The purpose of a BUILDING AUTOMATION SYSTEM (BAS) is to centralize and automate control of the building's mechanical equipment. This equipment can include cooling towers, pumps, chillers/air conditioners, water distribution equipment and boilers--and any other critical components providing environmental comfort and safety to occupants.
A building controlled by a BAS is often called a "smart" or "intelligent" building.
A BAS will provide important benefits.
--INCREASED COMFORT
Set points can be matched to time of day, occupancy and season.
--LESS DOWNTIME
In many cases, the BAS will warn operators of impending equipment failure. Pre-emptive maintenance can prevent catastrophic failure and the cost of emergency maintenance.
--MORE EFFICIENT OPERATION
One of the worst energy wasters is a large piece of mechanical equipment that is not operating efficiently. As an example, a large, rooftop package AC unit with multiple compressors may use over 100 KW at average load.
This translates to an operating cost of about $4,790.00 per month. This amount can easily increase by fifty percent or more if the unit begins to lose efficiency through component failure, loss of refrigerant, control problems etc.--the unit may still be keeping your hallways cool, but it is costing you fifty percent more to do so.
A BAS system will monitor the temperature in and out of the unit, as well as the total amperage of the unit and each compressor. Once the engineer or maintenance company know the proper operating parameters of the unit and can monitor them daily, it is much easier to maintain them.
Bass Automation provides Web-Based systems with 3D graphics. Building personnel can monitor and control the building systems from any remote location. The BAS can provide text alarms so the building engineer is immediately informed of any possible problems.
