How BMS Help in Your Comfort and Relief in Your Building

BMS – Building Management System. Thermal comfort inside a building is frequently neglected, at least until it becomes necessary to raise or lower the temperature of the space. Most commonly, a house furnace with or without air conditioning, a home boiler radiant heat system. Or even a heating/cooling heat pump system can be adjusted using the thermostat in the home. However, a similar straightforward modification could seem more difficult, perplexing. Or even unknowable when made while away from home, such as while working or visiting a facility. 

A balance between thermal comfort and energy costs is something that many homeowners strive for. Facility owners or managers are frequently challenged with identifying ways to reduce energy costs for delivering tenant thermal comfort. And the outside ventilation air required by code outside the dwelling, frequently in commercial structures. 

A thermostat or space temperature sensor is connected to a microprocessor-based direct digital control (DDC) controller that is connected to an HVAC system in each temperature-controlled zone of a building. The system may be connected to a building plant that supplies heating and/or cooling to individual HVAC systems, or it may have self-contained heating and cooling capabilities. The building equipment’s temperature control system includes occupied and unoccupied control strategies to reduce energy expenditures while achieving thermal comfort. There are a variety of temperature display and setpoint alternatives for space sensors, including the possibility of having a hands-off blank cover, based on the location of zone temperature sensors and building management policies. 

In order to provide a management level graphical interface for the entire building’s temperature controls, individual equipment controllers and thermostats (if network compatible) are typically networked using a building automation system (BAS). This enables the planning of building occupancy, adjusting space temperature setpoints, monitoring systems, notifying users of alarms, and trending equipment operation and temperature data. Examples of other systems that can be integrated into the BAS include building lighting, fire alarm system monitoring, security/access, elevator system monitoring, and electrical metering. Typically, open communication protocols like BACnet, LonWorks, and Modbus, which are industry standards, are used. The added details are intended to significantly enhance the working conditions while using less energy. 

BMS – Control Suppliers & Installation Coordination with Building Owners 

Industry-leading manufacturers have created a number of BAS and controller brands, some of which are regarded as proprietary and can only be installed and serviced by particular area representatives/installers. Facility owners have additional options for their building controls installation and service needs thanks to other readily available BAS and controllers that are publicly supplied and installed by qualified technicians. For controller network communications and integration capabilities, every system makes use of an open protocol. 

These systems have been successfully installed in numerous locations, each with unique benefits and drawbacks. Some owners have productive working relationships with control suppliers, while other owners look for alternatives to take a different path. A Master Systems Integrator may be used by owners with various buildings and ongoing construction projects to maintain uniformity with their BAS data configurations and graphics. 

BAS technology is still developing. Current control systems make full use of the owner’s information technology network to give owners a good communication channel for monitoring and maintaining the HVAC systems in their buildings. Ethernet technology is now being used for controller communications that were previously wired to a building supervisory controller that served as a router with a single or limited IP connection. In order to communicate more quickly and with more data, controllers can now use Cat-6 network wiring. 

The controls industry has developed Operational Technology (OT) networks to be used particularly for BAS communications with little to no IP drops to the IT system in a safe way. Some IT departments are comfortable giving multiple IP data drops to individual controllers, but some do not. Coordination with the owner’s IT departments is necessary to meet the networking needs. 

BMS – Packaged Controls

Today, more HVAC equipment is being made using packaged DDC controls as built-up control installations become less common. This delivery technique is appealing to owners and construction managers because it can help them cut the cost of implementing controls. Instead of requiring unique programming, equipment controls offer adjustable programming. They can also be integrated with the BAS using open protocol to give owners access to monitoring, operation schedules, and setpoint modifications. Self-contained controls on equipment can reduce material costs, but they also increase installation labor costs. The extra work required for the installation includes the time spent by the equipment technician configuring it properly. The time spent by the TC contractor technician mapping logical data to the BAS for the owner’s graphical interface, and more coordination between the installation contractors. The design engineers, and frequently a commissioning agent. The installed cost of the equipment may ultimately be lower, but the owner must be aware of which service provider, a BAS service representative or an equipment service representative, may be required for upcoming maintenance and repairs. 

BMS – Control Strategies 

Much care must be taken to ensure that systems may be programmed or set to offer overall building thermal comfort while adhering to building energy and building ventilation-related norms and standards as equipment and controls are chosen and coordinated for a project design. The following are only a few examples of possible tactics of a BMS:

• scheduling building occupancy for occupied and unoccupied heating and cooling setpoints, 
• When a building is inhabited, unoccupied standby modes are used to lower the space’s setpoint and, where appropriate, to restrict exterior ventilation. 
• When big spaces are only sparsely inhabited, demand control ventilation can be used to limit exterior air ventilation. 
• Water Supply Temperature Setpoint Reset for Hot Water Heating Systems and Chilled Water Systems for Remote Zone Heating and Cooling Systems to Save Energy at Source Plants and Air Handling Equipment Static Pressure Reset to Save Fan Energy when Remote Zone Heating and Cooling Demands are Reduced. 

Contact us  

If you have any questions about the content of this guide, or for help with your project in general, please contact us by email.  We will be happy to assist. 

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