HVAC
COMMUNICATING WITH AI
Dr. Ahmet Köse, CIO at R8 Technologies, explores how commercial building operators can communicate with artificial intelligence.
Commercial buildings are remarkable energy consumers. HVAC energy consumption accounts for 40% of a commercial building’s total energy use. HVAC operators usually communicate with the HVAC equipment through a building management system (BMS). BMS is a computer- based control system that provides a user interface (UI) through dedicated software for real-time monitoring and control purposes.
Revolutionary growth in computational power and computer science in the last few decades gave rise to AI-based solutions in various business fields including property technology (PropTech). Arguably, machine learning (ML) is the most used type of AI that solves real- world problems by facilitating computers to learn from data.
Almost every large commercial building has a BMS that contains thousands of data points. Some of those data points are created by BMS providers for operators to interact with. On the other hand, BMS has limited features to let operators take care of the building’s actual needs and problems. Thus, it is a constant challenge to maintain optimal indoor climate; regardless of building ecosystem and dynamics like occupancy and weather. Furthermore, it is not possible to use any AI-based solutions by default since BMS is not designed to utilise data-driven methods for HVAC systems, not even to collect data for this purpose.
The sustainability goals of commercial buildings require additional smart building solutions to accomplish lower CO2 emissions while maintaining an optimal indoor climate. At the same time, those smart solutions should target the use of existing hardware, infrastructure, and tools; to avoid additional costs and unnecessary investments. Eventually, what premium commercial buildings require is a reliable and intelligent software solution that has the capability to collect data continuously and use it for increasing energy efficiency. The solution
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should also offer an automated control for the HVAC equipment by adjusting writable data points in BMS.
R8 Digital Operator is the true example and has already been in use for years in several countries in Europe. The AI-based solution adjusts only writable data points that are available in BMS. In other words, R8 Digital Operator provides an automated mechanism with data-driven decision capabilities to assist human operators.
HVAC experts/operators are responsible for HVAC operations in commercial buildings. Therefore, they should be able to communicate with AI-based solutions. That simply means the operators should be able to monitor, recognise and understand actions and operations made by AI through their existing working environment. Otherwise, smart solutions may result in larger costs, increased complexity and conflicts; rather than the potential benefits.
BMS is the main monitoring and control system for operators, and it should remain so. This is because operators face continuous challenges arising from: indoor climate complaints, mechanical failures, and other operational issues. Additional hardware-based systems or another UI to learn and use can make their work even harder. Attempting to run multiple systems in parallel for operating the HVAC equipment may also cause unexpected failures due to the lack of communication and transparency, as well as unforeseen conflicts of control.
Advance solutions like R8 Digital Operator already allow operators to communicate with AI by only using BMS. Operators can monitor all the values that are set for controlling HVAC equipment. In addition, if the operators wish to modify, or exchange, specific HVAC equipment, R8 Digital Operator recognises the interactions made through BMS, and the control for sub-systems may be suspended temporarily.
https://r8tech.io twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
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