EnOcean Alliance at AHR Expo 2014: Intelligent HVAC Control on the Energy Harvesting Wireless Standard

SAN RAMON, CA and NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwired – Jan 9, 2014) – At this year’s AHR Expo in New York City (Javits Center), January 21-23, the EnOcean Alliance and 20 members will showcase their latest EnOcean-enabled solutions for HVAC systems. A focus is on the intelligent control and interconnection of several building areas to tap energy efficiency potentials as an energy source in buildings. At the joint EnOcean Alliance booth 279 at AHR Expo, six member companies EnOcean, Thermokon, Pressac, Magnum Energy Solutions, Gas Sensing Solutions and Illumra will present their innovative solutions in this field. In addition, visitors can experience EnOcean-based applications at another 14 booths of Alliance members at the largest HVACR event.

The EnOcean Alliance is a consortium of over 350 companies worldwide working to establish and promote innovative automation solutions for sustainable buildings. The core technology of the Alliance is the energy harvesting wireless technology for flexibly positioned and maintenance-free sensor solutions. Due to the energy harvesting principle, the wireless modules gain their power from the surrounding environment and therefore work without batteries. The Alliance ensures the interoperability of all devices from its different member companies by defining standardized application profiles and a generic language for the communication in EnOcean-based networks.

Automation systems integrating this flexible approach help to reduce energy consumption by 20 up to 40 percent in buildings. In addition, the batteryless operation not only frees the user from a regular battery change but gives users the freedom of choice to flexibly create and extend their individual system.

At the Alliance booth #279 the following members will be exhibiting:

EnOcean has continued to penetrate the HVACR market, bringing energy harvesting wireless technology to actuators, e.g. for air management and ventilation solutions. With the introduction of the 902 MHz series and new functionalities such as remote commissioning of energy harvesting wireless components, the company sees a continuously growing customer base in North America. EnOcean will demonstrate its extended 902 MHz energy harvesting wireless module portfolio at the AHR show. The modules allow for integration into very small product enclosures. With its long range and robust performance the series offers an effective, reliable wireless platform for applications in the building automation sector.

In addition, EnOcean will present a base line of white label 902 MHz finished products for OEMs. With this white label offering, EnOcean’s OEM customers benefit from significantly shorter development timelines, reduced investment and reduced distraction as they work to capitalize on quickly evolving market opportunities for energy harvesting wireless applications. The batteryless product suite for OEMs includes occupancy sensors, a window contact, light switches, a key card switch as well as HVAC and electrical load control modules.

Thermokon Sensortechnik will introduce the new foundation of Thermokon Americas LP, based in Hudson, OH, where the company will be supporting the North American market. At the AHR Expo, Thermokon presents its complete building automation portfolio. This includes EasySens EnOcean-based wireless, batteryless sensors and controls, self-powered by light and motion and compatible to major building controls communication protocols. It features the new SR06/07 self-powered wireless temperature/humidity sensor with set point and LCD display.

In addition, the company, offering more than 26 years of experience in supplying intelligent buildings, shows BACnet, LON, Modbus, KNX communicating sensors as well as standard sensors for temperature, humidity, pressure, mixed gas and CO₂, light and motion. This comes along with state-of-the-art designed room operating units for multifunctional room control of lighting, temperature set point or blinds. An example for this is the international design awards winner Thanos touchscreen unit for high-end commercial and residential applications.

Pressac will be exhibiting their pioneering range of self-powered sensors. Electricity usage can now be monitored by simply clipping Pressac’s wireless Current Transducer (C.T.) around any AC cable. Air quality is monitored (CO₂, temperature & humidity) within buildings using Pressac’s energy harvesting solar-powered CO₂ sensors. These products wirelessly communicate using EnOcean wireless protocol and have minimal installation costs and require no maintenance. The gateway integrates sensor data into any IP backbone or the dashboard analytics service.

Magnum Energy Solutions, a leading manufacturer of wireless, self-powered energy management technology, will show their latest innovation, the eBox. This device is similar to a traditional gateway, but offers significant advantages at a more competitive cost. The eBox allows facility managers, contractors and OEM manufacturers the ability to easily integrate EnOcean-based wireless solutions to wired building automation systems. The eBox is interoperable with any BACnet-compliant building management system and supports functionalities for HVAC, lighting, plug load applications as well as metering.

Magnum will also showcase additional new products, including a self-powered, ten channel temperature and humidity sensing board, which is ideal for applications inside data centers as well as refrigeration monitoring. Magnum is also launching a sensing control board that monitors and controls HVAC equipment based upon temperature, humidity and pressure inputs, but also has relay contacts for controls.

Gas Sensing Solutions will demonstrate their market leading Carbon Dioxide sensors that integrate unique mid infra-red light source and detector technology into innovative optics and signal processing. With key applications including building controls and HVAC, the COZIR ambient sensors’ combination of an ultra-low power consumption of 3.3 mW and virtually instantaneous warm-up is the ideal solution for battery or energy harvested wireless systems and hand-held devices. COZIR sensors can be powered utilizing energy harvesting technology allowing the sensor to work entirely without batteries by drawing ambient energy from light in its environment. In addition, the MISIR CO₂ sensor, which is designed specifically for the building control industry, benefits new and existing solutions with a reduction in power consumption.

ILLUMRA will feature its family of wireless relays as basis to control lights, lamps, fans, blinds, HVAC systems and security systems. This portfolio builds the basis of a cost-saving energy management system. The self-powered wireless temperature sensors, for example, can be used to set heating or air conditioning to an “economy” setting. A master switch can stop current from entering devices that draw standby power and easily ensure lights, fans, and other devices are off when exiting.

Besides the EnOcean Alliance booth, the following members are exhibiting at the AHR Expo 2014:

Delta Controls (booth 257), Distech Controls (booth 123), Dwyer Instruments (booth 159), Functional Devices (booth 228), KMC Controls (booth 179), LonMark International (booth 8637), Neptronic (booth 357), Network Corporation (booth 155), Reliable Controls (booth 118), Schneider Electric (booth 2457), Spartan Peripheral Devices (booth 247), Viconics Technologies (booth 158), WAGO (booth 388) and WattStopper (booth 219).

About EnOcean Alliance
Leading companies worldwide from the building sector collected to form the EnOcean Alliance and establish innovative automation solutions for sustainable building projects — and so to make buildings more energy-efficient, more flexible and lower in cost. The core technology of the Alliance is energy harvesting wireless technology for flexibly positioned and service-free sensor solutions. The EnOcean Alliance aims to internationalize the energy harvesting wireless technology, and is dedicated to creating interoperability between the products of OEM partners. Basis for this is the international standard ISO/IEC 14543-3-10, which is optimized for wireless solutions with ultra-low power consumption and energy harvesting. 350 companies currently belong to the EnOcean Alliance. The headquarters of the non-profit organization is located in San Ramon, California.
www.enocean-alliance.org