HVAC system design is a major subdiscipline of mechanical engineering, based on the principles of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics & heat transfer. A Building Management System (BMS) is a computer-based control system installed in buildings that controls and monitors the building’s mechanical and electrical equipment such as ventilation, lighting, power systems, fire systems, and security systems.
A BMS consists of software and hardware; the software program, usually configured in a hierarchical manner, can be proprietary, using such protocols as C-bus, Profibus, and so on. Vendors are also producing BMSs that integrate using Internet protocols and open standards such as DeviceNet, SOAP, XML, BACnet, LonWorks and Modbus. Building Management Systems have been employed for as long as commercial buildings have existed, whether this be through manpower loading coal into coal-fired boilers or opening water pipe valves manually with the use of a handle so to enable heated water to flow through a radiator circuit. However, "BMS" as a phrase, is relatively new, the concept being introduced in the early 1970s (the terms BAS-building automation system, and EMS-energy management system are also used); the phrase has only really existed since the introduction of complex electronic devices that are capable of retaining data for the purposes of managing services such as power, lighting, heating and so on. It was the advent of the "modem", or "modulator-demodulator" which allowed analog signals to be digitized so that they could be communicated over long distances with a high degree of accuracy that spurred the development and deployment of modern BMSs. Developed and marketed by Powers Regulator Company (later purchased by Siemens), it was deployed into the market in May 1970, as the model number suggests. Before the modern, computer-controlled BMSs came into being, various electromechanical systems were in use to control buildings. Many facilities management offices had panels consisting of manual switches or more commonly, lights showing the status of various items of plant, allowing building maintenance staff to react if something failed. Some of these systems also include an audible alarm. Advancements in signal communications technology have allowed the migration of early pneumatic and "home run" hard wired systems, to modems communicating on a single twisted pair cable, to ultra fast IP based communication on "broad band" or "fiber optic" cable.