Quatech Products Used: SSP-200/300 1 Port RS-422/485 Serial PCMCIA Card

A major HVAC manufacturer has developed a building automation service tool that requires an RS-485 serial port interface. The system enables field technicians to communicate with large HVAC installations to change configurations and troubleshoot malfunctioning units. A laptop running specially designed software interfaces to an RS-485 half-duplex link that has up to 64 HVAC unit controllers on it.

A custom designed Quatech SSP-200/300 serial PCMCIA card with a modular connector supplies the RS-485 connection for this system. The card fully supports the half-duplex network, and provides fast data rates of up to 921.6 kpbs, providing superior performance for this data-intense application.

Other Energy Management Applications:

• Network-enabled energy curtailment management system
  
  
• Network-enabled substation monitoring and control
  
  
• Automated Meter Reading (AMR) system
  
  
• Natural gas well monitoring