Admittedly, our man would know from his previous occupation that Sensorium is the part of the brain which receives and integrates sensations from the outside world, but even the man in the white coat might be a little blinded by building management system technology.
However, without these controls most of the world's large building developments would not be able to function efficiently. And one of Britain's newest, the vast Bluewater retail centre near Dartford, Kent, is perhaps the best recent example of what is termed an intellegent building.
The retail sector has really taken to E-Squared and its product. The company's iBMS are currently operating at the White Rose, Leeds, Cribbs Causeway in Bristol and The Trafford Centre in Manchester.
Bluewater best compares with The Trafford Centre and E-Squared's Sensorium currently integrates information from 20 buildings and environmental services encompassing 16 intelligent host systems, including hvac, security, access, cctv, fire, irrigation systems, traffic and pedestrian management.
The company declares that Bluewater represented a far greater opportunity to E-Squared than simply supplying building management and communication technology.
Colin Taylor, E-Squared's sales director, says: "It was an opportunity to respond to a vision, to work with an innovative and supportive team and to add value to a strategy and design process as well as to the management operation and maintenance of what will be the leading communications facility of its kind." One of the company's principal objectives has been to develop a seamless, coherent communications system which will handle voice, data and video. There are five areas of particular importance.
Firstly, the integration of data from building systems and stand-alone mechanical and electrical plant. Next, a web 'intranet', set up to facilitate business information, flows throughout the site and an 'extranet' for external communications. The third key function is customer information facilities, set up throughout the complex and linked to customer loyalties, cinema and restaurant booking systems.
Electronic media and telecommunications services, via BT and CATV for use both by retail tenants and the landlord make up the main structure of Sensorium.
Lend Lease, the company in charge of the Bluewater project, stresses the importance of the communications facility by describing the iBMS as "a fourth utility", alongside electricity, gas and water. The centre could not function without it.
An unusual feature of the project is that building services are not linked directly to the Asynchronous Transfer Mode network.
Instead, they connect to numerous Sensorium 'iServe' servers located around the building. These collect and send management information to or from their associated building systems automatically. They store datalogs, allow time synchronisation and transmit alarm signals if an alarm event occurs. 'iServes' also give information to the management team, using hypertext mark-up language – the mother-tongue of the world wide web – for display using ordinary web browsers.
Moreover, the company argues that the installation of an iBMS now often means there is little need for a separate bms to run hvac. Manufacturers of main hvac plant, such as boilers or chillers now invariably supply plant pre-fitted with their own controls, a communications port providing a 'soft' interface to the iBMS.
At Bluewater, air handlers and other hvac are connected on to Echelon Lon networks via Sensorium iPoint gateways for command and control functions.
In fact, the networking concept employed at Bluewater, and embodied in Sensorium iBMS, is based on the same IT that drives the world wide web.
Air-conditioning for the Bluewater complex is supplied by a number of air handling units, which are each controlled by either a Trend IQ 151 controller or a Carrier CCN controller. The lifts and escalators, not to mention the public address system, are also interfaced with the iBMS.
Many people will continue to be baffled by bms technology. But the mechanical and electrical industries must keep abreast of the technology in this sector. Sensorium iBMS is the latest development in building management systems. Make sure that you have got it on your brain...
Source
Electrical and Mechanical Contractor
