Patent Application
20170198924
None.
None
This device refers to the field of furnace control units in more particularity furnace control units that turn on and off a switch based on the temperature.
The smart use of energy and controlling energy costs are very important in this day and age. With energy cost more and more and with the use of fossil fuels there exists a need for devices and systems that can control heating to make sure that it is done efficiently while controlling wastefulness.
In 2000, 82 percent of homes used either utility gas or electricity as their primary source of heating fuel; utility gas alone accounted for about half of all homes (51 percent). Utility gas was clearly the dominant fuel in Utah, Illinois, Michigan, Colorado, and Kansas.
The percent of homes using fuel oil (including kerosene and other liquid fuels) has fluctuated from 1940 to 2000. That rate has increased each decade from 1940 (10 percent) to 1960 (32 percent). From that point, it declined each decade, to its lowest level of 9.0 percent in 2000. Fuel oil was tops in New England; for example in 2000, 80 percent of the homes in Maine used fuel oil, followed by Vermont (59 percent), New Hampshire (58 percent), and Connecticut (52 percent).
Of the 111 million households in the United States, approximately 8 million use heating oil as their main heating fuel, according to the Energy Communications Council.2 Heating homes is the primary use for heating oil, making the demand highly seasonal.
Many heating systems have electrical power switches & emergency off switches for heating equipment. Electrical switches turn off electric power that operates any type of heating system: furnace, boiler, steam boiler, heat pump, electric heat.
Many times an emergency off switch for the building heating system should be found outside of the basement or other boiler or furnace room location and accessible so that an occupant can, in an emergency, turn off heat without having to enter a possibly smoky or dangerous area.
Smart thermostats have been developed to control heating and cooling systems but these can be expensive to retrofit into existing older heating and cooling system if they can be retrofit at all.
There remains room for improvement in the art.
This proposed device is a furnace control unit that can be used with an electronic on/off switch.
The current invention is a furnace control unit 1 that is affixed to a electronic on/off switch 75 that controls a heating unit. This furnace control unit 1 will turn the electronic switch 75 from the on position to the off position based on certain criteria which have been programmed into it giving it a programmable control like a smart thermostat to older heating and cooling systems.
The furnace control unit has a programmable processing unit, display unit, power source, input buttons, a switch flipping means. It is attached next to the electronic on/off switch that control a heating source. It would have a thermostat to detect the temperature. The unit would be programmed to turn the switch on or off depending on input criteria such date, as time of day and temperature. This will allow the user to maximize their energy usages.
The unit may or may not contain RFID or other similar mechanism to communicate with smart phones, computers and other multimedia devices to deliver and receive data allowing the user remote access to program the unit or get information from the unit.
Without restricting the full scope of this invention, the preferred form of this invention is illustrated in the following drawings in which:
There are a number of significant design features and improvements incorporated within the invention.
The current invention is a furnace control unit 1 that is affixed to a electronic on/off switch 75 that controls a heating unit. This furnace control unit 1 will turn the electronic switch 75 from the on position to the off position based on certain criteria which have been programmed into it with the switch being turned on and off per pre-set time, date and a backup temperature gauge to prevent problems due to unforseen temperature drops.
As shown in
The base 10 will be connected to the switch 75 through a connection means. In the preferred embodiment it would be screws which align to the screw sockets of the switch 75.
The switch flipping means 650 would consist of a movement means such as a two way motor the is connected to a switch plate 90 through a switch plate connector 92. The switch plate connector 92 is in an “S” shape with two flat tabs at each end where the tabs run perpendicular to the base 10. One tab is connected to the motor while the other tab is connected to the switch plate 90 as shown in
The switch plate 90 is flat and fits into switch plate connector slots 93 that run parallel to base 10 as shown in
The power source in the preferred embodiment would be one or more batteries. The batteries 620 are held in a battery compartment 600. This battery 620 is used to power the display unit 18 and a computer processor 630 as well as the switch flipping means 650 and a wireless connection device 700 if there is one.
The unit 1 may or may not have a wireless connection device, RFID or other similar mechanism to communicate with smart phones, computers and other multimedia devices to deliver and receive data such as programming input or the ability to turn the heating source on or off. This wireless connection device may work with Bluetooth, RFID or any other wireless means.
In an alternative embodiment, the unit 1 does not have input buttons or a display unit. If would have only an on and off button. This is shown in
The heating means can be an oil or gas furnace but it also can be a heating element or even a space heater. The unit 1 will work with all types of heating devices that can be connected to an off/on switch.
As to a further discussion of the manner of usage and operation of the present invention, the same should be apparent from the above description. Accordingly, no further discussion relating to the manner of usage and operation will be provided.
With respect to the above description, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur by those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.
