A perfect room experience
The remodeled and partially rebuilt north and south wings of the Hotel Bayerischer Hof – located in the heart of Munich – offer the same high level of luxury as the rest of the hotel, which is set over eight floors. However, the superb quality standards are evident in more than just the stylish interior decor that consists of tables and dressers made of ancient wood, and spacious bathrooms featuring Valverde natural stone; behind the scenes, finished in light and dark natural and earth tones, the LOGO! 8 logic module provides perfection in automation as well as custom lighting and climate control.
A total of 29 new rooms have been created, including 23 deluxe doubles, five junior suites, and a penthouse garden suite featuring a terrace planted with greenery. “We wanted a controller with which we could control as many elements as possible, that is easy and flexible to program, and that also takes up little space in the cabinet,” says Horst Erharter. The electrical engineering contractor has been working for the Bayerischer Hof for 37 years, and for the past 15 years he has been responsible for planning the electrical installations throughout the building. “LOGO! 8 combines all of those attributes. So it was a logical decision to use it.”
Erharter has long been familiar with the Siemens logic module and has been installing it since the first generation was launched back in 1996. “Initially we had twenty rooms fitted out with it as a trial,” he recalls. “Though back then we only used it to control the lighting.” It was a first attempt to find out whether such a method of building automation would work at all. “Before we installed the logic module, all the functions were controlled by way of relays,” Erharter continues. “They often went wrong, meaning repairs were frequently needed. That no longer happened with LOGO!.” Following the successful initial launch, 300 of the total of 341 rooms at the Bayerischer Hof were gradually outfitted with the controller. And it was not just the number of installed controllers that steadily increased, the functions they automated also became more diverse.
One control system, numerous possibilities
The 29 rooms in the new wings are the first to feature the latest from LOGO! 8. In addition to the lighting, the logic modules also control the drapes, radio and temperature in each room – each comprising a living and sleeping area, bathroom and separate shower.
“The logic module also controls access to the rooms by a sensor,” Erharter adds. And it is not only the number and types of automated functions that have changed: the new wings additionally incorporate the KNX building system bus. “Each controller is assigned a CMK2000 communication module. It integrates innovative switches and dimmers into the automation system using KNX technology,” Erharter explains. “This means one switch can be used to operate and dim different lights, as well as adjust the ambient temperature.”
KNX also connects the new rooms to a control center. This enables default settings for the lighting and temperature to be activated directly from the reception desk when assigning guests to a room. If a fault occurs anywhere, it is immediately signaled to the technician in the control center, who can respond accordingly. “LOGO! 8 offers me very wide-ranging and flexible possibilities,” the electrical systems planner delightedly reports. “With CMK2000, up to fifty communication objects can be freely configured. That provides me with lots of variability to configure custom parameters and centralized functions.”
As one example, when a guest leaves their room and takes the room access chip with them, LOGO! 8 automatically switches off all the lights in the unit. When the guest returns, the lights switch back on again. The unique feature here is that the controller remembers the setup when the guest leaves, and upon return it switches exactly the same lights back on. “Free programmability is one of the major benefits of LOGO!,” Erharter asserts. “It means I can configure exactly the functions I want.” This is because the LOGO! Soft Comfort engineering software allows users to choose from more than 40 ready-to-use functions that include a weekly time switch, on-off delay, astronomical time switch and PI controller, thus allowing the user to adapt the application to specific requirements. Additionally, temperature trends in the room can be saved to a file for subsequent analysis.
Free programmability is one of the major benefits of LOGO!. It means I can configure exactly the functions I want.Horst Erharter, Electrical Engineering Contractor at Hotel Bayerischer Hof
“In a building such as this, there are always new challenges arising, and LOGO! offers a way to meet them in a simple, cost-effective way,” he concludes. The system’s other functions include monitoring and regulating the water quality in the pool, controlling skylights and fire doors, and many more.
Erharter engages in regular and intensive interchange with Siemens. LOGO! Marketing Manager Josef Ploch comments: “It is very important for us to receive application reports from customers based on their practical experience. They not only provide us with feedback on the practicality of functions, but also generate ideas as to how we can expand or improve our controller.”
“The support is key,” Erharter affirms. “In Siemens we have found a terrific partner who has always helped us when we have had questions or any issues concerning LOGO!.” That longstanding cooperation, combined with the possibilities that LOGO! offers, has convinced Erharter to also rely on the logic module for his upcoming projects at the Bayerischer Hof. He is planning to use the Siemens controller to automate the lighting in the hotel’s Night Club bar, which has in the past played host to performances by well-known blues and jazz musicians such as Marcus Miller and the late Al Jarreau. He is also planning to use the controller in the hotel’s traditional Bavarian restaurant – the Palais Keller – located in the building’s historic 15th-century vaults.
