Slave Actuator for Automatic Home or Building HVAC System
Author: EIS Release Date: Feb 21, 2021
Renesas' slave actuator units’ Bluetooth® 5 Mesh communication enables communication with other sensors and the actuators
Renesas' slave actuator unit(s) control a fan or HVAC in one room or section of a home or building by following instructions from the master actuator.
This can be one or all of the following fan controls: RPM of a brushless DC (BLDC) fan motor; direction of flow, i.e., in/out (and optionally swipe up/down, left/right); flow sensor (liter/min); and electrical heater 0% to 100%.
If the actuator controls an HVAC rather than a simple fan, it may have additional sensors and outputs of its own, such as an RPM of a BLDC compressor motor or a compressor pressure sensor (bar), to better control the HVAC.
An additional GUI using capacitive touch, simple push buttons, an LCD, or a combination of those can be used to display local values and enter data. A more sophisticated GUI can also be achieved via a master actuator, IP gateway, or smartphone. A real-time clock (RTC) can easily be added to switch between different operation modes depending on the day, time, holiday, and more. All RTCs can also be synchronized within the system.
- Bluetooth 5 Mesh communication enables communication with other sensors and actuators; advantages of Bluetooth 5 include:
- Secure bidirectional packet data flow
- Low power (can go down to µA average while being connected)
- Additional wiring is not required
- No additional wiring required
- Scalable speed vs. range (i.e., for four times range or a double speed option, depending on the location)
- Mains will usually be needed for the power (e.g., 230 VAC or 110 VAC or 24 VDC) from the building control system; Renesas has a comprehensive set of solutions available, depending on the exact use case