Direct digital control (DDC) systems have proliferated the heating, ventilation and air conditioning industry as commercial design and building has become more reliant on computers. DDC provides not only the inputs necessary to the logic and efficiency of HVAC controls, but can also provide incredibly valuable data to those people tasked with monitoring a building’s performance and ensuring the building stays comfortable and energy-efficient.  Data derived from building automation systems can identify areas for building re-tuning (or improving the comfort of buildings while compensating for operational inefficiencies).

In many cases, though, no specific person is specifically responsible for optimal building performance, or personnel are under-trained or in transition, so monitoring and re-tuning energy performance is not a regular activity – so inefficiencies can creep up and harm the building’s performance over time.  To make matters more complicated, DDC data is often not effectively analyzed because the organization doesn’t have the right software tools at its disposal.

Control Technologies, Inc. uses SkySpark, a data analytics tool that connects to the building automation system’s database to gather both historical and real-time data to quickly track down occurrences of building performance issues in the past or in real-time.  Control Technologies’ professional DDC experts use SkySpark to visualize building performance data for schools, hospitals, military, government and office buildings.  Following industry standards such as Pacific Northwest National Labs’ (PNNL) Building Re-tuning program, Control Technologies gathers data from your building management system and other sources and analyzes it to identify building re-tuning opportunities and strategies that result in reduction of HVAC system energy use by 5% to 20%.

See two recent case studies of successful building re-tuning performed using SkySpark:

Hospital Re-tuning

http://skyfoundry.com/file/51/Case-Study-Real-World-Example—Application-of-Analytics-in-a-Hospital.pdf
Building Automation measurement and verification

http://skyfoundry.com/file/52/Case-Study-SkySpark-in-an-MV-Application.pdf

Learn more about Controls and Building Automation: https://www.controltechinc.com/service/controls-automation.php