The last mile: Integration
Intelligent buildings function according to the “detect, display, act” model. In this, monitoring and control systems play a critical role. The various systems installed in buildings can all be aggregated into a single interface platform. But this requires integrating tens of systems, which may have many thousands of monitoring and control nodes.
Lucon Automation Company, founded in 1992, is one of Taiwan’s oldest firms in the field of intelligent buildings. Lucon managing director John J.C. Chen was involved in the monitoring and control system project for Taiwan’s very first intelligent building, the Taipower Building (the headquarters of the Taiwan Power Company).
Lucon’s achievements over the years have included the National Theater and Concert Hall, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, and National Cheng Kung University Hospital. In 2018 Lucon won a platinum award in the “System” category at the Asia Pacific Intelligent Green Building Alliance Awards. It’s worth noting that the Chicony Smart Green Building, which won a platinum award in the “Design” category the same year, and the Taipower Building, which won a platinum award in the “Renovation” category that year, both use Lucon monitoring and control systems. Lucon assistant vice president Lin Tsui-ling states: “The Chicony Smart Green Building was a brand new project. It included 24,546 monitoring and control nodes, so it was a huge challenge. When it came to replacing the central monitoring and control system in the Taipower Building, on the other hand, we had been maintaining the old system for more than a decade. Having both a new project and an old one win awards made the recognition even more meaningful.”
John Chen explains the path Taiwan has followed from its initial involvement with monitoring and control systems to becoming expert developers of them: “Our strength lies in integration. Monitoring and control in intelligent buildings requires integration of dozens of systems, such as the fire alarm control unit, the A/C water chiller control units, digital electric power meters, uninterruptible power supply systems, building access management systems, public information systems, and cloud-based energy management systems. Moreover, systems made by different companies have different data transmission interfaces and formats, so we have to devise ways to collect all the signals to enable the system to act in an integrated way.”
Having heard enough theory, we wanted to see for ourselves how an intelligent building functions in practice. But all we got to see was a simple and straightforward central control room. Lin Tsui Ling compares monitoring and control systems to point-and-shoot cameras: The details are all hidden in the programming, so you don’t have to set your own parameters like white balance, aperture, and shutter speed. This comparison makes these systems instantly comprehensible.
“An intelligent building is a service system,” says Wen Show-ling. As technology advances, in the future more and more novel technologies will be introduced into buildings. But when it comes to the “last mile”—the connection with the end users, i.e. people—designers still have to start from the user’s perspective and create user-friendly human–machine interfaces so that the system can be operated smoothly and easily. Only in this way will we have an intelligent, sustainable, and energy-saving future.
The Taipower Building won a platinum award in the “Renovation” category at the 2018 Asia Pacific Intelligent Green Building Alliance Awards.
Lucon Automation managing director John J.C. Chen has for many years been doing R&D on monitoring and control systems for intelligent buildings. He was involved in creating the monitoring and control system for Taiwan’s first intelligent building, the Taipower Building.
Intelligent buildings that can save energy and enhance sustainability are the wave of the future. (courtesy of ITRI)