Collections, Systems and Loops#

A collection is a group of related entities, typically organized around a fixed use or function. A collection is modeled as a Brick entity which contains other entities; the relationship between a collection and its contents is brick:hasPart. Collections allow a modeler to associate entities together to make them easier to find later. Systems and Loops are special kinds of Collections.

Brick defines multiple kinds of collections and allows modelers to create their own.

Examples of Brick collections include:

  • Portfolio: a group of brick:Site

  • Loop: a group of brick:Equipment and brick:Point

  • System: a group of brick:Equipment, brick:Point and brick:Loop

  • Photovoltaic Array: a group of brick:PV_Panel

Several kinds of systems are also defined, including brick:Lighting_System, brick:HVAC_System, brick:Chilled_Water_System and brick:Energy_Generation_System. Typically, collections can only contain equipment and points. The main exception is a Portfolio which can only contain brick:Site.

There are few rules on what kinds of equipment and points can be included in each of the collection types, so the composition of a collection is quite flexible.

Note

At this time, collections must be created manually by the modeler, though it is not out of the question to consider a post-processing tool that assigns entities to different collections based on their types and other relationships. For example, this post-processor may add all chilled water coils to a chilled water system, and all hot water coils to a hot water system.

Example: HVAC System#

Below is simple example of an HVAC system with AHUs and VAVs, demonsrating use of brick:HVAC_System and brick:Air_Loop collections. An HVAC System is a group of equipment, points and loops that implement or handle heating, ventilation and/or air-conditioning in the building. An Air Loop is a group of equipment and points that are all connected and pass air between them; this does not model arbitrary air flow in a building but rather the system’s intended transit of air through the system.

@prefix brick: <https://brickschema.org/schema/Brick#> .
@prefix : <urn:bldg#> .

:hvac_system    a   brick:HVAC_System .
:air_loop_1 a   brick:Air_Loop .
:air_loop_2 a   brick:Air_Loop .

:ahu1   a   brick:AHU ;
    brick:feeds     :vav1, :vav2 ;
    brick:isPartOf :hvac_system, :air_loop_1, :air_loop_2 .
:vav1   a   brick:VAV ;
    brick:hasPart :dmp1 ;
    brick:hasPoint  :sats1 ;
    brick:feeds     :zone1 ;
    brick:isPartOf :hvac_system, :air_loop_1 .
:vav2   a   brick:VAV ;
    brick:hasPart :dmp2 ;
    brick:hasPoint  :sats2 ;
    brick:feeds     :zone2 ;
    brick:isPartOf :hvac_system, :air_loop_2 .
    
:zone1  a   brick:HVAC_Zone .
:zone2  a   brick:HVAC_Zone .
:dmp1 a brick:Damper ;
    brick:hasPoint  :pos1 .
:dmp2 a brick:Damper ;
    brick:hasPoint  :pos2 .
:pos1   a brick:Position_Command .
:pos2   a brick:Position_Command .
:sats1   a brick:Supply_Air_Temperature_Sensor .
:sats2   a brick:Supply_Air_Temperature_Sensor .

After applying inference, several new conclusions can be drawn:

  • the members of :air_loop_1 are :vav1, :ahu1 (indicated explicitly) but also :dmp1, :pos1 and :sats1

  • likewise, the members of :air_loop_2 are :vav2, :ahu2 (indicated explicitly) but also :dmp2, :pos2 and :sats2

  • the mebmers of :hvac_system are the members of the loops above as well as the loops themselves

  • at this time the zones themselves are not part of the loop this may change in the future depending on community feedback

This permits useful discovery queries such as the following: “What are the contents of the air loop feeding Zone 1?”

SELECT ?content WHERE {
    ?content    brick:isPartOf ?loop .
    ?equip    brick:isPartOf ?loop .
    ?loop   a   brick:Air_Loop .
    ?equip    brick:feeds :zone1 .
}

Custom Collections#

It is possible for a modeler to create their own ad-hoc collections, depending on how they want to organize entities in the model. The generic brick:Collection class is available for this purpose. These can be created by instantiating a new entity that is of type brick:Collection; it is recommended to use rdfs:label to name the collection.

Using the example of the HVAC system above, one can create a collection containing just the dampers.

@prefix brick: <https://brickschema.org/schema/Brick#> .
@prefix : <urn:bldg#> .

:my_collection  a   brick:Collection ;
    rdfs:label "All of the dampers" ;
    brick:hasPart   :dmp1, :dmp2 .