Industry 4.0-ready Building Automation System : System design and commissioning for HAMK Sheet Metal Center building

Abstract

The thesis was commissioned by the Degree Programme of Automation Engineering and the Sheet Metal Center research unit of Häme University of Applied Sciences for the Healthy Digital House” project. The empirical targets for this thesis project included the commissioning of a programmable logic controller based system for data acquisition from the building automation system of the Sheet Metal Center. In addition, the system is designed to be capable of controlling of the lighting system and communicating with the wireless indoor environment sensor network. Finally, the targets also included deployment of a data server system to record and supply collected data for visualization and research purposes.

To realize the solution, theoretical concepts concerning sensors, actuators, programmable logic controllers and industrial data communications were reviewed in addition to concepts concerning software engineering, including database management systems and web application programming interfaces. The discussed theoretical concepts were focused on a smart building automation system for zero-energy buildings and capable of integration into the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0.

The outcome of this thesis project consisted of a Beckhoff PLC system developed for data communication with an existing building automation system, as well as a DALI-based lighting control system and EnOcean-based wireless indoor sensor network ready for implementation. In addition, a data server unit was deployed, which utilized the InfluxDB time series database management system and a REST API for data and web services. The data acquired from thesis project was used to support energy optimization researches and 3D web visualization model of Sheet Metal Center. The targets of this thesis project were achieved, with further development planned for implementation in the following year.