Building Equipment Definitions for Automated Data Point Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing building automation systems (BAS) face challenges in efficiently creating and managing equipment definitions for various types of building equipment, leading to inconsistencies and difficulties in data point identification and mapping across different devices.
Innovation Solution
A method for creating equipment definitions by operating an archetypal device to affect a variable state or condition within a building, identifying data points associated with the archetypal device, and generating point definitions with abstractions of text strings applicable to multiple devices. These definitions are used to automatically identify and map data points on other devices of the same type.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If equipment definitions are manually created for each device type, then consistency and reusability across multiple devices are improved, but the time and effort required for creation and maintenance increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically creating equipment definitions before they are needed for device mapping. An archetypal device is selected and its data points are automatically processed to generate the equipment definition, eliminating the need for manual creation later
Solution Approach 2:
The system serves itself by automatically generating equipment definitions without human intervention. The BAS controller autonomously selects an archetypal device, extracts its data points, creates abstractions, and generates the equipment definition, making the system self-sufficient in definition creation
2Adaptability or versatility
If equipment definitions are created without automation, then flexibility in handling device-specific variations is maintained, but the complexity of manual identification and mapping increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces an intermediary abstraction layer between the archetypal device and the equipment definition. This abstraction automatically handles device-specific variations by generalizing data point names while preserving the essential structure, reducing complexity without sacrificing adaptability
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes parameters by transforming device-specific data point names into generalized abstractions. This parameter transformation allows the same equipment definition to apply to multiple device variants while automatically adapting to their specific characteristics
3Measurement precision
If manual data point identification is performed for each device, then accuracy in mapping can be ensured, but productivity and efficiency of equipment onboarding decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a copy of the archetypal device's data point structure and automatically adapts it for reuse. This copying mechanism preserves the accuracy of the original device's data points while enabling rapid replication across multiple devices, significantly improving onboarding speed
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for creating and using equipment definitions are provided. An archetypal device used to identify one or more first data points associated with the archetypal device. A point definition is generated for each identified first data point associated with the archetypal device. Each point definition includes an abstraction of a text string extracted from the corresponding first data point that is applicable to multiple different devices of the same type of building equipment. The generated point definitions are used to create an equipment definition for a type of building equipment. The equipment definition can be used to identify first data points associated with other devices of the same type of building equipment and to automatically create equipment objects representing such devices.