Trane News

ST. PAUL, MN -- Continuing leadership they began in 1993 as the first to introduce BACnet(R), The Trane Company has expanded and enhanced its line of Tracer building automation and control products to incorporate LonTalk technology. New unit controllers leverage open system technologies, Internet and LAN to meet the growing needs of building professionals. Tracer unit controllers available today include zone controllers supporting Trane fan-coils, water source heat pumps and unit ventilators that comply with the LonMark Space Comfort Controller functional profile. Air handling unit controllers will follow this year and will be certified to the Discharge Air Controller profile. Additional Tracer control introductions are planned for 2001.

With its latest version, the Tracer Summit(R) building automation system now features:

• Internet Protocol (IP) communications to enable use on existing communication networks,
• An engineered smoke control application (UL-864 UUKL), 
• Graphical trending and 
• Availability in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.

Tracer Summit operator workstations and building control units feature native support for BACnet communications to provide system-level interoperability.

Frequently Asked Questions About Tracer Controllers

When will other Trane products be available with a LonTalk unit controller?
All new unit controls for Trane equipment are being designed to support LonTalk. Tracer controllers for air handling units are scheduled next and will be available before year-end. Additional Tracer controllers, including those for chiller applications, will be added in 2001.

How does Tracer Summit support third party LonTalk devices?
The Tracer Summit building control unit (BCU) will support communications to third party LonTalk devices that are certified to the LonMark Space Comfort Controller functional profile. Information about these devices is also available at the Tracer Summit operator workstation.

Does Trane support LonWorks(TM) Network Services (LNS)?
No. When Tracer Summit was being developed, a firmware version of LNS was not available (i.e. LNS could only reside on a PC platform, and could not be packaged into a chip). This made it impractical for Tracer Summit to use LNS to configure and maintain networks of Tracer unit controllers. Trane has worked with a leading supplier of LonWorks technology to implement network management software that resides in firmware. It is important to recognize that LNS is not a requirement for interoperability or a requirement for LonMark certification.

Will Trane sell Tracer unit controllers directly to LonTalk system integrators?
Tracer unit controllers are available through the traditional Trane distribution network.

How will Trane distribute plug-ins for Tracer unit controllers?
There is currently no standard definition for LonTalk plug-ins that is recognized by all LonTalk network management tools. Trane is working with the LonMark Interoperability Association and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) to define such a standard. Trane will provide plug-ins for Tracer unit controllers, according to this standard, as soon as it is available. In the meantime, Trane will provide an XIF file to describe how Tracer unit controllers support LonTalk.

Which LonTalk transceiver do Tracer unit controllers support?
Tracer unit controllers communicate LonTalk using the free topology (FTT-10A) transceiver at 78kBaud over a twisted pair of wires.

Are Tracer unit controllers LonMark certified? Which LonMark functional profile do they support?
The Tracer ZN-510 was the very first controller certified to the LonMark Space Comfort Controller functional profile. The Voyager(TM) rooftop LonTalk Communications Interface (LCI) is also certified to the LonMark Space Comfort Controller functional profile. Future Tracer unit controllers will support the LonMark Space Comfort Controller, Discharge Air Controller and Chiller functional profiles.

Are Tracer controllers compatible with third-party devices that also support LonTalk?
Yes, as long as the third party devices support the standard network variable types (SNVTs) and standard configuration property types (SCPTs) included in the Space Comfort Controller functional profile. Trane has cooperated with Honeywell to complete bench testing of Tracer controllers with a network of Honeywell Excel 10 devices. Trane hopes to conduct similar bench testing with suppliers of other LonTalk devices.

How do Trane building automation systems support the Internet?
Tracer Summit building control units (BCUs) and operator workstations reside on an Ethernet / IP network, allowing wide area connections between nodes spread throughout a city, state or even around the world.

How does Trane look at the future of interoperability?
Since becoming the first in the industry in 1993 to introduce BACnet capability shipping in products, Trane has believed that open standard protocols were the direction of the future. This announcement continues the leadership role that Trane has had over the last decade, starting with the committee work on ASHRAE standards and continuing with strong support of the LonMark Interoperability Association.

LEXINGTON, KY - ISO 9001 certification was originally issued to The Trane Company's Air Handling Systems Business Unit in Lexington, Kentucky, on June 26, 1999. Consistent with ISO standards, the first surveillance audit was conducted in January of this year and the Trane manufacturing facility's certification of registration has been continued.

"The importance of ISO 9001 is not so much the certificate, but the fact that we have formal documentation of our business processes, a defined mechanism for changing those processes and an audit to insure that we are following procedures," notes a Trane spokesperson. "By defining the requirements of our processes and procedures, we help ensure repeatability and reliability as well as enabling the proper training of new employees. All of this contributes to ensuring consistent quality in our products and services, something every Trane customer should expect and demand.

"The Lexington Business Unit has always been concerned about providing quality workmanship and about the value we deliver to our customers. Our ISO 9001 Quality Management System gives us new tools and techniques to assure that we are focused on meeting customer commitments and on responding to any of their quality concerns. This improved quality system has been very well received by internal associates because they can see the ways it will help Trane improve the value that customers find in Lexington products.

Trane further reports that "The ISO based certified Quality Management System implemented at Lexington provides the foundation for continuous improvement of business processes focused on delivering maximum value to the customer. ISO 9001 Quality Management System certification is becoming a prerequisite to supplying products to world markets. It demonstrates that we care enough about our worldwide customers to invest the time and effort to ensure delivery of a consistent product through process documentation, employee training and conformance auditing".

ISO standard surveillance audits are conducted by HSB Registration Services, a division of The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies from some 130 countries.

The Lexington Air Handling Systems Business Unit is one of 14 Trane HVAC sales, engineering and manufacturing facilities within the Worldwide Applied Systems Group (WASG) that has a Quality Management System certified compliant to the ISO 9001 or ISO 9002 Standard.

The Trane Company is a worldwide manufacturer of heating, ventilating, air conditioning and building management equipment and systems. Trane is a division of American Standard Inc. Visit Trane on the Internet: Web Site www.trane.com or E-mail comfort@trane.com

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