water for use by a user). Two examples of heating appliances 202 are shown in FIG. 2 (a gas furnace and a water heater), however, other types of heating appliances are also applicable.

The controller 204 may be configured to provide electrical signals to control various components of the heating appliance 202. For example, if the heating appliance 202 is a gas furnace, the controller 204 may send a signal to a gas valve of the furnace to regulate the amount of gas that is provided to the combustion chamber of the furnace. The controller 204 may also send a signal to an inducer motor of the furnace to control the amount of air that is drawn into the furnace. Additional details about the furnace are provided with respect to FIGS. 3A-3B.

The controller 204 may also be configured to receive and/or process any input data, such as atmospheric pressure measurements from the sensor(s) 206 or the sensor(s) 230. Continuing the example in which the heating appliance is a gas furnace, if the sensor(s) 206 are disposed in locations within the furnace where the pressure measurements may be impacted by induced pressure, the controller 204 may adjust the measurements to account for the induced pressure. For example, the controller 204 may also be configured to activate the inducer motor to cause a fan to begin drawing air into the furnace. The controller 204 may have information regarding the rotational rate of the motor and thus the speed of the fan. The controller 204 may be able to determine the induced pressure change based on this information. With the induced pressure known, the controller 204 may subtract the induced pressure from the pressure measurements to obtain the accurate atmospheric pressure readings for the environment. The controller 204 may also perform any other types of data processing described herein or otherwise.

The sensor(s) 206 may be barometric pressure sensors that are configured to capture atmospheric pressure measurements for the environment in which the furnace is provided. In some instances, the sensor(s) 206 may be disposed within the furnace and/or may be provided on an external surface of the furnace. However, sensor(s) 230 may also be located remotely from the furnace as well. In such embodiments, the sensor(s) 230 may transmit pressure data wirelessly to the controller 204 of the furnace. The sensor(s) 230 may be located within a similar region as the furnace to ensure that the pressure measurements are consistent with the atmospheric pressure proximate to the furnace. For example, the sensor(s) 230 may be provided within a threshold distance of the furnace.

The user device 210 (for example, a smartphone, laptop computer, desktop computer, smart television, and/or any other type of device) and the thermostat 240 may be devices configured to present information to a user. For example the user device 210 and the thermostat 240 may include a user interface that may present indications of the atmospheric pressure readings from the sensor(s) 206 and/or sensor(s) 230. This data may be useful to the user for a number of reasons, such as indicating potential changes in weather in the environment. In some cases, the thermostat 240 or user device 210 may be configured to emit an alarm (e.g., visual, auditory, etc.) to indicate any drastic changes in pressure that might be indicative of an approaching storm.

The remote server 220 may include a remote controller 222 configured to perform any of the same processing and/or control functionality as the controller 204. That is, in some instances, the controller may be located remotely from the heating appliance 202 and/or multiple controllers may be provided with one located locally to the heating appliance 202 and one located remotely from the heating appliance 202. However, the remote server 220 and controller 222 are not necessarily required and all of the processing and/or control functionality may be performed by the controller 204. In further embodiments, the thermostat 240 may also serve as a controller as well.

The heating appliance 202, one or more user devices 210, remote server 220, one or more sensor(s) 230, and/or thermostat 240 (and/or any other elements of the system 200) may be configured to communicate via a communications network 250. The communications network 250 may include, but not limited to, any one of a combination of different types of suitable communications networks such as, for example, broadcasting networks, cable networks, public networks (e.g., the Internet), private networks, wireless networks, cellular networks, or any other suitable private and/or public networks. Further, the communications network 250 may have any suitable communication range associated therewith and may include, for example, global networks (e.g., the Internet), metropolitan area networks (MANs), wide area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), or personal area networks (PANs).

Additionally, any of the elements of the system 200 may include any of the hardware and/or software components described as being included within the computing device 500. For example, the controller 204 may include one or more processor(s) 502.

FIG. 3A illustrates a front view of a furnace 300, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. FIG. 3B illustrates a perspective view of the furnace 300 of FIG. 3A, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. FIGS. 3A-3B illustrate some of the components that may be included within a furnace 300.

The furnace 300 includes at least an inducer motor 302 that is used to drive an inducer fan (not shown in the perspectives of FIGS. 3A-3B), a blower motor used to drive a blower fan (not shown in the figure), a burner assembly 306, a heat exchanger including one or more tubes 308, and a controller 304.

The burner assembly 306 is disposed within the combustion chamber of the furnace 300 and facilitates the combustion process that produces the warm air that the furnace 300 provides to the environment being warmed by the furnace 300. To facilitate the ignition process, the burner assembly 306 may also include one or more gas valves, one or more igniters, and one or more flame sensors. When the furnace 300 is operating to provide warm air to an environment, the one or more gas valves are opened (for example, by the controller 304, which may be the same as controller 204 or controller 222). With the one or more gas valves being open, gas from a gas line flows through the gas valves and is ignited by the one or more igniters.

Intake air from the environment is also provided to the combustion chamber to allow for the gas to be ignited. In one or more embodiments, the air (or “combustion air”) may be provided to the combustion chamber through an intake pipe or through apertures provided in the housing 314 of the furnace 300. To control the amount of intake air that is supplied for the combustion process, the inducer fan may be provided to regulate the amount of air that is drawn into the combustion chamber. The inducer may also serve to push exhaust air out of the tubes 308 of the heat exchanger as well.

This combustion process produces heated gas that is directed through metal tubes 308 of a heat exchanger that is also provide in the furnace 300. The heated gas is then directed out of the furnace 300 as exhaust. The heated gas that is flowing through the heat exchanger causes an increase in temperature of the tubes 308.

The blower fan is provided such that the exhaust air of the blower fan is directed across the tubes 308 of the heat exchanger. While the heated gas is being provided through the heat exchanger tubes 308, the blower motor is activated, which causes the blower fan to rotate. The rotation of the blower fan causes air from the outside environment to be drawn into the furnace 300 and across heat exchanger tubes 308. The heat from the heat exchanger tubes 308 (caused by the heated gas flowing through the tubes 308) warms the air, which is routed out of the furnace through an aperture 310 to which ducting may be attached (not shown in the figure). The warm air may then be routed through the environment being heated (for example, a residential home, commercial building, etc.) through the ducting.

Control of any of these components (e.g., the inducer motor 302, the one or more gas valves, one or more igniters, etc.) may be controlled by the controller 304. The controller 304 may be in electrical communication with any of the components and may send electrical signals to the components to automate operation of the components. For example, the controller 304 may send a signal to the inducer motor 302 to rotate at a given rotational speed to control whether the inducer fan is running and also the rotational speed of the inducer fan.

The furnace 300 may also include one or more barometric pressure sensors 312

FIG. 4 is an example method 400. The method 400 may be performed by any of the systems or devices described herein (for example, controller 204, controller 222, thermostat 240, user device 210, controller 304, the computing device 500, and/or any other device and/or system described herein or otherwise).

At block 402, the method 400 may include receiving, by a controller (such as controller 204, controller 222, etc.) of a heating appliance (such as furnace 105, heating appliance 202, furnace 300, etc.) and from a pressure sensor (such as barometric pressure sensor 106, sensor(s) 206, sensor(s) 230, etc.), an atmospheric pressure measurement of an environment in which the heating appliance is located.

At optional block 404, the method 400 may include determining a pressure change induced by the heating appliance. At optional block 406, the method 400 may include determining a modified atmospheric pressure measurement based on the pressure change, wherein adjusting the amount of gas or amount of air is based on the modified atmospheric pressure measurement. Optional blocks 404 and 406 may be applicable if the pressure sensor is disposed within the heating appliance. If the pressure sensor is disposed in a location where the pressure measurements may be impacted by induced pressure within the heating appliance, the controller that receives the pressure measurements may adjust the measurements to account for the induced pressure. For example, the controller may also be configured to activate the inducer motor to cause a fan to begin drawing air into the furnace. The controller may have information regarding the rotational rate of the motor and thus the speed of the fan. The controller may be able to determine the induced pressure change based on this information. With the induced pressure known, the controller may subtract the induced pressure from the pressure measurements received from the one or more pressure sensors to obtain the accurate atmospheric pressure readings for the environment.

Alternatively, the pressure measurements may be performed during a “quiet period” of the heating appliance. For example, the measurements may be performed after the inducer has been turned off for a period of time. The measurements may either be performed while the inducer is not active during operation of the heating appliance or the controller may actively turn off the inducer such that the measurements may then be performed.

At block 408, the method 400 may include adjusting, by the controller and based on the atmospheric pressure measurement, an amount of gas or an amount of air provided to a combustion chamber of the heating appliance.

In one or more embodiments, the automated adjustments may involve increasing or decreasing the amount of gas or air provided to the combustion chamber of the heating appliance. One option is to increase or decrease the amount of gas provided to the combustion chamber while maintaining the level of air that is provided to the combustion chamber. The amount of gas that is provided may be regulated using one or more gas valves. To facilitate automated control of the amount of gas that is provided, the gas valves may be modulating gas valves that are capable of being controlled using electrical signals from a controller.

Another option is to increase or decrease the amount of air that is provided to the combustion chamber while maintaining the rate at which the gas that is introduced. To accomplish this, the controller may adjust the speed of the inducer motor such that the fan used to draw air into the furnace may either rotate at a greater speed to draw additional air into the furnace or a lower speed to draw less air into the heating appliance.

At optional block 410, the method 400 may include transmitting, by the controller, the atmospheric pressure measurement to an external device for presentation to a user through a user interface of the external device. For example, the atmospheric pressure measurements performed by the one or more pressure sensors may be transmitted to a thermostat or device of the user. This data may then be presented through a user interface of the thermostat or an application of the device of the user. This data may be useful to the user for a number of reasons, such as indicating potential changes in weather in the environment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of one or more illustrative computing device(s) 500 in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the disclosure. The computing device(s) 500 may include any suitable computing device including, but not limited to, a server system, a mobile device such as a smartphone, a tablet, an e-reader, a wearable device, or the like; a desktop computer; a laptop computer; a content streaming device; a set-top box; or the like. The computing device(s) 500 may correspond to an illustrative device configuration for any of the computing systems described herein and/or any other system and/or device.

The computing device(s) 500 may be configured to communicate via one or more networks. Such network(s) may include, but are not limited to, any one or more different types of communications networks such as, for example, cable networks, public networks (e.g., the Internet), private networks (e.g., frame-relay networks), wireless networks, cellular networks, telephone networks (e.g., a public switched telephone network), or any other suitable private or public packet-switched or circuit-switched networks. Further, such network(s) may have any suitable communication range associated therewith and may include, for example, global networks (e.g., the Internet), metropolitan area networks (MANs), wide area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), or personal area networks (PANs). In addition, such network(s) may include communication links and associated networking devices (e.g., link-layer switches, routers, etc.) for transmitting network traffic over any suitable type of medium including, but not limited to, coaxial cable, twisted-pair wire (e.g., twisted-pair copper wire), optical fiber, a hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) medium, a microwave medium, a radio frequency communication medium, a satellite communication medium, or any combination thereof.

In an illustrative configuration, the computing device(s) 500 may include one or more processors (processor(s)) 502, one or more memory devices 504 (generically referred to herein as memory 504), one or more input/output (I/O) interfaces 506, one or more network interfaces 508, one or more sensors or sensor interfaces 510, one or more transceivers 512, one or more optional speakers 514, one or more optional microphones 516, and data storage 520. The computing device(s) 500 may further include one or more buses 518 that functionally couple various components of the computing device(s) 500. The computing device(s) 500 may further include one or more antenna (e) 534 that may include, without limitation, a cellular antenna for transmitting or receiving signals to/from a cellular network infrastructure, an antenna for transmitting or receiving Wi-Fi signals to/from an access point (AP), a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) antenna for receiving GNSS signals from a GNSS satellite, a Bluetooth antenna for transmitting or receiving Bluetooth signals, a Near Field Communication (NFC) antenna for transmitting or receiving NFC signals, and so forth. These various components will be described in more detail hereinafter.

The bus(es) 518 may include at least one of a system bus, a memory bus, an address bus, or a message bus, and may permit the exchange of information (e.g., data (including computer-executable code), signaling, etc.) between various components of the computing device(s) 500. The bus(es) 518 may include, without limitation, a memory bus or a memory controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, and so forth. The bus(es) 518 may be associated with any suitable bus architecture including, without limitation, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), a Micro Channel Architecture (MCA), an Enhanced ISA (EISA), a Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) architecture, an Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) architecture, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) architecture, a PCI-Express architecture, a Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) architecture, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) architecture, and so forth.

The memory 504 of the computing device(s) 500 may include volatile memory (memory that maintains its state when supplied with power) such as random access memory (RAM) and/or non-volatile memory (memory that maintains its state even when not supplied with power) such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, ferroelectric RAM (FRAM), and so forth. Persistent data storage, as that term is used herein, may include non-volatile memory. In certain example embodiments, volatile memory may enable faster read/write access than non-volatile memory. However, in certain other example embodiments, certain types of non-volatile memory (e.g., FRAM) may enable faster read/write access than certain types of volatile memory.

In various implementations, the memory 504 may include multiple different types of memory such as various types of static random access memory (SRAM), various types of dynamic random access memory (DRAM), various types of unalterable ROM, and/or writeable variants of ROM such as electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, and so forth. The memory 504 may include main memory as well as various forms of cache memory such as instruction cache(s), data cache(s), translation lookaside buffer(s) (TLBs), and so forth. Further, cache memory such as a data cache may be a multi-level cache organized as a hierarchy of one or more cache levels (L1, L2, etc.).

The data storage 520 may include removable storage and/or non-removable storage, including, but not limited to, magnetic storage, optical disk storage, and/or tape storage. The data storage 520 may provide non-volatile storage of computer-executable instructions and other data. The memory 504 and the data storage 520, removable and/or non-removable, are examples of computer-readable storage media (CRSM) as that term is used herein.

The data storage 520 may store computer-executable code, instructions, or the like that may be loadable into the memory 504 and executable by the processor(s) 502 to cause the processor(s) 502 to perform or initiate various operations. The data storage 520 may additionally store data that may be copied to the memory 504 for use by the processor(s) 502 during the execution of the computer-executable instructions. Moreover, output data generated as a result of execution of the computer-executable instructions by the processor(s) 502 may be stored initially in the memory 504, and may ultimately be copied to the data storage 520 for non-volatile storage.

More specifically, the data storage 520 may store one or more operating systems (O/S) 522; one or more database management systems (DBMSs) 524; and one or more program module(s), applications, engines, computer-executable code, scripts, or the like such as, for example, one or more dynamic furnace control module(s) 526. Some or all of these module(s) may be sub-module(s). Any of the components depicted as being stored in the data storage 520 may include any combination of software, firmware, and/or hardware. The software and/or firmware may include computer-executable code, instructions, or the like that may be loaded into the memory 504 for execution by one or more of the processor(s) 502. Any of the components depicted as being stored in the data storage 520 may support functionality described in reference to corresponding components named earlier in this disclosure.

The data storage 520 may further store various types of data utilized by the components of the computing device(s) 500. Any data stored in the data storage 520 may be loaded into the memory 504 for use by the processor(s) 502 in executing computer-executable code. In addition, any data depicted as being stored in the data storage 520 may potentially be stored in one or more datastore(s) and may be accessed via the DBMS 524 and loaded in the memory 504 for use by the processor(s) 502 in executing computer-executable code. The datastore(s) may include, but are not limited to, databases (e.g., relational, object-oriented, etc.), file systems, flat files, distributed datastores in which data is stored on more than one node of a computer network, peer-to-peer network datastores, or the like.

The processor(s) 502 may be configured to access the memory 504 and execute the computer-executable instructions loaded therein. For example, the processor(s) 502 may be configured to execute the computer-executable instructions of the various program module(s), applications, engines, or the like of the computing device(s) 500 to cause or facilitate various operations to be performed in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. The processor(s) 502 may include any suitable processing unit capable of accepting data as input, processing the input data in accordance with stored computer-executable instructions, and generating output data. The processor(s) 502 may include any type of suitable processing unit including, but not limited to, a central processing unit, a microprocessor, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) microprocessor, a complex instruction set computer (CISC) microprocessor, a microcontroller, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a system-on-a-chip (SoC), a digital signal processor (DSP), and so forth. Further, the processor(s) 502 may have any suitable microarchitecture design that includes any number of constituent components such as, for example, registers, multiplexers, arithmetic logic units, cache controllers for controlling read/write operations to cache memory, branch predictors, or the like. The microarchitecture design of the processor(s) 502 may be capable of supporting any of a variety of instruction sets.

Referring now to functionality supported by the various program module(s) depicted in FIG. 5, the dynamic furnace control module(s) 526 may include computer-executable instructions, code, or the like that responsive to execution by one or more of the processor(s) 502 may perform functions including, but not limited to, receiving atmospheric pressure measurements, dynamically controlling any of the components of the furnace (for example, furnace 300) to account for pressure changes, etc.

Referring now to other illustrative components depicted as being stored in the data storage 520, the O/S 522 may be loaded from the data storage 520 into the memory 504 and may provide an interface between other application software executing on the computing device(s) 500 and the hardware resources of the computing device(s) 500. More specifically, the O/S 522 may include a set of computer-executable instructions for managing hardware resources of the computing device(s) 500 and for providing common services to other application programs (e.g., managing memory allocation among various application programs). The O/S 522 may include any operating system now known or which may be developed in the future, including, but not limited to, any server operating system, any mainframe operating system, or any other proprietary or non-proprietary operating system.

The DBMS 524 may be loaded into the memory 504 and may support functionality for accessing, retrieving, storing, and/or manipulating data stored in the memory 504 and/or data stored in the data storage 520. The DBMS 524 may use any of a variety of database models (e.g., relational model, object model, etc.) and may support any of a variety of query languages. The DBMS 524 may access data represented in one or more data schemas and stored in any suitable data repository including, but not limited to, databases (e.g., relational, object-oriented, etc.), file systems, flat files, distributed datastores in which data is stored on more than one node of a computer network, peer-to-peer network datastores, or the like. In those example embodiments in which the computing device(s) 500 is a mobile device, the DBMS 524 may be any suitable lightweight DBMS optimized for performance on a mobile device.

Referring now to other illustrative components of the computing device(s) 500, the I/O interface(s) 506 may facilitate the receipt of input information by the computing device(s) 500 from one or more I/O devices as well as the output of information from the computing device(s) 500 to one or more I/O devices. The I/O devices may include any of a variety of components such as a display or display screen having a touch surface or touchscreen; an audio output device for producing sound, such as a speaker; an audio capture device, such as a microphone; an image and/or video capture device, such as a camera; a haptic unit; and so forth. Any of these components may be integrated into the computing device(s) 500 or may be separate. The I/O devices may further include, for example, any number of peripheral devices such as data storage devices, printing devices, and so forth.

The I/O interface(s) 506 may also include an interface for an external peripheral device connection such as a USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt, Ethernet port or other connection protocol that may connect to one or more networks. The I/O interface(s) 506 may also include a connection to one or more of the antenna (e) 534 to connect to one or more networks via a wireless local area network (WLAN) (such as Wi-Fi) radio, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and/or a wireless network radio, such as a radio capable of communication with a wireless communication network such as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, WiMAX network, 3G network, etc.

The computing device(s) 500 may further include one or more network interface(s) 508 via which the computing device(s) 500 may communicate with any of a variety of other systems, platforms, networks, devices, and so forth. The network interface(s) 508 may enable communication, for example, with one or more wireless routers, one or more host servers, one or more web servers, and the like via one or more networks.

The antenna (e) 534 may include any suitable type of antenna depending, for example, on the communications protocols used to transmit or receive signals via the antenna (c) 534. Non-limiting examples of suitable antennae may include directional antennae, non-directional antennae, dipole antennae, folded dipole antennae, patch antennae, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennae, or the like. The antenna (c) 534 may be communicatively coupled to one or more transceivers 512 or radio components to which or from which signals may be transmitted or received.

The sensor(s)/sensor interface(s) 510 may include or may be capable of interfacing with any suitable type of sensing device such as, for example, barometric pressure sensors, etc.

It should be appreciated that the program module(s), applications, computer-executable instructions, code, or the like depicted in FIG. 5 as being stored in the data storage 520 are merely illustrative and not exhaustive and that processing described as being supported by any particular module may alternatively be distributed across multiple module(s) or performed by a different module. In addition, various program module(s), script(s), plug-in(s), application programming interface(s) (API(s)), or any other suitable computer-executable code hosted locally on the computing device(s) 500, and/or hosted on other computing device(s) accessible via one or more networks, may be provided to support functionality provided by the program module(s), applications, or computer-executable code depicted in FIG. 5 and/or additional or alternate functionality. Further, functionality may be modularized differently such that processing described as being supported collectively by the collection of program module(s) depicted in FIG. 5 may be performed by a fewer or greater number of module(s), or functionality described as being supported by any particular module may be supported, at least in part, by another module. In addition, program module(s) that support the functionality described herein may form part of one or more applications executable across any number of systems or devices in accordance with any suitable computing model such as, for example, a client-server model, a peer-to-peer model, and so forth. In addition, any of the functionality described as being supported by any of the program module(s) depicted in FIG. 5 may be implemented, at least partially, in hardware and/or firmware across any number of devices.

It should further be appreciated that the computing device(s) 500 may include alternate and/or additional hardware, software, or firmware components beyond those described or depicted without departing from the scope of the disclosure. More particularly, it should be appreciated that software, firmware, or hardware components depicted as forming part of the computing device(s) 500 are merely illustrative and that some components may not be present or additional components may be provided in various embodiments. While various illustrative program module(s) have been depicted and described as software module(s) stored in the data storage 520, it should be appreciated that functionality described as being supported by the program module(s) may be enabled by any combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. It should further be appreciated that each of the above-mentioned module(s) may, in various embodiments, represent a logical partitioning of supported functionality. This logical partitioning is depicted for ease of explanation of the functionality and may not be representative of the structure of software, hardware, and/or firmware for implementing the functionality. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that functionality described as being provided by a particular module may, in various embodiments, be provided at least in part by one or more other module(s). Further, one or more depicted module(s) may not be present in certain embodiments, while in other embodiments, additional module(s) not depicted may be present and may support at least a portion of the described functionality and/or additional functionality. Moreover, while certain module(s) may be depicted and described as sub-module(s) of another module, in certain embodiments, such module(s) may be provided as independent module(s) or as sub-module(s) of other module(s).

One or more operations of the methods, process flows, and use cases of FIGS. 1-4 may be performed by a device having the illustrative configuration depicted in FIG. 5, or more specifically, by one or more engines, program module(s), applications, or the like executable on such a device. It should be appreciated, however, that such operations may be implemented in connection with numerous other device configurations.

Although specific embodiments of the disclosure have been described, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that numerous other modifications and alternative embodiments are within the scope of the disclosure. For example, any of the functionality and/or processing capabilities described with respect to a particular device or component may be performed by any other device or component. Further, while various illustrative implementations and architectures have been described in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that numerous other modifications to the illustrative implementations and architectures described herein are also within the scope of this disclosure.

Certain aspects of the disclosure are described above with reference to block and flow diagrams of systems, methods, apparatuses, and/or computer program products according to example embodiments. It will be understood that one or more blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and the flow diagrams, respectively, may be implemented by execution of computer-executable program instructions. Likewise, some blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams may not necessarily need to be performed in the order presented, or may not necessarily need to be performed at all, according to some embodiments. Further, additional components and/or operations beyond those depicted in blocks of the block and/or flow diagrams may be present in certain embodiments.

Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams support combinations of means for performing the specified functions, combinations of elements or steps for performing the specified functions, and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. It will also be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flow diagrams, may be implemented by special-purpose, hardware-based computer systems that perform the specified functions, elements or steps, or combinations of special-purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Program module(s), applications, or the like disclosed herein may include one or more software components, including, for example, software objects, methods, data structures, or the like. Each such software component may include computer-executable instructions that, responsive to execution, cause at least a portion of the functionality described herein (e.g., one or more operations of the illustrative methods described herein) to be performed.

A software component may be coded in any of a variety of programming languages. An illustrative programming language may be a lower-level programming language such as an assembly language associated with a particular hardware architecture and/or operating system platform. A software component comprising assembly language instructions may require conversion into executable machine code by an assembler prior to execution by the hardware architecture and/or platform.

Another example programming language may be a higher-level programming language that may be portable across multiple architectures. A software component comprising higher-level programming language instructions may require conversion to an intermediate representation by an interpreter or a compiler prior to execution.

Other examples of programming languages include, but are not limited to, a macro language, a shell or command language, a job control language, a script language, a database query or search language, or a report writing language. In one or more example embodiments, a software component comprising instructions in one of the foregoing examples of programming languages may be executed directly by an operating system or other software component without having to be first transformed into another form.

A software component may be stored as a file or other data storage construct. Software components of a similar type or functionally related may be stored together such as, for example, in a particular directory, folder, or library. Software components may be static (e.g., pre-established or fixed) or dynamic (e.g., created or modified at the time of execution).

Software components may invoke or be invoked by other software components through any of a wide variety of mechanisms. Invoked or invoking software components may comprise other custom-developed application software, operating system functionality (e.g., device drivers, data storage (e.g., file management) routines, other common routines, and services, etc.), or third-party software components (e.g., middleware, encryption, or other security software, database management software, file transfer or other network communication software, mathematical or statistical software, image processing software, and format translation software).

Software components associated with a particular solution or system may reside and be executed on a single platform or may be distributed across multiple platforms. The multiple platforms may be associated with more than one hardware vendor, underlying chip technology, or operating system. Furthermore, software components associated with a particular solution or system may be initially written in one or more programming languages, but may invoke software components written in another programming language.

Computer-executable program instructions may be loaded onto a special-purpose computer or other particular machine, a processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a particular machine, such that execution of the instructions on the computer, processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus causes one or more functions or operations specified in the flow diagrams to be performed. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a CRSM that upon execution may direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium produce an article of manufacture including instruction means that implement one or more functions or operations specified in the flow diagrams. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational elements or steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process.

Additional types of CRSM that may be present in any of the devices described herein may include, but are not limited to, programmable random access memory (PRAM), SRAM, DRAM, RAM, ROM, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disc (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the information and which can be accessed. Combinations of any of the above are also included within the scope of CRSM. Alternatively, computer-readable communication media (CRCM) may include computer-readable instructions, program module(s), or other data transmitted within a data signal, such as a carrier wave, or other transmission. However, as used herein, CRSM does not include CRCM.

Although embodiments have been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed as illustrative forms of implementing the embodiments. Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or “may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments could include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements, and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements, and/or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whether these features, elements, and/or steps are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

Dynamic Furnace Control

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