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Marn Hawley, who has been named KNX UK Champion of the year, explains why he consistently goes the extra mile in promong the benefits of this open protocol to a wider UK audience.
KNX BSEE
DISTRIBUTING INTELLIGENCE WITH KNX A driving force for ‘beer thinking’ buildings
to the integrators who are successfully using KNX to create some remarkable intelligent control systems. They enjoy the ability to integrate every aspect of building control and the freedom to pick and choose devices from multiple manufacturers. QUOTE: “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”
K
uMarn Hawley was honoured with the 2018 KNX UK Champion award for his work with colleges and newtoKNX designers.
People variously attribute this quote to Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, and even Mark Twain. But regardless of the origin, what matters is the point that it makes. If you want to change the end result, you need to change the way you do things. And we really do need to change the end result! The energy saving imperative, the challenge of keeping buildings comfortable and safe for a growing and increasingly urban population, and rising expectations of end users who want smart technology to make their lives easier all add up to a need for real change. Wiring up a few smart switching devices won’t deliver that change at a meaningful level. The Internet of Things isn’t really a game changer unless we make those things talk to each other. Moreover, teaching our young electricians to do the same cable pulling that their fathers and grandfathers did before them will not give us the skills base we need to make it happen.
I am fortunate enough to work for Ivory Egg, a business that believes strongly in developing the skills of the future generations, and I’ve been given a great job to do. I’m tasked to work with colleges to introduce their electrical students and apprentices to
NX is an open control protocol that is gaining wider recognition in the UK, but we still lag behind other European countries. This is baffling
the world of home and building automation.
We’ve already arranged sessions at Guildford and West Kent Colleges and I plan to visit at least one new campus a month. The aim of the sessions I deliver is to open NVQ Level 3 students’ eyes to the stark realities that are about to face them as they complete their training and enter full time work, and to show them where the real opportunities lie. For some it is a revelation, as until now their training has focused on traditional ring mains, and they are ill-prepared for a future as skilled professionals rather than jobbing electricians.
If they come away from the session enthused enough to find out more about intelligent building control and I’ve set them on a mission to work out the best approach to intelligently integrating a building’s core services, then my day has been quite successful. If they come away realising that an open and distributed system is the key, then my job is done! I’ll have recruited more enthusiasts to KNX and hopefully set them on the road to learning the system and becoming the KNX installers that the industry is crying out for. Why is KNX best? I don’t think there is any real competition to the KNX open protocol approach: hundreds of manufacturers offer thousands of controls, detectors and actuators that are all guaranteed to talk the same language and communicate via the KNX field bus.
Control is distributed, and installations are flexible and scalable: they can be grown and changed with a building’s use. There’s a wealth of information at the KNX UK Association website at
www.knxuk.org
Not just the students
Equally challenging, is making sure that people already making decisions about building controls are aware
of the importance of integrated building control.
One trick to this is adding college sessions where the apprentices pass on their new knowledge to their bosses. Another is me knocking on doors of architects and M&E engineers and telling them how intelligence can add value to a project.
The sooner building control becomes part of a project – ideally at master or pre-planning stage – the better. It keeps the quantity surveyors happy because ducting can be rationalised, wiring simplified, and labour time reduced. With distributed control there’s no need to dedicate valuable space for control rooms.
At a creative design level, it frees architects to try new ideas. If they want, say, a massive south facing window, the smart KNX-enabled M&E engineers can plan to capture and control the solar gain and help them win stakeholder approval. You’ll notice I mentioned M&E engineers there. Another big change we need is for M to talk to E. In a truly intelligent building, PIR detection of occupancy should trigger heating as well as just flick a light on. The level at which the heating and lighting operates can be linked to ambient conditions or it can be zoned: otherwise, even a DALI lighting system is only a sophisticated switch. Integrated with KNX building control, it becomes so much more.
As soon as we tell people about KNX distributed and open control, they always want to know more. So, the mind shifts are happening, but perhaps not quite fast enough. UK building owners and occupiers are missing out. That’s why a group of manufacturers, installers, training providers and wholesalers have come together to support each other and new entrants to the KNX world. Members of the UK’s National KNX Association give their time and advice freely and welcome new entrants to the KNX world.
They are all driving forces for better thinking buildings. So, to have been voted as the 2018 KNX UK Champion for my work with colleges and new-to- KNX designers is a real honour. If you ask me, any KNX UK networking meeting is jam-packed with champions, and I’m excited for the future of our built environment. Find out more at:
uBringing on the next generaon of KNX enthusiasts. VISIT OUR WEBSITE:
www.bsee.co.uk uA domesc KNX installaon at a property in Chelsea, London.
www.knxuk.org BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER JULY 2018 27 ‘ Why is KNX
best? I don’t think there is any real compeon to the KNX open protocol approach: hundreds of manufacturers oer thousands of controls, detectors and actuators that are all guaranteed to talk the same language and communicate via the KNX field bus.
’
uA Legrand Electric KNX project at the Microgaming HQ on the Isle of Man.
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