It's easy to imagine the many potential challenges that await an HVAC system in a facility like a shopping mall. Hundreds of tenants, each with unique needs and demands merge with thousands of customers in an atrium-style environment. With large, open areas and high ceilings, these installations must be operated with multiple concerns in mind. Computrols has provided proven control solutions to these situations--and the graphic portions of these solutions have been just as big a part of each application's success. Consider that Computrols' devices are trusted to control the largest shopping mall in the world, located in Moscow, Russia just like they are for a more moderately sized mall outside of New Orleans.

Home View
From the system's home screen, the operator can already monitor outside weather conditions. Because this shopping mall is a two level building with 250 stores, facility navigation is broken down to main sections based on viewing either levels or stores.

Floor Plan View
By selecting "Upper Level" from the navigation menu, the user can immediately view that level's entire floor plan with color-coded zones indicating AHUs (Air-Handling Units). This is a very efficient means of controlling and monitoring multiple AHUs in a large system at once. Diagnosing problems that arise from one AHU becomes easier as the operator knows exactly which tenants are served by which AHU.

AHU Area View
Clicking on a colored AHU zone on the floor plan view brings the user to a screen showing an AHU's affected area. Here, two AHUs are viewed together but clearly distinguishable from one another by the color coding of each VAV device. Now the operator can easily see and quickly react to multiple thermostat readings. If a temperature reading is off, the VAV associated with it can be quickly located for correction. Even tenant names are visible. This is important as the system operator my receive problem calls that are identified by store name. Additionally, a quick reference inset view in the top right corner lets the user know where what they are viewing is in relation to the entire facility.

AHU Device View
From this high resolution 3-D model view, users can monitor the status of any device in the specific AHU system. Some device graphics even feature animations that play when the item is activated. This gives the user a clear picture of exactly what's occurring in the system.

VAV Device View
Unique 3-D graphics were again applied to the VAV device view. This screen shows the operator specifically what devices are involved in the particular VAV. Again, animations are applied to items that show movement during operation.