North Building Technologies

The influx of packaged controls to the UK HVAC market is widely recognised as being a major contributing factor in the current downturn in HVAC controls sales. Projections show that this trend is set to continue as the global economy tightens and prices of packaged controls continue to drop. The larger Japanese and Italian packaged plant manufacturers are flexing considerable muscle in this market place and and only the foolish can afford to ignore the ramifications.

Image: courtesy Terry Walters, SIBT

The chart above is from a study commissioned by the Building Controls Group and conducted by Terry Walters of Siemens Integrated Building Technologies. This shows a direct correlation between the downturn in the H&V controls market and the increase in packaged controls in air conditioning systems. Of course, these packaged control systems all come with proprietary protocols and individual control strategies. These control systems are very often provided at low or no cost options by the manufacturers of the packaged systems - they represent an attractive proposition for end users looking for a complete solution. It is therefore no surprise that packaged controls are becoming ever-more prevalent.

No LAN is an island

The biggest problem with the supply of these packaged products is that the networks of devices these systems produce can become isolated "islands" of controls. That's where North products and others like them can really make a difference. As these proprietary systems propagate, we find that not only is the need for a co-ordinating overlay system more important than ever, but there is also a very real need for a controller that can communicate across this co-ordinating system and make informed, integration-based control decisions between packaged splits, AHU's, chillers, fire panels and security systems. Products like ObvEngine can provide that executive control independently of all the underlying control systems.

Even though this is entirely feasible, and many new build projects are moving ahead on this basis, there is still an undercurrent of opinion which tends towards the idea of removing all controls on packaged equipment, and install controllers from a single manufacturer across the whole building. Although this solves the co-ordination issue, there are several advantages to the package solution which are lost as a result of controls replacement:

• One point of contact for H&V support - manufacturers of packaged solutions understand the whole problem, top to bottom.
• Warranty - packaged systems are unmodified, delivered "as is" with no design changes either in the factory, or on-site.
• Competitiveness - it can be argued successfully that on-or off-site replacement of controls is a more costly option than a packaged provision.

The use of integration products does not limit interoperability between systems in any way. The more sensible option would be to take advantage of the many low cost, highly specialised technologies and use a tried and tested method, such as Compass and ObvEngine to integrate them into one coherent system.

If you would like a copy of Terry's presentation please feel free to contact me directly.

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