Air Handling Unit Monitoring and Control System Based on Internet of Things

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) contributed to developing new concepts of monitoring and control systems for Air Handling Units (AHU). This paper proposes a modification of the traditional temperature monitoring and controlling system in AHU to a system based on the principles of the IoT. This is to take advantage of the features and characteristics of the Internet of things in accessing the system, following it up, and modifying it, Also evaluate the extent of reliance on software instead of hardware if the physical controller is replaced with a cloud controller in terms of data transfer rate and security of communication between the controller and field devices. The proposed system is applied to a real AHU. In the proposed system, the existing traditional temperature sensor and actuator are modified to be connected to the internet. With this modification, data can be received and sent with the IoT platform. So, the physical controller is replaced by a cloud controller on the IoT platform to receive the sensor readings and send the control signals to the actuator. Moreover, it configures a temperature alarm mails system to be sent to the authorized people in case of the temperature value is out of limits. The proposed system gives remote access to display the temperature readings and the controller’s output. Thus, the performance of the system can be monitored with the ability to modify the controller to suit the system’s needs.