I have spent many hours programming and tinkering around within the Priva software platform, whether it be on the older TC Select or the newer TC Engineer they are both very similar and provide the engineer with a solid platform to work in. TC Select is the engineering tool for the older HX range of controllers that are now pretty much obsolete. TC Engineer is the newer software designed to operate the Blue ID line up of Priva Controllers.
10 years ago when I started my career in this industry I was working almost exclusively with Priva controls and I honestly believe that it helped me understand plant and control theory much quicker than if I had been using an alternative controller. The reason for this is because the software forces the engineer to use graphics and text-based descriptions to create the control logic to operate the plant. The traditional wiresheets that you see on a Trend or Tridium system are non existent here, you don’t engineer your project based on switches, knobs or boolean points, you engineer it based on boilers, pumps and air handling units.
I am a massive advocate of the Priva BMS product as a learning tool for new and inexperienced engineers because of the graphic based engineering capabilities that run along side the text-based descriptions. That is not to say its for beginners only, Priva can be used to control anything just like the next system.
So why is it so good for newbies? The answer to the questions is simple, it works within a framework that prevents you from screwing up, kinda. You can go off piste and start “free-programming” if you like, but the predefined modules have you well covered and the software itself keeps you in check, you will see examples of this further down in this post.
Speed and consistancy are the benefits for experienced engineers. Priva is probably one of the easiest and fastest programming tools for an experienced engineer. A typical small school boiler house may have 2 boilers, a VT circuit and a CT circuit feeding a hot water tank. Within TC Engineer software I am confident that this can be programmed, tested, and even set up on a Touch Point display in under an hour. On top of that, you can almost gurantee that if another engineer were to pick up the project, he would immeditately know what modules had been used and where to find any required settings. This isnt always the case with wire sheet logic as there are often many ways to achieve the same outcome, Priva negates this by providing you with a standard set of software modules.
The touch point is Priva’s modern, tablet like display interface. Whilst it will not accept custom graphics with animated icons and the like, it does a great job at providing a clean and simple text-based user interface. The display is crisp and responsive, provided you do not need anything more than a text display then this can more than hold its own.
My favourite features.
1. Compose Tab
This is where all the premade modules live. Here you can search through all the available options using the drop down filters to navigate around. Engineering a project with 2 boilers which have on/off control that needs to be sequenced? Easy!
Heat production > Boilers On/Off > Boilers x2
Drag these into your project and they are here, as simple as that. Don’t get me wrong, there is now a little but of configuring to do but it is very well documented, and the options are plentiful.
Before you add the module you can always check out the documentation and graphic associated with it to make sure it is the correct one you need, this is more useful when talking about air handling units and more complex control modules.
2. The Check Function
This was breifly mentioned earlier in the post. Within the Priva platform there is a little wizard that compares what you are telling the controller to do with potentially contradicting logic elsewhere in the project, as well as other things. For example, you select a boiler control module which is reliant on the flow temperature sensor for control, but in the sensor section of the module you have selected “not included” for boiler flow. The wizard will make you aware of the error and even let you click on the error to immediately jump to the right place to correct it. This really does save time and effort especially on larger projects with more modules and sub sections.
It can go as far as telling you that a formula is incorrect, an output does not have a commanding link, some IO is not placed on the controller, the serial number of the controller has not been entered, IP addresses are conflicting, the list goes on.
3. Graphical Engineer
Each module can be configured via the graphics page that is automatically generated once you add the module. Whilst I must confess, I don’t often do this anymore, I certainly did in my early days and it really proved helpful.
As you can see from the above image, some of the elements are greyed out. This means that they are not included in the current configuration of the module. If you want to include them you can click on them and use the configuration box in the bottom of the page. Want to get rid of the boiler shunt pumps? Click on them and select “not included” it really is that simple. That will remove the pump and all associated IO such as flow switches and fault signals.
4. Controls Overlay
This is a great little tool which I often use right before I leave any site. The controls overlay will look at every single point, both hardware and software, within the controller and let you know if it is in an overriden state.
You can see that boiler no.1 has a little hand icon at the side of it. This indicates that it is in some form of manual control, this is further detailed on the last column labelled Display where you can see that it is switched off manually – The (H) indicates manual or handleiding in Dutch.
From here you can choose to jump to the page where the point is located or you can simply open the settings box which will allow you to put the point back into automatic mode without ever jumping across pages.
5. General Documentation
Whilst there are odd translation issues here and there the bulk of the documentation is very good. As I mentioned before, this software really did help me understand the standard control theory of most items of plant.
This is the documentation provided within part of the valve control section of a Radiator Group module. The radiator group module is basically a VT circuit. Room temperature compensation is a pretty standard thing that is applied to many control loops, but imagine not knowing what it was and having to program it up in a Trend or Tridium controller? Not so easy. Here it is easier, I am willing to bet that most people who did not have a clue about Room temperatue compensation would have a much better idea after reading the above text.
This is a constant throughout most of the software, there are exceptions which leave you with a few questions, but generally speaking the documentation can be used to understand what the control module is trying to achieve. There have even been occasions where I would have to program something new on the Tridium / EasyIo platform and I have reverted to Priva to check how they do it and what the different possible configurations are.
6. Settings Wizard
The software has many little “Wizards” that can run to help you throughout the process of building and commissioning a project, this might be the most powerful; especially on larger projects such as office blocks with dozens of Fan Coil Units.
This has saved me hours of time by simply allowing you to change multiple settings in one hit and you are not relying on a naming convention you have implemented because of the nature of how this system is programmed.
Below is an example of being able to open 90 fan coil unit valves in a matter of seconds. (screen shots from TC select not TC Engineer, same process applies)
First of all you select the point you want to change from a known location, in this example I have navigated to a heating valve on a single fan coil unit, you can select multiple settings at the same time if you wish.
The next page asks you what you want to change the setting to.
The software then searches through the entire project for the same setting in different modules.
All instances of the same setting are then discovered and listed as shown above. By default all of the settings are enabled, they can be individually disabled by using the tick boxes on the left if required.
Finally, click start to allow the wizard to go to work. The above setting change takes about 6 seconds to work.
7. Simulation Tool
The Priva software does not allow for any live edits of configuration whilst connected to the controller. This is probably due to the fact that the software needs to check what you have done is compatible and will work. What it does allow for though is the operation of a simulator mode whilst offline.
This sparks the software into life and allows you to properly test your logic in all sorts of situations that you can control. Not only does it allow you to check your work but it also provides you with the “standard settings” for the modules that you have configured. Before commissioning any Priva project it is common practice to start the simulator and load up the default settings. This lets the software see what modules you have used and applies standard settings to everything that can then be carried over and uploaded to the live controller once commissioned. These settings include everything from loop PID values to simple frost protection delay timers and most of the time they are pretty much exactly as you want them.
Another great feature of the simulator tool is the ability to pause time and also fast forward time at set speeds if required. This really does provide a useful insight into the operation of various control applications. I found it particularly useful when first getting my head around loop control. The ability to set the PID values and then watch it happen as you control time does go a long way towards understanding how it is working.
For more information regarding the Priva product check the following link:
Additional Information
For more information about Modbus integration within a Building Management System check out this post!
Interested in becoming a BMS Engineer?
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