Fire Safety in Smart Buildings
We’re seeing all aspects of our lives become smarter as technology advances. From our phones to our homes and now to commercial buildings, we are surrounded by technology. We are not only designing buildings that improve efficiencies, but also buildings that make our lives easier. Consider a structure that understands your heating and lighting preferences based on the time of day. Depending on the number of people in the building, a smart building will turn them off or on.
What are smart buildings and how do they work?
Smart buildings contain integrated technology systems that control and automate IoT (Internet of Things) applications, procedures, and processes, as well as collect data to improve internal operations. Smart buildings provide a level of connectivity through their intelligent networks, which are powered by advanced software and interfaces to provide control over a variety of aspects, including heating, lighting, room scheduling, energy consumption, air ventilation, and fire safety and security.
By integrating these systems into their smart building’s network, smart buildings have revolutionized the capabilities and control a business has over its fire safety and security. Integrating fire safety and security into smart buildings can have enormous benefits for employees, the building, and the overall business, from data analysis to automation.
What are the Advantages of Smart Structures?
Smart buildings have a number of advantages that benefit both the company and its employees.
Get Access to Smart Data
Smart technology allows you to receive smart data that will provide you with a detailed understanding of how IoT systems work and how efficient your processes are. Do you want to know who is in your building and where they are? What are the statistics on security system triggers, as well as your overall energy consumption? All of this data can be collected and presented in one unified space by a smart building.
Efficient Energy Consumption
A smart building provides the data necessary for optimal efficiencies, which means that all integrated systems can be controlled to reduce unnecessary energy consumption and thus improve the building’s overall environmental impact.
Access control and motion sensors, for example, can detect whether or not someone is present in a room. If they aren’t, lights and heating/air conditioning can be turned off automatically. Furthermore, appliances that are not in use can be programmed to turn off automatically.
Detection of Faults Automatically
Smart buildings have the advantage of constant data, allowing for real-time monitoring of all systems. The ability to monitor and identify system faults is extremely beneficial to a company because the fault can then be automatically sent to the monitoring provider or building management team. This not only makes the workplace safer for employees, but it also eliminates the need for someone to notice and report a problem.
Find out how the building is used
The ability to learn how the space is used is a key benefit of smart buildings that is often overlooked. Motion sensors, access control, and CCTV are excellent tools for determining which areas are at risk in the event of a fire, a security breach, or even which meeting rooms and desks are available for use.
Increased Productivity
The most well-known benefit of smart buildings is their ability to increase efficiencies, not only in the individual systems but also among employees. Because of the controlled environmental impacts, such as the level of air ventilation and the automation of certain tasks, employees will be able to work more productively.
Cost-cutting
Smart buildings also have the financial benefit of lowering overall costs. This is primarily due to increased overall efficiencies achieved through data analysis and automation, which aid in the elimination of inefficient energy use, employee productivity, and building space utilization.
How Can a Smart Building Integrate Fire Safety?
With the use of wireless, cloud-based, and app-based systems, improved fire safety can be easily integrated into a smart building. When temperature sensors determine whether a piece of equipment is overheating and smoke alarms automatically activate an emergency response, a smart building can significantly improve fire safety.
We can integrate fire alarms, emergency lighting, fire extinguishers, and fire suppression systems into a smart building that can be controlled from a central control point and work alongside existing systems like CCTV, motion sensors, and heating. A smart building will not only be able to detect a fire, but it will also be able to take the necessary steps to prevent one from occurring in the first place.
How can a smart building’s security be integrated?
Security, like fire safety, is easily integrated into a smart building and is critical to keeping a building and its occupants safe.
Motion sensors and intruder alarm systems, for example, can be combined to detect an intruder in a specific area of the building. After that, access control can be used to prevent the intruder from moving around the building until the authorities arrive.
Waterline Controls™
Our level sensors and controls aren’t just for use in residential potable water holding tanks; some of the other applications include cooling towers, sump pumps, wastewater, boilers, water storage tanks, and building fire protection water tanks.