Commercial buildings, including factories, increasingly need to be more energy efficient and sustainable. To improve energy efficiency and management of such buildings, a building management system (BMS) can be used to control and monitor various aspects or systems (or services) in a building, including an environmental system, security system, power system, lighting system or other systems used in the building. The BMS can include both hardware and software components linked together and configured to monitor and control the building systems and environment using information obtained from sensors. The sensor can collect relevant environmental parameters, which can include an atmospheric condition in the building (such as temperature, pressure, humidity, carbon dioxide content, etc.), a lighting condition such as brightness in regions or rooms in the building, a movement or activity in the building, energy usage or faults in certain regions or equipment in the building, and/or any other parameters used to facilitate efficient use of energy by the various systems in the building.
For example, the BMS can regulate environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide content, and oxygen content. The BMS can use temperature measurements to determine adjustments to the heating and cooling functions of a building environmental system, such as an HVAC system. Similarly, the BMS can use humidity and carbon dioxide content measurements to determine whether to draw in fresh air and at what rate. The BMS can be configured to operate while optimizing for energy efficiency, for the comfort of occupants, or for parameters desired in a particular setting, such as an operating range of sensitive equipment. For instance, the BMS can monitor the level of carbon dioxide, and mix in fresh outside air with inside air to increase the amount of oxygen while also minimizing heating and cooling losses.
Sensors with wireless communication capabilities can be used to monitor, track and relay data to the BMS, particularly from difficult to access locations in a building or equipment in a building. However, when placed in these locations, it may not be possible or feasible to power the sensors using the building's electrical system. Instead, the sensors are powered by a battery. The inaccessibility of a location of the sensors, however, may make it difficult for service personnel to access and replace a battery in the sensors. Furthermore, the locations of the sensors may subject them to harsh environmental conditions, such as high temperatures, vibration, electromagnetic forces, dust and dirt, snow, and so forth. As a consequence, sensor damage or failure resulting from battery failure or prolonged exposure to harsh environment conditions have a real cost to business operations, safety and the environment.