VIRTUAL OUTPUT CONFIGURATION

REG System allows you to assign the desired function to each output (digital or analogue) in a totally flexible manner; this applies both to the outputs present on the REG board, and to the outputs present on any expansions connected via bus (REG-EXP-8, REG-IOA, REG-IOB, REG-IOC, REG-UGW-485).

This flexibility is achieved through the Virtual Output concept and the possibility to assign the virtual commands to digital and analogue outputs.

Virtual Output

All subsystems (except Timetables) can control the activation of one or more devices; for example:

• The Zones determine the activation of the electro-thermal headers of the radiant system;

• The Circuits determine the activation of the Circulation water Pumps and of three-points or 0/10 V valves;

• The Dehumidifiers determine the activation of the dehumidifiers, often with several signals (Dehumidify/Integration/Ventilation) and fan speed (via digital or analog outputs);

• The Sources determine the ON/OFF, seasonal change and generators set point.

These “commands” do not directly active a digital or analogue output, but they are recorded in the system’s internal memory, in the Virtual Output relay Table (from here the definition of “virtual output”); each virtual output of each subsystem is allocated a prefixed position in the table; for example:

• The Zone Output of Zone 1 is at position 16

• The Zone Output of Zone 2 is at position 17

• The Pump A Output of Circuit 1 is at position 64

And so on.

Through specific parameters, is possible to determine which of these virtual output will actually active a physical output.

This diagram exemplifies what is described:

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In the example:

• Relay 1 of module REG-EXP-1 (in this case) will be activated by the Pump A circuit 1

• Relay 4 will be activated by Source 1 active

This two-steps mechanism (first the subsystem that controls the Virtual Relay Output, then the parameter that determines which Virtual Relay Output to actually apply to “real” or “physical” relay) makes the REG System extremely flexible. The same philosophy can also be applied to analogue outputs.

Note that:

1. A Virtual Command may not be assigned to any physical output; some may simply be ignored (because they are not required by the regulated system), or they may still be used via other mechanisms (see LOGIC/BOOLEAN FUNCTIONS); for example:

2. The same Virtual Command can be assigned to several physical outputs; for example:

   1. The Virtual Commands “System in Summer mode”, which is activated when the Current Season is set to “SUMMER”, can be applied simultaneously to several relays, for example one to switch the Working Mode of a heat pump, and the other to switch the position of a diverting valve.

   2. In systems with very large surfaces, it may happen that the electro-thermal headers of the same zone are positioned in different manifolds controlled by different expansions boards; in this case, the same control of “Command Zone” can be applied simultaneously to the relays of one and the other expansions.

   3. In systems with more than one fan coil in a room, it is possible to manage the speed of the fan coils with the same Analogue Virtual Command by assigning them to different physical analogue outputs, even located on different boards.

3. For some Digital Virtual Commands the system also provides Virtual Command with the opposite function; for example:

   1. The system provides the Virtual Command “System in Summer Mode”, which is activated when the Current Season is set on “SUMMER”, and also it opposite, “System in Winter mode”; if the use of a contact is require to switch the operating mode of a heat pump, we must check whether the heat pump sees the closed contact as summer or winter; in the first case, we will assign the Virtual Contact “System in Summer mode”, to the relay, in the other “System in Winter mode”.

4. In cases where the opposite signal of a Digital Virtual Command is required, and this is not already made available, it is possible to create the opposite of any Virtual Command via the LOGIC/BOOLEAN FUNCTIONS, in praticular using the NOT function.

5. The Digital Virtual Commands can be virtually used as digital input of the REG System itself, see ere ANALOG AND DIGITAL INPUT MULTIPLEXER in the digital Input Selector VDoutL e VDout H part.

It is attached the Annex II of the REG System Manual, where all digital and analogue outputs available from the firmware and from the RegConfig version 4.32 are listed.

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