Control Network Newsletter
BASpi-Edge Solves BMS Integration Challenges
Winner: Pi Day Celebration - Innovation with the BASpi-Edge
The BASpi-Edge provided the affordable and compact solution to control the fountains at a university. The schedule of the pumps and lights for the fountains were controlled by an electronic timer, but integration to the Building Management System (BMS) was difficult due to the lack of conduit for low voltage wires to the electrical/control panel. Using a BASpi-Edge with BACnet/IP over Wi-Fi allowed the integration of the fountains to the BMS.
The BASpi-Edge is a 12-point cloud connected BACnet edge controller powered by Raspberry Pi. The Building Systems Manager, used three relay outputs to control a fountain pump, filter pump and lights. Two binary inputs were assigned to read the run status of the pumps. One of the universal inputs was setup as pulse input to connect to a water pulse meter and calculate the makeup water in one hour and send an alarm if it goes above a normal threshold. Alarms were setup for any mismatch between command and status of pumps, and email notifications are sent to facilities personnel so they could respond proactively.
With the old system, scheduling the fountain lights using electronic timers required frequent adjustments to match sunrise/sunset hours throughout the year. That issue was easily resolved because the BASpi-Edge supports Network Time Protocol (NTP), Daylight Savings Time (DST) adjustments and sunrise/sunset calculations based on geolocation. The BASpi-Edge scheduler also allows the creation of exceptions for holidays and/or school breaks. These features saved the university technicians a considerable amount of time.
The BASpi Edge has both Wi-Fi and NTP, which are typically not found on commercial controllers. By using the scheduler and pulse inputs (an option with the universal inputs), the university was able to take advantage of the BASpi-Edge's enhanced features and data processing.
Housed in a compact DIN rail mounted enclosure with 24 VAC/VDC power input and a resilient pSLC 8 GB micro SD card gives the BASpi-Edge performance and convenience advantages, making them suitable for a wide array of applications. BACnet client/server communication over Ethernet or Wi-Fi and Sedona function block programmable control logic and data processing at the Edge come standard. By leveraging open IoT protocols such as MQTT, proven security mechanisms such as Transport Layer Security (TLS), and robust and easy to use software as a service cloud solutions (SaaS) such as Azure IoT Central, BASpi-Edge controllers can easily and securely connect to the cloud, effectively making any attached equipment a cloud connected asset.
Visit the BASpi-Edge product page to learn more.