Project Introduction: A train station in China was looking to develop an equipment monitoring & controlling system at their substation in the main building of their station. Concerned with future expansion of the station, they were also looking for a solution that could be easily upgraded in the future, and even expanded into other substations. Thus, Advantech stepped in to help them realize a complete and easily expandable Building Automation system.

System Requirements: The train station wanted an expandable central monitoring & controlling system which could monitor over six different subsystems, including an air conditioning system, water supply and drainage system, lighting & emergency lighting systems, escalators, and a variety of other equipment. They also wanted a redundant network backbone to guarantee reliability and hoped that the solution would also be able to monitor power usage to save energy costs as well.

Project Implementation:

WebAccess: Browser-based HMI/SCADA Software

BAS-3512/3520: 12-ch/20-ch Web-Enabled DDC Controller

BAS-3024: 4-ch UI, 4-ch AO, 4-ch DO Expansion Module

System Description: The station's mechanical and electrical equipment monitoring & controlling system is built on a distributed structure composed of a central monitoring & controlling system, a field controlling DDC, input & output equipment and the corresponding communication network. The network architecture of the equipment monitoring and controlling system uses a redundant and fiber-optic solution, which is a main feature of the EKI series. What's more, combined with energy-saving DDC equipment and WebAccess software, the system not only monitors and controls all of the respective equipment and systems, but also helps the station to save power, energy and money. The substation's system consists of: air conditioning system, water supply and drainage system, illumination system, emergency illumination system, low-voltage transformation and distribution system, and escalator.

Conclusion: With the functions of DDC field controlling and WebAccess monitoring & controlling, Advantech's BA solution not only meets the needs of safety monitoring & equipment controlling, but also saves energy. For the air-conditioning system, WebAccess saves energy through scheduler management; which is how it saves energy similarly in the illumination system. Furthermore, the X-ring redundant network of EKI series ensures 24-hour system operation without breakdown.