Grünstadt daycare center: KNX system for flexible light and heating control
Task
- Completely new electrical installation with automated lighting and heating control and flexibility for additional functions
Solution
- KNX system with presence and motion detectors, weather station and room controllers
Next to the train station in Grünstadt in southern Germany stood, until recently, an unused Deutsche Bahn service building in serious need of renovation. The brick building, built before 1900, housed offices and social rooms for the station's employees and had already lain derelict for around 15 years.
Thomas Geib, managing director of Elektro Geib in Grünstadt, decided to buy the building. “It had a great central location and the general building structure was good. My wife is an architect and we had actually planned to set up an architectural office here. After careful consideration, we decided against the renovation.”
Shortly thereafter, an inquiry was received from a medical technology company, which, however, also wanted to build an additional extension. However, this change to the building structure with a cube extension would have impaired the overall appearance.
Finally, the "Masurenhof", an operating company of facilities for people with mental disabilities, showed interest. The central location of the building with perfect connections to public transport seemed ideal. However, due to the current condition of the building, a complete renovation was necessary. Only the masonry remains of the original building.
Native KNX system for maximum design freedom
As the building owner, Elektro Geib naturally took over the electrical installation. "We have completely redesigned the electrics: from the heat pump to the 30 KW photovoltaic system to the KNX system. At first, we had planned to use the KNX smart home system LUXORliving, but then decided on a native KNX solution," Thomas Geib explains.
The property was ready for occupancy in January 2023. Theben KNX components are used. The LED lighting is automatically controlled by theRonda presence detectors indoors and theLUXA motion detectors outdoors. A Meteodata KNX weather station was installed in anticipation of future weather-dependent control functions. iON room controllers enable manual overriding of the detectors inside and outside and are also used to control the room temperature and to operate the panic function. Due to the use of interior blinds, the shading is not controlled via the KNX system.
Why actually KNX? And why with Theben? It's clear to Thomas Geib: "KNX simply offers maximum flexibility. If new functions need to be integrated, or if the building is to be repurposed in a few years, this is easily possible with KNX. We have been using Theben products since our company was founded around 50 years ago. Thanks to the extensive KNX range and LUXORliving, there are now even more points of contact. Not to forget: the support from the field service is great. In that regard, Theben is an extremely positive example."
Theben products used
- theLUXA P300 KNX motion detector
- theRonda S360 KNX AP presence detector
- iON 108 KNX Room Controller
- Meteodata 140 S 24V KNX weather station
- HM 12 T KNX 12-fold heating actuators
- HM 6 T KNX 6-fold heating actuators
- DM 4 T KNX 4-fold dimming actuators
- DM 2 T KNX 2-fold dimming actuators
- RM 16 S KNX 16-fold switching actuators
- RM 8 I KNX 8-fold C-load switching actuators
- BM 6 T KNX binary inputs
- IPsecure Router KNX
- PS 640 mA T KNX power supply