Design of an HVAC Zone Control System and Embedded Microcontrollers

Abstract

This paper deals with the concept of temperature control inside an environmentally controlled structure. In most cases, the temperature inside a home or business is controlled by a centrally located thermostat. The thermostat senses the temperature at the central location and controls the Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) unit based on the centralized temperature. A feasible design has been developed for providing independent temperature for each zone instead of the centrally located thermostat. The design incorporates a temperature sensor circuit and a transmitter for multiple zones. The transmitted data is received and transferred to a microcontroller that invokes an algorithm that controls the HVAC system based on the inputs from the temperature sensors as well as the system thermostat. The embedded microcontroller also provides control for motorized vent registers to vary the airflow in each zone based on the temperature sensor data and provides LCD readout for centralized monitoring.