AJ Manufacturing Has Made a Singular Breakthrough in Commercial HVAC Solutions for Medical Facilities, Patients, and Staff
What is BACnet?
Providers of building automation systems often use a particular tool called BACnet for the creation of safe, secure networks.
BACnet stands for Building Automation and Control network. It is a protocol that allows for interoperability between various automated building functions.
Many building management systems (BMS) today rely on BACnet for interoperability, and streamlined, efficient control of their various systems’ functions and analytics.
BACnet in the Medical Field
In medical environments, functions integrated into BACnet could include security, critical equipment control, electricity, and information security, all of which are vital to the industry’s performance. A commercial HVAC system is also integrated into a medical facility’s BMS; however, a problem arises when specialized HVAC equipment is needed in particular environments, such as a cleanroom.
A Commercial HVAC Problem in Need of Innovation
Medical facilities, though reliant on a commercial HVAC solution, also require much more than a traditional system. Medical facilities require highly specialized units to create cleanrooms for spaces like operating rooms and treatment wards, and these must meet specific industry safety standards for air quality, which can be more stringent than in other areas of the same facility.
It would stand to reason, then, that specialized air distribution systems in medical facilities should also be interoperable with a hospital’s BMS to provide efficiency, reliability, and security for these critical environments’ products. This is not the case, however, and this is where AJ Manufacturing stepped in with innovative engineering and manufacturing.
Below, we outline how AJ Manufacturing solved this problem with an innovative solution: the Criti-Clean™ Ultra Fan Filter Unit with a native BACnet feature.
AJ Manufacturing’s Commercial HVAC Breakthrough: A Criti-Clean™ Ultra Fan Filter Unit with Native BACnet
AJ Manufacturing, specializing in commercial HVAC products for the medical field, such as those found in hospitals and laboratories, identified the need for an installable cleanroom fan filter unit with a native BACnet system. A breakthrough for the safety and security of cleanrooms in the medical field, AJ Manufacturing is the only manufacturer that can provide this capability.
Because the Criti-Clean™ Ultra Fan Filter Unit device was designed as a native BACnet product, it is controllable by the principal BACnet system, which, as explained above, is also used to control other functions, such as a security system and electricity. This provides standardization across the building’s individual devices as well as efficiency and security.
Why a Fan Filter Unit with Native BACnet is a Crucial Breakthrough
Efficiency and security are the primary reasons why a native BACnet device, such as the Criti-Clean™ Ultra Fan Filter Unit, provides an advantage for medical facilities in need of specialized critical environment solutions.
Efficiency
Cleanroom air distribution systems that do not include a native BACnet feature have their own controls that are not seamlessly integrated into the building management system. Therefore, these controls do not provide streamlined analytics or functioning. The ability to streamline all systems, including the highly specialized ones that operate in specific parts of a medical facility – an operating room, for example – allows for time and personnel efficiency. AJ Manufacturing’s Criti-Clean™ Ultra Fan Filter Unit provides this efficiency.
Analytics
When BACnet is utilized for a BMS, it provides data analytics on the functioning of all systems it manages, including trend data. Different systems within the BMS can then be reprogrammed to match those trends, including the maintenance or reconfiguring of those systems to put that trend data to use. In some cases, such as in energy-efficiency analytics, data can be used to save on energy costs.
Systems that fall outside of the BACnet do not have the same level of integration, excluding them from these streamlined analytics. The Criti-Clean™ Ultra Fan Filter Unit, with its native BACnet feature, can be integrated into a BMS’s analytics, which can be critical for interpreting its analytic output, and understanding its function in relation to the BMS as a whole.
Security
Essential to a BMS in today’s world, cybersecurity is a serious consideration that medical facilities want to make when adding a new air distribution system to create a cleanroom environment. While the main commercial HVAC system is likely linked to the BMS, these individual clean room systems do not include a native BACnet, leaving them vulnerable to cyberattacks that other systems integrated into BACnet can protect against. AJ Manufacturing broke new ground when designing the Criti-Clean™ Ultra Fan Filter Unit with native BACnet because this product can be integrated into the BMS, and is not disconnected from the system at large.
The Criti-Clean Fan Filter Unit is Only Deliverable by AJ Manufacturing
A device that includes a native BACnet system uses BACnet as its sole means of communication. AJ Manufacturing has exclusively designed the Criti-Clean™ Ultra Fan Filter Unit with native BACnet as a critical environment solution.
Other manufacturers of commercial HVAC equipment do not have this capability. When designing the Criti-Clean™ Ultra Fan Filter Unit we put our motto – Critical Thinking for your Critical Environment – to the test.
Contact us to learn more about how our future-forward, innovative designs can support the security and efficiency for your business. We can be contacted at 816-231-5522 during regular business hours.