Building Control System
University of Pennsylvania

Since 1998, Dick Engineering Inc. has assisted the University of Pennsylvania in developing and maintaining their building control system.

The building control system features:

• conventional controls from a variety of vendors, located in each of the major buildings
• a SCADA (supervisor control and data acquisition) system, distributed throughout campus, with central HMI (human-machine interface) stations located in a central Operations Control Center
• fine control for critical research uses, some under FDA regulations
• an expert system to provide energy management
• use of the University’s WAN (wide area network) for data communications

This system has provided several advantages for the University:

• reduced manpower requirements
• reduced installation costs as a variety of vendors’ hardware can be used (e.g. Allen Bradley, Carrier, Siemens, Moore, GE, Johnson, Lonworks, Andover)
• finer control of conditioned space
• better planning and utilization of central facilities (e.g. 7 chiller plants) lowering costs

Dick Engineering’s scope has included:

• 24 h/7 d support
• upgrading the SCADA system to accomodate new HVAC equipment added to the campus (software and hardware)
• development of new communication drivers

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