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The definition

What a BMS actually is

A BMS, full form Building Management System, is the control system for a building's mechanical and electrical services: the chillers and air handling that cool it, the pumps that move water around it, the lighting, and the alarms that say when any of it is wrong. Sensors measure, controllers act, and a supervisory layer puts the whole building on one screen for whoever operates it.

The point of a BMS is not automation for its own sake. It is that a building's services are interlinked, cooling depends on chilled water, chilled water on pumps, comfort on all of them at once, and running them as separate boxes wastes energy and hides faults. One system seeing everything can stage the plant sensibly, prove what each part consumed, and raise one coherent alarm instead of five contradictory ones.

The systems in this guide are ones we delivered and can show: a mosque on Ras Ghurab Island, a chiller and BMS upgrade at ADNOC's MLC-MEA Learning Centre, a G+2 office at KIZAD where the BMS runs alongside Estidama energy monitoring and lighting control, and the energy management SCADA at Al Bahr Towers, which is the neighbouring discipline a BMS is most often confused with.

The parts

What a BMS controls and what it is made of

HVAC and chilled water

The largest load in a UAE building. The BMS stages chillers, controls air handling and fan coils, and holds temperatures against occupancy and ambient, which is where most of its energy saving lives. At the ADNOC learning centre the chiller plant and the BMS were modified together for exactly that reason.

Field devices and controllers

Temperature, pressure and flow sensors, valve and damper actuators, and the direct digital controllers that run each plant item locally, so the building keeps working even if the head end is down.

The supervisory head end

Graphics, alarms, schedules and trend history for the operator. On integrated jobs it also talks outwards, the energy monitoring SCADA at Al Bahr Towers reads roughly 700 power meters over MODBUS alongside the building's own controls.

Lighting and ancillaries

Lighting control by schedule and occupancy, plus the smaller services worth an alarm point. At the KIZAD G+2 office, lighting control and Estidama energy monitoring were delivered with the BMS as one controls scope.

BMS or EMS?

BMS, EMS and ENMS, and which one you are asking for

  • A BMS operates the building: it controls HVAC, pumps and lighting, and alarms faults
  • An EMS, an energy management system, measures the building: metering, consumption analysis and reporting, it proves where the energy went
  • An ENMS extends that to the electrical network itself, monitoring the switchboards and distribution, at Al Bahr Towers that means three redundant servers, 50,000 tags and around 700 meters
  • Estidama compliance in Abu Dhabi is an energy monitoring requirement, which is why the KIZAD office carries metering alongside its BMS
  • The systems overlap and are often bought together, but they answer different questions: the BMS asks is the building comfortable and healthy, the EMS asks what did that cost
  • If you only have budget for one and the building is operationally simple, meter first, you cannot manage what you have not measured

Real systems

Building systems delivered

The examples in this guide are delivered projects, documented with client, scope and equipment.

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BMS for Mosque Ras Ghurab Island

General Authority for Islamic Affairs and Endowments Crown Prince Court Emirates of Abu Dhabi

Date2014-10-10
CategoryAutomation, Panel Building

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Common questions

Questions we are asked about this

What is the full form of BMS?

Building Management System. The same system is sometimes called a BAS, a building automation system; in practice the terms are interchangeable.

What does a BMS actually control?

Chillers and chilled water, air handling units and fan coils, pumps, lighting where it is in scope, and the monitoring and alarms across all of it. Anything in the building's services worth measuring or switching can be brought onto it.

What is the difference between a BMS and an EMS?

A BMS operates the building; an EMS measures it. Energy management is metering, consumption analysis and reporting, at Al Bahr Towers ours reads roughly 700 power meters, while the BMS is the system actually running the plant. They are frequently delivered together and are not the same purchase.

Do small buildings need a BMS?

Sized to the building, yes. The mosque on Ras Ghurab Island carries a BMS scaled to a building that must simply work: HVAC control, monitoring and alarms without an operator on site. The mistake is not fitting a BMS to a small building; it is fitting a big building's BMS to it.

Can an existing building get a BMS, or only new builds?

Existing buildings are much of the work. The ADNOC MLC-MEA Learning Centre job was a modification, chiller plant and BMS upgraded on a building that stayed in service, which is a sequencing problem more than a technology one.

What is Estidama energy monitoring?

Abu Dhabi's sustainability framework requires buildings to monitor their energy and water consumption. That is a metering and monitoring scope, an EMS duty, and it is commonly delivered alongside the BMS, as we did for the G+2 office building at KIZAD.

What does a BMS cost?

It scales with the number of controlled plant items and points, the head end, and whether the building is new or being retrofitted around occupants. We quote against a points list and a plant schedule; our automation cost guide explains the drivers.

Related

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