Affordable individual solutions for premium commercial property
Issue 02-2015:
read all articles online
read as pdf
Even in the fashionable Zurich banking district, cost efficiency counts. When modern technology remains affordable and can still smoothly replace the triedand-tested, even the most demanding tenants are impressed.
Just a few steps away from Zurich’s renowned Bahnhofstrasse, one of the most expensive streets in the world, stands the prestigious “Thalhof” commercial property. Comprising several buildings, the property provides shop and office space to a large number of companies. In carrying out comprehensive modernization work on the property, SAUTER has recently brought the building technology up to the latest standards.
The goal was to install modern technology that would meet the requirements of the next two decades. The solution also had to fulfill specific needs and enable demand-led room conditioning in the individual areas. The SAUTER EY-modulo 5 family of systems with its components based on BACnet/IP proved to be ideal.
The use of EnOcean wireless technology provides demand-led, individual controlling in the open-plan offices, regardless of the current room division.
From cable to wireless
The building has heat generation with integrated control and a chiller for cooling. A system supplies conditioned air to the office floors. To activate the air-conditioning technology, the existing cabinets were upgraded with the latest components from the SAUTER BACnet EY-modulo 5 family of systems.
The individual rooms and open-plan areas are conditioned by means of radiators and chilled ceilings. The temperature, humidity and occupancy values are recorded and controlled by the SAUTER ecos5 room automation station, which is integrated via BACnet/IP.
At the tenant’s request, the existing individual rooms on one floor were converted into open-plan offices. Because the interior walls were removed, many of the previous installation areas for sensors were no longer available. The use of EnOcean wireless technology provides needs-driven, individual controlling.
The ecoUnit 1 room operating units communicate with the ecos5 BACnet room automation stations wirelessly using the EnOcean protocol. Bi-directional communication ensures that the room automation station always knows the current values in the room and can compare them with the desired setpoints. All automation stations – both for energy generation and usage in the room – are part of the SAUTER EY-modulo 5 family of systems and all communicate via BACnet/IP.
Automatic notification and remote access
All the HVAC installations and intelligent unitary controls – 675 hardware data points in total – are combined with SAUTER moduWeb Vision to create a central system on the BACnet web server. This web-based visualization software enables the building management systems to be monitored and controlled remotely without connecting to a system. Any alarms that occur are forwarded reliably via e-mail. Remote access to the system is via GSM modem, and the integrated firewall provides maximum security.
The modernization work was carried out over a period of five months while the building was still being operated. Today, the owners and tenants can rely on a flexible system at all levels that can be dovetailed to various requirement profiles. Using modern components from SAUTER EY modulo 5 systems and established communication standards, such as BACnet/IP or EnOcean, ensures that operation is reliable and resource-efficient in the long term.
New articles in Smart Building
Top articles
