St. Louis Area Foodbank is the bi-state region’s largest non-profit food distribution charity which operates from a 96,000 square foot distribution center located in Earth City (St. Louis) Missouri. As a food distribution center, the ability to monitor refrigeration / freezer warehouses as well as the ammonia refrigeration equipment serving the storage areas is critical.

Controlco, working in conjunction with Midwest Mechanical Services, upgraded the JCI Metasys BAS to a Tridium based JCI Facility Explorer Niagara AX system. The system not only monitors and controls the HVAC systems, but also provides an interface to the Frick ammonia refrigeration system. This is critical to maintaining temperatures in the center’s coolers and freezers. Controlco’s integration of the legacy Frick Modbus control language was a joint effort between Controlco, Johnson Controls, and Frick.

Since the Facility Explorer utilizes a web based browser interface, the owner has multiple user interface options including smart phones and work stations. Alarm messaging is processed using text (SMS) and email.