Distech Controls, a leading provider of innovative building automation solutions, announced the release of its graphical programming interface, the EC-gfxProgram, for use with its programmable controllers. Distech Controls’ programmable controllers, with a variety of point counts and features, can be programmed to suit any air handling and terminal unit application as well as other building automation applications, such as lighting, refrigeration and power measurement.

The EC-gfxProgram is a user-friendly block based programming interface that simplifies programming, reduces programming time and helps minimize programming errors and facilitate troubleshooting. Available free of charge for custom programming for both LNS and EC-Net (powered by the Niagara AX Platform) platforms, EC-gfxProgram features include a wide array of built-in basic and advanced programming blocks with features such as fan-in, PID loops, time delay, schedules, real-time clock, optimum start, stage sequencing, logical gates, mathematical and comparator functions, psychometric functions, persistent values, etc. It also includes support of the programmable controllers' 62 network variables of which 34 are of changeable type and length, support for all network variables of 1 and 2 bytes including structured SNVTs and support for high precision integers with 2 decimal places.

Furthermore, the programme comes with the ability to create custom blocks, for specific applications, or repetitive sequences. It offers real-time de-bug mode through dynamic view of the data flows and generates error and other statistic reports such as memory used, number of PIDs used, etc. According to the company’s press release, the EC-gfxProgram also enables additional features on the programmable controllers, such as the support of EC-Smart-Sensors and the configuration of wireless, battery-less devices on ECP models enabled with wireless receivers.