Building Automation Systems are widely used today to monitor and regulate the day-to-day operation of HVAC temperature, humidity, and airflow as well as safety, lighting, and security systems. When you add a building management system to your facility, it will:
- Manage indoor temperature within a specific comfort range.
- Control outside dampers to maintain a healthy indoor air quality.
- Automatically control overhead lighting based upon activity in each individual space.
- Raise alerts when your system is running outside predetermined parameters.
- Monitor the overall performance of your system and provide insight into potential equipment failure.
- Allow online analysis 24/7 from an offsite control center.
Choosing the right Building Automation System for your facility is important because it helps create a more comfortable, efficient environment, while also saving you time and money by keeping things running smoothly and preventing unexpected problems.
Understanding Building Automation Systems
Building Automation Systems (BAS) provide precise information to help you understand the parameters that have been established for your system. They provide timely data allowing technicians to resolve problems quickly and manage indoor air quality, deliver energy efficiency, and cost savings. Because these systems are monitored 24/7 remotely, when a major issue arises, it can be evaluated immediately, identify the problem, and make system adjustments to manage optimal performance levels of your equipment. The key deliverables BAS brings include:
- Energy Efficiency: These systems can be programmed to optimize the operation of the mechanical, electrical, and lighting systems in the building to reduce energy consumption. The system can be programmed to turn off lights in unoccupied rooms, adjust temperature in the building based upon the number of people present, and shut down equipment when not in use.
- Manage Indoor Air Quality: A key component of these systems is to provide consistent indoor air quality to the entire facility. These systems can be programmed to maintain a consistent temperature and humidity level throughout the building. They can also be very effective in high occupancy buildings including schools and office buildings.
- Safety and Security: BAS can improve the safety and security of your building. They can be programmed to identify hazards including gas leaks and fires, and take appropriate actions to mitigate these risks. They can also maintain control for accessing the building, assuring only authorized entry.
- Maintenance and Repair: Building automation systems make it easier to maintain and repair mechanical, electrical, and lighting systems within the facility. They can be programmed to alert facility managers of potential equipment performance issues, allowing them to address problems before they lead to equipment failure. They can set prescribed maintenance schedules alerting facility managers to service the system components regularly.
- Cost Savings: The energy, maintenance, and repair cost savings provided through BAS can lead to significant cost savings. The improved indoor air quality will assist in increased productivity of your staff and operational efficiencies.
Building automation systems provide extensive building performance opportunities for commercial and industrial buildings through machine learning enhanced through AI.
Assessing Your Facility’s Needs
Maintaining control of large buildings can be a huge challenge. In addition to rising utility costs, some interior building areas can be too hot, some too cold. Lighting levels are frequently inconsistent and misaligned with the work requirements of the area. Ventilation can be great in some areas but inconsistent in others. If done correctly, a building automation system will deliver greater energy efficiency, lower operating and maintenance costs, provide better indoor air quality, comfort, and productivity. If you face these challenges, you should review options for implementing a Building Automation System (BAS) in your facility. If you have an industrial or commercial building that includes:
- Lighting
- Chillers
- Boilers
- Air Handling Units (AHUs)
- Roof-top Units (RTUs)
- Fan Coil Units (FCUs)
- Heat Pump Units (HPUs)
- Variable Air Volume boxes (VAVs)
- Power monitoring
- Security
- Close circuit video (CCTV)
- Card and keypad access
- Fire alarm system
- Elevators/escalators
- Plumbing and water monitoring
A BAS can provide a single source view of the health and efficiency of these items throughout your facility and allow your facility manager to manage potential equipment failure, scheduled service and maintenance, and do all of this 24/7.
Types of Building Automation Systems
Building Automation systems (BAS) can be implemented to manage individual building elements or every operating component. Options include:
- HVAC Control Systems: This focuses on optimizing the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems within a building to achieve optimal comfort for the tenant. When integrated into a BAS, they contribute significantly to creating energy-efficient, comfortable, and productive building environments. Investing in an HVAC system is a wise decision that will make your business more comfortable and energy-efficient for many years to come.
- Lighting Control Systems: This will manage and optimize lighting based on various factors such as occupancy, daylight levels, time of day, and specific user preferences. They allow users to set customized settings tailored to their specific needs. Lighting automation systems can save energy by automatically turning off lights when they are not needed and reducing electricity costs in the long run, making them increasingly popular for building managers looking to improve convenience and comfort while also cutting energy costs.
- Security and Access Control Systems: These are integral components of building automation that safeguard people, property, and assets. They regulate entry and exit to specific areas, monitor for unauthorized access, and provide real-time alerts in case of security breaches. An automated system can also help reduce the time and resources spent on manual security tasks, freeing up personnel for more strategic initiatives. With the proper implementation, security automation systems can greatly improve an organization’s overall security post.
- Energy Management Systems (EMS): This is a sophisticated software platform designed to optimize energy consumption within a building or facility. They collect, analyze, and manage energy data to identify areas of inefficiency and implement strategies to reduce energy waste and costs.EMS transforms energy consumption from a passive expense into an active asset, enabling businesses and building owners to achieve substantial energy savings and environmental benefits.
- Fire and Life Safety Systems: These are designed to protect human life and property from fire and other emergencies. These systems integrate various components to detect, alert, and control fire, while also facilitating safe evacuation. Some examples of fire and life safety systems include fire detection and alarm systems, sprinklers, emergency lighting, fire extinguishers, and public address systems, which operate in tandem to provide early warning of an emergency, guide occupants to safe exits and control fire spread.
If your business serves industrial or commercial clients, adding a multifunctional building automation system will be the best choice. By putting a system in place that allows you to control all of the operating components of your building, you will be able to install all applications at one time, saving money, training, and implementation of individual components over an extended time frame.
What to Look for in a Building Automation System
Building Automation Systems (BAS) bundle surveillance, control systems, regulation and optimisation into one system. With digitisation and the Internet of Things (IoT) on the rise, new opportunities are opening up for buildings. Advanced technologies allow operators and users to interact with intelligent buildings directly, which means new solutions like:
- Room automation
- Digital facility management
- Smart offices
BAS can handle everything related to building automation, control systems and intelligent building solutions.
Building Blocks of a BAS
The base of any BAS starts at the field level, where sensors gather data from all components and subsystems that need to be regulated and controlled. The data is then sent to the automation level where controllers monitor and control the building’s systems and equipment.
At the management level, software implements higher level control and optimisation algorithms and oversees the running, visualisation and monitoring of processes.
Cloud Integration in BAS
As more buildings are networked together, cloud integration in BAS is becoming increasingly important. Cloud storage enables data to be accessed through a secure, independent network, ensuring security. This setup allows for 24/7 monitoring, even from remote locations.
Choosing the Right Vendor
When you make the decision to add a Building Automation System (BAS) to your building, finding a mechanical contractor with experience in selecting and installing the right system is critical.
They will need to understand the services you provide and the local, state, and federal permitting requirements and will also ask how you expect your business to change over the next 10 years.
When choosing a vendor, it’s important to note that the vendor should have a track record of successful installations and a team to guide you through the system content, the number of facilities needing BAS installation, system installation, training and maintenance post installation.
As a general guide, the key components you should look for in all BAS installations include:
- An open system is critical. You do not want to get trapped in a customized system that ties your business to a single source.
- A robust graphics interface that is easy for facility managers to read and understand.
- What capabilities do you expect from the alarm systems?
- The system should be able to track the performance of data-points over a period of time. When you compare this performance, you are able to infer facts based upon the data and address potential performance issues.
- The system should provide configuration tools. Tools like adding a field controller, adding a database backup, and the ability to adjust graphics and core settings.
- A design structure and architecture that will allow the system to grow and be sustainable as your business grows.
- A team that will provide ongoing training and service to assist facility managers and techs to stay abreast of updates and trends.
What to Consider When Investing in a Building Automation System
For large complex applications like Building Automation Systems, making sure the investment is worth it can be challenging. Energy savings is certainly something that should be measured when calculating a payback, but in reality, the BAS does not save energy by itself. It is simply a tool to do so.
Before calculating a return on investment, you need to understand what the full investment is for your energy management system. This includes the initial cost of installation and programming and recurring costs over time. Recurring costs could include a maintenance agreement. After the warranty period expires, the cost of service calls will become something to consider. Component replacement needs to be considered, such as replacing failed controllers and other components.
Ask yourself questions like:
- How will your business change over 3,5,10 years, which might have an impact on your BAS?
- Can your team handle the installation of replacement parts and upgrades or will you need assistance from the original installation team?
Energy Savings Through BAS
While a BAS does not save energy by itself, there are certainly energy savings that can be attributed to the system. These may come as a result of having well-trained technicians that are thorough when writing new sequences for your facility. Energy reductions may also result from your internal team being able to manage the system itself. In addition to energy savings, you should include the savings from all other systems added to the BAS, including lighting, alarms, ingress and egress systems, etc.
Avoiding Potential Hidden Costs
You should also consider the hidden costs of your internal maintenance team answering calls for temperature irregularities, insufficient hot water, accompanying a repair technician on a service call, making system changes, or time spent on the phone with tech support. How much time and money can be saved when adopting a more streamlined system versus the old way of managing your system with the automated management of a BAS?
In the end, a thorough understanding of both the upfront costs and long-term benefits of a Building Automation System will help ensure that your investment delivers the value you expect.
Contact Unitemp Today!
Unitemp has been installing and maintaining Business Automation Systems since the concept was introduced. We have a team of engineers and technicians to provide options for installing the right system for industrial and commercial buildings and are focused on systems that support the clients you serve and the products you produce.
Installing a BAS can produce a 10-15% operational savings once installed and optimized for your building. Contact us today to schedule a consultation and learn more about which BAS can benefit your facility!