Intelligent building systems often use industrial IoT products and solutions to simplify the tasks of temperature and humidity control, security, equipment maintenance, ventilation functioning, etc. For the optimum use of these automated systems, it is essential to know what type of IoT systems are ideal or valuable in these complexes.
For residential complexes, the following points are of importance to ensure a comfortable living standard:
- Uninterrupted and smooth supply of water and power to individual apartments.
- Tight security and surveillance of the entire residential complex or society.
- Well-placed emergency solutions and responders in case of utility failures or disasters.
Based on the above three points, IoT-based alerts, sensors, or trackers are assimilated with the base utility equipment systems of the residential complexes.
Integration of IoT can play a crucial role in transforming utility equipment systems’ function and help building systems work more sustainably, allowing for utility cost control, preventive maintenance of assets, avoiding resource wastage, etc. It also enables building systems to invest in innovative paraphernalia like motion detectors, temperature sensors, automatic ventilation systems, etc., all of which can improve the living conditions of the residents in the complex. There are many examples of IoT assimilation into existing utility systems for any business or industry.
So how do IoT solutions work with a residential complex?
Residential complexes have similar utility equipment system(s) to commercial complexes or any other building system. These systems consist of HVAC systems, chillers, Gensets, and water handling systems that require electricity and diesel as primary energy sources. Often, these equipment faces problems caused by a lack of visibility into their performance, health, and maintenance. This leads to issues like:
- Wastage of energy, water, and diesel due to subpar functioning
- High maintenance costs of inefficient machines due to untimely upkeep, resulting in breakdowns
- Poor asset management due to lack of follow-up on existing maintenance schedules
Checking the condition of every piece of utility equipment from the facility level to the individual machine level is a necessary, albeit complex, task. One of the significant roles of IoT integration is to monitor and provide comprehensive data regarding the overall analysis of the equipment setup. The granular visibility provided by IoT grants access to tasks like tracking energy, fuel, and water consumption across multiple segments, monitoring asset health, and overseeing machine behaviors across various parameters through numerous timelines.
Most solutions can be covered through well-placed alert systems that notify users during an emergency and have records of old alerts. This can help save unnecessary expenses and downtime in case of sudden asset breakdowns or emergencies by letting the manager or service in charge prioritize maintenance schedules. For example, sensors and trackers can monitor and gauge power consumption across utility equipment on individual levels such as area, central, and load-wise. This can also assist in managing the resources for the whole utility equipment setup, avoiding wastage and extra expenses of procuring the resources.
So how does one get these critical notifications and alerts to carry out necessary actions for utility issues? The answer lies in an easily accessible common platform that can showcase all the essential insights on a single screen.
Tor Shield is one such state-of-the-art utility equipment management module that provides the coveted end-to-end visibility and control over the entire utility system. It is a collective product suite designed for complete visibility and control over the utility systems. It provides the user with end-to-end management of the assets and the resources. The suite comprises solutions, IoT platforms, edge gateways, proprietary Shield Insights, customizable applications, and analytics.
Out of the interconnected IoT structure, the dashboard is probably where the action takes place, literally and figuratively. It lets the user or facility manager know about insights into the comprehensive and individual aspects of the utility functions.
The Tor Shield application provides the following features:
- Single Line diagram for energy, water, and HVAC systems
- Complete electrical and water parameter monitoring
- Patented SHIELD insights, e.g., best and worst-performing machines, consumption prediction, savings potential, alert history, and overall building efficiency for driving efficiency and sustainability initiatives
- Centralized load manager
- Standard energy meter library for plug-and-play installation
- Efficiency ROI calculator
- Busbar temperature and breaker status
All of the above features are accessible through the Tor Shield dashboard that collects data across multiple devices to give actionable and comprehensive viewing of individual areas of the utility equipment and the overall building area. The Tor Shield application is a desktop and mobile-based application that lets the user see the ongoings on a shared application dashboard. This is the main point of action where all the results across multiple sections can be seen at a single click on a common platform. It is where the managers can access a concise and descriptive top-to-down view of the entire system and separate opinions for each component.
Some of the actionable insights that the dashboard presents are as follows:
- Maintenance schedules and alerts are displayed in broader categories and divided into energy, fuel, and water sub-branches.
- Alerts that convey ongoing maintenance or recent servicing of any asset.
- Apart from individual report tabs, a singular Report tab also showcases the comprehensive data of the equipment in one place, without going back and forth between multiple tabs.
- Ability to compare energy/resource trends through multiple timelines for resource consumption and loss analysis.
- Narrow the problem points through comparative data across multiple segments by choosing which alerts to focus on.
- Check resource consumption from its start point (source) to the endpoint (asset) to figure out potential resource loss or supply obstruction at the exact moment.
- Access separate notifications on individual sections of the complex (premise-wise, location-wise, office-wise, etc.)
Conclusion
Commercial spaces rely on healthy utility systems for the smooth functioning of their overall building systems. Industrial IoT solutions and products become a necessity to achieve sustainable building management.
With its ecosystem of devices and cloud capabilities, IoT has gained importance due to its effectiveness in comprehensive and timely data collection across locations & equipment, which assists with timely actions. At the same time, compatibility between the current equipment systems and IoT is also essential for optimum results seamlessly. Hence, conducting thorough research and consultation with companies that offer end-to-end and tailormade IoT services is necessary.
As necessary it is to integrate IoT into your facilities; it is also equally essential to pair different IoT utility sensors like pipe pressure, electricity load, water quality, etc., with suitable advanced analytics and computing systems that allow us to identify resource and energy waste and inefficiencies and breakdowns with high precision and help eliminate them before they become a liability. This ensures proper ventilation, temperature sensing, predicted vs. actual resource consumption per outlet and equipment, timely maintenance, etc., throughout the facility structure.
We have assisted businesses in managing their utility systems with our customizable solutions and product line. Tor Shield, our end-to-end industrial IoT solution for utility equipment management, can assist you in your building management needs.
