I'm looking to control heat pumps in a 154 room hotel. I want them to shut off when not occupied(no body actually in the room) and turn on when occupied and stay on even when the occupant is in sleep mode. Any suggestions or actual case studies?

-- Craig Clifton (craigc@controlcontractors.com), July 08, 2002

Answers

I believe the most efficient method would be to tie the control (occupancy determination) for the heat pumps into the room's access key/door system and an occupany sensor.

The occupancy sensor provide a "check" function to prevent the system from thinking that the room's occupants have left to space, but actually only 1 of the occupants went out to get some ice...

By integrating the heat pump's controls into a central building management system, appreciable energy savings may be realized due to over and uncessary use of the heat pumps. Additionally, the central building management system could have the possible to pre-cool and/or purge a room for additional energy savings and environmental air quality.

-- Chad Wisler (cwisler@adelphia.net), July 08, 2002.

I'm working on a similar problem. I'm highly into programming and this is what i've come up with. You can buy directional sensors that fit above each door of your 154 hotel rooms. The sensor 'counts' how many people go IN to the room and how many people go OUT of the room. I am using an X-10 controller to take the 'count' IN minus OUT and when the number is > 0, the heat pump, in this case, will turn on. When the value is = 0, the heat pump shuts off.

-- Ryan Newell (newellryan@rogers.com), December 08, 2004.