In Europe, most homes are heated via hot water radiators, not HVAC systems as is popular in the United States. Current European heating systems suffer from two shortcomings; wiring the thermostat to the water source, and limited Wi-Fi range in older homes.

The building systems division of a Fortune 500 manufacturer provides equipment and services that provide comfort to customers while optimizing building energy expenditures. Historically, the building systems conducted chiller maintenance reactively which led to business disruptions and downtimes and costly emergency repairs that ultimately impacted customer satisfaction.The manufacturer needed a reliable solution that rapidly integrated all relevant equipment and facility data sources and allow it to reduce downtime and costly, unscheduled maintenance for its commercial Heating, Venting & Cooling (HVAC) chiller systems.

Leveraging the IoT to Enhance HVAC OperationsThe internet of things (IoT) is having a major impact on building management. Connected sensors are allowing facilities managers to track a wide range of parameters from resource consumption, to space utilization, to temperature and light usage. By integrating this data with advanced building-management systems (BMS), it is possible to automate key functions, giving far greater control over the building. For example, lighting may be automatically turned down in areas that are unoccupied. With large-scale sites, efficiency is paramount.One area that has great scope for optimization is heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC). These systems are notoriously power-hungry as they are in almost constant use around the clock. IoT devices are capable of closely tracking the temperature in different rooms in a building and adjusting the heating or AC accordingly. To enable remote monitoring, there also has to be stable and secure connectivity. The HVAC equipment will be constantly sending detailed data, so coverage gaps or network outages can be disruptive, especially for mission-critical applications. Without control over the connectivity layer, it can also be easy for costs to over-run, causing unpleasant bill shocks.