ENOCEAN ALLIANCE | REFERENCES

BUILDING MODERNIZATION WITH BRAINS INSTEAD OF BRAWN

EnOcean-based products are now implemented in the headquarters of Telecom Italia.

Telecom Italia modernized its Milan-based headquarters while continuing to operate

By Frank Neudecker, Export Manager, Thermokon Sensortechnik GmbH

Given the increasing cost of energy and efforts to reduce MODERNIZED FAST carbon footprint, energy-efficient building modernization Self-powered technology is now implemented in is constantly gaining in significance. In office buildings in the headquarters of Telecom Italia, the country‘s leading particular, it is heating, air-conditioning and lighting that telecommunications provider. Established in 1994 and account for a lot of energy consumption. In a building headquartered in Milan, the company operates the larger that could do with renovation for example, heating and part of Italy‘s landline network with internet services, and water can even account for as much as one third of faci- is also the major Italian cellphone provider through its lity operating costs. Modern heating regulation governed affiliate Telecom Italia Mobile. by time of day and room temperature can save a lot of money in both residential and office buildings. The EnOcean-enabled products work entirely without cables and batteries. If any renovations are then car- Properly controlled networking of heating, air-conditio- ried out, removing and relocating them is speedy and ning and lighting has now become standard in new buil- straightforward. dings. If older buildings are to be operated economically and ecologically friendly, outdated installations need to HEATING, VENTILATION AND be replaced or retrofitted with energy-saving technology. AIR-CONDITIONING CONTROLLED WIRELESSLY To make the eight-floor corporate headquarters – with Although a retrofit will generally involve considerable ef- more than 40 offices on each level – more economical in fort and expense. You have to drill holes in walls and lay operation and more comfortable and convenient in sub- whole meters of cabling, creating noise, dust and dirt. sequent use, the telecommunications enterprise decided So it can hardly be undertaken while a building is occu- to modernize its old HVAC plant and link it to a central pied by people trying to concentrate on their job. There control system. is consequently increasing focus on high-performance, wireless systems with minimal power consumption that The first step was to replace all existing fan coils. This are simply and speedily installed, and without drilling any meant removing about 1000 old units. Modern electric holes in walls to route cables. EnOcean technology for fan coils were installed in their place and connected to example. RXC21.1 room controllers. These enable au- tomatic control not only of fan coils but also of chilled ceilings and radiators in individual rooms. The next step was to install 200 SRC04-FTT EnOcean/LON gateways

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All system components are integrated into the Siemens DESIGO building system.

“Pivotal for selecting EnOcean-enabled products was the flexibility and speed of installation you get from self-powered wireless technology“, says Dr. Diego Cattaneo, product manager of Siemens Buil- ding Technologies Division, the partner responsible for implementing the project. „That enabled us to modernize the eight-floor building in next to no time – without having to interrupt regular, day-to-day operations.”

from Thermokon, which were then tied to the LON bus. SMART CONTROL OF POWER CONSUMPTION The building contains a total of 14 vertical LON bus rou- Innovative technology in its corporate headquarters tes. Finally 600 Thermokon SR04 PST room tempera- enables Telecom Italia to offer its people more comfort ture sensors were installed, with setpoint and fan level and convenience, and at the same time to cut power setting. The batteryless room sensors regulate tempera- consumption by matching it to real needs. Then there ture and ventilation in the individual rooms. Information is is the attractive flexibility of installation that comes with transmitted to receivers by EnOcean standard wireless the technology. With little effort, and without damaging telegrams. A solar-powered energy storage mechanism walls, it was possible to fit the wireless sensors speedily makes operation service-free. and simply, precisely where they are of optimum benefit. “Not forgetting the cost savings on installation and any All system components are integrated into the Siemens future renovation compared to a cabled solution”, adds DESIGO system. An open platform Dr. Cattaneo. makes DESIGO compatible with all existing and future systems and components. So it is possible to both con- www.thermokon.com tinue using ready products and integrate new ones. The www.siemens.com automation system supports TCP/IP, OPC, BAC- net, EIB, LonMark, , the telephone network and the internet. A further advantage is that the entire instal- lation can also be controlled from a PC – by the DESIGO INSIGHT management station.

INSTALLING WITHOUT HINDERING Installing the 800 self-powered devices proved to be very simple. The modernization work, completed in January 2009, only took about three months. Renovation was undertaken while the company continued to operate, wi- thout disturbing its employees. The old fan coils were replaced during the night. Installation of the controllers in the various offices was possible during the day however, because no cabling had to be laid for the purpose.

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