Ga l a x y C l oud So f t wa r e a s a Se r v i c e f o r Ene r g y Ma n agemen t 25
of Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)
frameworks. It allows effcient maintenance
planning, thus minimizing costs and improving
capital budget control. It does this by ensuring
that system upgrades are planned and justifed
based on detailed and accurate information about
the way in which the equipment operates.
5.5 Fault Detection and Diagnostics
The increasing complexity of systems of all types,
as levels of digital control reach new heights,
creates a need for smarter fault detection and
diagnostics. This means reducing dependence
on human input, to minimize errors in analyzing
faults and ensure that no abnormal equipment
behavior goes unnoticed. In order to do this the
FDD system must ‘learn’ the analysis of system
faults and store them as a ‘fault signature’ that
it will recognize, should the fault recur. Pacifc
Controls’ advanced Galaxy™ Fault Detection and
Diagnostics module uses this approach to track
down faults in real time and provide actionable
data.
With current technology, a system monitoring
a room will report that the temperature is too
high and leave it to the technical staff to identify
the cause. With the Galaxy platform, if the
temperature is too high, the FDD module will
fnd out what has caused the problem. It will
determine whether the fan circuit has tripped, or
the thermostat has been altered, or the chiller
has failed, or some other factor. If
possible, it will correct the problem
without any human intervention by
sending a Gbot to reset the circuit
or adjust the thermostat or take
any other relevant action within the
control systems.
If the Gbot cannot rectify the fault,
the FDD module will alert an expert
to decide what action to take.
Alerts will be examined by Pacifc
Controls’ energy optimization
experts who staff the GCCC
around the clock. They monitor the reports and
identify actions – both for crisis management
immediately and longer term possibilities for
performance improvement. Even in the absence
of alerts, from time to time the experts will check
the optimization for each client to see if they can
identify further potential to reduce energy use.
The FDD system is based on real-time rules
for proactive monitoring, diagnosis of faults
and performance analysis. A rule-based system
consists of a set of if-then statements that form an
“expert system”, an artifcial intelligence approach
widely used in many felds. Expert systems aim
to encode the knowledge of human experts in a
set of rules. When exposed to the same data, the
expert system will perform in a similar manner to
the human expert. The Galaxy FDD framework
analyzes faults and events using such a system and
can manage performance metrics and KPIs such
as production and consumption, using Gbots to
take action based on the analysis.
The module includes the following processes:
Rules Flow Analysis
that assesses the alarms
received from the building management systems
and classifes them into distinct events. The staff
required to solve the problem are then alerted by
email or SMS.
The Event Management
system time-stamps,
logs and tracks each event until it is resolved. The
active events, listed by priority, are always available
on the dashboard display.
Building Equipment Health Metric
is a single
fgure that is calculated by the Galaxy platform to
help identify failing or ineffcient HVAC systems.
The weighted average of each system’s uptime
(the percentage of time that it is available for use) is
measured and recorded each month and over the
year. This metric is available for the whole portfolio,
one region or a single building.
The Fault Detection and Diagnostics system
reduces costs and the staff time required to keep
equipment running effciently. It does this by
ensuring early detection of equipment failures,
rapid assessment of the cause, and appropriate
response - including taking action using Gbots,
where possible. Its tracking and recording facilities
can be used to demonstrate compliance with
service level agreements.