Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1442385
11 By Mike Parks, PE O nce the realm of science fiction, building automation is expected to reach a market value of approximately $100 billion in five short years. That's up from just over $50 billion in 2016 according to a MarketsandMar- kets report. The explosive, $10 billion per year growth in the building automation market is being fueled by an unprecedented availability of inexpensive sensors, a proliferation of nearly ubiquitous Internet connectivity, and easy-to-use yet powerful microcontroller platforms. For facility managers, one of the major appeals of Building Automation Systems (BAS) is monitoring and controlling Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems. Energy costs associated with heating and cooling a building are a major component of a facility's operational and maintenance costs. While new construction has the advantage of incorpo- rating the latest in HVAC and control technologies from the get go, existing facilities can still take advantage of emerging building automation systems through retrofits. For engineers and facilities professionals looking for more information on specifying building automation systems with respect to HVAC systems, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) publishes ASHRAE Guideline 13-2015, Specifying Building Automation Systems. To demonstrate just how easy it is to connect building systems to the Internet of Things (IoT), we are going to design a solution that allows us to retrofit a manual damper, one you might find as part of a HVAC system, with automated intelligence (Figure 1). By doing so, we can help reign in the energy costs associated with heating and cooling a building. Dampers allow us to adjust the airflow of an HVAC system so air only goes to the spaces that need heating or cooling at any given time. In this article, we will look at some of the products available to help you quickly prototype a custom solution for your existing HVAC ductwork system. Specifically, we will leverage the TE Connectivity Weather Shield, a device that incorporates five different sensor packages to monitor environ- mental conditions such as temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure. Then, using an ESP8266-based Wi-Fi solution, we will wirelessly transmit our weather data to the cloud where it can be stored and Table 1: Bill of Materials Mouser Part Number Description Quantity 474-WRL-13287 Wi-Fi / 802.11 Development Tools: Wi-Fi Shield ESP8266 Shield ESP8266 1 607-ARDUINO101 Development Boards & Kits: x86 Arduino 101 learning and development board based on the Intel Curie Compute Module 1 824-DPP902S000 Multiple Function Sensor Development Tools: ARDUINO / GENUINO Weather Shield by TE Connectivity 1 485-2821 Wi-Fi / 802.11 Development Tools: Adafruit Feather HUZZAH with ESP8266 Wi-Fi 1 490-SWI10-5-N-MUB Wall Mount AC Adapters: 10W 5V 2A US blade micro USB 1 490-SWI5-5-N-P5 Wall Mount AC Adapters: 10W 5V 2A US blade micro USB 1 619-900-00005 AC, DC & Servo Motors: SERVO ASSEMBLY 1 854-ZW-MM-10 Jumper Wires: ZipWire Male-Male 40 Unzipp Wires x 10cm 1 Figure 1: Mockup of an HVAC damper and the embedded hardware needed to add intelligence. Smart Buildings Are Thrifty Buildings: A Building Automation Retrofit Project