AMREIN Projekt GmbH

Background

Oliver Amrein, managing director of Switzerland's AMREIN Projekt GmbH, has been providing his customers with smart home systems and consulting services since 2010. From the very start he was an experienced and competent service provider, which is what his customers have come to appreciate. Although intelligent living space has been mostly a niche market aimed at technology fans, smart homes lately have become a hot topic among the Swiss. According to analytical and market research service provider Statista, the share of smart homes in the Alpine country are expected to climb from the current 4% to about 31%. Building automation, security and energy management are have taken on new importance. Other areas such as home entertainment or Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) are also experiencing brisk growth. In AAL the living space is refitted with technology that allows older individuals or people with disabilities to live more independently. "What is technologically feasible in a smart home is limited only by people's imagination," says Amrein. So he decided to transform his penthouse apartment into a smart home showroom, where customers can find inspiration.

Challenge

Provide an all-round system without making renovations 

Amrein was interested in turning his rental apartment into a smart home technology showroom. The showroom is designed to present a broad range of technologies. One unique challenge he faced was that no renovations could be made to the building – existing facilities and infrastructure needed to remain in place. In addition to smart home standard features, such as a variety of lighting and mood zones, blinds, sun protection and monitoring technology, the system also needed to be able to incorporate his own external components. Specifically, these included a wireless high-end sound system, various DMX components, multiple RGB colour changers, a NAS system, and numerous other features.

"I believe you need to take a holistic approach to planning and look for smart home systems that cover all facets. This also means making it possible to smoothly integrate components from other providers into the system," says Amrein. "Stand-alone technologies such as separate apps and controls for light, music or shading may function well independently, but a smart home is about much more. The intelligent home needs to act autonomously and notify me of important events. Smart home controls also need to do more than merely adjust individual components, they need to create entire scenes using light, shading, music, home entertainment and so on, all at the touch of a button.”

When they start building, many customers have no idea of the capabilities smart home technologies can offer, which is why Amrein considers system expandability very important. Being able to add more components is also important in Amrein’s showroom, too, as only then can the system be kept state-of-the-art.

Solution

Amrein has been working with Eaton for years and maintains regular contact with Eaton experts. In keeping with the motto "Forget standardisation – every customer should have a tailor-made smart home solution", Amrein and his customers have chosen Eaton's flexible xComfort smart home system. Amrein chose Eaton's xComfort for his showroom as well. 

xComfort is a wireless home automation system. The broad selection of actuators and sensors can be combined to control almost any electronic device, including dimming light switches, rotating blinds and home theatre systems, while also measuring everything from relative humidity, smoke detection and air quality in order to react as needed. The temperature sensor can turn the heat up or down when the weather outside is sunny or icy cold, so the room remains at the desired temperature. However, instead of cranking up the air conditioner when the indoor temperature rises, the system can instead lower the blinds on the side where the sun is shining and close windows in order to keep the heat out – or in the opposite situation use sunlight to help lower heating costs. Numerous xComfort security solutions are also available. Regularly changing light settings simulate the presence of residents and help scare away burglars. Tablet or smartphonecontrolled webcams can monitor balconies, grounds, windows and doors. Users are automatically notified of unusual activity and sensor readings, such as the unauthorised opening of windows and doors, and changes in air quality due to smoke or gas leaks. 

“There are quite a few providers of wireless solutions,” say Amrein, “but xComfort is supported by a huge range of Eaton’s high-quality actuators and sensors, which can be used to easily integrate every external technology. So the system is very homogeneous and less prone to errors.” As all the sensors and actuators communicate wirelessly with the switches and multimedia controls, new actuators and sensors can be added to the system at any time. In addition, various switches – radio frequency actuators – are installed in the cable channels or directly in the lighting so as to remain as invisible as possible.

Results

A showroom xComfort helps make a hit The transformation of Amrein's home into a smart home showroom took less than two days. On the first day more than 70 actuators and sensors from the Eaton's extensive product range were installed discreetly and without any structural changes by xComfort partner and expert Mäni Zemp from Elektro Zemp GmbH.

"We actually installed a lot of equipment for a private home like this," says Amrein, "but it was just right for a showroom." The second day involved basic networking of the actuators as well as the display in the Eaton Smart Home Controller (SHC). The SHC allows Amrein to access the system from anywhere using his smartphone or tablet, view the displayed data and control individual components or entire scenes. A scene is the interaction of various components based on default settings. Thus Amrein is awakened every morning by a scene that allows the light to grow gradually stronger, imitating a sunrise. Sounds such as waves or birdsong can also be added, the heating in the bathroom activated, and the coffee machine switched on in the kitchen. 

His ambient scenes are a special highlight, where the touch of a button can create light moods and background music along with party scenes, where RGB colour changers and DMX controlled devices can be utilised alongside normal lighting and music. His customers are not the only ones impressed by the showroom when they try out the various functions: Amrein also programs new scenes each evening after work, or plans the installation of new components. Right now he is installing a hail warning system to receive regional data directly from SRF METEO, and is able to raise external slat blinds before the hailstones begin falling.

Thanks to the new radio routing technology from xComfort, the system has no problems with range. Eaton's broadcast actuators have integrated repeaters, making signal amplification unnecessary, so it always produces a strong and stable signal despite obstacles and even over greater distances. Eaton is a true pioneer in routing.