What is building automation? Priva explains...

What is building automation?

Building automation is the automation of building systems that control the indoor climate. Examples include automatic control of temperature, humidity, and airflow in a building. In addition to climate control, there are many other systems that can be automatically controlled. Examples are fire, smoke, or motion detectors. The automatic control of these systems is based on sensors that are connected to a building management system. Building automation systems work on the basis of data that can be read via software.

Optimal climate control with building automation

Building automation allows you to automatically control the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) systems as well as sun blinds in your building. This not only provides a comfortable indoor climate and thermal comfort for the building’s users, but also ensures the proper functioning and optimal energy consumption of your HVAC system. In addition to controlling your HVAC system, building automation for indoor climate control enables you to automatically control, monitor and adjust the humidity, air pressure and CO2 measurement. 

1. Relative humidity (RH)

For most buildings, the optimal relative humidity is somewhere between 40% and 60%. Excessively low humidity (<40% RH) is unpleasant: the air is dry and static and may aggravate people’s allergies and asthma, as well as cause material damage due to the growth of mold and bacteria if there is insufficient air circulation.

2. Air pressure

The correct indoor air pressure, controlled by the ventilation system, ensures that less clean internal air is discharged from the building, while fresh filtered external air is drawn into the building.

3. CO2

Controlling CO2 can improve the energy efficiency of buildings, producing cost savings of up to 80%. In addition, an excessively high concentration of CO2 may cause headaches and fatigue (known as Sick Building Syndrome). Therefore, it is extremely important to monitor the CO2 in your building.

Controlling these three factors is important for preventing health problems such as skin irritations, headaches, and fatigue. In addition to controlling humidity, air pressure and CO2, our sensors can also monitor and detect other values, such as the formation of condensation, dew point, and motion.

The benefits of automation in your building

When you choose building automation from Priva, you are opting for lower energy consumption, lower operating and maintenance costs, documentation of historical building performance and a longer service life for equipment and associated facilities. Here are the benefits of Priva building management, at a glance:

1. Smart energy savings

Some climate systems, in particular older ones, do not give you the option of adjusting the temperature, humidity or ventilation to fit the conditions in the building. Consequentially, your system will be running at a constant level, even if more or indeed less power is required. This results in suboptimal energy performance and unnecessary energy consumption, which in turn leads to higher costs. With our solutions, this issue will not occur.

2. Lower operating and maintenance costs

With Priva’s building automation, your systems will always be performing optimally. This means less wear and tear on parts and thus lower operating and maintenance costs.

3. Documentation of historical performance

Our smart software, linked to hardware such as our controllers, makes keeping track of (historical) building performance data an effortless task. With 24/7 real-time access to your system information from any location, via any smart device, means that you have a view of your building, whenever, and wherever you are.

Connect all your equipment with Priva Building Automation

Our climate sensors allow you to measure the various climate values in your building at any time. You can easily integrate our climate sensors with controllers from the Priva Blue ID C-line and S-line, and connect them to Priva Top Control and the control modules.

Building automation data, privacy and security

“How secure are your solutions?” That is a question we are often asked. Naturally, the security and integrity of your data is our top priority. For this reason, we use the Microsoft Azure cloud platform as the basis for our cloud services and apps. Azure offers extensive security that has been developed by Microsoft. By leaving the data center and the (physical) infrastructure to the experts at Microsoft, we can focus on developing secure, high-quality services.

Our expert talks about building automation

What is important in building automation software or building automation systems? How can Priva Partners help you when you are purchasing a system? Product manager Leo Hitzert explains:

“It’s important that you can implicitly trust that a building management system will ensure a comfortable indoor climate. You can do that with our Priva Blue ID BMS. Never before have convenience, speed and reliability been so prominent as in this generation of building management systems from Priva. Thanks to the great flexibility of Priva Blue ID, the system can be used in the most varied types of buildings. Of course, choosing a new building automation system requires careful consideration. At Priva, we have an extensive network of partners throughout the whole of Europe. They have all the technical knowledge in-house, which means they can provide our customers with outstanding advice on the best solution for their building.”

- Leo Hitzert, product manager

A healthy indoor climate is crucial. This is true, whether your building is an office building, a school, a hospital, or a museum. A healthy and comfortable indoor climate keeps building users happy and productive. With Priva’s building automation solutions, you can achieve the perfect indoor climate, whatever type of building you manage. With our decades of experience in building automation and indoor climate control, we can help you create healthy indoor climate conditions that ensure user comfort.