North Building Technologies

OBVEngine is a new development destined to reshape how the control of integrated systems is achieved. Three powerful, programmable process engines provide the controls horsepower for a wide variety of integration tasks.

OBVEngine can average analogue readings (eg. temperatures) from one system and pass the resultant average to another system. It can make logical decisions based on Boolean operators (AND, OR, XOR, etc.) and give a digital result to a system based upon current status. But OBVEngine can achieve much more than this. By making use of both analogue and digital readings from one or more subsystems, OBVEngine can provide a wide variety of complex control regimes based on real-time data.

OBVEngine links directly into the North object model, allowing it to take full advantage both of inputs and outputs from data acquisition systems like ZiP, or from subsystems like hvac or security, and provide additional processing to give a richer data layer to upstream systems, and GUIs.

Potential applications for OBVEngine

OBVEngine has as many applications as there are applications! Being a truly programmable controller, OBVEngine can be applied wherever any form of analogue or digital control is required. Here are a few examples :

• Data pre-treatment. In many integration scenarios, the simple exchange of data 'point-to-point' is inappropriate. Some systems generate 'enumerated' data (eg. fire detection points) where a single data object can store any one of a number of pre-determined values. OBVEngine can convert these enumerated values into a simple 'alarm/no alarm' result, and pass the subsequent value to other systems.
• Re-calculation of single system data. Here a number of different but similar data values (eg. temperatures) can be combined to produce more useable data values. Maximum values, minimum values or long-term averages could be derived from raw environmental control system data and the result used to calculate a setpoint for a chiller control system, for example. Demands for heating or cooling from terminal units could be calculated before being sent to central plant such as air handling units or boilers provided by another manufacturer.
• Primary control. For data acquisition systems like ZiP, OBVEngine is an ideal method of providing primary control for inputs and outputs where the systems do not themselves support control algorithms. OBVEngine is packed with pre-engineered modules for standard control techniques.

OBVEngine has 3 independent processors, each of which can support up to 320 modules, allowing control regimes to be created for alternative scenarios (eg. day-time, night-time and weekend control schemes). These processes can, however be linked together to give a capacity of up to 960 modules. A graphical editor (ObvEditor) is provided as part of the ObSys suite of programs, and allows modules to be engineered into designs, and for a control scheme to be monitored in real time in a target OBVEngine. Once a control design has been downloaded to an OBVEngine, the objects used in the scheme can be scanned and displayed by ObSys using standard techniques. Behind the power of OBVEngine lies the already proven engineering environment of ObVerse which is the foundational language used to define Object Views in ObSys. OBVEngine is available on the Compass platform (CP/OBVENGINE/MRTC), in Commander (for both Compass and ZiP) and as an OSM (for ObSys).

SPECIFICATIONS

OBVEngine 3 independent processors, each with 320 modules. Standard modules include add, counter, delay, divide, comparator, gate, greater than, hysteresis, AND, less than, inverter, OR, XOR, modulus, multiply, object read, object write, minimum on/off delay, PID loop, pulse generator, random number generator, re-scale, square root, subtract.
ObvEditor graphical engineering software supports "drag-and-drop" module insertion and positioning, auto-grid, automatic line drawing, module/text colour selection, documentation ident support.

PRODUCT CODES

CP/OBVENGINE/MRTC Compass Point with OBVEngine
CMDR/COMPASS Commander with support for Compass System
CMDR/ZIP Commander with support for ZiP System
OBS/OBVENGINE ObSys OSM module with OBVEngine

Search the North e-Library for more information and technical documentation on OBVEngine.

---

---