Clivet, an Italian manufacturer of specialist HVAC systems, is working with California-based J2 Innovations to develop IoT HVAC plant and building optimisation.
 
Siemens subsidiary J2 is the developer of the Fin Framework software platform for building automation and IoT applications. With Fin, OEMs can rapidly launch their own software and control products to the market by leveraging the open platform and range of building automation and IoT-related functions and features.
 
The first Fin-based product from this collaboration will be a Clivet plant room controller to manage and optimise Clivet HVAC systems. An open integration framework enables compatibility with new and legacy Clivet systems as well as third party plant room components such as boilers and energy meters.
 
Through monitoring and control products, plant rooms can be managed with reduced asset and maintenance cost and improved energy efficiency. The 360deg KPI dashboard provides the facility manager and other stakeholders with real-time information about the status and performance of the system and simplifies system diagnostics. Through its HTML5-based web server, operators can access the service via desktop, mobile and tablet, from anywhere in the world at any time.
 
“We are thrilled to be partnering with one of the world’s leading manufacturers of HVAC systems, which envisages Fin as a central pillar in the development of the next-generation of HVAC plant and building optimisation,” said Alexander Rohweder, COO of J2 Innovations. “Utilising Fin Framework not only delivers Clivet with a market-leading system that reduces the maintenance regime, improves energy efficiency and increases up-time, but it also provides the manufacturer with the freedom to continuously improve its solutions throughout their lifetimes. New features and functionality can be added seamlessly via an app concept as technology evolves.”
 
The Fin product is suitable for management, control and optimisation of an HVAC systems, or entire small to large buildings and campuses. It is natively built on tags, supporting the Project Haystack open standard with the latest incarnation being Haystack 4.
 
Fin provides an intuitive user-experience, intelligent data-management and analytics, and simplified workflows, and shares data to the cloud or other IT systems via an IoT interface. The engineering process can be simplified through custom wizards that enable plug-and-play installation of preconfigured products.
 
“We’re very much looking forward to the journey we’re about to take alongside J2 Innovations,” said Domenico Canei, R&D manager for Clivet. “Fin is the most innovative software platform that has been built for supervisory, building automation and IoT applications. It will enable us to customise and improve the monitoring, control and optimisation capabilities of our already market leading HVAC systems while helping us transition to a pivotal role in the smart building, digitalisation and IoT space.”
 
Fin provides features such as monitoring, control, alarming, scheduling, visualisation, reporting, integration and analytics.
 
Established in Feltre, Belluno Clivet is an Italian company with over 30-years’ experience in the research and development of air conditioning systems and has more than 50 distributors worldwide. In 2016, Clivet formed a strategic alliance with the Midea group to integrate its products, technologies, and sales and support infrastructure.