Smart technologies are starting to reshape the way building services control systems are managed following the release of a number of new applications.
With Google predicting the smart phone will overtake the PC as the dominant IT product inside three years, the controls industry is gearing up for it also becoming the main platform for delivering building automation.

Lancashire-based systems integrator Tyrrell Systems has developed an app that is now available through Apple's AppStore. It allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to manage and monitor control systems in buildings. It is also developing a version suitable for the iPad, Blackberry and Android devices.

'Our app created quite a stir at a recent trade expo we attended in the US,' said the company's managing director Ged Tyrrell.

'Building services firms will quickly see the cost and performance benefits of using the smart platforms provided by multi-national communications firms - it has to be the way forward.'

Facilities managers can control their building systems from anywhere in the world using the Tyrrell app and make adjustments; receive alarms and monitor energy performance. They are also able to interrogate graphs and logs.

'Via the app and our building systems integration technology, users can manage and review information from over 260 different sub-systems, regardless of manufacturer,' saidTyrrell. 'This is a hugely powerful management and control tool with enormous potential.

'There is an increasing requirement for technology convergence in buildings with more systems being developed with on-board intelligence,' he added.

'Smart technology is cheap and becoming even cheaper as it is distributed on a huge scale. This also makes it possible to hasten the delivery of the fully integrated, intelligent homes we must build to meet our energy efficiency goals.'

The American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has also developed an iPhone app for calculating ventilation rates.

ASHRAE's iPhone application is designed specifically to work with an interactive calculation spreadsheet related to ASHRAE's ventilation standard. Developed for Apple's iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, the ASHRAE Standard 62.1 app allows engineers to carry out calculations in the field.

'It's only right that we use the latest smart phone technology,' said Jim Fields, head of ASHRAE's publishing team. 'This new application ensures that engineers in the field have instant access to the most accurate information without having to return to their office to perform calculations.'

The ASHRAE 62.1 app can also be used to determine if both simple and complex ventilation systems, such as multiple zone re-circulating designs, comply with the standard. It can operate in both IP and metric units.

Delegates at a recent CIBSE Intelligent Buildings Group seminar agreed that rapid expansion of internet-based networks in conjunction with smart phones would 'dramatically change how building services controls are deployed'.

'The drive towards web-enabled, integrated networks is inevitable,' group members said.

'This, linked to the increasing use of wireless devices, has the potential to slash installation and operating costs and simplify remote monitoring of buildings for energy and security purposes.'
For more information go to: www.tyrrellsystems.com