„Building management systems today may provide the most positive added value in the areas of ventilation and cooling”

Not only can a smart home simplify its residents’ everyday lives through automation, but certain solutions may even reduce the impact of the property on the environment, and can provide many security and safety features. In our series, you will learn about the world of smart homes. Our goal is to provide the appropriate knowledge for decision-making and for starting to design a house.

In a smart home, there are many things that can be automated and digitally designed around us that make our lives easier on a daily basis, whether it be lighting, shading or temperature control, or access control. These building management systems are designed to best suit today’s modern household needs also in terms of engineering, building maintenance, ventilation, cooling and heating. “When looking at smart homes from the perspective of windows and doors, the average person first thinks that doors, windows and shades may be somehow operated by motor. However, compared to this, the spectrum is a lot wider and individual versions can be mixed,” says Károly Lovász, Managing Director of KAV. Then he outlines in detail what variants might exist. “If the operation of windows and doors is integrated into a building management system, it offers many unique solutions. Some only test the condition of the product. The burglar sensor, opening feature, that is, for example, if a manually operated window is open, it knows that the ventilation needs to be turned off in the room. But there are many motorizing and automation options that may be adapted to the everyday life and habits of residents. The windows could be tilted at an angle if I walk in front of them, or if I use the restroom, switching on the light lets it know that the window must be opened and then closed back with a delay of five to ten minutes. Starting with these functions, you can reach as far as logging and examining fingerprint access at front doors, then customizing lighting arrangements according to the taste of the family member who’s arrived, turning on a music player, or activating other voice-controlled gadgets in your room that were switched off until then. If the residents are not at home, the system can mimic the family members’ habits based on the data stored; turn on the lights, release the blinds and open the windows as they do in their daily lives. This ensures that the use is visible from the outside so that burglars avoid the property. ”

However, building management systems can provide the most positive added value in the areas of ventilation and cooling. They combine the movement of windows and shutters with a variety of mechanical tools to minimize the use of and investment in energy. For example, in the spring, when it senses that the outside is slightly cooler than the indoor temperature, the system will open the windows slightly and calibrate a fine draft according to the wind direction. As it ventilates the house, it also takes care of shading, because it knows that when it is sunny, it will result in a serious heat build-up behind the large glass surface. But there are also systems that monitor cooling and heating. Let’s say the system may be programmed to receive permission to pull up blinds and let in sunlight in communal areas – living-dining room, kitchen, conservatory – in cooler times, constantly increasing the temperature in these spaces. When, for example, temperatures rises above 26 degrees in a given space (or it sees a prediction in the weather forecast), it suddenly sucks this hot air out of that space, and the multi-channel mechanical ventilation system delivers it to other interior or shaded areas. This way, through heat control, it sets the optimum temperature everywhere in an environmentally friendly way. In warmer periods, this process can also be programmed in reverse: if the system senses too much heat, it shuts the doors, lowers the shading, adjusts the amount of directed light entering the interior to achieve 100% effective shading and, if necessary, turns on the air conditioning. Not only do these solutions make life easier for residents, but they also minimize the impact of the property on the environment.