WIRECOM in the press

The Elec solution developped by the company Wirecom enables to save until 30% on the consumption of electrical heating systems. It includes regulators which has to be placed behind each convector, temperature sensors which communicates with the regulators by radio-frequency, communication gateways and a web interface for supervision from a PC.

  Introduction of WIRECOM Technologies as a Silver Sponsor during the 2nd edition of the fair Intelligent Building Systems on 21st & 22nd september 2011.

The orleanese "provider of energy savings solutions" Wirecom, (...) has just invented the Widget PC, a software application which enables the user of a computer to adjust comfort in an area (...)

With PowerLine Communication, the Elec solution enables to manage electrical heating in a planned manner, by area or by equipment; it promises electrical energy savings until 30%, according WIRECOM Technologies.

The Widget PC developped by WireCom Technologies is an application to install on the workstations of business buildings.

For the second successive year, the innovative companies of the Région Centre are going together to the Salon des Maires et des Collectivités (fairs of the mayors and the public authorities), thanks to the support of the ARITT and the Région Centre. (...)

The represented areas are very various: energy consumption management in buildings (WIRECOM); wireless environmental data transfer (aEnergis)...

  Higher education: Among the economical skills of the metropolitan area Orléans Val de Loire, innovation, research and higher education are the most important. In order to relaunch the growth and to create employment, the government has gambled on the network effect. Between 2005 and 2010, three big steps of labeling of competitive cluster have been launched in order to support the emerging R&D collaborative projects between the companies coming from big manufacture, laboratories of university research and local small businesses.

The competitive clusters can cover a big territory which gathers several regions and then, increases the emergence of collaborative projects.

Therefore, since 2006, the AgglO has supported for almost 900 000€ local companies such as GreenPharma, Wirecom, Géo-Hyd, the CRESITT, Biochemics Consulting, GIE LVMH, Shiseido.

The word « PowerLine Communications » (PLC) refers to a technique, which enables to transfer digital data by using the electrical network. This is an alternative to the traditional wires and to Wi-Fi.

History

The PowerLine communications have been used for a long time on a low-bandwidth for industry and home-automation applications. This is only since the beginning of 2000 and the generalization of the all-digital that they have been used on the general public.

- 1950: first applications on the frequency 10 Hz, power 10 kW. Elles sont alors unidirectionnelles (public lighting, remote-control of a relay)

(...)

- 2002 : WIRECOM Technologies, also new French company, specialised in the building energy management over PLC (low-bandwidth technique - CENELEC EN50065-1 standard)

With 153 companies and around 14 000 employees, the Région Centre is today, one of the main actor in the French electronics area.

(...)

The regional small businesses have specialized and propose solutions adapted to needs of big groups as well as needs of end customers. For example, the company WIRECOM Technologies, set up in Olivet, in the Loiret, which proposes a remote control of the energy demand in buildings and in housing.

From the first edition which has just set at the CNIT - Paris La Défense, on September, 21st and 22nd, IBS (Intelligent Building Systems) has succeed as the first professional event in France, entirely dedicated to the smart systems for the efficiency of buildings.

All along the stands, a human-sized exhibition doesn't prevent the protagonists to unveil their innovations: WIRECOM Technologies: Virtual control panel Widget PC.

The attractivity of the fair "Intelligent Building System (IBS) which just finished at Paris has revealed a high evolution in buildings towards technologies which enable to optimize their management, in particular energy. We are far away from the origin of home automation, which were directly in relation with the principles of comfort and luxury.

Therefore, the market of building energy management is in growth and the proposals increase, model after companies such as Vizelia, WIRECOM Technologies, Fludia and Ijenko (two small businesses which will be introduced during the next forum Innoveco at Paris, the next week) or also Effinergie, a start-up which has been rewarded by Environord and which has received the support of the innovative company's creation competition

(...)

For the IBS fair about the smart building in Paris, Wirecom has announced the launch of a new software named Widget PC. This is a virtual control panel which replaces the traditionnal swithes ON/OFF. Set up on the computer of each occupant, the Widget PC enables to customize the comfort of an area (temperature, lighting, opennings, etc.). The software communicates with the system of Building Side-Management (by WIRECOM) and enables occupants to plan their occupancy and their leaves. It is possible to allocate several areas to an unique occupant, that allows, for example, a secretary to manage every office of the directors and the meeting rooms.

EcoLink aims at promoting a Smart Grid which enables to improve the management of electricity production, particularly at rush-hour, by optimizing the energy consumption in residential and business buildings.

EDF- and its subsidiaries Edelia and NetSeenergy- has been selected as the leader of the project including Legrand, the orleaneese company Wirecom, Atlantic thermor, the breton Delta Dore and Daikin.

Among newnesses, the Mayor of Orléans has brought up the project of an experimental site dedicated to the smart buildings, in relation with the university, the research institutes and the orleanese company, WIRECOM, visited by Nicolas Sarkozy on 20th May, 2008. "A very fine project which has just been finished", comments the Mayor.

The orleanese company has designed the "EcoBox Gateway", which embeds a web server. Its specificity? It enables users to get a remote access to the supervision of equipment. It simply requires an Internet connection and an explorer.

Incorporated to a transverse BSM solution with the different networks, the EcoBox Gateway ensure the transfer of information betwenn the low speed PLC - PowerLine Communication network (electrical network) and the IP (Internet Protocol) environment. This is an interface between the regulation and control modules of WIRECOM Technologies and the user who manages the building. It enables to manage remotly the energy-consuming equipment of buildings.

Special folder about the "Smart building, an other point of view of the infrastructures"

1 - What is a smart building?

The expression "smart building" is not new, but isn't yet used a lot by the profesionnals who call it "low-energy buildings". Decoding of an expression which is not plebiscited, but which is far from having unanimous support about its meaning and its purposes.

"Intrinsically, the smart building is a communicating building, in which the federation of systems will replace the hodgepodge of heterogeneous solutions."

2 - Be able to apprehende the smart building

With the smart building, we need to think differently from a conception perspective and think about "purposes" rather than "means". The operators have to manage infrastructures more and more automated and then more and more complex. Both practices and skills are de facto reviewed.

3 - The essential adherence of user

"We can't design a smart building by depossessing users of this approach." According to Thierry Allard, President of the cluster S2E2 and of WIRECOM Technologies, the best way to make adhere people to the smart building is to increase people awareness of sustainable development and to enable them to modify some settings, withal a few scope.

4 - The challenge of renovation

This area represents an amazing point of energy savings compared to new buildings, but can we transform a 30-year building in a smart building?

"Create a smart building from a building under renovation is illusory without a total renovation."

Companies or individuals, we all need a roof to shelter our activities. The first criteria to choose a building: the price. But, on taking a closer look, we should start by the criteria "environment" when building or renovating. Actually, it is profitable to invest a bit more with this option. The choice belongs to the contractors of the public works & civil engineering construction as well as their clients. How to behave and act? For which reason? The answer is behing these three letters: HEQ, the High Environmental Quality.

An example, precisely considered as a regional example: the company Wirecom, set up at Olivet in the Loiret. One year after its implementation, the building reaches a record level of 37kWh/year/m², that is clearly inferior to the 50 kWh required for new buildings from 2012. The company has also received a contribution, which can reach 30% additional costs for this kind of building.

Adapted to the Building-Side Management and to the control of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment, the EcoBox Gateway of Wirecom Technologies ensures the transfer of information between the narrowband PLC network (5,2kbps LON protocole) and hardware under IP.

Better insulation, new energy sources: these solutions will be progressively strenghened by entry of information and communication technologies in the building management.

One hundred or so members of the competitiveness cluster S2E2 (Smart electricity cluster) presided by Thierry Allard, also president of the orleaneese company Wirecom.

The conference NESO, New Energy Solutions in ORLEANS, is organized by S2E2 supported by the Région Centre. (...) Among the most famous name, there are (...) EDF, (...) IBM, Legrand, (...) Wirecom Technologies.

Your cluster has just been certifyed. What does it mean?

It ensures to continue the fantastic adventure of the cluster created in 2005, which gathers 110 members including 85 companies, mainly small businesses as well as big groups like Legrand or STMicroelectronics. Almost 60 laboratories work with us.

(...)

How this strategy will set up?

We plan to develop research plaforms about geothermal science, energy conversion, storage, telepresence device to keep the ederly people at home.

Connected to an electrical meter o  directly to the device that you want to meter the electrical consumtion (heating pump, hot water cylinder, etc.), the EcoModule Comptage 90M of WIRECOM Technologies is not bigger than a circuit breaker (10x7x6 cm).
 

The management of energy demand is an inescapable fact to perfectly know its building and regulate efficiently the energy-consuming equipment. The EcoModule Comptage 90M developped by WIRECOM Technologies can answer to the needs of the existing or new buildings in respect of the RT2012.

Specifications: single-phased metering by shunt, power until 90 A,  memory of 64 ko for data storage

In order to monitor the electrical consumption of a business building, WIRECOM unveils its first smart and PLC communicating meter: the EcoModule comptage 90M.

In this interview (forecast on the web) made on the fair Interclima+Elec 2010,

William Gruet, director of DESA Logiciels, and Angéline Gazio, communication manager of  WIRECOM Technologies,

give their point of view about the new products unveiled on the fair, both complementary and rival.