04 May 2016

TIGERFLOW Pumping Packages & the Building Automation Systems

Starting in the early 1990’s the building automation systems (BAS), known also as building management systems (BMS), became a fundamental part of new building construction and renovations. Typically the automation includes control of MEP systems (Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing) in which the operation, status and energy usage are monitored and controlled through a master or centralized computer. Industries like HVAC and power monitoring have relied on these technologies to maintain and create better buildings.

The ability to control and monitor the current system conditions have a huge impact in managing efficiently the energy consumption of a building and therefore, the capacity of interfacing the components and subsystems in a building with a centralized control system is of great importance.

TIGERFLOW is aware of this demand and is always developing different methods to integrate communication and adapt to the industry’s requirements. Our systems include our control panels (UL listed) built in-house, which can be customized to interface with most of the communication protocols available in the market.

Different protocols exist in the BAS industry, and for that reason, it is important to have the ability to use diverse methods of communication.

The Modbus communication is still a dominating protocol in the industry, given its early success on BAS systems.  It is a robust and reliable system, based on an application layer protocol – it defines a rule set for organizing and interpreting data. This communication protocol is used as the TIGERFLOW’s standard.

The HVAC industry led by the ASHRAE standards, has defined the BACnet communication as their own open standard. This protocol has the advantage of being easy to deploy, commission and troubleshoot and it is highly utilized on other types of applications as well.

Our team takes pride in being able to attack most challenges, and our control panels can be customized to interface with other types of protocols. Lately, the LonWorks protocol has proven very effective in data protection against external attacks and therefore is being used vastly in critical applications like military and high-value data base communications.

The TIGERFLOW team has used and is capable of integrating the following communication protocols:

  • Modbus RTU
  • Modbus TCP
  • BACnet MSTP
  • BACnet/IP
  • LonWorks
  • Profibus DP
  • Profinet

In addition from the aforementioned protocols, TIGERFLOW can provide solutions for systems installed in remote locations. These solutions can be as simple as a remote auto-dialer controller, capable of creating text messages and phone calls using a cellphone based device, and up to a full remote monitoring and control interface on which the pumping system can be seen in real time over the internet.

Our company keeps the focus on developing new ways to improve our products, and having the flexibility of meeting every specification in terms of communication for building automation systems gives our systems a key advantage over other packages.

 

References

“Modicon Modbus Protocol Reference Guide” N.p., 2015. Web. 22 Dec. 2015.

Art Hicks, webmaster@kmccontrols.com. “Understanding Building Automation And Control Systems -KMC Controls”. Kmccontrols.com.hk. N.p., 2015. Web. 22 Dec. 2015.

High Performance HVAC, “Building Automation Systems | HVAC Control”. N.p., 2015. Web. 22 Dec. 2015.