Shalom Wenceslao

010713

BS ECE

Communication Theory 5

History / Developments What is a Building Management System and how does it work? The BMS is a stand alone computer system that can calculate the pre-set requirements of the building and control the connected plant to meet those needs. Its inputs, such as temperature sensors and outputs, such as on/off signals are connected into outstations around the building. Programmes within these outstations use this information to decide the necessary level of applied control. The outstations are linked together and information can be passed from one to another. In addition a modem is also connected to the system to allow remote access. The level of control via the BMS is dependent upon the information received from its sensors and the way in which its programmes tell it to respond to that information. As well as offering a precise degree of control to its environment, it can be made to alarm on conditions that cant meet specification or warn of individual items of plant failure. Occupancy times for different areas are programmed into the Building Management System such that the plant is brought on and off to meet the occupier requirements. These times are often under optimum start control. This means that the heating plant is enabled, at a varying predetermined time, to ensure that the heated space is at the set desired temperature for the start of the day. The Building Management System therefore, based on the outside air temperature the space temperature and the building structure, determines the plant start time. Current Trends Building management system has survived three development stages: a) decrease of necessary labour amount; b) decrease of necessary time for fault diagnostics and maintenance; c) energy efficiency. A lot of objects in Latvia are built with building management system (BMS), but just few of them correspond to all requirements. Very important is BMS user interface for effective control of units, which includes control parameters (on/off, time schedules, setpoints), regulation parameters (PID regulators coefficients, min / max values), trendlogs and event messages. We have done research in three objects in Latvia, two of them are trading centres (located in Riga and Madona); one object is office building (located in Riga). Our experience in office building in Riga showed, that corresponding usage of BMS functions (time schedules, energy management) is very important for building owner. From year 20072008 BMS was used to achieve very good comfort in premises without caring about energy consumption and unit working hours. After economical crises in Latvia (middle of 2008), office-building owner invite us to help limit energy consumption, but still required good comfort conditions in office building during of working hours. We made corrections to time schedules, heating and cooling systems control algorithms (BMS is done with Alerton controllers). Energy consumption analyse

(20072009) showed, that energy consumption after all improvements in BMS can be decreased by 20%. Results of our investigations are definition of all necessary BMS functions and unit control algorithms. Major BMS manufacturers have made some incremental improvements to their products. They may have added an energy management package, or re-engineered an industrial process system for buildings. They might have even bought smaller software companies, thinking that would save the day. But despite their efforts, the fact is that BMS are well short of where they need to be as an industry. Part of the problem is that BMS manufacturers are not good at IT and that the BMS is an IT system. Its a server with a database, IP address and software applications, connected to an IT network. What has developed at the industry level for building automation and IT is just a magnification of what is happening in many facility management and IT departments. Given the significant penetration of IT into building systems, the roles of facility management and IT departments have been readjusted. Some organizations have worked out those organizational issues. But for the most part, the BAS manufacturer and the IT industry is stuck in an IT is from Mars, Building Controls are from Venus mentality. The movement of BAS manufacturers into IT, as well as IT companies into building controls has been feeble at best.

Future Some innovative medium-sized companies around the globe have made the first significant steps in providing building management systems that are beginning to meet todays challenges in building operations. What follows is a list of must haves in the Future Building Management System (FBMS):

The platform for the FBMS must be similar to that of smartphones and tablets. The base FBMS platform will have an operating system, much like Apples IOS or Googles Android, where third parties provide the applications. Everyone is familiar and comfortable with that model. The base operating system for the FBMS will to do the heavy lifting: acquiring data from different building systems, standardizing or normalizing the data into an open or standard database, possibly using something like XML/SOAP. This is really extensive middleware, in that the operating system can not only deal with the BAS communications protocol standards and data formats, but also non-standard data (i.e. some PLCs), as well as other facility management and business systems, such as work order systems, asset management and incorporating data from BIM files. The FBMS must allow third-party applications for specific manufacturer equipment. Given that, every company that manufactures a valve, fan, sensor, etc. will create an app for their

equipment, much like they have for product objects in BIM. These apps are likely to be much richer in monitoring and managing the equipment and will create a burgeoning marketplace.

Third-party analytic software applications to optimize the buildings performance are critical as they will keep high performance buildings performing at their peak. Recent industry experience with fault detection and diagnostics have been very positive and provide a rationale for similar analytics in many other building systems. Applications that can consolidate issues and functions across systems, such as alarm management and master scheduling will become popular. Building managers will be able to test, compare and pick and choose the applications they need from a variety of third-parties. The integration capabilities of the FBMS must be extensive. It has to go beyond the typical fire, HVAC, access control and elevator integration domain, and progressively integrate any building system, facility management systems (work orders, preventive maintenance, inventory, etc.), business systems, the smart grid and external data such as weather and energy markets. The FBMS must be an open and secured system. That doesnt mean its free, but it does require the tools and rules that program the FBMS be transparent so the building owner has options and choices in maintaining and programming the FBMS. System security, which is almost non-existent on traditional BMS, is a must on an open FBMS and probably best dealt with via IT security appliances and software. The FBMS must be able to data mine a users use of the FBMS to identify their preferences and particular data that appears to be important to that user. Each dashboard is meant to convey important information and key indicators and requires an examination of the needs of individual and group audiences. FBMS analytic tools of users routines, usage and interactions with the FBMS will help in determining what the user really needs to see. The future building management system will change and reinvent what currently is a lethargic industry. Its also likely to spawn new companies and manufacturers, provide more choices for users and the buyers of such products, and do so at lower costs.