The Hartman Company Newsletter

Issue: June, 2002
Topic: The Internet and Building Controls

Dear Hartman Company Newsletter subscriber,

Last month's newsletter discussed the important, but so far disappointing, effort 
by equipment manufacturers to integrate controls into their equipment. Another 
important trend, but far more successful to date, is the convergence of building 
controls and the Internet. A few days ago our firm, acting as the design firm, 
cooperated to develop a final punch list for a project via a conference call. In 
on this call along with us were the controls contractor, the owner, and the 
project manager. We were all calling from our home offices. Each of us were in 
contact with the site via the Internet and Web browsers. We were able to switch to 
protected displays in order to make manual adjustments to test specific system 
features. We each watched screens important to us as the system readjusted its 
operation to the manually initiated changes. From it all we were able to quickly 
agree whether or not various features met the specified requirements and agreed on 
what should and could be added to those that did not. This process saved a great 
deal of time and was far more effective than similar processes in the past.

There is no question that Web-based graphics have made great inroads in building 
controls. The goal of nearly all building control systems nowadays is to employ Web 
browser human interfaces because they are simpler to use and easier to learn for 
building operators, and they are also easier and often less costly to implement. 
There is, however, some question about how much further, if at all, the Internet 
will penetrate building controls beyond simply providing a convenient method for 
monitoring their operation. To give you an opportunity to judge the ultimate level 
of convergence of Internet and building control technologies, we have assembled the 
following elements from our firm's resource database:

1. A current on-line interview with our firm's Principal, Tom Hartman, concerning 
Web-based controls provides a good overview of his thoughts about where such an 
Internet and building control technology convergence will, and will not, take place. 
This interview is available at:

http://www.automatedbuildings.com/news/jun02/int/hrtmn/hrtmn.htm

2. In the interview listed above, Mr. Hartman indicates that outsourcing O&M will be 
much more common because it will be enabled by allowing these service providers 
access to the system via Internet connections. The issue of technology support for 
buildings is an important one as the systems,  and their controls,  become ever more 
complex to meet the increasing needs for performance and efficiency. Mr. Hartman 
authored an article on this issue of technology support for the on-line publication, 
The Automator. It can be found at:

http://www.automatedbuildings.com/news/sep01/art/hart/hart.htm

3. An article a few years back in Heating/Piping/Air Conditioning Magazine discusses 
the growing need to provide more individual control of commercial building environments 
for their occupants. As Mr. Hartman states in his recent interview (Item 1 above), the 
Internet is an ideal platform to provide individual control for building occupants. 
This article can be found at:

http://www.hartmanco.com/pdf/a31.pdf

4. Finally, an article written by  Mr. Hartman for the on-line publication, The  
Automator, discusses in greater detail the growing need to connect building occupants 
directly with the building controls. This article also discusses the trend toward 
implementing wireless connections, which is now becoming most practical with Internet 
connectivity. This article can be found at:

http://www.automatedbuildings.com/news/mar01/articles/hartman/hrtmn.htm

To search the Hartman Resource Library yourself for additional articles on this topic, 
go to:

http://www.hartmanco.com/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi?db=resource&uid=default&view_search=1


Linda Zuvich, Editor
THC News
The Hartman Company


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                                  The Hartman Company
                       An HVAC Engineering & Technology Development Firm
                                http://www.hartmanco.com