The current release of the BACnet driver within our E-Serve communications and integration product is used to talk to other BeMS systems as a Master device using BACnet/IP, these can be any BACnet compliant controller or device.
The E-Serve will discover any devices on the connected IP network and then learn all available BACnet parameters within those devices. These are then mapped to E-MAGINE points, including text descriptions, making them visible within our systems. Our cloud hosted workstation software, E-sense, then allows these points to be available for use in Schematics and reports etc. just like a native E-MAGINE point.
We are currently testing an extension to these features to include:
BACnet “Slave” functionality
This will allow our E-MAGINE points to be discovered by other manufactures BACnet systems and enable them to retrieve data on the connected E-MAGINE devices and points. This will allow the E-MAGINE product to be included in projects that specify an open protocol system, which is often a standard specification requirement when tendering for work. It will also allow us to mix and match hardware, ensuring we always have the most cost-effective solution for our customers, where the mix of inputs and outputs (I/O) means a different outstation might be more appropriate.
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BACnet/MSTP connectivity via RS485
Adding BACnet/MSTP connectivity to the current BACnet/IP solution opens options for connecting to items of plant such as pumps and also discrete I/O modules for adding extra inputs to the system. This feature is currently being trialled on a site where an upgrade to the pump sets made a BACnet interface to them possible. This allows direct reading of values from the pumps for pressures and speed and should allow finer control to further improve efficiencies.
BACnet I/O modules
Many of today’s specifications require a high volume of input points in comparison to the number of outputs. As the E-MAGINE product is a fixed-point solution it often generates many unused output points to satisfy the input requirement. To overcome this, we have tested BACnet I/O modules with various input point capacities to allow us to greatly reduce the hardware cost and footprint. By using BACnet/MSTP we can simplify the installation due to the ability to daisy chain the communication cable, then this removes the need for extra IP infrastructure such as routers/switches.
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For more information on how you can integrate your plantroom with our E-MAGINE solution, please contact info@essentialcontrol.co.uk or call us on 0161 302 5718
