It’s Good for Building Systems to Talk

We’re all accustomed to living, working and communicating in a highly networked world.

Whether at work or in our personal lives we expect to have instant access to accurate information on which we can make informed decisions.  We can also access all the tools, such as applications and databases, that enable us to understand and make effective use of complex information from many different sources.   All this is made possible because everything we need to use is stored on a networked and integrated technology infrastructure that communicates on a common bus and speaks a common language.   

The same hasn’t always been true of the building services sector where it’s far from unusual to find buildings are equipped with stand-alone, proprietary systems that do not communicate or share information. These proprietary systems cannot talk to each other nor can they collate the information on which building managers base essential, and potentially costly, decisions virtually every minute of the day.

However, with Delmatic lighting management solutions delivering significant operational and financial benefits at installations all over the world - from the zero-carbon Masdar Institute (MIST) in Abu Dhabi to the sustainable Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge, UK and the energy-optimised Abu Dhabi Investment Authority Headquarters in (ADIA)  - the advantages of open, interoperable systems are becoming increasingly evident.

Delmatic have led the way in the development and application of interoperable systems, based on leading open protocol technologies, that enable products and building services such as lighting, HVAC, security, access-control and fire alarms, to communicate and interact using a common language across a common technology platform.   Interoperable systems share information to enhance overall building efficiency as well as enabling shared use of hardware, network infrastructure and bus wiring thereby reducing costs and environmental impact.   

MRC, Cambridge University

An interoperable Delmatic Dali lighting system provides highly flexible and energy efficient management of lighting throughout the new Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge, England, one of the most prestigious multidisciplinary laboratory and research centres in the world and the birthplace of modern molecular biology.

The Delmatic Dali lighting management system provides addressable control and management of lighting throughout the LMB building and is fully software-configurable via graphical head-end software.   Designed to be interoperable, intelligent and flexible, the system minimises energy consumption without setting any limits on the ‘quality’ of lighting available to the building’s owners and users.  The system empowers users to set lighting levels that precisely suit the location, task or individual preference.     

Building energy efficiency is optimised even further by Delmatic presence detectors which pass on information relating to occupancy to the building Building Management System (BMS) to ensure heating/cooling is linked to out-of-hours occupancy and only used where required.  In addition, scheduled off-sweeps (with dimming warning sequences) ensure that when there’s nobody in the lab, the lights go off.   

The LMB is committed to offering a world-class research environment now and in the future. The Delmatic lighting management solution combines distributed-intelligence functionality with plug-in connectivity which not only simplifies maintenance but ensures that the system can be adapted, without complexity or excessive cost, to support changes in user demand and research priorities. 

ADIA: operational and energy-efficiency through total system interoperability

The HQ building of the Abu Dhabi Investment Bureau  (ADIA ) is one of the most integrated and efficient buildings in the Gulf, having achieved total interoperability between  lighting, air-conditioning and solar shading blinds.

The Delmatic solution uses modular, Lon-compliant technology to ensure seamless integration and interoperability between ADIA’s heating, air conditioning and window blind systems within the main HQ building, support and health-club buildings plus the adjacent 30,000 sq.m car park. The ADIA system is managed and monitored through Delmatic Graphical Software located on the Head end PC which allows networked control of lighting.  

Monitoring occupancy has an important part to play in ensuring the most efficient deployment of lighting, heating and air conditioning and, therefore, optimising energy usage and efficiency.  At ADIA, Delmatic Dali multisensors not only provide presence-related switching and dimming of lighting but also control the speed of air-conditioning speed and temperature band.  By using absence and presence detection modules the Delmatic system minimises energy consumption as well as reducing the cooling load.

Energy consumption is further reduced by relating VAV operation and temperature to occupation: studies show that widening the temperature control band in an office by just two degrees achieves almost 10% energy savings.  Because the various systems can communicate and share data, and all system activity and interaction is managed and monitored centrally through the Delmatic user interface, building and system managers can respond in real-time to any changes in requirement or occupancy pattern.

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