BACnet & Building Analytics
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This document discusses how building analytics uses data from building management systems and Internet of Things devices to optimize building performance. It analyzes data on faults, opportunities, and capital projects to detect issues and inefficiencies. Measurement and verification is used to quantify energy savings. Managed services provide continuous remote monitoring, optimization, and maintenance to keep buildings running efficiently. BACnet is highlighted as an important open protocol that allows different building systems and analytics platforms to integrate and share data.
BACnet & Building Analytics
- 1. Building Analytics & BACnet Intelligent Efficiency At its core, energy efficiency is still about the nuts and bolts of changing equipment and improving the physical components of a facility. Information is not a substitute for the physical integration of new sys- tems. But it is becoming the glue binding the holis- tic, system-wide approach that is starting to define the intelligent efficiency business. It is rapidly becoming much cheaper to measure efficiency and analyze that data alongside lots of other information so operators can actually take action. These information technolo- gies are transforming the efficiency business. They are incredibly powerful. The potential for new energy efficiency remains enor- mous. While a large portion of our past efficiency gains came from improvements in individual prod- ucts, appliances, and equipment, and these device- level technology improvements will continue to play an important role, looking ahead we must take a sys- tems-based approach to dramatically scale up energy efficiency to meet our future energy challenges. Intelligent efficiency is a systems-based approach to efficiency that can help meet this need. Enabled by information and communication technology (ICT) and user access to real-time information, intelligent efficiency differs from component energy efficiency in that it is adaptive, anticipatory, and networked. Opportunities exist along a continuum of technology and human behaviour. Operators of large commercial buildings understand that their buildings are more than static structures. They are entities that live and breathe thermodynami- cally, and must be managed to a narrow tempera- ture band of tenant comfort while everything around them is changing continuously. Outside temperatures rise and fall, occupancy patterns fluctuate, usage changes, interior configurations are revised, equip- ment, electronics, and components are changed out as a matter of routine, and HVAC systems are prone to a host of problems. Building Analytics Whole-building HVAC performance can be affected by any sensor that fails, every control loop that goes out of tune, every damper that jams, and by the contin- uous patchwork cycles of repair, adjustment, resets, and old-fashioned tinkering. Maintaining peak performance of an HVAC system requires a more comprehensive approach to build- ing intelligence, combining personnel with technol- ogy capable of whole-building awareness around the clock, one that can identify small problems and larger systemic issues simultaneously, the moment they arise. One that can identify problems with enough precision to help direct effective solutions, ranging from component repair/replacement to fine- tuning control loops to software refinement. Typically, no one goes back into the BMS to correct the problems as they arise. There is little incentive to find the root cause of a problem when symptoms show up somewhere else, and in the hectic build- ing management environment there is little time to focus on these items. Combining this work environ- ment with the fact that it is extraordinarily difficult to dig into a BMS system and the reality that most operators are not trained or properly equipped to do so, it is easy to understand how BMS problems go undetected. Building analytics tracks 3 areas, Faults: equipment and mechanical systems not following their sequence of operations. i.e. A room temperature that has not been able to hit its setpoint, or a valve that is leaking by. Opportunities: based on data analysis, there is an opportunity for an improved sequence of operations. I.e. opportunities for resets. Capital Projects: Based on data analysis, installing active savings measures with calculations of cost and return of investment. The past decade has seen dramatic advances in BMS systems and other related smart devices. From IP connected systems employing a variety of stand- ard protocols such as BACnet, to support for web services and XML data, it is now possible to capture the data produced by the wide range of sensors and devices in today’s buildings. The New frontier is to intelligently and efficiently manage and analyze that data to find what matters. Some of the Building Analytics applications in Buildings: Fault Detection and Diagnostics Central Plant Optimization Enterprise Energy Management and Reporting Predictive Maintenance Management Measurement & Verification (M&V) Facility Focused Data Analytic Engines One of the most important modules building analyt- ics vendors offer is the Measurement & Verification (M&V) module. It is a module within the platform used to accurately measure the savings obtained from the software. To assess effectiveness and determine the real outcomes of each energy conservation meas- ure or energy saving project, it is critical customers be able to measure savings. This requires processes and methods that are clear, transparent and robust. The M&V module gives customers a tool to accurately measure and visualize the resulting savings. M&V uses processes that are well documented and consistent with the industry-standard International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol or IPMVP. To identify savings attributable to the appli- cation, evaluators or project stakeholders compare baseline conditions to actual conditions – the past to the present. Results are presented in real-time using online dashboards and reports. Managed Services – The Future in Building Automation Managed Services reinforces HVAC system optimi- zation. Through cloud-based remote access, service providers continuously monitor performance, 24/7, at every level – from whole building to individual controls – looking for inefficiencies that degrade performance with an objective to optimize HVAC performance in order to achieve the greatest possible energy and monetary savings for the customers. A number of trends point toward a more service-ori- ented approach to building automation in the future. Continuous monitoring and real-time servicing is the best way to keep a BMS properly tuned for high-level performance. BACnet Middle East Journal 5 11/15 1111 BACnet Insight
- 2. The “product-side” of a BMS installation is never a once-and-done affair. Too many things in the build- ing’s environment remain in flux, too many aspects of the building’s thermodynamic behaviour can remain elusive, and too many subsystems and components can be improperly calibrated. As a result, commission- ing is typically advised after BMS installation. Increas- ingly, owners and operators are looking for ways to keep their buildings at high-performance levels at all times. Some seek full-scale “re-commissioning” of their buildings as data reveals that HVAC performance is beginning to decline. This requires the right diagnos- tic software that can detect imbalances, inefficiencies in subsystems, broken components and sensors, and improperly tuned control loops. Some software only goes part way – that is, it detects problems and makes recommendations others go another step forward and actively make the necessary adjustments and takes active control to optimize system performance. A similar trend driving the software/service-oriented approach to building automation is the desire of build- ing owners to upgrade their existing BMS without incurring large capital expense. Rather than hardware replacement they are looking for service enhance- ments to accomplish the same end. Some in the industry refer to an adjunct service called “continuous commissioning,” as the logical extension of initial commissioning and re-commissioning. How- ever, most often this is not so much continuous as episodic. BMS inspection, testing, and evaluation are done periodically, generally at defined intervals, but often by firms that have no long-term, continuing com- mitment to the building’s performance. There is grow- ing appreciation by owners of the benefits of having 24/7 continuous monitoring of performance. Software as a service combined with Managed Ser- vices offers the possibility of turning the concept of “continuous commissioning” into reality. The software dimension allows the provider to remotely monitor, thus staying on top of HVAC performance at all times, and at minimal cost. And it offers greater flexibility for expansion and integration of new services and hard- ware. For example, it allows building owners to coor- dinate and fully leverage energy efficiency measures such as variable frequency drives (VFD), rooftop solar, renewable purchased power, battery and thermal storage. As new sustainability opportunities arise, a software/ service approach allows building owners to incorporate them at lowest cost. Building Analytics & BACnet BACnet is the bond. It is the most widely used com- munication protocol by building analytics companies and on different layers. It is used as a networking solution and data integrator between the field level and the management level. It is a dynamic technol- ogy platform that is always evolving as it also pro- vides both near real-time data as well as historical data. BACnet Ethernet, BACnet/IP (Internet Protocol), BACnet MSTP (Master Slave Token Passing), BAC- net Point-to-Point, BACnet over ARCnet, BACnet over LON (Local Operating Network) and BACnet over Zigbee (Wireless) are all used as BACnet data link/physical layers. BACnet Middle East Journal 5 11/151212 BACnet Insight Firas Obeido Chief Technology Officer Smart Automation Energy LLC, Dubai – UAE Firas.Obeido@smartae.ae | www.smartae.ae Stacey Lucas Commercial Director sales@sontay.com | www.sontay.com Increased device-to-device communication is an important role within modern building management systems. Convergence is the hot topic at the moment and we are seeing a high number of devices and control systems using the internet protocol alongside traditional protocols for communication, such as BACnet MS/TP. Wireless variations of intelligent control devices are becoming much more readily available. This makes it easier to build, extend and increase the range and capabilities of a unified, integrated system. Having said that, it is not just about devices work- ing together, smart communication is also about the data that can be accessed. Here, sensors play the vital role. They are inherently smart, measuring, analysing and evaluating all sorts of building perfor- mance data and making this information available to the control system. By pulling together this informa- tion and using it to determine the actions of connected devices, we can create a truly ‘smart’ system. The principle difference between a conventional sensor installation and a smart installation is that the sensors themselves can have many measurement parameters, while only requiring two wires for the transmission of all the measurement data directly to the controller using the relevant protocol. Today, the choice available in sensors embraces dif- ferent levels and can now range from a simple ther- mistor based room temperature device to a sophis- ticated smart protocol communication sensor. The latest multi-sensing products offer an increased level of functionality, tailored to suit any application. Popularity is growing for these devices as they are quicker, simpler and more cost effective to install and utilise just one cable to send all data, no matter how many variables are detected. For example, our Smart Communication Sensor combines smart connectivity with intelligent sensing. The sensors are tailored to suit any application and offer complete environmen- tal sensing within a single unit with a whole range of variables being measured including temperature, CO2 , relative humidity, light level, air quality and fan speed. For added control, the collected data is com- municated through BACnet MS/TP. Smart Communication allows building owners and facilities managers to fulfill the requirements of energy efficiency as dictated by EU or national legislation. Easily available, concise and accurate information will allow better control strategies to be implemented in buildings. Within the modern build- Smart Communication Feature ing, we are looking for sensors that are intelligent, open and always online. The data they collect and communicate in our increasingly converged and integrated building controls world will become ever more important as they fulfill their demanding role. This in turn will help us to manage buildings better and drive energy efficient improvements.