Project Golden Gate 450.
The use of the BACnet protocol as a standard for integrating building automation system components has forever changed the industry, opening the door to innovation in building management technology.
Without such capabilities, building owners would hardly be able to evaluate the competitiveness of projects and integrate innovative solutions from different manufacturers that would best suit their task.
Today, thousands of BACnet systems have already been installed.
Many of these projects are small scale and used BACnet to integrate new HVAC equipment into an existing closed BAS from multiple manufacturers.
Other BACnet automation systems primarily use products from a single manufacturer.
The Golden Gate 450 project stands out due to its size and the many different manufacturers involved.
But beyond the HVAC control system, this project is also notable for demonstrating today how the world's largest «landowner» — the United States General Services Administration (GSA) — will manage its buildings in the future.
In 1996, the Philip Burton and Federal Courthouse in San Francisco was selected as the site of the world's largest commercial demonstration of the benefits of the BACnet standard.
This 22-story, 130,000-square-foot office building is the second largest in San Francisco.
And it was chosen, in part, because the scale of the previously existing EMS control system there was small, and recent renovations made it most suitable for typical commercial office buildings.
The EMS upgrade also demonstrated significant energy savings potential. The projected total savings were more than $500,000.
Numerous equipment from different manufacturers was tested, as well as their ability to jointly monitor and control the building's engineering systems, but based on the BACnet standard.
In addition, a methodology for monitoring the building's energy consumption, operator workstation network, and communications equipment was incorporated into the EMS project to facilitate future energy accounting and business activity studies in the building.
Contracts were awarded to the first two vendors with the highest project value in August 1996.
Associated procedures were completed in January 1998, and the project has remained on staff and budget since the award.
Subsequent stages of work were to incorporate BACnet gateways into the existing floor lighting control system, the pre-BACnet EMS system, and a direct connection to the local utility company.
The building was also scheduled to have its individual heating point upgraded. In addition, negotiations were underway with a fire alarm system manufacturer that could result in the integration of the building's fire alarm system using the BACnet protocol.
One of the objectives of this project was to actually demonstrate the integration of equipment from different manufacturers.
And the project specifications were prepared with the express intention of distributing this work in parts among the EMS equipment suppliers. Different companies had installed different HVAC equipment in the building at the time, which divided the scope of responsibilities among the suppliers. In general, the project defined six levels of work (A — F), which could be distributed among different suppliers in the future.
Level A
Provide a complete energy management installation for the main air conditioning systems of the building.
This includes eight dual-channel VAV units, over 1,000 terminal units, various compact units intended for use in server rooms, and individual types of equipment for the central air conditioning unit.
This task level also includes tools for operational monitoring so that the building's energy consumption can be allocated to final categories: heating, cooling, ventilation, etc.
Six large dual-channel air handling units, serving over 70% of the building's area, are also included in the work at this level.
Level B
Provide a complete control system installation to automate the HVAC operation in the courtrooms located on the 175th through 205th floors. This solution includes 13 single-zone and one multi-zone air handling unit, all supplied with cooling from a single chiller system.
Level C
Provide BACnet protocol interfaces to control the systems installed in this building prior to the upgrade. These include the “legacy” energy management system services serving the FBI offices on two floors of the building, and the lighting control system serving the GSA offices located between the third and fifth floors.
Level D
Provide a complete EMS installation for all zoned HVAC systems in the GSA offices located between the third and fifth floors.
Level E
Plan a contractor for future work to install a complete EMS system to monitor and control the heating plant and chiller plant. Alternative central heating plant system options are currently being developed.
Level F
Provide the EMS system with a network of operator workstations (OWN — Operator Workstation Network). OWN provides dispatchers with all the access they need to work with equipment from different suppliers.
This includes configuring and installing the server, operator workstations, mobile workstations, interface software with the primary EMS system, and the network of cables needed to build a complete building management system based on the BACnet protocol.
This modification included a DDC upgrade of a control system with approximately 1,200 VAV units that contained both BACnet and proprietary controllers.
Local information from non-BACnet controllers was translated into BACnet messages using «field» controllers.
One of the more unique aspects of this project was the operator workstation equipment.
Due to the presence of a multi-vendor equipment configuration in the project, the main concern for GSA was to ensure the efficient operation of operators, their training and the interfacing of equipment interfaces.
To optimize the efficient operation of operators and provide a single interface for the EMS system, software from one of the equipment manufacturers was selected as the base for access to the OWN workstation network.
All other equipment manufacturers were responsible for ensuring that the workstation displayed the correct operating parameters for their equipment, color graphs, and other data from all systems.
Each system was tested and approved.
At Level F, the vendor's equipment operation was required to be integrated into the BACnet workstation software. Ultimately, this single workstation would become the single tool for accessing multi-vendor equipment throughout the entire building.
The result should be a way to access all parts of the EMS system and its information from any workstation, regardless of manufacturer.
Organization and distribution of the database was a primary task for the design of the operator workstation and the OWN network.
The EMS system envisaged in the Golden Gate 450 project is large and complex.
But the task was solved by recording all data from the EMS on the OWN server.
The process of implementing the Golden Gate 450 project began almost immediately after the release of the ASHRAE standard — BACnet 1995.
The first stage was collecting information from a large number of manufacturers of various equipment, as well as their long-term plans for integrating equipment with the BACnet protocol.
It took several years for equipment manufacturers to develop add-ons to their products that would enable their integration into the BACnet system.
Therefore, the condition of the presence of the BACnet protocol was mandatory only for the upper automation level.
For communication between the controllers at the field level, proprietary protocols from manufacturers were provided using BACnet gateways.
The evaluation committee included representatives from GSA, a local energy supplier, an engineering design organization, and representatives from the National Institute of Standards (NIST).
From a large number of applicants, the committee selected two vendors to implement this project.
The objectives of Levels A, B, and F were within the competence of one company, and the objectives of Level D were other.
The remaining goals were not adequately funded at the initial stage of the project, were postponed, but were later implemented.
The use of the BACnet protocol in the Golden Gate 450 project was extremely successful.
The timing of the project's release was an impetus for equipment manufacturers to integrate BACnet solutions into their products.
The results proved that the BACnet protocol really works. This was also important because this standard was just making its way.