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A Distributed Facilities Automation System For IBM Buildings
Abstract
Automatic building control systems
have rapidly evolved from time-based
on-off energy management controllers
to distributed microprocessor-based
direct digital control (DDC)
Building Automation Systems.
Precipitous decreases in the cost of
electronic controls have now made it
practical and cost effective to
install all-electronic controls
instead of the traditional electro-pneumatic
controllers which had
heretofore been standard.
The new automatic systems provide
benefits in wide operational and
management areas far beyond the
original energy management application.
They should more properly
be named "facilities automation"
rather than "energy management"
systems.
The traditional centralized computer
systems now in use have some
inherent disadvantages: high cost
of equipment, long install cycles,
complex skills required of operational personnel,
split responsibilities
between departments at
sites, and slow reaction time to
changing data.
The inherent cost advantages of
using multiple microprocessors to
accomplish closed loop control,
direct digital control, energy
management·, and security functions
make it necessary that they be
included in any new design. This
will require that a distributed
system be designed and that the
present role of the strong central
host computer be reduced. This paper will present a proposed
design for a comprehensive Facilities
Automation System which will
utilize IBM Personal Computers
(IBMPC's) and vendor microprocessors
in stand-alone and
distributed configurations. It will
suggest a growth path from presently
installed systems to newer technology.
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Citation
Houle, W. D. Sr. (1985). A Distributed Facilities Automation System For IBM Buildings. Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.tamu.edu). Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /93144.