In every building, the bigger and more complex the system, the more it’s necessary for it to have Building Automation Systems(BAS) installed.
Automation plays an important role in the Building System. It can provide secure, trouble-less and comfortable management of facilities. It is the creation of technology and its application in order to control and monitor the production and delivery of various goods and services, with the use of wired buses or wireless broad networks, which connect to high-level controllers. It is implemented through the combination of hardware and software-based solutions that automatically execute and manage repetitive network environment processes. Each controller automatically provides a Internet Protocol (IP) address that communicates to other systems and devices. It allows BAS to cross industry boundaries and interface with a wide variety of other systems. Allowing separate systems and groups of components to share the same set of wires. This reduces the overall cost of installing and maintaining several systems
Advantages of IP Based System
- IP-based control does not tie you to an individual supplier. It is flexible in nature. It can communicate to other systems regardless of its brand. Devices connected to an IP network are capable of being interoperable with other IP-connected devices. It does not require the elimination of existing controls throughout a building. A good IP-based system can talk to backward compatible, or previous-generation, equipment – regardless of any protocols it was used.
- Real Time Notification. Because they’re connected to the network, IP-based systems can send you alerts, when it detects potential problems, changes, etc. Using the Mass Notification System/MNS thru different notification devices such as speakers, digital signage and sirens. It can also be connected to the internet or any cellular devices sending alert thru text messages, calls or emails.
- Easy Maintenance. When an IP-based device goes down, it’s easy to perform troubleshooting or maintenance on that device without needing to take the entire system offline or waiting until off hours. In most cases, there’s no need for a middleware device; connections are created directly between the field device and the enterprise network.
- Cost Optimization. IP-based controllers are able to use multiple protocols – such as BACnet, LonTalk, N2 – to connect to other devices at the field bus level or at the enterprise level. This interoperability preserves the investment that has been made in the control system. Expenses are further reduced because no middleware or gateways are required to communicate across the network.
In this article we will give you guides and ideas on what to include in your building, either it’s for an initial plan or an upgrade after you’ve installed your BAS using an IP network.
IP using BACNET protocols
Building Automation and Control Networks(BACNET) is the control industry’s new preferred communications protocols, allowing systems to talk to each other over a network, like Internet of Things (IoT) technology. It is a collection of one or more IP subnetworks (IP domains) that are assigned a single BACnet network number. Connecting to an Ethernet running the IP protocol is more convenient. IP network is the quickest way to gain access to the Internet which is the world’s wide-area-network (WAN).
IP based system using POE Technology
Power over Ethernet (POE) is a technology that lets network cables carry electrical power. It can help you make the most of IP-based systems and devices. Allows you to use one cable to transport data and power instead of two separate wires/cables: one for electricity and one for data transmission. Carrying both through one cable offers many benefits for digital buildings that utilize IP-based systems.
Building system that can be an IP-based
- Mechanical and Electrical
- Heating Ventilation and Air conditioning systems
- Electronic Access Control
- Lightning
- Safety Systems
- Audio Visual Systems
Conclusion
It is important to understand IP networks and its implication in Building Automation systems, it can give comfort through means of accessibility, cost efficiency and reliance. It is indeed an era of information technology. IP is everywhere, considered as universal standards and opens up possibilities that will attract not only the interests of the building manager but the facilities manager as well. Making the most out of the Internet of Things in Building Automation.
We value your comments and suggestions. Feel free to write up in our comment section. For any inquiries about the Building Automation Design Services with IP network, please contact us or click to connect, we are glad to assist you.
- https://www.techopedia.com/
- https://www.automatedbuildings.com/
- http://www.bacnet.org/
- http://www.steves-internet-guide.com/
- https://www.belden.com/
- https://www.achrnews.com/
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261987811_IP_in_Commercial_Buildings
- https://books.google.com.ph/ -Smart Buildings Systems for Architects, Owners and Builders by James M Sinopoli
Most buildings nowadays implement Building Management Systems that results in efficient day to day operations and reduce operational cost. Building administrators or facilities manager uses Building Analytics to have a better understanding of the building system and have a smart analysis that makes use of machine learning algorithms and innovative visualizations.
What is Building Analytics?
Building Analytics provides insightful data and converts into actionable intelligence that can be used to optimize your facility’s energy performance. It is a combination of creating a complex system that requires a control system that is capable of handling the complexity and creating and collecting relatively large amounts of data about the operation, which requires advanced analysis in order to identify faults to proactively address building inefficiencies, and enabling you to identify and prioritize cost-saving opportunities, threats to occupant comfort and mitigate environmental vulnerability.
As you plan and make the budget for 2020, making an upgrade or a change in your building into an intelligent building should be considered by building owners and facility managers. Here are a few reasons why building analytics should be top of mind:
Fault Detection and Diagnostics, or FDD, is the process of identifying errors in physical systems while attempting to identify the source of the problem through crowdsourced data, as well as data from meters and sensors. Determining where in the system the fault occurs, isolating the error and classifying based on fault type, size and detection time thru rule-based algorithms and pattern recognition. Then asses and determine the fault’s impact on system performance based on different prioritization categories such as energy and water savings, occupants’ comfort levels, cost, and environmental impact. Instead of relying on monthly checkups, building analytics automatically analyzes this information at periodic intervals based on desired needs. As a basic example, if the temperature outside is high and cooling is off and there are no hot complaints, then the occupancy of the building is zero.
Monitoring the building’s system data and easily detect any system fault, can result to quickly respond to any concerns before they become more serious. Rather than allowing small issues to go unnoticed and worsen over time, either via computer controls or by dispatching a technician.
By increasing comfort levels, building analytics help in reducing complaints from occupants and help increase the productivity of the employees making them more productive. Occupant’s profiles are monitored and used to optimize schedules, making weather logs and comparing outdoor temperature. Ensuring a smooth transition from unoccupied to occupied rooms, making the system adaptable to occupant’s preferences and deliver more occupant settings. As an example, utilizing thermostats in individual offices, accompanied by an occupancy sensor in order to avoid excessive heating or cooling when the room is vacant.
- Increase energy performance and reducing energy consumption
Thru building analytics, historical data such as weather logs, number of guests, and buildings energy usage was gathered and studied to predict the amount of energy produced at a particular time and to reduce energy waste by identifying inefficiencies in real-time. Devices that causing the energy bills can be pinpointed and corrected.
Schneider Electric’s studies made an example, how building Analytics can save energy cost :
- Create more environmentally friendly, high-performance buildings
The building sectors are considered as the largest single-energy use worldwide, it is also responsible for 19% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Energy efficiency improvements will result in greenhouse gas reductions and redefine the green building.
The green building industry generated $23.45 billion in GDP which represents 297,890 full-time jobs in 2014. This is more jobs than Canada’s oil and gas extraction, mining and forestry industries combined, which collectively employed approximately 270,450 workers in 2014.
Building analytics uses energy models to replicate the energy consumption of an existing building based on the building’s operation, utility bills, and normal weather data. This additional tool is used for conservation measures that can demonstrate potential energy savings by weighing actual energy and energy-cost values. It improves the performance of the building’s potential return on investments.
- Increase facility reliability and availability
Using historical data to describe how a piece of equipment normally operates and recognizing the pattern, continuously monitors its behavior in real-time and putting an alert when the operations differ from the historical norms, early detection of any abnormalities in the systems and avoiding worst defects. This allows your facilities to run more efficiently, they are less likely to break down and require repairs, which can be disruptive to a business’s day-to-day operations. Another advantage of data optimization through building analytics is automatic maintenance practices that improve operational efficiency and support capital planning through better visibility into equipment conditions and potential failure. For example, device-level monitoring can identify incorrect scheduling of a building automation system on specific devices, like lights, in order to avoid energy consumption off-hours.
- Increase in safety and security
Security is one of the top concerns for building owners. Theft and unwanted intruders can cause threats to the safety of the tenants and, it is a must to protect and keep the tenants far from harm inside the premisses. Security guards are effective, however, it will be costly having an additional overhead cost and few guards are not enough.
Digital building technology provides several ways to improve building security without giving much cost and less hassle to tenants and employees. Most examples are widely visible and available to most of the buildings around the globe. Closed-circuit television video surveillance (CCTV), Installing access controls to all areas of your building and giving personal entry cards to authorized individuals are most effective, cost-efficient ways to improve building security. By using these tools, especially technological advancement such as IOT (internet of things), which are common trends nowadays, the building administrator can have a real time data analytics and can access anywhere, even on their smartphones. They can have monitoring of their camera feeds to identify specific behavior patterns or suspicious activity. By bringing the most relevant details to the forefront, analytics alerts keep security focused and responsive.
Conclusion
Building managers and operators, faced many challenges on how they can run their building efficiently. Such as reducing operational cost by means of maximizing it’s resources such as energy. They can’t control the price but they can control the consumption by using building analytics as a tool. This can help monitor the operation, measure the health of the building and address the over consumption issues by this, managing the building smartly will be possible.
Have more questions about building analytics, we can help you. Contact us now.
Resources:
Photo credits by alexandrugogan.com/unsplash
Building Analytics Improve the efficiency, occupant comfort, and financial well-being of your building- https://download.schneider-electric.com/
Sectoral Trends in Global Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions – https://www.osti.gov
AR5 Climate Change 2014 – https://www.ipcc.ch/report
Green building in Canada, 2016 – https://www.cagbc.org/
Building Energy Management and Data Analytics – https://www.researchgate.net
10 Benefits of Using Smart Buildings – https://www.facilitiesnet.com
Building Management System – https://www.sciencedirect.com
Building Analytics Managed Services – https://www.se.com
Smart Offices:How Intelligent Building Solutions are Changing the Occupant Experience by Navigant Research – https://info.switchautomation.com/
Smart Building:Combining IOT and Analytics to Improve Facilities Management Operations – https://www.ibm.com
