EIB/KNX

The KNX system is one of the world’s best control systems for lighting and building management. Recently the system has been used in many commercial sectors due to its efficiency and functionality. Some of the commercial uses include Terminal 5, , and .

The functionality of the system has many advantages including a range of switch designs to suit interior decor, consistent whole-house operation, future energy saving strategies through room occupation detection, night-time pathway lighting (one switch which automatically lights halls to a bathroom or child’s bedroom), and the all-important ‘all-off’ function to set the home into a low energy setting whilst you are not at the property. The greatest benefit with these systems is the opportunity to programme switches to do whatever you require whether to turn lights on or off, blinds up or down, or manage the heating control in any room.

The principal of the KNX system is that each module contains intelligence. The switches contain push button modules and sensors which communicate with the in wall bus coupling units which is hard wired back to the distribution board containing the dimming modules. When a command is sent from the switch is sends messages throughout the wired network to network addressed modules and network addressed switches which read the command and perform the task required.

The way the KNX system is programmed can have significant effects on energy management and the standard has been used in a study in the University of Trento (Italy) and University of Bremen (Germany) to log data between rooms set up with KNX programmed lighting & heating and rooms without. The result? The KNX controlled room could save up to 50% of the energy as compared to the normal room.

The energy saving can be attributed to the design and programming of the intelligent system which provides light sensor, which switch or dim lighting when natural light sources reach a certain level, and heating sensors, which control the heating compared to a sensored temperature. This application works well in Universities and colleges but can also be applied to residential settings.