Shared plant only — never process control
Building automation (BA) monitors and controls HVAC, water supply and drainage, shared plant and lift status centrally. Control of production equipment belongs to the process discipline. The boundary between the two is fixed in writing at the communication port of the control cabinet, so responsibilities are clear and acceptance does not become a dispute.
Brand support: building automation runs on the GVS K-BUS (KNX) system, compliant with ISO/IEC 14543, bringing lighting, shading, HVAC and energy monitoring onto one network. Yihua Intelligent is an authorised GVS Smart distributor.
The monitoring point schedule is confirmed with the process control, HVAC, water and electrical disciplines and then frozen, so additions and removals do not churn during construction.
Where chillers, inverters and pump control cabinets already have their own controllers, they connect over Modbus or BACnet — far fewer cables and IO modules.
Operating data and alarms travel through IBMS to the energy platform and the smart factory platform, with linkage strategies configured in one place.
Three layers: management, control, field
The management layer sets strategy and trends, the control layer does real-time regulation, and the field layer connects the mechanical and electrical equipment.
Management layer
The BA server with its graphical interface, zone and time-of-day strategies, and trend analysis; data forwarded to IBMS and the energy platform.
Control layer
DDC controllers with IO modules and BACnet or Modbus gateways, located in local control cabinets or ELV rooms close to the equipment they serve.
Field layer
Air handling units, ventilation fans, water pumps and tank levels; switchgear and lifts are monitored only, never controlled.
Typical connection scope
HVAC
Group control of heat and cool sources, air handling units and fan coils; zone and time-of-day start/stop, temperature and humidity interlocks and variable speed regulation.
Water, power and lifts
Pump rotation and tank level control, distribution parameters and fault alarms; switchgear and lifts are monitored for status only.
Common-area lighting
Scheduling, presence detection and constant illuminance control for corridors, car parks and facade lighting, working alongside the smart lighting system.
Energy monitoring and metering
Separate metering of electricity, water, gas, compressed air and steam, with trend analysis and monthly energy reports.
Four principles that hold on site
Verifiable energy strategies and interfaces that can be handed over — the two things that keep a BA project from being reworked.
Interfaces fixed in writing
Process equipment and its dedicated utilities belong to process control; the plant's shared utilities belong to BA. The boundary is drawn at the control cabinet communication port and written into the design description.
Communication first
Modbus and BACnet connection is preferred over hardwired point collection — fewer cables, faster commissioning, and later extension without touching containment.
Savings that can be verified
Zone and time-of-day start/stop, temperature and humidity interlocks, pump rotation and variable speed control. The result is checked against metering data from the energy platform — no claims without evidence.
Point schedule frozen
The monitoring point schedule is confirmed by the HVAC, water and electrical disciplines and then frozen; the intelligent systems team handles collection, communications, platform and presentation.
Four tiers of metering, energy counted down to the process step
A single building total cannot support improvement. The metering structure is built in four tiers, laying the data groundwork for green factory and carbon targets.
Multi-protocol integration, linked with the whole site
Building automation is not an island: it is planned together with smart lighting, energy monitoring and the IBMS integration platform, with linkage strategies configured in one place.
KNX, Modbus and BACnet interoperate
Lighting, shading, HVAC and energy connect to one platform, so several systems do not each manage one section while operators face a wall of screens.
Linkage strategies configured once
Temperature interlocks and linkages with access control, video and public address are configured in IBMS; alarms reach the monitoring centre and close the loop through the work order system.
Reporting and continuous improvement
Monthly energy reports and year-on-year, month-on-month trend analysis, with savings reviewed every month so operating cost keeps falling.
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