Trend Importer

This tool helps collecting trend data for building automation systems.

The trend logs save trending data in building automation systems. This data collected and the trends determined from them tell you if the HVAC equipment is working as designed. Certification authorities often use this trending data to certify an installation. However, the data format or the file structure for these trend data is standardized yet across the building automation systems. FDD or the fault detection and diagnostics data use these trend data to debug a system should there be problems detected. The trend data must have clearly defined trend date, time and point value clearly determined to be useful irrespective of data format or file architecture, and is normalized in a spreadsheet to a date and time scale. Various smoothing and change of value techniques are available for proper normalization. Doing all this manually would be tedious and error-prone.

This tool helps make the engineering time necessary to a minimum. The data can be in many different formats that include vertical text files, delimited text files, fixed column width text files, SQL databases, MySQL databases or Access databases. dBase and Johnson controls dBase file formats are supported too. You would be able to design and build custom matrices from collected data files. It is possible to set the matrix beginning and end dates and times, sampling interval, add and arrange trending data columns, and apply “change of value” and “smoothing over the data collection. User defined formulas could be used. The trend data created could be exported to one, two or all available analysis tools. It is also possible to create these as Excel spreadsheets or as formatted files ready for uploading to PACART. This is a very good tool.

The trending data saved in building automation system (BAS) trend logs are used to determine whether HVAC equipment is functioning as intended, and to evaluate opportunities for energy conservation and cost savings. Trend logs are often the basis upon which new equipment installations are certified. Unfortunately, neither the data format nor the file architecture of trend logs are yet standardized across control vendors.
Before trend data becomes useful for operational evaluation and control as well as fault detection and diagnostics (FDD), the trend date, time and point value must be extracted from each trend recording, regardless of data format or file architecture, and normalized in a spreadsheet to a date and time scale. The normalization process may require correction of data anomalies as well as the application of various smoothing and change of value techniques.
The lack of standardization in recording trend logs makes the collection and compilation of accurate trending data spreadsheets a time consuming, yet necessary challenge requiring costly engineering skills. Therein lies 'the gap' ... the manual extraction, normalization, correction and compilation of BAS trending data. This manual gap in otherwise computerized and intelligent trending processes is exceptionally slow, labor intensive, a drain on expensive engineering talent, and is guaranteed to introduce errors into the trending data.
Trend Importer bridges this technology gap in the processing of trending data by offering a quick, cost effective, accurate and easy to use application that replaces and standardizes manual collection and compilation methods. Collect trending data from any source. Build custom matrices from any collected trending data regardless of source. Export custom matrices to one, two or all available analysis tools (i.e. Excel, PACRAT, Universal Translator).