This session will cover the integration, interoperability and system architecture of a smart city. The presenter discusses new opportunities for connected cities using broadband communications and a vision for new solutions. Street lighting is central to a broader smart city vision that municipalities are starting to embrace in order to reduce energy and operational costs.

This seminar will showcase what makes San Diego one of the most innovative, forward-thinking cities in smart infrastructure technology. The presenter explains how energy-efficient LED street lighting fixtures and wireless lighting controls will save the city more than $250,000 annually. The seminar describes a streetlight network that also controls holiday lights, contains chemical sensors to monitor and alert of air quality and toxic spills, provide Wi-Fi to low income neighborhoods, enhance cellular service with micro cells, act as electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and more.

This presentation introduces an integrated technology that utilizes smart plugs as occupancy sensors, along with low-cost virtual outdoor-air flow rate and thermal energy meters for energy efficient operations and detection of energy faults of air handling units (AHU) or rooftop units. The smart plug uses power measurements coupled with occupancy sensors to accurately infer occupancy. The virtual meters determine outdoor-air flow rate and thermal energy use in AHUs indirectly through control valve, outdoor air damper and fan operation variables, which are readily obtained. The technology integrates plug load systems with HVAC systems in commercial buildings to enhance energy performance.

IOT devices can measure energy use and other parameters accurately. Then the data will be pushed to cloud and analyzed using machine learning and artificial intelligence. The energy use is optimized with automatic and intelligent control strategies.

This presentation discusses several recent R&D efforts at NREL which showcase opportunities for internet-connected residential HVAC and other "smart appliances" to cost-effectively provide mutual benefits to homeowners and utility systems. These include a Time-Of-Use study on HVAC interactions with the electric distribution system, a demonstration of residential equipment providing frequency regulation and a home energy management system which delivers reliable demand response without any reduction in homeowner comfort.

This seminar discusses current issues of control networking security standards for Building Automation solutions and the need for cybersecurity best practices. As more devices are connected to the building network requiring access to the BAS and then to the Internet, the greater the opportunity for exploitation of both internal and external network access. IoT technologies provide direct access from a cloud service to a device, in many cases, bypassing the constraints set up by IT. This session discusses risks and opportunities associated with cybersecurity and efforts to develop smart building specifications to minimize the potential risks while balancing the desire for new solutions.

In every cyber security standard there is a common step, the “Risk assessment”. But what is a risk assessment and how do I do one? This presentation explains how to perform a risk assessment. This information helps the building owner, design engineer and automation professional determine the value of cyber security.

This seminar discusses important system engineering and fundamental topics related to HVAC system security. Key issues of cybersecurity risk analysis, threat model and system security design principles are discussed.

This seminar discusses issues related to building automation security testing and information existing industrial cybersecurity standard IEC 62443 and related certification.

Using natural ventilation is a primary strategy for low energy design. A common strategy is to combine natural ventilation with active heating and cooling systems resulting in mixed mode buildings which inherently have an additional level of control sophistication. This presentation tracks three case studies of the success and lessons learned from mixed mode buildings. The presentation reviews how occupants engage with and interpret mixed mode building operations including successes and learned experiences.

As more buildings strive towards net-zero energy consumption and seek to connect occupants with nature, natural ventilation is attracting more interest. This presentation explains the benefits of natural ventilation and the corresponding control design objectives. Challenges and lessons learned will be shared from a mid-rise office building, university dorms, several condos and academic buildings including sensing, occupant behavior, BAS interfacing, controlling night purge, tenant complexities and optimizing hybrid systems. The completed projects illustrate another practical key to success: designing control strategies that survive value engineering.

Using natural light in buildings can save energy but only if systems are controlled to accomplish the savings. Natural light can enhance the occupant’s impression of a space but only if they can adjust it to suit their preferences. A state-of-the art control system for lighting and dynamic shading handles diverse considerations: inputs from occupants, dynamic daylight conditions, thermal and electrical energy flows, scheduled and unscheduled use of the space. This presentation explains control features and the advantages of implementing them in an integrated BAS. Data from recent projects illustrates the benefits.

Model predictive control (MPC) is becoming a popular algorithm for building HVAC supervisory control. One type of MPC for HVAC supervisory control is EnergyPlus Model-based Predictive Control (EPMPC), where an EnergyPlus model is used in MPC algorithm to predict future building performance. EPMPC could reduce the development cost of MPC by reusing the EnergyPlus model that is often developed during the design phase of a project. However, MPC, especially EPMPC, is much more complex and computation-intensive compared to traditional HVAC control logic; also, it needs to constantly acquire updated forecast data as inputs for computation, such as weather forecast data and occupancy schedule forecast data. Therefore, implementation of MPC to real HVAC systems is difficult. In this paper, a software framework of MPC for HVAC supervisory control is developed to facilitate implementation of MPC.

Intelligent building management systems aim to maintain thermal comfort and reduce energy consumption by learning occupant’s habits and behaviors. A component of these systems is dynamic scheduling, which ensures the HVAC system is only in use when the building is occupied. This paper develops dynamic schedules of building occupancy for an office building in London and estimate the effectiveness through a building simulation.

ASHRAE Guideline 36 aims to standardize a set of best practices for HVAC control. This paper compares a single-duct VAV terminal reheat strategy developed and implemented at Appalachian State University with the dual maximum strategy included in Guideline 36. The two strategies are similar but they differ in the details of implementation. The Appalachian State strategy controls the reheat valve with the zone temperature. Discharge air temperatures are monitored and when that temperature reaches 90 F, the VAV damper modulates to cap the discharge air temperature at the 90 F setpoint. Using numerical analysis and actual performance data, this study looks at the implications of this variation and compare operational outcomes with those established for the dual maximum strategy outlined in Guideline 36 and other energy conservation standards.

Small and medium sized commercial buildings, such as retail stores, restaurants and factories, often utilize multiple roof top units (RTUs) to provide cooling and heating for open spaces. A conventional control approach for these buildings relies on local feedback control, where each unit is cycled on and off using its own thermostat. Because a thermostat operates regardless of the overall building’s behavior, the conventional control approach could result in unnecessary energy use and high electrical peak demand via poor coordination among the units. The control solution is not site-specific and provides reduced energy consumption and peak demand with low sensor requirements. This paper provides recent results of long-term performance of the RTU Coordinator at field sites for small/medium commercial buildings.

The professional engineer has to focus on multiple aspects of a project including, safety, identifying operational and mechanical processes, specifications, control system design and construction, control system installation and system maintenance. How these parts are merged to satisfy the owner’s requirements and are conveyed from schematic design to construction and ultimately operated by the end-user is an interactive process. Integrating the right steps and checks in the process sets the basis for an effective and working design.

Early coordination with owner and engineer allows the controls integrator to understand the mechanical equipment design, owners’ capabilities and development of a “Controls Responsibility Matrix”. There are many ingredients for a successful controls system including coordinating other building trades, integrating with different protocols, installation quality and owner training expectations. The controls integrator will be a life partner with the owner, unlike the bricks and mortar type contractors, so specifying controls is a totally different concept. This presentation introduces the Controls Responsibility Matrix and the relationship for building a successful controls system.