The objective of this demonstration is to improve the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory developed web application, ctrl-flow, which automates building controls design based on user inputs, through incorporation of key functionality improvements and to incorporate Department of Defense (DoD) requirements.

This project will further develop ctrl-flow to enhance usability and provide features required for DoD use, focusing on heating, ventilation, and air conditioning controls design. The goal is to incentivize design firms to use the tool, while also allowing more DoD personnel to be able to design control systems.

ctrl-flow is a web-based application that solicits user inputs from control designers and uses these inputs to generate standard drawings and specification text. The online-based tool provides design options by asking questions about system type, control strategy, and monitoring requirements to provide the right drawings needed. The designs generated by ctrl-flow provide near-final drawings using industry standards which may be further tweaked to address finer details of the project.

Significant DoD benefits are expected from the development and adoption of an accessible and robust building controls design application which is specifically tailored to DoD requirements. The Tri-Service Standards & Criteria Program has invested substantially over the past 20 years in creating and updating building controls design content. Lacking an effective delivery mechanism for packaging this content, DoD designers manually package designs in error-prone and inconsistent ways. Because there are no easy-to-use tools and DoD installation staff are not trained designers, installations are largely unable to use this content, resulting in further inconsistent application of DoD standards. The realized benefits of this tool will be:

1. Increased standardization of designs and control sequences minimizes errors in construction and testing, decreases design costs and facilitates training for design, construction, and maintenance personnel.
2. Decreasing design times with an automated tool providing financial savings.
3. Availability of an easy-to-use tool enables Installation personnel to use the same tools and standards as employed by the DoD design-construction community (Army Corps of Engineers and Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command), easing the burden on installation personnel.
4. A central tool implementing DoD standards allows for rapid technology transfer of updated or new design elements as updates to the tool will immediately be available across the enterprise.
5. Using a tool designed to meet industry needs using industry standards, architecture engineering firms will be using the same tool for DoD and non-DoD projects, making its use “business as usual”, decreasing the risk of errors in design by having a separate DoD process/tool.
6. Exporting digital specifications of the control logic promises to reduce the cost and time burden needed to configure/control Energy Management Information Systems.