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Understanding Brick Schema

Learn what Brick Schema is and why it matters for portable analytics.

The Problem

Different buildings use different names for the same sensor:

Building A Building B Building C
HW_Supply_Temp SupplyTempHotWater HWST_01

Result: Custom code for EACH building 🔴

The Solution

Brick provides one standard name:

All buildings → brick:Hot_Water_Supply_Temperature_Sensor

Result: Code ONCE, works EVERYWHERE ✅

Real Example

From official Brick documentation:

Brick Schema Example

What you see:

  • 🏢 Buildings & spaces
  • ⚙️ Equipment (boilers, pumps)
  • 🌡️ Sensors (temperature, flow)
  • 🔗 Relationships (connections)

HHW Brick creates this from your CSV automatically!

How It Works

Your CSV:

tag,system,hw_supply_temp,hw_return_temp
105,Non-condensing,1,1

Generated Brick:

# Equipment
:Boiler_01 a brick:Boiler .

# Sensors
:Supply_Temp a brick:Hot_Water_Supply_Temperature_Sensor .
:Return_Temp a brick:Hot_Water_Return_Temperature_Sensor .

# Relationships
:Boiler_01 brick:hasPoint :Supply_Temp, :Return_Temp .

Why This Matters

Traditional ❌:

# Building A
supply = data["HW_Supply_Temp"]

# Building B - different code!
supply = data["SupplyTempHotWater"]

Brick ✅:

# Works on ALL buildings!
query = """
SELECT ?supply WHERE {
    ?supply a brick:Hot_Water_Supply_Temperature_Sensor .
}
"""

Portable Analytics

def analyze_any_building(brick_model):
    """Same code for building 1, 2, 3... 100!"""

    query = """
    SELECT ?supply ?return WHERE {
        ?supply a brick:Hot_Water_Supply_Temperature_Sensor .
        ?return a brick:Hot_Water_Return_Temperature_Sensor .
    }
    """
    # Auto-discovers sensors, calculates ΔT

Time saved: 90% reduction 🚀

What HHW Brick Does

  1. ✅ You provide CSV files
  2. ✅ Converts to Brick Schema
  3. ✅ Run analytics on ANY building

FAQ

Q: Do I need to know Brick/RDF/SPARQL?
A: No! HHW Brick handles everything.

Q: What if my system isn't supported?
A: Use "Generic Boiler" or request it.

Learn More

Key Takeaway

Brick = one language for ALL buildings
→ Write once, deploy everywhere 🚀

Next: Prepare your CSV →