Equipment and Points¶

When building a semantic model, the core task is to create equipment entities and associate raw data points with them. Normal Framework provides two approaches depending on the scale of the task:

• Workflows -- for bulk extraction and labeling of many similar pieces of equipment. This is the recommended approach for most sites.
• Object Explorer -- for creating individual equipment instances and assigning points one at a time or in small batches.

This page covers the key concepts behind equipment modeling and the manual approach available from the Object Explorer.

Key Concepts¶

There are three levels in the equipment hierarchy:

• Equipment Classes are defined in the ontology and shared between sites. They contain the scaffolding for how a type of equipment should be modeled -- a set of marker tags, possible relationships, and a list of points the equipment may have. Normal ships with a rich set of equipment classes covering many types of equipment, from air handlers to sensors.

• Equipment Types are derived from classes and represent a specific type of equipment present at a site. For example, a site may have several dedicated outdoor air systems (DOAS) units; the user creates an equipment type derived from an equipment class, with the actual list of desired points, marker tags, and other attributes for use at that site.

• Equipment Instances represent individual pieces of equipment -- e.g., a single DOAS unit. They are associated with actual points and can be labeled with attributes as specified by the type. Each instance has a unique identifier.

classDiagram
  direction LR
  Class "1" --> "0..n" Type
  Type "1" --> "1..n" Instance
  class Class {
    name
    markers
    attributes
    optional attributes
    relationships()
    points()
  }
  class Type{
    local name
    attributes
    relationships()
    points()
  }
  class Instance{
    id
    type name
    markers
    attribute values
    relationships()
    points()
  }

Creating Equipment from the Object Explorer¶

The Object Explorer provides a way to create equipment instances and assign points to them directly. This is useful for one-off equipment or when fine-grained control is needed.

Assigning Points to Equipment¶

Right-click on a point (or a group of points) in the Object Explorer and select Select Equip from the context menu. This opens the Select Equipment dialog with the following options:

1. Equipment Type -- choose from an existing equipment type, or click Create to define a new type derived from an ontology class. When creating a new type, you can configure the expected points list, marker tags, and relationships.

2. Create or Select Equipment -- the dialog defaults to creating a new equipment instance. Enter a name for the new piece of equipment. Alternatively, click Select Existing Equip to switch to a dropdown of existing instances of that type.

3. Update Points -- click the button to assign the selected point(s) to the chosen equipment. When operating on a single point, just that point is updated. When operating on a group, all matching points are updated in bulk.

Setting Site References¶

Right-click on a point or group and select Select Site to assign points to a site. Sites can also be configured to automatically label points from specific BACnet ports or Fox connections.