ZONE ACTIVATION AND WORK MODE

Determining the Working Mode of a Zone

The first step is to choose in which Working Mode you want the zone to work in, which can be:

• Comfort: the zone is active and maintains ideal comfort condition: the controlled device is switched on or off to maintain the “Comfort” temperature (follows the Comfort set point); a zone is typically in Comfort mode during the hours it is in use.

• Economy: the zone is active in diminished mode to save energy: the controlled device is switched on or off to maintain the “Economy” temperature (follows the Economy set point); a zone is typically in Economy mode during the hours when it is not being actively used, although it is not completely switched off.

• Off/Antifreeze: the zone is off, the controlled device (pump, valve, etc.) is switched off, regardless of the detected temperature; in this working mode the zone is activated only if frost conditions are detected (see ANTIFREEZE MODE).

The current Working mode of a zone is determined:

1. By the Global enable status of the system: if the system is globally off, the Zones are in OFF, regardless of other factors (exceptions to this rule the Zones with special work mode in DHW, see USE A ZONE AS DHW SUBSYSTEM);

2. By the Zone Enable signal (which is set in the Configuration Zone/1 sub page), if defined and not active, it will take the Zone in OFF mode (see ANALOG AND DIGITAL INPUT MULTIPLEXER);

3. By the Global Season status of the system: if the system is in summer and the zone is programmed to work only in winter, it will be off regardless of other factors. The season in which the zone can work can be chosen in the Season column in the Configuration Zone/1 sub page and can be: never, summer, winter, or summer+winter.

• Here are some examples:

  • Bathrooms in heat+cool systems: normally, in summer mode bathrooms are disabled; the corresponding zone will be configured to be active only in winter.

  • Towel heaters of the bathrooms; the corresponding zone will be configured to be active only in winter.

  • In a mixed system, radiant floor to heat + fan coil to cool, the zones controlling the floor will be active only in winter, the zones controlling the fan-coils will be active only in summer.

4. By the Timetable with which the zone is associated, that can have up to 8 time slots set (Comfort, Economy, Off/Antifreeze), see TIMETABLES, or the zone can always be set to Comfort, Economy, OFF, without using the timetables.

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5. By the possible Working mode that can be only Comfort, Economy, Comfort+Economy, or Never, and it is chosen from the Mode column in the Configuration Zone/1 sub page. In fact, a zone can be configured to work only when the associated timetable is in a specific working mode (Comfort or Economy). For example: bathroom towel heaters can be configured to work only when the corresponding timetable is in comfort mode.

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6. By the Force Working Mode, that is a parameter that is able to force the Working Mode of the Zone, bypassing all the determination logic listed in the previous steps.

The Force Working Mode can be: Force Comfort, Force Economy, Force Antifreeze, or Automatic (meaning that it goes with what you have selected on the Timetable column) and it is chosen from the Zone Parameters sub page.

Here are some examples:

• Let's assume you have a zone in Comfort Mode associated with a timetable which is in the Economy time slot: the zone will be therefore Off, because the only possible way to work is Comfort if in automatic. If you forced the zone in Economy, then it would be turn on in Economy.

• Let's assume you have a zone in Comfort+Economy Mode associated with a Timetable that is in OFF in that time, also the zone will be consequently in OFF.

Note

The Force Working Mode of the Zone parameter has priority over the timetable itself and over its forcing. For this reason, if the Zone is forced into a certain mode, the working mode given by the associated timetable will be ignored. This is because in certain situation a single clock is associated with several zones (it is the situation of the day zone and night zone timetable). However, if a room needs to be switched off or on in Comfort, for example, by forcing it the associated timetable can be bypassed without “disturbing” the operation of the other zones associated with the same timetable.

Forcing the zone working mode bypasses the logic of determining the status of a zone and the Working Mode will be manually set by the user.

At the end of this process, the final Working Mode is determined, whose main function is to determine the Setpoint for the next step.

The current working mode is shown in the Status column on the left side of the Zone page.

Warning

On the Configuration Zone/1 sub page there is a Force column, which has nothing to do with the Force Working Mode (see MANUAL OVERRIDE).

Determining the Activation of a Zone

Once the Working Mode has been determined, and the Zone Set point with it (see ZONE SET POINT AND SENSOR SETTING), we move on the stage of determining the zone Activation status.

In this stage, the zone temperature is compared with the set point and, taking into account the Current Season of the system and the Working Mode (Economy, Comfort, or Antifreeze), it is decided whether to activate or deactivate the zone:

• Season Set: the system first evaluates the season you are in, then proceeds to the next step.

• Working Mode: once the current season has been established, the system confirms the current working mode (Comfort, Economy, or Off), established according to the previous paragraph.

• Room Temperature: once the current set has been determined, the REG System monitors the Temperature value detected by the sensor, and it acts on the zone output to control the temperature. Certainly, the activation/deactivation of the output varies depending on the season:

  • If the system is in Winter, the output is activated if the detected temperature is lower than the temperature set, and deactivated if the temperature rises above the temperature set again (+ the hysteresis).

  • If the system is in Summer, the output is activated if the detected temperature is higher than the temperature set, and deactivated if the temperature drops below the set point again (- the hysteresis).

If the zone is Active, the Output of the zone is ticked; otherwise, it is blank:

 The output can be used to activate thermostatic valve, fan coil, 2-way valves, and so on based on the function of the zone.

AVAILABLE DIGITAL OUTPUT

For each zone, only one digital output is available:

• 16. Zone 1 – Zone 1 Output

• 17. Zone 2 – Zone 2 Output

etc. Up to zone 32 that corresponds to digital output 47.

AVAILABLE ANALOGUE OUTPUT

For each zone, only one analogue output is available:

• 21. Setpoint Zone 1 – current set point of zone 1

• 22. Setpoint Zone 2 – current set point of zone 2

etc. Up to zone 32 which corresponds to analogue output 52.

Warning

If a Dehumidifier for the Integration in the Configuration Zone/1 sub page is associated with the zone:

then refer to MANAGE > 8 FAN COIL WITH 0/10V.