Services Monitoring and Control

In addition to controlling the lighting throughout the civic precinct, the KNX network is used to monitor and control many of the services used across the building. These include the hydraulics systems – for the fire and rainwater pump house it checks on the domestic coldwater and rainwater flow rates,Modern solargardenlight online for sale. and controls the pump and UV disinfection status and the solenoid valve operation. 

Other areas kept in check under the KNX network are rainwater tank volume, solar hot water plant pump status,On particularly windy days,streetlighting can surpass all other electricity sources in a country. flow rates and water temperature at a number of points. 

A number of mechanical services are also monitored and controlled via KNX, such as the groundfloor toilet exhaust fans,Shopping is the best place to comparison shop for roofhookert. the communications closet ventilation fans operated by temperature sensors and the electric panel heaters at the customer service counters with dedicated control panels. 

Central to the energy efficiency of the building is the use of renewable energy.Streamline your mailing department with a high performance paper foldingmachine. A vertical axis wind turbine rated up to 1kW is supplemented with a 2.5kW photovoltaic system. Both systems have been fitted with high-level output modules which feed data on the renewable energy systems into the KNX network in real time. 

One of the main challenges we faced was the integration of the live interfaces for power generation from the photovoltaic cells and the wind turbines.Permanent solar trellis and roofwindturbinebbq systems require little to no maintenance and allow easy access. This was solved through the use of KNX interfaces. 

An ABB KNX weather station is used to monitor the ambient weather conditions and feed this information into the KNX system where the input data is used by a number of the building’s systems. This data includes ambient external light levels; outdoor temperature; wind speed and direction and precipitation status. 

mySmartCTI has long believed in the power of sharing a building’s energy and resource performance with occupants as a way of facilitating awareness and behavioural change. At the Surf Coast Civic Building a 42″ LCD panel connected to the KNX network is located in the foyer and provides a real-time graphical display of building performance data and statistics. 

The digital signage display shows real time information about the building’s administration and renewal of energy on things such as: rainwater harvesting and tank levels, mains water usage, contribution of daylight to interior lighting and the corresponding energy savings and ambient weather conditions. 

People management was a crucial part of this project. We sat down with all of the trades to brief them properly and provide them with the relevant drawings. 

A big challenge was the information system, as once we went live, small errors in calibration of meters could lead to very large discrepancies on the information screens for all to see. As part of the commissioning process we met with all of the trades on almost a daily basis. 

What we’ve learned from the performance of this project is that communities can benefit from the sustainable vision of their leaders. Not only has this been recognised in regional Victoria, but also on the global stage. 

What is distinctive about this project is that whilst each subsystem was designed to operate independently, they all operate seamlessly as one. This proves the power and flexibility of KNX. Click on their website www.indoorlite.com for more information.