Open Source

This page covers the governance of our open source project, a well as the goals.

GitHub

https://github.com/heatweb/plumbing-controller

What can we offer to the Community?

Technical Expertise in Plumbing and HVAC equipment control. From the BBC's Tomorrow's World in the 1980's through to Channel 4's recent Escape to the Chateau, our inventions have become commonplace in the plumbing and renewables heating industry. We have had the best independent testing records for HIU's (for communal heating) for 5 years running, and we have contributing authors to most industry guidance that exists relating to plate heat exchangers, thermal stores, or heat networks. For 40 years we have lived at the bleeding edge of plumbing and nobody can touch us on depth of experience. On the ground, this means we can provide software function blocks that work efficiently, safely, and follow guidelines, for all heat sources.

Technical Representation. We are in a unique position as the only organisation to have contributed to guidance for both the CIBSE and the CIPHE. On top of this we have sat on a number of DECC/BEIS technical bodies, including the RHI, MMSP, and more recently SAP. We were also recently responsible driving through corrections to CIBSE Guide B, relating to pipe sizing. We can help elevate matters to the highest levels based on data and expert witness. We see this as important when it comes to communal heating and heat networks, where end users are often outside the sphere of influence and knowledge about the efficiency of the systems they live with. Oversight from Ofgem has been very slow in coming and is still in consultancy stages. We are confident a community of well informed end users, armed with hard data, is the best solution.

Hardware Tools. One of the key outputs from our funded project is an I/O board that connect HVAC equipment to common PLCs such as the Raspberry Pi and ESP32. As an OEM, we have been able to deliver an I/O board that can handle most combinations of heating and hot water system, along with metering over M-Bus and commercial equipment control over Modbus. This board is available to the community to enable almost any project to be undertaken.

Application Tools. Wiring up HVAC controls can be a dark art, requiring knowledge of NTC charts, Modbus registers and the rest. We have developed a tool-chain that allows a plumbing application to be designed visually (on this site... https://hwwiki.ddns.net/index.php/Wiring_Editor) and then exported into a controller for immediate deployment. This is based on the GoJS graphics library, using palettes of components that contain the required information, similar to how PCB design now works with libraries on components. We will be adding value by continually adding and updating component libraries, and assisting other manufacturers in doing the same (hopefully).

A Working Stack, and Composer. Little of what we are doing on the software is new. We are making optimum use of the best open source tools we can find, and combining them to create a working stack that can monitor and control plumbing and heating equipment. To do this properly has taken time - as well as working through the software tools available to find the diamonds - Node-RED, Docker, Portainer, GitHub, MQTT, InfluxDB, Grafana, IPFS, the CM4 and Raspbian - we have had to implement these in the real world, and then refine the applications to achieve industrial levels of reliability and security. We are now at a point where the software stack is in use in hundreds of properties, and running equipment at all points on communal heat networks, from boiler plantrooms through to heat network substations and remote sensing, in both the private and local authority sectors. We are confident this software stack is a disruptive technology that can revolutionise the HVAC industry. The Composer we have developed during the project is, however, very new. We have taken the principles used in Docker Compose and applied them to Node-RED, allowing us, for the first time, to be able to compile complex applications built up from individual Node-RED flows. The Composer allows an application to be developed using building blocks (flows and containers), deployed in a sequence along with settings, system commands, and customisations, while handling the credentials required for deployment. This sequential instruction sheet allows the application to be redeployed from scratch, on the same or another system. They key benefit is one can evolve a Node-RED flow in isolation to perfect a certain function and make this available to the community as a plug in.

A Plan. Achieving net zero is not going to be easy, whichever way you look at it. But, the biggest risk, and a significant elephant in the room, has to be fact that every previous government attempt to grow renewables has been pretty much disastrous. There are positive metrics, but as insiders in the industry we have seen how RHI claims were commonly abused, with money going to heating chicken sheds without a roof, and fossil fuels used where renewables are claimed. One only has to look to the problems caused by RHI in Ireland to understand that throwing money at renewables can do more harm than good. What has always been missing is the feedback of data, so that money spent on renewables not only provides a carbon saving, but communal knowledge - feedback allowing the next systems to improve. Our plan is to work out the best practices for each type of renewable system in a matter of months rather than years, using data from the real world. We aim to document and provide the tools needed to replicate the most efficient systems. We aim to circumvent guidance - which appears to be roughly 10 year out of date at any one time (and we wrote much of it) - by measuring outcomes and proving what works best. The plan is to stop following opinions, and to start following the data. Don't rule out anything, until the data says so. And when the data says its no good, move on.

We believe that people power, coupled with technical expertise and armed with data, can move mountains.

New users and comments welcome.

What we hope to gain from the Community

• A customer base for our open control products and zero carbon technical services
• Feedback and direct help to improve the technology in our products
• Data that can be used as an evidence base by researchers and industry experts to update guidance
• Reduced internal staff costs
• Greater access to expertise of all kinds
• A large number of willing test subjects allowing us to conduct large scale experiments where a specific technical question needs answering.

Everything contributed by the Community will covered by open source licences (Apache 2).

Presentation to UKDEA

To view a full presentation about our Heat Network Optimisation services and various other topics, please watch the video below. You will find our Heat Network Optimisation presentation beginning at 1 hour in.

This whole presentation should be of interest to anyone wanting to improve the efficiency of a heat network, with a presentation from the BEIS Heat Network Team regarding HNES.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OlJQ8N8lco&t=3625s

Governance

This is work in progress - as an open source project it always will be.

At the moment we are driving the project. The collaboration we have in field trials is of great value, and steers the project, however we have a clear vision of what we need to deliver and intend to do so.

If the project gain the traction we hope, then we intend to work with collaborators to decide on direction. We have, at a technical level, some clear plans (experiments) that we believe the community will get behind, and we would intend to approach the community with these as they develop. For example, CIBSE could do with lots of hard data on tap use to create a new set of hot water diversity curves, and we would like to conduct a study on how well heat pumps perform in general. We believe these missions will be drivers for new members.

Maintaining technical standards is fundamental to the project. We are of the opinion that HVAC related functions will generally require significant technical review and testing before making it into the core project. A certification process is anticipated, with medals from various organisations.

Startup

• Create offering
• Create landing page
• Promote
• Nurture

The Bacon Method (from People Powered by Jono Bacon)

Mission Statement

The project aims to provide open source industrial grade control and monitoring to HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) and plumbing in general, with a defined targets of

• saving carbon
• increasing transparency
• improving efficiency
• reducing running costs
• rapid evidenced results
• ensure that government policies are data driven, by providing the data

We aim to provide the community with the tools required to make changes and savings in carbon.

Community Engagement Model

All of them: "Daddy I want a squirrel"

• Consumer - simple engagement to consume the service of providing data
• Champion - help us save mankind and the planet from demise
• Creator - turn IoT technology into measurable CO2 savings

Big Rocks for 2023

• Smarter Metering - a standard methodology for monitoring and improving the efficiency of a standard gas boiler or heat pump installation. Target pay back time of 1-2 years. At a technical level this uses room temperature sensing to adjust flow temperatures of boilers to maximise efficiency. The idea is to combine the data from metered systems, and as a community measure the effectiveness of control strategies to arrive at the best solution for each dwelling. The cost should be under £500, and the aim is to achieve 25% energy savings by controlling to a steady state temperature rather than cycling on/off. At the very least the system should be able to analyse current operation and recommend the best user settings, provide remote control, and optional occupancy detection. Numerous trials have already been conducted and the methods are understood.
• £20 Monitoring - close to Smarter Metering, but reduced to the simplest monitoring of up to 8 temperatures. The final output is likely a Raspberry Pi Zero W or ESP32 with some DS18B20 sensors, leveraging the existing Heatweb data infrastructure to provide historical data storage and online monitoring. The aim of this is to solve problems, provide evidence, and to get a few days or weeks of data that can be commented on by experts in the community, and run through the latest AI analysis tools at no extra cost. Uses customers WiFi to keep equipment costs so low.
• Generic Domestic Renewables Controller - pin down the standard renewables combinations of solar thermal, PV, heat pump and biomass into a standardised application format. All the elements of the control already exist and can be performed using the I/O board developed under the project. This application will effectively generate complete installation instructions, mechanical and electrical, as well as the operational software and links to a database for monitoring. It will be of a level to be used by professional installers, drawing heavily from standards and current best practices, and laying down the requirements for qualifications and safety. This application aims to bring together OEMs, installers, consultants, and end-users, allowing all to contribute to the application. End users will be able to view the detailed operation of their systems in Grafana, with summaries of energy use and generation in a form that's easy to understand. They will also have system health alerts, and remote control. Installers will have clear customised instructions on integrating the renewable technologies, usually around a hot water cylinder or thermal store. They will be provided with customised wiring diagrams, schematics, and check lists that can be built from contributions by OEMs or from community experience, as well as the control logic to run the system. A first version of this application will come from our current funded project, completing in March 2023.
• Establish a community led performance monitoring database in the UK. There is a need to replace the old EMBED database that was run by the Energy Saving Trust to hold data from funded projects. Some 15 years ago there were a series of funded renewables installations across the UK to determine what works best. The data is now lost, simply because there is nowhere to put such valuable data - what is the point of expensive funded research projects if the results go in the bin? The current version we have developed uses both InfluxDB and IPFS to store data. We aim to work with the community, Ofgem, BEIS, UKERC, the EST and others to put in place a once and for all data storage system that society can use for achieving net zero.
• Industry Standard Heat Network Control - we both contributed to standards and work in the industry that (doesn't) follows them, and we know that it will be far quicker to open source the standard methods than wait for consultants to understand the changes, include them in designs, and then for installers to get it right [apologies to those consultants and installers that break with the tradition of incompetence]. Controlling a heat network is pretty simple really, yet it is rarely done right. We aim to take the latest CP1 (Codes of Practice) methodology and build this into a standard application that runs on an open source controller. Industry experts, OEMs, and installers, can all contribute to the application. This application is roughly 70% complete, with al the elements working in isolation in the real world. It needs pulling together into a user friendly application using the final architecture (pulling into Composer).
• Composer Release 1.0 - our new application for installing complete Node-RED / Docker stacks. This is the setup application we are using to deliver working renewables and monitoring applications.
• Putney Plaza Perfected - Putney Plaza is a heat network of 149 properties that uses boilers, CHP and heat pumps, and is one of our field trials. The lessons learned from Putney apply to thousands of buildings and to get Putney working to perfection will provide a template for others to follow. Putney is unique in we are dealing directly with tenants. The instructions to engineers come from the residents on the basis of facts learned from monitoring. Some of the equipment at Putney never worked and we we are already making a difference. With 149 properties tied together on a common heating system, Putney is already a community. By saving everyone significant money, and by improving services, we hope Putney will act as a beacon for how a community can take back control.

Mega Rocks for 2024

• Open metering and billing. To provide end users on heat networks a community driven option for metering energy use and managing payments. If you live with prepay heating, you know when it runs out, especially if you are in the shower. We have tried for some time to get billing companies to adopt smarter prepay functions, making use of what is available on a modern HIU (the box makes the water hot). For example, why not simply reduce tap temperatures over say an hour, so there isn't a hard cut-off. Or how about an economy mode so when in emergency credit the system drops to maximise efficiency and keep services going as long as possible. Or how about been as interested in saving energy as taking the money. There is a lot that can be done to improve the situation while maintaining the cash flow, and this project aims to at least show how it should be done with decent service to the end users and the planet as the main priority.

Asteroids

• A working decentralised heat network. Properties interconnected using a modern small bore heat network, with heat sources plugged in where they can be, and owner/operated by entrepreneurs or a community directly, immune to monopoly, with healthy competition of supply. The open metering and billing will be updated to manage supply vs demand. Seasonal thermal storage included. The technology exists, and is straight forward, but such schemes will never come from a private sector allergic to risk or changes from the norm that may make design PI (professional indemnity) a problem. One of our field trials covers a key technology in achieving this - CO2 heat pumps on a network.

Method Statement

• Establish working systems, in the field, to prove the technology at all points in a heat network (the largest of all plumbing systems), running both services and equipment control [DONE]
• Create a general purpose industrial grade IO board to connect IoT control platforms to HVAC equipment, capable of working with both a Raspberry Pi and an ESP32 [Almost Done]
• Field trials to work out gremlins in the architecture, hardware and software. Debugging.
• Establish an initial community of users who are actively saving carbon and money using the system. [Field Trials]
• Grow the community to include others that wish to replicate the savings made in field trials.
• Extend the community to include experts from the open software community who can help drive the project
• Create a central point of performance data sharing, where the results (and code) from energy saving projects can be shared, and where live performance dashboards can be seen. Show, tell, boast, embarrass,
• Create industry wide collaboration on standard control functions, that can then feed into official guidance.

Personas

User A

Commercial energy provider with inefficiencies in the field that need addressing. On our project we are partnered with Equans (Engie) who are one of the world's largest heat network operators. They are interested in the systems because they offer a route to obtaining valuable performance data that helps optimise heat networks. These users are experts in all current HVAC technologies, understand the problems, and manage large energy flows where there are large carbon savings to be made.

User B

Local authorities. Need to be freed from the shackles of commercial BMS and incompetency. They would benefit greatly from the added value of community drive control systems into tenders, saving significant costs, improving transparency and their ability to manage outcomes.

User C

Private individuals upgrading their own home to include renewables. Project may be of varying complexity, including devices such as wood burners or heat pumps, and they would like to understand more in order to ensure a positive outcome. Technically clued up, just not in plumbing. We have been designing systems like this for 30 years and there are thousands of people with renewables systems designed around thermal stores, for example Dick Strawbridge in Escape to the Chateau. With gas prices soaring, more and more people are looking to understand renewables better. From this group comes our most valued collaborators - people who are experts in IoT, Influx, Grafana, Embedded Controllers, Linux - who, with a little guidance come to understand the principles of designing renewables systems and can use our technologies to deliver their dream, and can contribute back.

User D

Experts in HVAC control. Generally work for an OEM. (Me) . Engineers who have been waiting a long time for a robust IoT controller they can use in equipment control. E.g. HIU manufacturers (like us).

User E

Ofgem & BEIS. Heat network and RHI oversight.

User F

Lives on a heat network and knows they are paying too much. Requires hard evidence to be used in actions against energy providers. No technical knowledge. Would benefit greatly from a simple means to share basic performance data with a community of experts and peers. People power.

User G

Existing Node-RED enthusiasts. Valuable and experienced hobbyists that will hopefully understand precisely what we are trying to achieve and want to be a part of it.

User H

The consulting engineer, responsible for optimising existing installations. To this user we are providing the tools they need to do their job. A number of respected consultants have already used the kit on previous funded projects for data collection and control.

User I

Zero Carbon Engineering Warrior. Wants to make a career in the HVAC controls industry, where rates are up £1000/day, improving the performance of existing systems and installing new ones using the latest technology. Wants, maybe, to be A, D or H, where there is also money to be made not on the tools.

On-Ramp and Engagement

Join us in the mission to save carbon and convert domestic energy systems to renewables.

The simplest way to participate is to add simple monitoring to your home central heating system. The data this provides should allow you to reduce energy consumption, but it is also of great value to the community in refining the methods and software functions used. It is hard to miss adverts telling one how to save energy by setting boilers to 60C, or by turning a room stat down 1 degree. Participating in this project and providing data allows everyone to learn what works best.

See Hello World page.

Setting boilers to 60C is a good example. It is a crude solution that will improve the situation on a boiler been set to 80C all the time. This project has already shown how significant savings can be made using a more refined method of control (http://heatweb.co.uk/w/index.php?title=Radiator_Optimisation). We would aim to allow the end user to implement far more effective control strategies, without needing to understand the engineering behind them, but can be seen to work elsewhere. As more and more people collaborate, it becomes possible to deploy improved functions across a fleet of systems, and immediately measure the results. These ongoing cycles of community/expert driven R&D provide immediate on-ramps to users wanting to get involved in something larger.

Once a user is on the ramp, and has an open source control system at their disposal, a world of projects opens up, driven by projects other users have undertaken. If you wanted to add solar thermal to your property, for example, there is an application branch dedicated to this, with data from real world systems, allowing you to pin down the system design in detail before approaching installers. One would envisage a league of performance relating to solar thermal, hard data on kWh/m2/year, allowing users to quickly go to the best performing technologies and see if they apply to their situation.

Success for users in projects is measured by hard cash savings and savings in carbon. It should be possible to create league tables of pay-back times for different technologies and methods of installation and control. And a World Cup for renewables installations.

An on-ramp for manufacturers (OEMs) is important and provided by the way controls software is drive by equipment and function palettes. Manufacturers can create palettes of their products to be used in design and deployment.

Node-RED is itself an on-ramp. Some may consider Node-RED to be a tool for the lesser programmer, not as powerful as coding in C++. Th is is true, but then most people don't know what C even is. Node-RED is a visual programming language that allows one to implement proper code at a modular. It allows everyone to participate in the engine room design. Plumbers and electricians can use it with similarities to basic wiring, and like Scratch, it provides a perfect on ramp for newcomers that lets them achieve things one step at a time.