Omron PLCs and the SYSMAC-SCS SCADA package have enabled a supplier of solar shading control systems to step into the light.
Omron PLCs and the SYSMAC-SCS SCADA package have enabled one of Europe's leading suppliers of solar shading control systems to take a major step forward with the launch of their new PILOTpc package.
Modern buildings, with their extensive use of glazed walls and atria, impart a light, bright and airy ambiance, but to prevent glare from low sun and to cut excessive solar gain, controllable solar shading is needed.
Guthrie Douglas of Warwick has developed a reputation for their innovative approach to the control system programming, which anticipates low sun angles as well as detecting and reacting to changes in the atmosphere. Their latest advanced desktop PC-based solar shading control system is PILOTpc.
Guthrie Douglas were looking to upgrade their 10-year old purpose-built intelligent interface for controllable solar shading.
Senior Electrical Engineer, Howard Weaver takes up the story.
"Over a six month period, I looked at many SCADA-type packages, most of which were tag limited, which made them expensive for the amount of data transfer we needed.
Then I found Omron's SYSMAC-SCS software package, which offered unlimited tags for the same price.
It was very cost-effective and more than flexible enough for our needs.
I found it easy to set-up and configure with its intuitive programming - and its pre-set functions and animations saved a lot of programming time too." The PILOTpc system with the SYSMAC-SCS SCADA package gives a display of the blinds throughout the whole building and provides all communications, data logging, calculation of the sun's position and many other functions.
By eliminating glare and regulating solar heat gain, solar energy heats the building only when it is desirable.
The system can also be configured to close the blinds in dull/dark conditions and signal to the lighting system that back-lighting is required.
To achieve this, the PILOTpc system is configured with information about the global position and orientation of the building and the types and positions of shading equipment fitted to it.
It uses this data in conjunction with the time-of-day and date to determine where, at any moment, the sun will affect the building.
External light and temperature sensors provide the environmental information to enable the system to decide when and where to deploy blinds. Omron's compact CPM1A micro PLCs and SRMI remote I/O PLCs are used as motor control outstations around the building for the local adjustment of blinds.
The outstations control and switch the power to the motors in a local area, which might be a single floor on a multi-storey building or a single building in a multi-building complex.
This substantially reduces wiring costs and the overall installed system costs.
Each outstation initiates a 'drive' cycle to open or close tension (fabric) or vertical roller blinds, gives timed pulses to tilt Venetian blinds or, using a closed loop drive sequence, with feedback from motor-mounted potentiometers, adjusts the movement of external rotating louvres to a fixed position.
The PILOTpc system combines ease of use with a versatility that enables the user to set and modify threshold values and other variables and its unique built-in history enables the operator to optimise the settings. It is easily tailored to any customer's own requirements and even incorporates diagnostics to assist with maintenance. "We know that we have a winner with PILOTpc," concludes Howard Weaver, " and this, in part, is thanks to the help and support we've had from Omron.
The SYSMAC-SCS software is excellent!"
