March 2021

42 n BUILDING SERVICES March 2021 www.drivesncontrols.com As well as monitoring current conditions, automated systems can also provide a record of historical conditions and any problems, revealing quality issues and helping to avoid control failures. Removing human error Some processes – such as re-setting building controls after a cleaning operation or changing modes in between different processes – require human intervention. Relying on operators to execute these changes manually poses the risk of errors. By linking HVAC and process controls to a BAS, automation can reduce the risks. Energy is the biggest single cost for many building operators. BAS simplifies energy management, making buildings more efficient by fine-tuning the use of lights, HVAC, and other equipment. The software can also help to achieve energy efficiency certification. Real time and historical data Building automation systems give access to real-time data showing immediately what the temperature, humidity, or air quality are in a facility via dashboard displays. This information can be shown on mobile phones or tablets as well. Controlling the building climate allows users both to control crop growth and to prevent damage caused by disease. Some types of supervisory software can store media such as photographs as well as data points. These images can be used to monitor crop growth remotely, allowing farmers to see how their products are doing and to change ventilation and other variables to optimise growing conditions without having to enter the facility. BASs can generate data that can help to provide end-to-end traceability, allowing profiles and predictive models to be built. Defects and issues can be detected earlier in the supply chain, reducing the number of problematic goods that reach the market, and helping to identify the causes of any issues. Maintenance Controlling equipment automatically and having access to its data can help spot when maintenance is needed, so that unexpected failures do not disrupt production. Real-time data and smart alarms can help to diagnose any problems immediately. Applications such as equipment summaries can help to visualise a wide range of related data, and to identify abnormalities. It is essential that any tools that allow remote access to a building’s automation and IoT systems must do so in an easy, secure, open, and scalable way that does not need VPNs to be set up. Finally, the building data provided by BAS software can help managers to plan for future projects or expansion. Food manufacturers rely on fine-tuned, repeatable processes to maintain quality, efficiency, and food safety. Using sensors and alarms monitored by a BAS, can give them better control of their environments and deeper insights into their data. BAS is helping create the perfect environment for food production and manufacturing – a climate for growth. n Building controls and software are finding new uses in the agricultural sector, controlling the growing environment to enhance productivity Tech gives mushroom yield a 300% boost Cultivating mushrooms is a labour-intensive business, with staffing accounting for around a third of the production costs. Pickers have to perform awkward, repetitive actions in cramped conditions between racks of trays in growing sheds where the atmosphere is good for mushrooms, but not ideal for people. But this is about to change with a new generation of mushroom production technologies, developed by a Dutch company, Panbo Systems, that use robots and high-tech control systems to reduce the need for pickers, and to boost productivity by more than 300%. Panbo has been involved in the mushroom business since it was founded in 1988, evolving from a component manufacturer to a supplier of turnkey design-and-build systems for mushroom farms around the world. “We are on the threshold of creating a new approach to mushroom production,”explains director, Niels Huibers.“Partnering with major retail and trading companies, which are seeking to have their own production facilities, we now see typical projects as €40m investments with 60–100 growing rooms – or 36,000–60,000m 2 of growing area. No humans enter these areas except for cleaning. We use cameras to monitor growth and sophisticated robotic vehicles that lift trays in and out of the growing racks for filling, picking and emptying. This makes the growing areas and picking significantly more efficient, with higher yields and lower costs.” The temperature, humidity and CO 2 gas concentrations in the growing rooms need to be controlled precisely during different stages of the growing cycle. Cameras monitor the mushroom growth, while controls supervise the HVAC systems. Robotic vehicles transport the mushroom trays to pickers who work in a better environment and can pick many more mushrooms – typically increasing their yield from 30kg to 130kg per hour, and cutting production costs by a third. At the heart of the installation is a next- generation software framework for smart buildings, smart equipment and IoT applications, known as FIN Framework, which was developed by a Siemens subsidiary located in California called J2 Innovations. Data from the growing rooms is fed into this software, which manages the atmosphere, databases and visualisation processes. A prototype mushroom plant has completed its proving period and the first full-scale farm is now being built.