How can you integrate BMS with fire alarm systems?

There is no advantage here. Life critical systems should never rely on the BMS controllers or head-end for activating dampers, sprinklers or primary notification systems for evacuation. These should all be done by fire rated hardwired interlocks into the control panels/power distribution for those items of life safety equipment. As a secondary notification system there is some advantage to the Single Pain of Glass approach, and a high level comms interface to the BMS can be useful here. Using the BMS head end to show the location of faults, isolated devices, and indeed fires is a good use case for integration.

During design stage of BMS connecting points should be added to the BMS for fire alarm. All data should be properly coordinated. It will enhance the safety and could be monitor from single platform. In complex buildings this two communication is very useful, Specially in Data centers. Because data centers rely on power and cooling system. Controlling each system separately is more complex than combining all the needs in one.

Local fire regulations may require the control or tripping of building mechanical services during a fire emergency such as HVAC, lift homing, pressurisation fans etc to be controlled directly by the master fire control panel. Bearing in mind that the BMS may not have the necessary certification under the fire standards, e.g. EN54, NFPA etc for such control.

Not in the UK. The BMS cabling is not fire rated and although technically it's possible for the BMS to do all of the tasks suggested, it's not acceptable.

Well for the purpose of shutting down certain services that it controls or to activate certain systems it would make perfect sense to do so.

Though any well-integrated BMS system will be able to distinguish between a fault state or an alarm state, the fire alarm system itself should be intelligent enough to recognise this itself using its self-test routines. We should not rely on the BMS system to test the fire alarm system, but rather integrate with the fire alarm system to gather data from its own tests and analyse them for reporting or alarm handling / redistribution. The data from the fire alarm system should be used as part of a building's SPOG head-end operating system. This allows the building operator to respond quickly and effectively to system faults or malfunctions, across all integrated systems, reducing downtime and potential life safety risks.

BMS also can give you exact location of defect or fire event by programing or labeling the modules ( addressable modules) to identify any faults.

BMS is a system using programming language to connect between field devices on equipment like differential pressure switch, control valves, tamper switches, detectors and electrical components in the panels ( analog and digital inputs/ outputs) one of the programing protocols are Backnet, Modbus or Lonworks.

When choosing the BMS hardware that will integrate with a fire system it may be necessary to choose a hardware / software combination that is UL listed. This will depend on if the BMS will be monitor only or if it plays a role such as smoke extraction.

Fire Alarm System will usually operate standalone being it is a life safety system. For integration to BMS, it normally depends on the needs. Nowadays, most fire alarm have their own Graphic User Interface software. So full integration is not necessary. I will suggest only critical points such a panel fault Alarm to be connected to the BMS for Alarm escalation to Operations team to respond and this can be done by hardwired cable. Alternatively, a protocol interface such as Modbus or BACnet can be used if more points is required. This is sometimes useful for big building installations in scenarios where the operator discover why a related HVAC equipment stopped suddenly and minimised troubleshooting time.

This has been a point of debate my whole career, and I stand firm that Life and Safety should not be reliant on the BMS/BAS system for sensor inputs or system shutdown. It’s fine to monitor Life and Safety alarm relays with the BMS/BAS system, for example grabbing an unused relay on a smoke detector in an RTU and taking it to a DI for remote monitoring and diagnosis is a good thing, but the Life and Safety system should be the one to shut down the RTU in the event of a fire, not the BMS/BAS. A problem with integrating the two systems is the potential damage to the comm loop. If there is a loss of comm during a global shutdown event, majority of all BMS/BAS control boards will revert to their fail-state and/or resume normal operations.

We are receiving the real time data from the SCADA system, and analyzing the data using machine learning model to forecast next month in accordance with the consumption can be optimized in future.

Integration fire alarm system to BMS can be done via multiple hardwires for every critical points such as fire alarm panel (DGP) trip monitoring or via single hardwire to fire alarm network gateway to integrate with multiple points. This connection commonly use industrial standard communication protocol i.e MODBUS/BACnet for the integration of the both. The fire alarm integration to BMS usually helps the BMS operator to identify the cause of related HVAC equipment which being stopped due to taking over of fire mode operation.

Integration of a fire system with a BMS has multiple simple options. I would recommend always using the Fire alarm system interface output which are volt free using approved connections. The BMS is there as a back up to advise and report on the systems status and shouldnt be used in isolation when it comes to critical actions when activated. All life critical actions should still be hard wired regards HVAC systems and fireman's extract systems. When it comes to efficiency and sustainability the BMS can support the FM maintenance teams with proactive reporting using designated addressable zones and sensors on the Fire System - this can then be implemented within the mandatory servicing regimes and PPM scheduling.

Remember that this is highly dependent on which city or county you're located as well. One city may have an entirely different approach, so ensure you constantly are keeping up to date with best practices. Regardless of wherever you may be located, this is the exact spot that you do NOT want to be cheap on. Invest in proper conduits, holdings, updated CAT cables and firerated equipment and ventilation systems as well. That and also don't forget to reach out to your local fire chief as well, as they have extensive experience as well and can provide unique experiences and input that can truly be the difference between life and death.

Fire Alarm System is a life safety equipment and it operates standalone from BMS. Nowadays, most fire alarm system is sophisticated enough and comes with its own software to give real-time data via their own graphics software package. So it is best to understand the need or objective for the integration or else the BMS will needlessly duplicate the monitoring points from the fire system and there will be two systems showing the same data. As such, I will suggest only major fault alarm that required immediate escalation for rectification and those signals that impact critical HVAC or related equipments to be integrated to the BMS. This will also save cost and implementation time during project delivery.