Home automation for businesses
Home automation is correctly associated to comfort but comfort is not enough to explain why public and private buildings in Italy are increasingly equipped with building automation. The most obvious reason is that realizing a smart building results in more reasonable costs, which leads to save money.
A home automation system creates management savings because it optimizes management, i.e. it makes everything work with no wastefulness and with the maximum personal and common comfort.
What can home automation technology do for a company? Only a partial list can be made. A home automation system can handle many functions of the following systems:
- electric system and lighting
- heating/air conditioning system
- anti-intrusion and access control system
- smoke detection system
- irrigation system
- intercoms
- video control system
In particular, a home automation system can interpret the human presence inside a building and provide a prompt intervention in the management of several areas or sectors. For example: lights and air conditioning of a specific environment can activate when people are present.
Moreover, lighting systems automatically adjust their light intensity according to the light coming from outside, through windows and glass doors.
The temperature in the building is optimized by a set point, which includes parameters stated to achieve the maximum comfort through the adjustment of heating and air conditioning. The home automation system automatically stabilizes these conditions.
The system itself adjusts the temperature of environments, by activating the other systems before the activity starts.
Thanks to home automation, consumption monitoring is constant and precise. The system produces a detailed report of electric and power consumptions for the whole building or specific areas, and provides precious information about its management.
The irrigation system can also be smartly and automatically managed. The home automation system is able to adjust its functioning according to climate events. For example, if it rains, sensors check wet conditions existing and avoid useless irrigation.
Home automation is of help for security and video control as well. The system automatically turns off heating and air conditioning when the building is empty and the anti-theft system is on.
If a smoke detection system is present, home automation detects criticality on the building map, signals it and applies control measures to prevent flames to extend and turns on lights to help people leave the building.
With a home automation system video intercoms of each computer station can also be managed, making the uncomfortable wall display obsolete.
These are all modular functions, which are accessible by operators in a higher of lower level, depending on the authorization the user has in the system.
Building automation optimizes the management of planned maintenance, with obvious advantages. The home automation system allows to collect the functioning time of technological systems: the maintenance technician will be informed in time if his intervention is required and, if needed, the system will activate the reserve device (for example pumps or ventilators), waiting for the main one to be checked and recovered.
Ekotec software solutions are very easy to use, because they include complex functions in intuitive controls. Information can be managed locally, through the control panel, or remotely, by connecting to a computer or a smartphone.