To date, radio-based temperature sensors have found only limited use in building heating and air conditioning control systems, being generally regarded as too expensive. This situation is now set to change following the introduction by Trend of the TW/S wireless space temperature sensor and receiver:
The TW/S sensor unit from Trend comprises a thermistor sensing element and transmitter, both housed in a standard wall-mounting enclosure. As many as 32 sensors can communicate with a single receiver unit up to 200m away, and the receiver is simply plugged into the RS232 port on any Trend IQ2xx or IQ3xcite building services controller.
No justification needed:
Traditionally, wireless sensors for HVAC control have mainly been used in museums and historic buildings, where it is often a requirement that cables are not visible. Also, they have featured in offices, or in the retail sector, where partitioning is regularly moved to allow changes in floor layout. Now, because of the low cost and wirefree installation of the Trend TW/S, no special reason has to be given to justify its installation.
The sensor unit's thermistor head is accurate to 0.5oC, and sends an alarm if its batteries need replacing (typically every three years). An alarm is also generated if the receiver does not pick up a signal from a sensor. The networkable IQ controller to which the receiver connects can send any alarms to a central monitoring point, where they can be displayed on a Trend supervisor.
Even on relatively small systems there is a clear saving of up to 60% to be made from using Trend wireless sensors against conventionally wired sensors.
Trend believes that, as a result of the introduction of the TW/S sensor unit, the use of this wireless sensor technology within buildings is set to expand considerably.
The picture shows Trend's wireless temperature sensor.
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