Summer 2006 : Newsletter

Facility Management for Successful Operators

As facilities continue to age and technology continues to advance, the utility of existing building control systems appears to diminish. Operators needing additional performance from control systems must evaluate the value of the three options that present themselves: (1) Replacement, (2) Upgrade (if available), or (3) do nothing. The first option is the most expensive and often can not be justified in terms of return on investment. The third option is the one that is selected daily but may not be a good value in terms of opportunity lost. The second option will usually present the best value in that it costs less than a system replacement and can deliver better building performance. EnFlex provides an effective upgrade path for most legacy building control systems.

EnFlex customers have found that integrating the EnFlex Site Control Server with their existing control systems to be a cost effective method of updating and enhancing their installed systems. Web and network enabling existing systems, updating supervisory control applications, and adding IO where needed can significantly enhance building performance for much less than the cost of installing a new system. EnFlex customers that opened up their legacy systems with EnFlex are continuing to add applications to their Site Control Servers. In addition to connecting more facility systems to the SCS, customers may want additional control features, customized user interface pages, and targeted performance reports. Contact us to discuss your facility control needs.

During this time of the year many areas of the country experience high demand and marginal capacity on the local electrical grid. The industry continues to talk about solutions for coherently managing the problem and demand response programs have received a lot of attention, However, demand response is only one component of effective facility management. EnFlex has effectively integrated site generation systems including microturbines, reciprocating engine generators, photovoltaic, and a variety of cogeneration systems into customer’s energy management strategies. By integrating local supply and demand functions EnFlex allows operators to lower their operating costs while minimizing power disruptions.

Gerry and David

Making Demand Management Work for You

In our Demand Response white paper (http://www.enflex.net/news/demandresponse.pdf), we noted that demand response should not be approached as a “stand alone� application. Rather, an organization’s demand response program should be integrated into the ongoing operation of a facility. The same reporting and analysis methods used for demand response events can and should be applied in the effort to optimize facility performance. This analysis process further allows the operator to fully understand the operation of facility systems and to detect degradation or potential failure in these systems.

During conditions when demand reduction may be required, this understanding of systems performance characteristics allows the operator to more easily modify equipment operation and still maintain ACCEPTABLE building conditions for the duration of the reduction event. This same strategy can be used to operate systems efficiently in response to time-of-day utility rates.

More on the new EnFlex Application Software...

Recently, we were demonstrating to an EnFlex customer the customer the ease with which a user can set up data logging in a Control Server via the built-in UI in our new v3.4 software. The customer said that the process was really a step forward but it would be nice to take two steps forward and be able to display the logged data graphically without having to download the data to a PC. The customer went on to explain that this enables user to quickly review data and spot problems.

Well, we added the instant data graphing feature to the software and it looks like a winner. It is now quick and easy to view any set of data points on an existing control system by simply making a few choices on a web page. Ask us for a demonstration.