Remote Facility Management

INVESTIGATORS: A. Scott Howe (PI), working on installation established by Mojitaba Navvab. Advisors: James Turner, Harold Borkin, Michael Parsons, Lynn Conway.

FUNDING: Supported by Kajima Corporation, Tokyo, Japan as part of doctoral research.

PERIOD: Sep 1995 - winter 1997.

ABSTRACT: This research establishes a demonstration remote facility management webpage for the BTUS installation located in the Building Technology Laboratory, Department of Architecture, University of Michigan.

The BTUS were constructed in early 1987. Their main purpose is to enhance the educational and research capabilities of The Building Technology Laboratory at The University of Michigan's College of Architecture and Urban Planning. The units provide controlled environments which support full scale investigations of various thermodynamic processes. The units were designed to permit space characteristics and air conditioning system configuration to be quickly and easily changed. This provides a research tool which can be utilized for a variety of applications.

The BTUS consists of two identical 8 foot wide by 8 foot long by 8 foot high chambers. The units were designed and built to be an integral part of the research laboratory's south wall, although they are equipped with wheels which allows them to be moved in or out of the building. Each chamber is furnished with an air-handling unit capable of controlling temperatures ranging from 45 degrees F to 110 degrees F. The supply and return air ducts can be relocated to modify circulation patterns.

Since both chambers are identical in construction and control configuration, comparative analyses can be easily evaluated. The monitoring capability includes a Data Logger (Doric Model 435 with full options) and two IBM AT's with 30 MK hard disk. This system is capable of directly down loading data to the University's main frame computer when intensive analysis is required. The accessibility of the data logger and computers allows information to be quickly and easily processed for statistical analysis. Theoretical heat transfer equations can also be used for comparative analyses or incorporated into logical control sequencing for air conditioning or lighting systems. With such versatility the BTUS should provide valuable insight into building materials' and systems' thermal performance.

The webpage established in this project takes data files dumped into the server hard drive by data loggers, and displays results, graphs, and data according to parameters selected by the user.

Other relevant links, images, and animations:
White paper discussing remote facility management concepts (PDF)
QTVR movie of one of the BTUS units ()
Image showing remote facility management webpage control panel
Image showing formatted data dump
Image showing graph of data