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A Smart BMS Control System Can Extend the Useful Life of Equipment

Image of Jason Pohl
Jason Pohl

Building equipment plays a critical role in moment-to-moment operations. Without properly functioning equipment, myriad problems could arise. Think about how employee productivity could be affected if the HVAC system is not operating at full capacity, or stopped working completely. A single piece of equipment can have far-reaching effects across an entire enterprise.

The saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is often espoused when things are ostensibly performing well. However, this reactive mentality is short-sighted and often leads to premature equipment failure, emergency repair and replacement costs, and significant disruption for building occupants. A smart BMS control system allows you to take a truly proactive, modern approach that extends the useful life of your equipment and supports optimal performance.

BMS vs Smart BMS

Conventional BMSs typically automate the operation of some systems within a building, such as lighting, security, HVAC, and building access. Despite this automation, systems largely remained siloed, limiting their potential. Smart technologies are opening up opportunities to break free from those siloes and integrate building equipment into a unified ecosystem centered around an intelligent building management platform (IBMP). This smart BMS control system dramatically expands the possibilities of what your building equipment can do.

For example, a conventional BMS may identify when a fault has occurred in a specific piece of equipment in a building. But why did the fault occur? What’s the best way to address it? Is it related to another piece of equipment? Without an IBMP, chances are that your BMS will have few answers.

A smart BMS, however, can offer advanced fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) that draws on data from the entire ecosystem, provides deep insight into complex systems, and recommends solutions. And it doesn’t just detect when things go wrong; a truly intelligent BMS implements predictive maintenance to continuously analyze building data to predict when things are likely to go wrong and tells you what to do about it. This allows you to take early action to prevent malfunctions and costly reactive maintenance.

This proactive approach can significantly prolong the lifespan of building equipment. However, it’s not the only way to make the most out of your equipment.

Smart Automation Extends the Useful Life of Equipment

Because smart buildings are a complex network of complementary systems and components, the failure of even a single device can affect the performance of other pieces of equipment. As such, maintaining optimal performance across the board is critical for preventing unnecessary wear and tear. But what “optimal performance” can change from day to day and from room to room. With a smart BMS, you can create sophisticated automation strategies to ensure equipment is performing in the best way possible according to real-time and anticipated needs.

Take, for example, a typical HVAC system. In many buildings, air conditioners run continuously to keep buildings uniformly cool—even in unoccupied areas. This results in heavy wear and tear on HVAC equipment, often cutting its useful life short. With a smart BMS, however, HVAC functions can be automated according to variables such as:

  • Occupancy
  • Weather
  • Time of day
  • Season
  • Peak demand occupancy

Suddenly, you don’t have to air condition an entire building to ensure occupants are comfortable. Instead, air conditioners can run when and where they are needed, dramatically reducing energy waste and equipment wear and tear.

Advanced FDD also reduces wear and tear. If for instance, a single component in an HVAC system has an issue, it may not be enough to cause it to fail. However, it can cause HVAC equipment to work harder to compensate. This means that it will wear down significantly faster and fail before it would have had it been operating efficiently. A smart BMS control system with advanced FDD can pinpoint the problem as early as possible and allows you to make repairs before overall efficiency or performance is compromised.

In short, a smart BMS control system extends the lifespan of your equipment by resolving and preventing issues proactively, reducing the risk of major malfunctions while also ensuring that optimal performance is consistently maintained which eliminates unnecessary wear and tear.

onPoint Makes Your Building Truly Intelligent

onPoint is the heart of a smart BMS control system. This innovative IBMP continuously analyzes building data and utilizes powerful machine learning algorithms to provide deep insights, predictions, and industry-leading FDD. With onPoint, you can ensure your building is performing at its best and your equipment is used to its full potential.

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