Touchscreen Control Panels: Changing the Way Facilities Run
Duplex control panels have come a long way from the first iterations installed in buildings. Though many control stations can be custom tailored for nearly any application, some time and cost saving features like alarm systems and touchscreens are accelerating control panels into the future.
A Multitude of Benefits
Previously, facilities may have incurred high labor costs, as there was significant manual work. Now, that’s all changing. One of the biggest feature changes of the duplex control panels is the addition of the touchscreen. Touchscreens offer a multitude of benefits to the facility manager, such as offering a much more streamlined way to manage multiple processes and offering helpful email alerts for building maintenance reminders.
For example, the innovative touchscreen design aids building engineers to efficiently determine the reason why a pump may not have come on, thus enabling the engineers to troubleshoot quickly just by looking at the touchscreen interface.
Less Space
Engineers, along with other maintenance team members, appreciate that the touchscreen control panel takes up significantly less space. It is approximately half the size of a traditional control panel. The new and sleek design is a clean, user-friendly look, which eliminates a lot of unnecessary push buttons and lights.
> See touchscreen control panels in a HVAC Supervisory Control system.
One of the most exciting features with the newly designed touchscreen duplex control panel is that when a building engineer or facility manager wants to add a new control or system alert, it is a seamless process to add on a function later, after the system has been installed. With older systems, adding capabilities like this would be a more significant undertaking. An additional benefit is that with the new systems, adding functionality can even be done remotely by ECC over the internet using remote login capabilities. Because the system can be used wirelessly, systems can be controlled in different rooms and can even be remotely monitored through BACnet, Modbus/Modbus TCP or IP.
Touchscreen Control Panels & Outdoor Usage
The one downside of most touchscreen control panels is when it comes to the outdoors. While the touchscreen panel is not recommended for direct sunlight use and should be kept away from water or moisture, ECC does has the capabilities to design and offer additional casing for those facilities that desire the advantages of the touchscreen, but need to use the system outside.
ECC is proud to be able to respond to our clients’ desires for more streamlined and innovative tools that help cut costs; the touchscreen duplex control panel is just our latest!
If you would like more information about touchscreen control panels, contact Electronic Control Corporation and we will be happy to answer all of your questions.