• EMC Compliant: Designed to meet Class B emissions standards
• Whole System Expertise: Design and development of hardware and firmware
• Plug Into Standard Systems: BACnet and Modbus connectivity for easy integration
• Optimised for Scale: high-performance and low-cost design for volume manufacture
• Customisable Firmware and Sensor Integration: allowing for flexible bespoke solutions
• Designed for Existing Product Integration: fitting within existing enclosures for design and cost benefit

Project summary

Trends in building sensors have shifted away from analogue signalling toward digital interfaces, allowing for improved functionality and reduced wiring complexity. Our client, an established manufacturer of analogue building sensors, needed to modernise its product offering without sacrificing brand identity. Having previously relied on rebranded third-party digital products, they partnered with us to develop a set of electronics that would compete with market leaders in terms of functionality.

We engineered a new solution that integrated the required digital communication capabilities while maintaining compatibility with the client’s existing enclosures, to preserve their well-known product aesthetics and avoid the costs of plastic retooling. This new design also supports a wide range of sensor configurations, enabling tailored solutions without the need for new PCB designs for each application. With over 10,000 units already deployed, the sensors have been extremely reliable.

Core components:

• STM32 MCU
• Sensirion RH&T sensor
• SenseAir CO2 sensor

Product features:

• ±60V fault protected RS485 transceiver provides reliability in noisy environments
• Able to run from either 24V DC or 24V AC power supplies
• Pluggable terminal blocks for easy wiring and reduced risk of damage during installation
• Zero crossing detect TRIAC outputs prevent current surge during turn on
• 3x 0-10V analogue outputs can be configured to represent any of the onboard sensors
• Onboard EEPROM for storing configuration settings
• Temperature sensor with ±0.5°C measurement accuracy
• Integrated relative humidity, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and air quality sensors
• BACnet MSTP interface allows for simple discovery by building controllers
• MODbus RTU interface provides a simple, low-cost alternative for legacy installations
• Complies with EMC Class B radiated and conducted emission thresholds

Partner Electronics Scope of Work:

• Initial design concepts with client
• Circuit design through to schematic capture
• PCB layout through to manufacturing packs
• Liaising with EMS during fabrication
• Board bring-up and testing
• Refinements based on evolving client requirements

The post Case Study: Smart Building Sensor first appeared on Partner Electronics.

About Sontay

Sontay is an established, market-leading provider of sensors and peripheral devices for building control applications with over four decades of experience in improving the energy efficiency of buildings.

Based in Kent, Sontay supports a global customer base including hotels, hospitals, sports centres, factories, and providers of office space in their endeavours to create safe, clean, cost-effective workplaces with low environmental impact.

Sontay’s smart sensor range monitors important building control criteria such as temperature, humidity, quality of air and lighting, occupancy, and power use. Optimising these criteria in real time lets building operators create a safe, healthy environment for their tenants while controlling costs and making the most efficient use of available resources.

What were the objectives of the project?

To ensure that Sontay continues to meet its customers’ needs, the company relies on the development of new product lines and the improvement of existing ones. Optimising and improving its in-house processes is of equal importance.

For this project, Sontay wanted to improve the usability and reliability of its smart sensors and improve production throughput, all without increasing production costs.

About Partner Electronics

Partner Electronics is an electronics and embedded firmware design services team specialising in microprocessor circuits, wireless interfaces, power and battery systems, and video and imaging.

Partner Electronics’ design team provides its clients with access to over a dozen electronics engineers with decades of experience. The company supports large and small manufacturing businesses with their specialist skills and resources, enabling them to optimise and improve existing offerings, develop new products, and reduce time to market.

How we supported the projects

Acting as Sontay’s primary resource for electronics design, our work to improve product usability led to the development of an enhanced portfolio of sensing solutions including a bespoke BACnet and Modbus enabled range of products.

The new product family features a design with modifiable sensor configurations, as well as an improved user interface.

What are the benefits?

Monitoring environmental factors in a building requires a range of sensors and applications. By enabling Sontay’s sensor products to communicate with each other and providing a new, more user-friendly interface, our collaboration allows end customers to monitor conditions in their buildings more effectively.

In addition, the collaboration produced a sensor family that can be produced more efficiently as one product can be configured for different purposes. Sontay can now meet the needs of different customers with a single product family.

How Sontay views its collaboration with Partner Electronics

Sontay’s commercial and Marketing Director Stacey Lucas commented that “outsourcing our design requirements to a company with a high level of expertise works well for us.”

The Partner Electronics team prides itself on meeting clients’ goals and helping them to develop successful products. One of Sontay’s engineers noted that “both developments went extremely well, and Partner Electronics exceeded my expectations on completion date.” Later going on to describe the collaboration as first class.

For the Partner Electronics team, regular communication is key to ensure a smoothly running collaboration. Talking at the end of the project, one of Sontay’s engineers commented: “Keeping track of arising issues is a challenge in any big project. Our regular meetings with the Partner Electronics team made sure we did that successfully.”

How can we help you?

If you are thinking about developing a new product or redesigning an existing product, contact us today to see how working with Partner Electronics can improve your time to market, reduce risk, and improve your product.

The post Improving production efficiency for a global supplier of building control applications first appeared on Partner Electronics.