Priva Case Studie
North Start College
Priva delivers easier communications and energy management at Swindon College
At the North Star College in Swindon, a building management system (BMS) from Priva Building Intelligence has been linked into the IT network for easier communications and monitoring of the building’s energy meters.
The town has consolidated its two major adult education centres onto one site, leading to the erection of additional teaching buildings at the North Star campus. The new teaching block, performing arts facility and workshops are internally heated and cooled employing standard variable temperature systems, air handling units and comfort cooling via a Mitsubishi variable refrigerant flow (VRF) system. Managing the HVAC services, as well as monitoring the electrical load, controlling the automated windows and enabling the lighting, is the Priva BMS installed by Bailey Energy & Controls. Bailey was the M&E contractor for the project, with its energy and controls division directly responsible for the BMS.
A primary task of the Priva BMS is managing the main electricity and sub-meters. “Part L2 of the Building Regulations states that new buildings must be capable of monitoring 90 per cent of the energy load,” explained Andy Vidler, Application Engineer for Bailey Energy & Controls. “As a result, over fifty meters, both main and sub-metering, have been installed. The meters have been supplied by Northern Design with ModBus communications, with which the Priva BMS if fully compatible.”
Bailey Energy & Controls recommended this solution as they estimated that by utilizing ModBus, rather than hard-wiring each meter, they could make significant savings on the installation cost. Additionally, by recommending a Priva system, the company reduced the budgeted BMS cost by between five to six per cent.
“Specifying Priva Building Intelligence was not based purely on cost, but on the openness of the controllers,” stated Andy Vidler. “For example, due to its open protocol design, we had no hesitation in recommending that the BMS should sit on the building’s IT network; a solution welcomed by the college once network integrity had been demonstrated. Being a new build, it proved quicker and simpler to install a Priva network, providing immediate communications with the intelligent outstations as they came online, and then connect this network to the Ethernet.” cont/…
In addition, Bailey Energy & Controls were able to eliminate the need for the ‘black box’ technology that normally enables communication between a metering system and a BMS, because the PRIVA system allowed a direct connection.
Metering data is broken down to show the following totals: 15 minutes, day, week, month, quarter-year, year, and overall total. “The new buildings have been divided into four zones, but the operator can view readings for each of the fifty-plus meters from 15 minutes through to the overall total in text and graphic format,” explained Andy Vidler.
Other energy-saving applications include automatic control of the library windows and lights. “As the library is a double-height room it made sense to incorporate some form of automatic control on the four large windows,” said Andy Vidler. “Vertically placed sensors monitor the room temperature and as it rises, the windows are opened sequentially, while outside we have placed a rain sensor. Plus the BMS enables the lights early in the morning for the cleaners and again when staff and students arrive.”
