NRJ group: a dual BMS coordinated by Topkapi

As part of the renovation of its two Paris buildings, the NRJ group has decided to modernise the management system (BMS). There are various motivations for this project: the new building regulations, improving the safety of technical facilities and the need for complete visibility, remotely and at all times, of the buildings in rue Boileau (radio) and rue Gautier (television). No more alarms panel with limited information and which had become difficult to maintain, with the technical management opting for a centralised view of management data, choosing the Topkapi software platform. “We were looking for a scalable and durable supervision solution, not linked to any manufacturer. We wanted a system that was entirely open, to ensure we had no difficulties connecting the equipment we needed”, explains Fabien Rigot, technical and works manager at the NRJ group. The key lies in a veritable management tool to facilitate decision making in the event of any technical problems and allow action to be taken quickly to resolve any problems.

Focus on the Boileau building, for NRJ radio

“The project at the Boileau building was the most ambitious, with a significant budget of two million euros. We invested in implementing a complete BMS, with standard protocols ensuring good interoperability: BACnet and Modbus. The supervisors receive the essential information in real time from the equipment (DIRIS, generator, UPS, refrigerated unit, air conditioning, fan coil unit, AHU, etc.). Wago modules, one for each level, report the wired input/output information on non-smart devices”, explains Fabien Rigot. The BMS now covers most building application domains. 


Management system for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC):

• Optimisation of the operating time and temperature control for a more adapted energy consumption
• Maintainability of facilities and equipment

Electrical distribution management system: 

• General view in real time of all electrical parameters for the entire installation (status of circuit breakers, supervision of measurement units, etc.)
• Protect, monitor and control the entire electrical network at all times
• Monitor the quality of the electric current
• Optimise energy consumption, protecting continuity of service

Management system for alarms in all technical domains: Monitoring of floors and equipment rooms through graphical displays and the triggering of alarms in the event of an anomaly or malfunction: water leak, anomaly in the HVAC operation, generator, electricity, etc. 

Comments from the integrator

“The open nature of the Topkapi solution and the number of native protocols available were genuine advantages in this significant process. This even allowed us to quickly adapt to requests outside of the initial specifications. 
One year after delivering the project, we continue to stand alongside the NRJ group to offer advice and develop the building’s management system. The group is planning to implement smart lighting on the floors of the building, managed automatically by zone, based on brightness and whether anyone is present. The addition of CO2 detectors in car parks is another area for development.” 
Sébastien Boizard, business manager at SLTE

Focus on the Gautier building, for television

“With a smaller budget, we chose to focus our investment on the HVAC and electrical management system. Above all, we wanted genuine monitoring of the building’s energy consumption at all times. In particular, we improved the monitoring of the network harmonics with new Schneider smart meters with Topkapi, since we suffered a major failure in our power supply network. This failure also damaged the IT equipment in our equipment room, in particular the server stations used for broadcasting our programmes. We knew that by determining the origin of a disruption, with a precise history and monitoring, we would be able to find the solutions to eliminate the disruption and therefore to extend the lifetime of our equipment”. The Topkapi software platform therefore helps to improve the control of the quality of the electric current, and also monitors the building’s consumption. To extend the scope of the management system for this building, the technical division intends to supervise new equipment. “We will, for example, soon change two air handling units and add new meters. Within five years, we aim to have renewed all air conditioning cassettes to switch to smart models”, Fabien Rigot tells us.
 

Comments from the integrator

“When implementing this BMS, we in particular liked the object-oriented programming in Topkapi. In this type of project, we often encounter the same equipment several times. With Topkapi, we were able to create a series of equipment first for one floor of the building, and then replicate this equipment for the other floors. Not only does this save us time in deployment - allowing us to focus our efforts on the ergonomics of the operator interface - but it is also a measure of scalability: changes or improvements made to the objects will automatically be applied to the entire application. This also helps to avoid input errors, and to shorten the tests to ensure correct operation. Another advantage of Topkapi that we have seen is the direct calculation in the variables with scaling, for example, calculation as a percentage for the harmonics rates. And lastly, Topkapi also makes it easier to make changes to its database in bulk via Excel imports/exports.”
Christophe Baussan, engineer at  Alpha Cim

“We are currently in discussions to put the finishing touches to the BMS and integrate the supervision of an AHU (air handling unit) not only to control the air quality, but also to heat or cool the air. For this project, we will in particular add the BACnet protocol commonly used for this type of equipment.” 
Arnaud Edouart, project manager at Alpha Cim

Building management system (BMS), essential for monitoring technical faults

The viewing of operating defects in the Topkapi supervision application, essential for technical management, can quickly remove any doubts. The safety PC or safety control station, active 24 hours a day, provides an overview of the information for control of the equipment and the technical facilities. “In the event of a problem, the centrally compiled data ensures precise information is sent to the intervention teams, but also allows problems with a major impact to be anticipated. For example, when a server room is at the temperature limit, the agent can intervene before the equipment is set to safety or “defect” mode, states Fabien Rigot proudly. We can definitively say that Topkapi provides us with a precise and graphic view of the critical installations of our buildings. We monitor the incidents and the quality of the maintenance work carried out by the operator. With such a tool, we envisage in the long-term analysing certain key data such as energy consumption or the number of alarms generated, and the associated time to acknowledge them.”