Time & Motion: AHU Programming & Interface Creation

Some things just take time. 75F doesn't believe AHU programming is one of those things.

In our last Time & Motion video we showed viewers how 75F's IoT-based Building Management System (BMS) differs from traditional controls solutions at the zone level. Now, we're taking it to the system level. In this video, we square off against a traditional solution at the AHU programming and interface creation step of a building controls installation.

Our expert in this video is Joe Pattenaude, Director of Support Operations at 75F. Joe has more than 14 years of hands-on experience with building controls and carries Niagara 4 Technical and Advanced Technical certifications. We firmly believe what would take Joe hours to accomplish with a different solution really only requires 15 minutes of his time. Watch to see if we're right.

Traditional Controls: 3 Hours, 2 Minutes

Traditionally, this segment of an installation process requires laborious time at a computer linking various points, creating sequences, building floorplans and graphics, and more. Let’s take a look at the step-by-step task list required to reach a minimum viable programmed AHU and interface setup in a traditional controls solution.

An important note: Most of the time, an installer would begin this process by adding and configuring trending for all physical points and configuring alarms. For the purpose of time management, we skipped this step. Alone, this takes hours to complete. That in mind, here’s what Joe did for the traditional approach:

1. Link all logical points to the correct physical points. 9 minutes.

2. Link current temperatures, humidity, CO₂, and zone points to create zone averages. 14 minutes.

3. Link occupancy state from each zone. 6 minutes.

4. Link duct static pressure and supply air temperature requests for reset logic, and build the sequence. 26 minutes.

5. Create occupancy schedule, link to all zones and AHU. 3 minutes.

6. Create px graphics for VAVs. 25 minutes.

7. Create px graphics for AHU. 32 minutes.

8. Create floor plan and place zones in correct location. 40 minutes.

9. Add history extension to all points. 18 minutes.

10. Build nav file. 9 minutes.

Looking at these steps, it's clear that graphics, floor plans, and sequences eat up the most significant amount of time. Now, let's compare this process with the IoT approach to AHU programming and interface creation.

75F: 14 Minutes

It might be hard to conceptualize how 75F breaks down three hours of work into 14 minutes. Because 75F's engineers did all the hard work upfront, our control sequences are pre-programmed to work out of the box for the most common equipment found in commercial buildings. This includes the AHU we're looking at for this project.

Here's what it takes for 75F to accomplish this phase of an installation:

1. Select the system profile on the 75F Central Control Unit. Under 1 minute.

2. Log into 75F Facilisight and upload a floor plan. Drag and drop zones. 13 minutes.

3. Add a building schedule. 1 minute.

These three straightforward steps highlight a multitude of differences between an IoT-based BMS and other controls systems. In the traditional scenario, zone-to-AHU optimization programming is written by the programmer, while 75F's sequences are pre-written to meet ASHRAE Guideline 36 automatically. Where traditional controls require every trend to be custom created, trends are inherent in the 75F system already and don't require a hard drive because they're hosted in the cloud. Instead of remotely logging into a Jace directly, 75F is more secure by only requiring a Facilisight login.

And remember, Joe used three hours and two minutes to reach a minimum-viable point in the programming and interface creation stage. This table illustrates the limitations or items not performed in this example and compares them to features already included in 75F's 14-minute process.