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Abstract

An electronically controlled programmable wall thermostat provides better control of comfort temperature and permits improved energy-saving temperature setback at selected intervals of the day or night in multistage heating and cooling systems and is particularly useful in achieving improved energy savings for systems having heat pump means in the main temperature conditioning stage of the system. The thermostat includes clock means, temperature sensing means, means for displaying desired parameters of time and temperature, data entry and storage means for programming the thermostat to maintain desired temperatures during selected time intervals, and a processing means with a memory incorporating a permanently stored program instruction sequence which responds to signals from the temperature sensing means for controlling the heating and cooling systems in accordance with the time-temperature sequence programmed into the thermostat by the user. A novel method of temperature control is described in which the temperature sensing and processing means cooperate in a unique way to regulate operation of the main or heat pump stages of the heating and cooling systems relative to a programmed set temperature and to regulate operation of the auxiliary stages of the systems only with respect to the actual rate of change of temperature being effected by any operation of the system. In that way, the thermostat provides improved control of the comfort temperature under varying weather conditions and in different types of housing conditions and achieves timely and more energy-efficient recovery from setback temperatures at an optimum temperature restoring rate to result in more selective use of the heat pump means in the main stages of the systems.

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First Claim