Monday, January 25, 2016: 11:00 AM-12:00 PM
The Great Debate
Chair:
Chad Moore, P.E., Engineering Resource Group
Technical Committee: 01.04 Control Theory and Application
With the availability of large amounts of building automation system data and the advent of automated building system commissioning tools, will the need for laborious human-based commissioning be replaced with automated commissioning? This seminar debates the advantages and disadvantages of both traditional component/building system commissioning and autonomous, model-based commissioning.
1 No Amount of BAS Data or Digital Processing Will Replace Human Commissioning in the Field
 |
Barry B. Bridges, P.E., Sebesta |
Automated testing is the execution of a human's test. It must include the obvious parameters that define components and thermal and fluid exchanges expected in design. Nodes of protection, assure equipment can recover from a fault, require real external actions to be detected not simulated within the BAS. Load response can be digitally simulated and evaluated to preset acceptance criteria. Commissioning one device with human flexibility a repetitive system is continually reviewed by occupants for comfort. Discontinuities created by energy saving modes require real events to confirm operation within the limits of the physical world.
2 Autonomous Model-Based Commissioning Pros and Cons
 |
Allan Daly, P.E., Taylor Enginering |
Many building automation systems allow for 3rd party software to interact with them directly through published APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). Automated commissioning uses these APIs to autonomously drive passive (read-only) and active (read-write) commissioning tests of HVAC systems in existing buildings and during construction projects. This presentation will define the concepts and system architecture that support automated commissioning and explore the pros and cons of this novel approach to component and system testing. The presentation will also introduce the Structured All-Purpose Language for Testing which can be used to define tests in a formal way suitable for automation.