Chris Smith is a commissioning and energy services principal within strategic consulting for Jacobs and currently serves as president of the Energy Management Association. This article continues a series of excerpts from the AABC Commissioning Group’s forthcoming ACG Building Systems Commissioning Guideline: Best Practices for Independent Third-Party Commissioning Providers. For more information, see the first article by clicking here.
Integrated systems testing is a version of — and an extension to — functional performance testing where the IST incorporates multiple related systems, rather than a single piece of equipment or a single system. An IST is approached in the same manner that the commissioning provider directs, witnesses and documents functional performance tests.
View the Section of an Emergency Systems
The integration of the individual equipment and systems is the final test of what has been designed, procured, installed, programmed and functionally tested to prove the performance required by codes and standards; the design and expected by the owner’s project requirements. The integrated system tests are critical to the overall approach to the commissioning process as they prove the integration of equipment, controls and systems into combined operation which will represent the actual functionality of the facility.
While developing the commissioning scope of work, the commissioning provider should verify the expected ISTs that will be required with the owner. In many cases, the commissioning provider should use their experience and typical industry requirements to recommend ISTs to the owner if a comprehensive listing is not provided.
During the development of IST procedures, the commissioning provider should review all of the components and systems that will interact in a particular situation or modification in operations. For example, consider the “pull-the-plug” or black site emergency systems test. This test simulates loss of utility services to a facility and the resulting reactions and interactions of the systems within the facility to this situation. Read Full Article here.
