Clariant North America
Background
Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, has its North American headquarters located in Charlotte. The campus includes five buildings whose controls system consisted of an antiquated front end running on a desk-top computer and two systems—one old and one new— that weren’t “talking” to each other.
Clariant inquired about how to best achieve a new controls solution that could be fully accessed and managed in one location. The scope of the project would entail upgrading the older system and integrating the newer BACnet™ system into a centralized one that would provide Clariant increased efficiency, flexibility and cost savings. Integrations, like the one involved in the this project, can be tricky business if the controls contractor does not have the required experience and skill level. As an Authorized Honeywell Controls Integrator, United Automation has both.
UMC Approach
United Automation is committed to providing their customers with an “open” Building Automation System (BAS). The open Tridium® front end UAC would install as part of the new system would allow Clariant freedom of choice in controls vendors and offer cost saving opportunities in the future. There were no longer parts available for their old Barber-Coleman system and it had to be replaced, but the newer BACnet™ system would be utilized and integrated into the new centralized one.
As there were no existing drawings and/or plans to work from, the United Automation controls team developed the entire controls architecture from scratch. In addition to the challenge of any integration effort, the building would be occupied throughout the duration of the project so disruption to the business and employees had to be kept to a minimum.
Results
After completion of the project, Clariant quickly realized what a valuable tool they now had in place. Not only were they able to view all the HVAC systems in each building from one location, user-friendly graphics also made for proactive system analysis, flexible scheduling, and increased control. Even remotely, changing set points and troubleshooting were made possible. In just a short amount of time, Clariant was able to determine that the upgraded system was giving them the full range of efficiencies they were hoping for all along.
