By Eamonn Ryan derived from a SAIRAC Johannesburg Centre TechTalk on 12 February
In the February SAIRC Johannesburg Centre TechTalk presented by Robert Fox, SAIRAC national president with over 31 years of experience, he discusses the critical differences between open-source and proprietary solutions for HVAC systems. As a senior cost and design estimator at Club Refrigeration, Fox has extensive insight into both the challenges and benefits associated with each system. This is Part 6 of a ten-part series.
AI isn’t perfect. DC Studio/Freepik.com
In this segment, Robert Fox answers questions from the audience, sharing his thoughts on programming tools, integrating energy management systems, and his personal approach to learning and experimentation in the HVAC controls field.
Q: Can you tell us more about a specific use case you worked on?
A: One project required us to provide a way for factory workers to easily monitor certain systems on a large screen. The factory workers needed to see crucial information, and if they didn’t return to the main screen after interacting with it, they wouldn’t get important early warnings. We created a system where the information was displayed clearly on a big screen, which was a more direct and effective way of alerting workers. This concept worked well in this case, but he didn’t think it would become a widespread solution—it was very specific to that client’s needs.
Q: Have you worked on integrating energy management systems like solar, batteries or generators?
Not directly, no. I’ve primarily focused on refrigeration and HVAC systems, so I haven’t had much experience with integrating energy management systems like solar or generators. However, I know that when you start integrating complex control philosophies—like managing excess solar energy—it becomes more challenging. That’s where something like a PLC (programmable logic controller) would be useful. It’s capable of handling custom code and more complex control scenarios. For example, you could have a system that detects excess solar energy and tells a chiller to run and create ice, which could then be used for cooling later on.
Q: How do you go about testing your systems to ensure they work?
When working on a system, testing is critical. For this specific project, after doing a proof of concept in just one day, I spent about a week coding and testing. The testing was the most crucial part. I ended up building a test system in my office, spending over R25 000 to simulate the environment and check for errors. I needed to ensure that everything would work properly during a full 24-hour cycle, and then we ran the system over a weekend to test its reliability. The last thing you want is to get a call after installation saying there’s a problem, so I wanted to be sure the system was fully tested before it went live.
Q: What do you think about AI in programming, particularly for troubleshooting code?
If you know the basics and can interpret what the AI is generating, it can be a great tool for speeding up the process and helping you troubleshoot your code. But AI isn’t perfect—it can help you overcome cognitive limitations, but you still need to double-check and test the code it generates. The fundamentals are crucial because, if you put garbage into a program, you’ll get garbage out. So, it’s important to understand the basics of programming, so you can assess whether the AI-generated code will actually work as expected.
