Technology
Within twenty minutes , smoke was so thick tenants could not see the other side of the building parking lot , and the outside air was very hazardous to humans . As programmed , the AI undertook a number of actions to protect the indoor air quality for occupants . The program shut down the outside air intake as its initial corrective action . Using daily logic of tenant patterns inside the building , the program altered the flow of interior air to spaces occupied by people .
This particular property has a part of the HVAC systems known as an economiser . This part of the HVAC system is controlled by local sensors that collect air temperature and humidity data . The sensors also trigger a process that can control a damper that opens or closes on demand . For example , if outside air is cooler than recirculated interior air , the system can draw this cooler air into the building ’ s HVAC airstream . The mixture lowers the air temperature being chilled and , in turn , again reduces the energy cost to produce cold air . However , the air quality was the issue and the AI thus closed the outside damper .
AI ’ s ability to make precise alterations to the internal air distribution system was a function of two other aspects of a proactive AI system : knowing how many people were in the building and knowing the air quality data both inside and outside . In this case , the property owner had installed a smart people counting platform that uses ‘ cameralytics ’ throughout the building .
During the fire , the AI would continue to adjust airflow based on need . As people left the building in the afternoon and occupancy densities dropped in some areas , the system continued to redirect inside airflow . If the inside air quality dropped to an unhealthy level inside , the system would alarm , and the property manager and tenants remaining in the building would be advised to leave .
This was a rather extreme case but even without hazard levels of smoke AI is able to balance human wellness with reduced operating costs . For a 100 000 square foot mid-sized office building in Southern California , one landlord ’ s sole focus was to improve his building ’ s balance sheet , like many other building owners . The key to his achieving that goal was reducing power consumption . The owner wanted to know how to accomplish this goal without significant new capital investment for an aging mechanical system .
This building ’ s AI system was designed to connect all of the following systems : cooling , heating , elevating , lighting , water , grounds irrigation , existing BMS systems , and other electric power users into a single data hub located in the building . This hub is known as an edge controller , and it , in turn , is linked directly to a cloudbased artificial intelligence program . The goal is to find and maintain harmony and balance between the owner ’ s desire for savings and tenants ’ needs for comfort and wellness .
This is a condensed version of this article , the full version can be found on propmodo . com RACA
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RACA Journal I May 2021 www . hvacronline . co . za