Building control systems encompass a wide variety of systems that aid in the monitoring and control of various aspects of building operation. Building control systems include security systems, fire safety systems, lighting systems, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (“HVAC”) systems. In large commercial and industrial facilities, such systems have an extensive number of elements and are highly automated.
The elements of a building control system are widely dispersed throughout a facility. For example, an HVAC system includes temperature sensors and ventilation damper controls as well as other elements that are located in virtually every area of a facility. Similarly, a security system may have intrusion detection, motion sensors and alarm actuators dispersed throughout an entire building or campus. Likewise, fire safety systems include smoke alarms and pull stations dispersed throughout the facility. To achieve efficient and effective building control system operation, there is a need to monitor the operation of, and often communicate with, the various dispersed elements of a building control system.
To this end, building control systems typically have one or more centralized control stations in which data from the system may be monitored, and in which various aspects of system operation may be controlled and/or monitored. The control station typically includes a computer having processing equipment, data storage equipment, and a user interface. To allow for monitoring and control of the dispersed control system elements, building control systems often employ multi-level communication networks to communicate operational and/or alarm information between operating elements, such as sensors and actuators, and the centralized control station.
One example of a building control system control station is the Apogee® Insight® Workstation, available from Siemens Building Technologies, Inc. of Buffalo Grove, Ill., which may be used with the model Apogee® building control system, also available from Siemens Building Technologies, Inc. In this system, several control stations, connected via an Ethernet or another type of network, may be distributed throughout one or more building locations, each having the ability to monitor and control system operation. As a consequence, different people in different locations of the facility may monitor and control building operations.
The typical building control system (including those utilizing the Apogee® Insights Workstation) has a plurality of field panels that are in communication with a workstation. In addition, the building control system also includes one or more field devices, otherwise know as points, connected to the field panels. Each field device is typically operative to measure and/or monitor various building control system parameters.
While the workstation is generally used to make modifications and/or changes to one or more of the various components of the building control system, a field panel may also be operative to allow certain modifications and/or changes to one or more parameters of the system. This typically includes parameters such as temperature and otherwise, set port changes, modify a control program or the like.
In industries that manufacture chemical, semiconductor and pharmaceutical products, for instance, there is a need for controlling the environment in the processing rooms and/or areas. Various manufacturing processes in these industries require strict control of environmental factors. As a consequence, it is often desirable to track changes within the building control system. Additionally, various federal regulations that pertain to these types of manufacturing require monitoring and/or reporting or recording of various parameters associated with the building control system for manufacturing validation. This is accomplished via a building control system trend records and logs.
Typically, such trend records include unnecessary information since known building control systems allow users to create trend records based upon significant Change of Values (COVs) to points and by preselected times, but do not allow further control over how information from points is collected when trending occurs. Accordingly, trend reports commonly include unnecessary information.
It would thus be advantageous to have a field panel that allows a user to further control how trending data from points is collected such that the user can instruct the field panel when to begin and conclude the collection of trend data from a point.