October 26, 2015 - Building Automation
Question: What advantages does IoT technology provide for facility professionals today?
Answer: The overall benefit of the IoT in buildings is to provide access to information at lower cost. IoT technologies provide a set of standard communications methods that allow devices from a wide range of suppliers to be connected to each other and connected to software applications produced by independent suppliers. This provides owners and operators with lower costs, better access to information, and more streamlined management and supervision of their facilities. Instead of being limited to products from a single manufacturer, or products that must be connected into a single system, operators can select and combine products to best fit their needs and budgets. IoT devices can communicate valuable information directly to operators via PCs and mobile devices and share that information with other IoT devices. IoT opens up new options for owners and operators.
Question: Are the benefits and advantages of IoT technology being realized today, and can you provide a specific example?
Answer: IoT technologies are delivering these benefits in thousands of buildings today. Examples include:
Energy savings: Identifying faults in HVAC systems, such as outside air dampers being open when they shouldn’t be, equipment operating outside of occupied times due to overrides or equipment faults, simultaneous operation of heating and cooling equipment due to failed sensors, improper control sequences, or other equipment faults.
Avoiding Occupant Comfort Issues: Equipment systems degrade. Cooling coils can become dirty or lose refrigerant. The result is loss of cooling capacity (delta T) across a coil. On mild days systems can still meet cooling needs even with this loss. But what happens when the weather gets hot? At that point the reduced cooling capacity results in an inability to maintain comfort conditions. With the data from IoT devices and the use of analytics applications those patterns of degradation can be detected before resulting in loss of comfort.
Source: John Petze, Principal, SkyFoundry.
For more insights on the products, technology, benefits and challenges of the Building Internet of Things, visit www.FacilitiesNet.com/IoT
