KR20100070009A - Building automatic system and building automatic method using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A building automatic system and a building automatic method using the same are provided to support the compatibility between two building devices using different protocols by switching a non-BACnet protocol to a BACnet protocol or the BACnet protocol to the non-BACnet protocol. CONSTITUTION: A router receives a request from a building device(100) and confirms the destination of the request to route the request to a controller which is charge of the confirmed destination. A first controller receives a request from the router and analyzes and transmits the request. A gateway(313) switches the request received from the router to a non-BACnet(Building Automation and Control network) protocol and transmits the switched request to a second building device(200).

Description

Building automation system and building automation method using the same {BUILDING AUTOMATIC SYSTEM AND BUILDING AUTOMATIC METHOD USING THE SAME}

The present invention relates to a building automation system and a building automation method using the same, and more particularly, to a building automation system supporting mutual compatibility of two or more building devices using different protocols and a building automation method using the same.

Recently, office buildings have been enlarged and highly functionalized, and various facilities such as air conditioning, sanitation, electric power, crime prevention, and disaster prevention are intricately combined.

Building Automation System (BAS), which is built to monitor and control these various facilities, includes Central Control Management System (CCMS), Direct Digital Controller (DDC), and Local Devices (Local Devices). It consists of

In operating the building automation system, it is reliable and very fast in order to share a lot of information necessary for the control and monitoring of various facilities and systems (air conditioning control, power control, lighting control, parking control, elevator, etc.). It is essential to build a communication infrastructure, and BACnet (Building Automation & Control Network) is adopted as the international standard of communication methods related to such building automation.

However, although devices supporting the BACnet protocol are mutually compatible, devices that do not support the BACnet protocol are not mutually compatible.

In addition, in the past, devices using different protocols were not compatible with each other.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a building automation system that supports the interoperability of two or more building devices using different protocols.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a building automation method that supports mutual compatibility of two or more building devices using the building automation system described above.

Building automation system according to an aspect of the present invention comprises a first building device for communicating using the BACnet protocol; A second building device in communication using a first non-backnet protocol; And a virtual standard support device that makes the first building device compatible with the second building device compatible with each other.

Meanwhile, the first building device communicates with at least one first object using a BACnet protocol, and the second building device communicates with at least one second objects with a BACnet protocol. And the virtual standard support device converts the first non-backnet protocol to the backnet protocol to transmit information to the first building device, and converts the backnet protocol to the first non-backnet protocol. Information may be transmitted to the second building device to make the first and second building devices compatible with each other.

The virtual standard support device is further configured to receive a request from the first building device, convert the received request into a first non-backnet protocol used by the second building device, and switch to the first backnet protocol. The requested request to the second building device.

The virtual standard support device may include a router that receives a request from the first building device, identifies a destination of the received request, and routes the determined destination to a controller in charge of the identified destination; A first controller that receives the request from the router and interprets and sends the request; And a gateway for converting a request received from the first controller to the first non-backnet protocol and transmitting the converted request to the second building device.

In addition, the gateway receives the processed response from the second building device, converts the received response into the backnet protocol, and transmits the response to the first controller, and the first controller sends a routing of the response to the router. Requesting, the router may send the response to the first building automation device.

The gateway may support at least one of TCP, UDP, Serial, and OPC.

The building automation system may further include a database storing information on protocols used by the first and second building devices, information on the first and second objects, and the like; And an agent for providing information stored in the database to the virtual standard support device.

Meanwhile, the agent may initialize the router and the first controller based on the information stored in the database.

In addition, the building automation system may further include a third building device that communicates with the plurality of third objects using a second non-vacant protocol.

Meanwhile, the virtual standard support device may make the second and third building devices compatible with each other, or the first building device and the third building device.

The virtual standard support device may further include a router that receives a request from the first building device, identifies a destination of the received request, and routes the determined destination to a controller in charge of the confirmed destination; A second controller that receives the request from the router and interprets and sends the request; And a gateway for converting the request received from the second controller to the second non-backnet protocol and transmitting the converted request to the third building device.

On the other hand, the virtual standard support device, Gateway for converting and transmitting the request received from the second building device to the backnet protocol; A router that receives a request converted from the gateway to the backnet protocol, identifies a destination of the received request, and routes it to a controller in charge of the confirmed destination; And a second controller configured to receive, interpret, and transmit the request from the router, wherein the gateway converts the request received from the second controller into a second non-Vannet protocol and converts the converted request into a third Send to building device.

Further, the gateway receives the processed response from the third building device, converts the response to the backnet protocol, sends the converted response to the second controller, and the second controller sends the response to the router. Request routing for a response, the router routes the response to the first controller, the first controller sends the received response to the gateway, and the gateway sends the response to the first non-backnet protocol Switch to transmit to the second building device.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a building automation method comprising: receiving a request from a first building device communicating using a BACnet protocol; Confirming the destination of the request to perform routing; Sending the request to a gateway to process the request; And converting the request into a non-backnet protocol and transmitting it to a second building device that communicates using the non-backnet protocol.

The building automation method also includes receiving a processed response from the second building device; Converting the received response to the backnet protocol; And transmitting the response converted to the backnet protocol to the first building device.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a building automation method includes: receiving a request from a first building device communicating using a first BACnet protocol; Converting the first non-backnet protocol to a backnet protocol; Confirming the destination of the request converted to the backnet protocol and performing routing; Sending the request to a gateway to process the request; Converting the request to a second non-bagnet protocol and transmitting it to a second building device in communication using the second non-bagnet protocol.

The building automation method also includes receiving a processed response from the second building device; Converting the received response to the backnet protocol; Confirming the destination of the response converted to the backnet protocol and performing routing; Sending the response to the gateway to process the response; And converting the response into the first non-backnet protocol and transmitting it to the first building device.

According to such a building automation system and a building automation method using the same, two or more buildings using different protocols may be converted into a backnet protocol or a backnet protocol through a virtual standard support device. It can support interoperability of devices.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a conceptual diagram schematically showing the configuration of a building automation system according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a block diagram of a virtual standard support apparatus shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 1, the building automation system 400 includes a first building device 100, a second building device 200, and a virtual standard support device 300.

The first building device 100 includes a first central monitoring computer MMI1, a first network controller NC, and a plurality of direct digital controllers DDC1 and DDC2. It includes at least one.

As an example of the present invention, although the structure in which the two control information devices DDC1 and DDC2 are included in the first building device 100 is illustrated, a greater number of control information devices may be included, and the control information devices may be mutually different. Can be connected in a subordinate relationship. Also, the plurality of control information devices may be connected to the first central monitoring computer MMI1 or other high level servers (not shown) through the first network controller NC1.

The control information devices DDC1 and DDC2 receive information from an object in a building, such as a sensor, a valve, or a damper, and transmit the information to the first central monitoring computer MMI1 through the first network controller NC1. Therefore, the first building device 100 may automatically control the objects. Here, the first building device 100 communicates between the control information devices DDC1 and DDC2 and the first central monitoring computer MMI1 using its own protocol. As an example of the present invention, the first protocol of the first building device 100 may be a BACnet protocol.

Meanwhile, the second building device 200 includes at least one of the second central monitoring computer MMI2, the second network controller NC2, and the plurality of control information devices DDC3 and DDC4. Since the configuration of the second building device 200 is similar to that of the first building device 100, a description of the configuration of the second building device 200 is omitted. As an example of the present invention, the second building device 200 communicates between the control information devices DDC3 and DDC4 and the second central monitoring computer MMI2 using a non-backnet protocol.

As such, when the first and second building devices 100 and 200 use different protocols, interworking between the first and second central monitoring computers MMI1 and MMI2 and the device is impossible.

The virtual standard support device 300 serves to make the first and second building devices 100 and 200 compatible with each other. That is, the virtual standard support device 300 converts the request message transmitted through the backnet protocol of the first building device 100 into the non-backnetnet protocol of the second building device 200 and provides it to the second building device 200. In response, the response message transmitted through the non-backnet protocol of the second building device 200 is converted into the backnet protocol and provided to the first building device 100.

Although the embodiment of Figure 1 is shown in a configuration that is compatible with the BACnet protocol building device and the non-Bacnet protocol building device is illustrative, and for example, a virtual standard device according to an embodiment of the present invention, It can perform the function of making protocol building and non-backnet protocol building compatible. That is, when the non-backnet protocol building device α intends to transmit a request message to the building device β using another non-backnet protocol through the virtual standard device, the virtual standard device may operate as follows.

The virtual standard device knows which building device α wants to send a message to after converting the message from building device α into the backnet protocol format. For example, to send a message to building device β, the request message is converted back to the protocol used in building device β and forwarded to building device β.

Referring to FIG. 2, the virtual standard support device 300 may include a virtual network controller (VNC) 311 including a router, a virtual advanced application controller (VAAC) 312, 332, and 342. , Gateway 313, database 321, and agent 322.

First, referring to FIG. 2, a communication operation from a device using a backnet protocol to a device using a non-backnet protocol will be described.

Suppose that the first building device 100 (shown in FIG. 1) uses the backnet protocol, and the VNC 311 requests from the first building device 100 (shown in FIG. 1) to the second building device. Let's say that we received a request message using the backnet protocol via TCP. Thereafter, the VNC 311 checks the destination of the received request message and determines which VAAC to go to and routes it. On the other hand, VAAC 312, 332, 342 is assigned to each device, VAAC 312 is assigned to the second building device, VAAC 332 is assigned to the fourth building device, VAAC 342 Assume that is in the fifth building device. Similarly, the fourth building device is at least one of a central monitoring computer MMI1, a network controller NC, and a plurality of direct digital controllers DDC1, DDC2. The fifth building device is at least one of a central monitoring computer MMI1, a network controller NC1, and a plurality of direct digital controllers DDC1, DDC2.

The VNC 311 confirms that the received destination device is the second building device, and transmits (ie, routes) the message to the VAAC 312 corresponding to the second building device.

The VAAC 312 receives the request message from the VNC 311, interprets the request message, and sends it to the gateway 313. The VAAC 312 transmits a reply directly to the VAAC 312 if the message requested from the VNC 311 determines which service is requested and can be immediately determined, but if it is necessary to obtain data from the device. The request message is transmitted to the gateway 313. For example, the service that can be immediately determined can be immediately answered without asking the device to be requested whether the device to be requested is read, written, or both read and write. Do. In contrast, when a data value of a specific point of a corresponding device is requested, the data is transmitted to the gateway 313 because such data is to be obtained from the corresponding device.

In general, services supported by the BACnet protocol include Read Value, Write Value, Read Value Batch, Write Value Batch, Register Object, Delete Object, Alarm Notification, Alarm Response, Alarm Summary, Target Query, Target Response, and Time Synchronization. Can be mentioned. The VAAC 312 according to the present invention, when a service request comes from a device supporting a backnet protocol or a non-backnet protocol, determines whether such a service is supported, and if it can be answered immediately (e.g. And the like, but the request message is transmitted to the gateway 313.

The gateway 313 converts the request message composed of the backnet protocol into the non-backnet protocol (i.e., the protocol used in the second building device), and converts the converted request message into the second building device 200 (shown in FIG. 1). send.

Here, the gateway 313 may transmit a message converted to a non-backnet protocol in various ways, for example, TCP, UDP, Serial, or OPC. Such TCP, UDP, Serial, or OPC and the like are exemplary and not limited thereto.

Again, the gateway 313 receives a response message consisting of the non-backnet protocol processed from the second building device 200, converts the received response message into a backnet protocol, and sends it to the VAAC 312. The VAAC 312 requests the VNC 311 to route the response message, and the VNC 311 sends a response message composed of a backnet protocol to the first building device 100 (shown in FIG. 1).

The gateway 313 includes a means for protocol conversion of devices using the non-backnet protocol (hereinafter referred to as "driver"), thereby providing compatibility between the device using the backnet protocol and the device using the non-backnet protocol. It can be simple. In other words, by allowing the gateway 313 to provide a driver of a device using a non-backnet protocol in advance, compatibility between devices using different protocols can be easily implemented.

In addition, the database 321 may include information about protocols used by the first and second building devices 100 and 200, and information about the first and second objects included in the first and second building devices, respectively. And attribute information of the VNC 311 and the VAAC 312 are stored. The attribute information of the VNC 311 and the VAAC 312 may include not only the network address of the backnet required for the device to communicate with, but also various parameter values required for the communication. For example, information about packet size, or whether segmentation is supported or not is included. Agent 322 initializes VNC 311 and VAAC 312, 332, 342 based on the information stored in database 321.

Meanwhile, in the above embodiments, the first building device is described as one and the second building device is described as one, but each of these buildings may include a plurality of devices. If it includes a plurality of devices, VAAC is provided with the corresponding number.

The device may be, for example, HAVC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning), lighting device, sensor, etc., each device may have at least one point of control. Points are responsible for measuring and controlling the actual data on the device, and the state of the point can be detected either as numerical or as status data (e.g. binary or analog form) indicating the situation at the site.

Hereinafter, the operation of the building automation system illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described.

3 is a block diagram illustrating communication between the first building automation device and the second building automation device, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the communication process illustrated in FIG. 3.

3 and 4, the VNC 311 receives a request message made of a backnet protocol from the first building device 100 (S401). The VNC 311 checks and routes the destination of the received request message (S402). Here, in the routing step, first, information about the destination of the request message may be compared with information previously stored in the routing table, and the routing may be performed to match the previously stored information. Here, the routing table may be a VAAC list corresponding one to one to the device.

The VAAC 312 receives the request message from the VNC 311, and interprets the request message to determine whether the service is a supported service (S403). As a result of the determination, if the service is supported, the request message is transmitted to the gateway 313 (S404). However, if the service does not support an error is returned (S405). The gateway 313 converts the request message composed of the backnet protocol to the non-backnet protocol and transmits the converted request message to the second building device 200 (S406).

Next, the gateway 313 receives a response message consisting of the non-backnet protocol processed from the second building device 200 (S407). The gateway 313 converts the received response message into a backnet protocol and transmits the result to the VAAC 312 (S408). The VAAC 312 requests the VNC 311 to route the response message, and the VNC 311 transmits the response message composed of the backnet protocol to the first building device 100 (S409).

As such, the first building device 100 using the backnet protocol and the second building device 200 using the non-backnet protocol may be mutually compatible through the virtual standard support device.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating communication between a second building device and a third building device according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a communication process of FIG. 5.

5 and 6, the gateway 313 receives a request message made up of a first non-backnet protocol from the second building device 200 (S601). The gateway 313 converts the request message to the backnet protocol and transmits the converted request message to the VAAC 312 (S602). The VAAC 312 transmits a request message to the VNC 311, and the VNC 311 checks and routes the destination of the request message (S603).

Since the destination is the third building device 500, the request message is routed to the VAAC 314 corresponding to the third building device 500, the VAAC 314 receives the request message from the VNC 311, and the request message. The service is determined to determine whether the service is supported (S604). As a result of the determination, if the service is supported, the request message is transmitted to the gateway 313 (S606). However, if the service does not support, an error is returned (S605).

The gateway 313 converts the request message composed of the backnet protocol to the second non-backnet protocol and transmits the converted request message back to the third building device 500 (S607).

Next, the gateway 313 receives a response message composed of the second non-backnet protocol processed from the third building device 500 (S608). The gateway 313 converts the received response message into a backnet protocol and transmits it to the VAAC 314 (S609).

The VAAC 314 requests the VNC 311 to route the response message, and the VNC 311 routes the response message composed of the backnet protocol to the corresponding destination (that is, the VAAC 312) (S610). The VAAC 312 receives a response message from the VNC 311 and transmits the received response message to the gateway 313 (S611). The gateway 313 converts the received response message back to the first non-backnet protocol and transmits it to the second building device 200 (S612).

As such, the second building device 200 using the first non-bagnet protocol and the third building device 400 using the second non-bagnet protocol may be mutually compatible through the virtual standard support device 300.

Although described with reference to the embodiments above, those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention can be variously modified and changed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Could be.

1 is a conceptual diagram schematically showing the configuration of a building automation system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the virtual standard support device shown in FIG. 1.

3 is a block diagram illustrating a communication process between a first building device and a second building device.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a communication process illustrated in FIG. 3.

5 is a block diagram illustrating a communication process between a second building device and a third building device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a communication process of FIG. 5.

* Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

100: first building device

200: second building device

300: virtual standard support device

311: VNC

312, 332. 342: VAAC

313: Gateway

321: Database

322: agent

Claims (17)

A first building device communicating using a BACnet protocol; A second building device in communication using a first non-backnet protocol; And And a virtual standard support device that enables the first building device and the second building device to be compatible with each other to enable communication between the first building device and the second building device. The method of claim 1, The first building device communicates with at least one first object using a BACnet protocol, The second building device communicates with at least one second object using a BACnet protocol, The virtual standard support device converts the first non-backnet protocol to the backnet protocol to transmit information to the first building device, and converts the backnet protocol to the first non-backnetnet protocol to the second building device. Building automation system, characterized in that for transmitting the information to make the first and second building devices compatible with each other. The device of claim 1, wherein the virtual standard support device comprises: Receive a request from the first building device, convert the received request into a first non-backnet protocol used by the second building device, And send the request converted to the first BAC protocol to the second building device. The device of claim 1, wherein the virtual standard support device comprises: A router receiving a request from the first building device, identifying a destination of the received request, and routing to the controller in charge of the confirmed destination; A first controller that receives the request from the router and interprets and sends the request; And And a gateway for converting the request received from the first controller into the first non-backnet protocol and transmitting the converted request to the second building device. The method of claim 4, wherein The gateway receives the processed response from the second building device, converts the received response into the backnet protocol, and transmits the response to the first controller, The first controller requests the router to route the response; And the router sends the response to the first building automation device. The building automation system of claim 4, wherein the gateway supports at least one of TCP, UDP, Serial, and OPC. The database of claim 4, further comprising: a database storing information on protocols used by the first and second building devices, information on the first and second objects, and the like; And And an agent for providing information stored in the database to the virtual standard support device. 8. The building automation system of claim 7, wherein the agent initializes the router and the first controller based on information stored in the database. The building automation system of claim 1, further comprising: a third building device in communication with the plurality of third objects using a second non-bagnet protocol. 10. The method of claim 9, And the virtual standard supporting device makes the second and third building devices compatible with each other, or the first building device and the third building device with each other. The device of claim 10, wherein the virtual standard support device comprises: A router receiving a request from the first building device, identifying a destination of the received request, and routing to the controller in charge of the confirmed destination; A second controller that receives the request from the router and interprets and sends the request; And A gateway for converting the request received from the second controller into the second non-backnet protocol and transmitting the converted request to the third building device. The device of claim 10, wherein the virtual standard support device comprises: A gateway for converting and transmitting a request received from the second building device into a backnet protocol; A router that receives a request converted from the gateway to the backnet protocol, identifies a destination of the received request, and routes it to a controller in charge of the confirmed destination; And And a second controller for receiving the request from the router, interpreting the request, and transmitting the request. The gateway converts the request received from the second controller into a second non-bannet protocol and sends the converted request to a third building device. The method of claim 12, wherein the gateway receives the processed response from the third building device, converts the response to the backnet protocol, and sends the converted response to the second controller, The second controller requests routing for the response to the router; The router routes the response to the first controller, The first controller transmits the received response to the gateway, The gateway converts the response into the first non-backnet protocol and transmits the response to the second building device. Receiving a request from a first building device in communication using a BACnet protocol; Confirming the destination of the request to perform routing; Sending the request to a gateway to process the request; And And converting the request into a non-backnet protocol and sending it to a second building device that communicates using the non-baeknet protocol. 15. The method of claim 14, Receiving a processed response from the second building device; Converting the received response to the backnet protocol; And And sending the response converted to the backnet protocol to the first building device. Receiving a request from a first building device in communication using a first BACnet protocol; Converting the first non-backnet protocol to a backnet protocol; Confirming the destination of the request converted to the backnet protocol and performing routing; Sending the request to a gateway to process the request; Converting the request to a second non-bagnet protocol and transmitting the request to a second building device in communication using the second non-bagnet protocol; The method of claim 16, Receiving a processed response from the second building device; Converting the received response to the backnet protocol; Confirming the destination of the response converted to the backnet protocol and performing routing; Sending the response to the gateway to process the response; And And converting the response into the first non-backnet protocol and transmitting the response to the first building device.

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