The lighting controls industry continues to take small steps toward lighting-HVAC controls integration. This post will dig into the new Light Solutions Application Guide from Autani-LiteTrace and give a quick overview of their system’s approach and capabilities.

As context, Autani (BMS) and LiteTrace (Keilton Bluetooth lighting controls) merged last year. The merger’s original motivation had to do with combining LiteTrace’s Bluetooth gateway-free room-based lighting control system with Autani’s protocol-agnostic IoT platform and online dashboard, as well as for complete building management. However, they quickly realized one of the ideal strategies was to capitalize on lighting-HVAC control integration energy savings.

Their new Light Solution Application Guide covers many topics, but this post will only focus on lighting-HVAC integration. The Autani platform delivers a unified dashboard for an entire building automation ecosystem. Their solutions readily integrate with existing infrastructure to provide:

• Granular monitoring and control with standalone sensor solutions
• Local room-based systems for gateway-free control
• Networked building management systems
• Global enterprise-grade analytics across portfolios

Generally, Autani’s thermostat (T-32-P) is compatible with the same system types that a Nest supports. (not larger systems such as VAVs, boilers/chillers, zone systems, etc.). Once connected to EnergyCenter users have:

• Easily managed schedules for dozens of thermostats from a single dashboard (key differentiator from Nest).
  + Advanced setpoint management by associating supported occupancy sensor to thermostats.
• BACnet support for HVAC and Lighting
• Advanced reporting and energy estimation engine.

The Guide defines 9 energy-saving strategies for the system (see second image below). Three lighting+HVAC strategies are:

• Occupancy / Vacancy Sensing can save 10-40% of lighting energy in spaces implemented.
• Temperature setback of HVAC equipment based on occupancy or timeclock can save 10-25% of electric cooling and heating energy.
• Demand Management for lighting and HVAC electrical loads can limit ratchet charges and periods of peak demand pricing. This can save 10-40% of lighting + HVAC energy use during peak periods.

HVAC energy savings is significantly larger than lighting energy savings (typically 4 times larger), and is a large new source of energy savings for networked lighting controls (NLC).

The Sequence of Operations for an Office Building Application provides the following details for Lighting Thermostat Timeclock Control & Scheduling. This sequence of operations is per the 2021 IECC C405.2.3 and C406.4:

1. Set high-end trim/institutional tuning maximum light level to [80%].
2. EnergyCenter software timeclock turns interior lights on to [50%] light level during scheduled normal hours of operation.
3. During scheduled unoccupied hours, all non-emergency interior lighting systems are [swept off] or [dimmed to [30%]]. If occupancy is detected, the lights in the occupied rooms remain on and the occupancy will be logged.
4. Local manual overrides set to allow lights to remain on for [2 hours] maximum.
5. Exterior lights turned on/off via an astronomical timeclock. Lights turn on to [80%] [15 minutes] before sunset, and turn off [15 minutes] after sunrise.
6. Exterior lights grouped to enable automatic dimming from [100%] maximum to a minimum of [50%] between the hours of [12 AM] and [6 AM] with a manual override to full on. See IECC C405.2.6.3

7. Timeclock schedule to automatically setback room thermostats [5 degrees F] during unoccupied hours. Timeclock to reset thermostats to occupied mode [1 hour] prior to normal occupied operations.

The guide defines four levels of lighting controls:

1. Basic, standalone
2. Local room-based
3. Networked (building)
4. Insight (building portfolio / campus)

Autani-LiteTrace’s new Light Solution Application Guide is available to download here.

All images: Autani-LiteTrace

David Shiller

David Shiller is the Publisher of LightNOW, and President of Lighting Solution Development, a North American consulting firm providing business development services to advanced lighting manufacturers. The ALA awarded David the Pillar of the Industry Award. David has co-chaired ALA’s Engineering Committee since 2010. David established MaxLite’s OEM component sales into a multi-million dollar division. He invented GU24 lamps while leading ENERGY STAR lighting programs for the US EPA. David has been published in leading lighting publications, including LD+A, enLIGHTenment Magazine, LEDs Magazine, and more.

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