Smart gateway devices, systems and methods for providing communication between HVAC system networks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Building management systems (BMS) face challenges in interfacing with third-party devices that use proprietary communication protocols, leading to increased commissioning, maintenance, and monitoring times, as well as the need for costly and complex software to integrate incompatible devices and data points.
Innovation Solution
A smart gateway device is introduced to provide communication between BMS networks and non-compatible subsystems by detecting physical devices, generating virtual devices, and polling data points to expose them to the BMS network, allowing seamless integration and monitoring without additional programming or configuration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If proprietary communication protocols are used by third-party devices, then device-specific functionality is maintained, but integration complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway serves as a protocol translation intermediary that handles the complexity of proprietary protocols internally. Instead of requiring complex integration logic throughout the BMS, the gateway consolidates protocol translation functionality in a single device, reducing overall system integration complexity while preserving device-specific functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway creates virtual representations of third-party devices and their data points within the BMS network. By copying device functionality and data structures into a BMS-compatible format, the gateway enables standard BMS interfaces to access proprietary devices without direct complex integration, thereby reducing integration complexity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If protocol translation software is implemented, then compatibility with BMS network is improved, but software cost and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway consolidates protocol translation software into a single intermediary device rather than distributing complex translation software across multiple BMS components. This centralization reduces overall software complexity and cost by eliminating the need for custom integration software at each device level, while maintaining full BMS network compatibility.
Data Source
AI summary
A smart gateway device for a first network associated with a building management system (BMS) is configured to discover a physical device and generate a new virtual device responsive to a determination that a device identifier of the physical device does not match any device identifiers in a virtual device registry. The virtual device registry provides mapping between the new virtual device and the physical device. One or more data points of the new virtual device correspond to one or more data points of the physical device. The smart gateway device is configured to receive data values for the one or more data points of the physical device and update the one or more data points of the new virtual device with the data values for the one or more data points of the physical device. The virtual device is configured to represent the physical device on the first network.