Fall 2005 : Newsletter

The Value of Information

Summertime and its hot weather present both challenges and opportunities for facility managers, controls contractors, and energy managers. The high outside temperatures and accompanying high peak power consumption draw attention to those systems that are operating inefficiently or can not meet their design operating capability. Knowing baseline operating parameters for buildings and building systems, and being able to quickly identify exceptions are key to “surviving� this period successfully. To do so one must effectively collect, organize, and analyze the available performance data. Data acquisition throughout the year helps managers to establish usable benchmarks and comparative data to make informed building maintenance and energy management decisions. Does equipment need recommissioning? Is equipment replacement warranted? Should energy intensive processes be rescheduled? Are the building controls flexible and sufficient for responsive load management?

EnFlex has added some new tools and utilities to its environment to give the user additional information and control options – which are the topics for this newsletter. We urge you to try them out. We look forward to your feedback and suggestions.

Gerry and David

Enterprise Data Access

Delivering data from multiple sites to where it is needed for control and monitoring demands flexibility of a system to utilize a variety of strategies, protocols, and technologies. To determine the appropriate technology requires consideration of many factors including economic impact of the solution, required user interface(s), as well as the volume and timeliness of the data. EnFlex continues to work with customers to deliver cost-effective monitoring and control solutions:

• Remote data acquisition – One EnFlex SCS can serve multiple sites for some applications.
• New webTable user interface tool.
• Improved BACnet server.
• EnFlex Remote utility lets sites exchange data seamlessly.
• Additional network security utilities.

Contact EnFlex to discuss our capabilities and system design services.

Direct Lighting Control

EnFlex recently completed a direct lighting control project at Costco. EnFlex provides timed, photocell, and override control of Square D Power Link circuit breakers which are used to control individual lighting circuits. Three master Power Link panels receive EnFlex control commands and switch over 250 smart breakers to control 24 lighting zones. The smart breakers are controlled via a Modbus RS485 link but can also be controlled via Modbus TCP. The new EnFlex web-based Scheduler and simplified lighting level setpoint interface allow facility managers to expertly control lighting via simple web pages. This new and simplified approach to lighting control allows buildings to be precisely controlled and still meet the changing needs of its occupants. Integrators needing better lighting control now have the EnFlex lighting module to use with our scheduler and drivers.

MG-200 Product Phaseout

Following the successful introduction of the G-100 Site Control Server, EnFlex has finally phased out its workhorse MG-200 control server. The MG-200, introduced in 1997 and installed in over 2500 facilities, pioneered facility systems integration, web-enabling of legacy energy management systems, and enterprise EMS’s. EnFlex will continue to provide support for installed MG-200’s.

The replacement for the MG-200, the G-100, was successfully beta tested in 2004 and began to be deployed for general use in 2005. Customer comments indicate that the product is a winner due to its increased reliability and its versatility for configuring RAM, data storage, and peripherals. Need a touchscreen interface to your EMS? Need to integrate three different control systems? Ask us about the G-100’s capabilities.