Private house (BCH)

Project

This project assigned us to professionally reset (in fact to reinstall) the climate control system around the previously mounted Sauter automatic equipment. The system was customized unsatisfactory, so the owners simply switched it off before we started working on it. Moreover, the engineers were assigned to develop the iPad-controlled dispatching system and integrate the Sanyo VRF zone air-conditioners into it.

Installed Systems

Challenges

The heating control system was mounted by the previous subcontractors around the Sauter equipment, but herein it was simply switched off, since the quality of programming was extremely poor.
The previous team “implemented” dispatching system on the PC in the security premise with no remote control being included into the functions list.
The oldest Sauter solution was chosen for this purpose, the dispatching system was invalid and had unacceptable interface. Ten Sanyo VRF air-conditioners were controlled from one panel located in the house hallway, however the usability was so complicated that one should always have the panel operation manual and rooms – zone numbers compliance list at hand.

No Smart House cables were inserted into the air-conditioners network point of termination, and there was no opportunity to lay them without breaking the integrity of the house. Project documents (circuit schematic, etc.) related to the control system failed to comply with reality, and they needed to be restored practically from the scratch.

Moreover, to get to some pieces of equipment in the house one had to demolish walls or ceilings, which was unacceptable too.

Solutions

The first step related to the project implementation was to verify every hardware nod of the system prior to the programming. The Home Systems engineers found and removed all limitations and bugs. They replaced sensors, drives, power units, etc., reconnected several circuitries and mounted additional equipment protection devices.

Subsequently, within the framework of operating control system and without equipment replacement the engineers developed control algorithms and implemented the highest possible functionality of the heat control equipment: coolers, heat-insulated floors, convectors and influx-and-extract devices. Afterwards our team members calibrated all sensors and set controllers for all heating circuits to ensure the most accurate maintenance of the desired temperature.

The dispatching was provided from the scratch with the help of the Reliance SCADA system that ensured control from computer located in the security premise and tablet. Upon the customer’s wish the control signal could be transferred via internet through the secure channel. We also introduced the users’ authorization and registration of all types of software activity into the data base.

To integrate the Sanyo VRF air-conditioners into the general system the Home System engineers found the best “price – functionality” solution in the form of CoolGate gateway and a pair of Wi-Fi access points for transferring ring data between the air-conditioning and dispatching systems. The current panel remained as part of the system and could be utilized if necessary. Consequently, the house owners could control the air-conditioning and heating systems in uniform style. One could also automatically switch the air-conditioners off when the heating system is switched on and vice versa.

The key features

• The work was carried out in the ready-made house, where the owner has been living for quite a long period of time, therefore we had to coordinate our activity and complete a special visit schedule. Moreover the team faced several limitations, e.g. it was impossible to lay new cables.
• We faced a complete inconsistency among the smart house systems: heating, air-conditioning, ventilation, lighting – were installed by different contractors that used different types of devices and not always in the best way.

Home Systems was the third company to contract the programming and activating the climate control systems. The efforts of both predecessors had failed to crown with success, they had not left any helpful ground works. The customer actually lost faith in the system operability.

Results

For the first time within the object-lifetime period our team spent two winters with one purpose – automatically adjust the heating system. The previous technical stuff carried out the adjustment works in all rooms manually, depending upon weather. Our engineers had the possibility to timely disclose the contingencies, therefore the reaction time was minimized. Moreover than not, they could provide the preliminary remote troubleshooting of the problems prior to the heating, ventilation or air-conditioning personnel onsite visit.

The customer was provided with the Smart House user-friendly GUI that does not require special technical knowledge about its structure. The automation has obtained more functions and the customer became happy due to the significant increase of home coziness and comfort.