Apollo Fire Detectors protect Leadenhall Market Apollo Fire ...

t-mac second
generation BMS
On the eve of new legislation being introduced
in the UK governing energy consumption
and efficiencies in buildings, Alan
Wilkinson, Managing Director of t-mac
Technologies and FAW Electronics, one of the
UK’s leading designers and manufacturers of
customised electronic control solutions, voices
his thoughts on the increasing importance
of IT facilitated building control systems in
meeting legislative requirements.
With the impending implementation of the
Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and
the changes to Part L of the Building
Regulations, due to come into force from next
year, the need for facilities managers to provide
tangible proof that buildings under their control
are both energy efficient and managed responsibly
is now firmly on the agenda. Flexible and
interactive building control systems are becoming
increasingly important to delivering optimum
efficiency.
t-mac is one of the new generation of internet
facilitated remote monitoring systems to enter
the market. This discreet ‘second generation’
building management system can remotely monitor,
record and provide critical readings and
historic reports on conditions imperative to the
new regulations, such as heating, cooling, lighting
and associated wastage levels.
Listed on the Carbon Trust’s Energy Technology
List, it is one of the few approved solutions
which meets this building management legislation.
The t-mac device is easily integrated
within or installed close to the HVAC&R equipment,
or independently installed within the
building.
The unit continuously collects data on the
equipment or building via analogue and/or digital
inputs. This data is then automatically
transmitted wirelessly over the Internet by
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) (or alternatively
via Ethernet or telephone line) at regular
intervals off site, to a central server for
remote viewing and analysis via any Internet
enabled PC.
While data logging is not a new concept, it is tmac’s
ability to allow users to remotely data
log, monitor and control information and gain
access to analyse this data via any Internet
enabled PC anywhere, and at any time, that is
way ahead of other BMS devices. t-mac does not
require dedicated PC/maintenance stations and
associated software. Users log-on from their
PCs through a unique and secure access control
portal (username and password) to view live and
historic data relating to conditions and status of
individual or multiple pieces of equipment,
departments or entire property sites worldwide.
Should the pre-set levels of equipment operation
fluctuate outside the desired limits, which
are imperative for condition critical zones, tmac
acts as an early warning system, sending
accurate, detailed information about the
change and requesting remedial action be
taken. These alert notifications are sent via SMS
and/or email to any number of pre-identified
recipients as soon as a fault occurs, enabling
decision-makers to respond promptly, on many
occasions even in advance of a hazard or equipment
failure occurring. Users can remotely
change any of the programmed settings on the
unit via a secure web page; these are then
downloaded to the device.
For remote control requirements, t-mac can be
pre-set to automatically turn on air conditioning
systems or remotely shut-down machinery
should temperature levels become critical for
example. Via the web page users can also carry
out remote diagnostics on the equipment,
department or site and request, through t-mac,
to trigger a control application.
Some media sources are lauding web based BMS
as the next generation BMS. In my opinion there
are many disadvantages to a web based system,
mainly due to its connections through established
Ethernet links and the requirement for
users to log into the device via a dedicated IP
address. There is no requirement for t-mac to
be linked into a building’s existing IT system as
it communicates via wireless GPRS links - it is
entirely stand-alone, therefore if a building’s IT
systems fail, t-mac won’t - plus there is no additional
network ‘traffic’ potentially slowing
down internal IT systems.
Part L of the Building Regulations requires that
a log of building services, plant and controls is
kept to highlight assets, methods of operation
and maintenance and any other additional
details that enable energy consumption to be
monitored and controlled. t-mac can account
for energy consumption of equipment through
the following techniques:
log meter and sub-meter total gas, electricity
and oil consumed within the building
measure heating or cooling energy supplied to
the building
measure the run-hours of equipment that operate
at a constant load
measure the load of equipment
allow users to estimate energy consumption
from metered water for hot water supply
monitor run efficiency of the water heater
estimate non-constant small power loads
From monitoring and measuring the above con-
IT & communications
Alan Wilkinson,
Managing Director
t-mac Technologies
ditions, t-mac can create necessary reports for
the log book to prove that assets and buildings
are being run in an energy efficient manner.
Part L2 of the regulations is aimed at improving
efficiencies of installed services (HVAC&R, etc)
and their operations to reduce energy consumption.
t-mac can assist with analysis and production
of valuable management information relating
to equipment conditions, associated
wastages, energy and asset inefficiencies and
costs. The system can determine and measure
where and how much energy is being used over
a specific period and compare it to annual targets.
Facilities managers can log on through their
dedicated web page to view this asset information
via interactive graphs, tables and gauges,
which can easily be downloaded into CSV format
for standard database analysis and reporting.
t-mac achieves all of this without additional
costly software, via any Internet enabled PC and
without the requirement for human interaction.
This type of report analysis allows adjustments
to be made to increase efficiencies and, once
made, further tracking reports can be produced
to see how great the level of energy efficiency
improvements are and how much has been
saved over a designated period.
The legislation on meeting building performance
criteria will be enforced no later than April
2006. Meeting new legislation should not be
seen as a difficult or costly process. A t-mac system
can be installed and up and running in a
matter of minutes for under £2,000. Not only
does t-mac’s advanced remote monitoring capabilities
ensure equipment and sites are controlled
and managed 24/7, there is an immediate
return on investment achieved through the
reduction in requirement for service engineers
to undertake site visits to monitor critical conditions
first-hand or employees hired to manually
monitor site-based monitoring systems from a
centralised location/call centre on a 24-hour
basis. In addition, t-mac provides accurate data
for facilities managers’ analysis and reporting
requirements. Through its alerts and 24/7 data
logging facility, t-mac highlights and records
equipment or site inefficiencies allowing facilities
managers to calculate and plan valuable
cost-saving or energy management activities
based on actual evidence.
The t-mac system is listed on the Carbon Trust’s
Energy Technology List for Automatic Monitoring
and Targeting. Companies installing a t-mac system
benefit from 100% capital allowance on
their first year of expenditure.
Reader Reply No.: 85099
www.practicalfm.co.uk 35