RETROFITTING BUILDING AUTOMATION SYSTEMS: WHAT IS IT AND WHY DO IT

Retrofitting Building Automation Systems

Siobhan Noffke 15 June 2021

In the light of climate change and a global pandemic regulations regarding energy efficiency and health and safety of buildings are increasingly important. In order to comply with regulations data about how buildings are operating needs to be collected and analysed. You cannot manage what you don’t measure. This measurement and analysis of building systems allows for changes and tweaks to be made in order to comply with regulations but also to make sure buildings are running as cost effectively as possible.

What Is Retrofitting

Retrofitting Building Automation Systems involves integrating, upgrading and replacing existing building system components. For example new up to date controls might replace existing controls, or be added to the system. Retrofitting allows for existing buildings to become energy and cost efficient and comply with regulations. Another example would be adding a layer of software that translates data from legacy systems, into data that cutting edge software can understand, thus allowing for data analytics.

Here are some articles on retrofitting building automation systems, to give you a deeper understanding:

Installing, Retrofitting, or Upgrading Intelligent Building Systems

Retrofit Guide for Building Automation

Top 10 Retrofit Methods for Sustainable Buildings

5 Ways to Reduce Smart Building Retrofit Costs

Teaching old buildings new tricks: Retrofitting buildings starts with what you already have

Retrofitting VS New Builds

Retrofitting buildings systems allows for the benefits of a new and efficient building automation system, while saving the time and money of commissioning a new system. Many components may be in working order and there may be no reason to replace them, other than the fact that legacy components may not be compatible with newer open systems.

What Are The Drawbacks?

If the existing system communicates in a proprietary protocol, newer open systems cannot communicate freely with then existing system. This used to mean that they system either needs to be replaced or expensive gateways and drivers need to be purchased, sometimes one per device.

Here are some articles and a podcast from Smart Buildings Academy to help you if you are in building automation and you want to encourage your customers to retrofit.

SBA 226: 4 BAS RETROFIT SALES STRATEGIES

BAM 150: HOW TO SCOPE AND ESTIMATE RETROFIT WORK

READ THESE 3 TIPS ABOUT BUILDING AUTOMATION RETROFIT SALES TO DOUBLE YOUR BUSINESS

Why Is It So Easy With BACnetP2?

Outdated systems may not provide adequate data to meet the energy efficiency, or health and safety requirements- BACnetP2 allows people to make the most of their investment. It is designed specifically to translate between legacy systems and newer open software. This means that people can finally pull the data they need to meet requirements, out of their existing systems. They don’t need to rip and replace the entire system in order to comply with regulations and reap the benefits of building analytics.

New components can be added to existing Building Automation Systems, without the worry about whether or not they are compatible. BACnetP2 will translate the existing protocol into BACnet, making them compatible.


For feedback on this article email Siobhan: marketing(at)purpleswift.com



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