INTRODUCTION

Building automation is the automatic centralized control of a building's heating,

ventilation and air conditioning, lighting and other systems through a building
management system or building automation system (BAS). The objectives of building
automation are improved occupant comfort, efficient operation of building systems, and
reduction in energy consumption and operating costs, and improve life cycle of utilities.
The Building Automation System (BAS) core functionality is to keep building climate
within a specified range, light rooms based on an occupancy schedule, monitor
performance and device failures in all systems and provide malfunction alarms.
Automation systems reduce building energy and maintenance costs compared to a noncontrolled building. Typically they are financed through energy and insurance savings
and other savings associated with pre-emptive maintenance and quick detection of issues.
The term building automation system, loosely used, refers to any electrical control system
that is used to control a buildings heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC)
system. Modern BAS can also control indoor and outdoor lighting as well as security, fire
alarms, and basically everything else that is electrical in the building.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Controller
Controllers are essentially small,
Example of
Programma
ble Logic
Controllers
(PCLs), PLC is
a digital
computer
used for
automation of
typically
industrial
electromecha
ni-cal process.

purpose-built computers with input

and output capabilities. These
controllers come in a range of sizes
and capabilities to control devices
commonly found in buildings, and to
control sub-networks of controllers.

Inputs allow a controller to read temperatures, humidity, pressure, current flow, air flow,
and other essential factors. The outputs allow the controller to send command and control
signals to slave devices, and to other parts of the system. Inputs and outputs can be either
digital or analog. Digital outputs are also sometimes called discrete depending on
manufacturer.
Controllers used for building automation can be grouped in 3 categories: Programmable
Logic Controllers (PLCs), System/Network controllers, and Terminal Unit

controllers. However an additional device can also exist in order to integrate third-party
systems (i.e. a stand-alone AC system) into a central Building automation system.
Terminal unit controllers usually are suited for control of lighting and/or simpler devices
such as a package rooftop unit, heat pump, VAV box, or fan coil, etc. The installer
typically selects 1 of the available pre-programmed personalities best suited to the device
to be controlled, and does not have to create new control logic.
Occupancy
Occupancy is one of two or more operating modes for a building automation system.
Unoccupied, Morning Warmup, and Night-time Setback are other common modes.
Occupancy is usually based on time of day schedules. In Occupancy mode, the BAS aims
to provide a comfortable climate and adequate lighting, often with zone-based control so
that users on one side of a building have a different thermostat (or a different system, or
sub system) than users on the opposite side. A temperature sensor in the zone provides
feedback to the controller, so it can deliver heating or cooling as needed. If enabled,
morning warmup (MWU) mode occurs prior to occupancy. During Morning Warmup the
BAS tries to bring the building to setpoint just in time for Occupancy. The BAS often
factors in outdoor conditions and historical experience to optimize MWU. This is also
referred to as optimized start. An override is a manually initiated command to the BAS.
For example, many wall-mounted temperature sensors will have a push-button that forces
the system into Occupancy mode for a set number of minutes. Where present, web
interfaces allow users to remotely initiate an override on the BAS. Some buildings rely

on occupancy sensors to activate lighting or climate conditioning. Given the potential for
long lead times before a space becomes sufficiently cool or warm, climate conditioning is
not often initiated directly by an occupancy sensor.

Lighting
Lighting can be turned on, off, or dimmed with a building automation or lighting control
system based on time of day, or on occupancy sensor, photosensors and timers.[4] One
typical example is to turn the lights in a space on for a half hour since the last motion was
sensed. A photocell placed outside a building can sense darkness, and the time of day, and
modulate lights in outer offices and the parking lot.
Lighting is also a good candidate for demand response, with many control systems
providing the ability to dim (or turn off) lights to take advantage of DR incentives and
savings.
In newer buildings, the lighting control can be based on the field bus Digital Addressable
Lighting Interface (DALI). Lamps with DALI ballasts are fully dimmable. DALI can also
detect lamp and ballast failures on DALI luminaires and signals failures.

Air handlers
Most air handlers mix return and outside air so less temperature/humidity conditioning is
needed. This can save money by using less chilled or heated water (not all AHUs use
chilled or hot water circuits). Some external air is needed to keep the building's air
healthy. To optimize energy efficiency while maintaining health indoor air quality
(IAQ), demand control (or controlled) ventilation (DCV) adjusts the amount of outside
air based on measured levels of occupancy.
Analog or digital temperature sensors may be placed in the space or room, the return and
supply air ducts, and sometimes the external air. Actuators are placed on the hot and
chilled water valves, the outside air and return air dampers. The supply fan (and return if

applicable) is started and stopped based on either time of day, temperatures, building
pressures or a combination.

Air Handling Unit is a device used to regulate

and circulate air as part of a heating, ventilating,
and air-conditioning (HVAC) system.
Typical AHU components:
1 - Supply duct
2 - Fan compartment
3 - Flexible connection
4 - Heating and/or cooling coil
5 - Filter compartment
6 - Return and fresh air duct

Constant volume air-handling units

The less efficient type of air-handler is a "constant volume air handling unit," or CAV.
The fans in CAVs do not have variable-speed controls. Instead, CAVs open and
close dampers and water-supply valves to maintain temperatures in the building's spaces.
They heat or cool the spaces by opening or closing chilled or hot water valves that feed
their internal heat exchangers. Generally one CAV serves several spaces. There are two
types of CAV systems that are commonly in use to modify the supply air temperature: the
terminal reheat system and the mixed air system.

The terminal reheat system cools the air in the air handling unit down to the lowest
possible needed temperature within its zone of spaces. This supplies a comfortable
quality to the space, but wastes energy.
The mixed air system has two air streams, typically one for the coldest and one for the
hottest needed air temperature in the zone. The two air streams are strategically combined
to offset the space's load. The mixed air system option is not as proficient at controlling
the humidity, yet it does do well at controlling the temperature.

Variable volume air-handling units

A more efficient unit is a "variable air
volume (VAV) air-handling unit", or
VAV. VAVs supply pressurized air to

VAV

boxes, usually one box per room or area.

VAV air handler can change the pressure to the

VAV boxes by changing the speed of a fan or blower with a variable frequency drive or
(less efficiently) by moving inlet guide vanes to a fixed-speed fan. The amount of air is
determined by the needs of the spaces served by the VAV boxes. Each VAV box supply
air to a small space, like an office. Each box has a damper that is opened or closed based
on how much heating or cooling is required in its space. The more boxes are open, the
more air is required, and a greater amount of air is supplied by the VAV air-handling unit.

Some VAV boxes also have hot water valves and an internal heat exchanger. The valves
for hot and cold water are opened or closed based on the heat demand for the spaces it is
supplying. These heated VAV boxes are sometimes used on the perimeter only and the
interior zones are cooling only. A minimum and maximum CFM must be set on VAV
boxes to assure adequate ventilation and proper air balance.
CFM- short for cubic feet per minute, a measurement of the velocity at which air flows into or out of a
space. The CFM measurement often is used in reference to a computers cooling system, and more
typically in reference to an air-cooling system that is supporting overclocking.

VAV hybrid systems

Another variation is a hybrid between VAV and CAV systems. In this system, the interior
zones operate as in a VAV system. The outer zones differ in that the heating is supplied by
a heating fan in a central location usually with a heating coil fed by the building boiler.
The heated air is ducted to the exterior dual duct mixing boxes and dampers controlled by
the zone thermostat calling for either cooled or heated air as needed.

Central plant
A central plant is needed to supply the air-handling units with water. It may supply
a chilled water system, hot water system and a condenser water system, as well
as transformers and auxiliary power unit for emergency power. If well managed, these
can often help each other. For example, some plants generate electric power at periods
with peak demand, using a gas turbine, and then use the turbine's hot exhaust to heat
water or power an absorptive chiller.

Chilled water system

Chilled water is often used to cool a building's air and equipment. The chilled water
system will have chiller(s) and pumps. Analog temperature sensors measure the chilled
water supply and return lines. The chiller(s) are sequenced on and off to chill the chilled
water supply.
A chiller is a refrigeration unit designed to produce cool (chilled) water for space cooling
purposes. The chilled water is then circulated to one or more cooling coils located in air
handling units, fan-coils, or induction units. Chilled water distribution is not constrained
by the 100 feet separation limit that applies to DX systems, thus chilled water-based
cooling systems are typically used in larger buildings. Capacity control in a chilled water

system is usually achieved through modulation of water flow through the coils; thus,
multiple coils may be served from a single chiller without compromising control of any
individual unit. Chillers may operate on either the vapor compression principle or the
absorption principle. Vapor compression chillers may utilize reciprocating, centrifugal,
screw, or rotary compressor configurations. Reciprocating chillers are commonly used for
capacities below 200 tons; centrifugal chillers are normally used to provide higher
capacities; rotary and screw chillers are less commonly used, but are not rare. Heat
rejection from a chiller may be by way of an air-cooled condenser or a cooling tower
(both discussed below). Vapor compression chillers may be bundled with an air-cooled
condenser to provide a packaged chiller, which would be installed outside of the building
envelope. Vapor compression chillers may also be designed to be installed separate from
the condensing unit; normally such a chiller would be installed in an enclosed central
plant space. Absorption chillers are designed to be installed separate from the condensing
unit.

Condenser water system

Cooling towers and pumps are used to supply cool condenser water to the chillers.
Because the condenser water supply to the chillers has to be constant, variable speed
drives are commonly used on the cooling tower fans to control temperature. Proper

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cooling tower temperature assures the proper refrigerant head pressure in the chiller. The
cooling tower set point used depends upon the refrigerant being used. Analog temperature
sensors measure the condenser water supply and return lines.
Hot water system
The hot water system supplies heat to the building's air-handling unit or VAV box heating
coils, along with the domestic hot water heating coils (Calorifier). The hot water system
will have a boiler(s) and pumps. Analog temperature sensors are placed in the hot water
supply and return lines. Some type of mixing valve is usually used to control the heating
water loop temperature. The boiler(s) and pumps are sequenced on and off to maintain
supply.
The installation and integration of variable frequency drives can lower the energy
consumption of the building's circulation pumps to about 15% of what they had been
using before. A variable frequency drive functions by modulating the frequency of the
electricity provided to the motor that it powers. In the USA, the electrical grid uses a
frequency of 60 Hertz or 60 cycles per second. Variable frequency drives are able to
decrease the output and energy consumption of motors by lowering the frequency of the
electricity provided to the motor, however the relationship between motor output and
energy consumption is not a linear one. If the variable frequency drive provides
electricity to the motor at 30 Hertz, the output of the motor will be 50% because 30 Hertz
divided by 60 Hertz is 0.5 or 50%. The energy consumption of a motor running at 50% or
30 Hertz will not be 50%, but will instead be something like 18% because the
relationship between motor output and energy consumption are not linear. The exact

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ratios of motor output or Hertz provided to the motor (which are effectively the same
thing), and the actual energy consumption of the variable frequency drive / motor
combination depend on the efficiency of the variable frequency drive. For example,
because the variable frequency drive needs power itself to communicate with the building
automation system, run its cooling fan, etc., if the motor always ran at 100% with the
variable frequency drive installed the cost of operation or electricity consumption would
actually go up with the new variable frequency drive installed. The amount of energy that
variable frequency drives consume is nominal and is hardly worth consideration when
calculating savings, however it did need to be noted that VFD's do consume energy
themselves. Because the variable frequency drives rarely ever run at 100% and spend
most of their time in the 40% output range, and because now the pumps completely shut
down when not needed, the variable frequency drives have reduced the energy
consumption of the pumps to around 15% of what they had been using before.

Alarms and security

All modern building automation systems have alarm capabilities. It does little good to
detect a potentially hazardous or costly situation if no one who can solve the problem is
notified. Notification can be through a computer (email or text message), pager, cellular

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phone voice call, audible alarm, or all of these. For insurance and liability purposes all
systems keep logs of who was notified, when and how.
Alarms may immediately notify someone or only notify when alarms build to some
threshold of seriousness or urgency. At sites with several buildings, momentary power
failures can cause hundreds or thousands of alarms from equipment that has shut down
these should be suppressed and recognized as symptoms of a larger failure. Some sites
are programmed so that critical alarms are automatically re-sent at varying intervals. For
example, a repeating critical alarm (of an uninterruptible power supply in 'bypass') might
resound at 10 minutes, 30 minutes, and every 2 to 4 hours thereafter until the alarms are
resolved.

Common temperature alarms are: space, supply air, chilled water supply, hot
water supply.

Pressure, humidity, biological and chemical sensors can determine if ventilation

systems have failed mechanically or become infected with contaminants that affect
human health.

Differential pressure switches can be placed on a filter to determine if it is dirty or

otherwise not performing.

Status alarms are common. If a mechanical device like a pump is requested to

start, and the status input indicates it is off, this can indicate a mechanical failure. Or,
worse, an electrical fault that could represent a fire or shock hazard.

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Some valve actuators have end switches to indicate if the valve has opened or not.

Carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide sensors can tell if concentration of these in
the air are too high, either due to fire or ventilation problems in garages or near roads.

Refrigerant sensors can be used to indicate a possible refrigerant leak.

Current sensors can be used to detect low current conditions caused by slipping
fan belts, clogging strainers at pumps, or other problems.

Security systems can be interlocked to a building automation system. If occupancy

sensors are present, they can also be used as burglar alarms. Because security systems are
often deliberately sabotaged, at least some detectors or cameras should have battery
backup and wireless connectivity and the ability to trigger alarms when disconnected.
Modern systems typically use power-over-Ethernet (which can operate a pan-tilt-zoom
camera and other devices up to 3090 watts) which is capable of charging such batteries
and keeps wireless networks free for genuinely wireless applications, such as backup
communication in outage.
Fire alarm panels and their related smoke alarm systems are usually hard-wired to
override building automation. For example: if the smoke alarm is activated, all the
outside air dampers close to prevent air coming into the building, and an exhaust system
can isolate the blaze. Similarly, electrical fault detection systems can turn entire circuits
off, regardless of the number of alarms this triggers or persons this distresses. Fossil
fuel combustion devices also tend to have their own over-rides, such as natural gas feed

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lines that turn off when slow pressure drops are detected (indicating a leak), or when
excess methane is detected in the building's air supply.
Good BAS are aware of these overrides and recognize complex failure conditions. They
do not send excessive alerts, nor do they waste precious backup power on trying to turn
back on devices that these safety over-rides have turned off. A poor BAS, almost by
definition, sends out one alarm for every alert, and does not recognize any manual, fire or
electric or fuel safety override. Accordingly good BAS are often built on safety and fire
systems.

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REFERENCE

Building Automation System.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_automation
(Accessed 2016-19-03).

KMC Controls.
"Understanding Building Automation and Control Systems".
Retrieved 27 March 2013.

CEDIA Find: Cool Automation Integrates Smart Air Conditioners with Third-Party
Control Systems.
http://www.cepro.com/article/cedia_find_cool_automation_integrates_smart_air_conditio
ners_with_third_par/
(Accessed 2016-19-03).

Building Automation System Clawson Michigan Clawson Manor.

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http://cooljohnson.com/Building-Automation-Systems-Michigan/ClawsonMichigan/Building-Automation-System-Clawson-Manor.html
(Accessed 2016-21-03)

What is Building Automation.

http://www.controlservices.com/learning_automation.htm
(Accessed 2016-21-03)

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