The series of posts on domotics, prepared by The Centre for Architecture Belgrade in cooperation with Cubo Control company from Belgrade, continues with the story of thermoregulation and air conditioning systems. Check out previous posts on this topic here.

Numerous types of devices and systems control the temperature, air flow and humidity in closed space. The heat transfer fluid can be air, water or gas, while the terminals themselves can come in form of radiators or panels, thermo convectors or fan coil systems.

No major alterations to the building infrastructure are required when during the installation of a domotic system of thermoregulation into your space – it is enough to install thermo programmers, sensors and actuators. As we have mentioned before in this series, the main advantage of domotic systems comes from the intelligent communication between different devices.

However, the most fun and certainly the major benefits of including the air conditioning system into the home automation system are achieved by the communication with the other subsystems – sensors that detect presence or absence of persons in a room, the closing or opening of windows and such, setting the basis for a physical type of event driven programming. An increased number of persons in a space will trigger a system that cools and ventilates the air during summer, while the opening of windows will automatically turn off the air conditioning to save energy and so on.

The system’s ability to intelligently handle the weather data, comparing it to the inside conditions is the spine of the entire communication. The updating of the weather conditions and adapting the air conditioning system accordingly is simply not possible in a conventional system.

The remote control of the HVAC systems and the real-time updates of all the parameters are possible through the standard internet protocols, a phone, a tablet, a computer or the wall touch panel.

We will also mention that the quality of air, which is defined by levels of ventilation and carbon-dioxide, is often included in the control systems and is regulated by ventilators and air filters.

It goes without saying that well-designed systems are completely adapted into space and in no way compromise the aesthetics of the space: they are purposely positioned to best suit your dynamics, rhythm, the function of the room, but also the changing weather conditions.

HVAC is a separate engineering discipline, with a rich past and an exciting future. If we wanted to explore it into detail, we would need to exceed the needs of this text. It is good to know that, like in many other areas where domotic solutions can apply, the number of possible HVAC solutions is very high and varied – whether they are applied in the existing infrastructure and solutions, or if the building is still in the design phase, the home automation systems can be successfully implemented, taking into consideration the limitations, the budget, the type of HVAC system, the design requirements and the space purpose.

The authors of the text are Radiša Jovanović, PhD. and Marko Aleksendrić, PhD. They are experienced mechanical engineers, whose field of expertise covers programming and design work, through intertwining of various technologijes.

Cubo Control is an engineering and programming studio that loves technology, automatics, Italian design, but also programming of computers and other devices: from window shades to mobile phones, from basement temperature to ship engines. It is founded with the idea to provide a unified offer of high-quality solutions at affordable prices in the field of contemporary automatics, especially domotics and industrial automatization, through careful selection of high-class equipment and affirmation of state-of-the-art concepts of comfort and energy efficiency.