Automation of of
Hotel systems
The hotel systems that ALOCOR offers for intelligent management of buildings contribute to the economical consumption of energy and overall resource consumption in hotel complexes. Automated solutions make guests feel even more comfortable during their stay. By investing in an automated hotel system, you also invest in a building much more environmentally sustainable.
A strategic partner of ALOCOR, whose automation and control systems can meet the needs of the hotel business and its customers, is Ekinex. Ekinex systems are developed in accordance with the international building automation standard KNX, associated with the intelligent control of all systems with just a few controllers, button or thermostat. Wall mounting products have an exclusive design and offer a wide selection of colors and materials, which allows you to always find the best match with the color palette prevailing in interior design. Fine aesthetics do not sacrifice functionality, which is enriched with many technical capabilities to provide high comfort and maximum energy efficiency in all conditions.
As well as helping its partners to cope with the emerging new challenges ahead, it contributes to the deployment of advanced telecommunications technologies that facilitate rail traffic management. The modernisation of the transport rail network contributes to the monitoring of both rolling stock and dynamic management, which contributes to an even higher level of safety of the tracks on which trainsets run.
Hotels are among the top 5 buildings in the energy consumption services sector. A typical hotel complex consumes 320 kWh/m² per year and emits between 160-200 kg of CO2 per m² of the room surface. In hotels, the main end-user of energy (about half of the total consumption) is room air conditioning, which usually includes the heating, cooling, ventilation, renovation and dewatering functions.
Internal temperature levels are also determinant of energy consumption. Full control of thermostats by guests often leads to unnecessarily high temperatures in winter and low in summer. It often happens that systems remain in operation in the absence of a reservation or while guests are away.
In these cases, the energy saving potential is significant, especially if we consider that in hotel buildings most of the energy consumption is due to losses and waste. Saving energy should under no circumstances sacrifice the comfort of guests. Therefore, the implementation of building automation systems is essential both for new building structures and in the case of renovation.
The hotel industry sector is no exception to the modern concept of sustainability. Unlike most buildings for commercial use, hotels consume resources seven days a week and 24 hours a day, so they also have greater potential to restore efficiency. Today, more and more entrepreneurs from the hotel sector require sustainability certification for their structure on their own initiative.
Building automation makes an important contribution to sustainability certification. There are several sustainability certification standards such as LEED, BREEAM, Greenstar or PassivHaus. Considering, for example, the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) protocol, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council and widely distributed internationally, building automation plays a crucial role in many assessment categories. Standard automation solutions against the KNX protocol can help obtain up to 54 out of 110 credits granted under the LEED procedure, in particular in the water, energy and atmosphere and environmental quality categories.
The concept of near-zero energy buildings was introduced by the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (2010/31/EU). This term refers to a building with very high energy efficiency in which the energy demand is very low or almost zero and must be significantly covered by renewable energy, including that produced locally or nearby.
From 2013 to 2016, the European Commission co-funded the neZEH (Near Zero Energy Hotel) project to demonstrate the advantages of transforming existing hotel structures into nearly zero-energy buildings and accelerate their renovation rate. The project involved medium-sized small hotels, which account for 90% of Europe’s hospitality structures. The pilot projects confirm the feasibility of these investments, providing technical advice to hoteliers, conducting training activities and promoting communication campaigns to raise awareness of the benefits of nearly zero-energy buildings and persuade European hoteliers to invest in projects with automated building systems and next-generation hotel systems for energy efficiency.
The intensity, direction and distribution of lighting should always be optimal; Shading with curtains or blinds should be adjusted according to personal tastes. Access to rooms and other rooms should be easy and at the same time activate certain functions such as lights, air conditioning and air ventilation, and services such as the television system or audio broadcasting enabled. Each function of the room should be easy to understand and extremely simple for guests to use.
Jointly
with Ekinex
EKINEX AUTOMATION PRODUCTS
OF HOTEL SYSTEMS
Together with Ekinex Alocor offers complete solutions for hotel rooms, including: hotel device, reader and holder of the transponder card, wall controls, room thermostats and other accessories.
Еkinex room
Ekinex’s access control system is based on transponder technology, thanks to which the system is characterized by flexibility and security.
The access-providing devices are fully compatible with the certified KNX quality system and can be combined with Ekinex Series FF and 71 for wall mounting. Ekinex’s access control brilliantly combines comfort and energy efficiency needs. It is perfectly suitable for hotel buildings that allow the construction of flexible and advanced systems in order to maximize the optimization of all services and amenities offered to guests.
Access control
The card reader model: Ekinx’s EK-TR2-TP is used to access the room. The device is installed outside the room or in other areas of the hotel requiring similar access control. Each card is equipped with an electronic circuit, after approaching the reader, transmits the unique access code. Entry is allowed or denied depending on the permission you have received.
Presence
The presence reporting device model: EK-TH2-TP is installed inside the room and triggered as soon as the card is inserted into the corresponding compartment. With this simple gesture, the system gives consent to activate usually the lighting, air conditioning or control control of the TV. At the same time, the EK-TSW monitoring software installed on the receiver computer also receives a presence signal.
Ekinex Hotel Systems
The Ekinex hotel module allows complete management of hotel room functions using a single KNX device.
Ekinex’s compact device satisfies the need to reduce the size of installation devices in electrical panels, numerous control and signaling functions are concentrated in the EK-HO1-TP model. The device has 8 modular units with a width of 144 mm, which usually require the use of multiple products, such as:
- heating, cooling and ventilation using fan units;
- lighting (direct on/off through the outputs);
- light control from the outside (motorized blinds, curtains or shutters);
- switching on / off – control of electrical appliances (through controlled contacts);
- turn off the electric lock of the access door in the room;
- access control (use of traditional readers and pockets);
- a request for assistance;
- signal to rearrange the room.
Ekinex-EK-HO1
The EK-HO1-TP device offers multiple operating options in combination with the Ekinex KNX or traditional control devices. Climate regulation, for example, can be implemented in combination with Ekinex thermostats and multisensors, with Ekinex buttons equipped with a temperature probe and thermostat function, with Ekinex interfaces equipped with NTC probe inputs and thermostat function.
EK-HO1-TP offers the possibility to configure the hotel module to connect an NTC probe and to use the climate controller integrated into the device. In this way, the system designer is left with maximum flexibility to choose the most suitable technical solution for the individual structure of the hotel and the type of guests.
Еkinex personalized solution
The FF and 71 Series Ekinex control buttons can display the symbols of the assigned function of the keys: a detail highly recommended for hotel buildings that guarantees guests an instant understanding of the available commands.
Custom Solutions
In addition, certain plates and frames can be customized with the name and/or logo of the hotel, an exquisite detail that increases the care taken by the interior designer. Similarly, the transponder cards of the access control system can also be customized at the customer’s request.
Guests are not the only ones who benefit from the presence of a building automation system in hotels. Automating of buildings with the help of Alocor and Ekinex allows the reception to check the correct operation of the various systems (such as temperature control, lighting or light control from the outside), monitor energy consumption and be informed in a timely manner of malfunctions or anomalies so as to ensure continuity of work.
Last but not least, intelligent building management offers significant savings in energy and overall resource consumption. The advantages are not reduced to improving the economic balance, but they make the building much more environmentally sustainable.
Source: Ekinex
