Solar facade control module

A compact controller that sits inside each element of an adaptive solar facade, replacing a large central PLC with a network of small, individually controlled nodes.

Angled view of the controller board stacked on three pneumatic valves and an aluminium manifold — Controller board on its pneumatic valves

Controller board seen from an angle, with the STM32 microcontroller and the Ethernet and QWIIC connectors — Controller board

Controller board with STM32 microcontroller, Ethernet interface, QWIIC connector and labelled test points — Controller board, top side

Angled view of the controller board underside with valve connectors, three pressure-sensor connectors and power converters — Controller board, valve and sensor side

Small connector board with three threaded circular connectors, labelled J1 to J3 — Connector board

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Client: Building-technology company developing adaptive solar facades
Scope: Hardware and embedded firmware
Timeline: 3 months
Delivered: Board design, manufacturing package and firmware

The challenge

From one central PLC to a controller in every panel

The client wanted to replace a large, expensive PLC-based controller with a compact distributed control node, installed directly inside each solar facade element.

The board had to bring together 24 V power, Ethernet communication, pneumatic valve control and several sensors on a footprint of about 40 × 48 mm, and keep working at temperatures of up to 70 °C.

What we built

A custom STM32 controller, from schematic to bring-up

Hardware

Controller board

A custom STM32-based controller with its power and protection designed for 24 V building installations.

18–36 V power input with protection
Single Pair Ethernet communication
Multiple 24 V valve outputs
Pressure-sensor interfaces
Buffered I²C link to a remote IMU
Debug, programming and production test interfaces

Firmware

Bare-metal firmware

Lean firmware written directly against the STM32 hardware, with no operating system in between.

MCU and peripheral initialization
GPIO and valve control
I²C sensor communication
SPI link to the Ethernet interface
UART diagnostics
Hardware test and bring-up functions

Delivery

Ready to manufacture

Everything needed to build, program and test the boards, plus support while the first prototypes came up.

Schematic and PCB design
Power and protection architecture
BOM and manufacturing package
Hardware bring-up and validation support

Result

A distributed control platform for the whole facade

A compact custom controller designed to replace the previous PLC-based architecture.
One node per facade element, with around 10 to 15 individually controlled elements on each communication chain.
Power, networking, valves and sensing on a board of about 40 × 48 mm, designed for temperatures of up to 70 °C.
Three months from the start of the project to a working control platform.

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