Participants programming in a LonWorks training class at the
Denver Apprenticeship School are, left to right: Bill Jackson,
Denver JATC; Mike Dale, Southwest ID JATC; Kelly Lamp, Southwest
ID JATC; Rory Berumen, Denver JATC; Jason Ogren, Denver JATC;
Michael Clow, SAC Electric Denver.
April 2004 IBEW Journal
NJATC training
available in LonWorks-Building Automation System Technology
Theres an old saying, "You snooze-you
lose." IBEW members cannot afford to be snoozing as contractors
hunt for individuals who are competent in LonWorks building
automation system technology.
The National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee
(NJATC) is sending out a wake-up call by offering comprehensive
LonWorks training. Check out the schedule and enroll now.
What is LonWorks?
LonWorks is an open interoperable platform, which was developed
by the Echelon Corporation. It enables manufacturers to create
many different devices, called nodes, which can then communicate
over a common network to provide monitoring and control in
a building or system.
Louis Acampora, Local 380,
Collegeville, Pennsylvania, member checks wiring to a LonWorks
node on a trainer during class at the NJATC in Upper Marlboro,
Maryland.
LonWorks lets the systems in buildings talk to each other.
Often components for energy management, environmental control
systems, HVAC, security, access control and lighting are proprietary
to the manufacturer of each system. Building owners are forced
to rely upon different sources of parts for each system in
the building. With LonWorks, they have a solution to the dilemma.
This new building automation system (BAS) utilizes networked
control to provide a building and system operation in which
the components can communicateand at a lower installation
cost.
The new technology does not depend upon hard-wired (switch
loop) designs to provide monitoring or control of devices
or systems. Here are some examples:
 The
San Diego International Airport needed to link a newly renovated
facility with its existing buildings since the buildings
were on opposite sides of the parking lot. To excavate and
bury new control wiring would have been cost prohibitive
and would have interrupted an airport that services more
than 14 million passengers annually with hundreds of daily
flights. The solution was a networked building automation
system that utilized the airports existing Ethernet network
to provide monitoring and control of the new facilitys
systems. Since the buildings were already connected via
Ethernet, the parking lot did not need to be disturbed.
In
Laredo, Texas, the same technology is being used to provide
electric utility customers with the capability of monitoring
electrical power usage by homes or businesses to automatically
control their appliances, limiting electric costs.
New
buildings all over the country are utilizing this networked
architecture. The Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, Trump Plaza
in New York City, the Westin Hotel in Denver and the Kennedy
Airports FAA facility in Queens all use networked controls,
rather than traditional designs.
Bellagio Hotel-Las Vegas,
Nevada, uses LonWorks system installed by members of IBEW
Local 357.
An additional value of these networked systems is their ability
to provide monitoring of the system anywhere on the network.
With the addition of Internet routers, networks can be located
in physically separated locations communicating as if they
were in the same building. Maintenance and engineering functions
can be centralized in a single location, often miles or states
away from the primary system; rather than having those functions
in each facility. Contractors and System Integrators can access
building functions and perform troubleshooting or make necessary
changes from remote locations as well.
What Is At Stake For IBEW Members?
 Since
LonWorks brings together diverse systems such as HVAC, security,
access control and energy management, many competing trades
and service providers are moving toward embracing this technology
as their own. The danger lies in the fact that once a contractor
from a particular trade is selected as the System Integrator
for that job, that contractor will control all devices that
are included in the buildings network. These electrical systems
provide control that has been and is traditionally IBEW work.
In order to insure that IBEW members continue to install,
service and maintain these systems in the future, it is imperative
to embrace this technology and learn how to install and integrate
these systems.
*A more detailed version of this article is posted on the
IBEW web site: Link to "Buildings
Arent Wired the Way They Used to Be..." or write
Jim Boyd, Senior Director, National Joint Apprenticeship and
Training Committee at 301 Prince Georges Blvd., Suite D,
Upper Marlboro, MD 20774.
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