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DesignBuilder 1.5

1. E 41 3 2 3 1 1 AXIS SDap i mrt nete hr teer etaa AT UT 3 2 3 1 2 Parallel Snap icto need erie de Miner nian demic AD espe ecd 3 2 3 1 3 Normal Snap oe pte eodd eee Pere rer e E RES SR debe eiecit eite AG 3 2 3 1 4 Offset Snap cete ce eee eite ado Hee ne agaa CDU 3 2 8 2 Point Snlaps a ioi ed t decedat ne reed IR ed od ded De e e c ees 55 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Table of Contents 3 ie iritan 3 2 3 2 1 End point Snap eroi e e i ee aa aaa 9 2 3 2 2 Mid point Snap 56 HR ERE 3 2 3 2 3 Edge Snap sse eene OL anti nre d 3 2 3 2 4 IDXE SNAP dione ihrem egere eiit Aan 259 EHE 3 2 3 2 5 Increment Snap oce eee d eme eb ian 259 3 2 3 3 Drawing Guides ce rte be te a e tad cet iced 61 3 2 3 4 ProtractOr OOM 64 3 274 CONSIHUCTION Linesa G R 67 3 2 4 1 Drawing Construction Lines sess neennen eren rre tenete nre 67 3 2 4 2 Removing Construction Lines sesesssseseeeeeeeeenennennenne nennen nennen eren 72 3 2 5 General Operations Masesa eves dee tete desee rau ue odes Cesena osea rore ca ia 72 3 2 5 1 S6l66t e p cede o t e dd ei e e ETT eho S
2. eene nenne nnn nnnm 520 15 7 EnergyPlus Thermal Comfort 521 15 8 EnergyPlus Date Definition eere nnne nennen nennen 525 15 9 EnergyPlus Documentation eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen eene nn nennen anser nenne nennen 525 Section 16 Support Getting Help 528 16 1 Frequently Asked Questions eese eie ess siena seae sas nana tnam asa nanamn nenne nenene 528 Index 529 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Section Getting Started 4 DesignBuilder 1 5 Learning about DesignBuilder If you re new to DesignBuilder you are probably keen to start using the program right away but there s a few things you should do before you dive in e Watch the Getting Started Tutorials e Read Important tips about software use A few minutes spent with these resources will be time well spent Go to Building model data Keeping up to date Visit www designbuilder co uk for upgrades new products and news about DesignBuilder Welcome to DesignBuilder 1 4 DesignBuilder is a user friendly modelling environment where you can work and play with virtual building models It provides a range of environmental performance data such as annual energy consumption maximum summertime temperatures and HVAC component sizes Some typical uses are Calculating building energy consumption Evaluating facade options for overhea
3. ee eee tee 17 Section 2 Core Concepts 21 2 1 Model Data Hierarchy amp Data Inheritance essere 21 2 2 Templates and Components 23 2 3 EE 23 2 4 Navigating Building Models 27 2 5 Customising Model 28 Section 3 Building Models 30 3 1 Greate NOW Site ea ca ea ces cen Ert nhac 30 esl ME OG ATION MD 30 EE ACE 30 3 2 Building Geometry onec ecce ree oec e zero ee ee eee 30 3 2 1 View Controls 31 3 2 1 1 View Rotation 33 PAESI 34 3 2 4 3 Zoom Dynami O 34 3 2 1 4 Zoom WInQOW aya apa t at A d i dude b dude iene 34 3 2 1 5 Fit view 34 P Ea NEEDLE 34 3 2 TL Normali VIGW sz nies ite vc rn a wi ee Wo diii 35 322 Perme lE Mec B H 35 3 2 2 1 7 SHa Per scie o dare elena ried tana UL ERO EE C eg n EXE SEL ERU EE HEURE TER 36 3 2 2 2 Line Type 38 3 2 3 Snaps Drawing Guides amp Protractor aeaa aeaaea rea enne nennen nnns tnnt tnnt aaia aiaa 40 3 2 3 1 10
4. M B 353 5 6 dcicgpeep TT E A A R 356 5 7 Defining setpoint temperature schedules 357 5 8 c 359 5 9 Window Ga ics 360 5510 Local Shadirng ta eoe 361 ARAM 361 j M 362 5 103 SIMS 363 BEV OA Overhiamgs ce 364 5 11 Window Blinds cece aena eect e esse eeseeeeeseeeseaesessneeeeseeessaesseseeeseeneessaaesusaeesasseeessaesuseaeeeseneneaas 366 5 11 1 EE 367 5 11 215 CDI 367 5 11 3 Shade Transparent Insulation Data eese eere nennen nennen nnne ntn nnn natns tina insi nns ina inns inns sns stas 368 5 11 4 Electrochromic Switching 5 12 cc 5 121 GONE A E 369 5 122 iQ 369 5 13 Holidays 2 nene etnies tuii eiua med 369 BASH SGON Oral EE 370 5 13 2 Holiday LISts ciccsaseiesousncesecssiacessnacceasncnaassieaeccnesaesniesnutdncdnddvavsdcasensulednvedaccuobcucsuansdoabarecsindddisccinassdondsadsocenadbddbcencuces 370 Section 6 Template Data 372 6 1 Activity Templates M 374 6 1 1 Activity Templates General 375 6 1 2 Activity Templates All Gain
5. onie GEMS Kiss quas E Solar Distribution FullInteriorExterior will not work in Zone 42272 mu frm because vertex OF back sueucitace cs 422272 10106 0 170277 is in front of receiving surface W 42272 9 0 0 pus AU Dot Product indicator 7 3314 Check surface geometry if OK use Solar Distribution FullExterior instead One or more zones is non convex which makes the model incompatible with the 3 Full interior and exterior solar distribution algorithm This error can also lead to temperature out of bounds errors 5 Severe Temperature out of bounds 637 89 for surface W_43311_4 0 0 AUS MM in Zone 43276 ptr Occurrence info BRUSSELS BEL IWEC DATA WMO 064510 01 04 13530 13832 DS Rush A Ecnpebatusc Out Of bounds problem cam be caused by several things The user xS M should check the weather environment the level of internal gains with respect is to the zone and the thermal properties of their materials among other things A common cause is a building with no thermal mass all materials with Regular R definitions A temperature of a surface has become too high during the simulation Possible causes are 1 Some form of geometric error in the simulation sometimes related to unrealistic amounts of solar radiation falling on small surfaces 2 Use of the finite diffe
6. 458 TES Tools MENU aniria N T TA 458 11 6 Help Menu anan aA EEEE A 459 Section 12 Modelling Advice 461 12 1 Natural Ventilation Modelling eere 461 12 2 Operative Temperature Control sssnssssnsennseunnunnnnunnunnnununnnnnnnnnnunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn 464 12 3 Working with Large Models 1 eese eene enne enne nnne nennen nennen nnns 464 12 4 Ground Modelling nusen cma sucer diac radon can 465 12 5 Adjacent Buildings coset ee eenaceens secs cceswaeeeezens teense cp ueceecees Aar ENARE haccenussececerszacetes 469 12 6 Electrochromic Glazing 470 12 7 Trombe Walls 10r reiner 471 12 8 Autosizing Heating and Cooling Equipment esses eren 472 12 9 Daylight Saving and Local Time nenne nnne nnn nnne nn nna 473 12 10 Mixed mode irre E E 473 12 11 Double Facades rnit eee ee dieere 474 12 12 Solar Radiation Distribution 476 Section 13 Simulation Hourly Weather Data 484 13 1 Add new hourly weather data 4
7. 3 9 21 2 zi ic ie etd en au e eee ies 186 3 3 2 1 3 7 5 occ d o EHE D se tH piede D een eee TOf EE 3 3 2 1 4 Holidays inei pr einen de ees C189 M N 3 3 2 1 5 Environmental Control 2 199 EE 3 3 2 1 6 Domestic Hot Water DHW sesssseesseeennm 7 193 Er ALTERI 3 3 2 1 7 Computer Gains sese enemeeeeeemeemeemeeeeenemeeens 193 ETE 3 3 2 1 8 Office Equipment Gains seessseeeeeeeeneenen eee eemeeereeens 194 9 9 2 1 9 Miscellaneous Gains 194 9 9 2 1 10 Catering Gains 195 3 9 2 4 11 Process Gallis ih tt ape ro teta oet a 196 3 3 2 2 Construction Data ee p ede ree e ve Re un 198 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Table of Contents 5 EE 3 9 2 2 1 GOnDSITUclions o roo eda cud o er bul db oneal Lotes 199 3 3 2 4 Lighting Data 239 TUE 3 3 2 4 1 General Lighting 3 3 2 4 2 Task and Display Lighting 242 ERTS 3 3 2 4 3 Lighting nett t npn ne Lee oe a 2402 3 3 2 5 d 246 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 6 DesignBuilder 1 5 253 NIRE 3 9 2 5 9 GOollrigi ite
8. Dbl Cir 3mm 13mm Air the component rad Drm Dbl Clr 3mm 13mm Ara Breg Dbl Clr Bmm 6mm Air Source EnergyPlus dataset Layers Number layers 2 Dbl Clr Bmm 13mm Air Dbl Clr 6ram 1 3mm Arg Click on a component Dbl Clr Low Iron 3mm 5mm Air to see details in the Tutermost pane Dbl Clr Low Iron 3mm 13mi Info Data panel I Fane type LOW IRON 5MM Dbl Chr Low Iron 3mm 13 m Arg Window gas 1 RI eo incon Dbl Clr Low Iron 5mm 13mm Arg Innermost pane Dbl Bronze 3mm 6mm Air Pane type LOW IRON SMM Dbl Bronze 3mm 13mm Air Calculated Values Dbl Bronze 3mm 13mm Arg Total solar transmission SHGC 0 817 Dbl Bronze 6mm 6mm Air Direct solar transmission 0 735 Dbl Bronze 5mm 13mm Air Light transmission 0 834 Dbl Bronze Bmm 13mm Arg U Value 2 555 Dbl Green 3m 5mm Air Dbl Green 3mm 13mm Air Dbl Green 3mm 13mm Arg Dbl Green 6mm 5mm Air Edit view component libraries Add New Component To add a component 1 Click on the to the left of the component type Glazing in the above screen shot 2 Click on the category folder icon or on a component within a category 3 Click on the green on the toolbar to create a new component of the selected category 4 Fill in the details on the dialog and press OK The component has been added Clone Copy Component Cloning a component creates an exact copy of the selected component gives the copy name Copy of followed by the name of the original component
9. I T T T T T T 1 1800 2 0 123 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1213 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Seasonal control 3 Winter only 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Component Data 5 8 Textures General Name Beige decorative brick Category Brick T Source ImageCELs Filename brickO Width 0 81 Height 0 81 Image Textures are used to represent the external surface of building constructions in the rendered views in the Visualisation Screen Select the texture file and the real world width and height represented by the texture Textures are associated with materials and used to render the model in the Visualisation Screen DesignBuilder comes with a library of textures Future versions of the software will allow user defined textures to be added to the library but version 1 0 does not allow this Note If an image does not appear under the Image header this means that the selected file is not installed Texture data can be accessed e from the Components tab on the opening screen to view edit library components if no file is open e from the Components tab in the Navigator panel to view edit model components if a file is open e by double clicking on the texture icon in the model data e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting textures from a list 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 5 9 Window Gas Window Gas component data is used to define the thermal propertie
10. Auto complete block Perimeter Shape 1 Polygon Line type 1 Straight line Protracter Direction Snaps X axis snap Y axis snap Z axis snap 1 3p v Normal snap Point Drawing Guides To draw a block perimeter line to be perpendicular with the edge of an existing block move the mouse cursor to touch the edge and then move it to be approximately perpendicular to it the cursor will automatically snap to a line which is exactly perpendicular 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 You can lock the perpendicular snap by pressing the SHIFT key which will prevent the cursor from picking up an unwanted direction inference In this case a construction line has been placed parallel with the block edge to help in positioning the new block The perimeter line locks to a perpendicular from the construction line 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 4 When the normal snap is in operation intersections are automatically calculated with drawing guides allowing you to snap to the intersection 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 51 3 2 3 1 4 Offset Snap The offset snap is used to draw partitions and voids parallel to existing walls and partitions at a fixed offset distance This help topic describes the use of offset snap for drawing partitions but the i
11. Summer design week Summer typical week All summer Winter design week Winter typical week All winter Interval Monthly and annual output is always generated and daily hourly and sub hourly data can selected by checking the appropriate boxes Note that selecting output at hourly or statistics displayed are generated by the EnergyPlus weather data translation utility The statistics data is used to identify useful simulation periods Summer start month Summer end month define the summer simulation period in mmm format Winter start month Winter end month define the winter simulation period in mmm format Extreme hot week starting defines the first day of the hottest week of the year Typical hot week starting defines the first day of a typical summer week Extreme cold week starting defines the first day of the coldest week of the year Typical cold week starting defines the first day of a typical winter week Note week starting dates must be in the format mmm dd any other format will generate an error when clicking on the links in the Simulation Options dialog This data can be accessed from the Simulation Calculation options dialog to set up typical simulation periods screenshot right 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 6 9 Crack Templates 1 Crack Excellent 4 General Name Excellent Category lt Aittightness Windows External Flow coefficie
12. Recovered DesignBuilder files Learning mode is ON Learning mode provides relevant information and easy accessto typical commands New users often find Learning mode particularly If the file you wantto open does not appear in gt the list of recently used files you can also a Create new site plataforma solar almeria e My Documents DesignBuilder 12 1 2006 1 Press F5 to open selected file Example house 2 You can also e Create a new file site from this screen e Open existing dsb file from the My Documents DesignBuilder Data by default 072 1 4 User Interface The DesignBuilder user interface has been designed from first principles for ease of use Each screen has a specific purpose which is described in the Info panel on the right of the screen along with context 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Getting Started sensitive commands and other relevant information The Info panel is only displayed in Learning mode If you would prefer to have simultaneous access to the Model Data and the Edit View you can switch Learning mode off from the Program Options dialog from the Tools menu The user interface is described for each group of screens e Opening Screen Recent Files e Opening Screen Component Libraries e Opening Screen Template Libraries e Edit Screen e Visualisation Screen 1 5 Edit Screen
13. Shape 2 Rectangle Keep default openings Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides Default openings converted to custom openings On the other hand if you un check the Keep default openings option all default openings will be removed Select the perimeter shape that you require and then move the mouse cursor to place the window origin As you move the mouse cursor over the surface distance guides will be displayed from each of the surface vertices to help in placing the window origin If the increment snap is switched on the origin will snap in increments from the vertex that s nearest to the mouse cursor 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Drawing Options Perimeter Shape 2 Rectangle Options Keep default openings Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps End point snap Mid point snap Snap increment m 5 Increment snap Vertex distance guide Switch snap increment direction Drawing Guides e 4E You can lock the origin to a particular vertex by moving the mouse cursor close to the vertex and pressing the SHIFT key and keeping it pressed until you actually place the origin This can be helpful if you want to place a window relative to a vertex at the other end of the surface Perimeter Shape 2 Rectangle Options Y Keep default openings Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps End point snap Mid point s
14. This option determines how EnergyPlus treats beam solar radiation and reflectance from exterior surfaces that strike the building and ultimately enter the zone There are five choices 1 Minimal shadowing In this case there is no exterior shadowing except from window and door reveals All beam solar radiation entering the zone is assumed to fall on the floor where it is absorbed according to the floor s solar absorptance Any reflected by the floor is added to the transmitted diffuse radiation which is assumed to be uniformly distributed on all interior surfaces If no floor is present in the zone the incident beam solar radiation is absorbed on all interior surfaces according to their absorptances The zone heat balance is then applied at each surface and on the zone s air with the absorbed radiation being treated as a flux on the surface 2 Full Exterior in this case shadow patterns on exterior surfaces caused by detached shading wings overhangs and exterior surfaces of all zones are computed As for Minimal shadowing shadowing by window and door reveals is also calculated Beam solar radiation entering the zone is treated as for Minimal shadowing all beam solar radiation entering the zone is assumed to fall on the floor where it is absorbed according to the floor s solar absorptance Any reflected by the floor is added to the transmitted diffuse radiation which is distributed among interior surfaces according to view factors
15. 1 1 D 1 1 1 1 1 If you sub divide a block internally using partitions you can still modify the block by stretching cutting rotating etc and where possible the internal geometry will be kept 2 4 Navigating Building Models There are various ways of navigating moving around DesignBuilder models e Single clicking the appropriate entry in the Navigator panel is the most versatile way because every object in the building has an entry in the Navigation panel e Double clicking on the appropriate object in the Edit Screen takes you do it Single clicking on the appropriate object in the Edit Screen then mouse right mouse clicking on the object and selecting the Go to menu option at the top Go to the level up in the hierarchy by pressing lt F3 gt or by right mouse clicking in the Edit Screen and selecting the Go up menu option The Next lt F5 gt and Back lt F4 gt Navigation buttons allows you to move sequentially through the model avoiding surfaces This approach can be slow but can be useful when it is necessary to methodically work through the model for any reason The Figure below shows how to either click on the Navigator entry or double click on the Edit Screen to go to Zone 1 from Block 1 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 Untitled Building 1 Block 1 Heating design Cooling design Navigate Site Site Templates 2 4 E Untitled
16. Drawing Options Perimeter Y Segments 20 Shape 3 Circle Protracter Options Direction Snaps Paint Snaps End point snap Mid point snap Nearest point snap DF snap Snap increment on Snap incremen 0 100 O Switch snap increment direction Drawing Guides 3 2 3 1 Direction snaps When drawing perimeter lines block partitions or surface openings direction snaps can be used to draw lines e Parallel with the active drawing plane axes Axis snap e Parallel with existing elements Parallel snap or e Perpendicular to existing elements Normal snap 3 2 3 1 1 Axis snap The axis snap check boxes are displayed under Direction snaps in the Drawing Options data panel when the various drawing commands are active The axis snap is used to draw lines parallel with the major axes of the active drawing plane As you move the cursor around to draw a line the line will change colour and stick slightly as it becomes parallel with one of the major axes 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 Perimeter line snapped to Y axis u 2 Geometry Perimeter Protracter Directin Snaps x axis snap Y axis snap Z axis snap Para Normal snap Point Snaps Drawing Guides You can use axis snap to draw block perimeters on planes of any orientation If the plane is non horizontal the axis snap applies to the local coordinate sy
17. Parallel snap Normal snap Point Snaps Drawing Guides After placing the second line the two construction lines form a vertical plane that can be used for extruding blocks or as a plane to be used as a cutting plane Cutting Method Cutting method Protracter 2 Select plane Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides Using construction lines to create cutting plane 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 3 2 4 2 Removing Construction Lines You can remove construction lines individually by selecting and deleting or you can remove all construction lines from the model by selecting Remove all construction lines from the Edit menu 3 2 5 General Operations This section describes general geometric operations Select Move Clone copy Rotate Stretch Delete 3 2 5 1 Select 278 OOBOO GE To select an object click the Select tool or select Select from the right click menu then move the mouse cursor to the object to be selected and click the mouse to select To select multiple objects you can either press the CTRL key while clicking on objects or drag a selection rectangle by pressing the left mouse button and keeping it pressed as you drag a window across the required selection when you release the mouse button the objects inside the window will be selected 3 2 5 2 Move 0H 4 k FIEL HPP SS Fe Y
18. Profile data can be accessed e from the Components tab on the opening screen to view edit library components if no file is open e from the Components tab in the Navigator panel to view edit model components if a file is open e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting profiles from a list in the Schedules dialog 57 Defining setpoint temperature schedules SCHEDULES TIMING MODEL OPTION Operation of heating and cooling equipment is defined by selecting a Schedule under the Heating 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Cooling and Operation headers on the HVAC tab These schedules are used to generate both the heating cooling availability schedule and the temperature setpoint schedules used in the simulations Schedule values greater than 0 5 indicate the system is in full operation controlling temperature to the main heating cooling setpoint values between 0 and 0 5 indicate the equipment in setback mode and values of 0 indicate that the equipment is switched off See Table below Value Heating Cooling Equipment Operation 0 Equipment is off gt 0 5 Equipment is controlled using the main temperature setpoint data Activity tab 0 lt Value lt 0 5 Equipment is controlled using the setback temperature setpoint data Activity tab Notes 1 When using 7 12 Schedules for 0 5 read 50 etc 2 When using 2 Single period profiles with 7 12 Schedules to generate temperature setpoints the Off p
19. TIP TO REDUCE NUMBER OF TRIANGLES WHEN TRIANGULATION IS REQUIRED You can reduce the number of triangles required when a smaller block is placed adjacent to a large one and the larger block has Windows by drawing a partitions stub to separate the block connection area from the window area as shown the diagram below Partition stub 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd so DesignBuilder 1 5 14 8 Calculation of HVAC Energy Consumption DesignBuilder calculates boiler chiller DHW fuel consumption from the loads calculated by EnergyPlus using the CoP data at the building level on the HVAC tab as follows Simple HVAC Boiler energy EnergyPlus heating loads Heating system CoP Chiller energy EnergyPlus cooling loads Cooling system CoP Compact HVAC Boiler energy EnergyPlus heating loads x Heating distribution loss factor Boiler CoP Chiller energy EnergyPlus cooling loads x Cooling distribution loss factor Chiller CoP Where Heating distribution loss factor 1 Heating Distribution Loss 100 Cooling distribution loss factor 1 Cooling Distribution Loss 100 DHW Simple and Compact HVAC DHW energy kWh DHW CoP x 1000 kg m3 x 4 187 KJ kg K x EnergyPlus DHW m3 loads x Delivery water temperature Mains water temperature Where DHW CoP is Heating system CoP when using 1 Central heating boiler DHW type Data shown in blue is HVAC model data Data shown in italics is read from
20. The disadvantage of Operative temperature control is that start up loads can be unrealistically high due to the lag in thermal response of the walls floor ceilings The slow temperature response of the building fabric part governs the output of the operative thermostat and hence the operation of the heating cooling equipment If this effect dominates it can lead to an overestimate of the required design cooling load You should be familiar with this issue before using operative temperature control to size heating and cooling equipment In our experience using Operative temperature control usually leads to higher peak loads in Heating and Cooling design calculations and higher energy consumption in Simulations Caution Operative temperature control can cause EnergyPlus Error 3 when using Simple HVAC or Cooling design calculations with Operative control in zones with strong radiant heat gains causing high radiant temperatures e g uninsulated roof or zone is highly glazed The error is caused by the fixed supply air temperature being higher than the zone air temperature required to give the operative setpoint e g 24 C The solution may be to use Air temperature control and to manage the high radiant temperatures using solar shading insulation as appropriate Air temperature control is easier to use as none of the aforementioned problems apply but it can lead to inadequate equipment sizes peak loads in Heating and Cooling design calculations
21. Zone surface dimensions shown in green dotted lines above are measured from inner edges of outer walls and the centre line of partitions NO gt Show diagram for Separate Constructions 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 10 DesignBuilder 1 5 The zone volume used in ventilation calculations is the actual inside volume shown in yellow in the diagram above These inside zone surface dimensions are used to define surface heat transfer areas in simulations and other calculations Zone perimeter plan view Plan View Zona Dispensa Zona Disimpegno terra Zone perimeter is the internal edges of external walls and centre line of internal partitions See Construction Location for information on the meaning of the Construction Model data Also see Constructions for how to edit the construction configuration Three types of block are available e Building Blocks are used to draw the model or a section of the model e Outline Blocks are used to help in the creation of building block geometry and do not affect the model e Component Blocks are used to create visual and shading structures which do not contain zones A building block represents the outer shell of the model or part of the model A finished block comprises a set of building elements which may include external walls roofs and floor slabs the constructions of which are determined from the current building construction model da
22. 15 504 528 53 DesignBuilder 1 5 Glazing 214 215 223 227 228 235 283 360 calculated data 345 Components 344 layerdata 344 Model 183 model detail Templates Glazing area Glazing Component 344 Glazing Components 344 Glazing Template 87 214 380 Go to menu 27 Go up menu 27 Graphical User Interface modelling 491 Green 41 55 122 332 334 372 484 Grid 16 59 Ground 55 67 72 89 122 176 178 199 296 302 307 313 320 407 411 423 461 465 Ground Modelling 465 Ground plane 55 67 72 89 122 307 320 285 380 381 223 227 235 GroundReflectance 178 GroundReflectedSolar 178 GUI 491 Guides 325 Drawing 61 324 H Hardware 327 492 Hardware Requirements 492 Has 15 16 27 30 46 59 72 86 89 104 115 Heating Design 404 407 423 182 282 287 296 302 313 403 Heating Design output 404 Heating Screen 403 Heating cooling 287 387 Heating cooling system 287 387 Heavyweight 15 372 Height 61 79 89 97 119 120 122 199 215 223 228 238 359 382 Help 15 17 36 57 67 88 89 100 120 166 176 280 340 384 418 461 489 491 528 block edge 46 Help menu 491 Holiday Schedule Category 370 Holidays 87 184 188 340 369 370 399 453 Hourly 15 30 178 181 296 302 313 372 391 392 418 464 484 489 Hourly results 464 Hourly weather data 489 Downloading 484 Hourly weather data follow 484 HVAC 14 17 87 183 186 223 227 2
23. 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Calculations 45 DATA OPTIONS Data Select an option to indicate the data you wish to display e 1 All fabric and ventilation heat gains losses internal gains not Heating Design temperatures and outside dry bulb air temperature 2 Site data all site data e 3 Comfort inside air the radiant and comfort temperatures 4 Internal gains internal gains including equipment lighting occupancy solar and HVAC heating cooling delivery 5 Fabric and ventilation heat gains to the space from the surface element walls floors ceilings etc and ventilation Negative values indicate heat loss from the space Tip to update the data using different calculation options click Update Ctrl U Show as You can display the data in one of four ways Graph Grid Graph and table Table e e e e Note you must select the Grid option to export data in spreadsheet format Normalise by floor area Check this option if you wish data to be displayed per floor area i e m2 or ft2 You can select the area to use as the denominator from e 1 All areas Total area is used e 2 Occupied area just occupied areas are used Note you can only select 1 All areas if the building and block data includes occupied areas as set in Include unoccupied zones in block and building totals and averages option in Heating design Output options Likewise you can only select 2 Occupied area if the b
24. For CO2 Other and SF6 you must enter custom properties CUSTOM GASES ONLY If you elect to enter custom material properties then you must enter the details The A and B coefficients are those in the following expression that gives a property value as a function of temperature in degrees K Property Coefficient_A Coefficient_B Gas_Temperature K Conductivity Coefficient A The A coefficient for gas conductivity W m k 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Component Data Conductivity Coefficient The B coefficient for gas conductivity W m K2 Viscosity Coefficient A The A coefficient for gas viscosity kg m s Viscosity Coefficient B The B coefficient for gas viscosity kg m s K Specific Heat Coefficient A The A coefficient for gas specific heat J kg K Specific Heat Coefficient B The B coefficient for gas specific heat J kg K2 Molecular Weight The molecular weight mass of the gas Kg kmol Window gas component data can be accessed e from the Components tab on the opening screen to view edit library components if no file is open e from the Components tab in the Navigator panel to view edit model components if a file is open e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting window gases from a list 5 10 Local Shading General tab on Local Shading Dialog Local Shading Components are used to define simple generic shading devices to apply to the Windows in the model Enter the na
25. Return air height Return air height specifies the distance above the floor where the air leaves the zone and returns to the air system This height is used by the model to determine the return air temperature relative to the mean air temperature by applying the gradient Range of applicability The air temperature distribution within the zone is used as follows 1 To calculate boundary conditions for conduction through surfaces walls roofs glazing etc 2 To include the effects of extracting relatively warmer air at the ceiling level when using Compact HVAC 3 To include the vertical position of the thermostat sensor for HVAC control Limitations The air temperature distribution mechanism does not include 1 The effects of extracting relatively warmer air at the ceiling level when using Scheduled and Calculated natural ventilation 2 The vertical position of the sensor for ventilation control 3 3 2 5 7 Domestic Hot Water DHW HVAC tab in model data The effect of hot water consumption hot water taps showers etc on building energy use can be included in your thermal model by switching on DHW on the HVAC tab Domestic Hot Water DHW is modelled in DesignBuilder by using hot water consumption rates based on the activity in each zone DHW hot water consumption is defined on the Activity tab and the definition of the hot water generating equipment is described below is defined on the HVAC tab Type Three types of DHW are
26. The component block material is used to define the solar and visible reflectance of the block surfaces in Cooling design calculations and Simulations using real weather data when the model reflections calculation option is selected Note Although component blocks are displayed in DesignBuilder as solid objects non flat component blocks are modelled in EnergyPlus as a group of surfaces and it is the reflectance and transmission of each of these surfaces that is being described here The solar flux incident upon a building facade will be attenuated by each successive shading object located on a path between the facade and the sun position Maximum Transmittance The transmittance of the component block during the simulation is calculated by multiplying the maximum transmittance by the time varying schedule value Transmittance Max Transmittance x Schedule value In most cases you will want component blocks to provide 100 shading for 100 of the time In this case you can leave the Maximum transmittance and Transmittance schedule in their default states of 0 and On respectively If you wish the component block to transmit solar and visible radiation you can define the extent and timing of the transmission The component block transmittance is calculated during the simulations as the Maximum transmittance multiplied by the value of the transmittance schedule below The maximum transmittance can have any value between 0 and 1 Note that if the com
27. Through 31 Dec For Weekdays SummerDesignDay WinterDesignDay Until 07 00 0 Unteris 19 00 1 Until 24 00 0 For Weekends Until 24 00 0 For Holidays AllOtherDays Until 24 00 0 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 This schedule is intended to be used to describe the lighting operation in an office It indicates e Schedule is a fraction 0 1 e No seasonal variation e Weekdays and cooling and heating design days the schedule is 1 on between 7am and 7pm and 0 i e off other times e Weekends holidays and all other days the schedule is off Example 2 Temperature Setpoint Schedule SCHEDULE COMPACT Bedroom Cool Temperature Through 31 Dec For Weekdays SummerDesignDay WinterDesignDay Until 05400 0 5 Until 09 00 1 Until 17 200 05 5 Until 24 00 1 For Weekends Untils 05 200 0 5 Until 24 00 1 For Holidays AllOtherDays Until 05 00 0 Fr This schedule is intended to be used to describe the cooling temperature setpoint and setback in a bedroom It indicates Schedule is a temperature degC e No seasonal variation Weekdays and cooling and heating design days the main temperature setpoint data Activity tab is used between 5am and 9am and also between 5pm and midnight Cooling operates at setback temperature setpoint data at all other times on these days e Weekends the cooling setpoint is
28. e by double clicking on the template icon in the model data e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting templates from a list 6 4 4 Facade Templates General General tab on Facade Templates Dialog Enter the name and category for this Facade Template 6 4 2 Facade Templates Openings Openings tab on Facade Templates Dialog Enter the glazing and frame data for the facade There are a number of standard facade types e None there is no glazing Continuous horizontal glazing is generated in a continuous horizontal strip using sill height and glazing Fixed height glazing is generated with a fixed height at the specified sill height and width is calculated based on the glazing This option uses glazing but prioritises window height Preferred height glazing is generated using the window height data and the glazing but the window height may be adjusted to achieve the required glazing This option uses window and sill height but prioritises glazing Fixed width and height windows have fixed width and height This option uses glazing but prioritises window width and height Fill surface 100 the entire surface is filled with glazing and there is no frame e f the glazing does not have a frame uncheck the Has a frame box 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Template Data 6 5 Lighting Templates 9 E ye T8 Fluorescent tripho p General Name T8 Fluorescent tr
29. simulation in DesignBuilder documentation e Energy Performance Indicator simulations on the Check screen This capability is still under development and is so far undocumented DesignBuilder has been set up to allow a choice of calculation method for each of these energy simulation types but version 1 0 only allows EnergyPlus as the calculation method The range of options will be expanded in future versions Display Options in the Panel in the bottom left of the screen allow you to change the data displayed and the presentation style Results can be exported in a variety of file formats or they can added as a Report topic 7 1 Heating Design Heating design calculations are carried out to determine the size of heating equipment required to meet the coldest winter design weather conditions likely to be encountered at the site location These design calculations are traditionally carried out using steady state methods such as those offered by ASHRAE and CIBSE You can use DesignBuilder to carry out effectively the same calculation using the EnergyPlus dynamic thermal simulation engine Click on the Heating Screen tab to view Heating Design data If the necessary data has not yet been generated a Heating Design calculation is automatically started to generate the data Heating design simulations using EnergyPlus have the following characteristics e Constant Steady state external temperature set to the winter design external tempera
30. 1 Click on the to the left of the component type Glazing in the above screen shot 2 Click on the component you wish to copy 3 Click on the clone icon on the toolbar to create a new component identical to the selected one This creates the copy and selects it 4 To edit the new component click on the Edit toolbar button 5 Fill in the details on the dialog and press OK 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 View Component You can view the details of a component in the Info Data panel on the right of the screen as shown in the diagram above Note that icons in the View panel indicate that you can click on the component to see its details You can also use the Previous and Next Navigation buttons above the Info panel to navigate through previously viewed components and templates 4 2 Opening Screen Template Libraries Use the opening screen to work with template libraries The whole screen is dedicated to the job and you get access to the Info Data panel which allows you to review the data for the currently selected template screen shot below You can add clone copy delete view edit import export backup restore library templates as shown below You can also save the libraries by clicking on the Save toolbar icon libraries are also saved when the program exits Add new Clone Delete Office selected selected Backup Restore Previous Next template template templa
31. Building Models 217 _ Frame Divider cat width Frame Glazing Divider One of the four window ON vertices EXTERNAL WINDOWS ON WALLS For external windows on walls the following dimensions in the direction of the glazing normal can also be entered Inside reveal depth Inside sill depth Outside divider projection Inside divider projection Outside frame projection Inside frame projection Divider glass edge centre conduction ratio Frame glass edge centre conduction ratio Divider type The definition of the above dimensions is shown in the diagrams REVEAL 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 Wall Outside Inside Reveal Reveal Surface Surface Outside Inside Reveal Reveal Inside Sill Depth Depth Depth Glazing Inside Sill Depth Frame wall DIVIDERS 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 20 Frame Frame width 1 Frame outside projection Frame inside projection Double pane glazing OUTSIDE INSIDE Divider Divider width r Divider inside projection Spacer _ Divider Divider Type Divider Type DividedLite Suspended Openings tab in model data under External Glazing Internal Glazing and Roof Glazing headers You can select two types of shading for external windows e Window shading blinds curtains etc walls and roofs e Local shading overhangs l
32. Glass edge centre conduction ratio 1 000 Frame Y Frame width 0 040 Frame inside projection 0 000 Frame outside projection m 0 000 Glass edae centre eandiction 1 Frames are applied to all rectangular windows default and custom but not to other shaped windows and not when using the Fill surface 10096 facade type 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 225 If the glazing does not have a frame or dividers uncheck the Has a frame box If Has a frame is checked and then you can enter e the construction of the frame and dividers e the number of horizontal dividers and vertical dividers e frame width and divider with see diagrams below for definition Frame gt gi Divider width Frame Glazing Divider One of the four window N vertices EXTERNAL WINDOWS ON WALLS For external windows on walls the following dimensions in the direction of the glazing normal can also be entered Inside reveal depth Inside sill depth Outside divider projection Inside divider projection Outside frame projection Inside frame projection Divider glass edge centre conduction ratio Frame glass edge centre conduction ratio Divider type The definition of the above dimensions is shown in the diagrams REVEAL 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 226 DesignBuilder 1 5 Wall Outside Inside Reveal Reveal Surface Surface Outside
33. I Semi exposed wall construction Flat roof construction Flat roof construction Ground floor construction m Pitched roof construction External floor construction Internal partition construction Depends on Model option settings Au i AA External wall construction Pitched roof unoccupied construction External wall construction External wall construction Ground floor construction 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 201 Construction Template Y Bp Template Part L2 2006 Medium weight SJ External walls Part L2 2006 wall Medium weight S Flat roof Part L2 2006 Flat roof Medium weight Sy Pitched roof occupied Part L2 2006 Pitched roof Medium weight SJ Pitched roof unoccupied Clay tiles 25mm on air gap 20mm on roo SPJ lnternal partitions Lightweight 2 x 25mm gypsum plasterboar J Semi exposed walls Part L2 2006 Semi exposed wall Medium SJ Semi exposed roof N Part L2 2006 Semi exposed roof Medium Cy Semi exposed floor Part L2 2006 Semi exposed floor Medium ground floor Part L2 2006 Ground floor Medium weight SJ External floor Part L2 2006 External floor Medium weigh SJ Internal floor 100mm concrete slab External walls The external wall construction defines the construction of walls adjacent to outside The definition of walls is given by the roof wall transition angle model option In cold climates this construction will generally include an ins
34. Summer start month Jul Summer end month Sep Extreme hot week starting Jul 23 Typical hot week starting Jul 8 Cooling degree days Base 10 C 2843 Winter Winter start month Jan Winter end month Mar Extreme cold week starting Jan 15 Typical cold week starting Feb 5 Heating degree days 18 C 1013 ASHRAE climate type 45 DesignBuilder is supplied with a large database of hourly weather data sets from around the world When you select an hourly weather data set on the Location tab at Site level you do not select the file directly but rather an hourly weather data template which in turn references the actual file It works this way so that we can supply you with a database of hourly weather data locations without needing to include hundreds of large hourly weather files There are two tabs on the Hourly Weather Data dialog e General e Statistics If you select an Hourly weather file from the DesignBuilder database which does not yet exist on your computer the program will automatically download it from the DesignBuilder server You must be connected to the Internet for this option to work 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 You can add new hourly weather data sets to the DesignBuilder database Template data can be accessed e from the Templates tab on the opening screen if no file is open e from the Templates tab in the Navigator panel if a file is open e by doubl
35. The diagrams below illustrate the various components of the DesignBuilder Edit Screen with Learning Mode switched on and off Learning Mode On 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Menu Toolbar DesignBuilder SEDE SATOO1 mod 1 dsb Layout UFFICI SAT UFFICI SAT File Edit Go View Tools IL Sil Aid Ris Navigate Site UFFICI SAT UFFICI SAT Components Templates Activity Lighting E UFFICI SAT UFFICI SAT ESB Block 1 HC Zone 1 a Block 3 E g Zone 1 Ep Block 4 H Zone 1 ESB Block 5 H 6 Zone 1 21 9 Block 2 H E Zone 1 Ep Block 7 HC Zone 1 Block 8 B Zone 1 E g Block 6 8 60 Zone 1 Navigator Panel Status bar Screen Tabs TES Hea dean dei Simon check E dit building layout add edit or delete blocks jp the current building Info Help Heb Data Edit Building Layout Use this screen to add edt or dekte blocks in the current buiding Sy Add blockto draw a new block To changethe dimensions of an existing block you must first select the block you want to work with Then use one of the Cut Drag face or Stretch commands To add or edit partitions orto draw void perimeters such as courtyards you should go to the block first Navigation Go to block level by double clicking on the appropriate block in the Model view or single clicking on the block in the Navigator list Lo
36. Weekends Holidays Alldays SummerDesignDay WinterDesignDay Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday CustomDay1 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Component Data 355 e CustomDay2 In fields after the first For AllOtherDays may also be used Note EnergyPlus has limit of line length of about 60 characters so lines like For Weekdays SummerDesignDay WinterDesignDay Weekends Holidays AllOtherDays should be changed to For AllDays Field Interpolate optional Schedule values are input to the simulation at the zone time step so there is also a possibility of interpolation from the entries used in this object to the value used in the simulation This field if used starts with Interpolate and contains the word Yes or No Field Until This field contains the ending time for the current days and day schedule being defined The data should represent clock time standard in the format HH MM 24 hour clock format i e 1pm is 13 00 Note that Until 7 00 includes all times up through 07 00 7am Field Value Finally the value field is the schedule value for the specified time interval Note you can use 0 for Temperature type Compact Schedules to indicate that the heating cooling system is switched off during the specified period See Example 2 below Example 1 Operation Schedule SCHEDULE COMPACT Office CellOff Light Fraction
37. You can view the EnergyPlus IDF data used to carry out the calculation by clicking on the View the input data link in the info panel Learning mode only or from the Tools menu 7 1 1 Calculation Options These calculation options can be accessed from the Heating design calculation options tab of the Model Options dialog and from the Heating design calculation options dialog e Calculation Options e Heating system sizing e Advanced Calculation Options Calculation description Enter some text to identify the calculation This will be used in reports and in the filename for automatically generated ESO files Click on the OK button to start the Heating design calculation 7 1 2 Display Options You can review heating design output in 2 ways e Heat loss breakdown on the Steady State tab e Summary table heating capacity data for each zone on the Summary tab To update the data using different calculation options click Update Ctrl U The General tab on the Display Options panel provides options for controlling the data displayed in the Heating design data display screen General Display Options are grouped under three headers e Data control the data displayed e Y axis for customising the layout of the Y axis e Appearance for customising the style and appearance of the graphics The Detailed tab on the Display Options panel provides controls which allow you to select exactly the data items you wish to display
38. zl amp uto complete block Shape 1 Polygon Line type 1 Straight line Protracter v x axis snap v Y axis snap Tq Z axis snap AC Normal snap EEG Snaps EEG Guides This will enable the active perimeter line to infer a direction from the selected edge and you can lock this inference by pressing the SHIFT key to prevent a parallel inference being picked up from an unwanted edge So press the SHIFT key and move the mouse cursor to a position approximately parallel with the edge the cursor will stick when the parallel snap operates and the perimeter line will change colour to cyan 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 46 DesignBuilder 1 5 When the parallel snap is in operation intersections are automatically calculated with drawing guides to allow the two to be combined so you can snap to the intersection of the two 3 2 3 1 3 Normal snap The normal snap is used to draw lines perpendicular to the edges of existing objects The normal snap check box is displayed under Direction snaps in the Drawing Options data panel when the various drawing commands are active When the normal snap is switched on and you draw a line string each line will automatically snap to be perpendicular with it s predecessor if it exists 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Geometry Y E Block type 1 Building block m i Form 1 Extruded Height 3 50 wall thickness m 0 292
39. 228 307 320 361 377 378 381 Heating 189 399 399 403 Setpoints 87 wall becomes 329 Severe 517 Roof Glazing 214 228 381 Shade data 368 Roof overlap 118 Shading 361 381 Roof slope 118 calcs 307 320 iii cd Shadows 307 320 327 435 436 184 199 Shape 36 38 61 89 104 115 116 118 119 Roof wall 140 159 199 328 329 122 147 158 166 216 224 229 504 Roof Wall Transition 140 159 199 328 329 Rotate 34 35 41 72 75 100 163 171 SHGC 345 SHIFT 45 46 55 64 67 72 89 104 122 166 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Index sa SHIFT key Keep 55 Press 46 64 89 104 122 166 pressing 45 72 Show North Arrow 327 435 439 Show shadows 436 SI assuming 453 Sidefin 361 Sidefins 15 219 222 361 363 Sidefins and or louvres 222 Sill 215 223 228 382 Simple 346 361 378 379 381 387 400 464 504 Simulation 14 15 30 177 178 181 184 188 198 214 239 246 273 282 284 287 294 296 302 307 312 313 320 342 345 369 391 400 403 404 410 415 418 420 423 464 465 484 489 491 504 508 517 computer during 449 Simulation Calculation Options 312 418 Simulation continues 403 410 418 Simulation hourly weather data 484 Simulation Output 423 Reviewing 420 Simulation Period 312 313 418 Simulation program modelling 508 Simulation using real weather data Simulation Weather 177 181 391 Simulation weather data 181 Single 16
40. 242 320 324 384 level 187 375 403 410 464 492 Rate according to the level 187 375 Point Snaps 55 324 Rate called 187 401 Polygon 36 38 61 89 115 116 118 122 504 Rates 87 184 187 213 223 227 235 236 238 Position 45 46 55 59 72 75 86 100 147 162 273 287 296 302 313 372 374 375 376 379 213 220 232 235 236 237 238 242 362 368 387 394 399 401 370 Read Important 14 Pre design 183 198 285 Recent 16 182 Pressing Recent Files 16 CTRLkey 72 Recent Files Opening Screen 16 ESC key 31 36 67 122 147 Recommended 298 304 403 449 464 465 492 F11 282 general purpose 87 SHIFT key 45 46 64 72 89 104 122 166 Rectangle 36 72 116 118 162 Update button 296 301 Redo 175 Pressure 178 223 227 235 236 238 253 287 Refer 56 75 89 170 171 403 372 400 423 Perimeters 166 Pressure Coefficient Templates 400 Reference 183 296 302 313 332 335 340 341 Pressure related 178 372 384 489 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 372 372 Reference Heavyweight Reference Lightweight Reference Mediumweight 372 Refresh Navigator Toolbar 447 Region 176 182 183 370 372 375 380 383 387 389 390 396 397 399 453 Region containing sector 399 Region containing the sector Remembered 89 Remove 72 104 166 Removing 104 166 281 327 Construction Lines 72 Report Meter 489 Reporttopics 403 443 444 Report Variable 296 302
41. 4 6 Restore Component Template Libraries 338 Section 5 Component Data 340 Men nui em 341 5AA Layer Data sessa a raras 341 5 1 2 Mage ep UTE DC TOR 342 5 1 3 Calc lated Data 3 a enean cpetian ced sus crar manca rue AA dme ie 342 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 yr GAZING PM 44 LAY ONS E E E E 344 5 2 2 Calculated mm 345 5 3 Materials 346 3 1 Material Properties m 346 5 4 349 Lr MMC 349 jUnnn 350 Le ROR DILIPrir tM 350 5 4 4 Visible Data Cere ce Ra Tasa DN Ree ec aU Pa ek a epduR 350 jn P 351 5 5 Sched les 2 EE erem edn tone 351 5 5 1 7 12 Schedules Defined Using Profiles eeeeeeeeeeeeee eene enne nnne nnne nnn sns inns nnns 352 LXPAeMhtteBue liec w
42. 79 307 320 446 489 Importing 79 Move 79 DXF file 79 446 489 DXF file import export DXF Snap 55 59 Dynamics 14 326 403 410 485 440 446 Early 59 87 239 285 375 376 Edge Snap 55 57 59 64 122 Edit 15 16 17 27 28 30 31 34 59 72 75 88 104 120 122 140 146 158 159 160 163 166 171 175 176 177 181 199 280 282 283 284 294 325 326 328 332 334 351 370 372 446 486 Edit block Options 140 159 328 Edit blocks 120 140 159 294 328 Edit building models 280 Edit menu 28 72 104 175 280 282 Edit Mode 31 Edit model data 294 Edit on Visualisation Screens 326 Edit Screen 16 17 27 75 88 146 158 160 163 176 326 Edit surfaces 171 Edit toolbar button 332 334 Edit View 16 325 326 Electrochromic 220 232 366 368 Email 528 E mail 491 Emission factors 182 s34 DesignBuilder 1 5 Emissions 182 396 397 401 423 Environmental Comfort 376 Emissivity 346 351 EPLaunch 449 End 57 59 67 118 122 147 166 199 286 313 EP Launch 508 356 418 Eplusout csv 489 Endface 122 Eplusout dbg 489 Endeavour 528 Eplusout dxf 307 320 489 Endpoint 36 38 55 56 57 59 61 64 67 72 79 Eplusout dxt file 122 147 0 viewing 307 320 block partition 99 Eplusout eio 489 Energy 14 16 177 182 16 488 nergy 2 2 1 1 5 2 1 5 372 387 389 390 396 397 398 399 403 411 EPlusouterr 489 517 418 420 423 508 Eplusout eso 489 Energy C
43. Edit Visualise Heating design Cooling design Simulation Check dpe El Untitled H Building 1 aS Black 1 G Zone 1 ff Ground floor 158 728n H Roof 158 728m2 Wall 41 148m2 90 0 Wall 55 697m2 0 0 Wall 24 817m2 270 Wall 21 273m2 180 Wall 16 331m2 270 9 09 Wall 34 424m2 180 a eal asg a a baa vA When working with surfaces switching to Normal view rotation can be helpful in orientating openings and sub surfaces View rotation 6 Axonometric vt DO QHO ES Bm2 90 0 Model Data Construction Construction Template Y fp Template Energy code Mediumweight s Construction Normal surface view Openings You can draw move clone copy rotate and delete the following types of opening e Window 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 166 DesignBuilder 1 5 Sub surface Hole Door Vent 3 2 12 1 Draw Window 1 7a 3D Pao VE Before activating the Draw window tool you are given the option of keeping any default surface openings If you choose to keep these openings they will not be subsequently affected by any changes to the surface attribute data and must be deleted or edited manually To add a window to a surface click on the Draw window tool If you have opted to keep the default openings they will be converted to custom openings wo Perimeter
44. Envelope component tab on Energy Code Templates Dialog Specifies mandatory maximum U values through the individual components walls windows roofs etc The data on this tab indicates the required maximum U values 6 11 3 Energy Code Templates Envelope building Envelope building tab on Energy Code Templates Dialog Sets a limit on the rate of heat transfer through the overall building envelope The limit is typically set as an average U value for the overall building envelope 6 11 4 Energy Code Templates Energy Performance Energy performance tab on Energy Code Templates Dialog Sets a limit on the rate of heat transfer through the overall building envelope The limit is typically set as an average U value for the overall building envelope 6 12 Sector Templates es Schools 4 gt G ral Name Schools Category UNITED KING Source BRE BH Legislative region England and Wale Holidays Holidays per pear 81 g Holidays schedule UK Schools Sectors are used to categorise buildings according to their use activity 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 A sector is located within a legislative region and can only be accessed if the building is situated within the region containing the sector The General sector is an exception to this rule as it can be accessed from all regions if the List region data Program Options setting is All or General Local You can also associa
45. HVAC ioo echte catene de etate pde e od oa d io eed eU deca ea dos Seta Dea 287 3 4 2 Advanced Concebpls 25 ierit pace edere eee arai a seus ce SUE Eran Ca vena eade dep 289 3 4 2 T SimplifiCation 2 5 289 342 2 Natural Ventilation ere a ah eee eid eink 292 3 4 2 3 Miscellaneous Editen 4 eet oriri De rte ied rtr Rede aS 294 3 4 2 4 Lighting 295 3 4 2 5 Filters 295 3 4 2 6 Component Blocks ee d a ei Eee Ee e b ete dde d e D D D D 295 3 4 3 Heating Design Calculation 296 3 4 3 1 Winter Design Day teret RE panier tr ies ce HR ERR SER 296 3 43 2 Calculation Options tas 25 iiir tere tt dert rer e He ee deg 296 3 4 3 3 Heating System Sizing a seii i aia a ea a a enne nente aeaa iaaa a a nnns trennen nenne nnne nne 298 3 4 3 4 Advanced Calculation Options 299 3 4 3 57 c oie ee p etd edd pipe vo dead eaten teal did edd p ede A teo SOR E 301 3 4 4 Cooling Design Calculation Options eese 301 3 4 4 1 Summer Design Day ceeceeceeceeseeeeeeeceeeeeeeeaeeeeeceeeeaeseaesaeecaeeaeesaeeeaeseesaeeeaeeneesieseaeseesaeeeaeseeesaeeeaeeneeeaeeeeeees 301 3 4 4 2 Calculation Options 5 eoi erre ien e eet e Ha eder eene edid
46. Line passing 307 320 MS Line Type 36 38 Manufacturing industrial 196 Lines 36 38 40 41 45 46 55 57 59 61 64 67 Material bridging 341 72 104 122 177 184 198 214 239 246 307 320 Material Properties 346 M s 345 M2 236 238 M3 s 236 238 Manage 280 332 Component Library 340 Templates 372 327 411 423 489 517 Materials 23 307 320 340 341 342 344 346 Z exis 41 67 89 359 361 368 508 Load Data 15 30 176 177 184 198 280 372 Max 189 273 417 Access 280 Max Cooling 417 Load Data From Template tool 177 184 198 Max ventilation 189 273 use 372 Maximum 14 176 182 189 242 265 268 273 Load lighting data 239 240 242 287 296 302 304 313 362 384 387 390 397 Loads 15 23 28 30 176 177 183 184 198 B cc ee oa S 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 239 240 242 246 276 280 285 287 296 302 Maximum cooling 304 417 313 332 340 377 381 383 384 386 388 410 Maximum cooling load 410 449 453 484 Maximum cooling requirement 304 Model Data 372 Maximum heating 268 296 302 313 model objects 280 Maximum warmup 296 302 313 Loads Convergence 296 302 313 MB 492 Loads Initialization 296 302 313 MB RAM 492 Local 15 122 182 219 340 361 362 363 364 Mean 178 359 387 417 396 comfort temperature 407 411 423 axis snap applies 41 Mediumweight 198 372 shows 222 Memory DesignBuilder 492 Local Shading 219 222 340 361 362 363 364 Merging 464 Local shadin
47. Please refer to perimeter shapes for details of drawing perimeters After drawing a perimeter a block will be automatically extruded by the Height entry in the Drawing options settings or if the Auto complete block setting is switched off the perimeter can be dragged to form the extrusion To help in setting the correct extrusion height the increment snap setting can be used which enables the drag movement to jump by any defined increment Alternatively you can simply type in an extrusion height and press the enter key 3 50m an San When a block has been placed additional blocks can be drawn onto any surface of the block to form 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models more complex aggregate blocks As you move the mouse cursor across the faces of an existing block each face will change colour from grey to blue to indicate the active drawing plane You can lock the active drawing plane by pressing the SHIFT key which allows you to move the cursor off the current face while keeping the plane active You can also lock the active drawing plane to the ground plane by moving the cursor over the background area and pressing the SHIFT key this is particularly helpful in avoiding the selection of the wrong plane when drawing a vertically extruded block adjacent to an existing block Once you ve clicked the first data point into the active drawing plane it becomes locked regardless of whether or not the SHIFT ke
48. Simulation tabs e Calculation options dialog Heating design Cooling design Simulation e Model data on Construction tab Construction tab in model data under Construction header You can select the inside and outside surface convection algorithms in the Model data on the Construction tab under the Surface Convection header This provides you with the option of making different selections in different parts of the building Inside convection algorithm You can select from a range of EnergyPlus inside convection algorithms for calculating the convection between internal zone surfaces and the rest of the zone air in the simulation calculations 1 Detailed correlates the heat transfer coefficient to the temperature difference for various orientations This model is based on flat plate experiments 2 Simple applies constant heat transfer coefficients depending on the surface orientation e 3 CIBSE applies constant heat transfer coefficient derived from traditional CIBSE values 4 Ceiling diffuser a mixed and forced convection model for ceiling diffuser configurations The model correlates the heat transfer coefficient to the air change rate for ceilings walls and floors 5 Cavity This algorithm correctly calculates the convection coefficients for a narrow sealed vertical cavity based on the ISO 15099 standard Natural convection model correlated for air in a narrow vertical cavity that is sealed and not ventilated This applies both to t
49. So in either of this cases the simulation takes place as if this option is switched off This is currently the only Simplification option switched on by default for new models Lump similar cracks Causes all cracks in a zone which are facing the same direction and have similar height to be lumped into a single crack This option applies only when the natural ventilation model option is Calculated Lump walls and windows developer option Reduces the number of walls and windows This is currently a research only tool because it has undocumented restrictions It is not available for general users Generate fully enclosed zones Check the Generate fully enclosed zones checkbox to model Link surfaces This has 2 main effects on the model 1 Extra Link surfaces are generated to connect adjacent blocks together for both visual continuity and to allow fully closed zones to be generated 2 The volume enclosed by the link surfaces and the inter block partition is included in the zone volume This volume is essentially the thickness of the block wall x inter block partition area Model semi exterior unconditioned zones as simple R value to outside Including complex roof structures in the model can sometimes cause simulations to run slowly for little benefit in accuracy This option allows you to exclude such spaces from the calculations adding in their place a single R value resistance to outside The resistance can be used as a way to incl
50. You can edit these default folders on this tab 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Program Options 447 10 3 User Interface Learning mode You should generally select Learning mode while you gain experience with DesignBuilder In Learning mode the Info panel is shown to the right of the main screen providing additional information and commonly used tools relevant to each screen Model Data is accessed from tabs along to the top of the screen With Learning mode switched off the Info window is not shown and Model data is shown on the right of the screen alongside the Model edit screen This allows you to see the effects of updates to data as they are made Use Slider controls Some significant data items are by default controlled using a slider which allows rapid selection of typical values If however you need to enter precise values for example when modelling an existing building you may prefer to type this data in a text box In this case uncheck the Use slider controls data Note when using DesignBuilder with IP units slider controls are always switched off regardless of this setting Sort lists By default DesignBuilder automatically sorts navigator and other data lists alphabetically This can make it easier to find the data you are looking for but also increases the time taken to generate lists and so slows some program operations requiring lists to be generated You can request unsorted lists by unchecking this o
51. a eet DE rese te ck aAa esas eamus ce 384 6 6 HVAG Templates aea cceteatececeteneecettesshsucctenerenetetentiscocelsesaedeassapentoctscoutessstuestincesace 386 6 6 1 HVAC Templates General hin tnter eein a ae Er eei pe aa raaa 387 6 6 2 HVAC Templates Ventilation cssccssssessecseesseesesseeeseneneeeseesenennsenesenenueesesseeeneesenesensnuesseeseesseesenenensenesenenees 387 6 6 3 HVAC Templates Sy Steines 387 6 6 4 HVAC Templates Air Temperature Distribution cccsscsesseeseseeeseeeseeesesseeeseeseneseesneeseeeseeeseesenesensenesenenees 388 6 7 Location Templates KENAAN 389 6 7 1 Location Templates 390 6 7 2 Location Templates Winter Design Weathet ccsccsssssseesssssseessneessneesseessneeseneesseesseneesnensseesesneeseeensneeas 390 6 7 3 Location Templates Summer Design Weather eeeeeeeeeeeeee nennen nennen nnne nnns nnns nnnnnne 390 6 7 4 Location Templates Simulation Weather esee esee 391 6 8 Hourly Weather Data 391 6 8 1 Hourly Weather Data General 392 6 8 2
52. gt Moving light sens r snapped to Y axis Note You can set the height of the working plane and hence the z position of the lighting sensor on the Advanced tab of the Model options dialog 3 2 12 Working with Surfaces Surface Level This section describes the operations involved in creating surface openings and sub surfaces To create openings and sub surfaces in a zone surface you first need to go to the surface that you want to modify You can do this from the zone level either by clicking on the navigator entry or double clicking on the zone surface in the Edit screen if you re at the zone level Go to surface level 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 164 DesignBuilder 1 5 Navigate Site Untitled Building 1 Block 1 Zone 1 Cooling design Simulation Check E Untitled Type 2 Natural ventilation open plan 5 8 Building 1 Ep Block 1 5 60 Zone 1 H A Ground floor 158 728n H Root 158 728 2 4 69 Wall 41 148m2 90 0 a 4 f Wall 55 697m2 0 0 Wall 24 8172 270 0 H H Wall 21 273m2 180 Wall 16 331m2 270 9 07 Wall 34 424m2 340 0 p as Click on the navigator entry or double click on the surface in the Edit Td E screen l S Either of these operations will take you to the surface 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 165 Navigate Site Untitled Building 1 Block 1 Zone 1 Wall 41 148m2 90 0
53. lt q 8 General Name Blind with medium reflectivity sl Category Slatted blin Slat Properties Slat orientation Horizontal Slat width 0 025 Slat separation 0 019 Slat thickness 0 001 Slat angle 45 0 Slat conductivity 0 900 Minimum slat angle 0 Maximum slat angle 180 Slat Beam Solar Properties Slat beam solar transmittance 0 000 Slat beam solar reflectance front s 0 500 Slat beam solar reflectance back 0 500 Slat Diffuse Solar Properties Slat diffuse solar transmittance 0 000 Slat diffuse solar reflectance front 0 500 Slat diffuse solar reflectance back 0 500 Slat Beam Visible Properties Slat beam visible transmittance 0 000 Slat beam visible reflectance front 0 500 Slat beam visible reflectance bac 0 500 Slat Diffuse Visible Properties Slat diffuse Visible transmittance 0 000 Slat diffuse visible reflectance fro 0 500 Slat diffuse visible reflectance ba 0 500 Slat IR Thermal Properties Slat hemisperical transmittance 0 000 Slat hemisperical emissivity front si 0 900 Slat hemisperical emissivity 0 900 Openings Blind to glass distance 0 050 Blind top opening multiplier 0 500 Blind bottom opening multiplier 0 500 Blind left side opening multiplier 0 500 Blind right side opening multiplier 0 500 Window blind components can be selected for external glazing roof glazing and interior glazing from the Openings tab in the Model Data There are four types of
54. the outside window reveal if present For windows with a shade this transmitted radiation is totally diffuse shades are assumed to be perfect diffusers For windows with a blind this transmitted radiation consists of beam diffuse short wave radiation that passes between the slats and diffuse radiation from beam to diffuse reflection from the slats The heating effect of solar radiation on opaque roofs and walls is accounted for in the Roofs and Walls fabric heat conduction data Solar re reflected back out of the external window and transmitted through interior windows is not subtracted e Solar Gains Interior Windows Total beam diffuse solar radiation transmission through interior windows Requires the 3 Full interior and exterior solar model option to be set Zone Sys Sensible Cooling is the sensible cooling effect on the zone of any air introduced into the zone through the HVAC system It includes any free cooling due to introduction of relatively cool outside air and the heating effect of any fans present Cooling always shows as a negative heat gain in the results t is therefore not the same as a cooling coil energy delivery when mechanical ventilation is involved It is best thought of as the HVAC cooling contribution to the zone heat balance Zone Sys Sensible Heating is the sensible heating effect of any air introduced into the zone through the HVAC system including any free heating due to introduction of relatively wa
55. with hole representation in EnergyPlus Because EnergyPlus does not allow surfaces to be defined with holes i e surfaces are defined using a single set of vertices DesignBuilder generates 2 or more valid sub polygons to represent the surface in EnergyPlus The diagram below illustrates the procedure used for a typical Wall with hole surface The Wall with hole surface is the sum of the blue and green polygons Polygon 1 The Interblock partition shown in white is a separate surface Polygon 2 The surface is split into 2 often equal area polygons that together enclose the hole left by the interblock partition You should bear this in mind when looking at EnergyPlus IDF data Block link surfaces Block link surfaces are used to connect the Wall with hole and the Inter block partition surfaces to ensure that zones are fully enclosed They are required because zones in adjacent blocks are separated from each other due to the thickness of the walls of the 2 blocks The link surfaces bridge the gap between the internal zone shell and the external block shell 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 498 DesignBuilder 1 5 A Block link surfaces Block link surfaces are excluded from the calculations by default to keep the size of models down but you can change the setting under Miscellaneous Edit on the Advanced tab of the Model options dialog to include them When included link surfaces are modelled usi
56. 23 9 0 000 26 3 0 000 21 7 Winter 1 0 Clo 0 014 0 008 0 006 orga Aypiung Operative Te mperature Summer Clothes Humidity io 0 012 23 6 0 012 0 000 26 8 28 3 25 1 0 000 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Summer 0 5 Clo DesignBuilder 1 5 i 4 4 I id I I I I I esac eke eles dees I l m I i I cP aa ee BE l I l I l I I ss he a 25 j b I I I 22 Operative Temperature I 4 b l 4d eo I I SSS ee AI Llc LLIl2 ll J2 I I I eee 13 1 I I L 1 j I I 1 1 j I 10 0 014 0 012 0 01 0 008 0 006 orgu Aypiung 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Section Visualisation 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 The Visualisation screen allows you to view the model in full 3 D rendered mode This section describes the process of creating and controlling rendered images From the Visualisation screen you can export rendered images in various formats and also generate AVI movies of the scene To
57. 27 87 235 236 237 238 282 284 285 356 395 464 Single clicking 27 Site 16 21 30 86 88 176 177 178 181 182 183 199 282 296 301 312 320 325 403 410 423 446 453 465 484 528 Visualisation 14 Site including 176 Sites save 30 Sizing 287 298 Slab 465 Slat data Slope Sloping Sloping Walls Smooth 346 Snaps 36 40 41 45 46 55 56 57 59 61 64 72 75 79 89 122 147 166 320 324 325 X axis 41 418 367 116 140 159 115 116 140 159 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Y axis 41 Z axis 67 Solar 14 100 147 178 182 285 296 301 302 307 312 313 320 345 346 349 350 403 410 411 418 423 435 436 464 484 Solar Absorptance 307 320 346 Solar data 350 Solar Heat Gain Coefficient 345 Solar index 350 Solar Options 307 320 Solar Options allow 307 320 Solar shading 14 100 435 436 67 104 147 287 296 302 307 313 320 9P2 upgrade 492 Spacing 215 223 228 SpecialDayPeriods 369 Specification 350 492 Specular 307 320 Specularly 307 320 Specularly reflecting if 307 320 Standard 28 33 87 182 183 184 215 223 228 345 368 378 382 397 489 492 517 Standard Insulation 397 Standard Output File 489 517 Start 14 15 36 55 57 67 89 120 146 147 286 356 401 403 410 418 Heating 404 Start drawing 36 67 147 Start drawing partitions 147 Starting point 36 55 89 occupancy 401 State of the art 397 State of the art build
58. 30 41 45 46 55 57 64 72 75 77 79 97 100 122 162 166 220 232 282 287 289 325 392 403 404 407 411 415 420 423 435 439 484 491 492 504 North Arrow 327 option affects 326 Distance 34 57 59 67 115 120 166 367 Distribution 246 253 276 388 407 411 423 Divide block 104 120 122 Dividing 122 239 240 242 DLL 449 508 Document 178 296 302 313 489 517 Documentation 187 242 296 302 313 350 401 403 465 489 DOE 449 508 DOE building 508 DOE EnergyPlus 449 508 DOE 2 296 302 313 508 DOE supplied EPLaunch 449 Dome 115 119 Don tshow 418 Door opening 236 Door Operation 235 236 Door Placement 236 Door replacing 235 Doors 30 100 163 199 214 215 223 228 235 236 238 273 307 320 395 Downloading hourly weather data 484 Drag 34 59 64 72 89 100 104 120 122 140 147 159 356 Drag block face 120 Draw Block 41 59 115 320 324 Draw Door 170 235 Draw Hole 170 Draw Sub Surface 484 489 170 199 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Draw Vent 171 237 Draw void 158 Draw window 35 61 100 166 170 171 Draw window tool 40 Drawing 35 41 45 46 115 122 147 158 170 171 324 325 Construction Lines 67 guides 61 324 tools 320 Drawing block partitions 59 35 41 45 46 115 122 158 115 Drawing Options Drawing Options data Drawing partitions 147 Drawing Tools 31 320 Dsb file 30 332 existing 16 DXF 55 59
59. 372 377 378 395 399 403 407 411 423 Wall Thickness 97 141 158 Wall windows 307 320 Warmup 296 302 313 418 Water Vapor Transmission Data Weather 302 313 389 390 391 392 403 410 418 423 465 484 489 Weather Data Hourly Interpolation Weather Data Translator 418 484 Web 528 Website 391 508 Support Forum 528 Window opening 223 227 235 Window shading 219 220 232 307 320 Window spacing 215 223 228 237 238 464 Windows 166 199 214 215 216 219 220 223 224 227 228 229 232 235 236 237 238 273 289 307 320 326 340 344 345 349 360 361 362 366 367 368 382 387 395 399 410 411 418 423 436 449 484 489 492 504 508 number 464 Windows Explorer 484 Windows XP SP1 492 Windows XP SP2 492 Windspeed 296 302 313 Winter Design 177 182 296 390 403 418 Winter Design Calculations 296 Winter Design Weather 177 182 390 403 Winter design weather data 182 Wireframe 440 Wire frame 326 Within 182 187 276 284 296 302 313 332 334 342 375 388 389 390 396 398 399 436 449 484 508 Working 146 160 Within Blocks 158 Working 146 Within Zones Working 160 Workday 273 286 375 Working 15 within 146 160 within Blocks 146 within Zones 160 296 302 313 15 21 67 88 97 100 104 116 140 141 15 30 86 176 177 178 181 182 296 15 23 30 34 61 72 87 100 104 163 30 36 38 55 57 140 147 158 159 162 Zone s surfac
60. 372 398 399 407 Component data 222 332 340 361 Component gives the 332 Component Library 332 372 manage 340 Component Template 337 338 Components Template Library 335 Components templates 335 Computer gains 193 Computers 23 184 193 285 376 391 411 423 439 449 484 489 491 492 504 Concepts 21 289 Construction 15 17 21 23 41 46 67 72 87 100 140 141 159 178 183 184 198 199 214 216 224 229 280 283 285 296 302 307 313 320 329 340 341 342 345 346 372 377 378 379 380 381 394 453 465 489 508 Construction calculated data 342 Construction Components 341 Construction Data 198 214 377 380 Construction image 342 Construction layer data 341 Construction Lines 46 67 Drawing 67 Removing 72 335 248 387 508 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 178 296 302 313 341 342 346 350 199 15 87 198 285 372 Construction Location Construction Templates 377 378 379 Construction types Continuous Control Continuous Off Control Control R 175 Controls 14 15 31 35 36 38 59 79 87 97 118 140 159 182 186 189 199 215 223 228 235 236 237 238 239 273 280 281 284 285 287 289 296 301 307 312 320 325 368 370 384 387 396 418 435 436 439 440 446 447 Lighting 242 Use 341 Control Z 175 Converge 296 302 313 403 410 418 Conversion 350 Convert 104 120 122 140 144 159 166 181 350 Convert
61. 4 Using the DOE executable EnergyPlus simulation option to open the EP launch application before simulation Note that DesignBuilder will automatically generate compatible IDF files with the target version of EnergyPlus as set on the Program options dialog It is important to set the version you intend to use before exporting the IDF data 1 File gt Export menu option 1 Open your DesignBuilder dsb model file 2 Make sure you are at building level or below 3 Click on File gt Export gt EnergyPlus IDF file gt Simulation DesignBuilder will warn you if the currently selected version of EnergyPlus is not a DOE one and give you an opportunity to change it 2 Copy in idf in the EnergyPlus folder An alternative way to generate IDF files is to use the intermediate file in idf in the EnergyPlus folder which is generated prior to each DesignBuilder EnergyPlus simulation You should copy this file to a different filename location before using it Important You should not make any changes to in idf itself because this file will get overwritten before the next DesignBuilder EnergyPlus simulation 3 Tools gt Display menu option You can view the input data script used to calculate these results by selecting the Tools gt Display simulation input script menu option If you do not have the EnergyPlus IDF editor installed then you should associate the idf file extension with a text editor to make this option work Note this shows the
62. 5 0 Building 1 c Block 1 9 60 Zone 1 E Type 2 Natural v ntilation open plan Click on the navigator entry or double click on the zone floor in the Edit screen LION 2 5 Customising Model Detail DesignBuilder models can be customised to allow you to enter the level of detail which is appropriate to your building design or modelling project In early stage design work you will generally want to use generic selections for most Model Data and so would choose the corresponding low data requirement model options As the building design firms up more information becomes available and you can change the model options to use more specific data tailored to the project and less generic data The standard Model Option set is loaded at the point the building is created and you should generally keep these options unless you have specific reason to change Model Options are set in the Model Options dialog from the Edit menu 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Section Building Models 30 DesignBuilder 1 5 The process for creating a new building model typically follows a sequence Create new site Create new building Draw and manipulate building blocks to create building geometry Partition building into thermal zones Set Model Data Add any custom openings windows doors etc by drawing up the surface level Size heating and cooling systems Check design by carryin
63. 840 Pane components holds data on the thermal solar visible and infrared properties of individual window panes Note that the Info Panel on the right of the Dialog contains information on the naming convention is used with EnergyPlus glazing data There are five tabs on the Pane dialog e General e Thermal e Solar e e Visible Infra red Pane component data can be accessed from the Components tab on the opening screen to view edit library components if no file is open e from the Components tab in the Navigator panel to view edit model components if a file is open e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting panes from a list 5 4 4 General General tab on Panes Dialog Enter the name and category of the pane 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 5 4 2 Thermal Data Thermal Data tab on Panes Dialog Thickness Enter the thickness of the pane Thermal conductivity This field is used to enter the thermal conductivity of the material layer Thermal conductivity must be greater than zero 5 4 3 Solar Data Solar transmittance The solar transmittance at normal incidence averaged over the solar spectrum Solar reflectance The inside back side and outside front side solar reflectance properties of the pane at normal incidence averaged over the solar spectrum Note For uncoated glass when alternative optical properties thickness solar index of refractio
64. By zone enter the zone outside air delivery rate in air changes per hour in the control directly below The air flow rate in m3 s is calculated from the ac h data using m3 s ac h x ZoneVolume 3600 where ZoneVolume is the actual air volume of the space calculated according to Model options for excluding floor ceiling constructions Note this zone volume may be different from the value used for the purposes of calculating air flow rates for infiltration which uses the total zone volume e 2 Min fresh air Per person maximum natural ventilation rate is defined using Minimum fresh air requirements per person as set on the Activity tab The air flow rate in m3 s is calculated as m3 s MinFreshAir x NumberPeople 1000 NumberPeople Occupancy density people m2 Zone floor area m2 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 255 MinFreshAir is the minimum fresh air rate per person l s person or CFM e 3 Min fresh air Per area maximum natural ventilation rate is defined using Minimum fresh air requirements as set on the Activity tab The air flow rate in m3 s is calculated as m3 s l s m2 x ZoneFloorArea 1000 where ZoneFloorArea is the actual floor area of the space MinFreshAir is the minimum fresh air rate per floor area l s m2 or CFM ft2 e 4 Min fresh air Sum per person per area maximum natural ventilation rate is defined using Minimum fresh air requirements for both as set on the A
65. Check the checkbox to the left of the report topics to be included in the report and click on OK 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Section Program Options 4 DesignBuilder 1 5 The program options apply to the overall application no matter which file is loaded The program options dialog is accessed from the Tools menu There are six tabs e User interface e Dialogs e Files e EnergyPlus e Limits e International 10 1 Dialogs Calculation dialogs These options control whether a calculation option dialog appears by default before every calculation Note that a dialog always appears when you press Update New object dialogs When you create a new site or building a dialog box appears by default allowing you to enter basic data on the new object If you prefer not to see these dialogs and just use default data uncheck these two check boxes 10 2 Files Backup DesignBuilder can automatically make backups of your current working file Check the Automatic backup option box and select a backup interval to enable this option If for any reason DesignBuilder does not close down cleanly and is unable to save a backup will remain and DesignBuilder will ask whether you want to recover this data the next time you open the file Default folders DesignBuilder stores the most recently used folders for e Data file storage e Picture file export e AVI file export e e Report file export DXF file import export
66. Cooling Design and Simulation tabs on Model Options dialog Options tab on Simulation Options dialog and General tab on the Heating and Cooling Design Calculation options dialogs Maximum warmup days not heating cooling design The maximum number of warmup days that might be used in the simulation before convergence is achieved A warning message will occur when the simulation runs out of days Loads Initialization did not Converge CheckWarmupConvergence You may be able to increase the Maximum Number of Warmup Days and get convergence but some anomalous buildings may still not converge Simulation proceeds for x warmup days until convergence is reached see Temperature and Loads Convergence above Inside and Outside convection algorithms You can select from a range of EnergyPlus inside convection algorithms for calculating the convection between internal zone surfaces and the rest of the zone air in the simulation calculations More details on this and external convection can be found under Constructions Model Data Surface Convection header Solution Algorithm Select from 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 e CTF sensible heat only solution not taking into account moisture storage or diffusion in the construction elements The method used in EnergyPlus for CTF calculations is known as the state space method Ceylan and Myers 1980 Seem 1987 Ouyang and Haghighat 1991 e Finite Differenc
67. DesignBuilder format by multiplying it by occupant density people m2 The hot water generation system is defined under DHW on the HVAC tab 3 3 2 1 7 Computer Gains Activity tab in model data 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 104 DesignBuilder 1 5 Set the thermal gains due to computers and other related IT equipment per unit floor area The fuel is assumed to be electricity all gains are assumed to be emitted to the space and Radiant Fraction This field is a decimal number between 0 0 and 1 0 and is used to characterise the amount of long wave radiant heat being given off by computer equipment in a zone The radiant fraction will be multiplied by the total energy consumed by electric equipment and 1 Fraction lost to give the amount of long wavelength radiation gain from computer equipment in a zone A value of zero means that the heat gain is entirely convective in which case all the heat is transferred to the air node in simulations A value of 1 means that the gain is entirely radiative in which case all the heat is distributed to the inside surfaces a typical value is somewhere between 0 1 and 0 2 If the Internal gains operate with occupancy model option is not selected you can also set the operation schedule 3 3 2 1 8 Office Equipment Gains Activity tab in model data Set the thermal gains due to office equipment per unit floor area The fuel is assumed to be electricity all gains are assumed to be emitted to the
68. E 302 3 4 4 3 Gooling System SIZING 25 30 Sateen Ah aioe eden 304 3 4 4 3 1 ASHRAE Cooling Sizing 304 EE 3 4 4 3 2 Unitary DX Cooling Sizing reciente t 805 3 4 4 3 3 Cooling SIZING edite ciara eae rd donne me te 1905 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Table of Contents 3 4 4 3 4 Fan Coil Cooling Sizing 306 3 4 4 4 Solar Options 307 3 4 4 5 Advanced Calculation Options essen nenne neeenrennrenne erret 310 3 4 4 6 Qutput ODptiOns 2 2 rne nh ente rh ERR ERREUR ER a A A 312 3 4 5 Simulation Calculation Options nessun eese eene nenne nnn nn nnnn nnns nnns nnns nnns inst n ains stus insi nnn inris natns 312 3 4 5 1 Simulation Period tac ei dept teri a ER E E EIER ERE D Ert one dn 313 3 4 5 2 Calculation ere e teer eee get eed bec eee e supa Dev de 313 3 4 5 3 Advanced Calculation Options eeu Ease e 315 3454 OUtDUt ODtiORs1 22 ecoute eire Irt pte er ete nier bi In 317 3 4 6 Drawing MINIM 320 3 4 6 1 601 e rh Rn feb eH EE D EP recte ea A 320 3 4 6 2 Draw BIOCK e T 324 3 4 6 3 Direction Snaps x i Reed etu ten ea Re A 324 3 4 6 4 Point SNAPS laden a eed one de e d
69. EXPOSED 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 20 DesignBuilder 1 5 Semi exposed walls The semi exposed wall construction applies to walls between fully occupied zones and Semi exterior unconditioned zones They will normally include some insulation DesignBuilder determines which of the zones is relatively outside and uses this information to correctly order the material layers in the wall The material layer defined in the construction as being outermost first in list will be the one adjacent to the semi external unconditioned zone If there are no semi exposed wall surfaces just ignore this data Semi exposed roof The semi exposed roof construction is used between occupied zones and Semi exterior unconditioned zones such as roofspace attic loft spaces above The construction should include any slabs insulation and suspended ceiling layers DesignBuilder determines which of the zones is relatively outside and uses this information to correctly order the material layers in the roof If there are no semi exposed roof surfaces just ignore this data Semi exposed floor The semi exposed floor construction is used between occupied zones and Semi exterior unconditioned spaces below The construction should include any slabs insulation and raised floor layers If there are no semi exposed floor surfaces just ignore this data FLOORS Ground floor The ground floor construction is used between all internal zones and the grou
70. Equipment Cat02 Electric Consumption e Zone Electric Equipment Cat03 Electric Consumption 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Zone Electric Equipment Cat04 Electric Consumption Zone Electric Equipment Cat05 Electric Consumption Zone Transmitted Solar Zone Infiltration Sensible Heat Loss Zone Infiltration Sensible Heat Gain Zone Ventilation Sensible Heat Loss Zone Ventilation Sensible Heat Gain Energy HVAC etc Select this option to generate energy consumption data Temperature distribution Select this option to generate Temperature distribution data for each zone distribution data for Blocks and Buildings not available DXF model output This option causes EnergyPlus to generate a DXF file summarising the building model The file is called eplusout dxf and it is stored in the EnergyPlus folder This option can be useful for checking that the correct geometry has been generated Construction and surface details This option causes EnergyPlus to generate a comma separated value file summarising the building model The file is called eplusout eio and it is stored in the EnergyPlus folder 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 3 4 6 Drawing Tools Draw Block Y Auto complete block Direction Snaps Y X axis snap Y axis snap Z axis snap Parallel snap Normal snap Point Snaps Y Endpoint snap Mid point snap Edge snap DXF snap Snap increment Drawi
71. Ets eR Re D en A inh annii 2265 3 3 2 5 4 3PIGatings ee eere iei eit s e reader A cts se oS 1269 3 3 2 5 5 Natural Ventilation AT 3 3 2 5 6 Air Temperature Distribution senem emere nmeneennes 276 3 3 2 5 7 Domestic Hot Water DHW ssssesssseeeeneneneenneemeneemeeemeemeeneeneeeee IT 3 3 2 6 Detailed Equipment 278 PEERS 3 3 2 6 1 Edit Detailed Equipment c ssessscscccceseresssetsocenensesessensecconsseoseesensessesstessessessosessseetostensseensnees O19 3 3 3 Model Data Mariagement 5 eines rete ettet ede cies suey atueesesteencendeysetsecuscuestecsivcedesorentesterercetersue 280 3 3 3 1 Load Data trom Template coner Rn or aem eg 280 3 9 3 2 Clear Data to Default aniona oii N eea E Ta ES ETE eL I Ea Eee ter TP PER ED HA ERE 281 3 4 Model ca i cide eec tacet ise deve cr uet eate neo DL ee ead celia 282 3 4 1 Model Data Options 283 3 411 1 A caste E T Dg 284 3 4 1 2 Construction and glazing 20 eeeeeeeceeeeceeeeeceseeeeeceeeeeeeeeeeseeeaeeseeeaeeeaeseesaeeeaeeeeeseseaeseeesaeeeaeseeesaeenaeeneeeaeeeeeees 285 NC ze m ER 285 SR ME BI 286 3 4 4 5 Natural Ventilation s cocco ecce e e t e pe ER RD e PEE de atat eset t en 287 3 4 1 6
72. For more on block forms see help on creating blocks 3 4 8 2 Roof Wall Transition Block tab on Model Options dialog You can enter the angle which defines the surface tilt below which a wall becomes a roof For example if the roof wall transition angle for a particular block is 45 a surface in this block having tilt 40 is modelled as being a roof using roof constructions glazing layout etc And a surface having tilt 50 is modelled as being a wall using wall constructions glazing layout etc You can force all non horizontal surfaces to be walls by unchecking the Allow pitched roof construction option 3 4 9 Project Details and Notes Use the Notes tab to record General information about the building model e Project Details e Owner Details e Analyst Details e Notes The Project Owner and Analyst Details data is used as a header in UK Part L2 Compliance Check reports 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 3 4 9 1 Project Details Enter the building Sector Project name and address 3 4 9 2 Owner Details Enter the name and contact details for the building owner client 3 4 9 3 Analyst Details Enter your own name and contact details 3 4 9 4 Notes You can enter any information about the building model in free text format Note If you want to add hard carriage returns in the text you should hold the CTRL key down while pressing ENTER Pressing ENTER on its own will save an
73. Geometric Data The model geometric data can be exported in formats e 3 D DXF 3 2 7 4 Exporting 3 D DXF You can export the geometry of the current building model in 3 D DXF format using the Export 3 D DXF model command from the File gt Export menu This opens the 3 D DXF Export dialog 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models m Export DXF XJ Export Data Export to 1 File Y Format DXF DXF Options 1 Whole model with details Choose one of two options e 1 Whole model with details The entire building model is exported including 3 D details such as window frames 3 D building elements etc This option can be useful for exporting for visualisation and further processing in other software such as SketchUp image below e 2 Zones The building model is exported showing only zones This option can be useful for visualising the geometry of the model used in simulations 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 86 DesignBuilder 1 5 Example 3 D DXF Output Whole model with details The above model was created in DesignBuilder exported in DXF format using the Whole model with details option and Imported into SketchUp where details such as textures trees and people were added Note when importing DXF files into SketchUp be sure to set the scale options on the Open dialog 3 2 8 Working with Buildings Site Level At the site level you can e Add new buildings e Copy del
74. Hourly Weather Data Statistics sees 392 6 9 Crack eint cenae E 394 6 9 1 Crack Templates 395 6 9 2 Crack Templates Openings ete c enhn scita A a 395 6 9 3 Crack Templates Walls ao E csse 395 6 9 4 Crack Templates Floors Ceilings ceeeee ener eren nnnn nnne nnne nnn nnns inns stes nnns ennt ennnen nenne 395 6 9 5 Crack Templates Boofs etii petet eite ceusabpeu usce dde ece U EMI Ld DLE 395 6 10 Legislative Region Templates eeeseeeeeeeeeeeeene eene nennen nnn nnne nnne nnn innen 396 6 10 1 Legislative Region Templates General esses 396 6 10 2 Legislative Region Templates Standard Insulation essent nnne 397 6 10 3 Legislative Region Templates Emissions 397 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 6 11 Energy Code Templates 398 6 11 1 Energy Code Templates 399 6 11 2 Energy Code Templates Envelope component esent nnn nnns ne
75. Keep 14 21 28 34 72 89 166 464 484 SHIFT key 55 Templates 332 Info 16 17 332 341 344 349 351 370 418 447 L 334 370 16 17 332 334 341 344 349 351 access Info Pane Info Panel 418 447 Toolbar 16 Info window 447 Inner 342 367 Inside Outside Inside site 420 Insulation 182 183 184 198 199 220 232 285 341 366 372 378 397 Insulation Standards 342 182 Integrated Solution Manager 296 302 313 Intel 492 Interface 447 508 Internal 15 184 186 187 193 194 195 196 198 199 214 223 236 238 240 242 285 286 296 302 307 313 320 361 374 381 395 403 417 449 464 465 comfort temperature The mean 423 Internal Doors 199 236 Internal Glazing 214 223 361 381 407 411 Internal Vents 238 International 446 453 Internet 491 Inter reflections 307 320 Introducing Templates 372 IP 453 Issues 464 Modelling 461 IT 193 IT related 411 423 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Large 15 178 189 284 285 287 296 302 307 313 320 326 332 367 395 418 447 461 464 465 504 Large building 285 Large building models Large Models 464 Large complex DesignBuilder creating 15 Latitude longitude set 178 Layer 79 341 342 344 345 346 360 surfaces 307 320 Layer data Glazing 344 Layerhaving 341 Layout 14 79 199 214 215 223 228 235 236 237 238 329 381 447 508 Learning 16 447 Mode Off 17 Mode On 17 Learning Mo
76. Most real world thermostats probably don t actually sense more than about 20 radiant heat transfer mostly the temperature sensor will be sensitive to the temperature of room air nearby So apparently we should air temperature or 20 radiant control But Operative control radiant fraction 0 5 can be useful for calculating realistic heating and cooling energy based on published summer and winter temperature requirements for the activities in each zone This is because HVAC systems controlled using the operative temperature continue to condition the building until comfort conditions are met just like they are in the real building Also the default temperature set points from the Activity templates are generally derived from sources quoting operative temperatures With Air temperature control the room air temperature is controlled to the set point 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 315 temperature which depending on internal radiant temperatures may not necessarily be comfortable The disadvantage of Operative temperature control is that start up loads can be unrealistically high due to the lag in thermal response of the walls floor ceilings The slow temperature response of the building fabric part governs the output of the operative thermostat and hence the operation of the heating cooling equipment If this effect dominates it can lead to an overestimate of the required design cooling load You should be familiar
77. Mouse right click in the Model Data Use it to load template data into the model You can select one or more data sources from the following template libraries e Construction e Glazing e Facade e Activity e Lighting e HVAC When you select one of the above templates as a source of data you must also set the template from which to load 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Model Data Y AJ Construction EE Energy code Mediumweight Glazing Facade Activity Lighting Hvac s Target Object s On the Target tab you can select the way you want to set data and where appropriate which model objects to load to e Selected object s choose this option if you want to load the same data to one or more building block zone or surface Check the boxes next to the target objects to select them as targets e Reload templates reloads template data for the current building and all blocks zones and surfaces in the building Data is only loaded if the template selection is non default If the template inherits from the hierarchical level above data is not loaded e Search amp replace allows you to search the model for particular data and replace with data from a template Selection tools are available to allow you to control the selection of building objects e Gelect all e Select all down to zone level e Select none Making global lighting settings When you load
78. Nat Vent Infiltration Mech Vent Nat Vent Infiltration Internal Gains Task lighting gains General lighting gains Miscellaneous gains Process gains AirflowNetwork Mixing Sensible Loss Rate W AirflowNetwork Mixing Sensible Gain Rate W AirflowNetwork Infiltration Sensible Loss Rate W AirflowNetwork Infiltration Sensible Gain Rate W Zone Mechanical Ventilation Air Change Rate ach Zone Ventilation Air Change Rate ach Zone Infiltration Air Change Rate ach ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT Zoneld TaskLig hts J ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT Zoneld General Lights J ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT Zoneld 02 InteriorEquipment J ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT Zoneld 03 InteriorEquipment J Zoneld Zoneld Zoneld Zoneld Zoneld Calculated Natural ventilation only Calculated Natural ventilation only Summed across blocks and building using volume weighted average Summed across blocks and building using volume weighted average Summed across blocks and building using volume weighted average The GeneralLights ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT EnergyPlus output is a lighting fuel consumption and is summed to give the Lighting fuel consumption below The gain to the zone is calculated from this in each zone by multiplying by 1 Return air fraction The 02 ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT EnergyPlus output is the miscellaneous internal gains fuel consumption and is summed to give the Room fuel consumptio
79. Other you can enter the radiant temperature control fraction The radiant fraction should be less than 0 9 and the minimum is 0 0 A value of 0 0 is the same as controlling on only zone air temperature If air velocities are higher than 0 2 m s then lower values for radiative fraction might apply Niu and Burnett 1998 cite International Standard ISO 77300 in recommending the values for this fraction listed in the following table Radiative Fraction vs Air Velocity Air Velocity m s 0 2 0 2 0 6 0 6 1 0 Radiant fraction 0 5 0 4 0 3 Reference J Niu and J Burnett 1998 Integrating Radiant Operative Temperature Controls into Building Energy Simulations ASHRAE Transactions Vol 104 Part 2 page 210 ASHRAE Atlanta GA You can think of the Temperature control option as e The radiant fraction sensed by the room thermostat or e Given a room thermostat that mainly senses air temperature the extent of automatic modification of the setpoint temperature to ensure occupant comfort Notes 1 This option is overridden when using radiant heating systems by the radiant heating system control setting 2 This option does not affect natural and mechanical ventilation setpoints these always use air temperature set points Operative vs Air temperature control Advanced discussion There has been much debate amongst simulation experts over the years on the extent to which radiant effects should be included on the simulated thermostat
80. Outdoor Dry Bulb Outdoor Dew Point Direct Solar Diffuse Solar Wind Speed Wind Direction Outdoor Barometric Pressure Solar Altitude Angle Solar Azimuth Angle Variables shown in green represent EnergyPlus output 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd EnergyPlus Background Information 517 15 5 EnergyPlus Errors and Warnings A file eplusout err is generated following each EnergyPlus simulation in the EnergyPlus folder It may contain three levels of errors Warning Severe Fatal as well as the possibility of just message lines These errors may be duplicated in other files such as the standard output file and are described more completely in the EnergyPlus Output Details and Examples documents ERRORS U Severa DiC MOE dabo hwcils 22200 dim lise ou OlJjegots You may have entered a semi colon character at the end of one of the lines in a Compact schedule when you meant to enter a comma US Severe Pirolollem iss wmcerio e sola calemlaciom CISIKEIKS neal Solar Distribution FulllInteriorExterior will not work in Zone 78474 cx a D because vertex 3 of back surface W 73536 2 0 0 is in front of receiving surface W 78474 3 0 0 me ees Dot Product indicator 1 4966 Check surface geometry if OK use Solar Distribution FullExterior instead The 3 Full interior and exterior solar distribution option is selected but one or more zo
81. Pd dni bec d dd ee denna Dvd 324 3 4 6 5 Drawing Guides 324 3 4 6 6 Objecti Rotation inci et 325 3 467 Protractor T00l 4 ais Irt o ei rrr EHE Te EE ERE EET EUER FORE LU TE ET FU PEE ERE TE ERATES 325 eara 325 34 7 1 Show Data for Calculations 2 terree D pe cem RENE ERE ee ee 325 3 4 7 2 Edit Screen oi eR ce d er vette a ed WO ae d e e e reet 326 3 4 7 3 Visualisation Display ete een dede d e te d De Ea e D du 327 3 4 8 Block Options 328 3 4 8 1 Block Geometry e eet POP E Ea PERPE RED DUAL 328 3 4 8 2 Roof Wall Tratisitionz 2 ree eid e enr RE HO 329 3 4 9 Project Details and Notes ccscccsssesseeesseessneesseeeseneesseessceesseessnesesnesseneeseeesseeessaesesaessceessnaseenesssneessneesseeeenees 329 CR MUNI fe BICI E 330 3 4 9 2 Owner Details pe ete ve eder e Pe e eure e t gel nee EET E De 330 VATAIVSUID GLANS RERO E 330 3 4 9 4 Notes 330 Section 4 Library management 332 4 1 Opening Screen Component Libraries 332 4 2 Opening Screen Template Libraries 334 4 3 Import Components Templates 335 4 4 Export Components Templates 335 4 5 Backup Component Template Libraries 337
82. Profile for each day of the week and for each month of the year hence 7 12 You can select multiple rows months or columns days and edit the data by clicking on the Edit selected cells link in the Info Panel Likewise you can select individual profiles by clicking on the appropriate cell and clicking Edit selected cells Design days Winter and summer design day simulations are carried out when required for autosizing heating and cooling equipment prior to a Compact HVAC simulation Design day definition method With 7 12 Schedules there are 2 ways to define the schedule output during these winter design day simulations 1 End use defaults use the default heating autosizing behaviour defined on the Heating design tab of the Model option dialog In this case for summer design the profile for Wednesday is used If Wednesday is not a good choice for Summer design autosizing then you can instead define the profile explicitly using the Profiles design day definition method below Use End use default apply the behaviour for the selected category as defined on the Model options on the Heating design tab 2 Profiles define both heating and cooling design day operation as a Profile This option is more flexible and clearer than End use defaults but can take slightly longer to set up Heating design day profile the profile defining the schedule output during the heating autosizing design day Cooling design day profile the pr
83. Remove all outlines remove all outline blocks General e Select returned to select mode 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 e Select all select all objects in current view Equipment zone level Equipment tab when Detailed gains model option selected e Add at an item of equipment e Edit edit currently selected equipment e Delete delete currently selected equipment Opening screen component and template edit e Add add a new component template as per currently selected item e Edit edit currently selected component template e Delete delete currently selected component template Edit currently selected model objects e Move Ctrl V move selected objects e Clone Ctrl C clone copy selected objects e Rotate Ctrl T rotate selected objects e Stretch Ctrl J stretch selected objects e Delete DEL delete selected objects General e Building model options F11 open Model options dialog e Add building Ctrl A add a new building site level only 11 3 Go Menu The Go menu can be accessed from the horizontal top bar menu at the top of the screen 11 4 View Menu The View menu can be accessed from the horizontal top bar menu at the top of the screen 11 5 Tools Menu The Tools menu can be accessed from the horizontal top bar menu at the top of the screen General e Program options open program options dialog e Rebuild recalculate the zone surface and adjacency geo
84. See Internal Thermal Mass for more information on defining thermal mass in a model 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 6 3 Glazing Templates e Glazing template Best practice E Bee General Name Best practice Category System Y Region General External Glazing Glazing Glazing Best practi Sy Frame construction Painted Wooden wi Glazing area opens 20 Internal Glazing q Glazing Internal Best practi Sy Frame construction Painted Wooden wi Glazing area opens 20 Roof Glazing Glazing Roof Best practice Sy Frame construction Painted Wooden wi Glazing area opens 0 Glazing templates are used as a source of default glazing frame and shading construction data for building models There are three tabs on the Glazing Template dialog e General e Glazing e Shading Template data can be accessed e from the Templates tab on the opening screen if no file is open e from the Templates tab in the Navigator panel if a file is open e by double clicking on the template icon in the model data e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting templates from a list 6 3 1 Glazing Templates General General tab on Glazing Templates Dialog Enter the name category and region for this glazing template Enter the region as General if you want the data to be generally available i e not restricted to a particular region Glazing templates with category lt System gt
85. TWO NODE MODEL The Pierce Two Node model was developed at the John B Pierce Foundation at Yale University The model has been continually expanding since its first publication in 1970 8 The most recent version on the model appears in the 1986 ASHRAE Transactions 9 The Pierce model thermally lumps the human body as two isothermal concentric compartments one representing the internal section or core where all the metabolic heat is assumed to be generated and the skin comprising the other compartment This allows the passive heat conduction from the core compartment to the skin to be accounted for The boundary line between two compartments changes with respect to skin blood flow rate per unit skin surface area SKBF in L hem2 and is described by alpha the fraction of total body mass attributed to the skin compartment 13 Furthermore the model takes into account the deviations of the core skin and mean body temperature weighted by alpha from their respective set points Thermoregulatory effector mechanisms Regulatory sweating skin blood flow and shivering are defined in terms of thermal signals from the core skin and body 13 The latest version of the Pierce model 15 discusses the concepts of SET and ET The Pierce model converts the actual environment into a standard environment at a Standard Effective Temperature SET SET is the dry bulb temperature of a hypothetical environment at 50 relative humidity for subjects
86. To edit convert a file or files 1 Select the folder containing the file s using the browse box at the top of the left hand side of the screen All relevant weather data files are then loaded into the table on the left 2 Check the files to be converted 3 Ensure that the correct options have been set on the Options tab 4 Press the Convert button to start the process Converted files are stored in the Weather data folder You can access these files by clicking on the Edit Review tab 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Section Reference Reference 489 Reference help e DesignBuilder files locations and extensions e Licensing and activation e Hardware requirements e Surface Types e Calculation of Air Density e Pitched Roof Geometry Technical Description e Triangulation e Calculation of HVAC Energy Consumption 14 1 DesignBuilder Files Location and Extensions Filename Folder Description Extension dsb DesignBuilder Data folder default DesignBuilder model description file Note that dsb files are already compressed so don t need to be Zipped before sending in emails ddf DesignBuilder exported component template data dat Library folder Construction and Template exported files idf EnergyPlus folder EnergyPlus input script file stat Weather data folder EnergyPlus hourly weather data statistics file used by DesignBuilder to automatically load location and weather statistics to the Hourl
87. Vent Components have a coefficient of discharge and a texture used to represent a vent in the rendered view 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Component Data More information about vents There are two tabs on the Vents dialog e General e Airflow Vent component data can be accessed from the Components tab on the opening screen to view edit library components if no file is open from the Components tab in the Navigator panel to view edit model components if a file is open by double clicking on the vent icon on the Openings tab in the model data e e e e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting vents from a list 5 12 1 General General tab on Vents Dialog Enter the name and category for this vent component The texture is used to represent the vent in rendered views 5 12 2 Airflow Airflow tab on Vents Dialog Enter the discharge coefficient for this vent component You can select this vent from the Openings model data Note The discharge coefficient is only used in thermal simulations when the Natural ventilation Model option is set to Calculated 5 13 Holidays A Holiday schedule is a list of intervals of one or more day which identify the days the building may be unoccupied The holiday intervals are listed in order with holidays most likely to be taken at the top of the list The Holidays per year Model Data on the Activities tab at building level defines how many holidays are tak
88. Visible Absorptance of the outer material layer of the surface s construction The reflectance values for windows and glass doors are calculated by the program from the reflectance properties of the individual glass layers that make up surface s construction assuming no shading device is present and taking into account inter reflections among the layers Solar reflection from building surfaces onto other building surfaces In this example beam solar reflects from a vertical section of the building onto a roof section The reflection from the window is specular The reflection from the wall is diffuse 3 The ground surface Reflection from the ground is calculated even if the reflections option is not used But in this case the ground plane is considered unobstructed i e the shadowing of the ground by the building itself or by obstructions such as neighboring buildings is ignored This shadowing is taken into account if the reflections option is used This is shown in diagrammatically below Beam NS Ground Ground A gt K B lt gt Shadowing from building affects beam solar reflection from the ground Beam to diffuse reflection from the ground onto the building occurs only for sunlit areas A and C not from shaded area B If reflections option is used for the ground surface then the ground view factor is NOT used Solar distribution 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models
89. W m2 100 lux x Design lux level Activity tab 100 Substitute ft2 for m2 for equation in IP units The Output data is used for generating default lighting loads based on lighting type and required illuminance levels as set in Activity data See General Lighting under Building Model Lighting Data for more information on the use of this template data in the model 6 5 3 Lighting Templates Control Control tab on Lighting Templates Dialog If the lighting is to be controlled by the availability of natural daylight check the control option box and select the type of control Continuous Control For continuous control the overhead lights dim continuously and linearly from maximum electric power maximum light output to minimum electric power minimum light output as the daylight illuminance increases The lights stay at the minimum point with further increase in the daylight illuminance Zero daylight illuminance Increasing daylight illuminance Fractiona light output Minimum light a output fraction 0 1 0 Fractional input power Minimum input power fraction The minimum input power fraction for continuous control type is the lowest power the lighting system can dim down to expressed as a fraction of maximum input power For continuous off lighting control this is the power fraction reached just before the light switch off completely The minimum output fraction for continuous control type is the
90. achieve the required Window to wall 96 This option uses Window height Window spacing and Sill height but prioritises Window to wall 96 e Fixed width and height windows have fixed width and height This option uses Window to wall 96 but prioritises Window Width Height Spacing and Sill height e Fill surface 100 the entire surface is filled with glazing and there is no frame You can use the Window to wall WWR data and Window height Window spacing and Sill height to easily change the amount of glazing and its layout on the walls This data is used as described above under Facade types Note 1 you can control the makeup of the building facades in greater detail by drawing individual windows at the surface level In this case glazing vent and door layout model data is ignored Note 2 flat roofs do not have default glazing set up using Roof glazing layout model data To create openings on a flat roof you should go to the surface level and add them there Openings tab in model data under External Glazing Internal Glazing and Roof Glazing headers External Glazing Glazing type General energy code Glazing Layout Preferred height 1 5m 30 glazed Dimensions Frame and Dividers Has a frame dividers Construction Painted Wooden window frame Dividers Y 1 Divided lite Width m 0 020 Horizontal dividers 1 Vertical dividers 1 Outside projection m 0 000 Inside projection m 0 000
91. additional to any holidays which may have been defined in Compact schedules Schedules Timing model option The holiday data is used for Simulations only not Heating Cooling Design Calculations and allows you to set the Holiday Schedule and the number of days of holiday per year The possible holiday dates are defined in the Holiday schedule and the actual holidays to be used in the simulation are selected from the top of the list based on the Holidays per year data entered Note that you must have at least as many days defined in the holiday schedules as you request here If there are insufficient holidays in the holiday schedule you will receive an error message to this effect prior to a simulation fr Holidays Y Holidays Holidays per year 5 i5 Holiday schedule Typical UK The way holiday definition works depends on the Timing model option 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 1s COMPACT SCHEDULES When the Timing model option is Schedules you can use Compact schedules The value of Compact schedule output during holidays can be defined explicitly using the Holidays day type following For For example SCHEDULE COMPACT Bedroom_Cool Temperature Through 31 Dec For Weekdays SummerDesignDay WinterDesignDay Until 05 00 0 5 Until 09 00 1 Untrdi 24 00 0 5 For Weekends Until 05 00 0 5 Until 24 00 1 For Holidays AllOtherdays Until 24 00 0 The
92. altogether or by adjusting the element slope to determine which elements should be identified as pitched roofs The Roof wall transition angle is the angle from the horizontal below which the element will be considered a roof 3 2 9 2 4 Wall Thickness The Wall thickness is used to generate the geometric thickness of the external wall elements of a building block It is a significant parameter because zones are generated from the internal dimensions of the block which are derived from the external block geometry and the block wall thickness So the Wall thickness influences 1 Calculation of room air volume thicker block walls mean less zone air volume 2 Size and shape of zones especially roof zones below 3 Visual representation of external walls in rendered view below The default setting is automatically generated from the overall thickness of the external wall construction set in Construction Model data panel but can be overridden by typing in the required value The block Wall thickness can be changed once the block has been drawn from the Block tab of Model 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 options dialog when at block or lower level The Construction that determines the thermal characteristics of the external walls can be edited in Constructions Model data Important Notes on Wall thickness e The external wall thickness is uniform for all block surfaces e The wall thickness does not a
93. automatically by carrying out heating and cooling design calculations and is written into the HVAC model data Note Heating and Cooling design calculations assume that heating and cooling loads are always met and so do not use this option Important Note About Using 4 Autosize when not set You should be aware that when using the default 4 Autosize when not set option the heating cooling zone capacity model data is not treated the same way as other calculated results In general calculated results are deleted when any edit is made to the building model but this is not the case for zone capacity model data This is only updated when 1 There is no heating cooling capacity data the value is either blank or zero when heating cooling is switched on and a simulation is requested In this case the appropriate design calculations are carried out to fill in the capacity data before the simulation 2 The appropriate design calculation is carried out by clicking on the Heating Cooling design tab 3 Model Options change In this case zone HVAC capacity is deleted If you always want the heating capacity to be kept up to date with your model and do not have any specific capacity sizes you wish to use you should consider using the 3 Autosize option This will cause autosizing to be carried out prior to every simulation You can change heating capacities by hand if you wish but you should bear in mind that if Model options change all heati
94. be able to select this hourly weather data set from the Location tab at site level Starting with version 1 3 any custom hourly weather epw file you select in your model will be saved with 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Simulation Hourly Weather Data as the model so that it can be used on other computers Although DesignBuilder can been used with any valid epw data sets you are strongly advised to process the data first to ensure that each hourly record has year 2002 This ensures that daily hourly and sub hourly data generated by EnergyPlus is correctly synchronised with the DesignBuilder graphics display If you do not set the year to 2002 it will not affect the results but it will affect the day of the week display in DesignBuilder Note If you do not set the year to 2002 daily hourly and sub hourly data will not necessarily show the correct day of the week in the results display graphics DesignBuilder _ 10 xj Fie Edt Go Tools Help JD Odd amp E HEX DesignBuilder Templates libraries for Andrew Info Help Component Libraries Tegplates Help Data 8 X Activity templates Edit Data Templates Construction templates Glazing templates Recent Files Templates provide data which can be loaded into DesignBuilder projects If vou often model similar E 9 09 Facades types Add new Hourly types of building you can store the data in Lig
95. behind the scenes into full HVAC simulation data sets prior to simulation You can use DesignBuilder to generate IDF files and work with these outside DesignBuilder to access system functionality not provided by DesignBuilder There is a range of EnergyPlus simulators to choose from including the current DOE executable release the current DLL release and any interim releases made available by DOE You can carry out DesignBuilder simulations via EP Launch See also EnergyPlus Program options Exporting EnergyPlus IDF Files EnergyPlus Version Compatibility EnergyPlus IDF Window Dimensions Calculation of DesignBuilder Output from EnergyPlus Report Variables EnergyPlus Errors and Warnings EnergyPlus Daylight Calculations EnergyPlus Thermal Comfort EnergyPlus Date Definition DOE EnergyPlus website Simulation Hourly Weather Data DesignBuilder Files Location and Extensions Licensing amp Activation EnergyPlus Documentation 15 1 Exporting EnergyPlus IDF Files You can use DesignBuilder to generate EnergyPlus idf files for use in external simulation environments such as EP Launch There are 4 alternative procedures for doing this 1 From the File Export menu option preferred method 2 By copying the intermediate in idf file in the EnergyPlus folder 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd EnergyPlus Background Information so 3 Tools Display simulation input script from Simulation or Heating Cooling design screens
96. by EnergyPlus as Convected Fraction 1 0 Return Air Fraction Radiant Fraction Visible Fraction You will get an error message if Return Air Fraction Radiant Fraction Visible Fraction exceeds 1 0 These fractions depend on the type of lamp and luminaire whether the luminaire is vented to the return air etc Luminaire type Select from 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models _ Suspended Surface Mount Recessed oo Luminous and Return Air Ducted Louvered Ceiling When you select using the drop down list an appropriate set of defaults for the luminaire type is loaded according to the table below assuming fluorescent lighting Data 1 Suspended 2 Surface Mount 3 Recessed 4 Luminous and 5 Return air Recessed Ducted Ceiling Return Air 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 54 Fraction Radiant Fraction 0 42 0 72 0 37 0 37 0 18 Visible Fraction 0 18 0 18 0 18 0 18 0 18 Convected 0 40 0 10 0 45 0 45 0 10 Fraction Approximate values of Return Air Fraction Radiant Fraction and Visible Fraction for overhead fluorescent lighting for different luminaire configurations These values assume that no light heat goes into an adjacent zone Source Lighting Handbook Reference amp Application 8th Edition Illuminating Engineering Society of North America New York 1993 p 355 Return air fraction For Return Air Ducted luminaires thi
97. can interfere with attempts to draw to a particular point and in this case you can temporarily switch off the appropriate Snap s using the check boxes in the Drawing Options panel in the bottom left of the screen 3 2 3 2 1 End point Snap This snap allows you to snap lines to the end point of an existing edge A green indicator is displayed when the mouse cursor is within the snap range of an end point For example to snap the starting point of a new block perimeter to the end point of an existing block 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 56 DesignBuilder 1 5 edge move the mouse cursor onto the background and press SHIFT to lock the drawing plane to the ground plane Keep the SHIFT key pressed and move the mouse cursor close to the required edge marker to activate the end point snap Geometry Perimeter Protracter Direction Snaps Point saps End point snap em an Edge snap O DxF snap 0 Shap increment Drawing Guides E ET 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Similarly to snap the starting point of a new block partition to the end point of an existing partition make sure that the End point snap is switched on and move the mouse cursor close to the partition end point to activate the snap Partition Thickness 0 150 Line type 1 Straight line T Protracter Direction Snaps Point O Edge snap O DXF snap Snap increment Drawing
98. click on one of the bottom corners of the middle block to create a reference point then click on a blank part of the screen to move the reference point down to z 0 Step 3 Block 3 drawn on top of lower Block 2 same as 1 ground block created in Step 2 but on other side Block 1 drawnin vertical plane extruded horizontally PL Draw three new ground component blocks to create the sloping ground and i the upper ground levels Step 4 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 467 468 DesignBuilder 1 5 The zone of the middle block is shown above Notice how 3 of the surfaces have been split into external and ground adjacencies ground adjacencies are flagged by green ground symbols Note also that the portions of the surfaces touching the ground component block cannot have windows but DesignBuilder attempts to set up the correct glazing for the remaining external parts of the surface Step 5 The ground component blocks probably do not need to shade this model as they are mainly below all surfaces that can receive solar radiation light but if you are modelling reflections you will probably need to include the reflection of solar radiation and light from the ground blocks during simulations In other cases you may prefer to switch off the generation of the component blocks shading reflection surfaces to speed simulations Do this on the Constructions model data tab under Component Block Step 6 2008 DesignB
99. combination of humidity ratio and operative temperature is not in the ASHRAE 55 2004 summer or winter clothes region More on Comfort Analysis Fabric and ventilation e Glazing the total heat flow to the zone from the glazing frame and divider of exterior glazing excluding transmitted short wave solar radiation which is accounted for in Solar Gains Exterior Windows below For windows without an interior shading device this heat flow is equal to Convective heat flow to the zone from the zone side of the glazing Net IR heat flow to the zone from zone side of the glazing Short wave radiation from zone transmitted back out the window Conduction to zone from window frame and divider if present Here short wave radiation is that from lights and diffuse interior solar radiation For windows with an interior shading device this heat flow is equal to Convective heat flow to the zone from the air flowing through the gap between glazing and shading device Convective heat flow to the zone from the zone side of the shading device Net IR heat flow to the zone from the zone side of the glazing Net IR heat flow to the zone from the zone side of the shading device Short wave radiation from zone transmitted back out the window Conduction to zone from window frame and divider if present e Walls heat gain due to conduction through all external walls including the effect of solar radiation and long
100. control internal temperatures to meet the setpoint temperatures specified on the Activity tab These setpoint temperatures can be interpreted as air operative or some other radiant fraction and DesignBuilder provides corresponding options to allow HVAC systems to be controlled by e 1 Air temperature control the room mean air temperature to the heating and cooling setpoint temperatures specified on the Activity tab e 2 Operative temperature control the room temperature using 0 5 radiant fraction See notes of operative temperature control below if you plan to use this option e 3 Other you can enter the radiant temperature control fraction The radiant fraction should be less than 0 9 and the minimum is 0 0 A value of 0 0 is the same as controlling on only zone air temperature If air velocities are higher than 0 2 m s then lower values for radiative fraction might apply Niu and Burnett 1998 cite International Standard ISO 77300 in recommending the values for this fraction listed in the following table Radiative Fraction vs Air Velocity Air Velocity m s 0 2 0 2 0 6 0 6 1 0 Radiant fraction 0 5 0 4 0 3 Reference J Niu and J Burnett 1998 Integrating Radiant Operative Temperature Controls into Building Energy Simulations ASHRAE Transactions Vol 104 Part 2 page 210 ASHRAE Atlanta GA You can think of the Temperature control option as e The radiant fraction sensed by the room thermostat or e Given a room therm
101. damper heating action 1 Normal Reheat type 3 Hot water Preheat type 1 None Preheat coil setpoint 10 00 Economiser Economiser type 1 Return air te Economiser lockout 1 No lockout Economiser upper temperature limit 100 0 Economiser lower temperature limit 50 0 eee SE HVAC templates data sets are used as a Source of generic heating cooling and ventilation systems for loading into the building data There are four tabs on the HVAC Template dialog 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Template Data 387 e General e Ventilation e System e Air temperature distribution Template data can be accessed from the Templates tab on the opening screen if no file is open from the Templates tab in the Navigator panel if a file is open by double clicking on the template icon in the model data e e e e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting templates from a list 6 6 1 HVAC Templates General General tab on HVAC Templates Dialog Enter the name category sector and region for this HVAC template Enter the region as General if you want the data to be generally available i e not restricted to a particular region The floor shade colour is used to shade the floor of the model at block and zone levels to give a quick indication of the system type fitted in various areas 6 6 2 HVAC Templates Ventilation Ventilation tab on HVAC Templates Dialog Enter the maximum natural mechanical ventilation rates as a
102. determines the energy impact of daylighting strategies based on analysis of daylight availability site conditions window management in response to solar gain and glare and various lighting control strategies The daylighting calculations are carried out during the simulation in 3 main steps 1 Daylight factors which are ratios of interior illuminance or luminance to exterior horizontal illuminance are calculated and stored The user specifies the coordinates of one or two reference points in each daylit zone EnergyPlus then integrates over the area of each exterior window in the zone to obtain the contribution of direct light from the window to the illuminance at the reference points and the contribution of light that reflects from the walls floor and ceiling before reaching the reference points Window luminance and window background luminance which are used to determine glare are also calculated Taken into account are such factors as sky luminance distribution window size and orientation glazing transmittance inside surface reflectances sun control devices such as movable window shades and external obstructions Dividing daylight illuminance or luminance by exterior illuminance yields daylight factors These factors are calculated for the hourly sun positions on sun paths for representative days of the run period 2 A daylighting calculation is performed each heat balance time step when the sun is up In this calculation the illuminan
103. dimensions onto any existing block face in the model As you move the block around the model each block face will highlight in blue as the block handle point is moved across it indicating that the face has become the active drawing plane 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps End point snap Mid point snap Edge snap Drawing Guides 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 3 2 5 3 Copy Clone For details of using the Clone tool please refer to the Move tool 3 2 5 4 Rotate JD ez 7a amp FBES 2 You can rotate blocks partitions courtyards and openings To rotate an object first select it and then click on the Rotate tool or select Rotate from the right click menu If you want you can rotate several objects at the same time by doing a multiple selection As you move the cursor back into the Edit screen the Protractor will be displayed at the cursor position At the building level you can rotate a block around an axis point defined on any plane and as you move the cursor from surface to surface in the model each surface will highlight in blue to show that it s the active drawing plane and the protractor will automatically rotate into the same plane Axis point snapped t plane LIA You define the rotation axis about which the obje
104. does in the winter To help you pinpoint this DesignBuilder prints the times when daylight saving starts and ends on the graph e Visualisations use local mean time when setting the position of the sun for site shading analysis Again you should add 1 hour to the time to see shading for local time 12 10 Mixed mode In mixed mode buildings natural ventilation is used as the primary means of providing cooling and when this is inadequate to provide comfort conditions active cooling is introduced A concise definition of a mixed mode building is It is a building in which occupants can open windows and which is designed with effective passive strategies for limiting the effects of the external climate The passively designed building is utilised to provide acceptable conditions for the majority of the year and is supplemented by a mechanical system either on an as and when required basis or on a seasonal basis Source Cooper V A Occupancy Comfort and Energy Consumption in Naturally Ventilated and Mixed Mode Office Buildings PhD thesis UMIST 1998 Mixed mode refers to a hybrid approach to space conditioning that uses a combination of natural ventilation from operable windows either manually or automatically controlled and mechanical systems that include air distribution equipment and refrigeration equipment for cooling A well designed mixed mode building begins with intelligent facade design to minimize cooling loads It then
105. effects set it to 1 and for intermediate treatment of wind set to a number between 0 and 1 Limitations DesignBuilder uses the EnergyPlus AIRNET method to calculate air flow rates You should be aware of some restrictions e Large horizontal openings are only modelled very approximately The opening algorithm in AIRNET assumes that openings are vertical or near vertical Horizontal openings have no opening height and so cross mixing i e simultaneous inflow and outflow does not occur e EnergyPlus AIRNET simulations take considerably longer than the equivalent simulations with Scheduled natural ventilation Modulation You can modulate the opening sizes to reduce the large temperature swings that can occur if the windows doors are too far open when they are venting especially when there is a large inside outside temperature difference Use the Modulation settings on the Advanced tab of the Model Options dialog to control this By default modulation is on and opening sizes are reduced to 5 of full values when the outside is 15 C or more colder than inside This models the fact that occupants are unlikely to throw the windows wide open when it is very cold outside for manual control systems Modelling Infiltration Normally when Calculated natural ventilation is set DesignBuilder includes a single crack in each surface in the simulation to account for infiltration The size and properties of this crack depend on the setting of th
106. exposed wall construction applies to walls which separate fully occupied zones with semi exterior unconditioned zones They will normally include some insulation DesignBuilder determines which of the zones is relatively outside and uses this information to correctly order the material layers in the wall The material layer defined in the construction as being outermost first in list will be the one adjacent to the semi external unconditioned zone Ceilings In separate mode you can define ceiling and floor constructions by combining standard structural slab constructions with optional ceiling and floor layers and air gaps In DesignBuilder a ceiling is the construction immediately adjacent to the room at the top and is positioned below the floor slab of the zone above diagram above Often its purpose is to as a finish e g to hide ugly concrete slabs or to provide an air gap between the slab above and the ceiling to allow light fittings ducting circuits and other services to be hidden from sight Ceilings can also provide improved thermal and acoustic properties If the ceiling is suspended from the slab above it will have an air gap between the slab and the ceiling You can use the following model data to define ceilings e Suspended ceiling check this option if there is a ceiling in the zone and it is to be defined separately from the floor slab Checking this option shows e Suspension height sets the height of the air gap be
107. falling on the inside of an exterior window from other windows in the zone is absorbed by the window how much is reflected back into the zone and how much is transmitted to the outside In this calculation the effect of a shading device if present is accounted for Important You must use 3 Full Interior and exterior to account for solar and light transmission through internal windows Check for non convex zones 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 When the solar distribution selection is 3 Full interior and exterior above you can choose whether DesignBuilder is to check for non convex zones By default the option is to carry out the check to prevent invalid results but if the zones are only slightly non convex you can switch off this check and allow EnergyPlus to continue calculations You will probably receive error message 2 if you switch this option off and have non convex zones The EnergyPlus simulation may or may not fail Shadowing interval Simulation only Enter the number of days 1 365 covered by each shadowing calculation Enter 1 if you want shadowing to be calculated every day for greater detail but slower calculations 3 4 6 2 Draw Block Drawing Tools tab on Model Options dialog Auto complete block See Auto complete block entry under Block Creation Options 3 4 6 3 Direction Snaps Drawing Tools tab on Model Options dialog See Direction Snaps entry under Snaps Draw
108. frame projection Divider glass edge centre conduction ratio Frame glass edge centre conduction ratio Divider type The definition of the above dimensions is shown in the diagrams REVEAL 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 231 Wall Outside Inside Reveal Reveal Surface Surface Outside Inside Reveal Reveal Inside Sill Depth Depth Depth Glazing Inside Sill Depth Frame wall DIVIDERS 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 232 DesignBuilder 1 5 Frame Frame width Frame inside projection Double pane glazing OUTSIDE INSIDE Divider Divider width r Divider inside projection Spacer Glass layers _ Divider Divider Type Divider Type DividedLite Suspended Openings tab in model data under External Glazing Internal Glazing and Roof Glazing headers To include blinds transparent insulation or electrochromic glazing check the Window shading checkbox Window shading Type Blind with high reflectivity slats Position 1 Inside M Control type 3 Summer X 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 233 This displays the data above Type Select the Window blind component type There are 4 categories of window blinds e Slat e Shade e Transparent insulation e Electrochromic switching if you select a blind of this category the position must be Switchable Position T
109. from a single zone unitary or fan coil unit Sensible Cooling sensible only cooling transfer from the cooling coil to the supply air Latent coil heat can be calculated as the difference Total Cooling Sensible Cooling Heat Recovery Sensible Cooling the sensible cooling rate of the supply air by the heat exchanger This rate is determined using the supply air mass flow rate through the heat exchanger unit the supply air inlet and outlet conditions and the specific heat of the inlet supply air A positive value is reported if the supply air is cooled by the heat exchanger else the rate is set to zero Heat Recovery Total Cooling the total cooling rate of the supply air by the heat exchanger This rate is determined using the supply air mass flow rate through the heat exchanger unit and the enthalpy of the supply air entering and leaving the unit A positive value is reported if the enthalpy of the supply air is decreased by the heat exchanger else the rate is set to zero Heat Recovery Sensible Heating the sensible heating rate of the supply air by the heat exchanger This rate is determined using the supply air mass flow rate through the heat exchanger unit the supply air inlet and outlet conditions and the specific heat of the inlet supply air A positive value is reported if the supply air is heated by the heat exchanger else the rate is set to zero Heat Recovery Total Heating the total heating energy added to the supply air by the
110. gains losses internal gains not Heating Design temperatures and outside dry bulb air temperature e 2 Site data all site data 3 Comfort inside air the radiant and comfort temperatures relative humidity ASHRAE 55 and various comfort indices 4 Internal gains internal gains including equipment lighting occupancy solar and HVAC heating cooling delivery 5 Fabric and ventilation heat gains to the space from the surface element walls floors ceilings etc and ventilation Negative values indicate heat loss from the space Tip to update the data using different calculation options click Update Ctrl U Show as You can display the data in one of four ways Graph Grid Graph and table Table Note you must select the Grid option to export data in spreadsheet format Normalise by floor area Check this option if you wish data to be displayed per floor area i e m2 or ft2 You can select the area 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 to use as the denominator from e 1 All areas Total area is used e 2 Occupied area just occupied areas are used Note you can only select 1 All areas if the building and block data includes occupied areas as set in Include unoccupied zones in block and building totals and averages option in Cooling design Output options Likewise you can only select 2 Occupied area if the building and block data excludes occupied areas Y AXIS OPTIONS
111. heat exchanger BUILDING LEVEL ONLY Fuel breakdown The data for fuel consumption for building level broken down by end use Heat Generation total fuel consumption due to operation of heat generators such as boilers and heat pumps Chiller total chiller fuel consumption Fans total electrical energy consumed by HVAC fans Pumps total electrical energy consumed by HVAC pumps Preheat heating energy transferred from main plant preheat coils to HVAC system air when using Compact HVAC data Lighting electricity consumed by general and task display lights e Room Electricity electricity consumed by room equipment other than lights computers equipment process etc Room Gas gas consumed by room equipment miscellaneous process and catering e Room Oil oil consumed by room equipment miscellaneous process and catering e Room Solid solid fuel such as coal consumed by room equipment miscellaneous process and catering Room Bottled gas bottled gas propane consumed by room equipment miscellaneous process and catering Room Other other fuel consumed by room equipment miscellaneous process and catering Fuel totals Total fuel consumption for building data available at building level only Electricity total building electricity consumption 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Calculations 427 e Gas fuel consumption total building gas consumption e Oil total building or oil consumptio
112. idealised control Heating coils are automatically sized by EnergyPlus before the simulation to provide this off coil temperature given the flow rates in the air handling unit Heating coil setpoint reset type Select the type of automatic reset control for the central heating supply air temperature for CAV and VAV system The choices are e 1 None no reset use the Off coil air temperature set point in conjunction with the Zone setpoint schedule e 2 Outdoor air temperature reset reset the heating supply air temperature based on the following default rules When the outdoor dry bulb temperature ODB is at or below 6 7C the setpoint is the Off coil air temperature set point When the ODB is at or above 10 0C the setpoint is 20 0C In between the setpoint is varied linearly These control parameters are from ASHRAE 90 1 Appendix G The default is 1 None Note you should be aware when using 2 Outdoor air temperature reset that the effective off coil setpoint for the AHU heating coil used in the simulation will be between 20C and the value you enter for the Off coil air temperature set point If you also have an AHU cooling coil you must make sure that it does not operate simultaneously with the AHU heating coil by making the appropriate AHU coil operation schedules VAV TERMINAL REHEAT COILS 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 271 Reheat data is specified for individual zones Coil type Use this data to
113. if this option the Load data from template dialog is opened giving you the opportunity to select various options and load other templates This option is switched off by default Show model data departures from template in bold Select this option to show any differences in model data relative to the selected template in bold This option is switched on by default Default surface normal view When working at surface level it can be useful to get a normal view of the surface by clicking on the Normal button in the top right of the screen By default this will show a normal view of the surface as viewed from outside You can use the Default surface normal view program option to instead view from the inside Double buffer display dynamics On some displays the screen is incorrectly refreshed when dragging a selection rectangle resulting in a series of lines left on the screen as the mouse moves below This problem does not affect the model but you can avoid it by switching off double buffering on this dialog On some graphics cards you may instead be able to make a hardware setting to prevent this display problem i Maximum characters shown in data display lists You can control the number of characters displayed in data lists on the right hand panel This provides a workaround to a problem with the list component used in DesignBuilder which always scroll to the right when an item with a long name is selected This scrolling can be
114. in this case you re working with Model Templates i e templates specifically associated with a particular model not the library 4 3 Import Components Templates Import component template DDF files previously exported using the File gt Import gt Library data menu command e Import the data to the model by selecting the Import menu command with a file open e Import to ibraries by working from the Opening screen This command imports all components templates in the DDF file 4 4 Export Components Templates You can export your user DesignBuilder Component Template libraries by selecting the File Export Library data menu command to create a DDF file This file can be shared with other users imported on other computers in your office or simply used as a backup 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Select Data for Export Activity templates 7 a a General H residenza famiglia a casa on 10006 2 4 esidenza famiglia lavoratori on 10005 residenza famiglia lavoratori st back 10004 ws residenza famiglia lavoratori on off HVAC 10003 ws residenza famiglia lavoratori 10002 BUS STATION TRAIN STATION SEAPORT TERMINAL Adetma produzione 10001 Mr FURTHER EDUCATION UNIVERSITIES Residential italy 10000 pe Construction templates 25 System b Milano muratura iperisolata massiva 10029 b Milano muratura poco isolata 10028 b Rom
115. inconvenient so we have implemented the option to control the amount of text displayed By default this is set to 35 characters but you can use a larger value if you prefer 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Program Options w P 4 Schedule On Night cycle control 1 Stay off 5 OFFICE Mechanical Ventilation Y 30 1 2004 Office HVAC Setpoints i Outside air definition method 2 Min fresh air per person E 90 1 2004 Office SWH Min AHU Outside Air Requirement Y 44 My new schedule with an extremely My new schedule with an extremely long name ia Office_CellOf_Cool Outside Air Mixing m Truncated name Show tooltips in Model data With small window sizes or when Learning mode is switched off there is not always enough space to display the caption for each Model data item so DesignBuilder provides the option for tooltips to appear when the mouse hovers over a truncated caption See screenshot below Heating coil setpoint res 2 Cutdoor air temperature reset v Scl Heating coil setpoint reset type 10 4 EnergyPlus The screenshot below shows EP Launch being used to control EnergyPlus simulations from DesignBuilder 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd so DesignBuilder 1 5 E File Edit View Help Edit the IDF data Single Simulation Group of Simulations History Input File C EnergyPlus 1 4 0 ip idf X Browse Edi
116. is 14degC This may be inappropriate in some cases and EnergyPlus is warning about this You should take care to enter realistic ground temperatures bearing in mind the advice given in the Ground Modelling section eu sikkerace M 7469 iW 4 type Wall check surface vertex order entry Caused by a minor bug in EnergyPlus when creating a DXF representation of the model it is not always able to fully triangulate all surfaces and generate a full set of surfaces You can ignore the message for the purposes of simulation results Warning Base surface does not surround subsurface CHKSBS Overlap 5 Status No Overlap eve The base surround errors occurred 3 times Bets WW JI76_3_O0_0 Y misses SuloSumrace Ww gt 0 0 0 0 These warnings are usually a reporting bug in EnergyPlus v 2 0 and earlier Warning Calculated design cooling heating load for zone 78474 is c EE s Check ZONE SIZING and ZONE CONTROL THERMOSTATIC inputs 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 52 DesignBuilder 1 5 Cooling heating may have been switched off in this zone or there is no cooling heating load i e the zone does not require any cooling heating For a zone sizing run there must be at least 1 Zone Sizing object input Can usually be ignored 15 6 EnergyPlus Daylight Calculations The EnergyPlus daylighting model in conjunction with the thermal analysis
117. is accomplished by a damper in the unit s primary air supply inlet duct This damper can move from fully open 10096 primary air 096 secondary air to a minimum stop that can be specified in the input description At full cooling the damper will be fully open At minimum cooling and for heating the damper will be at the minimum stop and the secondary air flow will be at its maximum It uses the EnergyPlus SINGLE DUCT SERIES PIU REHEAT data 3 Parallel PIU The Parallel Powered Induction Unit is an air system terminal unit that mixes varying amounts of secondary recirculated air and primary conditioned supply air to produce a variable total flow of air to a zone The unit contains a small fan that acts to induce the secondary air and a heating coil for heating the mixed secondary and primary air The secondary and primary air streams enter the unit in parallel The fan sits in the secondary air stream and runs only when secondary air is needed The primary air inlet contains a damper that can move from fully open maximum primary air to a minimum stop minimum primary air At full cooling load the primary air damper is fully open and the fan is off The primary air flow is at maximum and there is little or no secondary air flow As the cooling load decreases the primary air damper gradually closes and the secondary air flow remains close to zero At some point usually when the primary air flow has reached the minimum the fan switches on and seconda
118. level In this case glazing vent and door layout model data is ignored Note 2 flat roofs do not have default glazing set up using Roof glazing layout model data To create openings on a flat roof you should go to the surface level and add them there 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 26 DesignBuilder 1 5 Openings tab in model data under External Glazing Internal Glazing and Roof Glazing headers External Glazing Y Glazing type General energy code Glazing Layout Preferred height 1 5m 30 glazed Dimensions E Has a frame dividers Construction Painted Wooden window frame Dividers Y Type 1 Divided lite X width m 0 020 Horizontal dividers 1 Vertical dividers 1 Outside projection m 0 000 Inside projection 0 000 Glass edge centre conduction ratio 1 000 Frame Y Frame width 0 040 Frame inside projection 0 000 Frame outside projection m 0 000 lass edae centre candictinn 1 Frames are applied to all rectangular windows default and custom but not to other shaped windows and not when using the Fill surface 100 facade type If the glazing does not have a frame or dividers uncheck the Has a frame box If Has a frame is checked and then you can enter e the construction of the frame and dividers e the number of horizontal dividers and vertical dividers e frame width and divider with see diagrams below for definition 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd
119. lighting data from template you should consider that DesignBuilder sets the lighting output from the lights based on a Lighting system efficiency W m2 100 lux using data from the lighting template and b levels required in the zone as set on the Activity tab If you have many types of activity in the building you can load lighting data for each zone taking into account the required illuminance level in the zone by selecting the appropriate zones in the Target tab 3 3 3 2 Clear Data to Default Model Data Management ede RI 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 22 DesignBuilder 1 5 The Clear Data to Default dialog allows you to e Clear Model Data e Clear custom openings and revert back to default facades Clearing to default removes any user data shown in red from the current object and instead default data is passed from the parent object in the hierarchy Model Data shown in blue You can control the extent of the clearance by setting the Clear Down to data at the bottom Leave this data as Surface level if you want all data in the currently selected model object including child objects to be returned to a default state LN All data Cancel All data on current tab Q Clear custom openings and reset to default facades Help Clear Down to Y Surface level 3 4 Model Options All Model Options stored the DesignBuild
120. lowest lighting output the lighting system can dim down to expressed as a fraction of maximum light output This is the fractional light output that 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Template Data the system produces at minimum input power For continuous off lighting control this is the power fraction reached just before the light switch off completely Continuous Off Control Continuous off control is the same as continuous control except that the lights switch off completely when the minimum dimming point is reached Stepped Control For stepped control the electric power input and light output vary in discreet equally spaced steps The number of steps can be set Fractional input power Daylight illuminance Illuminance set point 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 6 6 HVAC Templates AWHVAC template VAV 4 General Name VAY lt Generic gt Region England and Source BRE Floor shade colour Natural Ventilation Mechanical Ventilation On Rate 3 0 Fans Fan type 1 0 Fan operation mode 1 0 Pressure rise 1000 0 Total efficiency 2 70 0 Fan motor efficiency 2 85 0 Fan in air 2 100 0 System Simple Auxiliary energy 5 96 Compact Type 3A AM Outside air minimum flow control 1 Fixed Supply air min flow fraction 0 30 Central heating coil type 3 Hot water Cooling coil setpoint 13 00 Heating coil setpoint 35 00 Zone
121. main temperature setpoint between 5am and midnight Cooling operates at setback temperature setpoint data at all other times on these days e Holidays and all other days the cooling is off More on Temperature setpoint schedules 5 6 Profiles Profiles define the variation in occupancy equipment usage or temperature over the course of a single day They are used as building blocks in the definition of Schedules 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Component Data 357 Office lighting Source DesignBuilder Type Custom Intervals per hour 4 z 1 2 3 4 5 amp T B S DHRDBHRBEHKHETHBSHBHEAA AaB 24 Time There are 3 types of profile 1 Constant has the same value all day Enter the constant value for the profile 2 Single period define the on period by setting the start and end times for the profile using the mouse The operation is assumed to be off for the rest of the day 3 Custom the profile is defined by a number of intervals each of which can have a different value There are two ways to set interval values 3 a To change the value for a single interval single histogram bar select the top of the histogram bar and drag up down using the LEFT mouse button 3 b To apply a constant value over a range of intervals select the top of the histogram bar which has the required value and drag left right over the range of intervals to be set using the RIGHT mouse button The figure above shows an example custom profile
122. minimum flow fraction The Design turndown ratio is the fraction that the zone VAV box can reduce to based on the supply air maximum flow rate It is normally specified to meet the minimum ventilation requirement for the occupants A value of 1 0 means that the VAV box cannot reduce supply air at all i e it is a constant volume system Turndown ratio is typically in range 0 3 0 5 Minimum is 0 and maximum is 1 3 4 4 3 4 Fan Coil Cooling Sizing When using the Fan coil cooling sizing method the Cooling design calculation is made through a detailed EnergyPlus simulation using Compact HVAC Fan coil equipment A diagram of the system layout used is shown in the Fan Coil Units topic Each zone has it s own Fan coil unit with a fan generating no pickup a water cooled cooling coil an outside air controller and a zone terminal box with a damper to reduce supply air flow More specifically No economiser No heat recovery No heating coil Zero pressure rise fan No humidification dehumidification Outside airflow rate and operation schedule defined by the data under the Mechanical Ventilation header on the HVAC tab at the zone level see note below about outside air flow rates Cooling coil availability defined by the schedule under the Cooling header on the HVAC tab at the zone level Zone design cooling temperature setpoints are defined by the data under Environmental Control on the Activity tab Unlike the ASHRAE cooling sizi
123. model as appropriate to the requirements of the calculations For example if you are carrying out a summertime simulation of a naturally ventilated building you could consider switching off infiltration modelling if infiltration heat flow is only a very small part of summertime heat balance Note 2 In Version 1 the calculated airflows through external windows vents doors holes and cracks are all lumped into External air data on the Simulation results screen Calculations The ventilation rate q through each opening and crack in the model is calculated based on the pressure difference using wind and stack pressure effects q C DP Where q is the volumetric flow through the opening pp is the pressure difference across the opening crack nis the flow exponent varying between 0 5 for fully turbulent flow and 1 0 for fully laminar flow C is the flow coefficient related to the size of the opening crack Wind Driven Ventilation When wind impinges on the surface of a rectangular building a positive pressure is induced on the upwind face The flow separates at the corners resulting in negative pressure regions on the side of the building and a negative pressure distribution on the leeward facade The pressure distribution on the roof varies according to pitch the pressure on the upwind face being negative for roof pitches of 30 and positive for steeper pitches The pressure on any point on the surface of a building facade can be
124. new data will overwrite the original data Important Note any component you add while a model is open will be added to Model components and not to the Component library It will only be added to the library and hence to new models if you export the new component model data in ddf form and import the ddf file to the library before creating the new model Colour code Components are coded by colour in the Navigator panel and selection lists as follows Red shows user data i e data that was not supplied by DesignBuilder Green indicates that the data is derived from a reputable national or international source Blue indicates that the data is generated internally by DesignBuilder 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Component Data Black is used for other data 5 1 Constructions The thermal properties of the construction are calculated based on layers each layer having a material reference and thickness The combination of thickness and material gives the thermal characteristics of the layer Construction Components also store derived data on the thermal properties of the overall layered construction for example U value convective heat transfer coefficients etc There are three tabs on Constructions dialogs e Layers e Image e Calculated Construction component data can be accessed from the Components tab on the opening screen to view edit library components if no file is open from the Components tab in t
125. no custom openings have been defined you can create doors simply by checking the Doors fitted options under the External and Internal Doors headers In this case a single door is positioned on each surface in place of one of the windows in the automatically generated facade layout Openings tab in model data under Doors The operation of doors can be defined by entering data under Operation headers e 96 Area door opens defines the area of the door which opens relative to the total area to give an approximation of the actual opening size and Time door is open defines the average time the door is in the open position Accounts for the fact that during occupied periods the door may open and close repeatealy The average effect The way this data is used depends on the Natural ventilation model option set Calculated The average door opening size used in the simulation is calculated by multiplying the Area door opens by the Time the door is open by the gross door area A schedule can be applied to control timing of the opening The ventilation rate through the door opening is calculated based on the wind and stack pressure effects Scheduled External door opening is not modelled explicitly with the Scheduled natural ventilation model data setting Instead the total natural ventilation flow rate and operation is defined for each zone on the HVAC tab No operation data is entered on the Openings tab for external doors Internal doo
126. of the back face upper edge and then complete the perimeter Now drag the outline block face through the main roof block 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 5e DesignBuilder 1 5 Select the offshoot outline block and click on the Cut block along plane tool making sure that the Cutting method on the Drawing options data panel is set to Select plane and click on the forward facing plane of the main roof block to create a cut in the offshoot block in the plane of the roof 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 139 Drawing Options Citing Method Cutting method 2 Select plane Prussacter Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides Click again to finish the cut and then select the section of the offshoot roof block that is not required and delete it Goto Building 1 Go up to Site level Untitled V Undo Cut Object Q Redo e Protractor Ctrl T Stretch ctrl J Remove construction lines Ctrl Shift C Remove all outlines Convert selected outlines to blocks Exit 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Select the roof offshoot block and click on the Convert selected outline blocks to building blocks tool to complete the process In some circumstances resulting blocks may not be able to be converted to building blocks due to geometrical limitations In this case the block will be displayed in a sepia colo
127. or more warmup days to ensure correct distribution of heat in building thermal mass and the start of the simulation Warmup continues until temperatures heat flows in each zone have converged If convergence does not occur then simulation continues for the maximum number of days as specified in the calculation options Customise the data displayed and display style using the Display Options panel 7 3 1 Calculation Options These options control the simulation and the output produced Click on the OK button to start the Simulation 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Calculations GENERAL Calculation description Enter some text to identify the calculation This will be used in reports and in the filename for automatically generated ESO files Simulation Period The simulation period is described in the help for the Model options Interval Monthly and annual output is always generated and daily hourly and sub hourly data can selected by checking the appropriate boxes Note selecting output at hourly or sub hourly intervals can produce large amounts of data which slows processing and results in large file sizes If you want to generate hourly or sub hourly data you may wish to consider switching off some of the Output options to ensure you are only generating the data you require Auto Update This dialog is always shown when you select Update and will also be shown before all simulations if Don t show this d
128. partitions You can optionally switch off all holes in the model including those holes generated by defining partitions as virtual partitions In this case the building is modelled as if no holes were defined Tip Unchecking this data can be a quick way to model virtual partitions as standard partitions 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 2 CALCULATED NATURAL VENTILATION OPTION Wind Factor When carrying out conservative design simulations you may prefer to exclude or reduce the effects of wind from Calculated natural ventilation To exclude wind driven airflow from the analysis altogether set the Wind factor to 0 For full treatment of wind effects set it to 1 and for intermediate treatment of wind set to a number between 0 and 1 Modulation of Openings You can modulate the window door openings when Calculated natural ventilation is being used by making appropriate settings to e Limit value of opening modulation factor gives the reduction on opening area for low outside air temperatures e Lower value of Tin Tout lower value on inside outside temperature difference for modulating the venting open factor e Upper value of Tin Tout upper value on inside outside temperature difference for modulating the venting open factor defines low outside air temperatures Note if Modulate calculated opening sizes is switched on then airflow will be switched off if the difference between inside and outsid
129. periods e 5 Sub hourly show data recorded at time step intervals 2 and 6 intervals per hour depending on the Time steps per hour calculation option Useful for detailed checking of building performance e 6 Distribution temperature distribution curves showing hours at hours below and hours above temperature levels in 1 C temperature intervals during the occupied period Note that Data below should be set to 3 Comfort to get temperature distribution curves Note be aware that requesting Hourly and Sub hourly results in large buildings and or long simulation periods can result in very large data sets which take a long time to read in after the simulation Data Select an option to indicate the data you wish to display e 1 All fabric and ventilation heat gains losses internal gains not Heating Design temperatures and outside dry bulb air temperature 2 Site data all site data e 3 Comfort inside air the radiant and comfort temperatures relative humidity ASHRAE 55 and various comfort indices If you set Interval to 6 Distribution you get temperature distribution curves 4 Internal gains internal gains including equipment lighting occupancy solar and HVAC heating cooling delivery 5 Fabric and ventilation heat gains to the space from the surface element walls floors ceilings etc and ventilation Negative values indicate heat loss from the space 6 Fuel breakdown fuel consumption broken down by
130. recirculated air to provide enough airflow to delivery any additional heating cooling Minimum AHU outside air requirement schedule You can modify the total outside airflow using the Minimum AHU outside air requirement schedule Whatever the outside air flow would have been without the schedule is multiplied by the current schedule value So for example if you select a schedule which is always 0 5 then the system will supply half the outside air flow at all times vs the same run without the schedule You can also use this schedule to switch off outside air during unoccupied periods Maximum supply air flow rate The maximum supply air flow rate is the total flow rate of air entering the zone not necessarily all fresh air It can be defined at the zone level when using Compact HVAC or it can be left in the default state 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 Auto in which case the maximum supply air flow rate is calculated based only on the maximum heating and cooling capacities This data is available at the zone level when using Unitary single zone Unitary multizone or VAV Compact HVAC and the plant sizing options Autosize when not set or Manual System availability schedule The System availability schedule defines the operation of the air system fans For Compact Unitary systems the Fan operation mode below can be set to 2 Cycling in which case air distribution only occurs when there is heating or co
131. represented by 2 Pye 0 5 rho Where is the surface pressure due to wind rho is the density of air is the wind pressure coefficient at a given position on the surface V is the mean wind velocity at height z The wind pressure coefficient Cp is a function of wind direction position on the building surface and side exposure Some typical approximate values for buildings subjected to varying degrees of shelter and wind directions is given in an AIVC publication A guide to energy efficient ventilation This data is also 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Modelling Advice quoted in the CIBSE A Guide DesignBuilder uses this data to populate the Pressure Coefficients templates and provide default pressure coefficients suitable for use in basic design calculations for buildings having no more than three stories For more detailed analysis or for buildings having 4 or more stories you should obtain specific pressure coefficient data from CFD analysis of from wind tunnel measurements and enter it for each surface under the Pressure Coefficients header on the Openings tab Excluding Wind Effects When carrying out conservative design calculations you may prefer to exclude or reduce the effects of wind from Calculated natural ventilation To exclude wind driven airflow from the analysis altogether set the Wind factor on the Advanced tab of the Model Options dialog to 0 For full treatment of wind
132. retained during the operation For a large models slow graphic adapters this can result in a jerky motion in which case you should use e 2 Wire frame where the building is represented using a wire frame which moves smoothly even for large models slow graphic adapters Show shadows Use this option to display shadows in the Visualisation Screen Show North arrow You can display the North Arrow in the Visualisation Screen 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Show ground plane You can choose to show hide the plane used to represent the ground in the Visualisation Screen You may wish to hide the ground plane if you have used component blocks to represent the ground Note when displayed the ground plane extents just beyond the x y size of the model and hides any other building object situated at or below z 0 Antialiasing Antialiasing is the process used to remove jaggy edges of lines which are not horizontal or vertical Most modern medium high end graphics adapters allow effective antialiasing to be automatically applied to OpenGL screens using hardware acceleration If you have one of these cards you should be getting sharp lines already and you can switch the DesignBuilder software antialiasing off See hardware requirements for more on this If you switch on software antialiasing you can select a quality setting from 1 4 where 4 gives the smoothest edges and takes longest time to generate N
133. script stored with the model just before the simulation not the in idf file stored in the EnergyPlus folder 4 DOE executable EnergyPlus simulation option In the Program options dialog you can select an executable EnergyPlus option and set the execution mode to 4 Executable EP Launch This gives you some control over the IDF data before the simulation Any changes made to the IDF data from within EP Launch will be included in the simulation but will not be retained for future simulations See Program options gt EnergyPlus for more info on this Reading ESO results files back into DesignBuilder Provided you haven t changed the zone and surface names in the IDF data you can read ESO results files generated from your modified data back into DesignBuilder for display and analysis 15 2 EnergyPlus Version Compatibility You should ensure that you have the correct version of EnergyPlus set before exporting IDF data for use outside DesignBuilder 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 560 DesignBuilder 1 5 DesignBuilder will automatically generate compatible IDF files with the target version of EnergyPlus as set on the EnergyPlus tab Program options dialog If you are generating IDF files for simulation outside DesignBuilder you should note that by default DesignBuilder targets an internal version of EnergyPlus which has an extended IDD data definition file to allow 1 Surfaces of up to 330 vertices 2 Shading surfaces of up to 33
134. similar way to vents with some exceptions e Holes must be drawn at surface level Airflow through holes is uncontrolled i e the airflow path is active all the time e Drawing holes can be used as a way to merge two zones when the Merge zones connected by holes Model option is set e Holes are used internally with DesignBuilder to model the heat transfer and airflow through Virtual e Discharge coefficient of 0 65 is used whereas with vents the vent component defines the discharge coefficient VENT MODELLING Calculated Natural Ventilation Simulations only Each vent is modelled using e An EnergyPlus Door The heat conduction through the vent door component is displayed in results as Internal Natural vent and External Natural vent e An EnergyPlus AIRFLOWNETWORK MULTIZONE COMPONENT DETAILED OPENING and other associated AIRFLOW components providing a controllable flow path You can define Vent operation Scheduled Natural Ventilation and Design Calcs Each vent is modelled using e An EnergyPlus Door The heat conduction through the vent door component is displayed in results 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 23 DesignBuilder 1 5 as Internal Natural vent and External Natural vent e Internal vents have an EnergyPlus Mixing object using parameters set in the Model options dialog External vents HOLE MODELLING Calculated Natural Ventilation Simulations only Each hole is modelled using a sub surf
135. space Radiant Fraction This field is a decimal number between 0 0 and 1 0 and is used to characterise the amount of long wave radiant heat being given off by office equipment in a zone The radiant fraction will be multiplied by the total energy consumed by electric equipment and 1 Fraction lost to give the amount of long wavelength radiation gain from office equipment in a zone A value of zero means that the heat gain is entirely convective in which case all the heat is transferred to the air node in simulations A value of 1 means that the gain is entirely radiative in which case all the heat is distributed to the inside surfaces a typical value is somewhere between 0 1 and 0 4 If the Internal gains operate with occupancy model option is not selected you can also set the operation schedule 3 3 2 1 9 Miscellaneous Gains Activity tab in model data Gain Set the design level of energy consumption due to miscellaneous equipment per unit floor area The actual heat gain to the space may be reduced through the Fraction lost data below The Gain entered in Watts m2 or Watts ft2 is typically used to represent the maximum fuel consumption of miscellaneous equipment in a zone that is then multiplied by a schedule fraction below This is slightly more flexible in that the design level could be a diversity factor applied to a schedule of real numbers Note that while the schedule value can vary from hour to hour the design level
136. system is selected Unitary Single zone and Fan Coil Units Cooling operation schedules are set at zone level and there is no central plant apart from the chiller Note for all systems cooling setpoint temperatures are defined on the Activity tab Zone setpoint schedule This schedule data is used in conjunction with the cooling setpoint temperatures on the Activity tab to define the cooling demand in the zone by creating a cooling setpoint schedule The schedule defines the times when full and setback setpoints should be met and the setpoint data on the Activity tab define the actual setpoint values See Defining setpoint temperature schedules for more on this 3 3 2 5 4 Heating HVAC tab in model data The data required to define the heating system will depend on whether the HVAC model option is set to Simple or Compact and if set to Compact the type of Compact HVAC system selected Heating capacity The heating capacity can either be entered by hand or can be Autosized using the Heating Design Calculations By default if immediately prior to a Simulation the heating capacity has not been entered neither by hand nor from a previous Heating design calculation then a Heating design autosizing simulation is started to calculate the capacity The Plant sizing building model option controls the way this works You can change heating capacities by hand if you wish but you should bear in mind that by default if Model Options change all h
137. that Large horizontal openings are only modelled approximately 3 2 12 5 Draw Vent 24100 7900 LP Pe FSRDO BOOS For details of using the Draw vent tool please refer to the Draw window tool 3 2 12 6 Edit Surfaces You can select custom openings and move clone copy delete and rotate them Default openings cannot be selected and manipulated in this way You can also clear custom openings their default state using the Clear Data to Default command 3 2 13 Editing Openings at the Building Level Building block facade openings can be selected at the building level and subsequently moved copied or deleted In order to edit openings at the building level you first need to select the openings either clicking 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 172 DesignBuilder 1 5 on them using the Select tool or by dragging a selection window around them When you have selected an opening you will see that the Move selected object s Clone selected object s and Delete selected object s icons are active and you can select one of these commands As an 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models example the arched openings and doorway are to be copied onto the angled fagade of the leftmost block To begin with you need to delete the existing opening on the angled facade by selecting it and clicking on the Delete selected object s icon aS O22 as S4 sse eating design Cooling des
138. the DesignBuilder setup program small The first time you require an hourly weather data file it is automatically downloaded from the DesignBuilder Website into the Weather data folder on your computer where it can be accessed by EnergyPlus for any subsequent simulations You must be connected to the Internet to download weather data in this way See also e Add new hourly weather data e Edit Translate hourly weather data 13 1 Add new hourly weather data To add your own hourly weather data follow the steps below 1 Copy the EnergyPlus format hourly weather data epw file to the weather data folder File gt Folders gt Weather data From the Opening screen click on the Templates tab Click on the to the left of Hourly weather data to open up the list of countries Select the country of the location or the location within the country Add a new Hourly weather data set by clicking on the green in the Toolbar Enter information on the Hourly weather data and select the file Note that the hourly weather data details are automatically loaded from the stat and epw files when you select the file WP steps 2 5 above be accomplished step if you have Learning mode switched Go to the Locations tab at site level and look for the Add hourly weather data link under the Hourly weather data header You can also find a link to show the weather data folder in Windows Explorer You will now
139. the EnergyPlus results eso file 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Section EnergyPlus Background Information DesignBuilder 1 5 EnergyPlus is the U S DOE building energy simulation program for modelling building heating cooling lighting ventilating and other energy flows It builds on the most popular features and capabilities of BLAST and DOE 2 but also includes many innovative simulation capabilities such as time steps of less than an hour modular systems and plant integrated with heat balance based zone simulation multizone air flow thermal comfort and photovoltaic systems EnergyPlus is a stand alone simulation program without a user friendly graphical interface which is where DesignBuilder comes in We have integrated EnergyPlus tightly within the DesignBuilder environment to allow you to carry out simulations without any fuss just define your building model request data and let the EnergyPlus simulation engine take care of the details DesignBuilder has been specifically developed around EnergyPlus allowing most of the EnergyPlus fabric and glazing data to be input Databases of building materials constructions window panes window gas glazing units and blinds are provided HVAC is modelled using the Compact HVAC descriptions A range of commonly used HVAC system types can be defined parametrically without the need for complex system layouts These compact descriptions are automatically expanded
140. the Glazing data dialog e Layers e Calculated Glazing component data can be accessed e from the Components tab on the opening screen to view edit library components if no file is open e from the Components tab in the Navigator panel to view edit model components if a file is open e by double clicking on the glazing icon on the Openings tab in the model data e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting glazing components from a list 5 2 1 Layers Layer tab on Glazing Dialog Set the number of layers first then select the pane and window gas material for each layer The DesignBuilder Glazing data simply consists of layers of panes interspersed with layers of window gases Other data such as internal and external surface heat transfer coefficients U values etc can be calculated and stored on the Calculated tab Note that you can define low emissivity glazing systems by specifying an appropriate LoE Pane type for the Innermost Pane You can find some typical low emissivity panes under the Clear Panes category 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Component Data 345 Select the pane 2 E E Clear CLEAR 2 5MM 2 CLEAR 3MM 2 CLEAR J CLEAR 12MM O LOW IRON 2 5MM O Low IRON 3MM O Low IRON 4MM O Low IRON 5MM PYR A CLEAR 3MM Select alow FYR B CLEAR 3MM emissivity pane FYR B CLEAR 6MM LoE 2 LoE CLEAR 3MM 2 LoE CLEAR Rev LoE CLEAR GMM 2 LoE CLEAR Rev LoE SPE
141. the building and ultimately enter the zone There are five choices 1 Minimal shadowing In this case there is no exterior shadowing except from window and door reveals All beam solar radiation entering the zone is assumed to fall on the floor where it is absorbed according to the floor s solar absorptance Any reflected by the floor is added to the transmitted diffuse radiation which is assumed to be uniformly distributed on all interior surfaces If no floor is present in the zone the incident beam solar radiation is absorbed on all interior surfaces according to their absorptances The zone heat balance is then applied at each surface and on the zone s air with the absorbed radiation being treated as a flux on the surface 2 Full Exterior in this case shadow patterns on exterior surfaces caused by detached shading wings 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 323 overhangs and exterior surfaces of all zones are computed As for Minimal shadowing shadowing by window and door reveals is also calculated Beam solar radiation entering the zone is treated as for Minimal shadowing all beam solar radiation entering the zone is assumed to fall on the floor where it is absorbed according to the floor s solar absorptance Any reflected by the floor is added to the transmitted diffuse radiation which is distributed among interior surfaces according to view factors If no floor is present in the zone the incident beam s
142. the data related to the environmental and comfort requirements of this activity e Heating set point temperature if the space is heated e Cooling set point temperature if the spaces cooled e Ventilation set point temperature e lluminance levels required e Fresh air levels required per person defines mechanical ventilation air change rates If there is never any heating or cooling you can leave these set points See Environmental Control under Activity Model Data for more details 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Template Data 377 6 2 Construction Templates Construction template Energy code Lightwei lt q D eneral Name Energy code Lightweight Category lt System gt Region General Simplified Constructions Thermal mass Light Insulation 2000 Reas Walls SJ External Wall Energy co Sylntermal Lightweight 2 2 SySemi exposed Semi exposed w Roofs SyFlat roofs Flat roof Energy Sy Pitched roofs Pitched roof En Ceilings Fitted Sy Ceiling 10mm Ceiling tile Suspension height 0 2 Floors Fitted Sy Floor 18mm wooden fl Sy Roofspace floor Roofspace floor Suspension height 0 2 External S External floor External floor E Slabs Sy Floor slab floors 1 2 etc 100mm concrete Sy Ground floor slab incl insulation Ground floor slab Construction templates are used as a source of generic construction data for loading into building models The template provides data on the const
143. the direction snaps are active The increment snap also works in conjunction with the Protractor Perimeter Protr Point Snaps End point snap Mid point snap Edge snap Increment snap Snap increment 5 _ Switch snap increment direction Drawing Guides Increment snap operates when line snapped to protractor angle You can use the increment snap to control the location of block faces when you extrude a block on 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models creation or drag faces during an edit or stretch operation Protracter Point Snaps v Increment snap Snap increment m 9 500 TJ Switch snap increment directie The increment snap also comes into operation when an edge snap is active allowing you to snap to the edge by increments from either end please see edge snap for details Switch snap increment direction Increment snap provides increments between the 2 end points of the reference line and increments can only be generated from one end point at a time You can reverse the direction so that increments are generated from the other end of the reference line by checking the Switch snap increment direction drawing option This option is found immediately below the Increment snap option screenshot above 3 2 3 8 Drawing Guides Drawing guides are invisible lines that are automatically generated as soon as a drawing plane becomes
144. the edit at the building level All component blocks cast shadows in 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 112 DesignBuilder 1 5 STANDARD COMPONENT BLOCK Sometimes it can be useful to create structures such as pillars shading obstructions and balconies which do not contain zones Standard component blocks can be used for modelling such structures as they are treated simply as shading reflection surfaces in simulations without any zones Standard component blocks are visible in using the texture associated with the as set on the under the Component Block header They can be used to cast shadows and reflect solar radiation and light in simulations by checking the model data under Component Blocks on the Constructions tab The image below shows some typical uses of Standard component blocks Balconies and awning created using component blocks GROUND COMPONENT BLOCK Ground component blocks can be used as a convenient way to set the adjacency of any touching building block surfaces as being adjacent to ground In the model below the Ground block shown in green has been positioned in contact with the building block to create a ground adjacency in the part of the Building block surface in contact with the Ground block Standard component blocks are visible in using the texture associated with the as set on the under the Component Block header They can be used to cast shadows and reflect solar radiation and light in si
145. the setpoint temperature to ensure occupant comfort Notes 1 This option is overridden when using radiant heating systems by the radiant heating system control setting 2 This option does not affect natural and mechanical ventilation setpoints these always use air temperature set points Operative vs Air temperature control Advanced discussion There has been much debate amongst simulation experts over the years on the extent to which radiant effects should be included on the simulated thermostat Most real world thermostats probably don t actually sense more than about 20 radiant heat transfer mostly the temperature sensor will be sensitive to the temperature of room air nearby So apparently we should air temperature or 20 radiant control But Operative control radiant fraction 0 5 can be useful for calculating realistic heating and cooling energy based on published summer and winter temperature requirements for the activities in each zone This is because HVAC systems controlled using the operative temperature continue to condition the building until comfort conditions are met just like they are in the real building Also the default temperature set points from the Activity templates are generally derived from sources quoting operative temperatures With Air temperature control the room air temperature is controlled to the set point temperature which depending on internal radiant temperatures may not necessarily be comfortable
146. thought of as part of the zone heat balance Airflow e Mech Vent Nat Vent Infiltration The sum of outside air in ac h flowing into the zone through e The HVAC air distribution system e Infiltration e Natural ventilation System Heat Flows Compact HVAC only These heat flows are plotted on the same axes as the Internal Gains but they should really have their own graph because they do not play a part in the zone heat balance e Zone Heating energy supplied by local room heaters and reheat coils to maintain room internal heating temperature setpoint temperature when using Compact HVAC data e Total Cooling at building level sensible latent cooling transfer to the supply air from the AHU cooling coil any single zone unitary and fan coil units in the building At zone level sensible latent cooling transfer to the supply air from a single zone unitary or fan coil unit 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Calculations e Sensible Cooling sensible only cooling transfer from the cooling coil to the supply air Latent coil heat can be calculated as the difference Total Cooling Sensible Cooling Surface heat gain data refers to heat transfer from the inside surface of the building elements to the zone You can also customise the data and the way it is displayed using the Display Options panel 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd aa DesignBuilder 1 5 Temperature and Heat Gains Site Example Offi
147. tnn nnnm asas nasi sss nnn 379 6 2 6 Construction Templates Airtightness uiuis esesesseeeseneee nnne nnns nein annnm ns ntn santa natnm nasa ss sns nna 379 6 2 7 Construction Templates Thermal mass eese nnnn nnne nnns nnns atn ssa stein sinn sins nn nnne 379 6 3 Glazing Templates uidetur 6 3 1 Glazing Templates Generalna s eiai Drill cna erae cuc e iiaa Ehen aee aaia eaa 6 3 2 Glazing Templates Glazing onze ee e e oe Porn e Crece eri cruce aede oec kae eder eR 6 3 3 Glazing Templates Shading 6 4 Facade Templates 111i eee e Leone cu aao nane 6 4 1 Facade Templates Gene rall ssscssssssseessecseesseeseesenessneneesseesenenseseneseneneeeseasensneesenenensauesseeseeeseesenenensenesenenees 382 6 4 2 Facade Templates OpeningS ssecsessssesseeseesenesensseseeeseesseesenesenseeeseeeseaesesseneneeseneseesneesseeseeeseesenenenseeneeeenees 382 6 5 Lighting Templates 5 1 nene ec dailies 383 6 5 1 Lighting Templates 383 6 5 2 Lighting Templates OutpuUlt araa a a ea aea ra a na AE a EAEE E EAE A E a 384 6 5 3 Lighting Templates CON r a
148. wearing clothing that would be standard for the given activity in the real environment Furthermore in this standard environment the same physiological strain i e the same skin temperature and skin wettedness and heat loss to the environment would exist as in the real environment The Pierce model also converts the actual environment into a environment at an Effective Temperature ET that is the dry bulb temperature of a hypothetical environment at 50 relative humidity and uniform temperature Ta MRT where the subjects would experience the same physiological strain as in the real environment In the latest version of the model it is suggested that the classical Fanged PMV be modified by using ET or SET instead of the operative temperature This gives a new index PMV which is proposed for dry or humid environments It is also suggested that PMV is very responsive to the changes in vapor permeation efficiency of the occupants clothing Besides PMV the Pierce Two Node Model uses the indices TSENS and DISC as predictors of thermal comfort Where TSENS is the classical index used by the Pierce foundation and is a function of the mean body temperature DISC is defined as the relative thermoregulatory strain that is needed to bring about a state of comfort and thermal equilibrium DISC is a function of the heat stress and heat strain in hot environments and equal to TSENS in cold environments In summary the Pierce Model for our purposes use
149. window blinds as selected in the Category data on the General tab 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Component Data 367 e Slat slatted blinds which have different transmission properties with solar position e Shade assumed perfectly diffusing e Transparent insulation transparent insulation material to be positioned on the outer surface of an external wall e Electrochromic switching switchable visible and solar properties based on solar gain Window blind component data can be selected from the window shading data on the Openings tab in Model Data and is applied to all windows on the surface including custom windows The data applies only to external internal and roof glazing Window blinds component data can be accessed from the Components tab on the opening screen to view edit library components if no file is open from the Components tab in the Navigator panel to view edit model components if a file is open by double clicking on the window blinds icon on the Openings tab in the model data by clicking on the Edit button when selecting window blinds from a list 5 11 1 General General tab on Window Blinds Dialog Enter the name and category for this Window blinds data set 5 11 2 Slat Data Slat data tab on Window Blinds Dialog Enter details on the slats Blind to glass Front of slat distance 1 out of slat ia separation pi Slat width Window Slat thickness Slat Angle Outsi
150. window frame shadows Time 19 00 M Day 15 X Month Jul X Show North Arrow Antialiasing Dynamics 1 Rendered T The month day and time of day can be controlled using the Period controls Note that the time specified here is local mean time excluding any daylight saving You can account for daylight saving time by adding 1 hour to the local mean time during summer months to see shading for clock time Note in versions 1 3 4 and later time is defined in decimal hours e g 10 5 is the same as 10 30am 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Display Options General Detail Y Show shadows Show window frame shadows Time Day 5 Month Jul Show North Arrow O Antialiasing Dynamics 1 Rendered If you want to look at much more detailed shading you can include the window frame dividers in the shading calculations by switching on the Show window frame shadows check box and clicking the Apply button Display Options General Time a Day 15 Month Jul Show North Arrow Antialiasing Dynamics 1 Rendered X 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Visualisation 8 1 2 Show North Arrow Display options on Visualisation screen Use this control to switch the display of the North direction arrow on or off 8 1 3 Antialiasing Display options on Visualisation screen The antialiasing option can be used to improve image quality You may need to expe
151. you can use the Offset snap option to draw Virtual partitions Lighting tab in model data You can control the electric lights according to the availability of natural daylight When Lighting control is 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 243 switched on illuminance levels are calculated at every time step during the simulation and then used to determine how much the electric lighting can be reduced The daylight illuminance level in a zone depends on many factors including sky condition sun position photocell sensor positions location size and glass transmittance of windows window shades and reflectance of interior surfaces Reduction of electric lighting depends on daylight illuminance level illuminance set point fraction of zone controlled and type of lighting control LIGHTING AREAS When lighting control is switched on by default all of the lights in the zone are controlled by the first main lighting sensor and Zone Controlled by Lighting Area 1 has value 100 Some larger spaces may have 2 Lighting Areas each area having its own lighting sensor and covering its own area of the zone The area is not defined geometrically in DesignBuilder it simply reflects the fraction of the total General overhead electric lighting that can be dimmed by its lighting sensor You may wish to use 2 Lighting Areas for these situations 1 A large zone may need more than one sensor if the output from main sensor does n
152. your Cooling Design calculations Calculated natural ventilation data input is too complex to be adequately summarised 7 2 4 Calculation Options These calculation options can also be accessed from the Cooling design calculation options tab of the Model Options dialog e Calculation Options e Summer design day e Cooling system sizing 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Calculations an e Solar Options e Advanced Calculation Options Calculation description Enter some text to identify the calculation This will be used in reports and in the filename for automatically generated ESO files Click on the OK button to start the Cooling design calculation 7 2 2 Detailed results The Analysis tab has detailed half hourly cooling design results displayed as a line graph by default For more on how the output is calculated see Calculation of DesignBuilder Output from EnergyPlus Report Variables e Air Temperature the calculated average temperature of the air e Radiant Temperature the calculated average Mean Radiant Temperature MRT of the zone calculated assuming that the person is in the centre of the zone with no weighting for any particular surface e Operative Temperature The mean of the mean internal air and mean radiant temperatures e Outside Dry Bulb Temperature Glazing the total heat flow to the zone from the glazing frame and divider of exterior glazing excluding transmitted short wave solar radia
153. zona Bl Construction template Palermo muratura leggera poco is Construction Unknown Construction template Milano muratura massiva a norma onstruction Unknown Construction template Roma parete capacitiva poco isol Hano parete iper poco isolata T Construction template Milano muratura poco isolata Construction Homa parete peejsolata leggera zona B Construction template Roma muratura iper leggera Construction Unknown Construction template Milano muratura iper massiva Construction parete capacitiva poco isolata massa inter 1 Construction parete capacitiva massa interna zona Data marked with a green info icon is automatically included Construction template of Milano muratura iper isolata Construction template Aderma caratteristiche costruttive Data marked with red icon is missing and should be either recreated or the selection changed Press the OK button to continue with the export automatically including the missing data Hep Cancel OK Note if there is any data that is referenced but does not exist it is flagged with a red icon above In this case you should press the Cancel button and make the necessary edits to ensure that all referenced data exists DesignBuilder will not prevent you from continuing so it is possible to create DDF files with m
154. 0 41 45 46 number 491 95 97 59 64 67 72 75 77 79 88 97 100 115 Calculations 147 178 181 182 284 287 294 116 118 119 120 122 140 141 144 146 147 296 301 302 307 312 313 320 342 345 346 158 159 160 183 199 280 282 294 320 324 390 391 397 401 403 404 407 410 411 415 326 328 329 356 375 387 464 504 418 420 423 436 446 464 Adding 89 Canada 484 Building 100 Cancel Cut 122 set 104 CancelPan 31 Block comprises a set 100 Capabilities 15 327 403 508 Block Creation options 97 320 324 Categorise 399 Block edge 45 55 59 64 Category 183 198 220 232 285 307 320 332 help 46 334 361 366 367 369 372 375 378 380 382 Block Forms 115 119 383 387 394 395 396 401 Block Geometry 67 88 100 140 159 328 Holiday Schedule 370 Block having 329 Catering 184 Block Level 15 21 75 140 146 159 160 282 gains 195 294 1985 484 Block Model Options Ceilings 199 296 302 313 378 407 411 423 access 282 Centre 31 36 38 64 162 Block partition 41 Centred 34 endpoint 55 Centre point Block Types 97 100 104 122 place 36 BRE 3TC 342 CFD 400 Briging 341 Change rate 287 296 302 313 394 BS EN IOS 6946 341 Changes 15 21 28 31 36 41 45 86 89 115 Btu h ft2 345 140 159 166 176 183 214 215 223 228 248 273 282 284 287 296 302 313 328 332 340 356 376 380 394 403 447 in idf 508 Btu h ft2 F 345 Building 86 87 140 159 1
155. 0 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8001071800 e0010 18 00 6 0010 1800 80011800 800101800 e000 1800 D Nov 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00to 18 00 8 00to 18 00 Of Dec 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 amp 00 to 18 00 Of See also EnergyPlus Compact Schedules 5 5 2 Compact Schedules General tab on Schedules Dialog Compact Schedules are defined using a slightly modified version of the standard EnergyPlus Schedule Compact format documented below Using the Compact Schedule definition all the features of the schedule components are accessed in a single command Each Compact Schedule must cover all the days for a year and it must have values for all 24 hours and all values for all day types Tip When entering the text for the Compact Schedule to start a new line you should hold the lt CTRL gt key down while pressing lt ENTER gt Just pressing lt ENTER gt will save and close the dialog Name 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 This field is for your own use and is replaced by DesignBuilder with the name of the Schedule when generating data for EnergyPlus ScheduleType ScheduleType should generally be Fraction even for schedules to be used for temperature setpoint definition You can enter Any Number to enter values greater than 1 but please bear in mind e The maximum gains values e g pe
156. 008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 297 generated ESO files Number of time steps per hour Simulation only The time steps per hour is the number of times the building thermal network is solved per hour in the simulations When the HVAC portion of the simulation begins it s solution for the current time step it uses the basic time step as its maximum but then can reduce the time step as necessary to reach the solution The technical details of the approach are explained in the EnergyPlus Engineering Documentation under Integrated Solution Manager Advanced EnergyPlus users can obtain and view data at intervals of the HVAC time step used if they select the detailed option on an HVAC report variable e g Zone Sys Air Temp The time step entered here is also known in the EnergyPlus documentation as the Zone Time Step Though many buildings can be successfully simulated with 1 or 2 time steps per hour EnergyPlus suggest 4 for non HVAC simulations and 6 for simulations with HVAC Hourly data such as outdoor conditions expressed by Design Days or Weather data are interpolated to the Zone Time Step This is discussed the EnergyPlus documentation under Weather Data Hourly Interpolation Note In general increasing the number of time steps improves accuracy but slows the simulation and generates more data if output is requested at the sub hourly interval Temperature Control Heating and cooling systems
157. 1 5 The DesignBuilder menu is located at the top of the screen and provides a full reference of all the currently available commands f DesignBuilder Untitled 1 dsb Layout Untitled Building 1 File Edit Go View Tools Help The following sub menus are available File access file operations Edit options for editing the model Go options for navigating and obtaining data View options for adjusting the view of the model Tools miscellaneous tools e e e e e e Help documentation and other support resources on use of the program 11 1 File Menu The File menu can be accessed from the horizontal top bar menu at the top of the screen The following options are available when a file is open General e New project Cirl N create new DesignBuilder dsb file e Open project Ctrl O Open an existing DesignBuilder dsb file e Close Ctrl F4 close the currently open DesignBuilder dsb file and returned to the opening screen e Print Print current view e Load results file load a previously generated ESO file Save e Save Ctrl S Save currently open DesignBuilder dsb file If no file is currently loaded then this command saves the libraries e Save without output results save the current DesignBuilder dsb file without output results reducing the file size Use this option if you plan to send the dsb file by e mail or to the support forums e Save as F12 save the DesignBuilder dsb fil
158. 18 7 3 1 Calculation Options 418 3 25 Display Option rco HEP 420 7 3 3 Detailed E MR 423 7 3 4 Comfort Analysis 427 Section 8 Visualisation 434 menle x 435 8 1 1 Show Shadows Time Day MOMt 2 cseccsseeeeseeeeseeeeeeeeseneeseeseeneeeeneenseeesseeeseaeesaeeesaeeeseasesneseseeenseeeneeeenees 436 8 1 2 SHOW Nortt Art DEDE PET 439 8 1 3 ITI 439 nuire T 440 8 2 Creating MOVICS EL 440 Section 9 Reporting 443 9 T Export Data eet eee eese D ete EL M EE 443 9 2 Report TOPICS cisions LEER 444 9 3 Compile Reports 5 a a aa tre aaa 444 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Table of Contents 11 Section 10 Program Options 446 10 1 t ilare gt EREET ANER iioii eu 446 10 2 Piles me 446 10 3 User Interface nre EMEeIAI eS 447 UU AS ed qd 449 10 5 Limits eee 453 10 6 International 0 453 Section 11 Menu 456 11 1 Elle enu dax ns 456 11 2 Edit Ju mee 457 F3 GO I 458 11 4 View m
159. 2 4 Wall Thickness notet ntn 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 4 DesignBuilder 1 5 E AS 3 2 9 2 5 Convert Outline BlOCk 2 2 nesai a e aaea eee ained 144 3 2 9 2 6 Transfer Blocks 145 KPALUMVDOBIDRUUInIDIdc X 146 3 2 10 1 Zone Block by Drawing Partitioris 1 nter tenente nre tnnt hne rerba rini 147 3 2 10 2 Hanging and Outline Partitions iiini i a nennen eene nnne A 156 3 2 10 3 VirtualParttioris s ioco ertet etae eie inre eroe E a a Macho 157 3 2 10 4 Creating Voids Courtyard Spaces Within Blocks eseeseeeeeeeneenn nennen 158 3 2 10 5 Edit Block Options e pee roter et erm vet bee i ee pe ie 159 3 2 11 Working within Zones errem etes nter 160 3 2 11 1 Placing Light Sensors nennen nennen sene nnne nnne nnne 162 3 2 12 Working with Surfaces Surface Level eese sees nn nennt nnnn nt nns tena tns s nnn tnn inns inns inns tns 163 2 251 DRAW Adeo m 166 3 2 12 2 Draw Sub Sumace ecd t etui cute qu Re ehe p 170 3 2 12 3 Draw Door 170 3 2 12 4 Draw Hole 170 3 2 12 5 Draw Vent 171 9 2512 6 Edit SUffa
160. 283 284 Model view 436 Modelling building Models lighting 14 15 Most Regions 389 Move 27 34 36 41 45 46 55 57 59 61 64 67 72 75 77 89 100 104 120 122 162 163 166 171 326 DXF 79 Movie Options Movies 440 MoWiTT 296 302 313 MRT 407 411 423 Multizone 508 N National 484 Natural Ventilation 15 178 213 223 227 235 236 238 246 273 283 287 369 394 400 403 410 411 423 461 464 Natural Ventilation model detail Natural Ventilation Operation Natural mechanical 387 Navigation 27 175 Navigator 21 27 88 104 146 158 160 163 294 334 372 447 484 Navigator Panel NB Any component NB If 294 New 332 334 New button clicking 222 Next 27 61 67 79 280 332 334 398 446 508 Next Navigation 332 334 Non HVAC 296 302 313 Non unintentional 407 411 423 Normal 35 41 46 59 67 77 89 120 163 345 350 351 367 423 Normal Snap 41 46 67 Normal View 35 163 Normalised 395 North 178 327 439 North Arrow 178 508 440 287 379 189 27 294 334 372 484 340 5 DesignBuilder 1 5 North Arrow 178 Operation 15 31 45 46 59 61 72 77 88 146 display 327 160 163 175 193 194 195 196 214 215 223 NOT 307 320 341 227 228 235 236 238 240 242 273 285 286 287 325 326 356 464 Number 31 36 38 40 88 100 115 147 162 Optical 350 178 186 188 189 215 216 223 224 228 229 242 284 287 296 302 307 313 320
161. 302 313 904 m Outdoor Wet Bulb Temperature 296 302 313 Open existing 16 Outer Surface 342 al 30 61 79 100 115 140 _ 77 88 100 104 120 122 144 pening 7 7 7 7 7 1 159 163 176 184 198 214 223 297 235 236 Cullline Block 104 122 144 237 238 239 246 273 287 332 334 335 372 Output 242 287 296 302 313 384 401 418 395 446 484 508 449 489 504 517 Data 199 Overhang Environmental Comfort 189 louvre 361 Model Options dialog 282 Overhangs 15 118 219 222 307 320 361 364 Screen 16 332 louvres 219 361 Opening data 214 Opening Screen 16 17 30 332 334 335 340 P id 372 Openings 15 17 30 35 41 72 75 100 104 163pa 31 34 166 171 183 199 214 223 227 235 236 237 view 3 34 238 273 281 289 361 367 368 369 382 395 AVIS surface containing 21 la 349 i anel 27 35 41 45 46 64 97 104 115 116 Spends dara 118 122 141 158 199 332 334 403 Openings Model Data 368 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Index Panes 15 23 104 340 344 345 349 350 351 Previous 16 296 302 313 338 367 368 508 use 332 334 Parallel Snap 41 45 59 Prioritises 215 223 228 382 Partition building 30 Prioritises Percentage 215 223 228 Partitions 15 30 40 41 55 59 64 72 75 79 88 Prioritises Percentage glazing 215 223 228 i e 147 184 199 223 377 403 407 411 Prioritises window 215 223 228 382 Pr
162. 313 489 Report Variable Data Dictionary 489 Report Surfaces DXF 489 399 R value 346 e Safety 298 304 403 407 410 417 Safety factor 298 304 403 407 410 417 Save toolbar icon clicking 332 334 Scheduled 186 189 193 194 195 196 213 223 227 235 236 238 240 242 273 285 286 287 340 351 356 375 410 464 Screen 15 16 34 100 115 177 178 325 326 327 334 335 403 407 410 417 418 423 447 449 484 Opening 16 332 Screen 491 Screenshot 184 198 338 Second 36 64 67 89 122 162 296 302 313 367 Reports 296 302 313 403 443 444 446 489 Compiling 444 Second cutting 122 Requirements 28 87 189 304 376 453 492 5o49econd Lighting 162 Requiring Second Lighting Area 162 EnergyPlus 504 Sector 184 372 375 387 453 U values 341 region containing 399 Reselect 335 Sector Templates 399 Restore 140 159 332 334 338 Segments 36 38 453 Restore Component Template Libraries 338 Selection dialog 22 Restore Data dialog Selection deselection 351 see 338 Semi exposed 199 Restore icon 338 was d Results 36 38 122 147 296 302 313 326 403 Semrexterior 184 199 404 407 411 415 418 420 423 449 464 465 Sensible latent 187 484 489 492 Sensible latent split 187 Reviewing Sensors 160 162 Cooling Design Output 415 Lighting 242 Simulation Output 420 Serial 491 RIGHT 356 Setpoint 273 287 Roof 15 64 88 100 104 118 122 140 159 198 cooling 189 199 214 219
163. 341 344 Option affects 356 382 384 395 401 403 410 418 453 504 display 326 508 Option affects the display 326 calculation rendering 491 Options 14 15 16 27 28 35 36 41 45 46 86 louvres 362 87 97 115 119 120 122 140 147 158 159 166 Windows 464 178 183 184 186 189 198 214 215 223 228 NVidia 492 235 236 237 238 239 240 242 246 273 280 282 283 284 285 287 289 296 301 302 307 312 313 320 324 325 326 327 328 329 338 O 340 342 346 375 376 382 384 390 394 398 399 400 403 404 407 410 411 415 418 420 423 435 439 440 446 447 449 453 464 504 Object Rotation 320 325 Options dialog 16 28 87 115 282 404 410 418 Occupancy 87 184 186 187 193 194 195 196 464 504 240 242 285 286 287 356 374 375 403 411 Options Panel 407 411 423 435 a Orbit 31 34 122 326 435 440 starting point 401 Organised 21 Occuring 182 OS 492 Off 17 89 120 122 189 242 273 294 296 302 T MM NEAR 8 a Office 21 184 194 285 376 484 313 320 335 344 351 376 387 397 411 423 Office Equipment 184 194 285 376 464 504 508 517 Office equipment gains 194 Other building surfaces 307 320 OK 332 334 404 410 418 Other catering 195 On off 504 Other catering activities 195 One dimensional 465 Other Gains 376 Open 16 140 159 223 227 235 340 367 381 Outdoor Dry Bulb Temperature 296
164. 35 236 238 246 248 273 280 283 286 287 296 302 188 369 370 399 181 372 391 392 418 484 40 45 46 67 75 122 147 166 320 324313 326 372 386 387 388 403 410 411 417 418 423 464 508 HVAC data 246 HVAC model detail 287 HVAC portion 296 302 313 HVAC System Type 248 HVAC Templates 87 246 372 386 387 388 according 326 119 120 182 183 240 242 296 302 313 332 334 345 356 372 394 396 403 407 410 411 418 423 464 484 489 492 504 508 frame 216 224 229 382 Has become 72 Has glazing 464 504 Heat Balance 296 302 307 313 320 345 415 420 Heating 246 282 287 407 417 Design 296 404 Design Calculation options 296 404 design simulation 403 setpoint 189 start 404 System Sizing 298 ID 335 IDD 248 504 IDD file 248 Idf 404 415 420 489 491 508 Exporting 508 IDF Files 491 508 Exporting 508 87 189 239 240 242 374 376 384 Image 326 359 435 439 Import Components Templates Import DXF 79 Import DXF drawing file Import toolbar icon 335 Importing 335 79 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Importing DXF 79 Geometric Data In idf 404 415 420 changes 508 Increasing Quality 439 Increment Snap 55 57 59 72 77 89 166 Increment snap acting 59 Increment snap applies 59 Increments 55 57 64 72 77 89 166 0 5m 59 Indicator 55 57 403 79 Index 537 ale Jaggy 327 K
165. 4 Roof 1 Total design heat loss 0 000 kWh Zone 7 05 0 00 0 00 Roof 2 Total design heat loss 1 740 kWh Zone 1 10 07 1 16 1 74 Ground floor Total design heat loss 19 580 Kwh Toilet 18 35 0 88 1 32 Kitchen 18 73 1 52 2 28 Bedroom 18 16 3 93 5 90 Sitting room 20 07 5 38 8 07 Cupboard 18 45 0 67 1 00 Bathroom 18 79 0 67 1 01 Use the Export command to export this data in spreadsheet format 7 1 4 Heat loss breakdown results The Steady State tab has detailed heating design results displayed as a histogram and table by default For more on how the output is calculated see Calculation of DesignBuilder Output from EnergyPlus Report Variables 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 408 DesignBuilder 1 5 Air Temperature the calculated average temperature of the air Radiant Temperature the calculated average Mean Radiant Temperature MRT of the zone calculated assuming that the person is in the centre of the zone with no weighting for any particular surface Operative Temperature The mean of the internal air and radiant temperatures Outside Dry Bulb Temperature Glazing heat loss through all glazing Walls heat loss through all external walls Ceilings int heat loss through internal ceilings e g zone above is colder Floors int heat loss through internal floors e g zone below is colder Floors ext heat loss through external floors not ground flo
166. 4 389 390 391 400 403 407 410 411 417 418 423 464 Heating 296 404 Design Calculation options Cooling 301 410 Heating 296 404 Design cooling 410 417 Design Days 296 302 313 Design heating 407 417 Design simulation 282 403 Cooling 410 Heating 403 DesignBuilder 14 15 16 17 21 23 27 28 30 33 36 38 79 181 182 187 198 199 214 222 235 236 237 238 242 248 280 282 286 287 332 335 338 372 390 391 395 396 398 400 401 403 410 446 447 449 453 464 465 484 489 491 492 504 508 528 create 88 DesignBuilder Component Template DesignBuilder Data 187 401 489 DesignBuilder dsb file 282 DesignBuilder Edit Screen DesignBuilder EnergyPlus DesignBuilder file 30 489 DesignBuilder GUI 491 DesignBuilder Location Templates DesignBuilder Merging 464 213 335 17 508 390 DesignBuilder Templates 372 DesignBuilder tips 15 DesignBuilder Version 1 0 199 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Index 533 DesignBuilder Website Detailed building 418 Detailed building operation 464 Detailed heating design 407 Detailed Results 407 411 423 Detailed shading 436 Dialogs 16 115 181 199 282 283 332 334 342 349 418 446 464 489 504 DiffuseSolar 178 Dimensions 72 215 223 228 341 Direction 38 40 41 45 46 57 59 61 67 72 122 178 182 320 324 341 390 423 439 Direction snaps 41 59 61 72 324 Discontinuities 296 302 313 Display 15 16
167. 5 268 286 287 296 298 301 302 313 326 332 345 378 380 383 384 386 387 407 411 423 464 492 508 Cooling 304 System Heating Cooling 387 System Sizing Heating System types Ts Table 187 401 404 407 415 417 453 Target 280 Target Object select 280 Target objects to select TARP 296 302 313 Task 239 242 296 302 313 384 411 423 461 Task Lighting 239 242 411 423 21 298 387 508 280 Task lighting gains 411 423 Temperature 14 15 87 178 182 187 189 246 273 276 287 296 302 313 345 356 374 376 388 390 403 407 410 411 417 418 423 465 484 Template Library 334 372 Templates 15 16 17 21 23 30 87 176 177 183 184 213 240 242 280 285 326 332 335 337 374 375 376 377 378 379 381 382 386 387 388 389 390 391 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 453 484 489 clicking 184 198 214 239 246 Glazing 380 381 Introducing 372 Keeping 332 Lighting 383 384 Managing 372 place 334 Templates Library Management 334 Textures 178 340 342 346 359 368 369 Thermal 14 30 147 193 194 195 196 198 199 285 296 302 313 341 346 349 369 378 403 410 418 465 508 Thermal Mass 199 Thermophysical 198 346 Time 14 15 21 31 36 38 67 72 75 77 79 87 177 182 186 223 227 235 236 238 273 283 285 287 296 302 313 327 332 335 340 356 372 375 380 390 396 417 446 447 464 484 508 model
168. 5 Folders 30 332 334 337 404 415 420 446 449 484 489 508 517 Folders menu 489 Form 67 87 88 89 97 115 116 118 140 147 159 492 528 2D 79 Forums 15 Frame 77 215 223 228 326 345 372 380 381 436 464 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Has 216 224 229 382 Frequently 528 Frequently Asked Questions Full 147 284 307 320 508 Full building simulation 284 Full Exterior 147 307 320 Full Interior 307 320 Fundamentals ASHRAE Handbook G Gable Roof 118 Gains 184 186 187 193 194 196 239 240 242 283 285 286 307 320 375 376 384 401 403 410 411 418 423 447 464 Catering 195 Gains and or 186 Gains data model detail Gains including 285 Gains including occupancy 285 Gas 340 344 345 360 423 508 General 33 72 115 198 239 240 285 296 302 313 325 328 349 366 367 369 370 375 378 380 382 383 384 387 392 395 396 399 411 418 423 General Extrusion 115 General Lighting 239 240 384 411 423 General lighting gains 411 423 72 528 187 296 302 313 401 285 General Local 399 General purpose Recommended 87 Generate EnergyPlus IDF Generating EnergyPlus Geometric Data Importing 79 Geometry 30 36 38 59 67 104 115 120 122 147 Building 30 Getting 14 Getting Help Getting Started Watch 14 Glass 307 320 350 Glass Optical Properties Alternative Specification 350 Glazing 214 215 223 227 228 235 283 360
169. 8 301 304 307 312 320 326 327 329 334 335 338 346 367 388 397 403 446 447 449 453 491 492 504 508 Allow antialiasing 327 Alternative 350 508 Alternative Specification 350 Analysis 15 87 284 411 415 420 423 And or 186 398 Antialiasing 327 435 439 Apply 41 59 175 177 178 184 199 215 216 223 224 228 229 236 238 289 296 302 307 313 320 327 345 356 361 367 368 381 389 390 397 436 439 465 Apply button 436 439 Arc 36 38 453 ASHRAE 187 296 302 313 345 389 401 403 410 Asynchronously 449 Auto Complete Block 89 97 119 120 324 Automatic 446 Autosize 287 Autosizing 287 Auto Update 418 AuxiliaryPrograms pdf 525 Average 178 183 187 236 350 375 397 399 407 411 423 465 Average Mean Radiant Temperature 407 411 423 AMI file 446 Axis Snap 41 89 Axonometric 33 B Back 27 75 122 140 159 183 281 307 320 332 335 337 338 411 423 Back face 122 Backup 332 334 337 338 446 489 Backup Component Template Libraries 337 Backup toolbar icon 337 Backup Manual 337 Beam to diffuse 307 320 Behind the scenes 508 5 DesignBuilder 1 5 Blank 30 Calculating building energy 14 BLAST 296 302 313 508 Calculating heating 14 Blinds 15 219 220 232 340 366 367 368 508 Calculation Options 296 302 312 313 418 446 Blinds Components 220 232 Calculation rendering Block 15 21 27 30 31 35 36 38 4
170. 8 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 68 DesignBuilder 1 5 Key In Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides Key in precise distance Key In Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides You can then snap to the construction line to draw the new block perimeter 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models The finished block You can also snap to the intersection of construction lines 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 gt T we 2 Block perimeter snapped to construction line intersection At the building level construction lines can be snapped to the Z axis in order to create vertical planes to which block geometry can be attached To draw construction lines in a vertical plane switch the Z axis snap on click on the Place construction line tool and place the first point on the ground plane or any other horizontal plane Move the mouse cursor to snap the current line to the Z axis Protracter Direction Snaps Y X axis snap P 3 Parattersrep E Normal snap um Point Snaps a d 10 10m 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models You can then use the protractor to place the next line in order to accurately define a plane Prot acter Protractor Protractor increm 15 0 Direction 3 7 X axis snap Y axis snap Z axis snap
171. 84 13 2 Edit Translate hourly weather data eene nnne nennen 486 Section 14 Reference 489 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 12 DesignBuilder 1 5 14 1 DesignBuilder Files Location and Extensions ener 489 14 2 Licensing amp Activation 491 14 3 Hardware Requirements 492 14 4 Surface Types oaeee cats ecto te aia eme ch accede ay steve Ga I Les I SEDI 494 14 5 Calculation of Air Density 500 14 6 Pitched Roof Geometry Technical Description 501 14 7 Trlangulation oriente Ieri egeret 504 14 8 Calculation of HVAC Energy Consumption 506 Section 15 EnergyPlus Background Information 508 15 1 Exporting EnergyPlus IDF Files nnne nennen 508 15 2 EnergyPlus Version Compatibility eeeeeeeee eese eene eene einn enne nnne nnn nnn 509 15 3 EnergyPlus IDF Window Dimensions eene 510 15 4 Calculation of DesignBuilder Output from EnergyPlus Report Variables 510 15 5 EnergyPlus Errors and Warnings enne nnne nennen nennen 517 15 6 EnergyPlus Daylight Calculations
172. 84 246 30 Model Data 175 Chapter 187 401 Level 88 Model Data 183 Characterised 394 Characteristics 178 341 403 410 418 Models 30 Enter 395 Building Level 15 21 41 67 72 75 77 79 88 Check 30 41 45 46 61 184 199 220 222 232 ep de epe edu 235 236 237 238 242 273 280 285 287 294 Building Model 21 30 87 140 159 176 183 189596 302 313 341 384 398 403 418 436 439 280 346 381 464 508 446 465 491 Buoyancy driven 287 FAQ 528 Checkbox 199 220 222 232 242 273 294 Checks requiring 341 CheckWarmupConvergence 296 302 313 CAD 59 Choosing Calculated data 342 Metabolic 401 Glazing 345 CIBSE 296 302 313 342 403 410 Calculates heating 14 403 Circle 36 116 118 453 Clear 171 183 199 280 281 294 418 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Index 531 Clear 171 183 199 280 281 294 418 default 15 Clear data 171 183 280 default 281 Default dialog 281 Clear Down 281 Clear Model Data 281 Clone 72 75 163 171 332 334 CO2 15 397 423 Codes 177 182 372 389 390 398 Codes building 15 396 Codes insulation 183 Coefficient 368 369 372 387 394 400 Colour 41 45 77 89 122 346 375 387 Coloured 55 Comfort temperature 417 mean 407 411 423 COMIS 400 464 Comma separated Compact HVAC Compiling reports 444 Component 14 16 17 21 23 33 87 198 220 222 232 332 334 335 337 340 341 344 346 349 361 368
173. 87 89 97 104 115 116 118 122 140 158 159 166 176 177 178 181 182 183 184 187 188 198 214 215 220 223 227 228 232 235 236 238 240 242 246 253 273 280 281 282 285 287 289 296 301 302 312 313 332 334 335 337 341 342 344 345 346 349 351 360 361 366 367 368 369 372 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 394 396 397 398 399 400 401 403 404 407 410 411 415 418 420 423 446 447 453 465 484 489 508 67 335 72 484 28 104 122 Exporting 443 Lighting 239 open 199 Data inheritance 21 280 Data Map Mode 280 Daylight 14 15 177 181 242 346 384 389 Daylight saving 177 181 Days 182 188 286 296 302 307 313 320 351 356 369 403 410 418 436 465 484 491 DBSim 342 345 Debug Output 489 Default 16 21 30 33 36 38 87 141 147 162 166 171 178 181 183 216 224 229 248 253 276 280 287 294 296 302 313 326 372 374 376 378 379 380 384 388 403 407 410 411 423 446 447 449 465 489 Clear 15 Clear data 281 Default allowing 446 Default Data 15 21 30 87 183 248 281 294 372 446 Default dialog Clear Data 281 Default glazing 380 Default lighting 87 Delete 72 79 86 104 122 163 166 171 332 334 341 370 372 Depending Natural Deselect 351 Design 14 15 16 28 30 33 59 87 181 182 273 282 287 296 302 313 37
174. 93 Wall 66 095 mz Wall 101 593 Shape 2 Rectange 4 Then press lt Enter gt to define the window origin 5 Next type in the window width followed by a space followed by the window height Again the coordinates you type in are shown in the Drawing Options panel In the example below a window is being defined having width 2m and height 1m amp B Roof 548 141 69 Wall 66 095 mz Wall 101 593 69 Wall 66 095 m 0 25 m amp Wall 101 593 p 20 m Shape 2 Rectange 6 Press enter to create the window 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 170 DesignBuilder 1 5 You can use the mouse in conjunction with Key Ins if you prefer So you could use the mouse to define the window offset from the origin and then use Key Ins to define the window dimensions or vice versa Tip You can also enter negative x and y values when keying in offset and coordinates 3 2 12 2 Draw Sub Surface 7 kD PPHS LP Pe FRO OES For details of using the Draw sub surface tool please refer to the Draw window tool 3 2 12 3 Draw Door 127 28100 7909 z ffe F i9o9o9 t For details of using the Draw door tool please refer to the Draw window tool 3 2 12 4 Draw Hole 24100 7wypE Ze fe A o02999 tst 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models For details of using the Draw hole tool please ref
175. AC tab for both Calculated and Scheduled model options 3 3 2 3 4 Doors Openings tab in model data DesignBuilder doors are opaque and are added to the model by navigating to the appropriate surface and checking the Door fitted option This adds a single door replacing one of the windows Alternatively for more control over the placement position of the doors you can go to surface level and draw the doors using the Draw Door command On surfaces where custom openings have been defined any changes to door layout model data on the Opening tab is ignored e Door Placement e Door Operation 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 23 DesignBuilder 1 5 Note if you have drawn custom doors at the surface level then these will be used even if the Doors fitted checkbox is not checked The Doors fitted checkbox only controls the automatic generation of doors not their use in the calculations Airflow through Doors Doors positioned on external walls only have an effect on airflow in Simulation calculations when the Natural ventilation building model option is set to Calculated They have no effect on airflow in Heating and Cooling Design calculations Doors positioned on internal partition walls are used to mix the air between the two adjacent zones when the Scheduled Natural ventilation building model option is set They also provide an air flow path when the Calculated option is set Openings tab in model data under Doors On surfaces where
176. Builder 1 5 Protracter Increment snap nap increment m 0 500 O Switch srap Protracter Point 5 naps DXF snap Increment snap Snap increment m 0 500 Switch snap increment direction Tip You can also key in the new dimension using the keyboard Note the difference to the Drag face tool where the increment in the extrusion is keyed in 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 3 2 5 6 Delete 208 FIEL PF ARPOIA To delete an object first select the object you want to delete and then click on the Delete tool or select Delete from the right click menu If you want you can delete several objects at the same time by doing a multiple selection 3 2 5 7 Measure The measure tool allows you measure distance angles and areas on single planes in the model e Distance Click twice on a plane to define the length between the 2 points e Angle Click three times on a plane to define the area between the 2 lines e Distance Draw an enclosed polygon by clicking with the mouse on a single plane The requested data is displayed highlighted in the Drawing Options panel on the left of the screen Drawing Options Tools Quantity 3 Area 2 394 3 2 6 Importing Geometric Data CAD data can be imported into DesignBuilder in order to trace blocks and block partitions e Import DXF 3 2 6 1 Importing DXF If you are h
177. Builder Software Ltd 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 3 3 2 5 1 Compact HVAC System Types HVAC tab in model data Compact HVAC systems are a powerful entry way into EnergyPlus HVAC modelling because they allow you to model HVAC systems in quite some detail without the need to draw an air flow network and deal with the complexities of control systems and node connections You can model many common HVAC systems including VAV with terminal reheat VAV with PIU Constant volume Fan coil units Packaged DX units and Mechanical ventilation Simulations are carried out on detailed HVAC component models automatically generated from the compact descriptions When the HVAC model option is set to Compact there are 5 HVAC system types e Unitary single zone e Fan Coil Units e Unitary multizone e VAV e CAV Rules 1 Only one CAV VAV or Unitary multizone system can be defined per building 2 If you select Unitary multizone CAV or VAV at zone level then the same selection must be made at building level 3 You can enter Fan coil and Unitary single zone systems in any zone without concern for the selection at building level 4 Up to 400 zones can be modelled simultaneously using Compact HVAC systems Itis possible to model more zones than this by making changes to the IDD file contact DesignBuilder or EnergyPlus Support desks for more information about this 5 Pumps are modelled using typical default data 6 Unitary multizone and Fan coil
178. C SEL CLEAR 2 LoE SPEC SEL CLEAR LoE SPEC SEL CLEAR 6MM Rev PS Reflective gt Absorptive E Add new Edit Note that the Info Panel contains information on the naming convention used with EnergyPlus glazing and pane data 5 2 2 Calculated Calculated tab on Glazing Dialog The Calculated data on the Glazing tab has been calculated by EnergyPlus using the Layer data on the previous tab You can refresh the Calculated data by clicking on the Update link in the Info panel on the right of the dialog The data can be useful for setting up glazing model descriptions in cases where global glazing system data is known rather than data on individual panes and window gases The Calculated data is used in DBSim and 3TC simulations The U value is determined by doing a heat balance calculation on the glazing layers for the following standard ASHRAE winter conditions Inside air temperature 21 1C 70F Outside air temperature 17 8C OF Wind speed 6 71 m s 15 mph Outside convective air film conductance 25 47 W m2 K 4 486 Btu h ft2 F Inside convective air film conductance calculated by EnergyPlus No solar radiation 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 The Total solar transmission SHGC Solar Heat Gain Coefficient is the fraction of incident beam solar radiation that enters the zone This includes the transmitted solar radiation and the inward flowing
179. Component block Wall thickness m 010 Select the type of block to convert to e Building block e Component block When converting to a Building block you can also enter the Wall thickness of the block 3 2 9 2 6 Transfer Blocks You can move blocks from one building to another using the Transfer blocks command accessed from the Edit menu when the site contains more than 1 building This starts the Transfer blocks dialog below Select the building containing the blocks to be copied and the building to receive the blocks and Press OK Transfer Blocks i Transfer blocks from one building to another Note that the operation cannot be undone and will clear any existing undo redo operations From building Building 1 7 To building Building 2 te cm You should check before starting the transfer that none of the source blocks overlap with blocks in the destination building Even a small overlap will cause the process to fail Note the operation cannot be undone and it clears any existing undo redo information 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 1 DesignBuilder 1 5 3 2 10 Working within Blocks This section describes the various operations involved in partitioning a block to create zones and adding courtyards to blocks Before you start to draw partitions or courtyards you first need to go to the block that you want to edit and you can do this by clicking on the block ent
180. D shape without associated building elements such as walls floors roofs etc Because Outline blocks are not part of the model they do not appear in the Navigator panel Outline blocks are very useful in the creation of more complicated models Because they are relatively simple objects they are much faster to create copy move etc than conventional building blocks and can be manipulated freely without worrying about intersections Once the required geometry has been established outline blocks can be converted to conventional blocks Outline blocks can also be used as a temporary device to create drawing planes from which building blocks or other outline blocks can be extruded You can remove all outline blocks from a model by selecting Remove all outlines from the Edit menu For example to create a dormer window 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 105 First set the Block type to Outline block and lock the active drawing plane to the front surface of the first floor block by selecting it and pressing the SHIFT key then draw the base line of the dormer face perimeter Drawing Options Block type 2 Outline block z Form Height 3 50 Wall thickness m 0 282 Auto complete block Shape 1 Polygon Line type 1 Straight line Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 106 DesignBuilder 1 5 Create the angle
181. Drawing Guides The protractor will automatically snap to the current drawing plane and as you move the mouse cursor the perimeter line will snap to the protractor in angular increments which can be set in the Drawing options data panel The rotation angle is displayed at the centre of the protractor Move the cursor until the displayed angle is 30 and then move the snapped line towards the upper block edge When the line end point nears the edge it will stick to the edge and the edge snap marker will be displayed Click to accept the point and complete the perimeter by snapping to the block face vertices using the end point snap 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 66 DesignBuilder 1 5 Drag the perimeter to complete the offshoot 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 3 2 4 Construction Lines Construction lines can be used to help in the creation of precise geometry You can draw construction lines using the snaps and the protractor to lie at defined locations and then use these lines as a framework from which or to which various object geometries can be projected or attached At the building level construction lines can also be snapped to the Z axis to form vertical planes from which block geometry can be extruded 3 2 4 4 Drawing Construction Lines JE DANSE Jal LPP AFR OBOO Construction lines are drawn in the form of line strings To draw a construction li
182. Egan eee ee 72 3 2 5 2 72 3 2 5 3 Copy Clone 75 PH Xr c o M 75 3266 OOO ORARE xL 77 3 25 60 Delete et ieee Mee ats 79 3 2 5 7 P 79 3 2 6 Importing Geometric D la 2 9r retire EE reden Crac eea pae 79 3 2 6 1 Importing DXF pd ret t i b gene eec e MC eatin dl ae te 79 3 27 Exporting Geometric D lta 1er pter dearudeanttscesnciecds dactsceecussccsecbedessbecstdscacacapecteqseecedsteetard 84 3 2 7 1 aooaa aTe ESED A DD A SPEA ANE ere eee bee e Mee 84 3 2 8 Working with Buildings Site Level cecsssesseeesseseessesseneseeseeeseesseesensseeesessenesesseeeseeseeeseesenesenssassensseeeseatenes 86 3 2 8 1 Greate New B ilding rine ect a ie eis 86 9 2 8 1 1 Create New Building Model 87 DES 3 2 8 1 2 Create New Building Default Data 87 3 2 9 Working with Blocks Building Level eene 88 UIDES 3 2 9 2 1 Drag Block Face dro 3 2 9 2 2 Divide Block using Cutting Tool ssseeenme eee eene 122 EE 3 2 9 2 3 Edit Block Geometry Dialog eese eme 140 mM 3 2 9
183. Energy code heavyweight construction template at the building level to change the construction of the entire building to thermally heavyweight elements which comply with local energy codes building regulations 5 You can clear non default data i e data that has been explicitly entered to its default state by using the Clear to default command 6 When drawing a block which touches another block you should use the shift key to lock the base perimeter to the correct plane before drawing You can release the shift key once you have placed the first point of the perimeter 7 Use the snap points DesignBuilder block geometry is quite easy to work with but you must use the positioning tools provided to ensure that blocks connect exactly The only way to do this is to use snaps do not position blocks and partitions relative to each other by eye 8 Large building models can take a long time to simulate You should familiarise yourself with the Working with Large Models help topic before creating a large complex DesignBuilder model 9 DesignBuilder dsb files are already compressed so there is no need to Zip them when attaching to e mails or support forums 10 Understand DesignBuilder constructions in particular the way floors and ceilings are defined 11 Name your zones Do this by clicking twice not double clicking on the name in the Navigator and typing the name This is especially useful when merging zones and when checking adjacencies o
184. External Air heat gain due to the entry of outside air through external windows vents doors holes and cracks when using Calculated natural ventilation option e Mixing Air heat gain due to the entry of inside mixing air through internal windows vents doors and holes when using Scheduled natural ventilation option 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Calculations 25 Airflow e Mech Vent Nat Vent Infiltration The sum of outside air in ac h flowing into the zone through e The HVAC air distribution system e Infiltration e Natural ventilation Internal Gains Task Lighting heat gain due to task lighting General Lighting heat gain due to general lighting Miscellaneous heat gain due to miscellaneous equipment Process heat gain due to process equipment Catering heat gain due to cooking Computer and Equipment heat gain due to computer and other IT related equipment Occupancy sensible gain due to occupants Please note that this can vary depending on the internal conditions With very high temperatures the sensible gain can drop to zero with all cooling effects taking place through latent heat transfer e Solar Gains Exterior Windows used to be called Transmitted solar gains Short wave solar radiation transmission through all external windows For a bare window this transmitted radiation consists of solar radiation passing through the glass and diffuse radiation from solar reflected from
185. Guides 3 2 3 2 2 Mid point Snap For details of using the Mid point snap please refer to the End point snap 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 3 2 3 2 3 Edge Snap The edge snap allows you to snap to any point on the edge of an existing object The edge snap can be used in conjunction with the increment snap to enable a point to be located along an edge by moving it in defined increments A red indicator is displayed when the mouse cursor is within the snap range of an edge and distance indicators are also displayed to help in locating a point a specific distance from either end of the edge Direction Snaps Point Snaps Snap increment Drawing Guides Distance indicator By switching the increment snap on the point can be moved along the edge in defined increments For example if you wanted to start a block perimeter line at 6 0 metres from the end of the block after switching on the increment snap you could set the snap increment to say 0 5m and then move the mouse cursor to snap to the edge at a distance of 6 0 metres from the end point 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Geometry Perimeter Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps End point snap Mid point snap Edge snap DxEs Snap increment nap increment 5 Switcr Drawing Guides If you wanted to locate the beginning of the perimeter line a
186. HU COOLING summed to give the Room fuel consumption below The gain to the zone is calculated from this in each zone by multiplying by 1 Fraction lost The 04 ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT EnergyPlus output is the catering internal gains fuel consumption and is summed to give the Room fuel consumption below The gain to the zone is calculated from this in each zone by multiplying by 1 Fraction lost VAV CAV Hot water reheat coils VAV CAV Electric reheat coils Unitary single zone Fan coil VAV CAV Gas Electric preheat coils VAV CAV Hot water coils VAV CAV with Gas Electric AHU heating coils and Unitary multizone VAV CAV with Chilled s14 DesignBuilder 1 5 Total Cooling Total Cooling Total Cooling Sensible Cooling Sensible Cooling Sensible Cooling Sensible Cooling Fuel breakdown building level Heat generator Heat generator W DX Coil Total Cooling Rate W DX Coil Total Cooling Rate W Total Water Cooling Coil Rate W Sensible Water Cooling Coil Rate W DX Coil Sensible Cooling Rate IW DX Coil Sensible Cooling Rate W Sensible Water Cooling Coil Rate W COIL AHU COOLING COIL Zoneld AHU COOLING COIL Zoneld COOLING COIL AHU COOLING COIL AHU COOLING COIL Zoneld AHU COOLING COIL Zoneld COOLING COIL Compact HVAC Simple HVAC water coils Unitary Multizone Unitary single zone Fan coil VAV CAV with Chiller water Unitary
187. Hierarchy amp Data Inheritance 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 3 3 2 1 Activity Data Activity tab in model data Data on the Activity tab allows you to define the activity usage of the zones including information on Zone Type block and zone level only Occupancy Metabolic rates Holidays building level only Domestic Hot Water DHW Environmental control Computer gains Office equipment gains Miscellaneous gains Catering gains Process gains You can load generic activity data by clicking on the Template option under Activity Template and then by clicking on the at the right of the line below Construction 1 Openings Lighting Hvac EC Activity Template Y ESI Offices X Template Type 2 Natural ventilation open plan Select generic activity template When you make a selection from the list of Activity templates data from selected template will be loaded to the model Alternatively you can use the Load data from template tool Note that the appropriate Sector is loaded with the activity screenshot above All Activity data apart from Holidays is used to generate simulation data at the Zone level Holiday data is used at Building level 3 3 2 1 1 Zone Type Activity tab in model data under Activity Template header The zone type can be set at block or zone level on the Activity tab and can be one of e 1 Standard considered to be occupied and heat
188. Holiday data in this Compact schedule indicates that the cooling is switched off on holidays 7 12 SCHEDULES Holiday operation is not defined explicitly and holidays use the same data as Sundays TYPICAL WORKDAY Holidays use the same data as Sundays 3 3 2 1 5 Environmental Control Activity tab in model data The heating and cooling setpoint temperatures minimum fresh air per person and illuminance requirements are related to the Activity or Usage of the zone and are accessed by opening the Environmental Comfort group header HEATING SETPOINT TEMPERATURES Heating setpoint temperature Defines the ideal temperature i e the setting of the heating thermostat in the space when heating is required Its meaning depends on the Temperature control calculation option When using 1 Air temperature control the Heating setpoint temperature corresponds to the air temperature in the space and when it is set to set to 2 Operative temperature it is the operative temperature MAT MRT 2 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Heating setback setpoint temperature Some buildings require a low level of heating during unoccupied periods to avoid condensation frost damage or to prevent the building becoming too cold and to reduce peak heating requirements at startup Enter the setpoint temperature to be used at night time weekends and other holidays during the heating season Its meaning depends on the Temperature control c
189. IDF files must be located in the EnergyPlus folder 3 4 3 5 Output Options Include unoccupied zones in block and building totals and averages By default data for unoccupied zones is excluded from block and building totals and averages Check this option to include data for unoccupied zones A zone is defined as unoccupied if it has No occupancy and No cooling and No heating and e e e e No mechanical ventilation 3 4 4 Cooling Design Calculation Options Cooling Design tab on Model Options dialog Data on this tab allows you to control the Cooling Design calculations e Summer Design Day e Calculation Options e Cooling system sizing e Solar Options e Advanced Calculation Options e Output Options This data is also shown before Cooling Design Calculations 3 441 Summer Design Day Day Select the day of the month for the design day Month Select the month for the design day Day of week Select the day of week This is used to identify the appropriate daily profile 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 3 44 2 Calculation Options Heating Design Cooling Design and Simulation tabs on Model Options dialog and Options tab on Simulation Options dialog Calculation description Enter some text to identify the calculation This will be used in reports and in the filename for automatically generated ESO files Number of time steps per hour Simulation only The time step
190. ION When the Schedule Timing model option is set the occupancy times are controlled by a Schedule The metabolic gains for the zone are multiplied by the value of the Schedule at each time step in the simulation so you can define periods of part occupancy using Schedule values less than 1 Use values of 0 to indicate that the space in unoccupied i Occupancy Y Density peopleim2 0 2000 T w Si T T T T T T 1 0 05 1 1 5 2 2 5 3 3 5 4 i4 Schedule 8 00 18 00 Mon Fri In above example number of people per m2 is calculated as 0 2 x Schedule value 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 3 3 2 1 3 Metabolic Activity tab in model data under Occupancy header Set the metabolic rate according to the level of activity within the space The metabolic rate determines the amount of heat gain per person in the zone under design conditions This value is modified during simulations based on a correlation to account for variations in space temperature This should be borne in mind when analysing occupant sensible heat output in the Cooling design and Simulation results screens Metabolic rate has units Watts per person and represents the total heat gain per person including convective radiant and latent heat An internal algorithm is used to determine what fraction of the total is sensible and what fraction is latent Then the sensible portion is divided into radiant and convective portions based on the assumption of 50 radian
191. If no floor is present in the zone the incident beam solar radiation is absorbed on all interior surfaces according to their absorptance If you use 2 Full Exterior you should make sure that all of your zones have a floor If your building model has any zones of unusual shape without floors then the EnergyPlus simulation may not work because it will not have a surface to apportion solar gains to 3 Full interior and exterior this is the same as Full exterior except that instead of assuming all transmitted beam solar falls on the floor the program calculates the amount of beam radiation falling on each surface in the zone including floor walls and windows by projecting the sun s rays through the exterior windows taking into account the effect of exterior shadowing surfaces and window shading devices If this option is used you should be sure that the surfaces of the zone totally enclose a space This can be determined by viewing the eplusout dxf file with an external DXF viewer program You should also be sure that the zone is convex Examples of convex and non convex zones are shown below The most common non convex zone is an L shaped zone A formal definition of convex is that any straight line passing through the zone intercepts at most two surfaces If the zone s surfaces do not enclose a space or if the zone is not convex you should use Full exterior instead Convex zones Non Convex zones If you use 3 Full Interior and
192. If you choose to be prompted the file can be stored anywhere on your computer System Auto load ESO Check this option to automatically load the ESO results file after simulations If you have been warned that there will be a lot of data and the program may crash on reading results you may wish to switch this option off and reload the results later It is often possible to read in very large ESO files after DesignBuilder has restarted following a simulation and this can be a useful for avoiding a crash due to too much data You may also wish to switch the option off to avoid waiting for the results to read in when carrying out parametric simulations This option only refers to Simulation results no Heating Cooling Design results IDF OPTIONS Display extra warnings Requesting Display extra warnings causes the statement Diagnostics DisplayExtraWarnings to be included in the IDF data This option is for experienced EnergyPlus users who understand the significance of the extra warning messages generated IDF Formatting The IDF data can be formatted using the options 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Program Options e 1 Full indentation and comments are included in the IDF data e 2 Basic just indentation and comments required to reference the IDF objects with data in the DesignBuilder model e 3 Compressed the IDF data is fully compressed Choose this option if your model is very large and you wish to reduce the
193. Inside Reveal Reveal Inside Sill Depth Depth Depth Glazing Inside Sill Depth Frame wall DIVIDERS 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 227 Frame Frame width 1 Frame outside projection Frame inside projection Double pane glazing OUTSIDE INSIDE Divider _ Divider _ Divider Type Divider Type DividedLite Suspended Openings tab in model data under External Glazing Internal Glazing and Roof Glazing headers The operation of windows can be defined by entering data under Operation headers The data will depend on the Natural ventilation model option set Calculated Natural Ventilation The Glazing area opens slider allows you to define the openable window area as a percentage of the total window area For example enter 20 if 20 of the window area can open 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 Note if modulation is switched on it is by default the glazing opening areas are multiplied by a factor to account for external conditions You can also enter a schedule to define the timing of the window operation The windows are open when T AND T T AND the schedule value 1 zone air zone air outside air The ventilation rate is calculated based on the pressure difference across the opening calculated from wind and stack pressure effects using equations described in Natural Ventila
194. Lesistative region England and Wales 4 Standard insulation levels S Uninsulated Uninsulated ep Stock average Part L2 Building 99 Mandatory energy code Part L2 Building Best practice Cold winter best C02 Emissions Electricity 0 685 Gas 0 195 Dil 0 273 Solid 0 34 Bottled gas 0 195 A Legislative region DesignBuilder is typically a whole country or a region province or state within a country which has its own building control powers In current versions of the software a Legislative Region contains information on e Local energy codes building regulations e Carbon dioxide emission factors are provided for a range of fuels The current regions database is only sparsely populated with useful data most of that is from countries within Europe But we expect to expand this in time There are three tabs on the Legislative Region Template dialog e General e Standard insulation e Emissions Template data can be accessed e from the Templates tab on the opening screen if no file is open e from the Templates tab in the Navigator panel if a file is open e by double clicking on the template icon in the model data e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting templates from a list 6 10 1 Legislative Region Templates General General tab on Legislative Region Templates Dialog Enter the name of the Legislative region the category country and a description of the Region 2008 DesignBuilder Software
195. Ltd Template Data 397 6 10 2 Legislative Region Templates Standard Insulation Standard insulation tab on Legislative Region Templates Dialog Data on this type specifies 4 standard insulation levels which apply to this region e Uninsulated typical U values for buildings in the region which are not insulated e Stock average Average estimated insulation standards for real buildings in the region This data is used in some asset rating calculations Mandatory energy code Defines the maximum U values allowed in the energy code building regulations in force in the region e Best practice Defines the U values to be expected in a state of the art building in the region The data on this tab indicates the required maximum U values 6 10 3 Legislative Region Templates Emissions Emissions tab on Legislative Region Templates Dialog The factors on this tab define the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of energy consumed for each of the major fuel types in the region The CO2 emission factors depend on the mix of technology used to generated the electricity the quality of the fuel and other factors such as production carbon cost 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 6 11 Energy Code Templates Energy code Part L2 Building Regulatio gt General Name Part L2 Building Regulations 2002 Category UNITED KING Description Building Regulations 2002 Conservation of fuel and
196. March 2008 DesignBuilder 1 5 User Manual 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd All rights reserved No parts of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means graphic electronic or mechanical including photocopying recording taping or information storage and retrieval systems without the written permission of the publisher Products that are referred to in this document may be either trademarks and or registered trademarks of the respective owners The publisher and the author make no claim to these trademarks While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this document the publisher and the author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions or for damages resulting from the use of information contained in this document or from the use of programs and source code that may accompany it In no event shall the publisher and the author be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this document 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 Table of Contents Section 1 Getting Started 14 1 1 DesignBulldet TIps inrer etri rien Eee in ELEC 15 1 2 enr 15 1 3 Recent Files Opening Screen 16 1 4 UserInterface 5 re coo seed gae vea v gn Re ca COR 16 1 5 Edit Screen
197. N AND INFILTRATION Scheduled Natural Ventilation flow rate and schedule data is accessed on the HVAC tab The flow is switched off if the zone air temperature falls below the Ventilation setpoint temperature set under Environmental Control on the Activity tab Infiltration is defined by a constant ACH value under Airtightness on the Construction tab Airflow through Exterior Windows Vents and Doors is considered to be included in the Natural ventilation outside air ac h value set on the HVAC tab Airflow through Interior Windows Vents and Doors is modelled using the concept of mixing where equal amounts of air are transferred from one zone to another and vice versa The flow rate is directly proportional to the opening area using Airflow rate per opening area data accessed from the Model Options dialog There is no way in v 1 to set airflows between zones using Scheduled Natural ventilation 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 CALCULATED NATURAL VENTILATION AND INFILTRATION By default Calculated natural ventilation is controlled by timer window and vent data on the Operation header on the Openings tab and by Ventilation setpoint temperature on the Activity tab The Crack data under Airtightness on the Constructions tab is used in EnergyPlus AIRNET to calculate infiltration Note 1 Using the Calculated option increases the complexity of the model and slows simulations down You should aim to simplify the
198. Number Number Number Month Month Number Number Weekday in Month Last Weekday in Month Interpretation Month Day Day and Month Day and Month Numbered weekday of month Last weekday of month Notes Month can be one of January February March April May June July August September October November December Abbreviations of the first three characters are also valid Weekday can be one of e Sunday e Monday e Tuesday e Wednesday e Thursday e Friday e Saturday Abbreviations of the first three characters are also valid 15 9 EnergyPlus Documentation You can get the EnergyPlus user guides e Getting Started and Overview e Input Output Reference e Output Details and Examples 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Example 12 31 31 Dec Dec 31 1st Saturday in April Last Sunday in October s DesignBuilder 1 5 e Engineering Reference e Auxiliary Programs Free from the EnergyPlus website htto www eere energy gov buildings energyplus documentation html 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Section Support Getting Help DesignBuilder 1 5 If you need information that you could not find in this help file you should first check the FAQ and Support Forum on the Website http www designbuilder co uk support If this does not give you the information you need you can send us a support request using a Support Request Form a
199. Outline Block 104 120 144 Cooling 246 282 387 411 417 423 Design Calculation Options 301 410 design simulation 410 setpoint 189 system 304 Cooling Design 181 182 273 282 287 301 403 410 411 415 417 423 Cooling Design Calculation Options 301 410 Cooling Design Calculations 301 410 Cooling Design Output Reviewing 415 Cooling Screen 410 CoP 387 Copy 30 72 75 86 100 104 163 171 491 508 23 199 378 242 384 242 384 component gives 332 EnergyPlus 484 Model Component 340 template gives 334 Core 21 Core concepts 21 COS 178 CPU 492 Crack Templates 379 394 395 Cracks 213 287 289 372 379 394 395 407 411 423 Create 15 16 28 30 34 35 38 61 64 67 86 87 89 100 104 115 116 118 119 122 146 147 163 214 222 236 238 285 332 334 337 340 341 380 446 464 489 DesignBuilder 88 Voids 158 532 DesignBuilder 1 5 Create building geometry 30 Create drawing 104 Create new 30 86 87 489 Create New Building 30 86 87 Create New Site 30 489 Creation 15 59 67 88 97 100 104 115 320 324 points during Csv spreadsheet CTRL key press Ctrl C 491 Ctrl U 404 415 420 Ctrl V 491 Custom hourly weather data Customise 407 411 423 Model Data Options 283 Customised 28 Customising 21 28 Customising Model Options Cut block 122 Cutting 122 Cutting method iD Dat 332 335 489 Data 14 15 17 21 23 28 30 35 41 45 46 59 64 79 86
200. Software Ltd Section Template Data 372 DesignBuilder 1 5 Note that the behaviour of templates changed starting with version 1 3 In previous versions templates were always associated with the application and never with the model In version 1 3 templates are loaded to the model in the same way that components are DesignBuilder templates allow you to quickly load data into your model in bulk If you often work with similar types of buildings you may find it useful to create your own templates This will allow you to load the same data into any models you work with in the future DesignBuilder Templates are databases of typical generic data The following templates are available Activity templates Construction templates Glazing templates Facade templates HVAC templates Location Templates Hourly weather data Pressure coefficients Metabolic rates Cracks Legislative regions Energy codes Sectors World time zones predefined not editable Library Templates are loaded into the model at the time the dsb file is created and from then on they are associated specifically with this model and so are known as Model Templates Any changes made to the Library Templates do not affect existing building models because they reference their own set of Model Templates The latest set of library templates can be loaded into a model using the Import library components and templates to model command Also templates are used for loading
201. T related equipment Occupancy sensible gain due to occupants Please note that this can vary depending on the internal conditions With very high temperatures the sensible gain can drop to zero with all cooling effects taking place through latent heat transfer e Solar Gains Exterior Windows used to be called Transmitted solar gains Short wave solar radiation transmission through external windows For a bare window this transmitted radiation consists of solar radiation passing through the glass and diffuse radiation from solar reflected from the outside window reveal if present For windows with a shade this transmitted radiation is totally diffuse shades are assumed to be perfect diffusers For windows with a blind this transmitted radiation consists of beam diffuse radiation that passes between the slats and diffuse radiation from beam to diffuse reflection from the slats Solar re reflected back out of the external window and transmitted through interior windows is not subtracted Solar Gains Interior Windows Total beam diffuse solar radiation transmission through interior windows Requires the 3 Full interior and exterior solar model option to be set Zone Sys sensible cooling is the sensible cooling effect on the zone of any air introduced into the zone through the HVAC system It includes any free cooling due to introduction of relatively cool outside air Cooling always shows as a negative heat gain in the results t is best
202. These options give you control over how the Y axis is displayed Lock min max Y Axis Lock min max Temperature Max Y 28 08 Min Y C 15 75 Max kw 58 55 Min Y kw 56 84 kwh 62 41 MinY kwh 0 MaxY kwh 0 MinY kwh D MaxY ka 42 75 MinY kg 0 This option locks the extent of the Y axes so that they keep their current maximum and minimum values This allows consistent comparison with the future results display The Y axis keeps its current settings until you unlock it again You can achieve the same effect by clicking on the Lock Y axis min max values toolbar command When you lock the Y axis the current settings stored and displayed for each of the available Y axes You can edit any of these to get a more precise setting Remember to click on the Apply button when you are ready to register a change to any numeric display option data Overlap multiple axes Option allows you to save space on the Y axis allowing different axes to overlap Separate axes Check this option to add a vertical space between each of the displayed axes 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Calculations 417 Normalise by floor area Check this option if you wish data to be displayed per floor area m2 or ft2 APPEARANCE You can control the details of the presentation of the graphical output by making selections on the Display Options panel under the Appearance header ENERGYPLUS SCRIPT You c
203. Undo Redo 175 Uninstalled 332 320 332 334 335 368 369 403 404 407 410 Uninsulated 183 372 397 415 418 420 435 436 Unitary 248 250 387 View Component 17 332 Unitary multizone 248 250 387 View Controls 31 Unitary single zone 248 387 View panel 332 334 United States 484 View Rotation 31 33 119 120 122 Units 79 186 193 194 195 196 387 397 453 View Template 334 484 508 View edit 199 Unwound 89 Viewing 332 334 Up down 356 eplusout dxf file 307 320 Update 183 296 301 404 415 418 420 436 Visible 17 34 61 122 307 320 346 349 350 446 447 449 Update button Visible Absorptance 307 320 press 296 301 Visible band 346 Upgrade 332 Visible data 350 SP2 492 Visible index 350 Visit www designbuilder co uk 14 Visit www designbuilder co uk US 453 upgrades 14 Usage 36 38 184 189 356 374 375 Visualisation 16 100 178 325 326 327 359 User 16 21 23 176 183 281 296 302 313 335435 491 446 447 449 453 489 508 site 14 User Interface 16 176 446 447 453 Visualisation Display 327 U value 341 342 345 399 Visualisation Screen 16 100 327 359 435 U values 176 178 342 399 Voids 100 199 Defines 397 Creating 158 requiring 341 U values include surface 342 W W m2 345 384 W m2 100 lux dividing 239 240 242 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 5 DesignBuilder 1 5 W m2 K 345 Wall 147 158 159 184 198 199 215 219 223 228 296 302 307 313 320 328 329
204. VAC time step used if they select the detailed option on an HVAC report variable e g Zone Sys Air Temp The time step entered here is also known in the EnergyPlus documentation as the Zone Time Step Though many buildings can be successfully simulated with 1 or 2 time steps per hour EnergyPlus suggest 4 for non HVAC simulations and 6 for simulations with HVAC 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Hourly data such as outdoor conditions expressed by Design Days or Weather data are interpolated to the Zone Time Step This is discussed the EnergyPlus documentation under Weather Data Hourly Interpolation Note In general increasing the number of time steps improves accuracy but slows the simulation and generates more data if output is requested at the sub hourly interval Temperature Control Heating and cooling systems control internal temperatures to meet the setpoint temperatures specified on the Activity tab These setpoint temperatures can be interpreted as air operative or some other radiant fraction and DesignBuilder provides corresponding options to allow HVAC systems to be controlled by e 1 Air temperature control the room mean air temperature to the heating and cooling setpoint temperatures specified on the Activity tab e 2 Operative temperature control the room temperature using 0 5 radiant fraction See notes of operative temperature control below if you plan to use this option e 3
205. XF data will be attached The DXF data can be moved around the model once it is imported so you do not need to know the exact attachment height you can import the DXF data at zero height and move it to the correct location using the Move command Click on the Next button to set up layer visibility 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Import DXF DXF Layers Select the layers to import Back Next Help Finish You can use these controls to switch off unnecessary layers in the DXF data As you check uncheck the checkboxes you will see the effect of the change in the Edit view under the Wizard Click on the Finish button to import the data 2 98 we rame san 2 S ep 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models At the building level you can select move and delete DXF data When you select DXF data you may need to zoom in to make the selection You can move DXF file in 3 D and snap the data to the edges of blocks Select DXF data and snap to endpoint to move Move the DXF data on top of the existing block and snap to an edge end point 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 z 7 D T ee oS 14101 A Z H When you have imported the DXF data you can use the Measure tool to check that the dimensions are correct 1 15144 ARD 14105 3 2 7 Exporting
206. XF partition data You should take care to connect partitions to the external perimeters A common mistake is to snap partitions to DXF data lying very close to the external perimeter but not close enough to create a connection with the external perimeter It is recommended that you switch of DXF snap in the Drawing options panel when drawing partitions at block level to avoid this problem Be sure to switch it back on again when you have finished drawing partitions 6 Import other DXF floor plans for other stories if necessary Note that only one set of DXF data can be imported at a time Once the CAD data has been imported into the model the source DXF file is no longer needed by DesignBuilder and can be moved or deleted IMPORT DXF WIZARD To import DXF data select Import DXF drawing file from the File menu which opens the Import DXF dialog 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Import DXF DXF File Click on ellipsis button to select a DXF file Select the DXF file to import Cds 150 dt Units 2 Millimetres Attach at height m 0 000 Cancel Back Next Help Finish To browse for a DXF file click into the Filename control which will display an ellipsis button and then click on this button to open the file browser dialogue box After selecting the required DXF file you need to set the units used in the DXF file from the Units drop list and set the attachment height at which the 2 D D
207. a constant volume system For CAV systems this data is fixed at 1 and is not available for edit Turndown ratio is typically in range 0 3 0 5 Minimum is 0 and maximum is 1 Note in EnergyPlus v 2 0 and earlier a turndown ratio of zero unusual value has a special meaning as the reheat coils can never operate in this case even if the Zone damper heating action is set to 2 Reverse VAV terminal unit type DesignBuilder provides 3 different VAV zone terminal unit types 1 Standard The VAV terminal unit contains a damper and optionally a reheat coil During heating the VAV unit can either work in Normal mode where the supply air flow into the zone is the minimum air flow rate of the VAV system essentially acting like a constant volume system or in Reverse action mode the air flow rate through the VAV box may increase above the minimum air flow when the heating demand cannot otherwise be satisfied This is also the terminal type used for CAV systems 2 Series PIU The Series Powered Induction Unit is an air system terminal unit that mixes varying amounts of secondary recirculated air and primary conditioned supply air to produce a fixed flow of air to a zone The unit contains a small fan that acts to induce the secondary air and a heating coil for heating the mixed secondary and primary air The fan runs at a constant volume flow rate whenever the unit is on The fan is downstream of the primary and secondary air inlets The variable mixing
208. a is switched on Note 1 for Cooling design simulations natural ventilation is always handled as Scheduled even when the Natural ventilation model option is set to Calculated In this case you can still enter natural ventilation data on the HVAC tab and it is used only for design simulations Note 2 Natural ventilation is not included in Heating design calculations as it is considered to be a cooling mechanism windows and vents will be closed during the coldest winter periods 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 276 DesignBuilder 1 5 3 3 2 5 6 Air Temperature Distribution 1 Air Temperature Distribution Y Distribution mode 2 Dynamic gradient Interpolation mode 3 Inside outside DeltaT Upper Conditions Y Temperature C 10 00 Temperature gradient 4 00 Lower Conditions Y Temperature C 0 00 Temperature gradient 0 00 Operation Y 4 Schedule Dffice OpenOff Occ Heights Y Thermostat height m 1 50 Return air height m 3 50 HVAC tab in model data By default EnergyPlus assumes that air temperature within a zone is completely uniform i e the air is fully mixed The Air Distribution model data allows you to model stratification within a zone by setting up a temperature gradient which varies dynamically depending on Outside temperature Inside temperature Inside outside temperature difference Heating load Cooling load How it works Changing the Distribution mode to 2 Dynamic gradient reve
209. a parete capacitiva poco isolata 10027 b Roma parete capacitiva iperisolata 10026 b Roma muratura poco leggera 10020 b Roma muratura iper leggera 10025 b Copy of Milano muratura iper isolata 10024 1 Sort Select all Select none When exporting a complex set of data DesignBuilder will check that where user data references other user components these referenced components are also selected For example if you select a construction for export which uses your own materials you must make sure that all materials used in this construction are also selected If any required user components are not selected DesignBuilder displays a dialog showing the missing components See below 9555665 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Library management 337 Missing Data A DesignBuilder has found some missing links Select OK to automatically include the missing data listed below Missing Data Construction Unknown Used In Construction template Palermo soluzione con massa in in Construction Milano parete a norma leggera Construction template Milano muratura leggera a norma Construction Unknown Construction Unknown Construction template Palermo muratura iper massiva a n Construction template Palermo muratura leggera iperisola Construction Palermo parete a norma leggera
210. ace and an airflow connection e Sub surface e f using 1 Minimum shadowing or 2 Full exterior solar distribution the hole is represented using an EnergyPlus Door In this case the heat conduction through the vent Door component is displayed in results as Internal Natural vent and External Natural vent e If the 3 Full interior and exterior solar distribution Model option is set then the hole is modelled using a perfectly clear window which transmits solar radiation and visible light e EnergyPlus AIRFLOWNETWORK MULTIZONE COMPONENT DETAILED OPENING and other associated AIRFLOW components providing a controllable flow path You can define Vent operation Scheduled Natural Ventilation and Design Calcs Each hole is modelled using a sub surface and a mixing flow e Sub surface e If using 1 Minimum shadowing or 2 Full exterior solar distribution the hole is represented using an EnergyPlus Door In this case the heat conduction through the vent Door component is displayed in results as Internal Natural vent and External Natural vent e If the 3 Full interior and exterior solar distribution Model option is set then the hole is modelled using a perfectly clear window which transmits solar radiation and visible light e Internal vents have an EnergyPlus Mixing object using parameters set in the Model options dialog External vents Openings tab in model data under Vents On surfaces where no custom openings have been defined yo
211. ach window material layer is calculated and later added to the short wave radiation absorbed values described below The amount of this initially distributed diffuse solar that is reflected is accumulated for each zone and redistributed uniformly to the other surfaces The amount of this initially distributed diffuse solar that is transmitted by interior windows to adjacent zones is initially distributed to the interior heat transfer surfaces in the adjacent zone in the same manner as just described This new treatment of diffuse solar is intended to more accurately account for the initial absorption transmittance and reflection of short wave radiation prior to the uniform distribution described below Interior Solar Radiation Absorbed by Opaque Surfaces The short wave radiation absorbed on the inside face of an opaque surface floor wall or ceiling is given by Ground surface reflectance Ground reflectance values are used to calculate the ground reflected solar amount This fractional amount entered monthly is used in the following equation GroundReflectedSolar BeamSolar x COS SunZenithAngle DiffuseSolar x GroundReflectance The Ground Reflected Solar is never allowed to be negative The Snow Ground Reflectance Modifier can further modify the ground reflectance when snow is on the ground If the user enters 0 0 for each month no ground reflected solar is used Ground Reflectances Snow When snow is on the ground groun
212. acteristics of the constructions for each of the walls floors roofs partitions etc in each zone and accounts for the thermal mass in the simulations You can also include additional thermal mass to account for partitions within a zone furniture and any other mass which will affect the dynamic thermal response of the zone There are two ways you can define additional internal thermal mass in DesignBuilder 1 Drawing hanging partitions i e partitions which do not meet other walls at both ends 2 Entering a non zero internal thermal mass exposed area on the Constructions tab under the Internal Thermal Mass header at zone level Thermal mass defined using these methods is lumped together for each zone and modelled in EnergyPlus in a non geometric way In both cases the construction is defined under the Internal Thermal Mass header on the Constructions tab Internal thermal mass defined in this way is used to specify the construction and area of items within the space that are important to heat transfer calculations but not necessarily important geometrically For example furniture within the space particularly for large spaces It can also be used for internal walls that are not needed for solar distribution when Solar distribution is set to 3 Full interior and exterior or to represent all interior walls when solar is distributed to the floors only with Solar distribution set to 2 Full exterior Example When zoning an office building
213. active during a drawing operation Drawing guides are parallel with the active drawing plane X and Y axes and run through all end points and mid points of existing object edges which lie in the same plane as the drawing plane As you move the cursor in the vicinity of a drawing guide it will become visible and you can then snap the cursor to any point on the guide When drawing guides are used in conjunction with Direction Snaps or the Protractor they offer a powerful mechanism for locating perimeter lines in relation to existing object edges For example to create a triangular window in a surface with the same height as an existing opening first click on the Draw window tool and check that the perimeter shape is set to Polygon switch the protractor on and then move the cursor to align approximately with the lower edge of the existing window which will automatically snap the cursor to the required drawing guide 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 62 DesignBuilder 1 5 Perimetz Y hape 1 Polygon Line type Keep default openings Protasio Y mE Protractorineremen 0 Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides Click to place the window origin and move the cursor to snap to the drawing guide associated with the existing window upper edge the protractor angle lock will automatically combine with the drawing guide Click to place the apex of the window and then place the next point
214. ad data new building defaults Info Pane Use the Model data tabs to access Activity Construction Openings Lighting and HVAC model data You can find information on using the Info Data tab to view component and template data in the Opening Screen Templates help topic Learning Mode Off Diagram below shows the same model but with Learning Mode Off Edit Screen and Model Data are visible simultaneously and there is no Info Panel 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Getting Started DesignBuilder SEDE SATOO1 mod 1 dsb Activity E UFFICI SAT UFFICI Si SAT File Edit Go View Tools Help Axonometric Y ode alt YEFFI YE Navigate Site UFFICI SAT UFFICI SAT Model Data lt gt Edit Visualise Heating design Cooling design Simulation Activity Construction Openings Activity Template ed UFFICI SAT gy Sector Offices T bb E A Template Type 3 Air conditione B Zone 1 i Occupancy B lt 2 3 s Metabolic H Zone 1 r Holidays g Block 4 Environmental Comfort HC Zone 1 5 9 Block 5 e g PA 1 Office Equipment B 9 Block 2 ellaneous B Zone 1 2 IE A v Catering ED tib Process 8 60 Zone 1 4 g Block 8 Zone 1 Block 6 Zone 1 Computers Model Data IX 35 677m Y 35 677m 7 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Section Core Concepts Core Concepis Some core concepts you should be fam
215. additional Days week and seasonal operation data Heating operation also has Preheat hours and Cooling operation also has Precool hours e VAV CAV Unitary multizone Min AHU outside air AHU heating cooling Zone setpoint schedules have additional Days week and seasonal operation data Heating operation also has Preheat hours and Cooling operation also has Precool hours These differences are applied as modifiers to the basic occupancy schedule because HVAC systems 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 287 generally switch on and off based on the occupancy time but with differences e g Heating systems are often switched off in summer they may operate during weekends when the building is unoccupied and they will often have a preheat period to get the building up to temperature before occupancy Internal gains operate with occupancy Select this option if lighting and other internal gains operation follows occupancy If you wish to enter specific schedules for lighting and or other internal gains you should uncheck this option 3 4 1 5 Natural Ventilation Data tab on Model Options dialog Natural ventilation can either be Scheduled or Calculated e Scheduled the ventilation rates are predefined using a maximum air change rate modified by operation schedules e Calculated the ventilation rates are calculated using wind and buoyancy driven pressure opening sizes and operation crack sizes etc You should g
216. al gains and energy consumption of individual items of equipment in each zone by adding equipment data at the zone level on the Equipment tab To add an item of equipment click on the Add toolbar icon or if you are running DesignBuilder in Learning mode you can use the link in the Info panel to the right of the screen This opens the Edit Equipment dialog Fluorescent lights Number 36 Rated power per item 32 0000 i4 Schedule On Radiant fraction 0 10 Latent fraction 0 00 Fraction heat lost 0 05 You can define the category of internal gain below the number of items of equipment the rated power per item of equipment as well as the operational schedule The Radiant fraction is the fraction of heat emitted by the device as long wave radiation The rest of the heat is considered to be convective i e it is modelled as heating up the zone air directly The Latent fraction is the fraction of the rated power which is converted to latent energy and affects the moisture balance in the zone instead of the sensible heat balance Fraction heat lost is the fraction of the sensible heat emitted which is lost or vented directly to outside without affecting the zone heat balance This can be used for modelling equipment such as fluorescent lighting with control gear which can have different higher energy consumption than heat gain into the space A number of categories of gains are available These are listed below together with the
217. alculation option above Note when using the Typical workday timing option this setback temperature set point is only applied during unoccupied periods such as night time and holidays during the heating season It is not applied during the summer if heating is switched off during the summer Note if the setback temperature set does not appear to affect results when using a Compact schedule this may be because the Zone setpoint heating schedule selected uses only 0 and 1 not the 0 5 required to access setback temperature See Defining setpoint temperature schedules for more on this COOLING SETPOINT TEMPERATURES Cooling setpoint temperature Defines the ideal temperature i e the setting of the cooling thermostat in the space when cooling is required Its meaning depends on the Temperature control calculation option When using 1 Air temperature control the Cooling setpoint temperature corresponds to the air temperature in the space and when it is set to set to 2 Operative temperature it is the operative temperature MAT MRT 2 Note the cooling setpoint temperature must be higher than the heating setpoint temperature Cooling setback setpoint temperature Some buildings require a low level of cooling during unoccupied periods to prevent the building becoming too hot and to reduce the startup cooling load the next morning Enter the setpoint temperature to be used at night time weekends and other holidays during the cooling season I
218. ally heat the space It is not related to preventing drafts For example if you specify a maximum delta temperature of 2 C ventilation is assumed to be available if the outside air temperature is at least 2 C cooler than the zone air temperature If the outside air dry bulb temperature is less than 2 C cooler or warmer than the indoor dry bulb temperature then ventilation is automatically turned off The values for this field can include negative numbers This allows ventilation to occur even if the outdoor temperature is above the indoor temperature The Delta Temperature control works in the code in the following way if IndoorTemp OutdoorTemp Max ventilation in out delta T then ventilation is not allowed For example Value of Mechanical ventilation Max in out delta Effect T 0 Mechanical ventilation only operates when OutdoorTemp IndoorTemp 50 Mechanical ventilation unrestricted by Inside Outside delta T 2 Mechanical ventilation only operates when OutdoorTemp 2 lt IndoorTemp Tip input a large negative number to allow ventilation even if the outdoor temperature is greater than the indoor temperature This useful for uncontrolled mechanical ventilation or as a way to estimate the effect of required ventilation air for load calculations See also Defining setpoint temperature schedules MINIMUM FRESH AIR PER PERSON Minimum fresh air per person The Minimum fresh air per person defines the fresh air requirement
219. als are used to define the properties of construction layers There are 2 types of material 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Component Data 347 1 Detailed properties including the thermophysical properties surface properties and visual appearance for the material 2 Simple resistive material with no thermal mass This option will typically be used to model air gaps DETAILED PROPERTIES Thermal bulk properties Thermal conductivity This field is used to enter the thermal conductivity of the material layer Thermal conductivity must be greater than zero Specific heat This field represents the specific heat of the material layer Only positive values of specific heat are allowed Density This field is used to enter the density of the material layer Density must be a positive quantity SIMPLE RESISTANCE Thermal resistance This field is used to enter the thermal resistance R value of the material layer Note Materials defined using an R value do not contribute to construction and hence building thermal mass in the calculations and so should be used with care especially if you plan to use the model for dynamic thermal simulations SURFACE PROPERTIES Surface properties are only used in simulations when the material is located on an inner or outer surface of the construction Thermal absorptance emissivity The thermal absorptance represents the fraction of incident long wavelength radiation that is absorbe
220. als the air temperature distribution data By default the Interpolation mode is 2 Inside outside DeltaT This means that the temperature gradient within the space is modelled as varying according to the inside outside temperature difference The Upper conditions define the most extreme temperature gradient typically under design conditions In the screenshot above right the upper temperature difference is 10 C and the corresponding temperature gradient is 4 C m This means that when the temperature difference between inside and outside if 10 C or more the internal temperature gradient is 4 C m The Lower conditions data shows that when the temperature difference between inside and outside is zero there is no temperature gradient i e the air is fully mixed EnergyPlus calculates the temperature gradient for other inside outside temperature differences by linear interpolation Operation schedule The operation schedule defines the times when air temperature distribution is to be calculated When the value of the schedule is 1 the distribution calculations take place when the value is 0 the zone air temperature is fully mixed Thermostat height Thermostat height specifies the distance above the floor where the thermostat for HVAC control is situated This height is used by the model to determine the thermostat temperature relative to the mean air temperature by applying the gradient 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 277
221. alysis you should select the Single zone shading option Note that if the single zone is part of a large complex building simulations using this option are often no quicker to complete than the full building simulation This is because the shading calculations required for the large number of shading elements used to model the rest of the building are slow 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 25 3 4 1 2 Construction and glazing Exception ground floors can optionally have a ground construction added Data tab on Model Options dialog Construction and glazing The Construction and glazing model option controls the way construction templates are loaded on the construction model data tab When the option is set to Pre design you can load construction templates using the Insulation and Thermal mass slider controls When set to General templates are loaded by selection from a list in the usual way Floor slab ceiling representation You can choose to model floors ceilings and flat roofs each having a single construction or by combining separate constructions for floor slab and ceiling The options are e 1 Combined all wall floor and roof constructions are defined using a series of single constructions without the complication of understanding how layers are combined This can be easier to understand for new users and requires less input model data You may also find it easier to use this option when assessing y
222. amount of IDF text being processed When the IDF data uses more than about 10MB of disk space DesignBuilder is unable to process the quantity of text involved and if this happens when the 1 Full or 2 Basic options are set it will attempt to regenerate the IDF data using the 3 Compressed option to reduce the memory requirement If IDF data is being generated twice before your simulations you can speed the process by selecting this option from the start ensuring that IDF data is only generated once Options will be made available in future versions to ease reading of IDF data generated by DesignBuilder 10 5 Limits You can enter the maximum number of arc and circle segments if you have a special requirement 10 6 International Language DesignBuilder currently supports 4 languages e English native language e Italian available from Evolvente only e French e Spanish still under development When you change the language you must restart DesignBuilder to see the full effect Units DesignBuilder can be used either with SI units metric or IP units Because the program uses SI units internally and because the databases which come with the program have been built up assuming SI units US users may find some limitations with the data supplied and with some aspects of the user interface These will be addressed in due course Region filter The region filter allows you to see only the data relevant to your particular region Note that i
223. an isotropic shading factor The long wave radiation from these obstructions is added to the long wave radiation from the ground in this calculation both obstructions and ground are assumed to be at the outside air temperature and to have an emissivity of 0 9 Solar Gains The total solar gain on any exterior surface is a combination of the absorption of direct and diffuse solar radiation given by f Y I e n j S I cos dir RU Tg where a solar absorptance of the surface A angle of incidence of the sun s rays S area of the surface Ss sunlit area Ib intensity of beam direct radiation intensity of sky diffuse radiation intensity of ground reflected diffuse radiation g Fg angle factor between the surface and the sky Fsg angle factor between the surface and the ground If the surface is shaded the program modifies Fss by a correction factor that takes into account the radiance distribution of the sky see Shadowing of Sky Diffuse Solar Radiation Shading of ground diffuse solar radiation is not calculated by the program It is up to the user to estimate the effect of this shading and modify the input value of Fsg accordingly SOLAR DISTRIBUTION As discussed in the Solar Model options section the Solar Distribution determines how EnergyPlus will treat beam solar radiation entering a zone through exterior windows The three choices 1 Minimal shadowing 2 Full exterior and 3 Full Interior
224. an view the input data script used to calculate these results by selecting the Tools Display simulation input script menu option If you do not have the EnergyPlus IDF editor installed then you should associate the idf file extension with a text editor to make this option work Note this shows the script stored with the model just before the simulation not the in idf file stored in the EnergyPlus folder 7 2 4 Summary table The Summary screen shows design cooling loads and flow rates for each zone plus other related data e Design Capacity shown in bold is the maximum value of Total Cooling Load and Sensible multiplied by the Design margin to give the design cooling capacity of the equipment This value is written into the Cooling capacity Model Data on the HVAC tab if the appropriate Plant sizing Model Option is set Design Flow Rate shown in bold is the flow rate required to deliver the Sensible cooling load using the Design supply temperature and the zone air temperature at the time of the maximum load multiplied by the Design margin Total Cooling Load is the total maximum Sensible Latent loads for the zone at the time of maximum sensible load If latent load is negative then it is ignored here and the Total Cooling Load is the same as the Sensible load Sensible is the maximum sensible load for the zone in the Design day Latent is the latent load for the zone at the time of maximum Sensible load Op Temperature is the Opera
225. ance system For example if all zones in a particular block have the same activity called say Office work you should set the activity at block level and not multiple times at zone level Equally if all the blocks in the building have the same activity you should set the data at the building level and allow the blocks to inherit the data from the building By keeping the amount of user data to a minimum you will find it quicker to make changes at a later date Clearly it is much faster to change a few Model Data items at building and block level than it is to make multiple changes at zone or surface levels Building Model Data can be entered at building block zone and surface levels but not at site level The set of data shown will depend on the level in the hierarchy building block etc and on the Model options selected Default data is inherited from the level above in the hierarchy and is shown in blue while user data i e data you have explicitly set or loaded from template is shown in red You can clear user data back to its default state so it inherits from the level above using the Clear data to default command Building Model Data is laid out on five tabs e Activity e Construction e Openings e Lighting e HVAC Each of these categories of data has a template selection at the top of the tab allowing rapid loading of the data from template Tip Use DesignBuilder defaults wisely See also section on Model Data
226. and capacities and are used in all of the component sizing calculations Default value is 1 2 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 317 Design averaging window period not heating cooling design The time in the zone design flow sequence averaging window during EnergyPlus Compact HVAC autosizing calculations The default is 1 hour in which case the calculated zone design flow rates are averaged over an hour The autosizing zone design air flow rate calculation is performed assuming a potentially infinite supply of heating or cooling air at a fixed temperature Thus the calculated design air flow rate will always be able to meet any load or change in load no matter how large or abrupt In reality air flow rates are limited by duct sizes and fan capacities The idealized zone design flow calculation may result in unrealistically large flow rates especially if the user is performing the sizing calculations using thermostat schedules with night setup or setback The calculated zone design flow rates are always averaged over the load timestep You may want to perform a broader average to mitigate the effect of thermostat setup and setback and prevent the warm up or cool down flow rates from dominating the design flow rate calculation Specifying the width of the averaging window allows the user to do this INCLUDE IDF DATA NOT HEATING COOLING DESIGN You can include up to 2 custom IDF data in your EnergyPlus simulations by checkin
227. and exterior are discussed in the Solar options topic 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 478 DesignBuilder 1 5 EnergyPlus calculates the distribution of short wave radiation in the interior of each thermal zone This radiation consists of beam solar radiation diffuse solar radiation and short wave radiation from electric lights The program determines the amount of this radiation that is 1 absorbed on the inside face of opaque surfaces 2 absorbed in the glass and shading device layers of the zone s exterior and interior windows 3 transmitted through the zone s interior windows to adjacent zones and 4 transmitted back out of the exterior windows The effects of movable shading devices on the exterior windows are taken into account Initial Distribution of Diffuse Solar Transmitted through Exterior and Interior Windows As of Version 2 1 the treatment of diffuse solar transmitted first through exterior windows and subsequently through interior windows has been improved Diffuse solar from sky and ground sources transmitted through exterior windows is first distributed to the interior heat transfer surfaces in the zone containing the exterior windows This initial distribution apportions the transmitted diffuse solar to interior surfaces using the approximate view factors described above in LW Radiation Exchange Among Zone Surfaces The amount of this initially distributed diffuse solar absorbed by each interior surface and e
228. ar Apr Sep Alaska 23 7 11 9 0 0 21 0 10 2 0 0 Cooling Design Weather 0 4 based on d Max DB temperature WEB temperature at Max DB Min night design temperature 21 5 147 143 Cooling Design Weather 1 based on dry Max DB temperature WEB temperature at Max DB Min night design temperature 20 0 13 9 13 4 Cooling Design Weather 2 based on dry Max DB temperature WEB temperature at Max DB Min night design temperature 18 6 13 2 12 0 Location Templates are a database of locations from around the world based on ASHRAE design weather data including daylight savings Each Location data set is located within a Legislative Region Most Regions in Europe include some 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 basic data on the energy codes which apply There are four tabs on the Location Template dialog e Location e Winter design weather e Summer design weather e Simulation weather Template data can be accessed from the Templates tab on the opening screen if no file is open from the Templates tab in the Navigator panel if a file is open by double clicking on the template icon in the model data e e e e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting templates from a list 6 7 1 Location Templates Location Location tab on Location Templates Dialog DesignBuilder Location Templates are located within Legislative Regions Most reg
229. ar radiance distribution as a Superposition of three components dome with isotropic radiance circumsolar brightening represented as a point source at the sun and horizon brightening represented as a line source at the horizon 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Modelling Advice 477 The proportions of these distributions depend on the sky condition which is characterized by two quantities clearness factor and brightness factor defined below which are determined from sun position and solar quantities from the weather file The circumsolar brightening is assumed to be concentrated at a point source at the center of the sun although this region actually begins at the periphery of the solar disk and falls off in intensity with increasing angular distance from the periphery The horizon brightening is assumed to be a linear source at the horizon and to be independent of azimuth In reality for clear skies the horizon brightening is highest at the horizon and decreases in intensity away from the horizon For overcast skies the horizon brightening has a negative value since for such skies the sky radiance increases rather than decreases away from the horizon Shadowing of Sky Long Wave Radiation EnergyPlus calculates the sky long wave radiation incident on exterior surfaces assuming that the sky long wave radiance distribution is isotropic If obstructions such as overhangs are present the sky long wave incident on a surface is multiplied by
230. are Ltd Building Models 111 Note Sometimes when converting outline blocks to component or building blocks you will notice that the new block has a very slightly different size to the original outline block This can happen when DesignBuilder needs to slightly adjust the size in order to generate a viable zone with 3 D slab surfaces It is therefore advisable when using outline blocks to create complex geometries to draw and convert the outline blocks individually This avoids adjacencies between touching outline blocks from getting broken when they are converted en masse There are 3 types of component block e 1 Standard used for shading reflection and visualisation e 2 Ground used for setting ground adjacency shading reflection and visualisation e 3 Adiabatic used for setting adiabatic adjacency shading reflection and visualisation Component blocks are drawn in the same way as Building blocks but selecting the in the Drawing Options panel as 3 Component block Each Component block has its own Component block material transmittance schedule and shade not shade To edit this you must first go to the component block itself by double clicking on it in the model edit screen or clicking on the entry in the Navigator Alternatively component blocks inherit default model data from the building level so if you leave the component block model data in its default state blue you can change all model data in one go by making
231. at the maximum temperature lags maximum solar elevation by 3 hours 3 3 1 2 Legislative Region and Insulation Standards Region tab on model data at Site level The data on the tab is related to the Legislative Region and associated insulation standards of the site Legislative region A Legislative region in DesignBuilder is typically a whole country or a region province or state within a country which has its own building control powers The legislative region contains information on e Local energy codes and building regulations e Carbon dioxide emission factors for a range of fuels 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 3 3 1 2 1 Energy codes insulation standards Region tab on model data at Site level You can select the mandatory energy code in force as well as three additional levels of reference insulation standards to represent buildings with Uninsulated Stock average and Best practice construction standards This data is used e To identify the mandatory energy code in force in the region e To set the insulation levels used when the Pre design Construction and glazing Model option is selected e When calculating asset ratings Note that if you change any of this data the insulation standards of the constructions in the lt System gt category will be automatically updated 3 3 2 Building Model Data Take care to enter the minimum amount of data to get the most from the inherit
232. ately model heat transfer processes over several days so it can model the effect of say a warm week followed by a cool week but it cannot directly model long term ground thermal storage effects periods measured in months For more on advanced ground modelling see bottom of this topic EnergyPlus applies a constant temperature boundary condition for each month on the lower surfaces of ground adjacent elements There are 3 ways to create an adjacency to ground in DesignBuilder 1 Using DesignBuilder s Auto adjacency detection where ground adjacency is set for all surfaces at or below ground level By default all external surfaces which are at or below ground level are considered to be adjacent to ground Surfaces that are partly above ground z 0 and partly below are modelled as entirely adjacent to outside if the Adjacency setting is 1 Auto see below 2 Using Ground component blocks any surfaces or part of surfaces touching a ground component block are considered to be adjacent to ground 3 Using the Adjacency model data on the Construction tab at block zone and surface levels where external surfaces can be defined as being adjacent to ground by changing the Adjacency model data on the Construction tab from 1 Auto to 3 Adjacent to Ground If a surface is below ground level but is not adjacent to ground you can select 2 Not adjacent to ground When using Separate constructions and when the Add ground construction layers to surfaces
233. available 1 Boiler heat is supplied by the same boiler used for heating the building 2 Gas gas fired hot water system 3 Electric electric immersion heater Delivery hot water temperature The temperature of the water supplied to the taps Mains supply temperature The temperature of the water delivered to the building This can be approximated to the annual average outside air temperature Operation The operation schedules define the timing of the hot water draw off when the Timing HVAC natural ventilation operates with occupancy option model option is not selected The profile of hot water consumption in the EnergyPlus simulation is calculated from l person day data gal person day in IP units 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 278 DesignBuilder 1 5 entered on the Activity tab by first estimating a typical number of hours per day When typical workday schedules are used this is simply the number of hours occupied during the working day When 7 12 schedules are used the typical occupancy hours per day is determined from January Monday data Note When using a Compact schedule to define DHW operation DesignBuilder assumes a fixed 8 hours per day operation when calculating the maximum 3 5 hot water draw off for passing to EnergyPlus DHW volumetric consumption supplied to EnergyPlus is calculated as DHW m3 s DHW l day m2 x 0 001 x m2 Typical hours per day x 3600 3 3 2 6 Detailed Equipment Equipment tab i
234. aving trouble importing the DXF data you should e Check that you have specified the correct units If the DXF data looks too small or too large you may have selected the wrong units DXF data does not have units so you may need to find out the units used in the source CAD model before attempting to import the DXF file e Try cleaning up the CAD data before exporting it to avoid non geometric data grids fittings etc from being included in the DXF file e DesignBuilder requires floor plan DXF data to be saved in R 11 format Other DXF formats may fail to 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 load DXF data can be imported in the form of 2 D floor plan layouts which can be used to trace block perimeters and partitions You can import 2 D DXF floor plan files created in AutoCAD or other CAD programs using the Files gt Import gt Import DXF data menu command This starts a the DXF Import Wizard below which prompts you for the name of the file the units of your DXF data and the attachment height Troubleshooting Once the DXF data is imported and correctly positioned you can use it to define the position of blocks and partitions A typical process might go like this 1 Create new dsb site file 2 Select location 3 Import DXF data 4 Draw blocks by snapping to the external perimeter corners of the DXF floor plan requires DXF snap to be switched on 5 Go to block level and draw partitions using the D
235. azing Y Glazing type General energy code Glazing Layout Preferred height 1 5m 30 glazed Dimensions E Has a frame dividers Construction Painted Wooden window frame Dividers Y 1 Divided lite Width m 0 020 Horizontal dividers 1 Vertical dividers 1 Outside projection m 0 000 Inside projection rm 0 000 Glass edge centre conduction ratio 1 000 Frame Y Frame width rn 0 040 Frame inside projection 0 000 Frame outside projection 0 000 Alass edae centre eandictinn ratis 1 Frames are applied to all rectangular windows default and custom but not to other shaped windows and not when 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 using the Fill surface 100 facade type If the glazing does not have a frame or dividers uncheck the Has a frame box If Has a frame is checked and then you can enter e the construction of the frame and dividers e the number of horizontal dividers and vertical dividers e frame width and divider with see diagrams below for definition Frame gt Divider IM width Frame Glazing Divider One of the four window N vertices EXTERNAL WINDOWS ON WALLS For external windows on walls the following dimensions in the direction of the glazing normal can also be entered Inside reveal depth Inside sill depth Outside divider projection Inside divider projection Outside frame projection Inside
236. bove sea level This data are defines the elevation of the site relative to sea level and is passed directly to EnergyPlus for use in pressure related calculations It is also used to calculate air density within DesignBuilder when calculating volumetric flow rates from cooling loads Site orientation The site orientation is the angle of the site plan view relative to North For example enter 45 to rotate the building s clockwise by 45 relative to North screenshot example below 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Site North Arrow This is the quickest and most reliable way to rotate all the buildings on the site relative to North and allows you to keep your x and y axes aligned with the building Rotating the building s is possible but once this is done it makes further geometric edits more difficult because for rotations other than 90 180 or 270 the x and y axes will be out of alignment with the building North is indicated by the direction of the North arrow in the sketch plan view above Exposure to wind The exposure to wind model data affects the pressure coefficients used when the Calculated Natural ventilation option is set It also affects the calculation of U values but these are not used in EnergyPlus simulations GROUND Add ground construction layers to surfaces in contact with ground You can choose to add ground construction layers to any surface that is in contact with the groun
237. by whatever distance is required If you use the polygon perimeter shape you can create extrusions in both horizontal and vertical planes or even in sloped planes 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 116 DesignBuilder 1 5 The various methods of drawing general extrusions are explained under Adding Blocks Circular and rectangular perimeter shapes are used to create cylindrical and rectilinear prismatic extrusions from horizontal planes This block form is used to create blocks on horizontal planes with uniformly sloping walls Sloping wall blocks can be created using any perimeter shape polygon rectangle or circle 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models The wall angle is defined using the Slope setting in the Drawing options data panel and the blocks are automatically truncated by the Height setting Geometry Y Block type 1 Building block Type 2 Sloping walls Slope 50 Height 3 00 Perimeter Y Shape 1 Polygon M Line type 1 Straight line Thickness m 0 292 Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 8 DesignBuilder 1 5 The pitched roof block form automatically generates a pitched roof from a perimeter drawn on a horizontal plane Pitched roof blocks can be created using any perimeter shape polygon rectangle or circle The slope of the roof is defined using
238. by the air density Must be greater than 0 and less than or equal to 1 Terminal Unit Fan Delta Pressure Enter the pressure rise of the zone induction fan in Pa at full flow and standard conditions Standard conditions are considered 20C at sea level 101325 Pa HVAC tab in model data under Mechanical Ventilation header A plenum is an air compartment or chamber including uninhabited crawl spaces areas above ceilings or below a floor including air spaces below raised floors of computer data processing centers or attic spaces to which one or more ducts are connected and which forms part of either the supply air return air or exhaust air system other than the occupied space being conditioned DesignBuilder Compact HVAC Unitary multizone Unitary single zone and VAV systems can have air supplied and returned via plenums The system supply and return plenums in the diagram below serve each of the 3 zones There are 4 types of plenum 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 1 System supply plenum a supply air plenum serving all zones 3 VAV and 2 Unitary multizone system If any zone supply plenums have been specified the outlet from the system supply plenum will flow through the zone supply plenum to the zone terminal unit The system supply plenum is defined at building level and only one is allowed per simulation 2 System return plenum return air plenums serving zones in 3 VAV and 2 Unitary mu
239. cation tab on model data at Site level You can select the confidence of the design data i e the probability that the design data will be at the very extreme of conditions encountered over recent years Select either 99 6 or 99 confidence i e 0 4 or 1 chance of more extreme winter weather occuring The weather data used in heating design calculations e Minimum outside dry bulb temperature the design outside air temperature e Co incident wind speed and direction the speed of the wind and its direction for design conditions Note that the direction is not used at the moment 3 3 1 1 6 Summer Design Weather Data Location tab on model data at Site level You can select the confidence of the design data i e the probability that the design data will be at the very extreme of conditions encountered over recent years This risk can be specified based on dry or wet bulb temperatures for 99 6 99 and 98 confidence i e 0 4 1 or 2 chance of more extreme weather occuring The weather data used in cooling design calculations e Maximum outside dry bulb temperature the maximum dry bulb air temperature over the day e Minimum outside dry bulb temperature the minimum dry bulb air temperature nighttime e Wet bulb temperature at the time of the maximum dry bulb temperature The daily temperature profile used in the cooling design calculations is calculated from the maximum and minimum values using a sinusoidal curve and assuming th
240. ce EnergyPlus Output 15 Jul Sub hourly Licensed gt Giazing m Walls mm Ground Floors mmm Partitions int mmm Roofs mmm External Infiltration External Mechanical Ventilation General Lighting sam Computer Equip mmmmm Occupancy gt Solar Gains Exterior Windows mmm Zone Sys Sensible Cooling trug Re MEHR M E KW Heat Balance BRS 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Calculations as 7 2 3 Display Options You can review Cooling design output in 2 ways e Detailed results half hourly heat balance and inside conditions displayed on Analysis tab e Summary table cooling capacity data for each zone on the Summary tab To update the data using different calculation options click Update Ctrl U Data Options The General tab on the Cooling design Display options panel provides options for controlling the data displayed in the Simulation data display screen General Display options are grouped under three headers e Data control the data displayed e Y axis for customising the layout of the Y axis e Appearance for customising the style and appearance of the graphics The Detailed tab on the Display Options panel provides controls which allow you to select exactly the data items you wish to display DATA OPTIONS Data Select an option to indicate the data you wish to display e 1 All fabric and ventilation heat
241. ce at the reference points in each zone is found by interpolating the stored daylight factors using the current time step s sun position and sky condition then multiplying by the exterior horizontal illuminance If glare control has been specified the program will automatically deploy window shading if available to decrease glare below a specified comfort level A similar option uses window shades to automatically control solar gain 3 The electric lighting control system is simulated to determine the lighting energy needed to make up the difference between the daylighting illuminance level and the design illuminance Finally the zone lighting electric reduction factor is passed to the thermal calculation which uses this factor to reduce the heat gain from lights The EnergyPlus daylighting calculation is derived from the daylighting calculation in DOE 2 1E which is described in Winkelmann 1983 and Winkelmann and Selkowitz 1985 There are two major differences between the two implementations 1 In EnergyPlus daylight factors are calculated for four different sky types clear clear turbid intermediate and overcast in DOE 2 only two sky types are used clear and overcast 2 In EnergyPlus the clear sky daylight factors are calculated for hourly sun path sun positions several times a year whereas in DOE 2 these daylight factors are calculated for a set of 20 sun positions that span the annual range of sun positions for a given geographical
242. ces s uoi eU Un EH n 171 3 2 13 Editing Openings at the Building Level eere 171 EAM pnm 175 B22 15 FRED UI 175 3 2 16 176 3 3 DISP Ceccceceverstaceeveccuedtevetecedd aN AA NTa 176 3 3 7 Data A AA OTE EALAR 176 1 E 177 3 35 11 Site Location c c nee eene e tesi edendum 178 3 3 4 41 2 Site Details npe o che ence 178 diluere cath 3 9 1 1 3 Time and Daylight Saving ee eee 81 mE 3 3 1 1 4 Simulation Weather Data seme meme meeeernesnse 181 ETE TEES 3 3 1 1 5 Winter Design Weather Data ssseme eee eee emen 182 EE DONI 3 3 1 1 6 Summer Design Weather Data essssseee mene meneess 182 3 3 1 2 Legislative Region and Insulation Standards 182 DE 3 3 1 2 1 Energy codes insulation standards 183 3 3 2 Building Model C M M 183 Ty ADI EE PR E 184 te A S DELO A 1 OM
243. cess heat per unit floor area 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Gain Set the design level of energy consumption due to process activity per unit floor area Process heat is the heat from any manufacturing industrial process which is part of the business activity The actual heat gain to the space may be reduced through the Fraction lost data below The Gain entered in Watts m2 or Watts ft2 is typically used to represent the maximum fuel consumption of process equipment in a zone that is then multiplied by a schedule fraction below This is slightly more flexible in that the design level could be a diversity factor applied a schedule of real numbers Note that while the schedule value can vary from hour to hour the design level field is constant Fuel The fuel can be selected from a drop down list Note that these fuels are currently mapped to a shorter list in the results as follows Fuel in Model Data Mapped to Fuel in Output 1 Electricity from grid Electricity 2 Natural gas Gas 3 Oil Oil 4 Coal Solid 5 LPG Gas 6 Biogas Gas 7 Anthracite Solid 8 Smokeless fuel including coke Solid 9 Dual fuel appliances mineral wood Other 10 Biomass Other 11 Waste heat Other Fraction lost This field is a decimal number between 0 0 and 1 0 and is used to characterise the amount of lost heat being given off by the process equipment in a zone The number specified in this field will be multiplied by
244. change the Form of the block and to modify pitched roof assignment To change the form of the current block make a selection from the Form drop list When you change the form of a block from an Extruded form to Pitched Roof or Sloping Walls the original form will be remembered so that even if you have edited the block by cutting it or dragging a face when you convert the form back to Extruded the original form will be restored The Pitched Roof Wall Construction Transition settings allow you to control which elements within a block will be assigned pitched roof construction either by disallowing pitched roof construction altogether or by adjusting the element slope to determine which elements should be identified as pitched roofs The Roof wall transition angle is the angle from the horizontal below which the element will be considered a roof 3 2 11 Working within Zones This section describes the operations involved in placing light sensors within zones To place light sensors within a zone you first need to go to the zone that you want to modify You can do this from the block level either by clicking on the navigator entry or double clicking on the zone floor in the Edit screen if you re at the block level Go to zone level 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Navigate Site Untitled Building 1 Block 1 Site Templates Heating design Cooling design Simulation Check 2 LEY El Untit
245. compressor is on In other words when the DX coil is off the economizer must meet the entire cooling load it isn t allowed to operate in conjunction with the DX cooling coil Similarly when the DX coil is operating the economizer is not allowed to operate The Lockout with compressor option is sometimes called a non integrated economizer HVAC tab in model data under Mechanical Ventilation header With Compact HVAC you can specify air to air heat recovery which is available between the relief air stream and the outside air inlet stream Heat recovery is selected for Unitary multizone CAV and VAV systems by checking Heat Recovery On under the Mechanical Ventilation header at building level For Unitary single zone make the selection at the zone level Heat recovery type Enter the type of air to air heat recovery The choices are 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 261 e 1 Sensible recovers sensible heat e 2 Enthalpy recovers sensible and latent heat Sensible heat recovery effectiveness Enter the sensible heat recovery effectiveness This is applied as a constant effectiveness at all conditions The valid range is from 0 0 to 1 0 and the default is 0 70 Latent heat recovery effectiveness Enter the latent heat recovery effectiveness if Heat Recovery Type is Enthalpy This is applied as a constant effectiveness at all conditions The valid range is from 0 0 to 1 0 and the default is 0 65 Heat rec
246. core and perimeter temperatures are wanted the perimeter temperatures from the slab program should be specified in the GroundTemperatures object and the surface associated with that condition is treated as in Option 1 above The surface that is to be exposed to the core temperature should be given the OtherSideCoef designation and the OtherSideCoefficients object should be used to specify the temperatures To do this all of the numerical fields in this object should be zero except field N5 This field should contain the ratio of the average annual core temperatures and average annual perimeter temperatures In other words the resulting core profile values will be N5 times the perimeter values This same procedure can be used to generate as many profiles as needed However it should be noted that they will all have the same profile as the GroundTemperatures object values Detailed ground modelling may only give a marginal difference in results and you might want to carry out a sensitivity study to check the influence of ground temperatures on simulation results before deciding on the most appropriate level of detail DesignBuilder version 1 does not account for 2 D and 3 D thermal bridging effects but future versions will 12 5 Adjacent Buildings Adjacent buildings i e other buildings that are touching the modelled building usually modify the boundary conditions relative to external and also provide shade There is no explicit way in DesignB
247. ct will be rotated by clicking the mouse when the mouse cursor is in the required location you can use the various snaps and drawing guides to locate the axis point After placing the axis point you can then rotate the object around the axis 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides In the case of partitions and courtyards at the block level the active drawing plane for rotation is always the plane of the block floor and in the case of surface openings the active drawing plane is always the surface plane Rotation axis point loc 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 3 2 5 5 Stretch Dede 2e FBZE SS PPOFP DOBOO SE Building and outline blocks can be stretched or scaled at the building level To stretch a block first select it and then click on the Stretch tool or select Stretch from the right click menu You can only stretch one block at a time When you activate the Stretch tool a wire frame is displayed around the extent of the block and as you move the cursor across the faces of this frame each face will highlight in the colour of the axis to which the face is normal If you then click on one of these highlighted faces you can then stretch the block along the axis normal to the face If the increment snap is switched on the block can be stretched in increments 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Design
248. cted DesignBuilder is supplied with a database of wind pressure coefficients based on data from AIVC Applications Guide A guide to energy efficient ventilation The Cp data is buildings of 3 storeys or less with square surfaces and for 3 levels of site exposure The data is given in 45 increments Note The AIVC wind pressure coefficient data provides a good first level of approximation for basic design purposes However ideally you would override this default data with pressure coefficient data specific to your application This data might be calculated from CFD simulations or measured from wind tunnel studies using physical models 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Template Data Template data can be accessed e from the Templates tab on the opening screen if no file is open e from the Templates tab in the Navigator panel if a file is open e by double clicking on the template icon in the model data e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting templates from a list 6 15 Metabolic Rate Templates fA Metabolic rate Seated quiet 4 gt Name Seated quiet Category Resting Source ASHRAE Metabolic rate per person 108 0 Metabolic rate Templates define a category of human metabolic output The metabolic rate can be selected in Model Data on the Activity tab by choosing a Metabolic rate template The metabolic rate per person data is supplied to EnergyPlus which multiplies it by the numbe
249. ctivity tab The air flow rate in m3 s is calculated as m3 s 1 s m2 x ZoneFloorArea MinFreshAir x NumberPeople 1000 where ZoneFloorArea is the actual floor area of the space MinFreshAir is the minimum fresh air rate per floor area l s m2 or CFM ft2 NumberPeople Occupancy density people m2 Zone floor area m2 MinFreshAir is the minimum fresh air rate per person l s person or CFM e 5 Min fresh air Max per person and per area maximum natural ventilation rate is defined using Minimum fresh air requirements for both as set on the Activity tab The air flow rate in m3 s is calculated as m3 s Maximum of 1 s m2 x ZoneFloorArea 1000 and MinFreshAir x NumberPeople 1000 where ZoneFloorArea is the actual floor area of the space MinFreshAir is the minimum fresh air rate per floor area l s m2 or CFM ft2 NumberPeople Occupancy density people m2 Zone floor area m2 MinFreshAir is the minimum fresh air rate per person l s person or CFM Outside air flow rate Enter the minimum zone outside air delivery rate in air changes per hour when Outside air definition method above is 1 By zone The actual minimum amount of outside air entering the AHU can be modified by the Minimum AHU outside air requirement schedule below Note in Compact HVAC systems the total mixed air flow rate into the zone is calculated by EnergyPlus and will often be higher than the outside air flow rate due to the mixing of
250. culation begins by generating a set of rays proceeding into the outward hemisphere at each receiving point on a receiving surface Then it determines whether each ray hits the sky ground or an obstruction The radiance at the hit point from reflection of incident beam or sky solar is determined and the contribution of this radiance to the receiving surface is calculated added to the contribution from other hit points and averaged over the receiving points Separate calculations are done for beam to diffuse and sky solar reflection from all obstructions and beam to diffuse and sky solar reflection from the ground For beam to beam reflection see Beam solar radiation specularly reflected from obstructions below Rays A total of 90 rays are sent out into the exterior hemisphere surrounding each receiving point An upgoing ray may hit an obstruction or the sky A downgoing ray may hit an obstruction or the ground See diagram below Rays from the receiving point Obstruction _Receiving surface NIA window One of the window s receiving points Ground plane Two dimensional schematic showing rays going outward from a point on a receiving surface Rays 1 6 hit the ground rays 7 11 hit an obstruction and rays 12 15 hit the sky Sky Solar Radiation Diffusely Reflected from the Ground If a downgoing ray from a receiving point hits the ground for example rays 1 6 in diagram below the program calculates the radiance a
251. cy conditions e Surface Convection defining special surface convection options Note data on the Openings tab can be used to define the layout of the facade View Edit construction details To inspect the details of a selected construction click on the icon to the left of the appropriate data entry box Learning mode only Alternatively double click the icon to view edit the data in a dialog Note Please be aware that all settings made on the Constructions Model data tab are defaults unless you are working at the surface level Model data at the surface level inherited from the zone above or directly set defines the thermal and visual characteristics of the surface in the model 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 20 DesignBuilder 1 5 Construction tab in model data under Construction header When the Floor slab ceiling representation model option is set to Combined wall floor and roof constructions are all defined using simple constructions as shown in the diagram below The diagram shows e The location definition of the various categories of construction e Block and zone dimension definitions Schematic Diagram Showing Combined Floor Slab Ceiling Constructions Key Block dimensions are measured from outside Zone surface dimensions are inside dimensions Pitched roof unoccupied S construction Zone air volume External wall construction rz Semi exposed roof construction
252. d A warning message will occur when the simulation runs out of days Loads Initialization did not Converge CheckWarmupConvergence You may be able to increase the Maximum Number of Warmup Days and get convergence but some anomalous buildings may still not converge Simulation proceeds for x warmup days until convergence is reached see Temperature and Loads Convergence above Inside and Outside convection algorithms You can select from a range of EnergyPlus inside convection algorithms for calculating the convection between internal zone surfaces and the rest of the zone air in the simulation calculations More details on this and external convection can be found under Constructions Model Data Surface Convection header Solution Algorithm Select from e CTF sensible heat only solution not taking into account moisture storage or diffusion in the construction elements The method used in EnergyPlus for CTF calculations is known as the state space method Ceylan and Myers 1980 Seem 1987 Ouyang and Haghighat 1991 e Finite Difference currently research only because instabilities can occur with complex constructions Temperature and Loads convergence The temperature and loads convergence values represent the maximum difference in zone temperature loads between successive iterations before convergence is reached Convergence of the simultaneous heat balance HVAC solution is reached when either the loads or temperature crit
253. d If you select this option you can define the construction layers of the ground Note this option only affects the model for buildings having the Separate constructions model option set Ground construction When the Add ground construction layers to surfaces in contact with ground option is selected you can define the construction layers to be added below any ground floor constructions and on the outside of any other surfaces which have been specified as being adjacent to ground More info on ground modelling Ground texture The texture used to represent the ground in the rendered view on the Visualisation screen 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Ground surface reflectance This field is a decimal number between 0 0 and 1 0 and is used to characterize the average reflectivity of the ground throughout the year Ground reflectance data is used to calculate the ground reflected solar amount This fractional amount is used in the following equation GroundReflectedSolar BeamSolar x COS SunZenithAngle DiffuseSolar x GroundReflectance Important note on ground reflection Reflection from the ground is calculated even if the Reflections option is not used but if Reflections are not calculated the ground plane is considered unobstructed i e the shadowing of the ground by the building itself or by component blocks is ignored Shadowing of the ground by component blocks is only taken into account i
254. d antialiasing e Heating and Cooling Design Screens exports design data graphical tabular spreadsheet e Simulation Screen exports simulation data graphical tabular spreadsheet You can export to a range of destinations depending on the nature of the data File store output in a file which can be imported into your documents e mails Printer sends output directly to the printer Clipboard for pasting directly into word processors etc Report topic for generating reports using the Compile Reports feature Export format options depend on the nature of the data The full range of options is Bitmap best bitmap based output quality but very large file sizes PNG better quality compression than JPEG but sometimes have larger file sizes TIFF best bitmap based output quality but very large file sizes GIF good compression but black and white only JPEG recommended for 3 D images of the model because of its good quality combined with small file sizes e DXF generate 3 D DXF data of the model only available from Edit and Visualisation Screens The 3 D DXF file generated by DesignBuilder is suitable for reading into other CAD software Two options are available e 1 Whole model with details which includes all of the details of the model as seen on the Visualisation tab and e 2 Zones which generates the internal surfaces as used in simulations and other energy calculations e Windows metafile results g
255. d by the material This parameter is used when calculating the long wavelength radiant exchange between various surfaces and affects the surface heat balances both inside and outside as appropriate Values for this field must be between 0 0 and 1 0 with 1 0 representing black body conditions Solar absorptance The solar absorptance field in the Material input syntax represents the fraction of incident solar radiation that is absorbed by the material Solar radiation includes the visible spectrum as well as infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths This parameter is used when calculating the amount of incident solar radiation absorbed by various surfaces and affects the surface heat balances both inside and outside as appropriate Values for this field must be between 0 0 and 1 0 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Visible absorptance The visible absorptance field in the Material input syntax represents the fraction of incident visible wavelength radiation that is absorbed by the material Visible wavelength radiation is slightly different than solar radiation in that the visible band of wavelengths is much more narrow while solar radiation includes the visible spectrum as well as infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths This parameter is used when calculating the amount of incident visible radiation absorbed by various surfaces and affects the surface heat balances both inside and outside as appropriate as well a
256. d close the dialog 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Section Library management 332 DesignBuilder 1 5 DesignBuilder is supplied with libraries of Templates and Components and these can be managed from the opening screen i e when no dsb file is loaded DesignBuilder Data Recent Files Component Libraries Templates Click on Component Libraries or Templates tabs above to manage library data Tip you can load the latest library components and templates into your model using the Import library data to model command from the Tools menu when a model is loaded Any new data that has been added to the library since the model file was created will be imported to the model Also if there have been any changes to library component and template data this new data will overwrite the original data Keeping Templates and Component Libraries You may build up a large database of your own templates and components and to avoid losing this data between version upgrades DesignBuilder backs up your library data in a series of dat files which you can access from the File gt Folders gt Library data menu command These files are retained when the software is uninstalled When you install a new version of DesignBuilder and run it for the first time any data you entered in the old libraries is merged with the new libraries This ensures that you keep any data you created while receiving the latest DesignBuilder system
257. d cooling load sizing options 2 3 and 4 above 3 4 4 3 1 ASHRAE Cooling Sizing In the ASHRAE cooling sizing method the cooling design load calculations are carried out using the standard ASHRAE Heat Balance method implemented in EnergyPlus using the Purchased air system type You can define the conditions of the supply air delivered to cooled zones using Design supply temperature and Supply air humidity ratio The total sensible latent load is calculated as the enthalpy change between the zone return air and the specified supply air condition for the current load The ASHRAE system is modelled assuming No economiser No heat recovery No heating Zero pressure rise fan No humidification dehumidification Zone plenums will not be used if specified Outside airflow rate and operation schedule defined by the data under the Mechanical Ventilation header on the HVAC tab at the zone level Cooling coil availability defined by the schedule under the Cooling header on the HVAC tab at the zone level Zone design cooling temperature setpoints are defined by the data under Environmental Control on the Activity tab 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Unlike the other 3 cooling sizing options 1 ASHRAE cannot be used in conjunction with Natural ventilation Design supply temperature The constant dry bulb air temperature of the air supplied for cooling the zone Supply air humidity ratio The constan
258. d reflectances may change The user can specify two values Snow reflected solar modifier and Snow reflected daylight modifier Snow reflected solar modifier A number between 0 0 and 10 0 which is used to modify the basic ground surface reflectance when snow is on the ground Note that the value of geg below must be lt 1 GroundReflectance 4 GroundReflectance x Modifier show During simulations the ground is considered to be snow covered when the SnowDepth data in the hourly weather file is gt 0 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Modelling Advice 479 Snow reflected daylight modifier A number between 0 0 and 10 0 which is used to modify the basic ground surface reflectance when snow is on the ground Note that the value of DaylightingGroundReflectance 24 below must be lt 1 DaylightingGroundReflectance j q GroundReflectance x Modifier show During simulations the ground is considered to be snow covered when the SnowDepth data in the hourly weather file is gt 0 Beam distribution If the Solar Distribution option is Minimal shadowing or Full exterior it is assumed that all beam solar from exterior windows falls on the floor If Solar Distribution is Full Interior and Exterior the program tracks where beam solar from exterior windows falls inside the zone and wall as well as floor surfaces can receive beam radiation Diffuse distribution Diffuse solar transmitted thro
259. data into models so a change to a template will not affect the model until the data is loaded New Template functionality in version 1 3 Managing template data You can edit and move template data around in various ways 1 Add Edit Delete Import and Export Template library data from the Opening Screen Template Libraries tab 2 If a model file is loaded you can edit Model templates from the Templates tab in the Navigator panel Learning mode switched off or by using the Data management panel on the right of the screen Learning mode switched on 3 In either case to add a template open up the template type you wish to define by clicking on the to the left of the template icon then click on the category of template you wish to define Now click on the Green to add a template of the selected category 4 Import export Model template using the File gt Export gt Library data menu command to create a ddf file with the dsb model file open 5 To import the previously exported Model template data to the Template library close the dsb file and import the ddf file to the library 6 Load the latest library templates into your model using the Import library components and templates to model command from the Tools menu when a model is loaded Any new data that has been added to the library since the model file was created will be imported to the model Also if there have been any changes to library template data this new data wi
260. de 16 17 447 484 15 287 Learning Mode Off 16 17 Learning Mode On 17 LEFT 356 Left right 356 Legislative 176 182 372 380 389 390 396 397 399 Legislative Region 176 182 380 389 390 396 397 399 Legislative Region Templates 396 397 Let EnergyPlus 508 Level 15 21 27 28 30 86 87 175 176 178 183 199 239 240 242 246 280 282 285 374 375 376 378 379 384 387 397 465 484 517 Building 88 DesignBuilder 1 5 Level 15 21 27 28 30 86 87 175 176 178 Local shading data 361 183 199 239 240 242 246 280 282 285 374 Location 30 59 67 72 75 86 162 176 177 178 375 376 378 379 384 387 397 465 484 517 181 296 302 313 372 389 390 391 392 403 rate according 187 375 410 453 484 489 Library 16 23 280 332 334 335 337 338 340 Location Model Data 30 489 Location Templates 176 177 389 390 391 Library Components 332 340 Select 30 Library Management 332 Long wave 351 License 491 Louvres 15 219 361 License dialog 491 number 362 Light Sensors L shaped 87 307 320 Placing 162 Luminaire 240 Lighting 17 162 240 242 372 Enter 384 Areas 242 Luminaire Type 240 384 control 242 Lumped 285 289 375 data 239 Sensors 242 M Templates 383 384 Lighting Control 14 15 87 162 239 242 384 Lighting ControlOn 162 242 Lighting data 239 240 242 Lighting Template 87 239 372 383 Lightweight 199 372 Limits 296 302 313 399 446 453
261. de Inside 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 The slat angle is the angle between the glazing outward normal to the slat outward normal A slat angle of 0 sets slats to be vertical and an angle of 90 sets them to be horizontal The openings data allows you to define the distance between the blind and the window and also define the fraction of the shade surface that is open to air flow on each side of the blind A slatted blind can be applied inside outside or mid pane Note that if the Blind is applied mid pane the gap between the inner pane and the second pane must be at least large enough to accommodate the slat width 5 11 3 Shade Transparent Insulation Data Shade data tab on Window Blinds Dialog Enter the shade material properties A diffusing blind can be applied inside outside or mid pane 5 11 4 Electrochromic Switching Electrochromic tab on Window Blinds Dialog Enter the electrochromic switchable pane material This pane will be used in place of the standard outer glazing pane according to the control data in the Model Data More information on Electrochromic glazing Note that the blind position in Openings Model Data must be Switchable to use electrochromic switchable shading 5 12 Vents Event Grille small dark slats 4 b General Name Grille small dark slats Category Grille X Visual Texture Grille small dark sl Airflow Coefficient of discharge 0 600
262. detail Select 181 Time during 31 Tin Tout 273 Tips 14 15 TMY2 484 Toolbar 280 282 332 334 484 Info Panel 16 Tools 14 16 31 34 35 40 61 64 67 72 75 77 79 89 104 120 122 144 147 158 166 170 171 177 184 198 280 351 404 415 420 446 447 465 Drawing 320 Tools menu 16 446 Tooltips 492 Topics 15 17 176 440 443 444 461 489 Total 199 223 227 235 236 238 345 387 403 423 Total building 423 Total building gas 423 Translate hourly weather data Triangulation 464 504 286 486 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Index Trombe 296 302 313 TRY 484 Tutorials 14 V Type 21 59 87 89 100 141 163 199 214 215 219 220 223 228 232 242 248 332 334 356 248 251 387 464 366 372 381 382 384 387 394 397 398 403 Vent Components 368 369 440 443 444 447 489 508 Vent opening 238 273 Typical 14 23 87 178 187 248 273 286 372 Vent Operation 237 238 375 381 394 397 401 418 447 484 489 Vent Placement 238 Typical Location 489 Vent spacing 237 238 Ventilation 15 189 213 223 227 235 236 238 _ U E 253 273 287 374 376 386 387 407 411 423 Ventilation cooling 189 273 Vents 100 163 214 215 223 228 237 238 273 340 368 369 395 Version 1 0 21 335 403 VeryRough 346 VerySmooth 346 View 17 31 33 34 35 119 120 122 178 307 U S 508 Undisturbed 178 Undo 36 67 89 147 175 Undo Go 175
263. ding being simulated is simple Model reflections If using reflections the program calculates beam and sky solar radiation that is reflected from exterior surfaces and then strikes the building These reflecting surfaces fall into 3 categories 1 Shadowing surfaces These are surfaces like overhangs or neighboring buildings see below These surfaces can have diffuse and specular beam to beam reflectance values derived from the material properties of the wall windows ye Solar Reflection from Obstructions X Beam De Sky diffuse Beam x a Beam a c Solar reflection from shadowing surfaces Solid arrows are beam solar radiation dashed arrows are diffuse solar radiation a Diffuse reflection of beam solar radiation from the top of an overhang b 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Diffuse reflection of sky solar radiation from the top of an overhang c Beam to beam specular reflection from the fagade of an adjacent highly glazed building represented by a vertical shadowing surface 2 Exterior building surfaces In this case one section of the building reflects solar radiation onto another section and vice versa See below The building surfaces are assumed to be diffusely reflecting if they are opaque walls for example and specularly reflecting if they are windows or glass doors The reflectance values for opaque surfaces are calculated by the program from the Solar Absorptance and
264. ding to its insulation value The unit normally used for measuring clothing s insulation is the Clo unit The more technical unit is m2 C W is also used frequently 1 Clo 0 155 m2 C W The Clo value can be calculated by adding the Clo value of each individual garment The insulation value for individual garments can be found in ISO 7730 Clo Values for Different Items of Clothing and Ensembles Clothing Clo Value Naked 0 0 Briefs 0 06 T shirt 0 09 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 188 DesignBuilder 1 5 Bra and panties 0 05 Long underwear upper 0 35 lower 0 35 Shirt White short sleeve 0 14 heavy long sleeve 0 29 Add 5 for tie or turtleneck Skirt 0 22 0 70 Trousers 0 26 0 32 Sweater 0 20 0 37 Socks 0 04 0 10 Light summer outfit 0 3 Working clothes 0 8 Typical indoor winter clothing combination 1 0 Heavy business suit 1 5 Note Clo values are additive so one can calculate the clo value for a person wearing a T shirt and light socks 0 09 0 04 0 13 Adapted from ASHRAE Fundamentals and Technical Review of Thermal Comfort Bruel and Kjaer No 2 1982 3 3 2 1 4 Holidays Activity tab in model data You can add holidays to the simulation to include the effect of building shutdown during certain periods of the year Do this by selecting the Holidays option under the Holidays header on the Activity tab at building level Holidays defined at building level in this way are used for the whole simulation and are
265. duced at this sensor position at night if the overhead electric General lighting were operating at full input power Recommended values depend on type of activity they may be found for example in the Lighting Handbook of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America and in CIBSE A Guide A typical value for general office work excluding computer terminals is 500 lux Display lighting The typical density of display lighting for the activity This value is used as a default on the Lighting tab for the Task and Display lighting density 3 3 2 1 6 Domestic Hot Water DHW Activity tab in model data In DesignBuilder the amount of DHW consumed is considered to be a function of the activity in the zone For example there is a demand assumed to arise from the occupants of an office for activities such as washing hands and washing up cups This demand is associated with the office rather than the toilet or tea room Thus the demand from each space needs to be assigned to a DHW system even if the system itself is not present in the space The effect of hot water consumption hot water taps showers etc on building energy use can be included in your thermal model by switching on DHW on the HVAC tab The data on this tab defines the hot water consumption rate in each zone as l day m2 data gal day ft in IP units The DHW consumption data is only used if DHW is selected on the HVAC tab Note Convert l person day DHW consumption data to the
266. e currently research only because instabilities can occur with complex constructions Temperature and Loads convergence The temperature and loads convergence values represent the maximum difference in zone temperature loads between successive iterations before convergence is reached Convergence of the simultaneous heat balance HVAC solution is reached when either the loads or temperature criterion is satisfied Both tolerances work the same way one looks at temperatures and one looks at heating and cooling loads After the second warm up day the program compares the maximum temperature experienced in a space with the maximum temperature from the previous day If those two temperatures are within the tolerance then it has passed the first warm up check It does a similar comparison with lowest temperatures experience within all the zones If the current simulation day and the previous day values are within the tolerance then it has passed the second warm up check A similar comparison is carried with the loads tolerance and the maximum heating and cooling loads that are experienced within the spaces Those are compared individually to the values for the previous day If they are both in tolerance then the simulation has passed the third and fourth warm up check The simulation stays in the warm up period until ALL FOUR checks have been passed Maximum shadow overlap not heating design Enter the maximum number of figures per shadow overla
267. e Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 3 3 2 1 2 Occupancy Activity tab in model data The Occupancy model data defines the number people in the space and the times of occupancy This data is used in simulations together with the Metabolic heat output of the occupants and Holidays to calculate the heat input to the building The Occupancy schedule setting Typical workday or Schedule may also be used to control internal gains and or HVAC systems if the appropriate Model options are set Set the number of people per unit floor area and the occupancy times Occupancy time definition depends on the Timing model data option TYPICAL WORKDAY TIMING MODEL OPTION When the Typical workday Timing model option is set the occupancy times are controlled by setting On and Off values and the number of days in the working week Occupancy Density peopleim2 0 2000 f w T T T T T T T 1 D 0 5 1 1 5 2 2 5 3 3 5 4 On at 8 00 El a pam Fel ss 028 1800 0 123 456 7 8 9 1011 1213 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Days week 5 0 X In above example there are 0 2 people per m2 between 8am and 6pm and there are no people outside these times and at weekends Note The Occupancy Days week is set at the building level only and is used for all other Typical workday schedules in the model apart from Mechanical ventilation and Heating and Cooling operation which have their own Days week data SCHEDULE TIMING MODEL OPT
268. e The choices are e 1 None no reset use the Off coil air temperature set point in conjunction with the Zone setpoint schedule 2 Outdoor air temperature reset reset the cooling supply air temperature based on the following default rules When the outdoor dry bulb temperature ODB is at or below 15 6C the setpoint is 18C When the ODB is at or above 26 7C the setpoint is the Off coil air temperature set point In between the setpoint is varied linearly These control parameters are from ASHRAE 90 1 Appendix G par G3 1 3 9 e 3 Warmest reset the cooling supply air temperature to the highest supply air temperature that will meet the cooling requirements of all the zones i e according to the cooling demand of the warmest zone The minimum setpoint allowed is the Off coil air temperature set point above The maximum setpoint allowed is defaulted to 18C For each zone in the system at each system time step the EnergyPlus set point manager calculates a supply air temperature that will meet the zone cooling load at the maximum zone supply air flow rate The lowest of the possible supply air temperatures becomes the new supply air temperature set point subject to minimum and maximum supply air temperature constraints The resulting temperature set point is the highest supply air temperature that will meet the cooling requirements of all the zones When compared to a fixed cooling supply air temperature set point this strategy minimizes z
269. e Airtightness slider Tip The effects of infiltration in some areas of the building and in some calculation types can be minor and in these cases infiltration can be switched off This can be done by unchecking the Model infiltration checkbox on the Construction model data tab for the areas of the building where infiltration in not to be modelled For example you may wish to switch off infiltration in roof blocks and include the roofspace ventilation using a smaller number of vents or holes instead or you could switch it off in the whole building for Summertime simulations where the effects of infiltration would be minimal relative to the much larger flow rates due to open windows vents holes and doors Airtightness slider The setting of the Airtightness slider indicates the Crack template applied when setting crack properties Very poor Poor Medium Good 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 e Excellent See also Mixed mode 12 2 Operative Temperature Control 12 3 Working with Large Models It is possible to create very large complex building models using DesignBuilder but you should consider what you re trying to achieve by your modelling exercise before diving in and including every detail of the building design Otherwise you may find you have created a beautiful model which is impractical to simulate because it takes too long or causes the simulation engine to fail You can should consider the followin
270. e External wall model data set at zone block and building level has no effect on the model other than by providing the default data for the level below 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 22 DesignBuilder 1 5 in the hierarchy Model data inherited from the level above is shown in blue and user data is shown in red see below gEstemal walls Wall Uninsulated Lightweight internal partitions plasterboard wi ySemi exposed walls Semi exgbsed wall Energy code standard M Flat roof Flat rdof Energy code standard Medium wei gPitched roof Pitchefgpf Energy code standard Medium door Wooden door User data The DesignBuilder hierarchy mechanism is a fast way of setting data globally in a building model but you must take care to enter the minimum amount of data to get the most from the inheritance system For example if all zones in a particular block have the same activity called say Office work you should set the activity at block level and not multiple times at zone level Equally if all the blocks in the building have the same activity you should set the data at the building level and allow the blocks to inherit the data from the building By keeping the amount of user data to a minimum you will find it quicker to make changes at a later date Clearly it is much faster to change a few Model data items at building and block level than it is to make multiple changes at
271. e a Standard space if Floor fitted above floor slab option is checked Glazed cavity When the Zone type is set to 3 Cavity the program asks you Do you want to load default Glazed cavity data including appropriate convection coefficients calculation options and Activity HVAC and Construction templates If you reply Yes then the following changes are made e The zone is set as unoccupied by loading None Activity HVAC and Lighting template data e Suspended floors and ceilings are switched off e The 5 Cavity Inside convection algorithm is set for Cooling design Heating design and simulation calculations e The 3 Full interior and exterior Solar distribution algorithm is set for Cooling design and simulation calculations You can find out more about Trombe wall simulations in the Modelling Issues section Plenum When the Zone type is set to 4 Plenum the program asks you Do you want to load default plenum data including appropriate convection coefficients calculation options and Activity and HVAC templates If you reply Yes then the following changes are made e The zone is set as unoccupied by loading None Activity HVAC and Lighting template data e Suspended floors and ceilings are switched off e The 4 Ceiling diffuser Inside convection algorithm is set for Cooling design Heating design and simulation calculations You can find out more about modelling plenums under HVAC 2008 DesignBuilder Softwar
272. e air temperatures is greater than Upper value of Tin Tout This data is used within EnergyPlus AIRNET to calculate a factor between 0 and 1 that multiplies the opening factor of each window and door in the building Modulation of the openings can reduce the large temperature swings that can occur if the windows doors are too far open when they are venting especially when there is a large inside outside temperature difference Multiplier on Venting Open Factor 1 0 H Limit Value on Multiplier for nnssuussuunsuundhuussuuussuus Modulating Venting Open Factor 0 0 Tzone Tout Pa Lower Value on Inside Outside Temperature Difference for Modulating the Venting Open Factor Temperature difference Tin Tout Tin Tout lt Lower value of Tin Tout 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Upper Value on Inside O utside Temperature Difference for Modulating the Venting Open Factor Opening Multiplier 1 0 24 DesignBuilder 1 5 Lower value of Tin Tout lt Tin Tout lt Upper value of Factor varies linearly from 1 0 to Tout Limit value of Opening modulation factor Tin Tout gt Upper Value of Tin Tout Factor Limit value of opening modulation factor For example if the Lower value of Tin Tout is 0 the Upper value is 15 and the Limit value of opening modulation factor is 0 05 the windows and doors are only opened 5 of their full opening area when the
273. e bins C Example Temperature Distribution Output SIMPLIFIED ASHRAE 55 2004 GRAPH RELATED OUTPUTS The Discomfort hours data is based on whether the humidity ratio and the operative temperature is within the region shown in ASHRAE Standard 55 2004 in Figure 5 2 1 1 For these outputs the operative temperature is simplified to be the average of the air temperature and the mean radiant temperature For summer the 0 5 Clo level is used and for winter the 1 0 Clo level is used The graphs below are based on the following tables which extend the ASHRAE values to zero humidity ratio In some cases you may find a large number of discomfort hours for a particular zone even though the air temperature in the space is within normal ranges If this happens you should check 1 Operative temperatures which can be very different in highly glazed spaces in the summer or poorly insulated spaces in the winter 2 Humidity levels are within range you may find very high or very low humidity caused by inadequate ventilation Note that the minimum comfort temperature with winter clothes when the air is very dry is 21 7 C 71 F which may be lower than some heating temperature setpoints Likewise in the summer when the air is very humid operative temperatures above 26 8 C 80 2 F are considered too hot with summer clothes Winter Clothes 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Calculations io 0 012 Humidity Air Temp degC 19 6 0 012
274. e clicking on the template icon in the model data e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting templates from a list 6 8 1 Hourly Weather Data General General tab on Hourly Weather data Dialog Select the Hourly weather data filename and the rest of the data is loaded directly from the epw and stat files Each file is named using the ISO standard three letter country abbreviation i e CUB for Cuba followed by the location name and the source format City UHK CSWD CTYW CTZ2 ISHRAE IWEC IGDG INETI KISR SWEC SWERA TMY2 or TMY Thus CUB Havana IWEC epw is the EnergyPlus weather file epw from the ASHRAE International Weather for Energy Calculations IWEC data for Havana Cuba CUB There are three files associated with each location EnergyPlus weather files e stat a summary report on the data Data from this file is loaded into the Statistics tab when an hourly weather data file is selected e ddy design conditions Note the above hourly weather data and associated statistics files are located in the Weather data folder 6 8 2 Hourly Weather Data Statistics Statistics tab on Hourly Weather data Dialog 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Template Data Simulation Options These options control the simulation and the output produced Simulation Period Selectthe start and end days forthe simulation or select a typical period simulation
275. e heat recovery to be by passed in this way HVAC tab in model data under Mechanical Ventilation header Variable air volume VAV systems control the dry bulb temperature inside a zone by varying the supply air volume instead of the air temperature At full cooling the VAV terminal unit damper is fully open supplying the specified maximum air flow rate As the cooling load decreases the damper closes until it reaches the minimum stop specified by the turndown ratio zone minimum air flow fraction VAV systems can be used for interior or perimeter zones with a common fan system air temperature control and reheating devices Heating is provided by use of reheat coils Note Zone Terminal unit data is used at the zone level Turndown ratio supply air minimum flow fraction The fraction that the zone VAV box can reduce to based on the supply air maximum flow rate The 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 minimum flow rate to the zone while the system is operating is specified as a fraction of the maximum air flow rate The turndown ratio is normally specified to meet the minimum ventilation requirement for the occupants The reheat coil operates only when the damper is at this minimum flow rate when Zone damper heating action is set to 1 Normal the default A value of 0 means the VAV box can completely shut off flow into the zone and a value of 1 0 means that the VAV box cannot reduce supply air at all i e it is
276. e options to control the air distribution system in various ways including the ability to ensure minimum fresh air delivery to each zone set VAV box minimum flow fraction and various outside air options including an economiser to provide free cooling when appropriate You can also model heating and cooling coil temperature reset Only one VAV system can be defined per building and it can serve up to 400 zones 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Note the Compact HVAC type must be set to VAV at building level and in all zones which are part of the VAV system Other zones can have HVAC type Unitary single zone or Fan coil units but not Unitary multizone or CAV VAV Compact HVAC Airflow Schematic Air Handling Unit AHU i Qutside Air Blow Through Cooling Heating Draw Through Heat Recovery Preheat Coil il 1 Bypass Damper Mixing Damper Fan Coil Coil Fan i 9 i System Supply Plenum 1 of Outside Air i ZI Supply i 7 Zone Supply Plenum Heat Damper gt Recovery 1 Recirculation 1 Reheat 1 Coil Zone 1 i Supply Air Exhaust 4 System Return Plenum eee SS a ee U Zone Return Plenum Heat Recovery Bypass Damper Series PIU Zone Supply Plenum Notes 1 The AHU is illustrated connected to 3 zones each zone using one of the VAV Terminal Unit types Standard Series PIU and Parallel PIU Up to 400 zones can be ser
277. e shivering The development of the controlling functions of skin conductance KS sweat rate Esw and shivering Mshiv is based on their correlation with the deviations in skin and core temperatures from their set points The KSU model s TSV was developed from experimental conditions in all temperature ranges and from clo levels between 05 clo to 0 7 clo and from activities levels of 1 to 6 mets 6 References 1 ASHRAE High Intensity Infrared Radiant Heating 1984 system Handbook American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers Atlanta GA Chapter 18 1984 2 Fanger P O Thermal Comfort Analysis and Applications in Environmental Engineering Danish Technical Press Copenhagen 1970 3 ASHRAE Physiological Principles for Comfort and Health 1985 Fundamental Handbook American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers Atlanta GA Chapter 8 1985 4 Du Bois D and E F A Formula to Estimate Approximate Surface Area if Height and Weight are Known Archives of internal Medicine Vol 17 1916 5 Fanger P O Radiation and Discomfort ASHRAE Journal February 1986 6 Berglund Larry Mathematical Models for Predicting the Thermal Comfort Response of Building Occupants ASHRAE Trans Vol 84 1978 7 Fanger P O Calculation of Thermal Comfort Introduction of a Basic Comfort Equation ASHRE Trans Vol 73 Pt 2 1967 8 Gagge A P Stolwijk J A J N
278. e spent in the solar initialisation calculations Note entering a small value here can speed up simulations in complex buildings If you plan to use Maximum shadow overlaps below the default value of 15000 you should check accuracy of solar gains relative to results using default value Surfaces within zone treated as adiabatic EnergyPlus support recommend modelling surfaces wholly contained within a zone as adiabatic and this option allows you to follow this advice We have found that in practice this option not make much difference in results or in simulation speed so for most cases you can leave it in its default state Note surfaces contained within a zone are frequently generated when one of the zone merging options is used where a partition or floor which would have separated two zones actually sits within the merged zone These surfaces do not refer to hanging partitions which are modelled using Internal thermal mass COMPACT HVAC SIMULATION AUTOSIZING OPTIONS The following 2 data items are used when autosizing Compact HVAC systems before simulations Sizing factor not heating cooling design This ratio is applied at the zone level to all of the zone heating and cooling loads and air flow rates These new loads and air flow rates are then used to calculate the system level flow rates and capacities and are used in all of the component sizing calculations Default value is 1 2 Design averaging window period not heating cooling d
279. e supply air Unitary DX can be used to provide a conservative calculation for the latent cooling loads 3 4 4 3 3 VAV Cooling Sizing When using the VAV cooling sizing method the Cooling design calculation is made through a detailed EnergyPlus simulation using Compact HVAC VAV equipment A diagram of the system layout used is shown in the VAV topic Each zone has it s own VAV AHU with a fan generating no pickup a water cooled AHU cooling coil an outside air controller and a zone terminal box with a damper to reduce supply air flow More specifically 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 No economiser No heat recovery No AHU heating coil No reheat coil No preheat coil Zero pressure rise fan No humidification dehumidification Standard zone terminal unit Zone plenums will be used if specified Outside airflow rate and operation schedule defined by the data under the Mechanical Ventilation header on the HVAC tab at the zone level Cooling coil availability defined by the schedule under the Cooling header on the HVAC tab at the zone level Zone design cooling temperature setpoints are defined by the data under Environmental Control on the Activity tab Unlike the ASHRAE cooling sizing option VAV can be used in conjunction with Natural ventilation Design supply temperature The constant dry bulb air temperature of the air supplied for cooling the zone Design turndown ratio supply air
280. e suspended ceiling floor as set on the Constructions tab when using Separate constructions as a plenum the plenum must be a completely separate zone 3 3 2 5 3 Cooling HVAC tab in model data You can enter details on the cooling system including the maximum capacity at zone level Cooling capacity The Cooling capacity can either be entered by hand or can be Autosized using the Cooling Design Calculations If immediately prior to a Simulation the Cooling capacity has not been entered neither by hand nor from a previous Cooling Design Calculation then a Cooling design autosizing simulation is started to calculate the capacity The Plant sizing building model option controls the way this works You can change cooling capacities by hand if you wish but you should bear in mind that by default if Model Options change all heating and cooling capacities are reset to zero Set the Plant sizing model option to 2 Manual to avoid this happening SUPPLY AIR CONDITIONS When using Simple HVAC you can specify the cooling supply air conditions of the air This data is used for simulations only cooling design calculations have a specific equivalent setting Supply air delivery temperature 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 The constant dry bulb air temperature of the air supplied for cooling the zone Supply air humidity ratio The constant humidity ratio mass of water per mass of dry air of the cold sup
281. e system The Unitary multizone option allows you to model constant volume direct expansion DX based HVAC configurations with several different heating options Direct expansion includes single packaged rooftop systems commonly seen in commercial buildings and split systems commonly seen in residential buildings In this system central heating and cooling coils are used to condition air which is delivered to the each of the zones in the system through an air delivery system Air delivery can be set up to ensure minimum fresh air supply and there are options for economisers to provide free cooling and heat recovery For a multizone system only one zone is specified as the control zone The thermostat is located in this control zone as set by the Thermostatic control zone for unitary system at the top of the HVAC tab at zone level So when using the system you should be careful to locate the thermostat in a zone which will have a representative temperature for the whole building otherwise some zones will become over under heated cooled 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 251 Only one Unitary multizone system can be defined per building and it can serve up to 400 zones Unitary Multizone Compact HVAC Airflow Schematic Air Handling Unit AHU Outside Air Blow Through Heating DX Cooling Heat Recovery Mixing Damper Fan il Coil Bypass Damper System Supply Plenum 4 Out
282. e the building is unoccupied 3 41 4 Timing Data tab on Model Options dialog You can specify schedules in DesignBuilder using two approaches Typical workday where the timing is defined by a start time end time working days per week and seasonal variation This approach is intended for easy early stage modelling of non domestic buildings e Schedules where Schedules can either be defined for each day of the week and each month of the year using daily Profiles or by using Compact Schedule format Schedules are more flexible and can be used in other projects but they take longer to set up Generally if you start to find the Typical workday timing mode too restrictive you should switch to Schedules mode You can also request Timing HVAC natural ventilation operates with occupancy Select this option if all heating cooling natural ventilation and DHW operation follows occupancy This option is only available if Timing is set to Typical workday Note that HVAC operation data can modify the occupancy patterns even when Timing HVAC natural ventilation operates with occupancy is set For example e Simple HVAC Mechanical ventilation Heating and Cooling operation have additional Days week and seasonal operation data Heating operation also has Preheat hours and Cooling operation also has Precool hours e Compact HVAC e Fan coil units Unitary single zone Mechanical ventilation Heating and Cooling operation have
283. e using a different name location e Save as template save the DesignBuilder dsb file as a template so it can be used as a starting point for subsequent new projects Import e Import 2 D DXF floorplan import a 2 D DXF floorplan into the model for tracing over e Import detailed survey data import a survey data file into the model advanced option contact DesignBuilder support for more information on this e Import building from external file import a building into the current model from an external file The option assumes that there is only one building in the external file e Import library data import library data from an existing DDF file Export e Export EnergyPlus Heating design IDF file export an IDF file using options for heating design 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Menu 457 calculations e Export EnergyPlus Cooling design IDF file export an IDF file using options for cooling design calculations e Export EnergyPlus Simulation design IDF file export an IDF file using options for simulation using hourly weather data e Export model image export the currently displayed image of the model e Export 3 D DXF model export the model in 3 D DXF format e Export library data export library data in DDF format 11 2 Edit Menu The Edit menu can be accessed from the horizontal top bar menu at the top of the screen General e Undo Ctrl Z undo last operation Redo Ctrl R redo last operation End str
284. e window exceeds SetPoint W m2 or BTU hr ft2 and if the zone cooling rate in the previous time step is non zero The following three control types can be used to reduce zone heating load during the winter by reducing window conductive heat loss at night and leaving the window unshaded during the day to maximize solar gain They are applicable to any Shading Type but are most appropriate for interior or exterior shades with high insulating value movable insulation Night means the sun is down and day means the sun is up 11 Night outside low air temp OnNightlfLowOutside Temp OffDay Shading is on at night if the outside air temperature is less than SetPoint C or F and schedule if specified allows shading Shading is off during the day 12 Night inside low air temp OnNightlfLowInside Temp OffDay Shading is on at night if the zone air temperature in the previous time step is less than SetPoint C or F and schedule if specified allows shading Shading is off during the day 13 Night heating OnNightlfHeating OffDay Shading is on at night if the zone heating rate in the previous time step exceeds SetPoint W and schedule if specified allows shading Shading is off during the day 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 222 DesignBuilder 1 5 The following two control types can be used to reduce zone heating and cooling load They are applicable to any Shading type but are most appropriate for translucent interior or exte
285. eam Enter end the partition stream creating a floating partition Cancel current operation Escape cancel the current operation returning to select mode Undo last point Escape undo the last point drawn when creating a block or when drawing partitions Clear to default clear model data to defaults Load data from template Ctrl L loads data from template e Reload non default templates loads data from template throughout model where template is non default e Transfer blocks transfers blocks from one building to another e Convert selected outlines to blocks convert any selected outlines to component or building blocks Drag block face start the drag face operation on the currently selected block e Divide block divide the currently selected block using the cutting tool e Measure Ctrl M measure length angles or areas in the model Draw e Draw block add a new block building level only e Draw internal perimeter draw a void courtyard block level only Draw partition draw partition streams block level only Draw window draw windows surface level only Draw sub surface draw sub surface surface level only Draw door draw doors surface level only Draw hole draw holes surface level only Draw vent draw vents surface level only Draw construction line draw one or more construction lines Remove e Remove DXF data remove all current DXF data e Remove all construction lines remove all construction lines e
286. eating and cooling capacities are reset to zero Set the Plant sizing model option to 2 Manual to avoid this happening If the HVAC system is Unitary multizone then the central heating coil capacity is calculated as the sum of the individual zone heating energy requirements HEATING PLANT Fuel Select the type of fuel used to generate the heating energy choose from 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 269 1 Electricity 2 Gas 3 Oil 4 Solid fuel 5 Bottled gas 6 Other Heating system CoP Simple HVAC only The heating system coefficient of performance is used to calculate the fuel consumption required to meet heating demand The value represents the total seasonal efficiency of the entire heating system and should include the effect of all energy consumption associated with building heating such as fan and pump energy boiler inefficiency control equipment etc Heating system CoP data is specified by zone so you can model different heating efficiencies in each zone But generally you should access this data from the building level and allow zones to take on building default Heat generator CoP Compact HVAC only Heat generators are devices such as boilers and heat pumps used to heat water for distribution to heating coils radiators and DHW systems The heat generator coefficient of performance is used to calculate the fuel consumption required to meet heating demand It represents the total seasonal ef
287. ed Trombe wall You can also model mechanically ventilated Trombe walls by using Compact HVAC and specifying the Trombe wall cavity zone as a plenum zone 12 8 Autosizing Heating and Cooling Equipment The Heating Capacity and Cooling Capacity Model Data is found on the HVAC tab at zone level If the Plant sizing building model option is set to 4 Autosize when not set these heating and cooling capacities can be automatically calculated by the software Note if you change heating or cooling capacities by hand you should be aware that the data will be overwritten if Model Options change To keep the heating and cooling capacities fixed change the Plant sizing model option to 2 Manual You may choose to use this option if you are already satisfied with the autosized capacities and wish to keep them as they are regardless of future changes to the model COMPACT HVAC AUTOSIZING Winter and summer design day simulations are automatically carried out as required for autosizing heating and cooling equipment prior to a Compact HVAC simulation There are some considerations you should be aware of regarding autosizing 1 Internal gains should normally be excluded from Winter design day calculations 2 You therefore shouldn t use the same schedule for equipment occupancy and HVAC operation because equipment and occupancy should be off for heating autosizing and HVAC should be on 3 Typical workday gives the easiest route to defining autosizing op
288. ed double facade and an airtight multiple glazing whether or not integrating a shading device in the cavity separating the panes lies in the intentional and possibly controlled ventilation of the cavity of the double facade The standard prEN 13119 specifies the terminology associated with curtain walls and of a double skin facade These are defined as Curtain walling External building facade produced with framing made mainly of metal timber or PVC U usually consisting of vertical and horizontal structural members connected together and anchored to the supporting structure of the building which provides by itself or in conjunction with the building construction all the normal functions of an external wall but does not contribute to the load bearing characteristics of the building structure Double Skin A curtain wall construction comprising an outer skin of Facade glass and an inner wall constructed as a curtain wall that together with the outer skin provide the full function of a wall This definition includes only references to the constructive and structural aspects of the facade No reference is made to the ventilation of the cavity Thus formally the term double skin facade does not designate a ventilated double facade It is for this reason that the term Ventilated Double Skin Facade is proposed as the generic term to designate these facades Double facades can be categorised according to the type of ventilation Ty
289. ed or cooled 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models e 2 Semi exterior unconditioned is an unoccupied zone in the building which is neither heated or cooled Examples of semi exterior unconditioned spaces are roofspaces sunspaces car parks etc e 3 Cavity the zone is a cavity such as the glazed cavity within a double facade or a Trombe wall This algorithm correctly calculates the convection coefficients for a narrow sealed vertical cavity based on the ISO 15099 standard e 4 Plenum the zone is a plenum which is unoccupied and has no heating cooling or mechanical ventilation though of course air will flow through it to meet the needs of the zones it serves Semi exterior unconditioned When the Zone type is set to 2 Semi exterior unconditioned the program asks you Do you want to load default unoccupied data including Activity HVAC and Construction templates If you reply Yes then the zone is set as unoccupied by loading None Activity HVAC and Lighting template data Also Semi exposed constructions will be used instead of standard partitions for adjacencies with Semi exterior unconditioned zones For example the wall between an occupied office and a car park would use the Semi exposed construction whereas the wall between two occupied offices would use Internal partition construction Also roofspace insulation is applied in the floor of a Semi exterior unconditioned space when it is abov
290. either switch reheat off or select either electric or hot water reheat coils The options are e 1 None no heating e 2 Electric heating coils powered by electricity assumed 100 efficient 0 distribution loss e 3 Hot water heating coils supplied with hot water generated by a boiler If you select 3 Hot water main heating coils DesignBuilder generates data to simulate the boiler and the pumps required to serve the reheat coil Zone damper heating action During heating operation there are two control options for the damper controlling the air flow in the VAV terminal unit as the zone moves above or below the zone setpoint With both control options the damper is at the minimum air flow rate whenever the zone temperature is between the cooling and heating setpoints e 1 Normal the damper will remain at the minimum air flow rate during heating operation As the heating load increases the water flow rate in the reheat coil will be increased to maintain temperature in the zone until the maximum water flow rate is reached The system essentially acts like a constant volume system during heating e 2 Reverse the air flow rate through the VAV box may increase above the minimum air flow when the heating demand cannot be satisfied unless greater air flow is provided As the heating load increases the unit starts at minimum air flow and minimum hot water flow The hot water flow is increased until it reaches maximum flow then the air dampe
291. eless fuel including coke Solid 9 Dual fuel appliances mineral wood Other 10 Biomass Other 11 Waste heat Other Fraction lost This field is a decimal number between 0 0 and 1 0 and is used to characterise the amount of lost heat being given off by the catering equipment in a zone The number specified in this field will be multiplied by the total energy consumed by equipment to give the amount of heat which is lost and does not impact the zone energy balances This might correspond to cooker heat that is vented to the atmosphere through an extract hood Radiant Fraction This field is a decimal number between 0 0 and 1 0 and is used to characterise the amount of long wave radiant heat being given off by catering equipment in a zone The radiant fraction will be multiplied by the total energy consumed by electric equipment and 1 Fraction lost to give the amount of long wavelength radiation gain from catering equipment in a zone A value of zero means that the heat gain is entirely convective in which case all the heat is transferred to the air node in simulations A value of 1 means that the gain is entirely radiative in which case all the heat is distributed to the inside surfaces a typical value is somewhere between 0 1 and 0 5 If the Internal gains operate with occupancy model option is not selected you can also set the operation schedule 3 3 2 1 11 Process Gains Activity tab in model data Set the thermal gains due to pro
292. emplate by the required illuminance level as set on the Activity tab Consequently you should make sure the correct activity data has been loaded in each zone before loading lighting templates Also you may need to explicitly load data in each zone by checking each zone in the Target tab of the Load data from template dialog Lighting data generates simulation data at the Zone level 3 3 2 4 1 General Lighting Lighting tab in model data General lighting accounts for the main lighting in the room It is assumed to be able to be replaced by daylight through lighting control if this option is selected Lighting energy This is typically the maximum electrical power input in Watts to lighting in a zone including ballasts if present This value is multiplied by a schedule fraction see previous field to get the lighting power in a particular time step Note that when you load lighting data from template the actual lighting casual gain is calculated by dividing the W m2 100 lux data in the template by the required illuminance level as set on the Activity tab The electrical input to lighting ultimately appears as heat that contributes to zone loads or to return air heat gains In EnergyPlus this heat is divided into four different fractions Three of these are given by the input fields Return Air Fraction Fraction Radiant and Fraction Visible A fourth defined as the fraction of the heat from lights convected to the zone air is calculated
293. en put in both chart and graph form Description of the model and algorithm Fanger developed the model based on the research he performed at Kansas State University and the 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd EnergyPlus Background Information 523 Technical University of Denmark Fanger used the seven point form of a thermal sensation scale along with numerous experiments involving human subjects in various environments He related the subjects in response to the variables which influence the condition of thermal comfort Fanger s model is based upon an energy analysis that takes into account all the modes of energy loss L from the body including the convection and radiant heat loss from the outer surface of the clothing the heat loss by water vapor diffusion through the skin the heat loss by evaporation of sweat from the skin surface the latent and dry respiration heat loss and the heat transfer from the skin to the outer surface of the clothing The model assumes that the person is thermally at steady state with his environment By determining the skin temperature and evaporative sweat rate that a thermally comfortable person would have in a given set of conditions the model calculates the energy loss L Then using the thermal sensation votes from subjects at KSU and Denmark a Predicted Mean Vote PMV thermal sensation scale is based on how the energy loss L deviates from the metabolic rate M in the following form PIERCE
294. en and this Holiday schedule defines which days are holidays Days are selected from the top of the list working downwards The data is used to specify EnergyPlus SpecialDayPeriods There are two tabs on the Holidays dialog e General e List Holiday data can be accessed 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 370 DesignBuilder 1 5 e from the Components tab on the opening screen to view edit library components if no file is open e from the Components tab in the Navigator panel to view edit model components if a file is open e by double clicking on the holidays icon on the Activity tab in the model data e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting holidays from a list 5 13 1 General General tab on Holidays Dialog Enter the Region and Category for the Holiday Schedule 5 13 2 Holiday List List tab on Holidays Dialog Name Start date Number of days Autumn e 2708 ss is et rete oY Christmas holidays 22 Dec 14 Spring half term 16 Feb 6 Easter holidays 5 April 14 May Day 1st Monday in May 1 Whitsun half term 31 May 7 Summer holidays 19 July 42 Holidays are selected from the top of the list so holidays which are most likely to be taken should be defined first so they are positioned at the top of the list Use the controls in the Info panel to add edit and delete holidays Valid holiday date formats are defined in Compact Schedules EnergyPlus Date Definition 2008 DesignBuilder
295. enerally use the Scheduled natural ventilation model option because it is quicker and easier to enter the related model data and also because the simulations run more quickly However if you need to calculate natural ventilation rates which can be achieved with a particular configuration then you should use the Calculated option More on Natural Ventilation modelling 3 4 1 6 HVAC Data tab on Model Options dialog HVAC can be defined in DesignBuilder using e Simple the heating cooling system is modelled using basic loads calculation algorithms and the corresponding energy consumption is calculated from loads as a post process e Compact the heating cooling systems are defined in DesignBuilder using Compact HVAC descriptions but modelled in detail in EnergyPlus Note you can force all HVAC systems to have the same operation schedule as occupancy by checking the HVAC natural ventilation operate with occupancy option under Timing Plant Sizing Autosizing DesignBuilder can be used to automatically calculate heating and cooling capacity in each zone based on the output from the Heating and Cooling design calculations The Plant sizing model option provides control over how heating and cooling capacities are set for Simulations Select from e 1 Adequate The effect of this option depends on the HVAC model option When using Simple HVAC equipment is modelled as having adequately large capacity to meet any heating or coo
296. enerated whenever 2 blocks touch along a plane They are listed in the Navigator twice once in each of the 2 zones in which they appear They are however a single partition object within DesignBuilder and in the thermal calculations So if for example you change the Partition construction model data for an inter block partition or draw windows the change will also be reflected in the equivalent inter block partition surface in the adjacent zone 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Reference We i Int i block partition Wall with hole Surfaces marked Wall with hole in the navigator are external surfaces on the same block face as an inter block partition surface see above The hole is where the inter block partition goes So Wall with hole is the part of the block face that is adjacent to outside The partition with the adjacent block is in a separate surface called inter block partition it is separated from the rest of the wall because it has a different adjacency So the sum of the inter block partition s and the wall with the hole make up the actual surface The figures below illustrate 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 4 DesignBuilder 1 5 272 At building level At surface level Note that at surface level you can only draw openings on the grey areas of the surface The white hole is 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Reference 497 actually the inter block partition above Wall
297. equired geometric operation e g Undo Go to surface etc Note that Undo Redo applies only to geometric operations and changes to Model Data cannot be undone 3 2 15 Rebuild Rebuild command accessed from Tools menu Sometimes the adjacencies within DesignBuilder models can become corrupt The Rebuild command recalculates the zone surface and adjacency geometry from the base building elements 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 176 DesignBuilder 1 5 3 2 16 Rezone Block Rezone block command accessed from Tools menu Use the Rezone block command to refresh the zoning in the current block The command converts any outline partitions in a block to standard partitions and updates zones due to any partitions that may have deleted The command should be used when the Automatic block zoning model option is switched off When the option is switched on and it has always been switched on during the life of a model then you will not need to use this command 3 3 Model Data Model Data is the data for the site on the tabs e Location e Legislative region and insulation standards and data for building model on the tabs e Activity usage e Constructions e Openings windows doors vents holes sub surfaces e Lighting e HVAC The Model Data tabs are shown in the Edit Screen User Interface help topic At the point of the building is created building model default data is initially loaded at the building level from temp
298. equirement 0 000 kw Plenum East 1 414 243 0 00 Plenum Internal 1 1628 977 0 00 Plenum West 1 414 243 0 00 Plenum South 1 977 586 0 00 Plenum North 1 97 7 58 6 0 00 JBlock 2 Total Design Cooling Requirement 35 180 kw Internal 2 11 54 0 61 11 54 3398 156 256 491 06 30 288 1628 488 4 374 East 2 4 57 0 22 457 033 289 490 09 00 295 392 1177 559 West 2 5 33 0 25 533 497 035 294 490 16 00 313 392 1177 6 36 North 2 6 71 0 37 671 068 267 490 1400 286 932 2797 3 92 South 2 7 03 0 37 7 03 E13 258 490 06 30 290 932 2797 397 Z Plenum Block 2 Total Design Cooling Requirement 0 000 kW Plenum East 2 41 4 24 9 10 00 Plenum Internal 2 162 8 97 7 0 00 Plenum West 2 414 243 0 00 Plenum South 2 977 58 6 000 Plenum North 2 97 7 586 0 00 Use the Export command to export this data in spreadsheet format 7 3 Simulation You can generate detailed building energy performance data based on simulations using real weather data Click on the Simulation Screen tab to view simulation data If the necessary data has not yet been generated a simulation is automatically started to generate the data Simulations using EnergyPlus have the following characteristics Weather data comes from Hourly weather data file Includes consideration of heat conduction and convection between zones of different temperatures Includes solar gain through windows Simulation of HVAC equipment options Includes one
299. er information on e Dimensions e Frame e Shading e Operation Openings tab in model data under External Glazing and Internal Glazing headers Facade types There are a number of standard facade types e None there is no glazing e Continuous horizontal glazing is generated in a continuous horizontal strip using Sill height Window spacing and Percentage glazing Fixed height glazing is generated with a fixed height at the specified Sill height and Window spacing and width is calculated based on the Percentage glazing This option uses Window to wall but prioritises window height Preferred height glazing is generated using the window height data and the Percentage glazing but the Window height may be adjusted to achieve the required Window to wall This option uses Window height Window spacing and Sill height but prioritises Window to wall Fixed width and height windows have fixed width and height This option uses Window to wall but prioritises Window Width Height Spacing and Sill height e Fill surface 100 the entire surface is filled with glazing and there is no frame You can use the Window to wall WWR data and Window height Window spacing and Sill height to easily change the amount of glazing and its layout on the walls This data is used as described above under Facade types Note 1 you can control the makeup of the building facades in greater detail by drawing individual windows at the surface
300. er as the epw file The stat file is automatically generated by the Hourly weather data translation process When you press enter you will be able to select this new Hourly weather data set from the Location tab at site level Data format The epw weather data format is described on the Weather data section of the EnergyPlus website 13 2 Edit Translate hourly weather data You can use the Edit Translate Hourly Weather Data dialog to process hourly weather data You may wish to do this for various reasons e Convert EnergyPlus epw data to be compatible with DesignBuilder day of week results for daily hourly and sub hourly output set the year to 2002 e Translate weather data in other formats to the EnergyPlus format so that it can be used in DesignBuilder e Generating modified weather data sets for investigating climate change scenarios Translating Use this dialog to convert weather data to and from a range of file formats Supported formats are EnergyPlus data files epw 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Simulation Hourly Weather Data 487 EnergyPlus comma separated values files csv TMY2 data files tmy2 or tm2 TMY data files tmy IWEC data files iwec or iwc Samson data files samson or dat WYEC2 data files wyec2 or wy2 DOE 2 formatted data files fmt or txt ESP r formatted data files esp r or clm BLAST ASCII formatted data files blast or asc Required extensions are shown in brackets
301. er dsb file and so any changes you make to the model configuration will not affect other models You can open the Model Options dialog by e Pressing F11 e Clicking on the spanner icon on the toolbar e From the Edit menu All Model Options are stored in a single dialog but the options you can access depend on where you are in the model hierarchy Some model options are stored at the site level e All options on the Display tab Most are stored at the building level e Options on the Data Advanced Heating design Cooling design Simulation tabs and some are stored at block level 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 2 e All options on the Block tab So if you open the Model Options dialog when you are at building level you will not be able to access the Block Model Options Likewise if you are at site level you will only be able to access the Display tab 3 4 1 Model Data Options Data tab on Model Options dialog Use this dialog to customise the Model Data Options for the current building You can edit the amount of detail in various aspects of the model e Model scope e Construction and Glazing e Gains e Timing e HVAC e Natural ventilation The descriptions to the right of the sliders taken together provide a summary of the current model options 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Scope Y Scope Whole building _ Foalyse the whole b
302. er of hours specified in the Time zone data usually 1 hour to the local mean time to get the time to determine schedule operation Because Simulation results are displayed in local mean time during the summer when daylight saving time is in use occupancy and equipment etc will appear to start 1 hour earlier in the day than it does in the winter To help you pinpoint this DesignBuilder prints the times when daylight saving starts and ends on the graph e When comparing results with and without Daylight saving you will notice e Solar radiation data has exactly the same timing with and without daylight saving e Occupancy equipment and other aspects of building operation controlled by schedules will start 1 hour earlier with daylight saving Visualisations use local mean time when setting the position of the sun for site shading analysis Again you can account for daylight saving time by adding 1 hour to the time during summer months to see shading for local clock time 3 3 1 1 4 Simulation Weather Data Location tab on model data at Site level DesignBuilder uses EnergyPlus epw format hourly weather data for simulations heating and cooling design calculations use much simpler design weather data You can review edit and convert weather using the Edit hourly weather data dialog You can also add your own hourly weather data 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 3 3 1 1 5 Winter Design Weather Data Lo
303. er the Calculated Natural Ventilation header on the Advanced tab of the Model Options dialog can modify ventilation control behaviour When using the Scheduled natural ventilation model option the Max natural ventilation in out delta T below can prevent natural ventilation from occurring if the outside air temperature is too high Natural ventilation max natural ventilation in out delta T The Natural ventilation Max int out temp difference is used for Scheduled natural ventilation only and is the temperature difference between the indoor and outdoor air dry bulb temperatures below which ventilation is shut off This is to allow ventilation to be stopped if the temperature outside is too warm and could potentially heat the space It is not related to preventing drafts For example if you specify a maximum delta temperature of 2 C ventilation is assumed to be available if the outside air temperature is at least 2 C cooler than the zone air temperature If the outside air dry bulb temperature is less than 2 C cooler or warmer than the indoor dry bulb temperature then ventilation is automatically turned off The values for this field can include negative numbers This allows ventilation to occur even if the outdoor temperature is above the indoor temperature The Delta Temperature control works in the code in the following way if IndoorTemp OutdoorTemp Max ventilation in out delta T then ventilation is not allowed For example Value o
304. er the Heating and Cooling headers Unlike the Unitary multizone and CAV and VAV Compact HVAC types Fan coil unit zone systems take all their data from the zone level 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 Fan Coil Compact HVAC Airflow Schematic Outside Air Fan Cooling Heating Mixing Damper Coil Outside Air Recirculation Supply Exhaust 4 amp 4 Notes 1 The Fan Coil Unit system supplies one zone only 2 Cooling coil and Heating coil are optional Note 1 Fan coil supply fans run continuously at full speed whenever the availability schedules are gt 0 so fan coil outside air flow can be fully on or fully off but cannot reduce to fractional values in between You may therefore get higher outside air delivery rates than with other systems if you are using Schedules and your Mechanical ventilation operation schedule has fractional values Limitations 1 Fan coil units cannot be used in the same simulation as Unitary multizone Compact HVAC type 2 Outside air flow rate is either off or on at a fixed flow rate depending on the value of the Fan operation schedule 3 Fan coil units cannot incorporate economisers and variable speed fans Technical EnergyPlus EnergyPlus needs both the heating coil and cooling coil to be defined so even if heating or cooling is not selected in the input DesignBuilder will schedule the appropriate coil to be off to mimic a 2 pip
305. er to the Draw window tool Holes are used for two purposes 1 As an air flow path between a zone and an other zone or outside in much the same way that Vents are used Holes cannot be controlled they simply represent a constant air flow path in the fabric Holes positioned on external walls only have an effect on Simulation calculations when the Natural ventilation building model option is set to Calculated They have no effect on Heating and Cooling Design calculations Holes positioned on internal partition walls are used to mix the air between the two adjacent zones when the Scheduled Natural ventilation building model option is set They also provide an air flow path when the Calculated option is set You can find information on the way Mixing works by looking at the Vent Operation help topic 2 For merging zones together Note that the Merge zones connected by holes option must be selected for this to work Tip It is possible to draw large holes in surfaces to give the effect of the surface having being removed This can be a useful technique for creating atrium type spaces connecting gable roof blocks to the main roof block and generally merging zones in different blocks Note Holes transmit solar radiation Large horizontal holes You can draw holes in internal and external horizontal surfaces to model the flow of air between storeys or to outside but you should be aware when using the Calculated natural ventilation option
306. eration the appropriate Winter Design Day schedule data settings are used 4 Summer design day schedules are normally the same as the general ones so are easier to deal with 5 If you are using Compact schedules then you should ensure that a specific line of WinterDesignDay data is included for all schedule periods 6 If you are using 7 12 Schedules then there are 2 options End use defaults and Profiles 7 You can include intermittent operation by using a time varying Heating demand or HVAC schedule This would normally provide heating equipment sizes with higher capacity than a steady state calculation where the heating is on all day 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Modelling Advice 473 12 9 Daylight Saving and Local Time DesignBuilder allows you to model the effect of daylight saving time where the clocks are moved forward one hour in the summer months in most non equatorial countries The timing of this is handled automatically using DesignBuilders time zones database when you load data from one of the Location templates supplied with the program You can set the Time zone at the Site level on the Location tab L4 2 Time and Daylight Saving Y Qa Time zone GMT Greenwich Mean Time Dublin Edinburgh Lisbon There are however some factors you should be aware of e Simulation results are displayed in local mean time This means that during the summer occupancy will appear to start 1 hour earlier in the day than it
307. erhang sidefins 0 5m projection Cancel Create custom local Edit selected local shading device shading device Note the DesignBuilder Local shading devices allow a range of different overhangs side fins and louvres to be defined but if you need to model a shading device not covered by the standard mechanism you can draw custom shading devices using Component blocks 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 223 Openings tab in model data under External Glazing Internal Glazing and Roof Glazing headers The operation of windows can be defined by entering data under Operation headers The data will depend on the Natural ventilation model option set Calculated Natural Ventilation The 96 Glazing area opens slider allows you to define the openable window area as a percentage of the total window area For example enter 20 if 20 of the window area can open Note if modulation is switched on it is by default the glazing opening areas are multiplied by a factor to account for external conditions You can also enter a schedule to define the timing of the window operation The windows are open when T gt AND T gt T AND the schedule value 1 zone_air setpoin zone air outside air The ventilation rate is calculated based on the pressure difference across the opening calculated from wind and stack pressure effects using equations described in Natural Ventilation Modelling Schedu
308. eriods are modelled using setback temperatures i e the system is not switched off If you wish the system to switch off outside main heating cooling hours use the 3 Custom profile type 3 If the setback temperature set does not appear to affect results this may be because the heating cooling operation schedule selected uses only 0 and 1 not the 0 5 required to access setback temperature see table above TYPICAL WORKDAY TIMING MODEL OPTION You can define the operation of heating and cooling equipment by entering Typical workday start and end times and seasonal operation under the Heating and Operation headers on the HVAC tab This data is used to generate both the heating cooling availability schedule and the temperature setpoint schedule used in the simulations The equipment is switched on between the On and Off times 8am and 6pm in the example below During this time the equipment is controlled using the main temperature setpoint Activity tab At other times and during weekends the equipment is controlled using the setback temperature setpoint Weekends are defined on the Activity tab at the building level under Occupancy by setting the number of working days per week The Seasonal control data allows you to set times when the equipment is switched off altogether For example the heating system data shown below indicates that the heating system will be switched on during the winter only and switched off in the summer dE MT
309. erion is satisfied Both tolerances work the same way one looks at temperatures and one looks at heating and cooling loads After the second warm up day the program compares the maximum temperature experienced in a space with the maximum temperature from the previous day If those two temperatures are within the tolerance then it has passed the first warm up check It does a similar comparison with lowest temperatures experience within all the zones If the current simulation day and the previous day values are within the tolerance then it has passed the second warm up check A similar comparison is carried with the loads tolerance and the maximum heating and cooling loads that are experienced within the spaces Those are compared individually to the values for the previous day If they are both in tolerance then the simulation has passed the third and fourth warm up check The simulation stays in the warm up period until ALL FOUR checks have been passed Maximum shadow overlap not heating design 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Enter the maximum number of figures per shadow overlap The shadow overlaps is a measure of the amount of complexity in the shading calculation and this maximum value allows you to limit the amount of time spent in the solar initialisation calculations Note entering a small value here can speed up simulations in complex buildings If you plan to use Maximum shadow overlaps below the de
310. ernal surface elements in the building From the Construction model data tab you can access data on e Construction and e Airtightness Open the headers to enter construction details where they are different from those loaded from the template Any changes you make that are different from the template data originally loaded shown in bold red TEMPLATES General Construction and glazing When you have the General Construction and glazing model option set you can load generic Construction data by clicking on the Template option under Construction Template and then by clicking on the at the right of the line below Layout Activity Construction Openings Lighting Hvac Construction Template Y Ea Template Energy code Mediumweight Select generic construction _ 7 template When you make a selection from the list of Construction templates data from selected template is loaded to the model Pre design Construction and glazing Alternatively if you have the Pre design Construction and glazing model option set generic constructions can be loaded using the sliders shown below In this case you are restricted to the 4x3 construction templates from the lt System gt Construction templates category identified by the combination of Insulation and Thermal mass selected on the sliders For example in the screenshot shown below data will be loaded from the Energy code Mediumweight template 2008 DesignBu
311. ernatively to convert all outline partitions in the building to standard partitions and hence rezone the whole building you can use the Rebuild command This will take longer to process than the Rezone block command as it recalculates the surface and adjacency geometry as well rezoning Note switching Automatic block zoning off also prevents rezoning following other partition edit commands such as delete copy and undo redo Automatically include voids from lower blocks Select this option if you would like DesignBuilder to automatically punch voids through new blocks drawn on top of existing blocks having voids If you leave this option switched off default state you can still draw voids at the block level using the ghosted outline of adjacent voids in a block below as a guide Edit block model data 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 2 Use this option to allow editing of block level model data Note If you disable block editing you will no longer be able to edit Model Data at the block level in the current building and so will not be able to set different defaults for different blocks 3 4 2 4 Lighting Advanced tab on Model Options dialog Working plane height You can set the height of the working plane and hence the z position of the lighting sensor The x y coordinate is set by placing the Lighting sensor marker s at zone level 3 4 2 5 Filters Advanced tab on Model Options dialog Exclude s
312. es WYEC2 484 X X axis 122 snapped 41 SP2 492 296 302 313 Y axis 41 Pr ae Z axis 77 line 67 89 lines 41 snapped 67 switch 67 Zip 15 Zone 15 21 27 30 40 87 88 100 146 147 160 162 163 181 183 184 189 199 223 227 235 236 238 239 242 246 248 253 273 276 280 284 285 287 289 294 296 298 302 304 307 313 320 325 326 345 372 375 387 388 401 403 404 407 410 411 415 417 418 423 447 464 465 508 Zone Block 147 Zone including 184 Zone Level 21 160 163 184 239 248 280 Zone making 464 Zone Time Step 296 302 313 Zone Type 184 Zone Sys Air Temp 296 302 313 Zone s 307 320 307 320 Zoom 34 35 79 326 435 440 Zoom Dynamic 34 Zoom Window 31 34 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd
313. es whether the shading device is on or off For blinds and shades when the device is on it is assumed to cover all of the window except its frame when the device is off it is assumed to cover none of the window whether on or off the shading device is assumed to cover none of the wall that the window is on For switchable glazing 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 221 on means that the glazing is in the fully switched state and off means that it is in the unswitched state for example for electrochromic glazing on means the glazing is in its darkest state and off means it is in its lightest state The choices for Shading control type are the following Equivalent EnergyPlus control types are shown in italics If SetPoint is applicable its units are shown in parentheses 1 Always on AlwaysOn Shading is always on The following six control types are used primarily to reduce zone cooling load due to window solar gain 2 Daylight MeetDaylightllluminanceSetpoint Used only with Position 4 Switchable in zones with daylighting controls In this case the transmittance of the glazing is adjusted to just meet the daylight illuminance set point at the first daylighting reference point Note that the daylight illuminance set point is specified under Environmental Control on the Activity tab 3 Schedule Shading operation is defined by a schedule 4 Solar OnlfHighSolarOnWindow Shadin
314. esign The time in the zone design flow sequence averaging window during EnergyPlus Compact HVAC autosizing calculations The default is 1 hour in which case the calculated zone design flow rates are 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 312 DesignBuilder 1 5 averaged over an hour The autosizing zone design air flow rate calculation is performed assuming a potentially infinite supply of heating or cooling air at a fixed temperature Thus the calculated design air flow rate will always be able to meet any load or change in load no matter how large or abrupt In reality air flow rates are limited by duct sizes and fan capacities The idealized zone design flow calculation may result in unrealistically large flow rates especially if the user is performing the sizing calculations using thermostat schedules with night setup or setback The calculated zone design flow rates are always averaged over the load timestep You may want to perform a broader average to mitigate the effect of thermostat setup and setback and prevent the warm up or cool down flow rates from dominating the design flow rate calculation Specifying the width of the averaging window allows the user to do this INCLUDE IDF DATA NOT HEATING COOLING DESIGN You can include up to 2 custom IDF data in your EnergyPlus simulations by checking the IDF File 1 or IDF File 2 check boxes and entering the name of the IDF data source file The contents of any files specified are copied to t
315. esign summer weather conditions e No wind e Includes solar gains through windows and scheduled natural ventilation e includes internal gains from occupants lighting and other equipment e Includes consideration of heat conduction and convection between zones of different temperatures For buildings situated in the Northern Hemisphere Cooling Design calculations are made for the month of July and for buildings in the Southern Hemisphere they are made for the month of January Simulation continues until temperatures heat flows in each zone have converged If convergence does not occur then simulation continues for the maximum number of days as specified in the calculation options The simulation calculates half hourly temperatures and heat flows for each zone and determines cooling capacities required to maintain any cooling temperature set points in each zone The maximum cooling load in each zone is multiplied by a Safety factor 1 5 by default to give a Design Cooling Capacity This design cooling capacity can be written directly into the Cooling capacity model data depending on the setting of the Plant sizing model option on the Data tab under HVAC Customise the data displayed and display style using the Display Options panel Note Cooling Design calculations use Scheduled Natural ventilation model data set on the HVAC tab even when the Calculated natural ventilation option is set This is to help you to document the input data for
316. esign flow rates are averaged over an hour The autosizing zone design air flow rate calculation is performed assuming a potentially infinite supply of heating or cooling air at a fixed temperature Thus the calculated design air flow rate will always be able to meet any load or change in load no matter how large or abrupt In reality air flow rates are limited by duct sizes and fan capacities The idealized zone design flow calculation may result in unrealistically large flow rates especially if the user is performing the sizing calculations using thermostat schedules with night setup or setback The calculated zone design flow rates are always averaged over the load timestep You may want to perform a broader average to mitigate the effect of thermostat setup and setback and prevent the warm up or cool down flow rates from dominating the design flow rate calculation Specifying the width of the averaging window allows the user to do this INCLUDE IDF DATA NOT HEATING COOLING DESIGN You can include up to 2 custom IDF data in your EnergyPlus simulations by checking the IDF File 1 or IDF File 2 check boxes and entering the name of the IDF data source file The contents of any files specified are copied to the end of the IDF dataset generated by DesignBuilder before simulation 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Include IDF Data Y IDF File 1 Filename IDF File 2 Report Variables Database idf Note Included
317. esignBuilder Software Ltd 270 DesignBuilder 1 5 When preheat is specified this data defines the temperature of the air coming off the preheat coils assuming idealised control Preheat coils are automatically sized by EnergyPlus before the simulation to provide this off coil temperature given the flow rates in the air handling unit VAV AND CAV CENTRAL HEATING COILS The central AHU heating coil data is specified for the whole building and is not accessible at zone level Coil type The main central heating coil is located in the supply air stream upstream of the cooling coil and after the outside air mixing box If no central heating coil is used in the VAV system then the option 1 None should be specified here Otherwise this indicates the type of heating coil It is unlikely that both a heating coil and a preheat coil would be used at the same time The options are e 1 None no heating e 2 Electric heating coils powered by electricity assumed 80 efficient 0 distribution loss e 3 Hot water heating coils supplied with hot water generated by a boiler 4 Gas gas fired heating coils assumed 80 efficient 0 distribution loss If you select 3 Hot water main heating coils the program generates data to simulate the boiler and the pumps required to serve the heating coil Off coil air temperature set point When main heating coils are specified this data defines the temperature of the air coming off the coils assuming
318. ete and change the position of existing buildings e Change the site orientation e Enter site Model Data including information on the site location weather data etc 3 2 8 1 Create New Building You can add more new buildings from the site level 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Note that each building has its own set of Model Options and is simulated separately but shares site Model Data with the other buildings on the site 3 2 8 1 1 Create New Building Model Select the type of building model you wish to create from the list of options Your selection will depend on what you want to do with the building model and the amount of data available Some typical options are e Draw building standard data Recommended for general purpose modelling e Single zone simplified data Early design stage analysis of building components facade and cooling options e Parametric building standard data Buildings of standard form rectangular L shaped or courtyard You can adjust the Model Options later if necessary using the Model Options dialog 3 2 8 1 2 Create New Building Default Data This tab allows you to define the templates used to populate the new building with default Model Data Construction Select the construction template to use as a source of default fabric data for the building Activity Select the activity template to use as a source of defa
319. eter on a horizontal plane the block will be automatically extruded using the Height setting if the Auto Complete Block option is switched on or the View Rotation 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 1 DesignBuilder 1 5 has been set to Plan After drawing a vertically extruded block perimeter on a horizontal plane the block will be automatically extruded by the Height setting if the Auto Complete Block option is switched on or the View Rotation has been set to Plan With this option switched off or in the case of a non horizontal drawing plane the perimeter can be dragged along an axis normal to the perimeter to obtain the required extrusion 3 2 9 2 Editing blocks The geometry of blocks can be modified using the following tools e Drag block face e Divide block Outline blocks can be converted to building blocks using the Convert outline block tool 3 2 9 2 1 Drag Block Face a S SE FVEP L P RID ODOO The topology of a block can be edited using the Drag face tool which allows you to select a block surface and drag it along an axis normal to the surface To edit a block topology first go to the building level select the block that you want to modify and click on the Drag face tool Then move the mouse cursor to the surface that you want to move As you move the cursor across the block surfaces each surface will highlight to help in selecting the required surface Whe
320. evel Use this screen to edit the location of the site its weather data the daylight savings and energy codes which apply You can load a location from the database by clicking on Template line under the Location Template header then on the at the right of the line Layout Location Location Template LONDON GATWICK ARPT Select location template a When you make a selection from the list of location templates data from selected template will be loaded to the model Alternatively you can use the Load data from template tool 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 178 DesignBuilder 1 5 You can enter data on e Site location e Site details e Time and daylight saving e Simulation weather e Winter design weather and e Summer design weather 3 3 1 1 1 Site Location Location tab on model data at Site level You can set the latitude longitude of the site as well as a number of site characteristics Latitude The latitude in degrees of the site By convention North Latitude is represented as positive South Latitude as negative Minutes should be represented in decimal fractions of 60 15 is 15 60 or 25 Longitude The longitude in degrees of the site By convention East Longitude is represented as positive West Longitude as negative Minutes should be represented in decimal fractions of 60 15 is 15 60 or 25 3 3 1 1 2 Site Details Location tab on model data at Site level Elevation a
321. exterior the program will also calculate how much beam radiation falling on the inside of an exterior window from other windows in the zone is absorbed by the window how much is reflected back into the zone and how much is transmitted to the outside In this calculation the effect of a 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 shading device if present is accounted for Important You must use 3 Full Interior and exterior to account for solar and light transmission through internal windows Check for non convex zones When the solar distribution selection is 3 Full interior and exterior above you can choose whether DesignBuilder is to check for non convex zones By default the option is to carry out the check to prevent invalid results but if the zones are only slightly non convex you can switch off this check and allow EnergyPlus to continue calculations You will probably receive error message 2 if you switch this option off and have non convex zones The EnergyPlus simulation may or may not fail Shadowing interval Simulation only Enter the number of days 1 365 covered by each shadowing calculation Enter 1 if you want shadowing to be calculated every day for greater detail but slower calculations 3 44 5 Advanced Calculation Options Heating Design Cooling Design and Simulation tabs on Model Options dialog Options tab on Simulation Options dialog and General tab on the Heating and Cooling Desig
322. f individual surfaces in the Navigator 12 If you are exporting IDF data for use outside DesignBuilder please read the Exporting EnergyPlus IDF Files topic 1 2 Capabilities Environmental performance data is displayed without needing to run external modules and import data and any simulations required to generate the data are started automatically EnergyPlus Compact HVAC descriptions provide an easy way into detailed analysis of commonly used heating and cooling systems Natural ventilation can be modelled with the option for windows to open based on a ventilation set point temperature e Daylighting models lighting control systems and calculates savings in electric lighting Shading by louvres overhangs and sidefins as well as internal and mid pane blinds A comprehensive range of simulation data can be shown in annual monthly daily hourly or sub hourly intervals e Energy consumption broken down by fuel and end use e Internal temperatures e Weather data e Heat transmission through building fabric including walls roofs infiltration ventilation etc 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 16 DesignBuilder 1 5 e Heating and cooling loads e CO2 generation e Heating and cooling plant sizes can be calculated using design weather data e Parametric analysis screens allow you to investigate the effect of variations in design parameters on a range of performance criteria e Generate EnergyPlus IDF files and work w
323. f Natural ventilation Max in out delta T Effect 0 Natural ventilation only operates when OutdoorTemp IndoorTemp 50 Natural ventilation unrestricted by Inside Outside delta T 2 Natural ventilation only operates when OutdoorTemp 2 IndoorTemp Tip input a large negative number to allow ventilation even if the outdoor temperature is greater than the indoor temperature This useful for uncontrolled natural ventilation open windows or as a way to estimate the effect of required ventilation air for load calculations See also Defining setpoint temperature schedules Mechanical ventilation cooling setpoint temperature The mechanical ventilation cooling setpoint temperature controls the activation of mechanical ventilation when using Simple HVAC data If the inside air temperature is greater than this setpoint temperature and the mechanical ventilation operation schedule is on then mechanical ventilation can take place This data is not used when working with Compact HVAC data Mechanical ventilation max natural ventilation in out delta T The mechanical ventilation Max int out temp difference is used for Scheduled mechanical ventilation only and is the temperature difference between the indoor and outdoor air dry bulb temperatures below which ventilation is shut off This is to allow ventilation to be stopped if the temperature outside is too warm and 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 192 DesignBuilder 1 5 could potenti
324. f background information http www bbri be activefacades new content 1 home en html 12 12 Solar Radiation Distribution This topic summarises the methods used in calculation of solar radiation in EnergyPlus Sky Radiance Model In EnergyPlus the calculation of diffuse solar radiation from the sky incident on an exterior surface takes into account the anisotropic non uniform radiance distribution of the sky For this distribution the diffuse sky irradiance on a surface is given by AnisoSkyMult DifSolarRad where DifSolarRad is the diffuse solar irradiance from the sky on the ground and AnisoSkyMult is determined by surface orientation and sky radiance distribution and accounts for the effects of shading of sky diffuse radiation by shadowing surfaces such as overhangs It does not account for reflection of sky diffuse radiation from shadowing surfaces The sky radiance distribution is based on an empirical model based on radiance measurements of real Skies as described in Perez et al 1990 In this model the radiance of the sky is determined by three distributions that are superimposed see Figure 33 1 An isotropic distribution that covers the entire sky dome 2 A circumsolar brightening centered at the position of the sun 3 A horizon brightening Circumsolar brightening Isotropic dome BE concentrated at center of sun A x Horizon brightening concentrated at horizon Schematic view of sky showing sol
325. f the Reflections option is used Conclusion Switch Reflections on for accurate shading calculations Snow reflected solar modifier A number between 0 0 and 10 0 which is used to modify the basic ground surface reflectance when snow is on the ground Note that the value of GroundReflectance Used below must be lt 1 GroundReflectance je 4 GroundReflectance x Modifiers o During simulations the ground is considered to be snow covered when the SnowDepth data in the hourly weather file is gt 0 Snow reflected daylight modifier A number between 0 0 and 10 0 which is used to modify the basic ground surface reflectance when snow is on the ground Note that the value of DaylightingGroundReflectance 24 below must be lt 1 DaylightingGroundReflectance j q GroundReflectance x Modifier show During simulations the ground is considered to be snow covered when the SnowDepth data in the hourly weather file is gt 0 Ground monthly temperatures There are 12 fields allowing you to represent the mean ground temperature for each month of the year These temperatures are used as the outside surface temperature for all surfaces adjacent to ground Note that the depth at which these temperatures apply depends on the thickness of the ground construction see above added to the main floor wall construction Caution It may not be appropriate to use the undisturbed ground temperatures calculated by the weather converter and l
326. f you have a file loaded then DesignBuilder will use the region associated with the location of the site The region in this dialogue is only used when no file is loaded Data tables which can be filtered in this way are e Constructions e Glazing e Materials e Metabolic rates e Schedules e Holidays e Activity templates 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 45 DesignBuilder 1 5 Construction templates Glazing templates Lighting templates HVAC templates DHW templates Sectors Show other region data Use this option to display hide component and template data from other regions Show General data Use this option to display hide component and template data from the General region Options are 1 Never Never show General data 2 Always always show General data 3 When no region specific data only show General data when the is no region specific data available Show program Early data Use this option to display hide special Early and other broad brush typical system component and template data Options are 1 Never Never show Early data 2 Always always show Early data 3 When no region specific data only show Early data when the is no region specific data available Note when categories of data are hidden this does not mean they are deleted from the database the data is still there but it does not appear on lists 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Section Menu DesignBuilder
327. faces DXF dxf Eplusout EnergyPlus folder Similar to eso but only has Report Meter outputs mtr Eplusout EnergyPlus folder A one line summary of success or failure used by end DesignBuilder to indicate whether the simulation was successful or not Eplusout EnergyPlus folder From Debug Output object may be useful to dbg support to help track down problems Eplusout EnergyPlus folder Not directly from EnergyPlus produced by CSV EnergyPlus utility program that reads the eso file and produces output files for spreadsheet programs Folders Folder Typical Location Use DesignBuilder My Documents DesignBuilder Data Storing DesignBuilder Data dsb data files EnergyPlus C Documents and Settings User LocalSettings Application Data Storing files related to DesignBuilder EnergyPlus EnergyPlus simulations Library data C Documents and Settings User LocalSettings Application Data Library data dat DesignBuilder Data files currently being used by DesignBuilder Library data C Documents and Settings User LocalSettings Application Data Library data including DesignBuilder Data backups and dat files Template C Documents and Settings All Users Application Data DesignBuilder dsb files projects DesignBuilder Templates stored in this folder can be used as templates for future models Click on the Templates tab on the Create New Site dialog for a list of available template files Weather data C Documents and Se
328. fault value of 15000 you should check accuracy of solar gains relative to results using default value Surfaces within zone treated as adiabatic EnergyPlus support recommend modelling surfaces wholly contained within a zone as adiabatic and this option allows you to follow this advice We have found that in practice this option not make much difference in results or in simulation speed so for most cases you can leave it in its default state Note surfaces contained within a zone are frequently generated when one of the zone merging options is used where a partition or floor which would have separated two zones actually sits within the merged zone These surfaces do not refer to hanging partitions which are modelled using Internal thermal mass COMPACT HVAC SIMULATION AUTOSIZING OPTIONS The following 2 data items are used when autosizing Compact HVAC systems before simulations Sizing factor not heating cooling design This ratio is applied at the zone level to all of the zone heating and cooling loads and air flow rates These new loads and air flow rates are then used to calculate the system level flow rates and capacities and are used in all of the component sizing calculations Default value is 1 2 Design averaging window period not heating cooling design The time in the zone design flow sequence averaging window during EnergyPlus Compact HVAC autosizing calculations The default is 1 hour in which case the calculated zone d
329. ff during the day 12 Night inside low air temp OnNightlfLowlnside Temp OffDay Shading is on at night if the zone air temperature in the previous time step is less than SetPoint C or F and schedule if specified allows shading Shading is off during the day 13 Night heating OnNightlfHeating OffDay Shading is on at night if the zone heating rate in the previous time step exceeds SetPoint W and schedule if specified allows shading Shading is off during the day The following two control types can be used to reduce zone heating and cooling load They are applicable to any Shading type but are most appropriate for translucent interior or exterior shades with high insulating value translucent movable insulation 14 Night outside low air temp day cooling OnNightlfLowOutside Temp OnDaylfCooling Shading is on at night if the outside air temperature is less than Set point C or F Shading is on during the day if the zone cooling rate in the previous time step is non zero 15 Night heating day cooling OnNightlfHeating OnDaylfCooling Shading is on at night if the zone heating rate in the previous time step is non zero Shading is on during the day if the zone cooling rate in the previous time step is non zero SetPoint 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 235 The setpoint for activating window shading The units depend on the type of trigger e W m2 or BTU hr ft2 for solar based controls e C or F
330. ffect the thermal properties of the wall Wall thermal properties are based purely on the construction data specified for the wall e Asmall value of Wall thickness will mean that the zones dimensions will be very similar to the block dimensions below The Wall thickness is also entered when Converting an Outline block to a Building block Tip Enter a low value of Wall thickness if e The block is a roof with low roof slope angle sloping roof elements see Example 1 below e The block is mainly glazed see Example 2 below The lowest value of wall thickness allowed is 0 01m and the highest allowed value is 2 0m ROOF BLOCKS EXAMPLE 1 Select a small Wall thickness when creating a roof block having very shallow slope This example shows a 2 block 2 zone model the top block selected representing a roof having shallow slope angles Converting Outline to Building block Co Using a Wall thickness Of 0 01m gives good results as the roof zone covers most of the block floor area below 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 143 Zone floor covers most of the block floor area 0 01m Roof block N thickness Using a large Wall thickness makes it impossible for DesignBuilder to generate a floor covering the whole block floor area giving Poor results below Only small area of adjcency to zone below 0 200m Roof block thickness Qo In the image above the white areas of the block floo
331. ficiency of the boiler excluding losses consumption due to external pumps and fans but including all energy consumed by such ancillary devices within the boiler CoP is entered as a fractional value not value So a boiler might have a CoP of 0 89 Heat generator CoP data is specified for the whole building i e a single hot water circuit served by one boiler is simulated Part load boiler heat pump performance cannot be calculated in DesignBuilder v 1 Heating distribution loss The heating distribution loss is the loss of heat due to the distribution of hot water air around the building It is used to increase the heating load prior to calculating boiler heating energy consumption VAV OUTSIDE AIR PREHEAT COILS AHU preheat data is specified for the whole building and is not accessible at zone level Coil type The preheat coil is located in the outside air stream upstream of the outside air mixing box and tempers the outside air If no preheat coil is used in the VAV system then the option 1 None should be specified here Otherwise this indicates the type of preheat coil It is unlikely that both a heating coil and a preheat coil would be used at the same time The options are e 1 None no preheat e 2 Electric preheat coils powered by electricity assumed 100 efficient O distribution loss e 3 Gas gas fired preheat coils assumed 80 efficient 0 distribution loss Off coil air temperature set point 2008 D
332. field is constant 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Fuel The fuel can be selected from a drop down list Note that these fuels are currently mapped to a shorter list in the results as follows Fuel in Model Data Mapped to Fuel in Output 1 Electricity from grid Electricity 2 Natural gas Gas 3 Oil Oil 4 Coal Solid 5 LPG Gas 6 Biogas Gas 7 Anthracite Solid 8 Smokeless fuel including coke Solid 9 Dual fuel appliances mineral wood Other 10 Biomass Other 11 Waste heat Other Fraction lost This field is a decimal number between 0 0 and 1 0 and is used to characterise the amount of lost heat being given off by the equipment in a zone The number specified in this field will be multiplied by the total energy consumed by equipment to give the amount of heat which is lost and does not impact the zone energy balances This might correspond to electrical energy converted to mechanical work or heat that is vented to the atmosphere Radiant Fraction This field is a decimal number between 0 0 and 1 0 and is used to characterise the amount of long wave radiant heat being given off by miscellaneous equipment in a zone The radiant fraction will be multiplied by the total energy consumed by electric equipment and 1 Fraction lost to give the amount of long wavelength radiation gain from miscellaneous equipment in a zone A value of zero means that the heat gain is entirely convective in which case all the heat
333. fined as sub surfaces Data for these is held on the Construction tab e Holes e Doors e Vents The layout operation and construction data for these apart from sub surfaces can be set on the Openings tab Templates You can load generic Opening data by clicking on the Template option under Glazing Template and then by clicking on the at the right of the line below Layout Activity Construction Openings Lighting Hvac C Glazing Template Gem Energy code standard Select generic glazing template E When you make a selection from the list of Glazing templates data from selected template will be loaded to the model You can also open the e External Glazing e Internal Glazing e Roof Glazing e Doors e Vents headers to enter opening details where they are different from those loaded from the template 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 215 Note Once you have created custom openings on any particular surface changes made on this tab will not affect the layout for the surface All Openings data is used to generate simulation data at the Surface level You can also override default Pressure Coefficient data when the Calculated Natural ventilation option is set and you are at surface level 3 3 2 3 1 External Glazing Openings tab in model data The data under the External Glazing header applies to all glazing lying on external walls You can ent
334. five west facing offices have been combined into one zone All of the offices have interior walls made of the same materials As shown in the figure below this zone may be described with 5 exterior walls and 11 internal walls or 1 exterior wall and 1 internal mass Note that fewer surfaces will speed up the EnergyPlus calculations 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 OFFICEA OFFICES A B OFFICE B OFFICE D OFFICEE Example A five story building has the same ceiling floor construction separating each of the levels Zones that are on floors 2 through 4 may be described using a single piece of internal mass to represent both the floor and ceiling The construction for this internal mass would be identical to the ceiling floor construction that would be used to describe separate surfaces Exposed Area The exposed area is the surface area of the internal mass The area that is specified must be the entire surface area that is exposed to the zone If both sides of a wall are completely within the same zone then the area of both sides must be included when describing that internal wall Consiruction tab in model data under Construction header The adjacency of individual surfaces can be set to be either adjacent to ground or adiabatic The adjacency data is used at the surface level though defaults can be set at a block and zone level as well if all surfaces in a block or zone have the same adjacency The fu
335. flat roof should include all construction layers between inside and outside excluding any suspended ceiling and ceiling construction which is most easily included using the Suspended ceiling Suspension height and Ceiling construction data described below In cold climates this construction will generally include an insulating layer See Detail 5 above Pitched roof occupied The Pitched roof occupied construction applies to external sloped surfaces when they appear in occupied zones In cold climates this construction will generally include an insulating layer The definition of pitched roof is given by the roof wall transition angle model option Pitched roof unoccupied The Pitched roof unoccupied construction applies to external sloped surfaces when they appear in semi exterior unconditioned zones This construction will generally not include any insulation layers 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 20 The definition of pitched is given by the roof wall transition angle model option Internal partitions The internal partition construction defines the construction of internal partitions walls used to divide blocks into zones and inter block partitions walls shared with other blocks Internal partitions are used where both zones are occupied When one of the zones is occupied and the other is not the Semi exposed walls construction data is used below Semi exposed walls The semi
336. floors e g zone below is colder e Floors ext heat conduction gain through external floors not ground floor e g floor in 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd n DesignBuilder 1 5 cantilevered space roof eaves etc e Ground floors heat conduction gain through ground floors Partitions int heat conduction gain due to heat conduction through all internal partitions from adjacent zones at different temperatures e Doors and vents conduction heat gain through doors and vents e External Infiltration heat gain through air infiltration non unintentional air entry through cracks and holes in building fabric External Natural Ventilation heat gain due to the entry of outside air through natural ventilation as defined on the HVAC tab Internal Natural Ventilation heat gain from other zones due to air exchange through open internal windows doors vents holes and virtual partitions External Mechanical Ventilation heat gain due to the entry of outside air through the air distribution system You can exclude mechanical ventilation from the cooling design calculations by unchecking the Mechanical ventilation On Model data Task Lighting heat gain due to task lighting General Lighting heat gain due to general lighting Miscellaneous heat gain due to miscellaneous equipment Process heat gain due to process equipment Catering heat gain due to cooking Computer and Equipment heat gain due to computer and other I
337. for temperature based controls Openings tab in model data under External Glazing Internal Glazing and Roof Glazing headers The operation of windows can be defined by entering data under Operation headers The data will depend on the Natural ventilation model option set Calculated Natural Ventilation The 96 Glazing area opens slider allows you to define the openable window area as a percentage of the total window area For example enter 20 if 2096 of the window area can open Note if modulation is switched on it is by default the glazing opening areas are multiplied by a factor to account for external conditions You can also enter a schedule to define the timing of the window operation The windows are open when T gt T outside_air AND the schedule value 1 zone air Tsetpoint AND T zone air The ventilation rate is calculated based on the pressure difference across the opening calculated from wind and stack pressure effects using equations described in Natural Ventilation Modelling Scheduled Natural Ventilation Airflow through external windows vents doors and holes are not modelled with Scheduled natural ventilation because the natural ventilation airflow from outside is explicitly defined using the total natural ventilation flow rate and operation on the HVAC tab No operation data is entered on the Openings tab for external windows in this case Note Natural Ventilation can be overridden to be off on the HV
338. formation purposes Operation If Internal gains operate with occupancy under model options is not set General lighting has a specific operation schedule set under General Lighting otherwise these gains are synchronised with occupancy 3 3 2 4 2 Task and Display Lighting Lighting tab in model data Task and Display Lighting accounts for lighting used for specific tasks e g desk lamps or for displaying items e g display lighting for goods in shops Task and Display Lighting is not offset by lighting control The following other data is assumed Data Value Radiant fraction 0 42 Visible fraction 0 18 Return air fraction 0 Internal gain Note that when you load lighting data from template the actual lighting casual gain is calculated by dividing the W m2 100 lux data in the template by the required illuminance level as set on the Activity tab Operation If Internal gains operate with occupancy under model options is not set Task lighting has a specific operation schedule set under Task Lighting otherwise these gains are synchronised with occupancy 3 3 2 4 3 Lighting Control A typical perimeter area would be the areas of the zone that are close to a window By convention perimeter areas are defined as the area within a fixed distance from a normal to the perimeter In the UK NOM the fixed distance is 6m If you wish to create a separate thermal zone to model the different lighting and solar conditions in the perimeter area
339. g Enter the characteristics of the cracks around internal and external windows vents and doors Note that the opening crack characteristics are normalised by opening perimeter lengths 6 9 3 Crack Templates Walls Walls tab on Crack Templates Dialog In reality the porosity of walls is caused by a very large number of small cracks and holes DesignBuilder models this porosity using a single equivalent crack Enter the characteristics this equivalent single crack for internal and external walls Note that the crack characteristics are normalised by surface area 6 9 4 Crack Templates Floors Ceilings Floors Ceilings tab on Crack Templates Dialog In reality the porosity of floors is caused by a very large number of small cracks and holes DesignBuilder models this porosity using a single equivalent crack Enter the characteristics this equivalent single crack for internal and external floors Note that the crack characteristics are normalised by surface area 6 9 5 Crack Templates Roofs Roofs tab on Crack Templates Dialog In reality the porosity of roofs is caused by a very large number of small cracks and holes DesignBuilder models this porosity using a single equivalent crack Enter the characteristics this equivalent single crack for roofs 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Note that the crack characteristics are normalised by surface area 6 10 Legislative Region Templates B
340. g component 222 361 Metabolic 87 184 187 372 375 Local Shading Components 361 choosing 401 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Index Metabolic Rates Templates 401 Metre 465 Metres 57 MHz 492 Midpoint 55 56 61 64 122 Midpoint drawing guide 122 Midpoint Snap 55 56 122 Min 387 Minimal 307 320 Minimal shadowing Minimised 449 Minimum Requirements 492 Miscellaneous 15 184 194 285 289 294 325 326 376 411 423 Miscellaneous Display 326 Miscellaneous Edit 289 294 Miscellaneous gains 194 Mixing 236 238 Mode On Learning 17 Model Components copy 340 set 332 340 Model data 17 21 23 28 30 86 87 100 141 176 178 198 199 235 236 237 238 276 280 283 285 287 294 361 368 369 394 403 407 410 411 417 423 447 access 16 Activity 401 Building 183 changes 175 Loading 372 Model data affects 178 Model Data depending setting 403 410 Model Data depending on the setting Model Data following 287 Model data hierarchy 21 Model Data including 86 Model Data management Model Data Options customise 283 Model detail 21 283 285 351 378 glazing 285 Timing 286 Model Levels 33 Model objects 280 281 307 320 403 410 280 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Model Options 28 87 140 147 159 183 193 194 195 196 198 213 223 227 235 236 238 248 273 282 285 286 287 379 387 403 410 417 Model Options dialog 282 504 Model point 34 Model scope
341. g is on if beam plus diffuse solar radiation incident on the window exceeds SetPoint W m2 or BTU hr ft2 5 Glare OnlfHighGlare Shading is on if the total daylight glare index at the zone s first daylighting sensor from all of the exterior windows in the zone exceeds the maximum glare index specified in the daylighting input for zone Note Glare control requires Lighting control to be switched on in the zone 6 Outside air temp On fHighOutsideAirTemp Shading is on if outside air temperature exceeds SetPoint C or F 7 Inside air temp On fHighZoneAirTemp Shading is on if zone air temperature in the previous time step exceeds SetPoint C or F 8 Cooling On fHighZoneCooling Shading is on if zone cooling rate in the previous time step is non zero The following two control types can be used to reduce zone cooling load They are applicable to any Shading type but are most appropriate for interior or exterior blinds interior or exterior shades with low insulating value or switchable glazing 9 Day cooling and solar night OnNight OnDaylfCoolingAndHighSolarOnWindow Shading is on at night Shading is on during the day the solar radiation incident on the window exceeds SetPoint W m2 or BTU hr ft2 and if the zone cooling rate in the previous time step is non zeo 10 Day cooling and solar OffNight OnDaylfCoolingAndHighSolarOnWindow Shading is off at night Shading is on during the day when the solar radiation incident on th
342. g out summer and winter simulations displaying hourly data Once model has been checked over short periods you can use it with confidence for annual simulations 0 00 3 1 Create New Site al You can create a new site dsb file from the Opening Screen In DesignBuilder Site is synonymous with the file because each file can only contain one site I 3 1 1 Location Select the Location Template as a source of location and weather data for the site The Location defines the geographical location and weather data for all buildings on this site You will be able to load data from other location templates or override the default data from the Location Model Data tab at Site level 3 1 2 Template You can either select Blank to create a clean site or select a template to base your site on an existing site If you have a DesignBuilder file you would like to use as a template for future sites save or copy it to the Templates folder accessed from the File Folders Template projects menu command 3 2 X Building Geometry This section describes the various facilities within DesignBuilder to create and edit model geometry 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 31 3 2 4 View Controls A number of view controls are provided to allow you to change the point of view for the model e View Rotation Orbit e Zoom e Fit view e Pan view e Zoom window View
343. g points EnergyPlus simulations are slowed down by Lots of windows Lots of zones Lots of windows per zone Lots of surfaces VAV Compact HVAC descriptions Radiant heating systems Simple HVAC Calculated natural ventilation using AIRNET Calculating solar reflections 9 Reading hourly or sub hourly results for extended simulation periods 10 Not enough computer memory RAM 11 Lots of output You can speed up simulations by using these techniques 1 Reduce the number of windows in the model by increasing the Window spacing Shading issues aside modelling a small number of large Windows has the same effect as a large number of small Windows provided you get the frame area right 2 Use the Lump similar windows on surface option to speed up simulations with many similar windows per surface 3 Only create zones to model areas of the building with specific environmental conditions and HVAC systems or internal gains schedules A common mistake made by the beginners is to model each room as a separate zone This is generally not necessary because most rooms will have very similar operating conditions In this case you may want to use one of the DesignBuilder Merging features to reduce the number of zones 4 When you first create a building model you may want to carry out simulations before partitioning the blocks into zones If your unpartitioned blocks are very large there could be an enormo
344. g the IDF File 1 or IDF File 2 check boxes and entering the name of the IDF data source file The contents of any files specified are copied to the end of the IDF dataset generated by DesignBuilder before simulation Include IDF Data Y IDF File 1 Filename Report Variables Database idf IDF File 2 Note Included IDF files must be located in the EnergyPlus folder 3 4 5 4 Output Options Simulation tab on Model Options dialog and Output tab on Simulation Options dialog You can control the data generated from simulations by making selections on the Simulation tab of the Model options dialog and on the Advanced tab of the Simulation calculation options dialog Zone environmental and comfort reports You can restrict the simulation comfort output to just occupied periods by selecting 2 Just occupied periods Options are e 1 All periods comfort data is generated for all periods including times when the zone is unoccupied e 2 Just occupied periods comfort data is only output during times when the zone is occupied so daily and monthly comfort statistics become more meaningful Default is 1 All periods Building and block output of zone data This option causes average and total zone data to be generated for building and blocks For example average temperatures comfort conditions total solar radiation internal gains fabric transmission losses etc It does not affect the generation of energy consumption and CO2 data at the bui
345. gnBuilder 1 5 3 22 1 Shape Three perimeter shapes are provided to enable specific perimeter topologies to be drawn efficiently e Polygon e Rectangle e Circle The Polygon is probably the most useful shape and can be used to draw perimeters of any topology The Polygon shape also allows you to change the line type from a straight line to an arc To draw a perimeter using the Polygon shape start drawing the first line by clicking anywhere in the active drawing plane to place the starting point then move the mouse cursor and click to place the line end point you can use the snaps and the protractor to help with alignment Continue placing perimeter lines in the same way If at any time you want to cancel the last line that you placed you can press the ESC key or select Undo last point from the right click menu If you want to incorporate an arc within the perimeter you can change the line type to Arc and then place the centre point of the arc Drawing Options Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides To complete the perimeter move the mouse cursor to the beginning of the first perimeter line which activates the end point snap and click on it to connect the lines 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Drawing Options Perimeter Y Shape 1 Polygon Line type 1 Straight line X Options Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides Endpoint marke
346. gram All algorithms are described more fully in the EnergyPlus Engineering Reference When the surface is wet i e it is raining and the surface is exposed to wind then the convection coefficient appears in results as a very large number 1000 and the surface is exposed to the Outdoor Wet Bulb Temperature rather than the Outdoor Dry Bulb Temperature Inside and Outside convection algorithm settings can be made in various places You cannot make changes to individual surface convection settings where the surface is an internal partition Note the equivalent inside and outside surface convection options in the Calculation and Model options dialogs control building default values equivalent of making a setting in Model data at building level and changes at block zone or surface levels in the Model data will override these settings Construction tab in model data under Construction header Component blocks can be used to include shading and reflection effects of objects such as local shading devices awnings adjacent buildings and trees They can also be used to define ground and adiabatic adjacencies The component block model data allows you to define the component block type whether the component block shades and reflects in simulations transmittance of the shading material and also a schedule for modelling seasonal variations in transmittance Component block type You can change the type of the component block Select from e 1 Sta
347. has no corresponding wall in the actual building Virtual partitions are commonly used for separating perimeter zones from core zones when there is to be different HVAC provision or when carrying out daylighting or solar overheating studies in situations where a large open plan space is subject to a high level of solar gain around the perimeter Virtual partitions can be placed to create separate perimeter and core zones so that the local effect of the solar gain in the perimeter zone may be calculated In the absence of virtual partitions the risk of overheating could be underestimated due to the distribution of solar gain throughout the open plan space When drawing partitions you can set the Partition type to 2 Virtual in the Drawing option panel Also for partitions that have already been created you can freely switch the partition type between 1 Standard and 2 Virtual using the same control Virtual partitions are modelled using a hole that fills the whole surface area You cannot draw custom openings on a virtual partition The model options for controlling the effect of holes equally apply to virtual partition holes e Merge zones connected by holes e Model holes including holes in virtual partitions e Model airflow through internal openings using flow per unit area 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 158 DesignBuilder 1 5 3 2 10 4 Creating Voids Courtyard Spaces Within Blocks inlets eae xudkiestezs iooeoo uz To crea
348. hat the person is in the centre of the zone with no weighting for any particular surface Operative Temperature The mean of the zone air and radiant temperatures Outside Dry Bulb Temperature Relative Humidity the calculated average relative humidity of the air Fanger PMV Fanger Predicted Mean Vote Pierce PMV ET the Predicted Mean Vote PMV calculated using the effective temperature and the Pierce two node thermal comfort model Pierce PMV SET the Predicted Mean Vote PMV calculated using the Standard effective temperature and the Pierce two node thermal comfort model e Pierce Discomfort Index DISC the Discomfort index calculated using the Pierce two node thermal comfort model Pierce Thermal Sens Index TSENS the Thermal Sensation Index PMV calculated using the Pierce two node thermal comfort model e Kansas Uni TSV the Thermal Sensation Vote TSV calculated using the KSU two node thermal comfort model Discomfort hrs summer clothing the time when the zone is occupied that the combination of humidity ratio and operative temperature is not in the ASHRAE 55 2004 summer clothes region Discomfort hrs winter clothing the time when the zone is occupied that the combination of 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd a DesignBuilder 1 5 humidity ratio and operative temperature is not in the ASHRAE 55 2004 winter clothes region e Discomfort hrs all clothing the time when the zone is occupied that the
349. have their data set up at the time a file is created or when the Legislative region is changed 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Template Data 6 3 2 Glazing Templates Glazing Glazing tab on Glazing Templates Dialog Enter data on the glazing construction frame and opening area for external glazing internal glazing and roof glazing 6 3 8 Glazing Templates Shading Shading tab on Glazing Templates Dialog Select any shading devices to be applied when this glazing templates is loaded to the model 6 4 Facade Templates DFacade type Preferred height 1 5m 40 lt q P General Name Preferred height 1 5m 40 glazed Category lt WallFacadet Glazing Layout 3 Preferred height Glazing 2 40 Preferred window width 3 000 Preferred window height 1 500 Sill height 0 800 Window spacing 5 000 Vent spacing 5 000 Frame Has a frame Number of horizontal dividers 1 Number of vertical dividers 1 Frame width 0 040 Divider width 0 020 Facade templates are used to provide a choice of typical simple facade layouts and frame definitions which can be easily loaded into a building model There are two tabs on the Facade Template dialog e General e Openings Template data can be accessed e from the Templates tab on the opening screen if no file is open 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 e from the Templates tab in the Navigator panel if a file is open
350. he Navigator panel to view edit model components if a file is open by double clicking on the construction icon in the model data e e e e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting constructions from a list 5 1 1 Layer Data Layers tab on Constructions Dialog Set the number of layers first then select the material and thickness for each layer Use the Controls in the Info Panel to insert and delete layers For example to delete a layer first click on the material for the layer to identify which layer you want to delete then click on Delete layer You can create constructions with up to 6 layers You should define the layers in the same order they appear in the actual construction starting with the outermost layer and finishing with the innermost The outermost layer will be positioned adjacent to outside or in the case of Semi exposed walls adjacent to the semi exposed unconditioned zone Note You should not include surface resistance film coefficient layers to represent the resistance of the air films adjacent to the inner and outer surfaces These are included automatically by DesignBuilder Thickness This field characterizes the thickness of the material layer This is the dimension of the layer in the direction perpendicular to the main path of heat conduction This value must be a positive Note If the material referenced is defined as a simple R value then the construction thickness does not have to be ente
351. he above data can be displayed at all time increments In addition air radiant and operative temperatures can be displayed as distribution curves below You can find more detailed information about Fanger Pierce and Kansas State University Thermal comfort prediction algorithms in the EnergyPlus Background Section The Mech Vent Nat Vent Infiltration data is the sum of fresh air delivered through the HVAC system infiltration and natural ventilation outside airflow in air changes per hour ac h When used together with the other environmental output it can be very useful in checking for occupant discomfort Note It is possible to display comfort data for occupied periods only by selecting 2 Just occupied periods as Zone environmental and comfort reports on the Output tab of the simulation options dialog This option applies to all data described in this Comfort Analysis help section 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Calculations Hourly Comfort Ground floor Main play area EnergyPlus Output Period 1 Jun 31 Aug Time Hours Percent Temperature Index 2 Sun 3 4 Tue 5 Wed 6 Thu 8 Sat Jun 2002 Time Date Air Temperature Radiant Temperature Godino Temada Outside Dry Bub T emperature Relative Humidity Discomtort hrs all clothing Fanger PMV Pierce PMV ET Pierce PMV SET itinaas Dri TSY Example Hourly Comfo
352. he air gap in between panes of a window or to the air gap between the Trombe wall glazing and the inner surface often a selective 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 surface The 5 Cavity Inside convection algorithm is not available at the surface level To avoid discontinuities in surface heat transfer rate calculations all correlations are extrapolated beyond the lower limit of the data set 3 ACH to a natural convection limit which is applied during the hours when the system is off These models are explained in greater detail in the EnergyPlus Engineering Reference Document Outside convection algorithm You can select from a range of EnergyPlus outside convection algorithms e 1 Detailed all other methods apply heat transfer coefficients depending on the roughness windspeed and terrain of the building s location e 2 Simple applies heat transfer coefficients depending on the roughness and windspeed This is a combined heat transfer coefficient that includes radiation to sky ground and air The correlation is based on Figure 1 Page 25 1 Thermal and Water Vapor Transmission Data 2001 ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals e 3 CIBSE applies heat transfer coefficients depending on orientation derived from traditional CIBSE values 4 BLAST 5 TARP 6 DOE 2 7 MoWiTT These are convection only heat transfer coefficients radiation heat transfer coefficients are calculated automatically by the pro
353. he base or ground plane Alternatively the orientation of the plane can be defined using the first line 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Once a vertical plane has been defined it will be remembered until the Add new block command is cancelled so the perimeter can be unwound using the ESC key or the right click menu Undo last point 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 entry and any perimeter shape drawn into the stored plane After drawing the last perimeter line to connect to the perimeter start point the perimeter can then be dragged to create a horizontally extruded block 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 3 2 9 1 1 Block Creation Options The block creation options enable you to control the way a block is drawn e Block type e Form e Height e Wall Thickness e Auto complete block These options are accessed through the Drawing options data panel which is displayed when you click on the Add new block tool 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Drawing Options vo Block type 1 Building block Form 1 Extruded E Height m 3 50 Auto complete block Shape 1 Polygon Line type 1 Straight line Thickness m 0 292 Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides Under development COMBINED CONSTRUCTIONS The diagram below illustrates how block
354. he end of the IDF dataset generated by DesignBuilder before simulation Include IDF Data IDF File 1 Filename O IDF File 2 Report Variables Database idf Note Included IDF files must be located in the EnergyPlus folder 3 4 4 6 Output Options Include unoccupied zones in block and building totals and averages By default data for unoccupied zones is excluded from block and building totals and averages Check this option to include data for unoccupied zones A zone is defined as unoccupied if it has e No occupancy and e No cooling and e No heating and e No mechanical ventilation 3 4 5 Simulation Calculation Options Simulation tab on Model Options dialog Data on this tab allows you to control the simulations e Simulation Period e Calculation options e Solar options e Advanced Calculation Options e Output options 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 313 This data is also shown before simulations in the Simulation Calculation Options dialog 3 4 5 1 Simulation Period Simulation tab on Model Options dialog and General tab on Simulation Options dialog Simulation Period Select the start and end days for the simulation or select a typical period using the links on the Info panel e Annual simulation all 365 days of the year e Summer design week a week identified by the weather data translator as being the hottest of the year e Summer typical week a week identified b
355. he window shading devices can be positioned in one of four ways e 1 Inside the window shading devices is positioned inside the zone e 2 Mid pane the window shading device is positioned between the inner pane and the second pane e 3 Outside the shading devices positioned outside e 4 Switchable select this option for electrochromic glazing in which case the outer pane is switched based on the shading control below ML 7 7 NC N 4 Ore 2 SOc 7 XO 7 Ww YN 4 4 FA 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 P4 4 4 4 4 Inside Outside Mid pane Control type Control data specifies how the shading device is controlled It determines whether the shading device is on or off For blinds and shades when the device is on it is assumed to cover all of the window except its frame when the device is off it is assumed to cover none of the window whether on or off the shading device is assumed to cover none of the wall that the window is on For switchable glazing on means that the glazing is in the fully switched state and off means that it is in the unswitched state for example for electrochromic glazing on means the glazing is in its darkest state and off means it is in its lightest state The choices for Shading control type are the following Equivalent EnergyPlus control types are shown in italics If SetPoint is applicable it
356. heat from the solar radiation that is absorbed by the glazing SHGC applies only to the center of the glazed part of a window construction it does not include the effect of beam solar radiation absorbed by a window frame or divider SHGC is calculated for the following standard summer condition e Inside air temperature 23 9C 75F e Outside air temperature 31 7C 89F e Wind speed 3 35 m s 7 5 mph e Incident beam solar radiation normal to glazing 783 W m2 248 Btu h ft2 DBSim and 3TC are alternative calculation methods which are still under development 5 3 Materials General Name Brickwork Outer Leaf Category Brick and bloc Source Detailed properties Thermal Bulk Properties Conductivity 0 840 Specific Heat 800 0000 Density 1700 00 Surface Properties Thermal absorptance emissivity 0 900 Solar absorptance 0 700 Visible absorptance 0 700 Roughness Rough Colour Texture Red brick with ligh Materials components hold thermophysical data on building materials Material component data can be accessed from the Components tab on the opening screen to view edit library components if no file is open from the Components tab in the Navigator panel to view edit model components if a file is open by double clicking on the material icon in the model data by clicking on the Edit button when selecting a material from a list 5 3 4 Material Properties General tab on Materials Dialog Materi
357. hing off calculation of solar reflections in the Model options dialog 11 Restricting hourly and sub hourly results to short simulations for investigation of detailed building operation You should not attempt to generate hourly or sub hourly results for a whole year unless your model is very simple 12 If you are interested in analysing a single zone within a much larger model you could consider using the single zone option to carry out simulations just on the zone excluding consideration of the rest of the building 13 Fit as much memory RAM to your computer as possible 1 2 GB ideally Paging memory to disk during simulations of large models can cause EnergyPlus to grind to a halt 14 Only request the output you really need This will speed up simulation initialisation and reading of output especially hourly and sub hourly at the end If you don t need surface data Walls Windows etc heat transfer switch this off in the Output Options tab of Simulation options dialog If you are only looking at hourly results switch off monthly and daily You will get noticeably faster initialisation 12 4 Ground Modelling How it works In EnergyPlus heat is transferred between zones and the ground through one dimensional ground floor surface elements The 2 D and 3 D effects in the ground heat conduction that occur in reality are not treated by default EnergyPlus uses ground construction data to model the storage of heat in the ground and it can accur
358. hrough Cooling Heating Draw Through 1 Heat Recovery Preheat Coil Bypass Damper Mixing Damper Fan Coil Coil Fan 1 S System Supply Plenum Ea bees Outside Air i bh 4 H Supply Zone Terminal Unit Zone Supply Plenum Heat i Recovery i Recirculation Reheat Coil Zone 1 TU 2 2 Supply Air Exhaust n System Return Plenum ae mu _ ee 7 Zone Return Plenum Heat Recovery Bypass Damper More zones Notes 1 The AHU is illustrated connected to a single zone Up to 400 zones can be served by the CAV AHU 2 The AHU has one Fan either a Blow Through or a Draw Through The diagram shows both to illustrate the position of both types 3 The diagram shows each zone with its Zone supply and return plenums and also System supply and return plenums These are optional 4 Also optional are Heat recovery Preheat coil Cooling coil Heating coil See also Zone Terminal Units for more on VAV systems 3 3 2 5 2 Mechanical Ventilation and Air Distribution HVAC tab in model data Check the mechanical ventilation checkbox to indicate that outside air and or recirculated air is delivered to the zone You can use this setting to define mechanical ventilation and air delivered through centrally 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 254 DesignBuilder 1 5 ducted air conditioning systems Simple and Compact HVAC options share many of the same data fields Data which applies only t
359. hting templates weather data templates and load itinto the building data using HVAC templates Load data H e n an S spin To edit a template select it and click on Edit below ocation templates p Ei 74 Hourly weather data Selected hourly weather data ADELAIDE BS AFGHANISTAN EZ Egit ALBANIA E 5 ALGERIA X Delet F ALGIERS Daci e AMERICAN SAMODA E ANDORRA Show data E ANGOLA ANGUILLA a ANTARCTICA DatabaSetools for Hourly weather data E ANDE BARBUDA oP Add new hourly weather data F ARMENIA Report CSV be ARUBA ABFERSTIN ISIN Select the country or a 3h Export DA a AUSTRALIA location within the country A BRISBANE 3 CANBERRA DARWIN LEARMONTH 5i Edit view data templates In the Hourly weather data enter the details of the location and select the EnergyPlus epw filename as shown below 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 486 DesignBuilder 1 5 Edit hourly weather data AUSTRALIA Hourly weather data data General Statistics Name Country AUSTRALIA Source weather data source Filename GBR_LONDON_GATWICK_Iw Latitude 51 50 Longitude 0 00 WMO station identifier ASHRAE climate type Select the EnergyPlus epw filename Selecting the epw file automatically loads all other required location and general weather statistics to the Hourly weather data dialog if a corresponding stat file exists in the same fold
360. ialog at the bottom is cleared OPTIONS See Help for Simulation calculation options tab of the Model Options dialog 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 7 3 2 Display Options Display Options General Detailed Interval 3 Daily X Data 1 AlI M Show as 1 Graph Daysperpage 365 Lock min max 0 Overlap multiple axes Seperate axes 0 Normalise by floor area Font size 1 Small z Style preference 2 Lines E X Axis Annotations Show points Graph colour z Desk colour Gradiant bitmap The General tab on the Simulation Display Options Panel provides options for controlling the data displayed in the Simulation data display screen General Display Options are grouped under three headers e Data control the data displayed e Y axis for customising the layout of the Y axis e Appearance for customising the style and appearance of the graphics The Detailed tab on the Display Options panel provides controls which allow you to select exactly the data items you wish to display DATA OPTIONS Interval Select an interval from the list e 1 Annual show data for the entire simulation e 2 Monthly show data broken down by month e 3 Daily show data broken down by day 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Calculations e 4 Hourly show hourly data Useful for checking operation of equipment and comfort conditions for particular design
361. ic Advanced tab on Model Options dialog You can simplify and speed up simulations sometimes quite significantly by lumping zones walls and windows and or eliminating unnecessary zones and elements from the model The following options are available Merge zones of same activity Option reduces the number of zones by merging all zones of same activity See below for more on merging zones Merge zones connected by holes Merges zones which are connected by holes drawn at surface level or by virtual partitions You can merge one or more zones within the same block or across multiple blocks See below for more on merging zones 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 20 DesignBuilder 1 5 Lump similar windows on surface Causes all windows on a zone surface having the same area construction frame dividers shading etc to be lumped into a single opening Lumping only occurs in zones which have no lighting control The EnergyPlus Window Multiplier mechanism is used For models having surfaces with many similar windows this option can provide a worthwhile reduction in simulation times DesignBuilder does not allow a multiplier for windows to be used for daylighting calculations or 3 Full interior and exterior Solar distribution calculations This is because EnergyPlus does not know where each of the individual windows is located and so cannot properly calculate the solar and visible light transmitted through these windows into a space
362. ide the building thereby providing free cooling Economisers can reduce energy use by 15 percent or more and are often required by energy codes for larger air conditioning units Economisers can be modelled when using Compact HVAC but not Simple HVAC See under Heat recovery for information about how economisers interact with heat recovery Note economiser operation applies to the overall HVAC system and so for Unitary multizone and VAV systems its data is set at building level For Unitary single zone systems the data is used at zone level There are four options 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 e 1 None no economizer operation will be simulated e 2 Return air temperature whenever the outside air temperature is greater than the Economiser upper temperature limit or less than the Economiser lower temperature limit the outside air flow rate is set to the minimum e 3 Return air enthalpy when the outside air enthalpy is greater than the Economiser upper enthalpy limit or less than the Economiser lower enthalpy limit the outside air flow rate is set to the minimum e 4 Return air temperature and enthalpy either temperature or enthalpy limit is used The economiser setpoints below are limits on temperature and enthalpy of the outside air When the outside air conditions go beyond these limits the EnergyPlus economiser switches to minimum outside air mode i e the outside air damper is closed t
363. ierce PMV ET the Predicted Mean Vote PMV calculated using the effective temperature and the Pierce two node thermal comfort model Pierce PMV SET the Predicted Mean Vote PMV calculated using the Standard effective temperature and the Pierce two node thermal comfort model e Pierce Discomfort Index DISC the Discomfort index calculated using the Pierce two node thermal comfort model Pierce Thermal Sens Index TSENS the Thermal Sensation Index PMV calculated using the Pierce two node thermal comfort model e Kansas Uni TSV the Thermal Sensation Vote TSV calculated using the KSU two node thermal 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 comfort model Discomfort hrs summer clothing the time when the combination of zone humidity ratio and operative temperature is not in the ASHRAE 55 2004 summer clothes region Discomfort hrs winter clothing the time when the combination of zone humidity ratio and operative temperature is not in the ASHRAE 55 2004 winter clothes region Discomfort hrs all clothing the time when the combination of zone humidity ratio and operative temperature is not in the ASHRAE 55 2004 summer or winter clothes region e Mech Vent Nat Vent Infiltration The sum of outside air in ac h flowing into the zone through e The HVAC air distribution system e Infiltration e Natural ventilation The Discomfort hrs data above is equivalent to ASHRAE unmet load hours T
364. ighting Task Lighting Lighting Control Template selection in Model data Colour code Templates are coded by colour in the Navigator panel and selection lists as follows Red shows user data i e data that was not supplied by DesignBuilder Green indicates that the data is derived from a reputable national or international source Blue indicates that the data is generated internally by DesignBuilder Black is used for other data 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 374 DesignBuilder 1 5 6 1 Activity Templates Dh Activity template Type 1 Natural ventilation m lt General Name Type 1 Natural ventilation modular Category Dffice Source BRE Region England and We 3 J Sector Offices Ii Floor shade colour All Gains Load 30 Occupancy details Density 0 20 Metabolic Heat Metabolic rate Typing Metabolic factor 0 85 for women 0 7 0 90 Workday profile Occupancy From 8to 18 Days week 5 Schedules fia Schedule 8 00 18 00 Mo Computers On Load 10 Workday profile Computers From 8to 18 Schedules Schedule 8 00 18 00 Mo Office Equipment On Load 10 Workday profile Equipment From 8to 18 Schedules id Schedule 8 00 18 00 Mo L Activity templates are used as a source of default activity building usage data for building models The data covers occupancy equipment usage and suitable design internal temperatures illuminance levels and ventilation rates per person There a
365. ighting control is 1 Check the Lighting Control On checkbox at building level if all zones are to have lighting control 2 Select the type of control as described below 3 Position the first sensor in each zone having lighting control The z position is set by the Working plane height on the Advanced tab of the Model options dialog 4 Set the Zone covered by Lighting Area 1 If all the lights in the zone are in Lighting Area 1 i e they are controlled by the 1st main lighting sensor then enter 100 5 If there are two lighting areas then position the second sensor 6 Set the 6 Zone covered by Lighting Area 2 If all the lights in the zone are in Lighting Area 2 i e they are controlled by the 2nd lighting sensor then enter 100 6Zone covered by Lighting Area 1 Note by default the main lighting sensor is positioned in the geometric centre of the zone It is important that you check the position of all lighting sensors to obtain accurate results For example if the lighting sensor is positioned right next to a window receiving large amounts of daylight the lighting sensor will signal enough daylight even if the rest of the zone is only dimly lit and electric lighting energy will be under estimated daylight savings over estimated Continuous Control With Continuous control the overhead lights dim continuously and linearly from maximum electric power maximum light output to minimum electric power minimum light output a
366. ign Simulation All opening edit operations at the building level automatically convert default openings to custom openings which is why you need to remove the existing opening Then in order to copy the openings you need to select a handle point and you can do this by first clicking on the Clone selected object s command icon and then clicking on the required handle point the 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 174 DesignBuilder 1 5 endpoint snap will help in selecting the handle point eee As you move the copied openings across each block fa ade you will see them automatically snap into the fagade plane and after positioning the openings you can then click on the mouse key to add the openings in the required position 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models You will see that any copies that won t fit into the selected location are automatically discarded Note You can select openings on multiple planes but in this case the openings can only be deleted not moved or copied 3 2 14 Undo Redo Undo Redo commands accessed from Edit menu To undo a geometric operation select Undo from the Edit menu or press lt Control Z gt and similarly to redo a geometric operation select Redo or press Control R Because many of the geometric operations are dependent on specific model levels you may need to undo or redo navigation operations before you get to the r
367. igure 47 Opaque building surfaces walls for example are assumed to be diffusely reflecting Windows and glass doors are assumed to be specularly reflecting The reflectance values for opaque surfaces are calculated by the program from the Absorptance Solar and Absorptance Visible values of the outer material layer of the surface s construction The reflectance values for windows and glass doors are calculated by the program from the reflectance properties of the individual glass layers that make up surface s construction assuming no shading device is present and taking into account interreflections among the layers 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 480 DesignBuilder 1 5 3 The ground surface Beam solar and sky solar reflection from the ground is calculated even if the Reflections option is not used the default But in this case the ground plane is considered unobstructed i e the shadowing of the ground by the building itself or by obstructions such as component blocks is ignored This shadowing is taken into account only if the Reflections option is used In this case the ground view factor calculated by DesignBuilder is not used See Solar Options Diffuse reflection of beam solar and sky solar radiation A ray tracing method is used to calculate beam solar and sky solar radiation that is diffusely reflected onto each of a building s exterior surfaces walls roofs windows and doors called here receiving surfaces The cal
368. ilder you are sent an e mail containing a serial number license keys and information on when the licences expire if ever You should copy Ctrl C the Serial number and License keys from the e mail you received when you bought the software and paste Ctrl V directly into the License dialog accessed from the Help menu When you paste the license keys one for each module the software attempts to activate the license over the Internet and if successful validates the license keys and unlocks the modules 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 License Information E Enter your DesignBuilder serial number and corresponding license keys for each module You must be connected to the Internet to activate the software Serial number vT7EV205670 lt Paste Serial number Ctri V Status Educational Educational Perpetual Paste EnergyPlus license key Ctrl V Buy license Activate Note You must be connected to the Internet to activate DesignBuilder license keys Energ PIUS You need an EnergyPlus license to generate IDF files even if you want to simulate using an external version of EnergyPlus 14 3 Hardware Requirements DesignBuilder is a professional graphics application and requires a high standard of computer hardware for successful use This page contains information on the minimum system requirements and also the recommended specification The main areas you should pay attentio
369. ilder Software Ltd Building Models Layout Activity Construction Openings Lighting H AC pa C Construction Template Y Insulation Uninsulated Typical ref Energy code Best practice Thermal mass Light Medium Heavy Or in either case you can use the Load data from template tool 3 3 2 2 1 Constructions Construction tab in model data From the Construction tab you can open the group header boxes to edit detailed makeup of the construction of walls roofs floors ceilings partitions etc used in the building The default inheritance system used in DesignBuilder allows you to define building constructions quickly and easily by loading data from templates and by making global settings at building block and zone levels There are 2 alternative methods for representing floors slabs ceilings in DesignBuilder depending on the setting of the Floor slab ceiling representation model option e Combined option generally recommended for flexibility and ease of use e Separate only option in v 1 2 and earlier allows you to set up floor slab ceiling configuration by making selections in model data Other construction data e Sub Surface Construction construction details of sub surfaces opaque surfaces within surfaces e Internal Thermal Mass how to define additional thermal mass e Component Block construction and surface properties of component blocks e Adjacency defining special adjacen
370. ilder Software Ltd Building Models 2 Consiruction tab in model data under Construction header When the Floor slab ceiling representation model option is set to Separate floor ceiling and roof constructions are defined by combining constructions as shown in the diagram below The diagram shows e The location definition of the various categories of construction e How constructions are combined behind the scenes to form the floor ceiling combo constructions passed to calculations e Block and zone dimension definitions Schematic Diagram Showing Separate Floor Slab Ceiling Constructions Key Block dimensions are measured from outside Zone surface dimensions are inside dimensions Pitched roof unoccupied construction EH Zone air volume External wall construction Roofspace insulation construction L R insulati tructi Floor slab construction SN oofspace insulation construction Flat roof construction Floor slab construction Detail 5 Floor construction M M 2 pe Flat roof construction Ground construction Pitched roof construction External floor construction Semi exposed wall construction Internal partition construction Ceiling construction JOB BEE External wall construction Floor slab construction Pitched roof unoccupied construction Extemal floor construction External wall construction External wall con
371. iliar with before attempting to use DesignBuilder on a real project are e Model data hierarchy and data inheritance e Templates and components e Blocks e Navigating building models e Customising model detail 2 1 Model Data Hierarchy amp Data Inheritance DesignBuilder models are organised in a hierarchy Site Building Block Zone Surface _ Opening Default data is inherited from the level above in the hierarchy so block data is inherited from building level zone data is inherited from block data and surface data from zone data This arrangement allows you to make settings at building level which can becomes active throughout the whole building or make settings at block level to change data for all zones surfaces in the block So for example if the External wall construction is set to Wall 1 at building level then this will be the default External wall for all blocks in the building It is possible to change the inherited defaults in any of these blocks by making an explicit selection say Wall 2 All the zones in the block whose external wall construction was set to Wall 2 have that default External wall construction The construction and opening defaults are inherited down to surface level where the data is actually used in the calculations For example it is the External wall construction model data at the surface level that defines the actual construction used for that external wall Th
372. iliary energy accounts for any additional energy consumption due to fans pumps control gear etc It is specified per floor area and is modelled as being consumed 24 7 during the simulation 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 247 SYSTEM AVAILABILITY When using Compact HVAC data the system availability schedule can be defined to control the overall operation of the HVAC system including heating cooling and ventilation This schedule is used at the building level for 2 Unitary multizone 3 VAV and 5 CAV systems and at the zone level for 1 Unitary single zone and 5 Fan coil System availability schedule The System availability schedule defines the operation of the air system fans For Compact Unitary systems the Fan operation mode can be set to 2 Cycling in which case air distribution only occurs when there is heating or cooling demand Night cycle control VAV CAV The Night cycle control manager is used for cycling on CAV and VAV air systems when one or more zones become too hot or too cold The usual situation is that the central air handler is turned off at night However if the building gets too cold there might be condensation on the walls and other damage Thus the control system is usually programmed to turn the system on if one control thermostat or any thermostat shows a zone temperature of less than a night time set point Similarly there might be a concern about a building getting too hot Again the control sys
373. in DesignBuilder to define e Occupancy times e Equipment lighting HVAC operation e Heating and Cooling temperature setpoints e Transparency of component blocks usually seasonal Apart from their use for defining Transparency of component blocks Schedules are only used in simulations when the Timing model option is set to Schedules You can define schedules in one of 2 ways e 7 12 Schedules where each day of the week and each month of the year has a unique daily variation defined using profiles Compact Schedules more flexible definition using EnergyPlus Schedule Compact text based data format Use the Schedule type drop list on the Schedules dialog to make the selection When Schedules are used to define heating and cooling equipment temperature setpoint temperatures the following convection in used Click here for more detailed information on temperature setpoint schedule definition Schedule data can be accessed from the Components tab on the opening screen to view edit library components if no file is open from the Components tab in the Navigator panel to view edit model components if a file is open by double clicking on the schedules icon in the model data by clicking on the Edit button when selecting schedules from a list 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 352 DesignBuilder 1 5 5 5 1 7 12 Schedules Defined Using Profiles General tab on Schedules Dialog 7 2 Schedules reference Profiles one
374. in a similar fashion 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 63 Completing the window perimeter Note In some cases Drawing guides can interfere with attempts to draw to a particular point and in this 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 case you can temporarily switch off Drawing guides using the check boxes in the Drawing Options panel in the bottom left of the screen 3 2 3 4 Protractor Tool The protractor tool is used to draw perimeter lines and partitions at specified angles in relation to the current drawing plane The protractor can be activated from the Drawing options data panel which is displayed when any of the drawing tools are used For example to create an offshoot projecting from an existing block with a roof slope of 30 move the cursor over the existing block surface press the SHIFT key to lock the drawing plane and draw the first perimeter line snapping to the base edge using end point snap Draw the second perimeter line to connect to the mid point of the block edge and then activate the protractor 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 6 Geometry Y Black type 1 Building block Form 1 Extruded Height m 3 50 Auto complete block Perimeter Y Shape 1 Polygon Line type 1 Straight line Thickness m 0 500 Protract Y v Protractor on Prolracturimere 1 8 9 Direction Snaps Point Snaps
375. in contact with ground option is selected DesignBuilder automatically combines the site ground construction 0 5m of earth by default with the main construction typically ground floor or wall set on the Constructions tab 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 4 DesignBuilder 1 5 With Combined constructions the earth layers must be explicitly included in the ground floor wall constructions if you wish to define ground temperatures within the earth Ground temperatures Monthly ground temperatures are defined at the site level under Site details Note You should not use the ground temperatures in the EnergyPlus weather file header because these are for undisturbed sites The temperature beneath buildings is significantly affected by the building itself the EnergyPlus documentation recommends using ground temperatures of 2 C below average internal temperatures for large commercial buildings where perimeter heat loss is relatively less important Note that this temperature should be applied directly below the slab and should not include ground material so if you use this approach to ground temperature definition you should switch off use of the ground construction at the site level EnergyPlus cannot model very thick constructions so it is necessary to use less thick constructions 2m or smaller combined with some assumptions about temperatures at about half a metre below the floor Many modellers prefer to define the ground tempera
376. ing 397 States 15 171 182 183 281 338 396 484 Statistics 392 Steady 404 407 417 Steady State 404 407 417 Steady state 403 407 410 Stepped Control 242 384 Stick 41 64 Stock 183 397 Straight 36 38 307 320 Stretch 59 72 77 100 Sub hourly 15 296 302 313 418 423 464 484 Sub surfaces 163 199 214 Summary 283 345 404 407 415 417 489 Summary Table 404 407 415 Summer Design Weather 177 182 390 410 Summer design weather data 182 DesignBuilder 1 5 Sunspaces 184 SunZenithAngle 178 Superinsulated 372 Support 15 489 528 Support Forum Website 528 Support Request Form 528 Surface 15 21 27 30 35 40 41 59 61 64 72 75 89 100 104 120 122 163 166 171 175 178 183 187 198 199 214 215 223 228 235 236 237 238 280 281 294 307 320 329 346 361 367 382 394 395 400 401 464 465 504 coefficients depending 296 302 313 U values include 342 Surface containing openings 21 Surface containing the openings Surface during simulations 400 Surface fill 35 Surface having 329 Surface Level 21 30 35 100 163 198 214 215 223 228 235 237 281 Suspended 199 465 Switch 16 17 45 46 55 57 61 72 77 89 119 120 122 162 163 166 189 220 232 242 253 284 294 326 366 368 384 436 439 447 464 484 504 Z axis 67 Switchable 220 232 368 Synchronised 240 242 484 System 14 15 21 30 41 183 186 198 213 242 248 253 26
377. ing Guides amp Protractor 3 4 6 4 Point Snaps Drawing Tools tab on Model Options dialog See Point Snaps entry under Snaps Drawing Guides amp Protractor 3 4 6 5 Drawing Guides Drawing Tools tab on Model Options dialog See Drawing Guides entry under Snaps Drawing Guides amp Protractor 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 325 3 4 6 6 Object Rotation Drawing Tools tab on Model Options dialog You can change the rotation increment to control the angular increments for the object rotation process See Rotation entry under General Operations 3 4 0 7 Protractor Tool Drawing Tools tab on Model Options dialog See Protractor entry under Snaps Drawing Guides amp Protractor 3 4 7 Display Display tab on Model Options dialog Options related to the display of data e Show Data for Calculations e Edit Screen e Visualisation Display 3 4 7 1 Show Data for Calculations Display tab on Model Options dialog Analysis type DesignBuilder user interface adapts to the currently selected Analysis type as set under Show Data for Calculations This ensures that the Model data displayed in the UI is relevant to the calculation results You can change the Analysis type at any time to carry out different calculations The list of Analysis type options available will depend on the Location of the site For example when the site is located in the UK it possible to set the Analysis type to SBEM Par
378. ing on off according to the availability of natural daylight in discrete steps Whereas the Continuous control described above provides precisely controlled illuminance by dimming the lights the stepped control models blocks of lights switching on off according to the electric lighting requirement The electric power input and light output vary in discreet equally spaced steps The number of steps can be set Fractional input power Daylight illuminance Illuminance set point See also EnergyPlus Daylight Calculations GLARE Maximum allowable glare index If a daylit zone has windows with Window shading devices the shades will be deployed if the daylight glare at sensor 1 exceeds the value of Maximum allowable glare index To get this type of glare control you have to specify Shading control type as 5 Glare for one or more windows in the zone see Window Shading Control View angle relative to y axis Daylight glare from a window depends on occupant view direction It is highest when you look directly at a window and decreases as you look away from a window This field specifies the view direction for calculating glare It is the angle measured clockwise in the horizontal plane between the positive y axis and the occupant view direction i e it is the bearing of the persons line of sight For example with Site orientation 0 in the Northern Hemisphere 90 Facing East 180 Facing South etc 2008 DesignBuilder S
379. ing surfaces with non zero transmittance overlap the net transmittance is the product of the individual transmittances Inter reflection between the shading e surfaces and between the shading surfaces and the building is ignored e For the daylighting calculation the shading surface s visible transmittance is assumed to be the same as its solar transmittance Shading devices are assumed to be opaque to long wave radiation no matter what the solar transmittance value is Note that shading devices only shade solar radiation when the sun is up which is automatically determined by EnergyPlus from latitude time of year etc The user need only account for the time varying transmittance of the shading device in the transmittance schedule not whether the sun is up or not 3 3 2 2 2 Airtightness Construction tab in model data There are two ways of defining air tightness depending on the Natural ventilation model option e Scheduled e Calculated In both cases infiltration can be switched off at building block or zone level Construction tab in model data under Airtightness header The infiltration rate rate of entry of unintentional air from outside through cracks holes and through the porosity of the fabric can be set in Air changes per hour ac h and is constant throughout the simulation The air flow rate in m3 s is calculated from the ac h data using m3 s ac h ZoneVolume 3600 where ZoneVolume is the total air volume of the
380. ing uses energy you must separate results for the two buildings at the end You can use different boiler and chiller fuels to differentiate fuel consumption between the two buildings If you use the Simple natural ventilation instead of Calculated DesignBuilder uses an assumed mixing of air between the two buildings based on flow per opening area as set the Model options dialog on the Advanced tab under Natural Ventilation 12 6 Electrochromic Glazing Electrochromic windows are part of a new generation of technologies called switchable glazing or smart windows Switchable glazing can change the light transmittance transparency or shading of windows in response to an environmental signal such as sunlight temperature or an electrical control Electrochromic windows change from transparent to tinted by applying an electrical current Potential uses for electrochromic technology include daylighting control glare control solar heat control and fading protection in windows and skylights By automatically controlling the amount of light and solar energy that can pass through the window electrochromic windows can help save energy in buildings A variety of electrochromic technologies and media have been developed One type is darkened by applying a small electrical voltage to the windows and lightened by reversing the voltage Light transmittance during operation varies from five to 80 percent Once the change in tint has been initiated
381. integrates the use of air conditioning when and where it is necessary with the use of natural ventilation whenever it is feasible or desirable to maximize comfort while avoiding the significant energy use and operating costs of year round air conditioning Source Mixed mode page on Center for Built Environment website contains background case studies and a database of 150 mixed buildings Some useful background documents on mixed mode design and simulation 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 1 www cbe berkeley edu mixedmode 2 www ibpsa org proceedings BS 1999 BS99 D 07 pdf When modelling mixed mode systems in DesignBuilder you should ideally use Compact HVAC to avoid the limitations explained below of Simple HVAC You may also want to use Calculated natural ventilation to calculate natural ventilation air and heat flows based on window opening stack and wind driven flows etc The steps to setting up a mixed mode model are 1 Include active cooling and natural ventilation by switching on the Natural ventilation on and Cooling on options on the HVAC tab 2 Also include mechanical ventilation if there is outside air introduced through the HVAC system 3 Ensure that the setpoints for natural ventilation and cooling operation are correct Generally the natural ventilation window vent opening setpoint should be lower than the cooling setpoint to ensure maximum use of natural ventilation and to avoid the ac
382. ions in Europe include some basic data on the energy codes which apply 6 7 2 Location Templates Winter Design Weather Winter design weather tab on Location Templates Dialog The weather data used in winter design calculations is e Minimum outside dry bulb temperature e Co incident wind speed and direction There are options for 99 6 or 9996 confidence i e 0 4 or 196 chance of more extreme winter weather occurring 6 7 3 Location Templates Summer Design Weather Summer design weather tab on Location Templates Dialog The weather data used in summer design calculations is e Maximum outside dry bulb temperature e Minimum outside dry bulb temperature e Wet bulb temperature at the time of the maximum dry bulb temperature Risk can be specified based on dry or wet bulb temperatures for 99 6 99 and 9895 confidence i e 0 4 1 or 296 chance of more extreme weather occurring 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Template Data 6 7 4 Location Templates Simulation Weather Simulation weather tab on Location Templates Dialog DesignBuilder will only use hourly weather data for simulations winter and summer design calculations use design weather data You can add your own Hourly Weather data 6 8 Hourly Weather Data Hourly weather data ALGIERS 4 b General Name ALGIERS Country ALGERIA E Source Filename DZ4_ALGIERS_IW Latitude 36 72 Longitude 3 25 WMO station identifier 603900 Summer
383. ioritises Window Width 215 223 228 382 P 87 215 223 227 228 235 ade Process 30 31 36 38 41 59 104 122 147 184 Percentage glazing 87 215 223 228 196 285 327 376 411 418 423 484 504 Perforance 398 Process gains 196 Perimeter drawing 166 Profiles 182 273 286 340 351 356 375 Perimeter Drawing Options 35 Program 14 16 178 296 302 307 313 320 Perimeters 15 31 35 36 38 40 41 45 46 55 332 334 399 446 447 449 453 465 484 489 57 59 61 64 67 88 89 104 115 116 118 119 Program compares 296 302 313 120 122 158 162 395 465 v Program Options 399 446 447 449 453 refer 166 Program Options setting 399 Period 30 296 301 302 313 356 387 418 436 Hear ace Properties 198 307 320 341 342 346 349 350 351 368 Photovoltai 508 otovoltaic Proportional 387 Pitched Roof 115 118 122 140 159 199 328 329 Protractor 36 40 59 61 64 67 72 75 89 104 Pitched Roof Wall Construction Transition 140 ERU cag eat ipid 159 Protractor tool 64 325 Place 15 38 46 59 61 67 72 75 89 122 147 160 166 189 236 242 368 411 423 centre point 36 Light Sensors 162 Template 334 Placing Light Sensors 162 Plan 119 120 122 178 R Plant 15 287 298 304 403 410 417 508 Questions 528 Plant Sizing 287 403 410 417 2E Point 15 28 31 34 35 36 40 55 57 59 61 64 Rate according 67 72 75 89 122 147 213
384. iphosphor wit Category Fluorescent M Region England and Wale Source BRE Task Lighting General Lighting On Output 3 40 Luminaire type 3 Recessed Lighting Control On Control type 3 Stepped e Lighting templates data sets are used as a source of generic lighting systems for loading into the building data There are three tabs on the Lighting Template dialog e General e Output e Control Template data can be accessed from the Templates tab on the opening screen if no file is open e e from the Templates tab in the Navigator panel if a file is open e by double clicking on the template icon in the model data e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting templates from a list 6 5 1 Lighting Templates General General tab on Lighting Templates Dialog Enter the name category and region for this Lighting Template Enter the region as General if you want the data to be generally available i e not restricted to a particular region See also Building Model Lighting Data for more information on the use of this template data in the model 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 6 5 2 Lighting Templates Output Output tab on Lighting Templates Dialog Enter the lighting energy for task and general lighting in W m2 100 lux W ft2 100 lux This data is used for setting up the actual Lighting energy W m2 data in each zone using Lighting energy W m2 Lighting
385. is a draft or when there is a radiant flux incident on a person which is what is of primary interest to us here Fanger 5 noted that the human regulatory system is quite tolerant of asymmetrical radiant flux A reasonable upper limit on the difference in mean radiant temperature Tr from one direction to the opposing direction is 15 1 This limit is lower if there is a high air velocity in the zone Mathematical Models for Predicting Thermal Comfort 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 522 DesignBuilder 1 5 Many researchers have been exploring ways to predict the thermal sensation of people in their environment based on the personal environmental and physiological variables that influence thermal comfort From the research done some mathematical models that simulate occupants thermal response to their environment have been developed Most thermal comfort prediction models use a seven or nine point thermal sensation scale as in the following tables Seven point Thermal Sensation Scale 3 hot 2 warm 1 slightly warm 0 neutral 1 slightly cool 2 cool 8 cold Nine point Thermal Sensation Scale 4 very hot 3 hot 2 warm 1 slightly warm 0 neutral 1 slightly cool 2 cool 3 cold 4 very cold The most notable models have been developed by P O Fanger the Fanger Comfort Model the J B Pierce Foundation the Pierce Two Node Model and researchers at Kansas State University the KSU Two Node Model Bergl
386. is transferred to the air node in simulations A value of 1 means that the gain is entirely radiative in which case all the heat is distributed to the inside surfaces a typical value is somewhere between 0 1 and 0 5 If the Internal gains operate with occupancy model option is not selected you can also set the operation schedule 3 3 2 1 10 Catering Gains Activity tab in model data Set the thermal gains due to cooking and other catering activities per unit floor area Gain Set the design level of energy consumption due to catering equipment per unit floor area The actual heat gain to the space may be reduced through the Fraction lost data below 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 1 DesignBuilder 1 5 The Gain entered in Watts m2 or Watts ft2 is typically used to represent the maximum fuel consumption of catering equipment in a zone that is then multiplied by a schedule fraction below This is slightly more flexible in that the design level could be a diversity factor applied to a schedule of real numbers Note that while the schedule value can vary from hour to hour the design level field is constant Fuel The fuel can be selected from a drop down list Note that these fuels are currently mapped to a shorter list in the results as follows Fuel in Model Data Mapped to Fuel in Output 1 Electricity from grid Electricity 2 Natural gas Gas 3 Oil Oil 4 Coal Solid 5 LPG Gas 6 Biogas Gas 7 Anthracite Solid 8 Smok
387. ishi Y An Effective Temperature Scale Based on a Simple Model of Human Physiological Regulatory Response ASHRAE Trans Vol 70 Pt 1 1970 9 Gagge A P Fobelets A P Berglund L G A Standard Predictive Index of Human Response to the Thermal Environment ASHRAE Trans Vol 92 Pt 2 1986 10 Azer N Z Hsu S The prediction of Thermal Sensation from Simple model of Human Physiological Regulatory Response ASHRAE Trans Vol 83 Pt 1 1977 11 Hsu S A Thermoregulatory Model for Heat Acclimation and Some of its Application Ph D Dissertation Kansas State University 1977 12 1SO Determination of the PMV and PPD Indices and Specification of the Conditions for Thermal Comfort DIS 7730 Moderate Thermal Environment 1983 13 Doherty T J Arens E Evaluation of the Physiological Bases of Thermal Comfort Models ASHRAE Trans Vol 94 Pt 1 1988 14 ASHRAE Physiological Principles and Thermal Comfort 1993 ASHRAE Handbook Fundamentals American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers Atlanta GA Chapter 8 1993 15 Fountain Marc E Huizenga Charlie A Thermal Sensation Prediction Tool for Use by the Profession ASHRAE Trans Vol 103 Pt 2 1997 16 Int Hout D Thermal Comfort Calculation A Computer Model ASHRAE Trans Vol 96 Pt 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd EnergyPlus Background Information 525 15 8 EnergyPlus Date Definition Field Contents
388. issing data When you use the library data Export command with a model data file open the data exported will be user Model components templates not Library components templates From the Opening screen you can also export entire data tables as csv spreadsheet files suitable for viewing in a spreadsheet This data cannot be read back into DesignBuilder 4 5 Backup Component Template Libraries D P p ilz RB XI Back up your Component and Template libraries by clicking on the Backup toolbar icon Backups created in this way are stored in the Backup Manual folder beneath the rest of the library data 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd ose DesignBuilder 1 5 As well as backing up the compiled dbt files DesignBuilder also exports the files in dat format and packages the whole backup into a zip file If you have problems with your libraries you may find it helpful to send this zip file to DesignBuilder Support for analysis You can use this data as a backup of your library data and can restore it at a later date using the Restore libraries command 4 6 Restore Component Template Libraries UB XISG do Click on the Restore icon to open the Restore Data dialog which allows you to Restore previously backed up Component Template libraries Select the source of the restore you can either restore the libraries to their state when you first installed DesignBuilder or you can restore library data from a pre
389. isted in EnergyPlus hourly weather files as these values are too extreme for the soil under typical large conditioned buildings A reasonable default value is 2 C less than the average monthly indoor space temperature is appropriate for such buildings For smaller buildings the ground 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models temperatures will be closer to be undisturbed ground temperatures More information about determining appropriate ground temperatures is given in Ground Modelling and in the EnergyPlus Auxiliary Programs document 3 3 1 1 3 Time and Daylight Saving Location tab on model data at Site level Select the Time zone for the site location The time zone defines both the standard time meridian and information on daylight saving Generally you should leave this as the default for the location You can override daylight savings to be off by unchecking the Use daylight saving model data DesignBuilder models the effect of daylight saving time where the clocks are moved forward one hour in the summer months in most non equatorial countries The timing of this is handled automatically using the Time zones database when you load data from one of the Location templates supplied with the program 2 gt Time and Daylight Saving Qa Time zone GMT Greenwich Mean Time Dublin Edinburgh Lisbon There are some factors you should be aware of e In EnergyPlus summer Daylight saving works by adding the numb
390. istribution losses when using the Simple HVAC model option Boiler chiller CoP is the seasonal coefficient of performance of the boiler chiller excluding any energy consumption by fans pumps etc and excluding distribution losses 6 6 4 HVAC Templates Air Temperature Distribution Air temperature distribution tab on HVAC Templates Dialog By default EnergyPlus assumes that air temperature within a zone is completely uniform i e the air is fully mixed The data on this tab allows you to set up a temperature gradient which varies dynamically depending on e Outside temperature e Inside temperature e Inside outside temperature difference e Heating load e Cooling load See Air Temperature Distribution for more information on defining vertical zone temperature profiles temperature gradients 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Template Data 6 7 Location Templates RaLocation template ANCHORAGE 4 General ame ANCHORAGE Country UNITEDS Source ASHRAE TMY WMO 702730 Climatic region 7 Koppen classification Dfc Latitude 61 17 Longitude 150 02 Elevation 35 0 Standard pressure 100 3 Time and Daylight Saving Qa Time zone Start of Winter End of Winter Start of summer End of summer Energy Codes Legislative region Heating 99 6 Outside design temperature Wind speed Wind direction Heating 99 Outside design temperature Wind speed Wind direction GMT 03 00 AI Oct M
391. ith these outside DesignBuilder to access EnergyPlus system functionality not provided by DesignBuilder 1 3 Recent Files Opening Screen The Recent Files Opening Screen has a list of the files used in your previous DesignBuilder modelling sessions To access one of these files again you can double click on it in the grid or single click in the grid to select it and then Open selected site from the Info Panel on the Toolbar DesignBuilder File Edit Go Tools vail BER EET OETI DesignBuilder Data Info Help Recent Files Component Libraries Templates Name Folder Size KB Last Modified Recent and Example Files Gj DesignBuilder files To open one ofthe recently opened files E Example house 2 C ADesignBuilder T emplat s 356 15 14 2 select the file in the main screen and click on 2 Example house 1 C DesignBuilderT emplates 356 15 1 2006 3 Open selected file below ih Example atrium My Documents DesignBuilder 13 1 2006 1 ib test My DocumentssDesignBuilder 13 1 Et ih bigmodel designbuilder co uk IL 2 1 2006 1 ib zimski vrt My Documents DesignBuilder 12 1 2006 4 DesignBuilder templates Courtyard with YAY Example C DesignBuilder T emplates 15 12 2005 ih Example house 1 C SDesignBuilderNT emplates 15 1 2006 3 2 Example house 2 CADesignBuilder T emplates 1571 2006 2 S open existing site ih Single Zone Example C DesignBuilder Templates 16 12 2005
392. l exterior assumes all solar radiation falls on floor which is not good for modelling solar absorption by a Trombe wall Finally an overhang should be attached to the Trombe zone to control the amount of seasonal sun exposure There is considerable freedom to experiment with different materials sizes and configurations Passive Trombe wall Passive Trombe walls perform without the assistance of any additional mechanical equipment Most 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 472 DesignBuilder 1 5 Trombe walls are passive Trombe walls They can be either sealed or naturally ventilated For a sealed or unvented Trombe wall the Zone Inside Convection Algorithm should be set to 5 Cavity This algorithm correctly calculates the convection coefficients for a narrow sealed vertical cavity based on the ISO 15099 standard The EnergyPlus modeling approach for the sealed passive Trombe wall has been validated with experimental data Ellis 2003 For a naturally ventilated Trombe wall there is no built in algorithm for calculating the correct convection coefficients on the inside of the cavity walls One option is to use the 1 Detailed Inside convection algorithm This algorithm takes into account some natural convection effects but is intended for a normal sized room You can define holes and vents through the Trombe wall by drawing them on at surface level Vent openings can be scheduled and controlled by internal temperature Mechanically ventilat
393. l of the Trombe zone contains a single or double pane window Optimally the window covers nearly all of the wall area and has a very high transmissivity to allow the maximum amount of solar flux into the Trombe zone Frames and dividers can be defined as usual for the window The interior wall is usually constructed of very thick masonry materials with a solar absorber surface as the innermost layer of the wall The absorber is a selective surface material with very high absorptivity and very low emissivity e g copper with a special black surface treatment It is important to make sure the Solar Distribution is set to 3 Full Interior and Exterior so that the majority of the solar flux is directed on the absorber surface and not just on the very small area of the Trombe zone floor The Zone type on the Activity tab should be set to 3 Cavity and this causes the following changes to be made to the model e The zone is set as unoccupied by loading None Activity HVAC and Lighting template data e Suspended floors and ceilings are switched off when using Separate constructions The 5 Cavity Internal convection algorithm is set for Cooling design Heating design and simulation calculations to correctly model the air space The 3 Full interior and exterior Solar distribution algorithm is set for Cooling design and simulation calculations because it allows solar radiation to be accurately distributed onto zone internal surfaces The default option 2 Ful
394. lates This is inherited from the building to blocks to zones to surfaces and to openings This default model data can be overwritten by making edits on the Model Data tabs on the Edit screen 3 3 1 Site Data The site data represents information about the site including its location the conditions of the ground weather the legislative region and the maximum allowed U values for new buildings All buildings on the site use the same site model data To edit site model data go to site level and click on the Location or Region tabs below 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Navigate Site Untitled Layout Location a8 PE e ta Template LONDON GATWICK ARPT Site Location I Block 1 Latitude 51 2 5 60 Zone 2 Longitude 02 cunei Site Details Y Block 2 4 69 Zone 1 Elevation above sea level m 52 0 Exposure to wind 2 Normal Site orientation 0 Go to site level SJ Construction Cultivated clay soil 0 5m by clicking on Surface reflectance 0 20 the site icon in the Navigator Monthly Temperatures Y panel Jan C 16 0 Feb 16 0 Mar C 16 0 fe FO You can easily change the location of the site by making a selection for the Location template on the Location tab or by using the Load data from template command Alternatively you can open up the headers on the Location and Region tabs to edit the data 3 3 1 1 Location Location tab on model data at Site l
395. lations When zones are merged DesignBuilder marks one of the zones as being the parent zone and the other zones child zones The child zones are marked in blue in the Navigator together with the parent zone they have been merged into as shown below E Untitled Building 1 Ground Floor 60 Atrium First Floor xj First Floor gt Atrium Second Floor Second Floor gt Atriut Roof H E Roof gt Atrium This screenshot of the Navigation list shows the First floor zone Second floor zone and Roof zones all merged into the Atrium zone The parent zone is the zone that is used for defining Activity HVAC Lighting and all other zone related data for itself and all it s child zones You therefore cannot access this zone related Model data for merged child zones You must go to the parent zone to edit the Model data for the combined zone The internal gains are calculated based on the data set on the Activity tab for the parent zone but using the combined total floor area of all of the merged zones Constructions glazing and other surface level data can be defined separately in each of the parent and child zones in the normal way Important when merging 2 or more stacked zones using holes in the floor and the Merge zones connected by holes option you should be aware that the combined floor area used to calculate internal gains in the simulations will e
396. lding level 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Include unoccupied zones in block and building totals and averages By default data for unoccupied zones is excluded from block and building totals and averages Check this option to include data for unoccupied zones A zone is defined as unoccupied if it has e No occupancy and e No cooling and e No heating and e No mechanical ventilation Surface heat transfer incl solar Select this option to generate heat flow at surface boundaries The following EnergyPlus reports are generated e Opaque Surface Inside Face Conduction e Window Heat Gain e Window Heat Loss e Window Transmitted Solar Environmental This option generates temperatures and humidity data The following EnergyPlus reports are generated Zone Mean Air Temperature Zone Mean Radiant Temperature Zone Air Relative Humidity Outdoor Dry Bulb Comfort Select this option to generate Comfort output The following EnergyPlus reports are generated FangerPMV PiercePMVET PiercePMVSET PierceDISC PierceTSENS KsuTSV Time Not Comfortable Summer Clothes Time Not Comfortable Winter Clothes Time Not Comfortable Summer or Winter Clothes Internal gains Select this option to generate internal gains related output The following EnergyPlus reports are generated e Zone Lights Total Heat Gain e Zone Task Lights Total Heat Gain e Zone People Sensible Heat Gain e Zone Electric
397. lections on the Display Options panel under the Appearance header ENERGYPLUS SCRIPT You can view the input data script used to calculate these results by selecting the Tools Display simulation input script menu option If you do not have the EnergyPlus IDF editor installed then you should associate the idf file extension with a text editor to make this option work 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Calculations 407 Note this shows the script stored with the model just before the simulation not the in idf file stored in the EnergyPlus folder 7 1 3 Summary table The Summary screen shows Comfort temperature Steady state heat loss and Design heating capacity e Comfort temperature The mean of the internal air and radiant temperatures also known as the operational temperature e Steady state heat loss same as Heating delivered on the Steady State tab heat delivered to maintain the internal heating design temperature e Design capacity is the Steady state heat loss multiplied by the Design margin to give the design heating capacity of the equipment Untitled House Entrance block Entrance Steady State Summary Zone Comfort Temperature Steady State Heat Loss kw Design Heating Capacity kw House Total design heat loss 28 160 kwh Entrance block Total design heat loss 5 840 Entrance 1834 456 68
398. led 5 0 Building 1 5 9 Block 1 9 60 Zone 1 LI Type 2 Natural ventilation open plan Click on the navigator entry or double click on the zone floor in the Edit screen an nis Either of these operations will take you to the zone 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 162 DesignBuilder 1 5 3 2 11 1 Placing Light Sensors If you switch zone Lighting Control on a light sensor will be displayed as a blue rectangle with the number 1 inside it indicating Light sensor 1 By default Light sensor 1 is positioned in the geometric centre of the zone If you now switch on the Second Lighting Area a second light sensor will be displayed with a number 2 inside it Model Data Lighting g Template Energy code compliant lightin gt General Lighting Task Lighting E Using Control Lighting Area 1 Lighting Area 2 Zone covered 0 0 Glare Light sensors at default location To move a light sensor to a different location move the mouse cursor over the required sensor and click on it to select it and then Move it to wherever you want within a floor perimeter 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 163 Model Data Lighting e Template Energy code compliant lightin x General Lighting Task Lighting E Lighting Control On Control type 1 Linear Lighting Area 1 Lighting Area 2 Second lighting area Target Illuminance 1 300 Zone covered 0 0 Glare
399. led Natural Ventilation Airflow through external windows vents doors and holes are not modelled with Scheduled natural ventilation because the natural ventilation airflow from outside is explicitly defined using the total natural ventilation flow rate and operation on the HVAC tab No operation data is entered on the Openings tab for external windows in this case Note Natural Ventilation can be overridden to be off on the HVAC tab for both Calculated and Scheduled model options 3 3 2 3 2 Internal Glazing Openings tab in model data The data under the Internal Glazing header applies to all glazing lying on internal partition walls You can enter information on e Dimensions e Frame e Operation Openings tab in model data under External Glazing and Internal Glazing headers Facade types There are a number of standard facade types 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 24 DesignBuilder 1 5 None there is no glazing e Continuous horizontal glazing is generated in a continuous horizontal strip using Sill height Window spacing and Percentage glazing Fixed height glazing is generated with a fixed height at the specified Sill height and Window spacing and width is calculated based on the Percentage glazing This option uses Window to wall 96 but prioritises window height Preferred height glazing is generated using the window height data and the Percentage glazing but the Window height may be adjusted to
400. ling demand and setpoint temperatures are always maintained This option can cause extremely large 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 288 DesignBuilder 1 5 peaks in heating and cooling delivery to zones and will tend to over predict heating and cooling energy and under predict discomfort hours When using Compact HVAC this option is equivalent to 3 Autosize and the Compact HVAC autosizing mechanism is used to size the components and flow rates to ensure that the required comfort conditions are met e 2 Manual heating and cooling capacity Model Data must be entered manually Choose this option if you have specific heating and cooling capacity data you wish to use and do not want it to be overwritten when model data or model options change e 3 Autosize the default option where heating and cooling capacities are always calculated prior to each simulation and the heating and cooling capacity Model data is not displayed When using Simple HVAC the heating and cooling design calculations will be run as required before the simulation to calculate the required sizes When using Compact HVAC the components and flow rates are sized using the EnergyPlus autosizing mechanism to ensure that the required comfort conditions are met e 4 Autosize when not set heating and cooling capacities are Autosized and loaded into model data following heating and cooling design simulations If Capacity model data is not present before a simulation it is generated by
401. ll overwrite the original data 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Template Data 373 Important Note any template you add while a model is open will be added to Model templates and not to the Template library It will only be added to the library and hence to new models if you export the new component model data in ddf form and import the ddf file to the library before creating the new model Loading to Model Data Each tab in the Model data has the name of the template last used to load the data at the top shown in bold At the top of the HVAC tab is the HVAC Template at the top of the Lighting tab is the Lighting Template etc This is the template that was previously used to load the default data but you can load different data from a different template by clicking on the template data then clicking again on the to the right of the template data and making a new selection When you make the selection the appropriate data is loaded from the template into the model Note 1 It is important to understand that the template data itself does not contribute to the model until it is loaded in Note 2 Changes to the model data relative to the data in the template last loaded are highlighted in bold to show that it overrides the template data previously loaded Note 3 Another way to load data to a model from templates is to use the Load Data From Template tool Lighting Template 9 T12 Fluorescent halophosphate lo General L
402. ll range of options are e 1 Auto the adjacency of the surface is determined automatically by DesignBuilder based on its position External surfaces below the ground plane are by default considered to be adjacent to ground and external surfaces above the ground plane are considered to be adjacent to outside conditions 2 Not adjacent to ground the surface is not adjacent to ground even if it is situated below the ground plane 3 Adjacent to ground the surface is adjacent to ground even if it is above the ground plane or it is an internal surface 4 Adiabatic the surface is adiabatic This means that heat is not transferred across in its external surface Adiabatic surfaces are frequently used in thermal modelling to represent surfaces which are between two zones at substantially similar conditions Note that thermal mass is still modelled in Adiabatic surfaces because heat can still be transferred into the mass through the internal surface Adiabatic surfaces are often used for modelling the boundary between the actual building model and any adjacent buildings which are not to be modelled You can determine which surfaces are adiabatic or adjacent to ground by looking for the corresponding surface adjacency markers in the Edit Screen at zone and surface levels Adiabatic Adjacent to ground 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 209 Note that the recommended way to set ground and adiabatic adjacencies is t
403. lls Line type 1 Straight line Partition type 1 Standard Direction Snaps Offset snap Distance 1 000 Point Snaps End point snap Beginning of partition snapped to 1 0m from the end the of the wall After placing the beginning of the partition the rubber banded partition will be automatically snapped to the offset from the selected wall and as you move the cursor to the next connected wall segment the offset snap indicator will appear again 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models As you move the cursor you will see that the offset snap interacts with other snaps allowing you to position partitions accurately If you find that the other snaps are interfering with the offset snap you can switch them off by pressing the SHIFT key 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 5 DesignBuilder 1 5 Endpoint snap works with offset to enable perimeter to be completed sh 298 Completed perimeter 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 3 2 3 2 Point Snaps When the various point snaps are switched on a coloured indicator is displayed when the mouse cursor is close to a key point on an existing element allowing a perimeter or partition line end point to be positioned precisely at the selected key point The following point snaps are available e end point snap e mid point snap e Edge snap e DXF snap e Increments snap Note In some cases Snaps
404. location 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd EnergyPlus Background Information 521 15 7 EnergyPlus Thermal Comfort The integration of a sophisticated building thermal analysis tool with thermal comfort models will allow us to perform an energy analysis on a zone and simultaneously determine if the environmental control strategy will be sufficient for the occupants to be thermally comfortable This chapter is intended to provide background on thermal comfort present an overview of state of the art thermal comfort models and present the mathematical models that have been incorporated into Energy Plus Background on Thermal Comfort Models Throughout the last few decades researchers have been exploring the thermal physiological and psychological response of people in their environment in order to develop mathematical models to predict these responses Researchers have empirically debated building occupants thermal responses to the combined thermal effect of the personal environmental and physiological variables that influence the condition of thermal comfort There are two personal variables that influence the condition of thermal comfort the thermal resistance of the clothing Icl and the metabolic rate H ADu The thermal resistance of the clothing Icl is measured in units of clo The 1985 ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals 3 suggests multiplying the summation of the individual clothing items clo value by a factor of 0 82 for clo
405. loor By default when lighting control is switched on a single photo sensor monitors the daylight illuminance at the first sensor location and controls the lights for the whole of the zone You can however set up 2 Lighting Areas in each zone by checking the Second lighting area check box In this case you can set a target illuminance for the second lighting area separately and also define the percentage of the zone covered by Lighting Area 2 Note 1 the floor area covered by the 2 sensors does not need to add to 100 The lights in the remaining floor area operate without daylight control Note 2 the target illuminance for Lighting Area 1 is set on the Activity tab under Environmental Control If there is only one lighting area then a percentage equal to 100 Zone covered by Lighting Area 1 is assumed to have no lighting control 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 24 DesignBuilder 1 5 9e Zone Controlled by Lighting Area 2 The fraction of the zone floor area whose electric lighting is controlled by the daylight illuminance on the second sensor This data is required if Lighting Area 2 is being used A percentage equal to 100 6Zone Controlled by Lighting Area 1 Zone Controlled by Lighting Area 2 is assumed to have no lighting control i e in this uncontrolled area of the space the lights operate purely according to the schedule without any dimming switching PROCEDURE The procedure for introducing the l
406. ltizone systems If any zone return plenums have been specified the return air from the zone will flow through the zone return plenum and then into the system return plenum The system return plenum is defined at building level and only one is allowed per simulation 3 Zone supply plenum a supply air plenum serving only this zone in 3 VAV 2 Unitary multizone and 1 Unitary single zone systems The plenum zone is added to the supply air path after the System splitter or system level supply plenum and before the zone terminal unit The zone supply plenum is defined at zone level A zone supply plenum can serve only one zone 4 Zone return plenum return air plenums serving only this zone in 3 VAV 2 Unitary multizone and 1 Unitary single zone systems The plenum zone is added to the return air path immediately after the zone and before the system mixer or system level return plenum The zone supply plenum is defined at zone level A zone return plenum can serve only one zone When specifying a system or zone supply or return plenum you should enter a unique zone name The zone does not need to be in the same block Plenum modelling e Maximum of 1 system supply plenum allowed per simulation e Maximum of 1 system return plenum allowed per simulation e Each zone plenum can only serve one zone e Set the Zone type of any plenum zones to 4 Plenum This makes the necessary changes remaining requirements and recommendations in bullet list e Plenum zone
407. me and category for the local shading data set Overhangs louvres and sidefins can be specified either individually e g just overhangs or in combination e g sidefins combined with louvres 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Louvres Overhang Local Shading component data can be selected from the Openings tab in Model Data and is applied to all windows on the surface including custom windows Sidefins The data applies only to external glazing roof and internal glazing do not use local shading data Overhang louvre and sidefin blades are all assumed to be 100 opaque and made of the material specified on this tab Note the DesignBuilder Local shading devices allow a range of different overhangs side fins and louvres to be defined but if you need to model a shading device not covered by the standard mechanism you can draw custom shading devices using Component blocks There are four tabs on the Local Shading dialog e General e Louvres e Sidefins e Overhangs Local shading data can be accessed e from the Components tab on the opening screen to view edit library components if no file is open e from the Components tab in the Navigator panel to view edit model components if a file is open e by double clicking on the local shading icon on the Openings tab in the model data e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting local shading devices from a list 5 10 2 Louvres L
408. metry from the base building elements e Rezone block refresh the zoning in the current block e Import library components to model import current component and template libraries to the 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd model replacing existing ones e Export data export results graphics results from the current screen e Compile report generation of a report based on previously created Report topics e Hourly weather data open the hourly weather data dialog e Show log file show a log file containing information on your computer and all significant actions taken during the current DesignBuilder session Results screens e Update calculated data refreshes the results first opening the Calculation options dialog allowing you to enter new options e Lock Y axis min max values locks the extent of the Y axes so that they keep their current maximum and minimum values allowing consistent comparison with the future results display Libraries opening screen e Backup libraries backup component and template libraries e Restore libraries restore previous component and template library backups 11 6 Help Menu The Help menu can be accessed from the horizontal top bar menu at the top of the screen Index access program help using the Index Search access program help using the Search facility Contents access program help using the hierarchical Contents Licence enter serial number and licence keys Tutorials acce
409. mmended DLL option as it is more tightly integrated within DesignBuilder and provides progress feedback DesignBuilder comes with 2 internal versions of EnergyPlus e DLL the default option runs the internal version of EnergyPlus supplied with the program asynchronously giving visual feedback of progress and allowing interaction with the computer during the simulation e Executable an executable version of the program running in a command window Of you can select an executable version of EnergyPlus supplied by DOE If you are exporting IDF data for use outside DesignBuilder you should select the appropriate DOE version to avoid incompatibilities Note the EnergyPlus version selected here is used for simulations within DesignBuilder but also as the target version when exporting IDF data for use outside DesignBuilder Mode If you select an executable version internal or DOE there are four options available to control the way EnergyPlus is executed when simulating within DesignBuilder e 1 Executable minimised runs the executable invisibly you will just see a minimised window on the Task bar but not the EnergyPlus command window e 2 Executable visible runs the executable showing EnergyPlus screen output in a command window 3 Executable debug runs the executable showing EnergyPlus screen output in a command window and pauses after simulation intended for advanced EnergyPlus users who may want to see the stack d
410. more about Natural Ventilation Modelling under Modelling Issues 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 274 DesignBuilder 1 5 Flow type Defines the method used to set the maximum outside air natural ventilation rate The options are e 1 By zone enter the zone natural ventilation rate in air changes per hour in the control directly below The air flow rate is calculated from the ac h data using m3 s ac h x ZoneVolume 3600 where ZoneVolume is the actual air volume of the space calculated according to options for optionally excluding floor ceiling constructions Note this zone volume may be different from the value used for the purposes of calculating air flow rates for infiltration which uses the total zone volume e 2 Min fresh air per person maximum natural ventilation rate is defined using Minimum fresh air requirements as set on the Activity tab The air flow rate in m3 s is calculated as m3s MinFreshAir x NumberPeople 1000 NumberPeople Occupancy density people m2 Zone floor area m2 MinFreshAir is the minimum fresh air rate per person l s person Natural Ventilation Y v 0n Flow type 1 By zone M Rate ach 30 T T Y T T T T T T T T 1 Ty RE Operation Y cw M Offa 18 00 0 2 46 8 10121416 1820 22 24 Seasonal control 2 Summer only v Scheduled natural ventilation is active at any time in the simulation when e The air temperature in the zone is higher than the Ventilati
411. mulations by checking the model data under Component Blocks on the Constructions tab 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 113 ores oss o _ wel PA e Gro nd block in contact p with Building block View from building level mee T round adjacency created by contact with Ground block Adjacent to ground 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd a DesignBuilder 1 5 View from zone level Ground component blocks are displayed in the visualisation screen using the Ground texture as set at the site level More information on ground modelling can be found in the Ground Modelling topic Note The adjacencies established by contact with ground blocks can be overridden by making settings under Adjacency in Constructions model data at the surface level ADIABATIC COMPONENT BLOCKS Adiabatic component blocks can be used as a convenient way to set the adjacency of any touching building block surfaces to adiabatic Adiabatic surfaces do not transfer heat beyond their outer surface and are often used for modelling boundaries with other spaces that can be considered to be at roughly the same temperature as the zone In the model below the Adiabatic block shown in red has been positioned in contact with half of the South facade of the building to model the effect of an adjacent building which does not form part of the DesignBuilde
412. multizone Unitary single zone Fan coil The fuel consumption for each heating load is calculated based on the efficiency of the heat generation and distribution loss Heat generator fuel Heating Load x Heating distribution loss factor Heat generator CoP Where Heating distribution loss factor 1 Heating Distribution Loss 100 Note 1 distribution loss is 0 for direct electric and gas heating coils Note 2 CoP for direct gas coils is assumed to be 0 8 and direct electric coils 1 0 Heat generator fuel Heating load Heating system CoP Note the Heating system CoP is defined separately for each zone 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd EnergyPlus Background Information 515 Chiller Compact HVAC The fuel consumption for each cooling load is calculated based on the efficiency of the chiller and distribution loss Chiller fuel 2 Cooling Load x Cooling distribution loss factor Chiller CoP Where Cooling distribution loss factor 1 Cooling Distribution Loss 100 Chiller Simple HVAC Chiller fuel 2 Cooling load Cooling system CoP Note the Cooling system CoP is defined separately for each zone System fan Fan Electric Consumption J AHU SUPPLY FAN VAV CAV with Chiller water Unitary multizone System fan Fan Electric Consumption J Zoneld AHU Unitary single zone SUPPLY FAN System fan Fan Electric Consumption J Zoneld SUPPLY FAN Fan coil System pumps Pum
413. n e Solid total building solid fuel consumption e Bottled gas total building gas consumption e Other fuel consumption total consumption of all other fuels CO2 production Total carbon dioxide emission for building data available at building level only e CO2 total CO2 emissions mass Site Weather data Weather data stored at the site level and derived from the hourly weather file e Outside Dry Bulb Temperature e Outside Dew Point Temperature e Direct Normal Solar e Diffuse Horizontal Solar e Wind Speed e Wind Direction e Atmospheric Pressure e Solar Altitude e Solar Azimuth Note although Site weather data is stored at the Site level it can be displayed at Building Block and Zone levels too 7 3 4 Comfort Analysis DesignBuilder can generate extensive data on environmental conditions within the building and resultant occupant comfort levels The following comfort related output is available e Internal air temperature the calculated average temperature of the air e Internal radiant temperature the average Mean Radiant Temperature MRT of the zone calculated assuming that the person is in the centre of the zone with no weighting for any particular surface Internal operative temperature The mean of the internal air and radiant temperatures Outside dry bulb temperature site data Relative Humidity the calculated average relative humidity of the air Fanger PMV Fanger Predicted Mean Vote P
414. n below The gain to the zone is calculated from this in each zone by multiplying by 1 Fraction lost The 03 ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT EnergyPlus output is the process internal gains fuel consumption and is 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd EnergyPlus Background Information 513 Catering gains Computer and equipment gains Occupancy gains Solar Gains Exterior Windows Solar Gains Interior Windows Zone Sys sensible cooling Zone Sys sensible heating System Heat Flows Compact HVAC only Zone Heating Zone Heating Zone Heating Zone Heating Preheat AHU Heating AHU Heating Total Cooling ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT Zoneld 04 InteriorEquipment J ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT Zoneld 05 InteriorEquipment J Zone People Sensible Heat Gain J Zone Transmitted Solar W Zone Diff Solar from Interior Windows W Zone Beam Solar from Interior Windows W Zone Sys Sensible Cooling Rate W Zone Sys Sensible Heating Rate W Total Water Heating Coil Rate W Heating Coil Rate W Heating Coil Rate W Total Water Heating Coil Rate W Heating Coil Rate W Total Water Heating Coil Rate W Heating Coil Rate W Total Water Cooling Coil Rate 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Zoneld Zoneld Zoneld Zoneld Zoneld Zoneld REHEAT COIL Zoneld REHEAT COIL Zoneld AHU HEATING COIL Zoneld HEATING COIL AHU PREHEAT COIL AHU HEATING COIL AHU HEATING COIL A
415. n and solar extinction coefficient are available they can be converted to equivalent solar transmittance and reflectance values using the equations given in Conversion from Alternative Specification of Glass Optical Properties in the EnergyPlus documentation 5 4 4 Visible Data Visible Data tab on Panes Dialog Visible transmittance The visible transmittance at normal incidence averaged over the solar spectrum and weighted by the response of the human eye Visible reflectance The inside back side and outside front side visible reflectance properties of the pane at normal incidence averaged over the solar spectrum and weighted by the response of the human eye Note For uncoated glass when alternative optical properties thickness visible index of refraction and visible extinction coefficient are available they can be converted to equivalent visible transmittance and reflectance values using the equations given in Conversion from Alternative Specification of Glass Optical Properties the EnergyPlus documentation 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Component Data 351 5 4 5 Infra red Data Infra red tab on Panes Dialog Long wave transmittance The long wave transmittance at normal incidence Emissivity long wave reflectance Enter the inside back side and outside front side hemispherical emissivity long wave reflectance properties of the pane 5 5 Schedules Schedules are used
416. n Calculation options dialogs Maximum warmup days not heating cooling design The maximum number of warmup days that might be used in the simulation before convergence is achieved A warning message will occur when the simulation runs out of days Loads Initialization did not Converge CheckWarmupConvergence You may be able to increase the Maximum Number of Warmup Days and get convergence but some anomalous buildings may still not converge Simulation proceeds for x warmup days until convergence is reached see Temperature and Loads Convergence above Inside and Outside convection algorithms You can select from a range of EnergyPlus inside convection algorithms for calculating the convection between internal zone surfaces and the rest of the zone air in the simulation calculations More details on this and external convection can be found under Constructions Model Data Surface Convection header Solution Algorithm Select from e CTF sensible heat only solution not taking into account moisture storage or diffusion in the construction elements The method used in EnergyPlus for CTF calculations is known as the state space method Ceylan and Myers 1980 Seem 1987 Ouyang and Haghighat 1991 e Finite Difference currently research only because instabilities can occur with complex 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 311 constructions Temperature and Loads convergence The temperature and load
417. n and unified back depth buffer gives best results for dragging selection rectangles on some graphics cards allowing double buffering to be used for cursor dynamics 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 driver settings Global driver settings E Basic settings Antialiasing settings Anisotropic filtering 16 Vertical sync Application controlled Unified back depth buffer Off Antialiasing settings 1 J Off 2x 4x amp S 1 amp S Application controlled Bl Available settings range 14 4 Surface Types a The meaning of most surface types listed in the Navigator should be obvious This section provides further information on the meaning of 3 less obvious surface types e Inter block partition e Wall with hole e Block link surfaces not generated by default These special surfaces are required because DesignBuilder uses 3 D surface slabs to represent building fabric Using 3 D surface slabs allows accurate calculation of zone volumes definition of blocks using external dimensions and realistic rendered images Zones for EnergyPlus simulations and other calculations provided by DesignBuilder are generated from the interior faces of the block geometry Cutaway of DesignBuilder Zone showing 3D slabs Inter block partition An Inter block partition surface is the shared partition wall between 2 zones in different blocks Inter block partition surfaces are g
418. n in Simulation Output options Likewise you can only select 2 Occupied area if the building and block data excludes occupied areas Y AXIS OPTIONS These options give you control over how the Y axis is displayed Lock min max Y Axis Lock min max Temperature Max Y 28 08 Min Y C 15 75 Max kw 58 55 Min Y kw 56 84 kwh 62 41 MinY kwh 0 MaxY kwh 0 MinY kwh D MaxY ka 42 75 MinY kg 0 This option locks the extent of the Y axes so that they keep their current maximum and minimum values This allows consistent comparison with the future results display The Y axis keeps its current settings until you unlock it again You can achieve the same effect by clicking on the Lock Y axis min max values toolbar command When you lock the Y axis the current settings stored and displayed for each of the available Y axes You can edit any of these to get a more precise setting Remember to click on the Apply button when you are ready to register a change to any numeric display option data Overlap multiple axes Option allows you to save space on the Y axis allowing different axes to overlap Separate axes Check this option to add a vertical space between each of the displayed axes 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Calculations a APPEARANCE You can control the details of the presentation of the graphical output by making selections on the Display Options panel under the Appeara
419. n model data zone level only When the Gains model option is set to Detailed you can enter data on individual items of equipment in each zone Details on editing Equipment data This option is intended for modelling existing buildings where individual items of equipment have been recorded as part of a detailed survey DesignBuilder has a software utility for recording and calibrating this data available on the Prerelease and beta test versions Downloads page of the DesignBuilder website Note For other modelling applications you should use the Early gains model option because data can be set at the building level and or loaded from template with much less effort Activity Construction Openings Equipment Lighting HVAC 5 Number Rated power Schedule Radiant fraction Latent fraction Fraction heat lost Edit Equipment Computer accessories P Detailed gains 0 0000 On 0 0 00 1000 Use this screen to edit the equr Computers for the current zone 10 1500000 800 1800 010 1000 1000 With Detailed gains detail infor Fluorescent lights each item of energy using equip Eu 0 00 its operation is listed in detail This mode must be used with 7 Operation Schedules On Add equipment E Edit selected equipment X Delete selected equipment 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 279 3 3 2 6 1 Edit Detailed Equipment You can model time varying intern
420. n power per flow rate in W I s Typical values for various system types are shown in the table below System Type Specific Fan Power Watts litre second Central mechanical ventilation 2 5 including heating cooling and heat recovery Central mechanical ventilation 2 0 including heating and cooling All other systems 1 8 Local ventilation units within the 0 5 local area such as window wall roof units serving one room area Local ventilation units remote from 1 2 the local area such as ceiling void or roof mounted units serving one room area Fan coil units rating weighted 0 8 average Source ESTA http www esta org uk Fan total efficiency 96 Enter the product of the fan motor and impeller efficiency of the supply fan This is the ratio of the power delivered to the air to the electrical input power at maximum flow expressed as a percentage The motor efficiency is the power delivered to the shaft divided by the electrical power input to the motor The fan efficiency is power delivered to the air divided by the shaft power The power delivered to the fluid is the mass flow rate of the air multiplied by the pressure rise divided by the air density Must be greater than 0 and less than or equal to 100 Fan in air 96 Enter the percentage of the motor heat that is added to the air stream A value of 0 means that the motor is completely outside the air stream A value of 100 means that all of the motor heat will go i
421. n the mouse cursor is over the required surface click to start dragging it 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 121 Drag the surface using the mouse or key in the distance to shift the surface by the required amount 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 122 DesignBuilder 1 5 E of n E oe he a 3 2 9 2 2 Divide Block using Cutting Tool JD 2d 8l 28 x tSv 7 Blocks can be cut i e divided into 2 using the Divide Block Tool To cut or divide a block first go to the building level select the block that you want to modify and click on the Divide block toolbar icon Blocks are divided using a plane which can be defined using one of 2 methods e 1 Draw plane you define the plane by clicking on 3 points e 2 Select plane you define the plane by selecting an existing plane in the model DRAW PLANE METHOD The Draw plane cutting method involves drawing two lines which define the plane For example to cut a pitched roof to fit flush with a rotunda 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 123 4 52 Because the geometry is fairly complicated it s advisable to use an outline block to generate the intermediate geometry and then convert the block to a building block after the editing process is complete So from the building level click on the Add new block tool select 2 Outline block as the block ty
422. n to if you are buying or upgrading your computer system to run DesignBuilder are e Graphics adapter a good 100 OpenGL compatible graphics adapter is required to run DesignBuilder Most of the cards based on the Radeon chipset seem to work very well provided they have the latest drivers installed and we have had no problem with the mid range and better NVIDIA cards Some graphics adapters integrated with the motherboard we have tested are unable to run DesignBuilder See also note below on Windows Vista e Memory DesignBuilder will use all the memory you can throw at it at least 2 GB is recommended for serious modelling or more if you are running under Windows Vista which itself uses 1 GB e CPU speed get as fast as you can afford e Cores having more than one processor core does not necessarily speed up simulations in 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Reference DesignBuilder version 1 but it does allow you to continue using your computer while simulations are running Dual core processors also make the software more responsive in use Minimum Requirements Windows 2000 or XP SP2 running on 1000MHz processor or faster 800x600 pixel screen 256MB RAM 200MB free disk space Pointing device 100 OpenGL compatible 3D graphics adapter with hardware acceleration running in 32 bit color mode The above specification will allow you to successfully model small buildings using DesignBuilder but we recommend a more p
423. nap Edge snap DXF snap Increment snap Snap increment 5 Origin locked to vertex by Switch snap increment direction mE pressing the SHIFT key Drawing Guides 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Having placed the window origin you can then draw the window using the selected perimeter drawing mode for details of drawing perimeters please refer to the Perimeters section USING KEY INS TO CREATE OPENINGS You can type in the precise dimensions and offset from the origin of your window using Key Ins The procedure is 1 Start the Draw window command as described above 2 Define the window position relative to an origin by first moving the mouse cursor to define the origin typically the bottom left corner of the surface L L26m 3 Then type in the offset of the window origin bottom left corner of the window in this example in the format x y Note that there is no comma between the x and the y coordinates The coordinates that you type in will appear under the Key In header in Drawing Options panel The convention used when positioning and drawing openings at surface level is that x increases from left to right and y increases from bottom to top This is true whether viewing the surface from inside or from outside 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 5 60 Zone 1 9 00 Ground floor 54 9 00 Roof 548 141r 69 Wall 66 095 mz Wall 101 5
424. nce header 7 3 3 Detailed Results It is important to understand when looking at the Zone heat balance data that the values do not necessarily add to zero because 1 Solar radiation values reported by EnergyPlus are gross values and do not account for the radiation re reflected back out of internal and external windows EnergyPlus tracks solar radiation in full detail but does not report all of the calculated values It is not currently possible to generate net solar radiation gains from EnergyPlus 2 Heat transfer gains between the zone and the surfaces cannot be added directly to ventilation gains because they are to different points in the zone heat balance surface heat transfer is to the rad air point and ventilation is to the air point 3 Minor EnergyPlus bug in reporting of conduction through window frames causes a minor error in Glazing heat gain reported values The main Display options are in the bottom left of the screen They allow you to control the content of the Detailed data and also the Display style The Analysis tab has detailed simulation results displayed as a line graph by default For more on how the output is calculated see Calculation of DesignBuilder Output from EnergyPlus Report Variables Environmental Comfort Output e Air Temperature the calculated average temperature of the zone air e Radiant Temperature the average zone Mean Radiant Temperature MRT of the zone calculated assuming t
425. nce you have sized your system switch the HVAC sizing option to Manual to avoid carrying sizing calculations before every simulation 3 Use Calculated natural ventilation or Compact HVAC for simulations Note 1 The problem does not arise in Heating design calculations because natural ventilation is not included in Heating Design calculations Note 2 In current versions of DesignBuilder it is not possible to couple the natural ventilation and cooling systems so that windows shut when the cooling switches on but this should be possible in the future 12 11 Double Facades Background A ventilated double facade can be defined as a traditional single facade doubled inside or outside by a 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Modelling Advice 475 second essentially glazed facade Each of these two facades is commonly called a skin A ventilated cavity having a width which can range from several centimetres at the narrowest to several metres for the widest accessible cavities is located between these two skins There exist facade concepts where the ventilation of the cavity is controllable by fans and or openings and other facade concepts where this ventilation is not controllable The indoor and outdoor skins are not necessarily airtight see for example the louvre type facades Automated equipment such as shading devices motorised openings or fans are most often integrated into the facade The main difference between a ventilat
426. nd DesignBuilder team will endeavour to answer your question by email 16 1 Frequently Asked Questions An up to date FAQ list is maintained from the Support section of the DesignBuilder web site 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Index s Index zr 2 D 79 2 D layouts 79 ce 32 bit 492 3 D 79 104 464 465 492 3 D hardware 492 3 D shape 104 3GHz 492 3TC 345 3TC simulations 345 A Absorptance 307 320 Ach 273 296 302 313 Activation 491 Activity 17 184 189 239 240 242 273 326 369 374 375 376 384 401 Activity data 184 384 Activity Templates 184 326 374 Add New Component 332 Add New Template 334 Adding 41 89 97 122 484 Adding Blocks 41 Advanced 282 289 418 504 Advanced concepts 289 Air 246 253 276 388 407 411 423 Air Distribution On 407 411 423 Air Temperature Distribution 246 276 388 Airflow 369 AirTemperature Distribution 246 253 276 Airtightness 198 213 379 value 394 Airtightness Calculated 213 Airtightness Scheduled 213 AIVC 400 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd All 21 30 35 61 72 104 166 176 178 184 198 199 214 215 216 223 224 228 229 239 280 281 282 285 286 287 296 302 307 313 320 329 351 356 361 372 375 399 407 411 418 423 492 504 All Gains 375 Allow 15 21 23 27 28 31 36 41 45 46 55 57 59 87 89 120 140 159 176 178 183 184 188 223 227 235 276 280 281 289 294 296 29
427. nd and can be optionally combined with additional ground constructions layer s as shown in diagram above The site ground temperatures are applied to the outside of all surfaces adjacent to ground If there are no ground wall surfaces just ignore this data External floor External floors are floors that are adjacent to outside air e g the floor of a cantilevered part of the building or where for any other reason there is no ground or other zone below The External floor construction should include any slabs insulation and raised floor layers If there are no external floor surfaces just ignore this data Internal floor The internal floor construction defines the makeup of floors between occupied zones including any slabs air gaps raised floors and suspended ceilings It will not usually contain insulation Where the zone above is unoccupied the Semi exposed roof construction is used instead Likewise where the zone below is unoccupied the Semi exposed floor construction is used instead If there are no internal floor surfaces just ignore this data ZONE STATISTICS Zone Volume The zone volume is calculated for all zone geometries and by default the volume is the actual air volume of the space excluding the volume of floor and ceiling constructions but including half the volume of partition walls The volume of the floor construction can be included by checking the Include constructions in zone volume Model option 2008 DesignBu
428. ndard used for shading reflection and visualisation e 2 Ground used for setting ground adjacency shading reflection and visualisation 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 211 e 3 Adiabatic used for setting adiabatic adjacency shading reflection and visualisation For more information on the Component block types see Component Block under Working with Blocks Building Level Component block shades and reflects Switch this option on to include the component block as a shading reflection surfaces in the simulations Shading surfaces have the following effects Shade direct beam solar radiation Reflect solar radiation onto the building if you select Model reflections in the calculation options Shade diffuse solar and long wave radiation from the sky Shade diffuse solar radiation from the ground if you select Model reflections in the calculation options Important note on ground reflection Reflection from the ground is calculated even if the Reflections option is not used but if Reflections are not calculated the ground plane is considered unobstructed i e the shadowing of the ground by the building itself or by component blocks is ignored Shadowing of the ground by component blocks is only taken into account if the Reflections option is used Conclusion Switch Reflections on for accurate shading calculations Note all component block types cast shadows in the visualisations Material
429. ndows of the expected dimensions to be generated given the simplistic window area divided by total wall area calculation 15 4 Calculation of DesignBuilder Output from EnergyPlus Report Variables At the end of an EnergyPlus simulation DesignBuilder reads the EnergyPlus output file eplusout eso The format of this file is described in EnergyPlus documentation The table below explains how the raw EnergyPlus output is processed to create DesignBuilder output The Environmental Comfort Output column refers to the data shown in DesignBuilder output screens EnergyPlus Report variable column data shows report variable names with the units in square brackets The units should be omitted when using the report variables in IDF data The Area column indicates the zone surface component etc innocuous Environmental EnergyPlus Report Area Notes 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd EnergyPlus Background Information 511 Comfort Output Variable Internal air temperature Zone Mean Air Temperature Zoneld C Internal radiant Zone Mean Radiant Zoneld temperature Temperature C Internal operative Zoneld 0 5 x Zone Mean Air temperature Temperature Zone Mean Radiant Temperature Relative Humidity Zone Air Relative Humidity 6 Zoneld Fanger PMV FangerPMV PEOPLE Zoneld Pierce PMV ET PiercePMVET PEOPLE Zoneld Pierce PMV SET PiercePMVSET PEOPLE Zoneld Pierce Discomfort PierceDISC PEOPLE Zoneld Index DISC Pierce Thermal Se
430. ne click on the Place construction line tool and start drawing the first line by clicking anywhere in the active drawing plane then move the mouse cursor and click to place the line end point you can use point snaps direction snaps drawing guides and the protractor to help with alignment Continue placing construction lines in this way If at any time you want to cancel the last line that you placed you can press the ESC key or select Undo last point from the right click menu Undo last point Escape Search and replace S Cancel Draw construction line Go up to Site level Untitled 5500 m Undo Delete Building Objects C Redo ae Protractor Select i a Move a Clone amp Rotate Ctrl T F Stretch Ctrl J x3 Delete Construction lines have numerous applications in forming temporary attachment points during the creation of precise geometry As a simple example if you want to place a block at a precise distance from the angled wall of an existing block you could switch the Normal snap on click on the Place construction line tool and draw a perpendicular line a precise distance from the wall To draw the perpendicular line place the first point at an end point of the wall baseline move the mouse cursor to touch the baseline and press SHIFT to lock the direction inference then move the mouse cursor to activate the perpendicular lock and key in the required distance 200
431. ne in the model is non convex Note that DesignBuilder is configured by default to check for this condition and provides more friendly error messages Severe For Purchased Air ZONE 21438 PURCHASED AIR serving Zone 21438 RUE Supply ale temperature for cooling ws greater the zone cooling setpoint 8 99 This severe error can occur when using Simple HVAC or Cooling design calculations with Operative control in zones with strong radiant heat gains causing high radiant temperatures e g un insulated roof or zone is highly glazed The supply air temperature is fixed to 10 C in the above example but the zone air temperature must be cooled lower than this 8 99 C in the above example to give the required operative setpoint e g 24 C Operative temperature Top is calculated as Top T T where Top is the operative temperature 2 is the air supply temperature Ta is the zone air temperature Ta must be gt Ta T is the zone radiant temperature So there is a requirement 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd ss DesignBuilder 1 5 Tr max lt 2 Top Tg If the zone radiant temperature is higher than max and Operative temperature control is used then this severe error will occur The solution may be to use Air temperature control and to reduce the radiant temperatures using solar shading insulation as appropriate 4
432. nformation is equally applicable to drawing voids at a fixed offset from the perimeter The offset snap check box is displayed under Direction snaps in the Drawing Options data panel when the Draw partitions command is active The offset snap can be used whenever a string of partitions is to be located at a fixed offset from a perimeter but can be specifically applied to dividing large open plan spaces up into perimeter and core zones for thermal simulation When the offset snap is switched on an additional Distance item will be displayed under the offset snap check box which allows you to define the offset distance When you first switch on the offset snap having clicked on the Draw partition icon you will see offset snap indicators displayed as you move the cursor within the snap range of an existing wall or partition 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 52 DesignBuilder 1 5 Drawing Options J Offset snap indicator Partition Display external walls Line type 1 Straight line Partition type 1 Standard Direzuan Snaps Offset snap Distance 1 000 Point Snagz Drawing Guides The offset snap works in conjunction with the other snaps and so for example you can start an offset partition at a fixed distance from the beginning of an existing wall using the edge snap in combination with the increment snap Drawing Options J Partition Display extemal wa
433. ng Advice 471 Shading Y Window shading Ef Type Electrochromic absorbtive 6mm Position 4 Switchable Control type 4 Solar Solar setpoint w m2 200 A model using the data in the above screenshot would enter its darkened state whenever the solar radiation incident on the outside of the window is greater than 200 W m2 12 7 Trombe Walls Trombe walls are passive solar devices designed for thermal storage and delivery A Trombe wall consists of a thick wall 150mm to 300mm 8 to 16 faced with a selective surface solar absorber air gap and high transmissivity glass pane Trombe walls are usually South facing in the Northern Hemisphere for maximum sun exposure An overhang above the wall is used to decrease exposure in the summer when the sun is high in the sky and heating is not required yet still allows for full exposure in the winter when the sun is low in the sky and heating is desirable In DesignBuilder there is no Trombe wall object per se rather it is composed of other standard building components This approach provides flexibility in specifying the various wall parameters and allows the freedom to explore unusual configurations To simulate the Trombe wall a very narrow zone is coupled to the desired surface via an interzone partition The depth of the zone corresponds to the size of the air space usually 18mm to 150mm 34 to 6 In most cases the Trombe zone will be a sealed zone with no ventilation The exterior wal
434. ng Guides Y x axis drawing guides Y axis drawing guides Object rotation Y Object rotation 45 Protracter Y Protractor Drawing Tools tab on Model Options dialog Options for e Draw Block e Direction Snaps e Point Snaps e Drawing Guides e Object Rotation e Protractor To learn more about Drawing Tools go to the Block Creation Options and Snaps Drawing Guides amp Protractor sections 3 4 6 1 Solar Options Cooling Design and Simulation tabs on Model Options dialog and Options tab on Simulation Options dialog Solar Options allow you to control aspects of the model related to solar gains 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 321 Include all buildings in shading calcs Use this option to include other buildings on the site as shading obstructions Note there is no way to simulate gt 1 building at a time All external surfaces in buildings other than the current one are modelled as shading surfaces If you need to model the adjacency of another building in contact with the current one you can use the adiabatic adjacency option to model the touching surfaces Cooling Design Calculations and Simulations both use this option but have separate Model option data Note if one or more other buildings are large complex then you could generate a large number of shading elements and the simulation could be slow even if the current building being simulated is simple Model reflec
435. ng and cooling capacities are reset to zero Set the option to 2 Manual to avoid this happening 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 3 4 2 Advanced Concepts Miscellaneous E dit E dit block model data Model black link surfaces Filter elements smaller than m2 0 1000 Lumping Merge zones of same activity lt lt Merge zones connected by holes Lump similar openings Lump similar cracks Lump walls and windows Tri lat Triangulate Advanced tab on Model Options dialog e Simplification options to allow zones to be merged and for controlling lumping of similar windows openings and cracks and eliminating unnecessary zones and elements from the model e Natural ventilation options to control the operation of natural ventilation e Miscellaneous Edit options for controlling data displayed e Lighting options for lighting e Filters excluding elements from the model This data applies to the current building 3 4 21 Simplification When generating data for the calculations surfaces between zones are defined twice once from each side Surfaces between 2 zones that have been merged are called Surfaces within zone By default these are modelled in the same way as standard surfaces but with both sides adjacent to the same zone If the Surfaces within zone treated as adiabatic option is set the other side in each of the 2 surfaces is modelled as adiabat
436. ng option Fan coil can be used in conjunction with Natural ventilation 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 307 Design supply temperature The constant dry bulb air temperature of the air supplied for cooling the zone Note the Fan coil outside air flow can be fully on or fully off but cannot reduce to fractional values in between You may therefore get higher outside air delivery rates than with the other methods if you are using Schedules and your Mechanical ventilation operation schedule has fractional values 3 44 4 Solar Options Cooling Design and Simulation tabs on Model Options dialog and Options tab on Simulation Options dialog Solar Options allow you to control aspects of the model related to solar gains Include all buildings in shading calcs Use this option to include other buildings on the site as shading obstructions Note there is no way to simulate gt 1 building at a time All external surfaces in buildings other than the current one are modelled as shading surfaces If you need to model the adjacency of another building in contact with the current one you can use the adiabatic adjacency option to model the touching surfaces Cooling Design Calculations and Simulations both use this option but have separate Model option data Note if one or more other buildings are large complex then you could generate a large number of shading elements and the simulation could be slow even if the current buil
437. ng very high resistance zero mass elements and their contribution is to e Allow EnergyPlus to calculate zone volumes avoiding warning messages about volume mismatches This does not actually affect the results because EnergyPlus uses the accurately calculated zone volumes supplied by DesignBuilder e Provide a slightly more accurate picture of the actual internal zone surface area and so potentially provide a more accurate convective radiant calculation The pictures below show how the Block link surfaces are used to connect the 2 blocks and ensure that zones are enclosed 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Reference EnergyPlus Model with Block link surfaces zones are enclosed and the zone volume includes the volume enclosed by the link surfaces and the inter block partition This volume is the thickness of the block wall x inter block partition area 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 5o DesignBuilder 1 5 Equivalent EnergyPlus Model without Block link surfaces zones are not enclosed and the zone volume excludes the volume enclosed by the link surfaces and the inter block partition 14 5 Calculation of Air Density The air density is used for calculating the air volumetric flow rate from air mass flows as part of the loads calculation procedure The method used in DesignBuilder is the same as that in EnergyPlus for consistency Air is assumed to be dry and at 20 C The site elevation is used to calculate
438. ngineeringReference pdf document 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Section Simulation Hourly Weather Data DesignBuilder 1 5 DesignBuilder uses EnergyPlus format hourly weather data to define external conditions during simulations Each location has a separate file describing the external temperature solar radiation atmospheric conditions etc for every hour of the year at that location These hourly weather data sets are often typical data derived from hourly observations at a specific location by the National weather service or methodological office Examples of these typical data include TMY2 and WYEC2 in the United States and Canada and TRY CEC 1985 in Europe Because hourly weather data is not always available for every location it is often necessary to use weather data for a nearby location which represents the weather of the actual site The DesignBuilder hourly weather data has been obtained from the Weather section of the EnergyPlus website and processed using the DesignBuilder weather data translator but you can use any weather data provided it is in the correct format EnergyPlus format hourly weather data has extension epw by convention Downloading Hourly Weather Data DesignBuilder comes with a database of hourly weather data but the EnergyPlus epw files are not loaded onto your computer until you actually need them This keeps the size of
439. nnt nnns nne 399 6 11 3 Energy Code Templates Envelope building eere nennen nnne nnne 399 6 11 4 Energy Code Templates Energy Performance eese ener nter nnns nnns nnns nenne 399 6 12 Sector Templates nitric a re qeu Lr tante cenit eae cusa Aon DD 399 6 13 Times Zone Templates eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen nn nnmnnn nnns nnmnnn anne nnmis nnnm 400 6 14 Wind Pressure Coefficient Templates 400 6 15 Metabolic Rate Templates 1esseseeeeseeeeeeesieeeeen nennen nnne nennen nnn innen nnne innen 401 Section 7 Calculations 403 FSI IDPRPRIIJDDM c 403 HA As Calculation Option eR 404 71 2 Display Options IMPER 404 7 1 3 Summary table 407 7 1 4 Heat loss breakdown 407 yo COOLING DESIGN ines L R 410 7 2 1 2 2 2 vedeutestceancecus edie vedeuts 410 7 2 2 Detailed results 411 7 2 3 Display Ea ae a aaa 415 pexWcuunrac 417 ye ute M 4
440. ns PierceTSENS PEOPLE Zoneld Index TSENS Kansas Uni TSV KsuTSV PEOPLE Zoneld Discomfort hrs Time Not Comfortable PEOPLE Zoneld summer clothing Summer Clothes hr Discomfort hrs winter Time Not Comfortable Winter PEOPLE Zoneld clothing Clothes hr Discomfort hrs all Time Not Comfortable PEOPLE Zoneld clothing Summer or Winter Clothes hr Fabric and ventilation Glazing heat gain Window Heat Gain W Surfaceld Window Transmitted Solar Window Heat Loss W is subtracted so that Window Transmitted Solar W Glazing heat gain represents the transfer of all heat through the window excluding beam and diffuse short wave solar heat effects Walls Roofs Ceilings Opaque Surface Inside Face Surfaceld int Floors int Floors Conduction W ext Ground floors Partitions int Doors and vents External infiltration Zone Infiltration Sensible Heat Zoneld Scheduled Natural Loss J Zone Infiltration ventilation only Sensible Heat Gain J External natural Zone Ventilation Sensible Heat Zoneld Scheduled Natural ventilation Gain J Zone Ventilation ventilation only Sensible Heat Loss J External mechanical Zone Ventilation Sensible Heat Zoneld Scheduled Natural ventilation Gain J Zone Ventilation ventilation only Sensible Heat Loss J 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 512 DesignBuilder 1 5 Internal Air External Air Airflow Mech Vent Nat Vent Infiltration Mech Vent
441. nt kg m crack 1 0 000200 Flow exponent 0 70 Internal Flow coefficient kg m crack 1 0 000200 Flow exponent 0 70 Doors External Flow coefficient kg m crack 1 0 000200 Flow exponent 0 70 Internal Flow coefficient kg m crack 2 1 0 020000 Flow exponent 0 70 Vents External Flow coefficient kg m crack 1 0 001000 Flow exponent 0 66 Internal Flow coefficient kg m crack 1Pa 0 001000 Flow exponent 0 60 Walls Internal Flow coefficient kg s m2 1 0 001000 Flow exponent 0 75 Crack data is used when the Calculated natural ventilation option is set In this case every surface in the model has a crack and its size characterised by flow coefficient and exponent is determined by Airtightness as set on the Constructions tab in the Model Data The value of Airtightness is used as a key to look up corresponding crack sizes in the Cracks database The cracks database has been set up empirically to give typical air change rates for each of the five Airtightness categories in a range of building types There are five tabs on the Crack Template data dialog e General e Openings e Walls e Floors ceilings e Roofs 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Template Data 3s 6 9 1 Crack Templates General General tab on Crack Templates Dialog Tab contains the name and category of the crack template 6 9 2 Crack Templates Openings Openings tab on Crack Templates Dialo
442. ntaining Heating design Cooling design and Simulation results The files can be loaded later using the File gt Load results file menu option provided the model hasn t changed too much Rules 1 The DesignBuilder model must still have same zones and surfaces it had at the time the simulation data was generated 2 If you have modified these files and carried out further simulations in EnergyPlus you should find that the results will read in OK provided you haven t changed zone or surface names in the IDF data 3 You cannot read in ESO files generated from IDF data which was entered by hand or by other software because the zone and surface references will be different 4 Results must be loaded to the correct screen you can t for example read Heating design results into the Simulation screen 5 Simulation only the results to be read in must have been generated using the same simulation period and number of timesteps currently set in the Simulation options If you choose to Save ESO simulation output then you can also select options to Prompt for filename and Auto load ESO described below Prompt for filename Tell DesignBuilder whether you wish to be prompted for a filename after each simulation If you choose not to be prompted then DesignBuilder will automatically generate output filenames based on the name of the dsb file the calculation type the calculation description and the date It places the file in the EnergyPlus folder
443. nto the air stream and act to cause a temperature rise Must be between 0 and 100 Fan placement Enter the supply fan placement type There are two choices e 1 Draw through models a system where the supply air fan is after the cooling and heating coils e 2 Blow through where the supply air fan is before the cooling and heating coils The default is 1 Draw through Fan part load power coefficients Select the set of generic pre defined coefficients to use for the supply fan part load power consumption Choices are 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 259 e Inlet Vane Dampers e Outlet Dampers e Variable Speed Motor e ASHRAE 90 1 2004 Appendix G The resulting power curves are shown in the graph below The ASHRAE 90 1 2004 Appendix G coefficients are from TABLE G3 1 3 15 Method 2 The other sets of coefficients are from the EnergyPlus Input Output Reference Fan Coefficient Values table Fraction of Full Load Power Discharge Dampers niet Vane Dampers em ASHRAE 90 1 2004 Appendix Lm Se 0 00 0 0 1 0 2 0 3 04 0 5 0 6 07 0 8 0 9 1 Flow Fraction 0 HVAC tab in model data under Mechanical Ventilation header HVAC Economisers are useful for facilities which require some cooling even when the outdoor temperature is lower than the indoor temperature An economizer is a damper opening that draws up to 100 outside air when the outside air is cooler than the temperature ins
444. o Compact systems is indicated in the text below Note that Mechanical Ventilation data refers to the fan powered air delivery through the main HVAC system and not a separate mechanical ventilation system See also Outside Air Fans Economisers Heat Recovery Plenums VAV Terminal Units HVAC tab in model data under Mechanical Ventilation header You can set the amount timing and control of outside air delivery through the HVAC air distribution system on the HVAC tab e Outside air requirement data is set at the zone level on the HVAC tab for all HVAC configurations and options e Outside air flow control through the AHU when using 2 Unitary multizone 3 VAV and 5 CAV Compact HVAC is set at building level on the HVAC tab e Outside air flow control through zone units 1 Unitary single zone and 4 Fan coil Compact HVAC is set at zone level on the HVAC tab with the rest of the zone unit data The Mech Vent Nat Vent Infiltration data can displayed on the Heating design Cooling design and Simulation screens when you select 1 All or 3 Comfort data This is the sum of fresh air delivered through the HVAC system infiltration and natural ventilation outside airflow in air changes per hour ac h and when used together with the other environmental output it can be very useful in checking for occupant discomfort Outside air definition method Defines the method used to set the maximum outside air delivery rate The options are e 1
445. o its minimum position Economiser upper temperature limit Enter the outside air temperature high limit for economizer operation If the outside air temperature is above this limit the outside air flow rate will be set to the minimum and heat recovery will be enabled if available Zero in this field means that there is no outside air temperature high limit control Economiser lower temperature limit Enter the outside air temperature low limit for economizer operation If the outside air temperature is below this limit the outside air flow rate will be set to the minimum and heat recovery will be enabled if available Zero in this field means that there is no outside air temperature low limit control Economiser upper enthalpy limit Enter the outside air upper enthalpy limit for economizer operation If the outside air enthalpy is above this value the outside air flow rate will be set to the minimum and heat recovery will be enabled if available Zero in this field means that there is no outside air enthalpy limit control Lockout Unitary systems can also have lockout control e 1 No lockout default option e 2 Lockout with heating when the packaged unit is in heating mode the economiser is locked out i e the economiser dampers are closed and there is minimum outside air flow e 3 Lockout with compressor in addition to locking out the economizer when the unit is in heating mode the economizer is locked out when the DX unit
446. o specify the way minimum outside air flow rate is controlled for 3 VAV and 5 CAV Compact HVAC types when the Outside air mixing type above is 1 Recirculation e 1 Fixed the minimum outside air flow rate is fixed as set above no matter what the actual system flow rate is In practice even with Fixed outside air control minimum it is possible for the outside air flow rate into individual zones to be slightly different from the requested value This is because the minimum outside air is controlled at the AHU level to ensure that the total fresh air entering the AHU is the total required for the building the sum of the individual zone outside air requirements But depending on the cooling loads in each zone some zones will require more supply air to meet the cooling load than others So the total fresh air entering the building will be correct but the distribution around the building may not be perfectly maintained 2 Proportional the minimum outside air flow rate varies in proportion to the total system air flow rate The minimum outside air flow rate through the AHU outside air inlet is automatically calculated as the sum of the individual zone ventilation requirements This is the design minimum During the simulation minimum and maximum represent the limits for economizer operation If there is no economizer then the minimum flow of outside air is delivered If 1 Fixed is selected then this value will remain fixed 2008 De
447. o use component blocks Adiabatic surfaces use internal constructions e Adiabatic external floors use Internal floor construction e Adiabatic flat roofs use reversed Internal floor construction e Adiabatic external wall surfaces use Internal partition construction You can find out the construction that will be used for each adiabatic surface by looking at data on the Construction tab at surface level Note that in the current version of DesignBuilder the Visualisations shows adiabatic surfaces using external surfaces properties but internal surfaces Internal floor and partition constructions are used in calculations as described above Paraphrased note from EnergyPlus developers The Trombe wall convection coefficients only make sense for a zone They are specific coefficients calculated for a narrow enclosed space The two major walls of a Trombe wall zone are so close together that the convection patterns for the two walls actually interact If they are close enough they can fight each other and totally stagnate the convection cell in the space This is not free boundary convection such as that found in a typical room Therefore it does not make sense to apply these coefficients to a single surface The algorithm analyzes the zone to figure out which are the two major surfaces and then sets the coefficients on those surfaces The other minor surfaces receive negligible convection e Model options dialog Heating design Cooling design
448. od and the way radiant heat is distributed through the space Heating radiant fraction The fraction of the power input to the radiant heater that is actually radiant heat transfer The fraction should be between 0 and 1 In conjunction with the Radiant distribution option it defines the breakdown of how the power input to the heater is distributed to the rest of the zone Control method Radiant units can be controlled in one of three ways e 1 MAT control the room mean air temperature to the heating setpoint temperature specified on the Activity tab e 2 Operative control the room operative temperature MAT MRT 2 to the heating setpoint temperature specified on the Activity tab e 3 MRT control the room mean radiant temperature to the heating setpoint temperature specified on the Activity tab This option overrides the overall simulation control radiant fraction option Note You should ideally use Operative control if you want to calculate realistic heating energy because heating systems controlled using the operative temperature continue to heat the building until comfort conditions are met just that they are in the real building Also the default heating temperature set points from the Activity templates are derived from sources quoting Operative temperatures With MAT control the room air temperature is controlled to the heating set point temperature which depending on internal radiant temperatures may not necessarily be c
449. ode Templates 398 399 Eplusout mtr 489 Energy Codes 15 183 198 341 372 397 398 Eplusout rdd 489 399 Epw 484 Energy codes insulation standards 183 file 484 Energy Performance Indicator simulations 403 Errors 307 320 492 517 Energy idd 489 ESC key 89 EnergyPlus 14 15 147 178 181 187 199 236 press 36 67 122 147 238 242 248 276 287 296 302 307 313 320 pressing 31 341 342 344 345 349 350 369 372 384 388 Eso tle 489 392 400 401 403 404 410 415 418 420 446 464 484 489 508 517 Europe 389 390 396 484 Copy 484 Evaluating d E bes E 21 31 35 55 57 59 61 64 67 1 xamp es 3 5 5 5 1 x 5 T Oneroa Auge 104 122 147 184 198 199 223 227 235 307 let 508 320 329 341 356 372 447 484 517 need 491 energy code requires 398 requiring 504 EXE 449 showing 449 Existing use 465 dsb file 16 EnergyPlus 2 D 464 Export 508 EnergyPlus Auxiliary 178 EnergyPlus background information EnergyPlus DAYLIGHTING 242 EnergyPlus DXF 504 EnergyPlus Engineering Reference Document 302 313 EnergyPlus epw EnergyPlus Errors 489 517 EnergyPlus glazing data 344 349 EnergyPlus IDF 404 415 420 508 EnergyPlus Output Details 517 EnergyPlus Script 404 415 420 EnergyPlus Support 248 EnergyPlus website 484 English 489 Envelope 198 398 399 Environmental comfort 184 189 273 508 181 484 296 Export Components Templates 335 Export toolbar icon clicking 335 Expo
450. of space and on top of which the roof assembly sits The resulting roof block is composed of a polyhedron representing the inner zone which is created from the original inner block perimeter and is cut to fit within the roof space and a number of slabs that represent the actual roof construction The roof slabs are generated from the inner roof profile and an outer profile created using the roof construction thickness 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Reference 503 Roof thickness projected ohto horizontal pene Roof offset External wall thickness d x sin a Zone perimeter amp Inner roof profile petim eter Outer roof profile petimeter 2 Roof offest roof thickness projected onto horizontal plane EnergyPlus model DesignBuilder automatically generates overhangs for Pitched roof block types using EnergyPlus shading devices The diagram below shows EnergyPlus DXF output of the building model generated using the above data It shows the overhangs in grey 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 504 DesignBuilder 1 5 Roof zone with truncated Overhang modelled overhang and stub wall using shading device 14 7 Triangulation STARTING WITH VERSION 1 2 DESIGNBUILDER optimises FOR TRIANGULATION SO THE ADVICE BELOW SHOULD NOT APPLY IN MOST CASES Triangulation is the process of breaking up polygons of complex shape into simple triangles which can be easily be manipulated by c
451. of the dormer pitch using the Protractor and then complete the perimeter 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Now drag the dormer perimeter all the way through the main roof block 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 108 DesignBuilder 1 5 Select the dormer block and click on the Divide block tool making sure that the Cutting method on the Drawing options data panel is set to Select plane and click on the forward facing plane of the main roof block to create a cut in the dormer block in the plane of the roof 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 109 Drawing Options Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides Click again to finish the cut and then select the section of the dormer block that is not required and delete it Go to Building 1 Go up to Site level Untitled Undo Cut Object Redo Protractor Select Move Clone Rotate Ctrl T Stretch Ctrl J 2005 9 Remove all construction lines Ctri Shift C Remove all outlines Convert selected outlines to blocks Exit Select the dormer outline block and click on the Convert outline block tool to complete the process 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Please wait Converting outlines to blocks m Cancel The finished block after adding openings 2008 DesignBuilder Softw
452. ofile defining the schedule output during the cooling autosizing design day Weekly and monthly variations Other tools are available for rapid selection deselection and setting of schedule data Select all weekdays Select all weekends Set all weekends Off Select all Deselect all 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Component Data 353 General Y Name Office_OpenOff_Occ Description Building OFFICE Area OPEN PLAN OFFICE Occupancy schedule Source UK NCM 5 Category OFFICE Region General Schedule type 1 7712 Schedule Design Days Design day definition method 1 End use defaults X Use end use default 2 Occupancy Profiles M Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Jan amp 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 1 00 amp 00 to 18 00 8 00 18 00 Off Feb 8 00 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00to 18 00 Of Mar 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 Ee 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 a May 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 amp 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 ee 8 00 to 18 00 amp 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 ee 800161800 80011600 80016 1600 800101800 800101800 800401800 OH Aug amp 00 to 18 00 amp 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 amp 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 8 00 to 18 00 Aa EIUS ener 8 00 to 18 00 amp 0
453. oftware Ltd 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 ALGORITHMS DesignBuilder uses the EnergyPlus DAYLIGHTING DETAILED object to model the control of electric lighting according to daylight illumination levels You can find more information on the algorithms used in the EnergyPlus documentation 3 3 2 5 HVAC Data HVAC tab in model data Templates You can load generic HVAC data by clicking on the Template option under HVAC Template and then by clicking on the at the right of the line below Layout Activity Construction Openings Lighting HVAC W et radiator heating nat vent 1 00 Select generic HVAC template When you make a selection from the list of HVAC templates data from selected template will be loaded to the model You can also open headers to enter HVAC details where they are different from those loaded from the template e Mechanical Ventilation e Heating e Cooling e Natural Ventilation e Air Temperature Distribution e Domestic Hot Water DHW e Plenums See Compact HVAC System Types for details on Compact HVAC systems System type When using Compact HVAC data the HVAC Type is displayed beneath the Template This cannot be edited directly if you want to choose a different HVAC system type you should do this by selecting an appropriate template Auxiliary energy When using Simple HVAC data the Auxiliary energy can be entered as kWh m2 year SI units or Btu ft2 IP units Aux
454. olar radiation is absorbed on all interior surfaces according to their absorptance If you use 2 Full Exterior you should make sure that all of your zones have a floor If your building model has any zones of unusual shape without floors then the EnergyPlus simulation may not work because it will not have a surface to apportion solar gains to 3 Full interior and exterior this is the same as Full exterior except that instead of assuming all transmitted beam solar falls on the floor the program calculates the amount of beam radiation falling on each surface in the zone including floor walls and windows by projecting the sun s rays through the exterior windows taking into account the effect of exterior shadowing surfaces and window shading devices If this option is used you should be sure that the surfaces of the zone totally enclose a space This can be determined by viewing the eplusout dxf file with an external DXF viewer program You should also be sure that the zone is convex Examples of convex and non convex zones are shown below The most common non convex zone is an L shaped zone A formal definition of convex is that any straight line passing through the zone intercepts at most two surfaces If the zone s surfaces do not enclose a space or if the zone is not convex you should use Full exterior instead Convex zones Non Convex zones If you use 3 Full Interior and exterior the program will also calculate how much beam radiation
455. oling demand OUTSIDE AIR MIXING This data is defined for CAV VAV air handling units AHU at building level Outside air mixing Select the way outside air is used e 1 Recirculation the outside airflow supply to the AHU is mixed with recirculated return air from the zones This is done to save energy often in conjunction with an economiser to ensure that optimal use is made of outside air When heat recovery is used with the 1 Recirculation outside air mixing option the economiser must be switched on selected in the interface for the heat recovery to be by passed 2 Full fresh air the airflow into the AHU is 100 outside air without any recirculation This is modelled in EnergyPlus by setting the supply airflow rate to the outside air flow rate Note that when using this option fixing the supply air flow rate to the outside air rate will in many cases mean that the system will not be capable of meeting the design cooling load To increase the maximum cooling capacity of a Full fresh air VAV CAV system you can increase the outside air flow rate such systems could be very inefficient in energy use without heat recovery When heat recovery is used with the 2 Full fresh air outside air mixing option the heat recovery is by passed when this is advantageous in reducing AHU cooling coil loads The heat recovery also operates when the outside air temperature is less than 12 C Outside air control minimum flow type This option allows you t
456. omfortable Radiant distribution The Radiant distribution allows you to control how the radiant heat from the Radiant unit is distributed around the room Options are e 1 Uniform radiant heat is distributed uniformly around the zone e 2 Floor heat is distributed uniformly across all floors in the zone Use this for modelling floor heating systems e 3 Wall heat is distributed uniformly across all walls in the zone Use this for modelling hot water radiators and other radiant heaters close to wall surfaces Technical Note DesignBuilder uses the EnergyPlus HIGH TEMP RADIANT SYSTEM to model radiant heating systems This system type is intended for modelling high temperature radiant sources but it can equally well be used for low temperature radiant sources 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 273 OPERATION VAV When using the 1 VAV system type you can set the operation schedule for the central air handling unit heating coils separately from the schedules for the local reheat coils The operating schedule for the central heating coils is set under the AHU Heating Coil Operation header at building level Local reheat coils are controlled using Operation data at zone level Unitary Multizone When using the 2 Unitary multizone system type the operating schedule for the central heating coils is set under the AHU Heating Coil Operation header at building level Note only one set of zone thermostatic con
457. omputers This is routinely done behind the scenes in DesignBuilder for generating optimal surfaces in the OpenGL display routines but is also sometimes necessary when generating EnergyPlus surfaces There is an option on the Advanced tab of the Model Options dialog which allows triangulation to be switched on off explicitly You should leave this switched off as it is intended for developer testing but if you do switch it on all surface polygons apart from triangular and rectangular ones are triangulated You should however be aware of some situations requiring EnergyPlus surfaces to be triangulated even when this option is switched off 1 When two blocks are adjacent and one of the adjacent faces is larger than the other and has glazing see EnergyPlus DXF output below This situation requires triangulation because EnergyPlus cannot handle surfaces with holes You should try to avoid this situation wherever possible especially if the surface involved is large or has a large number of windows because the large number of triangulated surfaces can slow simulations significantly 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Reference so Illustration of triangulation in inter block connection surfaces e Windows which are neither triangular nor rectangular must be triangulated to fit with EnergyPlus requirements e f a surface shading surface or opening has more vertices than is allowed from the IDD definition then it must be triangulated
458. on cooling set point temperature as set on the Activity tab under the Environmental Comfort header AND e The difference between inside and outside air temperatures Tin Tout is less than Max ventilation in out delta T below the Ventilation cooling setpoint data on the Activity tab AND e The operation schedule is on at that time in the simulation Note to avoid temperature control of natural ventilation set a very low Ventilation cooling setpoint temperature and to avoid temperature difference control of natural ventilation set a high negative value of Max ventilation in out delta T The actual natural ventilation rate at any one time in the simulation is calculated by multiplying the maximum natural ventilation rate ac h by the value of the operation schedule When using the Typical workday Timing option natural ventilation can be either on or off When it is on the ventilation rate is the maximum natural ventilation rate 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 275 When using the 7 12 Timing option it is possible to vary the natural ventilation rate between 0 and the maximum value by using daily profiles which have values between 0 and 100 Internal Windows Doors and Vents Airflow through external windows vents doors and holes are not modelled with Scheduled natural ventilation because the natural ventilation airflow from outside is explicitly defined above Internal windows vents door
459. one perimeters are formed by drawing partitions In order to speed up the process of adding partitions particularly in the case of large and complex blocks the block zoning process can be postponed until partitioning has been 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 148 DesignBuilder 1 5 completed To do this open the Model options dialog and switch off the Automatic block zoning option under the Miscellaneous Edit header on the Advanced tab When partitioning has been completed the block can be manually re zoned by selecting the Rezone block command from the Tools menu Partitions drawn with the Automatic block zoning option switched off are called Outline partitions and are shown in blue Click the partition end point on the outside of the wall and it s automatically trimmed 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 149 LI Type 2 Natural ventilation open plan When you draw a partition or a series of partitions stream you can undo the last point placed by pressing the ESC key or selecting Undo last point from the right click menu You can also terminate a partition stream anywhere by selecting End stream from the right click menu or by pressing the ENTER key 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 150 DesignBuilder 1 5 Undo last point X Cancel Draw partition Go up to Building level Building 1 Escape V Undo Add Partition s e Redo Protractor h Selec
460. one reheat coil energy or overcooling and central chiller energy consumption if the chilled water temperature is also reset at the cost of possible increased fan energy The 2003 ASHRAE Applications Handbook discusses warmest reset control for constant volume systems p 41 27 and calls it Supply Air Temperature Reset for Constant Air Volume CAV A requirement is set out in ASHRAE Std 90 1 2004 Appendix G paragraph G3 1 3 12 Supply air temperature shall be reset based on zone demand from the design temperature difference to a 10 F temperature difference under minimum load conditions Design air flow rates shall be sized for the reset supply air temperature i e a 10 F temperature difference Tip using Warmest or Outside air temperature cooling coil setpoint reset can drastically improve energy efficiency by reducing the cooling energy delivered to the airstream to the minimum required for occupant comfort The DesignBuilder HVAC template default is 3 Warmest for constant volume systems and 1 None for other system types 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 268 DesignBuilder 1 5 OPERATION Unitary Multizone and VAV When using the 2 Unitary multizone 5 CAV and 3 VAV Compact HVAC system types the AHU cooling coil operation is defined by AHU cooling coil operation data Note only one set of zone thermostatic control data is used per Unitary multizone system this is the zone for which Thermostatic control zone for unitary
461. oom air temperature is controlled to the set point temperature which depending on internal radiant temperatures may not necessarily be comfortable The disadvantage of Operative temperature control is that start up loads can be unrealistically high due to the lag in thermal response of the walls floor ceilings The slow temperature response of the building fabric part governs the output of the operative thermostat and hence the operation of the heating cooling equipment If this effect dominates it can lead to an overestimate of the required design cooling load You should be familiar with this issue before using operative temperature control to size heating and cooling equipment In our experience using Operative temperature control usually leads to higher peak loads in Heating and Cooling design calculations and higher energy consumption in Simulations Caution Operative temperature control can cause EnergyPlus Error 3 when using Simple HVAC or Cooling design calculations with Operative control in zones with strong radiant heat gains causing high radiant temperatures e g uninsulated roof or zone is highly glazed The error is caused by the fixed supply air temperature being higher than the zone air temperature required to give the operative setpoint e g 24 C The solution may be to use Air temperature control and to manage the high radiant temperatures using solar shading insulation as appropriate Air temperature control is easier to u
462. operative or some other radiant fraction and DesignBuilder provides corresponding options to allow HVAC systems to be controlled by e 1 Air temperature control the room mean air temperature to the heating and cooling setpoint temperatures specified on the Activity tab e 2 Operative temperature control the room temperature using 0 5 radiant fraction See notes of operative temperature control below if you plan to use this option e 3 Other you can enter the radiant temperature control fraction The radiant fraction should be less than 0 9 and the minimum is 0 0 A value of 0 0 is the same as controlling on only zone air temperature If air velocities are higher than 0 2 m s then lower values for radiative fraction might apply Niu and Burnett 1998 cite International Standard ISO 77300 in recommending the values for this fraction listed in the following table Radiative Fraction vs Air Velocity 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Air Velocity m s lt 0 2 0 2 0 6 0 6 1 0 Radiant fraction 0 5 0 4 0 3 Reference J Niu and J Burnett 1998 Integrating Radiant Operative Temperature Controls into Building Energy Simulations ASHRAE Transactions Vol 104 Part 2 page 210 ASHRAE Atlanta GA You can think of the Temperature control option as e The radiant fraction sensed by the room thermostat or e Given a room thermostat that mainly senses air temperature the extent of automatic modification of
463. ople m2 are multiplied by the values in the schedule to obtain the actual value to use at each time step in the simulation So if you enter large schedule values the actual maximum value in the simulation will be higher than the maximum value entered in DB There is no problem with this just a methodological concern that if the Interface indicates that the maximum occupancy density is say 0 1 people m2 but the schedule has values gt 1 then the simulation results will at first sight appear incorrect If you come back to the model 6 months later you may not remember the reason e Temperature set point schedules should only have values 0 0 5 or 1 0 So generally we recommend using Fraction Compact schedules for clarity Field Set Through For Interpolate Until Value Each Compact Schedule must contain the elements Through date For days Interpolate optional Until time of day and Value Field Through This field starts with Through and contains the ending date for the schedule period You may define multiple schedule periods in this way for example to define seasonal variations If there are no seasonal variations then enter Through 31 Dec toindicate that the data that follows applies to the whole year Note that only Month Day combinations are allowed for this field Field For This field starts with For and contains the applicable days Multiple choices may be combined on the line Choices are Weekdays
464. or e g floor in cantilevered space roof eaves etc Doors and Vents conduction heat loss through doors and vents Ground Floors heat loss through ground floors Partitions int heat loss through all internal partitions e g adjacent zone is colder External Infiltration heat loss through air infiltration non unintentional air entry through cracks and holes in building fabric External Mechanical Ventilation is the heat loss due to the entry of outside air through the air distribution system View can exclude mechanical ventilation from the heating design calculations by unchecking the Mechanical ventilation On Model Data Internal Natural Ventilation heat loss due to air exchange through open internal windows doors vents holes and virtual partitions to adjacent spaces Zone Sys Sensible Heating heat delivered to maintain the internal heating design temperature Note The Heating delivered is the sum of the component heat loss values Surface heat loss data walls ceilings floors etc refers to heat transfer from the zone to the inside surface of the building elements You can also customise the data displayed and display style using the Display Options panel 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Calculations Temperature and Heat Loss EnergyPlus Output Licensed Temperalure CC Heal Balance v Percent Told te
465. or Compact HVAC Autosizing Compact and Typical workday Schedules 7 12 Schedules can be categorised using the following categories when using the End use defaults option e General include general purpose schedules in Compact HVAC heating autosizing calculations on by default Occupancy include occupancy schedules off by default Lighting include lighting schedules off by default Equipment include equipment schedules off by default Heating demand include heating demand schedules on by default Cooling demand include cooling demand schedules on by default HVAC HVAC schedules on by default Natural ventilation demand natural ventilation schedules off by default DHW DHW schedules on by default For example occupancy gains should normally be excluded when sizing heating plant to ensure that the design heating plant meets all heating loads itself So leave the Occupancy check box unchecked Heating and cooling demand schedules must be included to ensure the system operates so the Heating demand and Cooling demand options should normally left selected These options are also used for Typical workday schedules 3 4 3 2 Calculation Options Heating Design Cooling Design and Simulation tabs on Model Options dialog and Options tab on Simulation Options dialog Calculation description Enter some text to identify the calculation This will be used in reports and in the filename for automatically 2
466. or and edge snap 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 131 Click to create the cutting plane 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 132 DesignBuilder 1 5 Click again to make the final cut and then select and delete the block that isn t part of the finished structure 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 133 The outline block can then be selected and converted to a building block 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 SELECT PLANE METHOD The Select plane method of cutting a block uses an existing plane to define the cutting plane It can be demonstrated by modelling a roof offshoot 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 135 Click on the Add new block tool select 2 Outline block as the block type and set the perimeter shape to 1 Polygon Switch the protractor on and move the mouse cursor to the back face of the offshoot When the cursor is over the back face press the SHIFT key to lock the drawing plane and snap the protractor to the upper edge end point 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 136 DesignBuilder 1 5 Se eee Draw the first perimeter line at a 45 pitch and move the cursor to intersect with the back face upper edge mid point drawing guide and click to set the end point 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Move the cursor to snap to the other end point
467. ostat that mainly senses air temperature the extent of automatic modification of the setpoint temperature to ensure occupant comfort 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 Notes 1 This option is overridden when using radiant heating systems by the radiant heating system control setting 2 This option does not affect natural and mechanical ventilation setpoints these always use air temperature set points Operative vs Air temperature control Advanced discussion There has been much debate amongst simulation experts over the years on the extent to which radiant effects should be included on the simulated thermostat Most real world thermostats probably don t actually sense more than about 2096 radiant heat transfer mostly the temperature sensor will be sensitive to the temperature of room air nearby So apparently we should air temperature or 20 radiant control But Operative control radiant fraction 0 5 can be useful for calculating realistic heating and cooling energy based on published summer and winter temperature requirements for the activities in each zone This is because HVAC systems controlled using the operative temperature continue to condition the building until comfort conditions are met just like they are in the real building Also the default temperature set points from the Activity templates are generally derived from sources quoting operative temperatures With Air temperature control the r
468. ot represent the daylight available in other parts of the zone For example a zone having facades in both South and East directions would need 2 sensors and 2 Lighting Areas one on each facade 2 The zone has 2 different activity areas which have been lumped into a single zone for convenience The 2 activities have different visual illuminance requirements and the Lighting Areas for both can benefit from daylighting through daylighting control An example would be a zone having both office and recreational space The office space may have a lighting requirement of 500 lux and the recreational space may need 300 lux Note 1 if the zone has a different sensor for the back half for example you should check the Second light sensor option Note 2 if the zone has perimeter and core areas perimeter lights having daylight control and core lights not then you only need to use a single lighting sensor The fact that the core lights are not controlled can be modelled using Zone Controlled by Lighting Area 1 If 6096 of the lights in the zone are located in the core zone and do not have daylight control then set Zone Controlled by Lighting Area 1 to 40 Perimeter Area Daylight illuminance on the working plane is calculated for up to two locations in each zone during the simulation and illuminance setpoints are maintained where necessary by electric lighting The sensor is always located in the working plane which by default is 0 8m above the f
469. ote some low end graphics adapters are not suited to software antialiasing because they lack hardware acceleration for this feature 3 4 8 Block Options Block Geometry Y Form 1 Extruded Y Pitched Roof Wall Consruction Transition Y Allow pitched roof construction Roof wall transition Angle 45 0 Block tab on Model Options dialog Data on the Block tab of the Model options dialog allows you to edit the form and related properties of the current block e Block geometry e Roof wall transition See also Edit Block Geometry Dialog 3 4 8 1 Block Geometry Block tab on Model Options dialog Wall thickness You can change the Wall thickness of the current block by entering the new thickness here The thickness must be in the range 0 01m 2 0m 0 39 78 inches 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Display external walls You can choose to switch on off display of external walls for each block Generally for extruded blocks it is best to show external walls to help reference location within the block with respect to existing openings etc For roof blocks and other non plan extrusion blocks the external walls can obscure the internal space and so the default for these block types is to hide the external walls You can override the defaults using this option Block form Once a block has been created it s form can usually be changed to one of e 1 General e 2 Sloped walls or e 3 Pitched roof
470. ou can move blocks partitions courtyards and openings To move an object first select it and then click on the Move tool or select Move from the right click menu If you want you can move several objects at the same time by doing a multiple selection You then need to define a handle point for the move operation the handle point can be any point on a model surface or ground plane but more usually will be a vertex on the object that you want to move so make sure that the end point snap is switched on move the mouse cursor to the required object vertex and snap to it 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps End point snap Mid point snap Edge snap DxF snap Increment snap Drawing Guides Handle point When you release the mouse button you will be able to move the object to any required location As you move the object a displacement line is displayed to show how far the object has been moved the displacement line can be snapped to the axes or the Protractor When a direction snap is active the increment snap can also be used Displacement line snapped to protractor Protract lt End point snap Mid point snap Increment snap Snap increment 0 500 Site snap increment directie Drawing Guides You can then click the mouse button to place the object At the building level blocks can be moved in three
471. our building for compliance with energy codes because by default the combined constructions used have exactly the maximum U values allowed by the local code See the Combined Constructions section for more details With Combined constructions the volume of the floor constructions can be included or excluded from the zone air volume by making the appropriate setting under Include constructions in zone volume 2 Separate internal floors are defined in model data by selecting constructions for floor slab and ceiling with air gaps Likewise flat roofs are defined by separately defining the ceiling and roof details etc This approach can be more economical in the number of different construction components required but requires more input model data and more careful planning When using this option you must first familiarise yourself with the meaning on the data as described in the Separate Constructions section Choosing this option configures constructions in the same way as DesignBuilder version 1 2 and earlier With Separate constructions the volume of the floor constructions floor void and ceiling constructions ceiling void can be included or excluded from the zone air volume by making the appropriate setting under Include constructions in zone volume Note the zone air volume referred to above is for calculating air flow rates for natural ventilation and mechanical ventilation not for infiltration which always uses the total volume incl
472. output data with which they are associated Fluorescent lights General lighting Tungsten lights Task lighting Office equipment Computer equipment Computers Computer equipment Computer accessories Computer equipment Telecoms Computer equipment Lifts Miscellaneous Catering Catering Small power Miscellaneous Heating Miscellaneous Cooling Miscellaneous Pumps Miscellaneous Fans Miscellaneous DHW Miscellaneous Process Miscellaneous External lighting Task lighting Other external Miscellaneous Miscellaneous Miscellaneous 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 20 DesignBuilder 1 5 Note that all of the above gains are modelled as scheduled gains in the zone and the data is reported as such in the program output So for example categorising an item of equipment as DHW does not affect in any way DHW modelling as defined on the HVAC tab Likewise data for Heating Cooling Pumps and Fans is simply modelled as a scheduled gain in the zone completely unconnected with HVAC modelling 3 3 3 Model Data Management The DesignBuilder building Model Data inheritance mechanism is a powerful way to edit building models Tools are provided to help manage and manipulate this data e Load data from template e Clear data to default 3 3 8 1 Load Data from Template Model Data Management 24 Access the Load Data from Template from 1 The Toolbar 2 The Edit menu 3
473. outside air is 15 degC or more colder than inside SCHEDULED NATURAL VENTILATION OPTION Airflow through internal openings When using Scheduled natural ventilation windows vents doors and holes in internal partitions can be modelled by mixing a predefined amount of air from one zone with the adjacent zone by selecting the Airflow through internal openings option and entering the Airflow rate per opening area Technical note this airflow is modelled using the EnergyPlus Mixing option Warning In EnergyPlus v 2 1 0 there is a bug in internal airflow reports for zones having 2 or more internal openings In such zones Internal Natural ventilation typically has very large values 3 4 2 3 Miscellaneous Edit Advanced tab on Model Options dialog Automatic block zoning By default DesignBuilder automatically generates zones as partitions are drawn You can change this behaviour by unchecking the Automatic block zoning option In this case partitions are shown in blue as they are drawn and are referred to as outline partitions Outline partitions do not create new zones and are modelled in the same way in simulations as hanging partitions To convert any outline partitions to standard partitions and to rezone the block use the Rezone block command accessed from the Tools menu Note that outline partitions that do not connect at both ends known in DesignBuilder as hanging partitions will remain in blue even after the Rezone block command Alt
474. ouvres sidefins on external walls only These types of shading can be used individually or combined 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 220 DesignBuilder 1 5 Openings tab in model data under External Glazing Internal Glazing and Roof Glazing headers To include blinds transparent insulation or electrochromic glazing check the Window shading checkbox Window shading Ef Type Blind with high reflectivity slats Position 1 Inside M Control type 3 Summer This displays the data above Type Select the Window blind component type There are 4 categories of window blinds e Slat e Shade e Transparent insulation e Electrochromic switching if you select a blind of this category the position must be Switchable Position The window shading devices can be positioned in one of four ways e 1 Inside the window shading devices is positioned inside the zone e 2 Mid pane the window shading device is positioned between the inner pane and the second pane e 3 Outside the shading devices positioned outside e 4 Switchable select this option for electrochromic glazing in which case the outer pane is switched based on the shading control below ov N j 4 Je ff 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 Inside Outside Mid pane Control type Control data specifies how the shading device is controlled It determin
475. ouvres tab on Local Shading Dialog Enter details on the louvres if fitted 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Component Data Vertical offset from top of window 1 Enc Vertical spacing bi REN 7 QUT pra Window Louvre blades p Blade depth 7 Angle Distance from I window I I Side Elevation Vertical offset from top of window 1 i Louvre blades Horizontal wind Window overlap Front Elevation The number of louvres is a maximum value and if the window is not high enough to accommodate the requested number of louvres blades any louvres blades which would be positioned below the window are not added 5 10 3 Sidefins Sidefins tab on Local Shading Dialog Enter details on the sidefins if fitted 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Horizontal offset from window left E Horizontal offset from window right I Left Sidefin Right Sidefin Projection 5 10 4 Overhangs Overhangs tab on Local Shading Dialog Enter details on the overhangs if fitted Overhang Projection w Vertical offsetfrom _ top of window Window Side Elevation 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Component Data 365 Horizontal window overlap Overhang Projection t 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 5 11 Window Blinds E Window blind Blind with medium reflecti
476. ove around in 3 D space in a similar fashion to that of building a physical model using bricks from a construction set Blocks are created by drawing 2 D perimeters on horizontal or vertical planes and then extruding these perimeters to form 3 D shapes 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 24 DesignBuilder 1 5 Block created by extrusion from a vertical plane T men 2 yee s es s wel Block created by extrusion from a horizontal plane Blocks are versatile objects and once created can easily be modified by moving their surfaces by stretching them and even by cutting them using arbitrary planes Typically you might use a block to represent an entire building storey Or a particular building design might lend itself to an obvious division into blocks 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Core Concepts 25 You can model an entire building as a single block 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 Single block created by vertical extrusion and cut to shape And then cut the block into storeys Block cut horizontally to create storeys Once the overall geometry of a model has been established with blocks you can go into a block and sub 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Core Concepis divide it into a number of rooms or zones using partitions Block sub divided into zones by partitions 1 1
477. overy heating setpoint temperature When no economiser is selected this data defines the heating setpoint temperature of the heat recovery device Note that the single value is applied throughout the year For example enter 15C to model a system which heats outside air up to 15C and no higher A high setpoint value will provide optimal heating but this may add to cooling loads in the summer Heat recovery economizer If an economiser option is selected the heat recovery is bypassed whenever the economiser operates and the heat recovery is always bypassed if economiser operation would be beneficial The heat recovery will operate when e Heat recovery is switched on at the building level for VAV and unitary multizone systems and at zone level for Unitary single zone and Fan coil systems AND e When economiser operation is off You can have heat recovery and no Economiser action by switching on Heat recovery and setting economiser to 1 None In this case the heat recovery units heats outside air using the Heat recovery heating setpoint temperature above It also cools outside air when return air temperature is lower than outside air temperature When heat recovery is used with the 2 Full fresh air outside air mixing option in CAV VAV systems the heat recovery is by passed when this is advantageous in reducing AHU heating cooling coil loads Otherwise when using the 1 Recirculation option the economiser must be selected in the interface for th
478. owerful computer for best results especially when working with larger building models Recommended e Windows XP SP2 2 4 dual core processor or faster 2GB or more RAM 5GB free disk space Pointing device 100 OpenGL compatible 3D graphics adapter with hardware acceleration running in 32 bit color mode 1280x1024 pixels or larger screens for efficiency during the modelling process and for displaying high quality visualisation images and walk throughs of DesignBuilder models and CFD results DesignBuilder works well with wide screens Windows Vista DesignBuilder works under Windows Vista but we do not currently June 07 recommend it because a many of the early graphics adapter drivers written for Vista have bugs and b we have not tested it extensively ourselves If you do plan to purchase a computer with Windows Vista installed we recommend choosing an NVIDIA graphics adapter as these in our experience have more reliable drivers where new operating systems are released This is possibly because NVIDIA take OpenGL more seriously than ATI Graphics Card Settings Many graphics cards allow you to customise driver settings The example screenshot below is for an NVIDIA card showing recommended settings Note antialiasing anisotropic filtering and unified back depth buffer have been changed from default settings to provide hardware accelerated optimal visualisations The antialiasing option provides sharp lines without slowing program operatio
479. p 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 1 DesignBuilder 1 5 Drawing Options Cutting Method Cutting method 1 Draw plane z Protracter Protractor Protractor increment 15 0 Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides Click to place the beginning of the first cutting plane line then place the end of the line to intersect the face edge with a pitch angle of 30 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Orbit to make the back face of the block visible Move the mouse cursor over the back face and when it highlights press the SHIFT key to lock the plane Place the second cutting plane line to snap to the local X axis of the back face 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Click to complete the cutting plane The blocks that will be produced by the cut are displayed in red and green depending on which side of the cutting plane they lie At this point you can choose to cancel the cut by pressing the ESC key or selecting Cancel from the right click menu 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 120 Click again to complete the cut and then select and delete the block that isn t needed 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 130 DesignBuilder 1 5 Go through a similar process to create the other pitch You may need to switch off the drawing guides and mid point snap to prevent them from interfering with the protract
480. p The shadow overlaps is a measure of the amount of complexity in the shading calculation and this maximum value allows you to limit the amount of time spent in the solar initialisation calculations Note entering a small value here can speed up simulations in complex buildings If you plan to use Maximum shadow overlaps below the default value of 15000 you should check accuracy of solar gains relative to results using default value Surfaces within zone treated as adiabatic EnergyPlus support recommend modelling surfaces wholly contained within a zone as adiabatic and this option allows you to follow this advice We have found that in practice this option not make much difference in results or in simulation speed so for most cases you can leave it in its default state Note surfaces contained within a zone are frequently generated when one of the zone merging options is used where a partition or floor which would have separated two zones actually sits within the merged zone These surfaces do not refer to hanging partitions which are modelled using Internal thermal mass COMPACT HVAC SIMULATION AUTOSIZING OPTIONS The following 2 data items are used when autosizing Compact HVAC systems before simulations Sizing factor not heating cooling design This ratio is applied at the zone level to all of the zone heating and cooling loads and air flow rates These new loads and air flow rates are then used to calculate the system level flow rates
481. p Electric Consumption J HOT WATER LOOP HW SUPPLY PUMP CHILLED WATER LOOP CHW SUPPLY PUMP CHILLED WATER LOOP CNDW SUPPLY PUMP DHW Domestic Hot Water Zoneld DHW 1 DHW energy kWh Consumption m3 DHW CoP x 1000 kg m3 x 4 187 KJ kg K x Domestic Hot Water Consumption m3 x Delivery water temperature Mains water temperature Where DHW CoP is Heat generator CoP when using 1 Central heating boiler DHW type Preheat energy Preheat Heating Coil Rate Distr loss if appropriate Preheat CoP Lighting 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd s16 DesignBuilder 1 5 Room electricity Room gas Room oil Room solid Room bottled gas Room other Fuel totals building level Electricity Gas Oil Solid Bottled gas Other fuel consumption CO2 production building level CO2 Site Weather data Outside dry bulb temperature Outside dew point temperature Direct normal solar Diffuse horizontal solar Wind speed Wind direction Atmospheric pressure Solar altitude Solar azimuth 1 Electricity from grid 2 Natural gas 3 Oil 4 Coal 7 Anthracite 8 Smokeless fuel including coke 5 LPG 6 Biogas 9 Dual fuel appliances mineral wood 10 Biomass 11 Waste heat Calculated from Fuel totals above using locally published CO2 emission factors from the Emissions tab on the Legislative regions dialog accessed from the Site level on the Regions model data tab
482. p or dragging the surface of a block normal to the original surface position The increment snap allows you to move a point in a particular direction by defined increments You can think of the increment snap acting in the same way as a conventional CAD drawing grid and in fact if you were just to use the axis snaps it would have the same effect however the increment snap is more powerful in that it provides this type of incremental snap along any defined vector not just the axis vectors The increment snap may be particularly useful during early stage design when you want to place geometry with reasonable accuracy but don t want to be constantly keying in distances Note the increment snap will only come into operation when you are drawing a line or moving a surface along a defined vector For example if you are drawing a block perimeter parallel with an existing block edge the increment snap will operate when the parallel snap is active and in this case you would be able to move the mouse cursor along the parallel vector in increments of 0 5m 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 60 DesignBuilder 1 5 Geometry Perimeter Protracter Direction Snaps v X axis snap Y axis snap asis O Nome Point Snaps Y End point snap Mid point snap Edae snap m ot snt lt wi E owt a EY a Er p z 27 a s Increment snap operates when any of
483. pe set the perimeter shape to 1 Polygon and the Height to the same height as the rotunda then draw a conventional vertical extrusion to fit flush to the rotunda In order to trace round the base of the rotunda it s probably easier to set the view rotation to Plan click on to the ground plane and press SHIFT to lock the plane before placing the first perimeter point 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 124 DesignBuilder 1 5 Geometry Y Block type 1 Building block Form 1 Extruded X Height 15 00 wall thickness m 0 292 Auto complete block Perimeter Shape 1 Polygon Line type 1 Straight line Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides When tracing around a perimeter by snapping from end point to end point it can be helpful to switch off the direction snaps and the drawing guides to prevent them from interfering with the point snaps Completing the perimeter 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Click on the outline block to select it and then click on the Divide block tool and make sure that the Cutting method is set to 1 Draw plane in the Drawing Options data panel Switch the protractor on and move the cursor over the end face of the selected block the surface will highlight to indicate that it s become the active drawing plane Press the SHIFT key to lock the drawing plane and then locate the cursor 4m from the base of the block using edge sna
484. pe of Name of the ventilation facade concept Natural Passive facade Mechanical Active facade Hybrid Interactive facade This table contains the commonly used names referring only to the type of ventilation and thus giving no indication about the partitioning of the facade or the ventilation modes In the literature the double facades adopting the air supply ventilation mode are called airflow window or also ventilated window The facades adopting the air exhaust ventilation mode are also called extract air or exhaust airflow Modelling Considerations There are some important considerations when using DesignBuilder to model double facades 1 If you are using a zone to model the cavity the double facade then the inner glazing is interior and so requires the Full interior and exterior solar distribution option to get solar radiation to pass through exterior and then through interior windows You should read the information about the restrictions associated with this option before using it 2 Take care when comparing the exterior solar radiation transmitted into the double facade zone with the interior solar radiation transmitted into the occupied zone These do not include the re reflection of solar back out of the external windows Read the definitions for the output data 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 476 DesignBuilder 1 5 3 It is possible to set the double facade zone as a return plenum To be extended Source o
485. perience a cooling load and the North Zone not Now imagine the same 2 spaces merged into a single zone The combined zones will probably now have a lower cooling load than the load in the original South zone because the air from the South side of the merged space is cooled by the shaded North side In most cases merging zones will speed up simulations but sometimes simulations can slow down especially the initialisation stage This may be because any very large zones generated through merging can have many windows which can slow down solar and daylighting initialisation Merging rules 1 When merging zones using the Merge zones of same activity or Merge zones connected by holes zones connected by the merge option are lumped together into a single parent zone which in a vertical stack of zones will be the lowest zone in the stack 2 The zone surfaces are generated in exactly the same way as they would have been without the merging but are associated with the parent zone rather than the original zone 3 In child merged zones you can access Constructions and Openings surface based Model data but not space related data such as Activity Lighting HVAC This is accessed from the parent zone only Merging buildings You can merge 2 existing buildings including component blocks using the Transfer blocks command from the Edit menu 3 4 2 2 Natural Ventilation Advanced tab on Model Options dialog Model holes including holes in virtual
486. ply air to be delivered when cooling is required The default humidity ratio is 0 009 COOLING PLANT Fuel Select the type of fuel used to generate the cooling energy choose from e 1 Electricity e 2 Gas e 3 Oil 4 Solid fuel e 5 Bottled gas e 6 Other Cooling system CoP Simple HVAC only The cooling system coefficient of performance is used to calculate the fuel consumption required to meet cooling demand The value represents the total seasonal efficiency of the entire cooling system and should include the effect of all energy consumption associated with building cooling such as fan and pump energy chiller inefficiency control equipment etc Cooling system CoP data is specified by zone so you can model different cooling efficiencies in each zone But generally you should access this data from the building level and allow zones to take on building default Chiller CoP Compact HVAC only The chiller coefficient of performance is used to calculate the fuel consumption required to meet cooling demand It represents the total seasonal efficiency of the chiller excluding losses consumption due to external pumps and fans but including all energy consumed by such ancillary devices within the chiller Chiller CoP data is specified for the whole building Cooling distribution loss The cooling distribution loss is the loss of heat cooling energy due to the distribution of cold water air around the building It is used
487. po Sectors Non domestic Units Number system Metric Envelope component heat loss Maximum U Values Exposed Elements Wall 0 350 Flat roof 0 250 Pitched roof 0 160 Roofspace floor 0 250 Floor 0 250 Solid floor to ground 0 250 Window 2 000 Rooflight 2 200 Large doors 0 700 Maximum U Values Semi Exposed Elements Window 2 200 Wall 0 350 Floor 0 250 Energy code data is used within DesignBuilder to indicate the mandatory energy performance of building components and or the whole building There are three types of heat transmission code 1 Envelope component performance 2 Whole building envelope performance 3 Whole building energy performance You can define the type of energy code by making selections on the next 3 tabs If this energy code requires for example that minimum component perforance and whole building energy performance then check both these options Template data can be accessed from the Templates tab on the opening screen if no file is open from the Templates tab in the Navigator panel if a file is open by double clicking on the template icon in the model data e e e e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting templates from a list 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Template Data 6 11 1 Energy Code Templates General General tab on Energy Code Templates Dialog Enter a name and description of this Energy code 6 11 2 Energy Code Templates Envelope component
488. ponent block is flat 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 212 DesignBuilder 1 5 i e it consists of 2 large surfaces and several smaller edge surfaces the block is represented in the simulations by a single shading surface In this case the surface used will depend on the value of the Flat component block surface selection model option Tip If your component block has a constant transmittance you can set the transmittance schedule below to On and set the constant transmittance for the block here Non flat compo SUO Wes PU For non flat component blocks every surface is included in the simulation as a shading surface and the solar flux incident upon a building facade will be attenuated by each successive shading object located on a path between the facade and the sun position The shading transmittance schedule you define is therefore modified to ensure that the overall transmittance of the block is the Maximum Transmittance value multiplied by the schedule you selected This is done assuming that the component block is convex and that therefore solar rays can only pass through a maximum of 2 surfaces The transmittance of each non flat component block surface is set to square root of the value you defined to achieve this Note non convex non flat component blocks will provide more shading than you specified during times when solar rays pass through more than 2 surfaces Note there was a bug in the calculation of transmittance
489. ppropriate 6 6 3 HVAC Templates System System tab on HVAC Templates Dialog The data on this tab is divided into System i e whole system data Heating and Cooling Auxiliary energy defines the energy consumption of fans pumps and other auxiliary equipment when using the Simple HVAC model option This energy is assumed to be consumed during periods when either heating or cooling systems are operating Type defines the EnergyPlus compact system type when the Compact HVAC model option is set Select from e Unitary single zone for modelling window air conditioning units and any other system which does not use ducted air e Unitary multizone for modelling constant volume air conditioning systems e VAV for modelling variable air volume air conditioning systems 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 388 DesignBuilder 1 5 When using the VAV compact system type you can define the system in more detail using e Outside air control type select either Fixed or Proportional Fixed means that the minimum outside air flow rate is fixed no matter what the actual system flow rate is Proportional means the minimum outside air flow rate varies in proportion to the total system air flow rate e Supply air min flow fraction is the fraction that the zone VAV box can reduce to based on the supply air maximum flow rate Heating cooling system CoP is the whole system seasonal coefficient of performance including d
490. ppropriate Roofspace insulation data Note that this construction contains just the construction layers above the slab The construction might typically contain two layers i insulation and possibly ii boarding or other lining material 4 If the roofspace floor construction is directly in contact with the slab i e there is no suspension set the suspension height to zero See Detail 6 in the diagram above Ground floors Ground floors are made up by combining floor ground floor slab and ground consiructions optional site level data with an optional floor suspension void as shown in Construction Location and Block and Zone Dimensions The site ground temperatures are applied to the outside of all surfaces adjacent to ground In cold climates the Ground floor slab construction will generally include an insulating layer See Detail 1 in the diagram above External floors External floors are floors that are adjacent to outside air e g the floor of a cantilevered part of the building or where for any other reason there is no ground or other zone below With Separate constructions External floors are generated from Floor slab and External floor constructions plus optional Floor suspension and Floor construction In cold climates the External floor construction will generally include an insulating layer See Detail 3 above Zone Volume The zone volume is calculated correctly for all zone geometries and by default the volume is the ac
491. ption Automatically refresh site navigator lists By default DesignBuilder automatically refreshes the contents of the site navigator list on the left of the screen as the building is modified In large models frequent rebuilding of the navigator list can slow progress especially when drawing partitions Uncheck this option to avoid this problem You can manually refresh the navigator lists by clicking on the refresh list icon above the Navigator panel below r Double click to navigate site hierarchy By default you can navigate to an object in the site hierarchy building block zone etc by single clicking in the Navigator You can change this behaviour by checking Double click to navigate site hierarchy In this case you must double click to go to objects in the Navigator and a single click highlights the object in the Edit view if you are already at the level above For example if you are at block level and you single click on one of the zones in the block the zone is highlighted in red in the Edit view Note disabling this option can be useful for identifying blocks zones surfaces by single clicking in the Navigator Show Load data from template dialog when template selected 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 448 DesignBuilder 1 5 When you select a new template by clicking on the browse button in the Model data by default the data in the template is loaded directly to the current object However
492. r The Rectangle shape allows you to draw perimeters by placing diagonally opposite corners of a rectangle Drawing Options Second corner Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides __ First corner The Circle shape is used to draw circular perimeters by placing the circle centre and then setting the radius by placing a second point 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 38 DesignBuilder 1 5 Drawing Options Second point defines radius Perirecict 3 Circle Segments 20 Options Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides The associated Segments option allows you to control the accuracy of the circle In DesignBuilder geometry circles are actually composed of polygons and the accuracy of the representation can be controlled by defining the number of segments or lines used in generating the polygon Generally speaking the greater the number of segments used will result in more memory usage and processing time and so particularly in the case of blocks it s advisable to use the default number of segments where possible 3 2 2 2 Line Type When the perimeter shape is set to Polygon you can set the perimeter line type to Straight line or Arc When the line type is set to Straight line a perimeter is drawn by placing the origin and then a series of line end points 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Drawing Op
493. r model The touching adiabatic component block creates an adiabatic adjacency in the part of the Building block surface in contact with the Adiabatic block Standard component blocks are visible in Visualisations using the texture associated with the Component block material as set on the Constructions tab under the Component Block header They can be used to cast shadows and reflect solar radiation and light in simulations by checking the Component block shades and reflects model data under Component Blocks on the Constructions tab E gt Adiabatic component block in contact with Building block View from building level 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Adiabatic adjacency created by contact with Adiabatic component block nee View from zone level Some standard block forms are provided to facilitate the creation of blocks representing specific building geometries e General extrusion e Sloped wall e Pitched roof e Dome You can select the block form from the Drawing Options data panel in the bottom left of the screen when the Draw Block command is active Once a block has been created it is possible in some cases to change to a new form by navigating to the block and opening the Model options dialog The general extrusion block form is probably the most useful form You create a general extrusion block by drawing a perimeter using a number of pre defined shapes and then extruding the perimeter
494. r of people in the zone as the starting point for occupancy heat emission calculations Metabolic rate data can be found in the ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals Chapter 8 Table 5 DesignBuilder data is derived from this data and is for adult males having typical surface area of 1 8m2 For women multiply the adult male value by 0 85 and for children multiply by 0 75 Template data can be accessed e from the Templates tab on the opening screen if no file is open e from the Templates tab in the Navigator panel if a file is open e by double clicking on the template icon in the model data e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting templates from a list Background Heat is generated in the human body by oxidation at a rate called the metabolic rate This heat is dissipated from the body surface and respiratory tract by a combination of radiation convection and evaporation The relative proportions of sensible and latent heat from people is a complex function of the metabolic rate and the environmental conditions EnergyPlus uses a polynomial function to divide the heat gain into sensible and latent portions More details can be found in the EnergyPlus EngineeringDoc pdf documentation 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Section Calculations Calculations There are four types of energy simulation e Heating design simulation e Cooling design simulation e Simulation using real weather simply referred to as
495. r starts to open to meet the load This option is used if the minimum air flow rate is not adequate to serve the peak heating load Note you should switch heating on if you want the zone to be heated to the heating setpoint temperature specified on the Activity tab LOCAL HEATING UNITS Heating type Simple HVAC only There are currently two heating types e 1 Convective the space is heated by an air system and controlled to the air temperature set point The system is modelled using EnergyPlus purchased e 2 Radiative convective units used for modelling general systems where a radiant heat is a factor Allows modelling of convective systems hot water radiator systems underfloor heating systems baseboard heating etc using EnergyPlus radiant heating system 1 CONVECTIVE When using Simple HVAC you can specify the heating supply air conditions of the air Supply air delivery temperature The constant dry bulb air temperature of the air supplied for heating the zone 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 272 DesignBuilder 1 5 Supply air humidity ratio The constant humidity ratio mass of water per mass of dry air of the warm supply air to be delivered when heating is required The default humidity ratio is 0 01 2 RADIANT UNITS When the Simple HVAC model option is set you can model radiant heating systems Set the heating system type as 2 Radiant units above and enter the heating radiant fraction control meth
496. r the Heating and Cooling headers Unitary Single Zone Compact HVAC Airflow Schematic Outside Air Blow Through Heating DX Cooling Heat Recovery Mixing Damper Fan Coil Coil Bypass Damper Outside Air Supply Zone Supply Plenum Heat Recovery Recirculation Exhaust Heat Recovery Bypass Damper Zone Return Plenum Notes 1 The Unitary Single Zone system supplies one zone only 2 The diagram shows the zone with its Zone supply and return plenums These are optional as are Heat recovery Cooling coil Heating coil Technical EnergyPlus EnergyPlus needs both the heating coil and cooling DX coil to be defined so even if heating or cooling is not selected in the input DesignBuilder will include both coils in the IDF data supplied to EnergyPlus and schedule the appropriate coil to be off The Fan coil unit Compact option simulates a 4 pipe fan coil unit with hot water heating coil chilled water cooling coil and an outside air mixer You can model Fan coil unit systems with or without outside air If you include Mechanical ventilation with your Fan coil unit system then heating and cooling will only operate when the Mechanical ventilation operation schedule is on If you do not want to include outside air in your system you should uncheck the Mechanical ventilation On check box In this case heating cooling availability is determined entirely from the heating cooling operation schedules und
497. r will not form part of the model which is probably not what the user had in mind CURTAIN GLAZING EXAMPLE 2 When modelling continuous glazing for curtain walls atria greenhouses etc it is often necessary to model glazing joining at the corners It is not possible for windows to literally meet in this way because EnergyPlus requires all openings windows doors etc to be placed on a parent surface with at least a small gap between the opening and the parent surface edge But by using a low value of block thickness you can give the appearance of adjacent windows as shown below A small Wall thickness below allows the glazing to cover most of the wall giving Good results below 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 144 DesignBuilder 1 5 Wall thickness 0 01m gives rise to a very small corner column A larger Wall thickness below requires more area to cater for the walls joining at the corners and the glazing does not meet round the corner giving Poor results below Wall thickness 0 2m gives rise to a large corner column 3 2 9 2 5 Convert Outline Block To convert an Outline block to a Building block or Component block select the blocks that you want to convert and then click on the Convert selected outline block tool This opens the Convert Outline Block Options dialog below 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 145 Convert Outline Block Options B Convert outline block s to
498. raphs only scalable so graphs can be resized without losing quality e CSV spreadsheet grid results and library data only Text reports only 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 9 2 Report Topics Report topics are used to store snapshots of model data including model descriptions graphic images of the model and results You can export to a report topic by selecting Report topic from the Export to option on the Export Data dialog When Report topic is selected a second tab becomes available called Report on which you can enter a title and caption for the topic You can also choose to include a model description with the topic This allows a building description to be included alongside the data when the report is compiled using the Compile Report dialog i Export Results Graphic x Export Data Output Report Caption Winter Design Data for Building 1 Revision 3 with additional glazing Generate model description Help Report topics are retained within the dsb file and are available for compiling into a report if the file is saved and reloaded 9 3 Compile Reports 5 The Compile Reports dialog allows you to control the generation of a report based on previously created Report topics Available report topics are listed and can be previewed by clicking on them The Title entered on this dialog is displayed in a table at the top of the report
499. rarchy If there are no pitched roofs in the model then the data is simply not used Custom openings When custom openings have been created at surface level these override the facade layout Model data for the surface Openings Although openings windows vents doors etc appear in the DesignBuilder hierarchy there is no way in 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Core Concepts 23 version 1 to change data at the opening level All openings inherit their data from the surface level It is therefore not possible to have different glazing types on a particular surface If you click on an opening in the Navigator you are actually taken to the surface containing the openings Component blocks Component blocks inherit their data from building level 2 2 Templates and Components e Templates are databases of typical generic data e Components are databases of individual data items e g a construction type material window pane DesignBuilder allows you to build up your own libraries of templates and components Note that each user on a computer maintains their own database of templates and components Template and component libraries are loaded into your model at the time it is created and new custom data from other computers can be imported at any time 2 3 Blocks Blocks are the basic geometric shapes that you use to assemble a DesignBuilder model The idea of blocks is to provide fairly simple objects that you can easily m
500. re Ltd Library management 335 Add New Template To add a template 1 Click on the to the left of the template type Activity templates in the above screen shot 2 Click on the category folder icon or on a template within a category 3 Click on the green on the toolbar to create a new template of the selected category 4 Fill in the details on the dialog and press OK The template has been added Clone Copy Template Cloning a template creates an exact copy of the selected template gives the copy name Copy of followed by the name of the original template 1 Click on the to the left of the template type Activity templates in the above screen shot 2 Click on the template you wish to copy 3 Click on the clone icon on the toolbar to create a new template identical to the selected one This creates the copy and selects it 4 To edit the new template click on the Edit toolbar button 5 Fill in the details on the dialog and press OK View Template You can view the details of a template in the Info Data panel on the right of the screen as shown in the diagram above Note that icons in the View panel indicate that you can click on the template to see its details You can also use the Previous and Next Navigation buttons above the Info panel to navigate through previously viewed components and templates Note You can work with templates with a file open from the Templates tab on the Navigator panel but
501. re five tabs on the Activity Template dialog e General e All gains 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Template Data 375 e Occupancy e Other gains e Environmental Template data can be accessed from the Templates tab on the opening screen if no file is open from the Templates tab in the Navigator panel if a file is open by double clicking on the template icon in the model data e e e e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting templates from a list 6 1 1 Activity Templates General General tab on Activity Templates Dialog Enter the name category sector and region for this activity template Enter the region as General if you want the data to be generally available i e not restricted to a particular region The floor shade colour is used to shade the floor of the model at block and zone levels to give a quick indication of the usage of the building in various areas 6 1 2 Activity Templates All Gains All Gains tab on Activity Templates Dialog The lumped gains into the space from people equipment lights etc Data on this tab is only used when the Gains option is set to Lumped 6 1 3 Activity Templates Occupancy Occupancy tab on Activity Templates Dialog Occupancy levels and times metabolic activity on this tab is used when the Gains option is set to Early or Detailed Set the metabolic rate according to the level of activity within the space The metabolic factor accoun
502. red Bridging 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 You can also add bridging to any layer to model the effect of a relatively more conductive material bridging a less conductive material For example wooden joists briging an insulation layer Note bridging effects are NOT yet used in EnergyPlus but are used in energy code compliance checks requiring U values to be calculated according to BS EN IOS 6946 5 1 2 Image Image tab on Constructions Dialog This tab shows the construction to scale except for very thin layers using material textures as specified Duter surface 105 ram Briekwork Buter Eeaf 100 00mm Concrete Block Medium Inner surface Bridging elements are ignored 5 1 3 Calculated Data Calculated tab on Constructions Dialog This tab provides further information on the heat transmission properties of the construction 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Component Data Inner surface Y Convective heat transfer coefficient w m2 K 2 152 Radiative heat transfer coefficient w m2 K 5 540 Surface resistance m2 K w 0 130 Outer surface Y Convective heat transfer coefficient w m2 K 18 870 Radiative heat transfer coefficient w m2 K 5 130 Surface resistance m2 K w 0 040 U Value surface to surface W m2 K 0 372 R Value w m2 K 2 858 U Value W m2 K 0 350 Upper resistance limit m2 K w 2 858 Lower resistance limit m2 KW 2 858 U Value surface
503. red height glazing is generated using the window height data and the Percentage glazing 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 2 but the Window height may be adjusted to achieve the required Window to wall 96 This option uses Window height Window spacing and Sill height but prioritises Window to wall 96 e Fixed width and height windows have fixed width and height This option uses Window to wall 96 but prioritises Window Width Height Spacing and Sill height e Fill surface 100 the entire surface is filled with glazing and there is no frame You can use the Window to wall WWR data and Window height Window spacing and Sill height to easily change the amount of glazing and its layout on the walls This data is used as described above under Facade types Note 1 you can control the makeup of the building facades in greater detail by drawing individual windows at the surface level In this case glazing vent and door layout model data is ignored Note 2 flat roofs do not have default glazing set up using Roof glazing layout model data To create openings on a flat roof you should go to the surface level and add them there Openings tab in model data under Roof Glazing headers You can select one type of shading for external roof windows e Window shading blinds curtains etc walls and roofs Openings tab in model data under External Glazing Internal Glazing and Roof Glazing headers External Gl
504. rence solution method 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd EnergyPlus Background Information s WARNINGS Warning GetHTSubSurfaceData A Multiplier gt 1 0 for window glass 1 door 674 000 0 Wee Reo volca FullInteriorExterior can cause inaccurate shadowing on the window and or inaccurate interior solar distribution from the window The Lump similar windows on surface model option has been selected which causes DesignBuilder to use the EnergyPlus Window Multiplier option to speed up simulations The message is warning that the Window Multiplier option when used in conjunction with the Full exterior or Full interior and exterior calculation options can lead to inaccurate distributions of solar radiation around the room Warning GetSurfaceData The total number of floors walls roofs and 2 internal mass surfaces in Zone 59 pas is lt 6 This may cause an inaccurate zone heat balance yell enar leve 3t Im s This warning is often generated for pitched roofs and for interior zones separated by virtual partitions and can safely be ignored Warning GetGroundTemps Some values for GroundTemperatures fall 3 outside the range of 15 25C pur ROR These values may be inappropriate Please consult the Input Output Reference for more details The default ground temperatures used in DesignBuilder
505. render a model click on the Visualisation tab bunding 1 Visualise Hgating design Cooling design Simulation Check which takes you to the Visualisation screen 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Visualisation 435 8 1 Controls The following controls are available to customise the view View Rotation Orbit Zoom Fit view Pan view Zoom window Controls are also provided to customise the rendered image e Show shadows e Antialiasing e Show north arrow e Dynamics These controls are accessed from the Display Options panel on the Visualisation screen 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Detail Show shadows Show North Arrow Antialiasing Dynamics 1 Rendered 8 1 1 Show Shadows Time Day Month Display options on Visualisation screen You can incorporate solar shading within the rendered model view by switching the Show shadows check box on and then clicking on the Apply button D splay Options General ae Show shadows v Sheurvirdovefreme stisdows Period Y Time 18 00 Day 15 Y Month Jul Show North Arrow Antialiasing Dynamics 1 Rendered 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Visualisation 437 After clicking on the Apply button a progress control appears to inform of shadow generation and then the view is updated Display Options General eta Show shadows Show
506. riment with antialiasing to confirm whether or not the graphics card fitted to your computer will facilitate this feature with some earlier cards antialiasing can be very slow Tip more advanced graphics cards can provide hardware antialiasing and in this case this software antialiasing option may only provide marginal benefit To enable antialiasing switch the Antialiasing check box on and click on the Apply button Switch on Antialiasing and click on the Apply button to update the view Display Options Show shadows Show window frame shadows 1 Rendered Dynamics You can improve the quality of the image using the Increasing Quality slider control 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Use slider control to adjust quality Show shadows Show window frame shadow Show North Arrow Antialiasing Increasing Quality gt 1 2 3 Dynamics 1 Rendered Bear in mind that as you increase image quality the display speed will decrease 8 1 4 Dynamics Display option on Visualisation screen With larger and more complex models orbit and zoom control speed can be increased very significantly by selecting Wireframe from the Dynamics control drop list 8 2 Creating Movies You can create AVI movies of your model using this feature To create movie click on the Generate AVI movie tool which opens the Movie option
507. rior shades with high insulating value translucent movable insulation 14 Night outside low air temp day cooling OnNightlfLowOutside Temp OnDaylfCooling Shading is on at night if the outside air temperature is less than Set point C or F Shading is on during the day if the zone cooling rate in the previous time step is non zero 15 Night heating day cooling OnNightlfHeating OnDaylfCooling Shading is on at night if the zone heating rate in the previous time step is non zero Shading is on during the day if the zone cooling rate in the previous time step is non zero SetPoint The setpoint for activating window shading The units depend on the type of trigger e W m2 or BTU hr ft2 for solar based controls e C F for temperature based controls Openings tab in model data under External Glazing headers To include overhangs sidefins and or louvres check the Local shading checkbox Local shading Lg Type Louvre 1 0m projection 1m ove This shows the Local shading component data DesignBuilder comes with a small database of Local shading devices but if you cannot find a suitable component for your model you can create a custom local shading component by clicking on the New button from the Selection dialog below FEES Louvres 9 23 Overhangs E E General Louvre 1 0m projection 1m overhangs and sidefins Louvre 0 5m projection 0 5m overhangs and sidefins Overhang sidefins 1m projection Ov
508. rm outside air and the heating effects of fans t is therefore not the same as a heating coil energy delivery when mechanical ventilation is involved It is best thought of as the HVAC heating contribution to the zone heat balance Surface heat gain data refers to heat transfer from the inside surface of the building elements to the zone Note taken together the Internal gains and the Fabric and ventilation data above give an approximate Zone Heat Balance i e the data represents all of the heat flows into and out of the zone Technical Note System Heat Flows Compact HVAC only These heat flows are plotted on the same axes as the Internal Gains but they should really have their own graph because they do not play a part in the zone heat balance 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Zone Heating energy supplied by local room heaters and reheat coils to maintain room internal heating temperature setpoint temperature when using Compact HVAC data Preheat energy supplied by preheat coils to temper the outside air before it enters the outside air mixing box when using Compact HVAC data e AHU Heating energy supplied by the AHU heating coil when using Compact HVAC data Total Cooling at building level sensible latent cooling transfer to the supply air from the AHU cooling coil any single zone unitary and fan coil units in the building At zone level sensible latent cooling transfer to the supply air
509. rom the opening area 0 1 A schedule can be applied to control timing of the mixing flow 3 3 2 3 6 Wind Pressure Coefficients Openings tab in model data You can enter wind pressure coefficients WPC for wind incidence angles in 45 increments for each surface in the model DesignBuilder sets up default WPC data for each surface using Wind Pressure Coefficient template data derived from the AIVC Applications Guide A guide to energy efficient ventilation 3 3 2 4 Lighting Data Lighting tab in model data Templates You can load generic Lighting data by clicking on the Template option under Lighting Template and then by clicking on the at the right of the line below Layout Activity Construction Openings Lighting HVAC Lighting Template Q Energy code compliant lighting Select generic lighting template Nr When you make a selection from the list of Lighting templates data from selected template will be loaded to the model With Early gains detail the lighting gains in the space are separated into Task and General lighting You can also open the e General Lighting 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 20 DesignBuilder 1 5 e Task Lighting e Lighting Control headers to enter lighting details where they are different from those loaded from the template When you load lighting data from template the actual lighting casual gain is calculated by dividing the W m2 100 lux data in the t
510. rs are modelled using the EnergyPlus Mixing object which mixes air between the two adjacent zones DesignBuilder uses a very approximate empirical relationship to calculate the mixing flow Flow m3 s Door area m2 6 area door opens time door is open Farea flow where Farea flow is a factor used to obtain the mixing flow from the opening area 0 1 A schedule can be applied to control timing of the mixing flow 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 237 3 3 2 3 5 Vents and Holes Openings tab in model data Vents DesignBuilder vents are used for modelling airflow through openings and are added to the model by navigating to the appropriate surface and checking the Vents fitted option This adds a single vent under each of the windows if the vent spacing is the same as the window spacing Alternatively for more control over the placement position of the vents you can go to surface level and draw the vents using the Draw vent command On surfaces where custom openings have been defined any changes to vent layout model data on the Opening tab is ignored e Vent Placement e Vent Operation Note if you have drawn custom vents at the surface level then these will be used even if the Vents fitted checkbox is not checked The Vents fitted checkbox only controls the automatic generation of vents not their use in the calculations See also vent components for more information Holes Holes are modelled in a
511. rt Data TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION if you requested Temperature distribution data prior to the simulation you can generate temperature distribution curves showing hours at hours below and hours above temperature levels in 1 C temperature intervals during the occupied period To view temperature distribution data set the Interval in the Display Options panel to Distribution This data can be useful for getting an overview of the levels of comfort or otherwise provided by the building over time The results can be compared with benchmark comfort criteria For example CIBSE provides recommended benchmark summertime peak temperatures and overheating criteria as follows Offices schools dwellings living areas should have no more than 1 of the annual occupied hours over operative temperature of 28 C Bedrooms in dwellings should have no more than 1 of the annual occupied hours over operative temperature of 26 C UK DfES Building Bulletin BB87 recommends an allowable overheating criteria of 80 occupied hours in a year over and air temperature of 28 C Note Temperature distribution data is only available at zone level 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 4 DesignBuilder 1 5 Temperature Distribution for Untitled Kids Play Ground floor Main play area 1 Jun 31 Aug Occupied Periods Only 2004 e e Hours at or below e 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Temperatur
512. rting 335 Data 443 IDF 508 IDF Files 508 Exporting IDF 508 Exposed 296 302 313 entering 199 Extensions 404 415 420 484 489 External 15 21 59 100 141 147 158 198 199 214 215 219 228 236 238 287 307 320 361 377 381 395 403 407 410 411 423 465 484 491 508 External Glazing 214 215 361 381 Extruded 41 59 67 88 89 104 115 119 120 140 147 159 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Index 535 Er F11 Pressing F3 27 FA 27 F5 27 Facade 87 100 199 215 223 228 236 238 280 281 372 381 382 447 Fa ade 307 320 Evaluating 14 Facade Templates Familiarise 15 Fan 253 387 423 FAQ 528 check 528 Farea flow 236 238 Fatal 307 320 517 Figure 27 296 302 313 356 File describing 484 Filename 79 392 484 Filename Extension 489 Filename location 508 Files 15 16 30 59 79 178 332 334 335 340 359 372 380 391 403 404 415 418 420 446 453 465 484 489 491 508 517 528 Finish 67 79 88 100 104 122 Finished building block 88 282 381 382 Fit 31 34 122 184 199 235 236 237 238 362 General operations 363 364 387 439 504 automatically cut 147 Fit flush 122 Fitview 31 34 Fixed 215 223 228 382 387 Floor shading 325 326 Floors 75 88 100 104 160 162 178 184 186 198 194 195 196 198 199 238 296 302 307 313 320 325 326 375 377 378 387 395 403 407 411 423 465 Floors Ceilings 39
513. ruction of external walls roofs floors partitions roofs etc and air tightness data There are four tabs on the Construction template dialog e General e Simple e Standard e Airtightness Template data can be accessed e from the Templates tab on the opening screen if no file is open 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 378 DesignBuilder 1 5 e from the Templates tab in the Navigator panel if a file is open e by double clicking on the template icon in the model data e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting templates from a list 6 2 4 Construction Templates General General tab on Construction Templates Dialog Enter the name source category and region for this construction template 6 2 2 Construction Templates Simple Simple tab on Construction Templates Dialog Data on this tab is used when the Construction model detail is set to Pre design Enter default levels of insulation and thermal mass for this construction type 6 2 3 Construction Templates Walls Walls tab on Construction Templates Dialog Data on this tab is used when the Construction model detail is set to Pre design or General i e it is always used Select default walls partitions for exposed and semi exposed surfaces for this Constructions template You can also select the external and internal wall sub surface constructions here 6 2 4 Construction Templates Roofs Floors Slabs Ceilings Roofs Floors Slabs Ceiling
514. ry air is induced The heating coil will switch on as needed to meet any heating demand It uses the EnergyPlus SINGLE DUCT PARALLEL PIU REHEAT data See VAV for a schematic diagram showing the 3 Zone terminal unit types connected to an air distribution system Parallel fan on flow fraction For parallel PIUs this data specifies the fraction of the primary air flow at which fan turns on In the parallel PIU the fan operation is intermittent If the primary air flow is above this fraction of the maximum the fan is off Otherwise it is on This data is available when using VAV Compact HVAC with the Parallel PIU VAV terminal unit type and 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 263 the plant sizing options Autosize when not set or Manual Terminal Unit Fans When using fan powered terminal units PIU you can specify the characteristics of the terminal unit fans Terminal Unit Fan Total Efficiency Enter the total efficiency of the zone induction fan This is the ratio of the power delivered to the air to the electrical input power at maximum flow This is also the product of the fan motor efficiency and fan impeller efficiency The motor efficiency is the power delivered to the shaft divided by the electrical power input to the motor The fan efficiency is the power delivered to the air divided by the shaft power The power delivered to the fluid is the mass flow rate of the air multiplied by the pressure rise divided
515. ry in the navigator or by double clicking on the block in the Edit screen if you re at the building level Go to block level Navigate Site Site Templates gri 4 E Untitled Building 1 1 Block 1 m Zone 1 52 9 Block 2 9 60 Zone 1 Untitled Building 1 Edit Visualise Heating design Cooling design Simulation Check Click on the navigator entry or double click on the block in the Edit screen Either of these operations will take you to the block 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 3 2 10 1 Zone Block by Drawing Partitions 14 55 Building blocks can be divided into any number of zones by drawing partitions inside the block To start drawing partitions click on the Draw partitions tool You can place partitions freely within a block either free standing or snapped to an external block wall or existing partition Partitions can be positioned using the snaps drawing guides and protractor A partition doesn t need to be snapped to a wall element you can drag a partition across a wall and when you click the end point it will be automatically trimmed to the wall You can enter the thickness of the first partition drawn in the block and subsequent partitions take on the same thickness as the first Note for partitioning large models By default blocks are automatically re zoned as soon as complete z
516. s eerie dope nica so cocta ees Des 375 6 1 3 Activity Templates Occupancy seeeeeeeeeeeee enne nnnennn nnne nnns nnns nnns tasa nn sinas nnne snas natns ase annes tn sanas nnns nns nna 375 6 1 4 Activity Templates Other Gains eese eeeeeeeeee nennen nnne nter str nnns inns inns tns itasse sinis insita sten sensnm 376 6 1 5 Activity Templates 376 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Table of Contents 6 1 6 Activity Templates 376 6 2 Construction Templates 377 6 2 1 Construction Templates General eese 378 6 2 2 Construction Templates Simple sccesceesseeseseeseesseesseeseeeseesenesensensseeeseaesesseneseeseneseesneesseeseeeseesenesenseeeeenenees 378 6 2 3 Construction Templates WallS scesssesssssesseeseessesseeneeeseesenenensseesensneeeseeseaeseesenenensneesseeneesseeseneneetenesenenees 378 6 2 4 Construction Templates 51 378 6 2 5 Construction Template SA DOO S nant ns
517. s and holes cause air to be exchanged between the two adjacent zones using the EnergyPlus Mixing object You can override operation of internal windows vents doors be off as follows Window Vent Door position Override Off Action Internal adjacent to unconditioned semi exterior Switch off the Natural ventilation On checkbox in the occupied zone Other internal Unaffected by the Natural ventilation On checkbox Use the operation schedules on the Openings tab to switch off CALCULATED When the Natural ventilation model option is set to Calculated natural ventilation is defined as follows e Check the On checkbox under the Natural Ventilation header e On the Openings tab by setting window door and vent opening sizes and operation times You can override operation of windows vents doors be off as follows Window Vent Door position Override Off Action External Switch off the Natural ventilation On checkbox Internal adjacent to unconditioned semi exterior Switch off the Natural ventilation On checkbox in the occupied zone Other internal Unaffected by the Natural ventilation On checkbox Use the operation schedules on the Openings tab to switch off Note that even when operation is switched off as described above or because operation schedules on the Openings tab are off windows vents and doors still provide a small flow path through the crack between the opening and the surrounding surface if the Model infiltration dat
518. s cannot be controlled Use the HVAC template lt None gt to switch off heating cooling and mechanical ventilation in all plenum zones e Remember to ensure plenum zones have no internal gains occupancy lighting etc We recommend using the 4 Ceiling diffuser interior convection heat transfer coefficient for plenum zones to model the effect of fast moving air on surface heat transfer You will probably find it easiest to use the Combined method for Floor slab ceiling definition for models using plenums as each surface element in the model has just a single construction and you don t have the confusion of Model data referring to raised floors and suspended ceilings The floor of a ceiling plenum is the ceiling of the zone below so you will often define the plenum floor as Ceiling tiles construction or similar If the building you are modelling has more than one plenum zone each serving multiple zones you should use zone plenums Use virtual partitions to partition the large plenum zones which in reality serve multiple zones into multiple plenum zones each serving a single zone See image below 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 265 ae Red lines show the 5 zones of the occupied space Each zone has its own return air ceiling plenum This technique is also illustrated in the example file supplied with DesignBuilder Zone vs System Plenums Example dsb Note it is not possible in DesignBuilder v 1 to use th
519. s convergence values represent the maximum difference in zone temperature loads between successive iterations before convergence is reached Convergence of the simultaneous heat balance HVAC solution is reached when either the loads or temperature criterion is satisfied Both tolerances work the same way one looks at temperatures and one looks at heating and cooling loads After the second warm up day the program compares the maximum temperature experienced in a space with the maximum temperature from the previous day If those two temperatures are within the tolerance then it has passed the first warm up check It does a similar comparison with lowest temperatures experience within all the zones If the current simulation day and the previous day values are within the tolerance then it has passed the second warm up check A similar comparison is carried with the loads tolerance and the maximum heating and cooling loads that are experienced within the spaces Those are compared individually to the values for the previous day If they are both in tolerance then the simulation has passed the third and fourth warm up check The simulation stays in the warm up period until ALL FOUR checks have been passed Maximum shadow overlap not heating design Enter the maximum number of figures per shadow overlap The shadow overlaps is a measure of the amount of complexity in the shading calculation and this maximum value allows you to limit the amount of tim
520. s data dialogue box 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Visualisation a Edit Movie Options Movie Options data General Movies Y Type 2 Shading for design day Shading time increment hr 0 5 Output Y Output type TAYI Use the Type drop list to select either e Shading for design day fixed camera position varying the solar position over the design day as specified on the Visualisation Data Options panel e Orbit 360 orbit movie Click on the OK button to generate the movie After the movie generation has completed a file save dialogue will be displayed to allow you to save the movie file to any required location Note smaller Shading time increments and Orbit increments can generate a lot of data and take a long time to complete movie generation especially when software antialiasing is switched on 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Section Reporting Reporting You can use DesignBuilder to generate reports using the Compile Reports and Report topic mechanism or you can Export individual report content to file clipboard for pasting into word processors or directly to the printer 9 1 Export Data a You can export data from DesignBuilder screens e Edit Screen exports a non rendered 3 D image of the building Alternatively a 3 D DXF file can be exported e Visualisation Screen exports a rendered 3 D image of the building optionally including shading an
521. s for windows and glass doors are calculated by the program from the reflectance properties of the individual glass layers that make up surface s construction assuming no shading device is present and taking into account inter reflections among the layers 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 322 DesignBuilder 1 5 k AN LA wi Solar reflection from building surfaces onto other building surfaces In this example beam solar reflects from a vertical section of the building onto a roof section The reflection from the window is specular The reflection from the wall is diffuse 3 The ground surface Reflection from the ground is calculated even if the reflections option is not used But in this case the ground plane is considered unobstructed i e the shadowing of the ground by the building itself or by obstructions such as neighboring buildings is ignored This shadowing is taken into account if the reflections option is used This is shown in diagrammatically below Beam Beam Ground C gt Shadowing from building affects beam solar reflection from the ground Beam to diffuse reflection from the ground onto the building occurs only for sunlit areas A and C not from shaded area B If reflections option is used for the ground surface then the ground view factor is NOT used Solar distribution This option determines how EnergyPlus treats beam solar radiation and reflectance from exterior surfaces that strike
522. s four thermal comfort indices PMVET a function of ET PMVSET a function of SET TSENS and DISC KSU TWO NODE MODEL 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 52 DesignBuilder 1 5 The KSU two node model developed at Kansas State University was published in 1977 10 The KSU model is quite similar to that of the Pierce Foundation The main difference between the two models is that the KSU model predicts thermal sensation TSV differently for warm and cold environment The KSU two node model is based on the changes that occur in the thermal conductance between the core and the skin temperature in cold environments and in warm environments it is based on changes in the skin wettedness In this model metabolic heat production is generated in the core which exchanges energy with the environment by respiration and the skin exchanges energy by convection and radiation In addition body heat is dissipated through evaporation of sweat and or water vapor diffusion through the skin These principles are used in following passive system equations Here control signals based on set point temperatures in the skin and core are introduced into passive system equations and these equations are integrated numerically for small time increments or small increments in core and skin temperature The control signals modulate the thermoregulatory mechanism and regulate the peripheral blood flow the sweat rate and the increase of metabolic heat by active muscl
523. s is the fraction of the heat from lights that is convected out of the room and into the zone return air normally into a return plenum If the return air flow is zero or the zone has no return air system the program will put this fraction into the zone air Return Air Fraction is only visible on the screen for 5 Return air ducted luminaires Radiant fraction The fraction of heat from lights that goes into the zone as long wave thermal radiation The program calculates how much of this radiation is absorbed by the inside surfaces of the zone according the area times thermal absorptance product of these surfaces Fraction visible The fraction of heat from lights that goes into the zone as visible short wave radiation The program calculates how much of this radiation is absorbed by the inside surfaces of the zone according the area times solar absorptance product of these surfaces Note selecting an option from the Luminaire type drop down list loads default Return Air Fraction Radiant Fraction and Visible Fraction data from the table above 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 22 DesignBuilder 1 5 Fraction convected The fraction of the heat from lights convected to the zone air is calculated from Fraction convected 1 0 Return Air Fraction Fraction Radiant Fraction Visible You will get an error message if Return Air Fraction Fraction Radiant Fraction Visible exceeds 1 0 This data is provided on screen for in
524. s of each person in the zone It is defined on the Activity tab because the fresh air requirement of the people in the zone depends on the activity use of the space The fresh air requirement data is used to generate appropriate mechanical outside air distribution rates when the mechanical air distribution Flow type on the HVAC tab is set to any of 2 Min fresh air per person 3 Min fresh air Per area 4 Min fresh air Sum per person per area 5 Min fresh air Max per person and per area This data is also used for natural ventilation when the natural ventilation Flow type on the HVAC tab is set to 2 Min fresh air per person Minimum fresh air per area The Minimum fresh air per area defines the fresh air requirements of the zone in terms of floor area It is defined on the Activity tab because the fresh air requirement of the zone depends on the activity use of the space 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models The data is used to generate appropriate mechanical outside air distribution rates when the mechanical air distribution Flow type on the HVAC tab is set to any of e 3 Min fresh air Per area e 4 Min fresh air Sum per person per area e 5 Min fresh air Max per person and per area The data is not currently used for natural ventilation LIGHTING Target illuminance The desired lighting level in lux at the first daylighting sensor This is also the lighting level that would be pro
525. s of the cavity fill gas between window Panes in Glazing components The gas which fills the inter glazing cavity affects the heat transfer through the assembly but has almost no effect on the solar heat gain or the visible light transmission Air of course is the most common cavity fill gas but the use of an inert gas typically argon or krypton can significantly reduce window heat transfer Krypton and argon are colourless odourless and non toxic Argon is the most commonly used fill gas because it offers good thermal performance at low cost Krypton is more effective at reducing heat loss but is roughly 200 times more expensive than argon per unit volume Because krypton works best at smaller pane spacings 8 mm it is often used in triple and quadruple glazed windows to minimize the overall thickness of the unit Other types of gases are used e g sulphur hexafluoride SF6 and carbon dioxide CO2 to reduce sound transmission but these gases do not offer the improved thermal performance of the inert gases Category This is the gas type Select from Air Argon CO2 Krypton Other SF6 Xenon The window gas you are defining does not fit with the available options select Other Select Air for an air gap Thickness Enter the thickness of the inter glazing cavity Custom material properties The window gas properties of the gases Air Argon Krypton Xenon are known by EnergyPlus and so no further data is required for these gases
526. s per hour is the number of times the building thermal network is solved per hour in the simulations When the HVAC portion of the simulation begins it s solution for the current time step it uses the basic time step as its maximum but then can reduce the time step as necessary to reach the solution The technical details of the approach are explained in the EnergyPlus Engineering Documentation under Integrated Solution Manager Advanced EnergyPlus users can obtain and view data at intervals of the HVAC time step used if they select the detailed option on an HVAC report variable e g Zone Sys Air Temp The time step entered here is also known in the EnergyPlus documentation as the Zone Time Step Though many buildings can be successfully simulated with 1 or 2 time steps per hour EnergyPlus suggest 4 for non HVAC simulations and 6 for simulations with HVAC Hourly data such as outdoor conditions expressed by Design Days or Weather data are interpolated to the Zone Time Step This is discussed the EnergyPlus documentation under Weather Data Hourly Interpolation Note In general increasing the number of time steps improves accuracy but slows the simulation and generates more data if output is requested at the sub hourly interval Temperature Control Heating and cooling systems control internal temperatures to meet the setpoint temperatures specified on the Activity tab These setpoint temperatures can be interpreted as air
527. s should be defined and how zone volumes and surface dimensions are derived from the parent block when using Combined constructions 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Flat roof construction sits on top of block Block height st Floor block dimensions AZ Ground floor block dimensions E Internal floor construction Zone surface dimensions Zone volume includes floor construction thickness when Include floor construction in zone volume model option set Block height Ground The important things to note are The dimensions of the block are measured from the outside of external walls The height of the block is the floor floor height Blocks include their own floor slab but not the floor slab of any block above So the block height is measured from the bottom of the block floor slab to the bottom of the floor slab of the block above Flat roofs are placed on top of the block so when drawing a block with a flat roof you should exclude the roof construction in the height External floors are placed under the block so when drawing a block with an external floor you should exclude the external floor construction thickness in the height Surfaces extend the full height of the block Surfaces extend horizontally to the inner surface of external walls and to the centre line of partitions See below for more on zone surface dimensions
528. s tab on Construction Templates Dialog Data on this tab is used when the Construction model detail is set to Pre design or General i e it is always used Select default constructions for roofs floors slabs and ceiling surfaces for this Constructions template You can also select the roof sub surface construction here 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Template Data 379 6 2 5 Construction Templates Doors Doors tab on Construction Templates Dialog Data on this tab is used when the Construction model detail is set to Pre design or General i e it is always used Select default door constructions for internal and external doors for this Constructions template You can also select the external and internal wall sub surface constructions here 6 2 6 Construction Templates Airtightness Airtightness tab on Construction Templates Dialog Cracks template The Cracks template setting indicates the Cracks data template to use as a source for crack data when the Calculated Natural ventilation model option is selected Infiltration The default infiltration rate used when the Natural ventilation model detail level is Simple 6 2 7 Construction Templates Thermal mass Thermal mass tab on Construction Templates Dialog Data on this tab is used when the Construction model detail is set to Pre design or General i e it is always used Enter the default thermal mass construction for this construction template
529. s the daylight illuminance increases The lights stay at the minimum point with further increase in the daylight illuminance Zero daylight illuminance Increasing daylight illuminance Fractiona light output Minimum light output fraction 0 1 0 Fractional input power Minimum input power fraction The Minimum input power fraction for Continuous control type is the lowest power the lighting system can dim down to expressed as a fraction of maximum input power For Continuous off lighting control this is the power fraction reached just before the lights switch off completely 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 24 The Minimum output fraction for Continuous control type is the lowest lighting output the lighting system can dim down to expressed as a fraction of maximum light output This is the fractional light output that the system produces at minimum input power For Continuous off lighting control this is the power fraction reached just before the lights switch off completely Note Continuous control provides an idealised lighting control mechanism which can be useful for calculating upper limits on the potential for savings using natural daylight Continuous Off Control Continuous off control is the same as continuous control except that the lights switch off completely when the minimum dimming point is reached Stepped Control Stepped control allows you to switch light
530. s the daylighting calculations Values for this field must be between 0 0 and 1 0 Roughness This field is a character string that defines the relative roughness of a particular material layer This parameter only influences the the calculated exterior convection coefficient A special keyword is expected in this field with the options being VeryRough MediumRough Rough Smooth MediumSmooth and VerySmooth in order of roughest to smoothest options Colour The colour data is used for display purposes when the texture is not available for any reason It is not used in any of the calculations Texture The texture is used to represent this material when it is specified as either the inside or outside material of a construction which is selected in the building model It is also used to represent the material in diagrams of any construction using this material 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Component Data 5 4 Panes General Name LOW IRON Category Clear Source EnergyPlus dataset Thermal Properties Thickness 3 000 Conductivity 0 900 Solar Properties Solar transmittance 0 899 Outside solar reflectance 0 079 Inside solar reflectance 0 079 Visible Properties Visible transmittance 0 913 Outside Visible reflectance 0 082 Inside Visible reflectance 0 082 Infra Red Properties Infra red transmittance 0 000 Outside Infra Red reflectance emissi 0 840 Inside Infra Red reflectance emissivity 0
531. s units are shown in parentheses 1 Always on AlwaysOn Shading is always on The following six control types are used primarily to reduce zone cooling load due to window solar gain 2 Daylight MeetDaylightllluminanceSetpoint Used only with Position 4 Switchable in zones with 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 234 DesignBuilder 1 5 daylighting controls In this case the transmittance of the glazing is adjusted to just meet the daylight illuminance set point at the first daylighting reference point Note that the daylight illuminance set point is specified under Environmental Control on the Activity tab 3 Schedule Shading operation is defined by a schedule 4 Solar OnlfHighSolarOnWindow Shading is on if beam plus diffuse solar radiation incident on the window exceeds SetPoint W m2 or BTU hr ft2 5 Glare OnlfHighGlare Shading is on if the total daylight glare index at the zone s first daylighting sensor from all of the exterior windows in the zone exceeds the maximum glare index specified in the daylighting input for zone Note Glare control requires Lighting control to be switched on in the zone 6 Outside air temp On fHighOutsideAirTemp Shading is on if outside air temperature exceeds SetPoint C or F 7 Inside air temp On fHighZoneAirTemp Shading is on if zone air temperature in the previous time step exceeds SetPoint C or F 8 Cooling On fHighZoneCooling Shading is on if zone cooling rate in
532. se as none of the aforementioned problems apply but it can lead to inadequate equipment sizes peak loads in Heating and Cooling design calculations when not used with a design safety factor Also the calculations may underestimate energy consumption in Simulations of buildings with poor insulation Note as a general rule you should prioritise checking building comfort levels when using Air temperature control and realistic plant operation oversized equipment supply temperatures very low when using Operative temperature control 3 4 3 8 Heating System Sizing Heating Design tab on Model Options dialog Design margin The Heating Design margin is used to multiply calculated steady state heating loads in each zone to give a recommended heating plant size It accounts for the additional heat required to bring the building up to 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 209 temperature in a reasonably short preheat period and allows you to be confident that comfort conditions will be maintained in all but the most extreme winter conditions 3 4 3 4 Advanced Calculation Options Heating Design Cooling Design and Simulation tabs on Model Options dialog Options tab on Simulation Options dialog and General tab on the Heating and Cooling Design Calculation options dialogs Maximum warmup days not heating cooling design The maximum number of warmup days that might be used in the simulation before convergence is achieve
533. sh cxlo Air Temperature C Radiant Temperature C Operative Temperature C Outside Dry Bulb Temperature C Partitions int KW External Infiltration kW External Mechanical Ventilation kW Zone Sys Sensible Heating kW Relative Humidity Mech Vent Nat Vent Infiltration ACH 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 7 2 Cooling Design Cooling design calculations are carried out to determine the capacity of mechanical cooling equipment required to meet the hottest summer design weather conditions likely to be encountered at the site location In zones which are not mechanically cooled free floating temperatures are calculated including the effects of natural or mechanical ventilation if these options are selected on the zone HVAC tab These design calculations are traditionally carried out using periodic steady state methods such as the admittance and response factor methods provided by CIBSE and ASHRAE You can use DesignBuilder to carry out effectively the same calculation using the EnergyPlus dynamic thermal simulation engine Click on the Cooling Screen tab to view Cooling Design data If the necessary data has not yet been generated a Cooling Design calculation is automatically started to generate the data Cooling design simulations using EnergyPlus have the following characteristics e Periodic steady state external temperatures calculated using maximum and minimum d
534. side Air n Supply Zone Supply Plenum Heat Recovery Recirculation l Damper Zone 1 Supply Air Exhaust n Ht System Return Plenum Z Zone Return Plenum Heat Recovery Bypass Damper More zones Notes 1 The AHU is illustrated connected to a single zone Up to 400 zones can be served by the Unitary Multizone AHU 2 The diagram shows each zone with its Zone supply and return plenums and also System supply and return plenums These are optional 3 Also optional are Heat recovery Cooling coil Heating coil Limitations 1 The Compact HVAC type must be set to Unitary multizone at building level and in all zones which are part of the system Other zones can have HVAC type Unitary single zone or Fan coil units but not VAV or CAV 2 Unitary multizone cannot currently be used in the same simulation as Fan coil unit Compact HVAC type Technical EnergyPlus EnergyPlus needs both the heating coil and cooling DX coil to be defined so even if heating or cooling is not selected in the input DesignBuilder will include both coils in the IDF data supplied to EnergyPlus and schedule the appropriate coil to be off The VAV option allows you to model Variable Air Volume VAV HVAC configuration with optional preheat main heating coils and reheat and several different heating coil options You can select series or parallel fan powered terminal units also known as powered induction units or PIU There ar
535. signBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 257 unless the total VAV system flow rate falls below this value in which case the system will deliver 100 outside air at whatever the system flow rate is If 2 Proportional is specified then the operating minimum falls as system flow rate falls This simulates a typical system with a fixed lower stop on the outside air supply damper Delivering 1 Fixed requires enhanced control systems Note To ensure minimum outside air is delivered to all zones you should use 1 Fixed If you select 2 Manual HVAC sizing you can enter the Outside air control minimum flow rate manually at building level Outside air sizing When the Outside air definition method is 2 Min fresh air per person sizing for minimum Outside air OA flow rate is done using the Number of People value see above with no regard for the schedules The total OA requirement for each zone on the air handler is summed and used to set the minimum OA flow rate for the air handler The OA controller sets an OA flow rate for the air handler each time step After that each zone receives a pro rated share of the total OA flow proportioned by the current supply flow rate to each zone There is no further zone by zone allocation of OA quantities which is what happens in a real system as well HVAC tab in model data under Mechanical Ventilation header Fan operation mode Compact Unitary systems only In Compact Unitary HVAC systems the s
536. space including the volume of floor and ceiling constructions and any raised floor and suspended ceiling voids if selected in Separate constructions and including half the volume of partition walls Note this total zone volume value may be different from the value used for calculating air flow rates for natural ventilation and mechanical ventilation which have model options for excluding floor ceiling constructions Construction tab in model data under Airtightness header The Airtightness is defined by a position on a five point scale 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 24 DesignBuilder 1 5 Crack template Very poor Poor Medium Good Excellent The five settings correspond to the five Crack templates You can also switch off calculated infiltration off by unchecking the Model infiltration checkbox This may be useful if you are carrying out a Summertime simulation of a large building to get around the restriction on the maximum number of cracks in the model 3 3 2 3 Openings Data Windows Doors Vents Holes Sub surfaces Openings tab in model data The term opening is used in DesignBuilder to describe any opening in the main building fabric These are modelled as exceptions to the main surface construction There are five types of opening e Windows e Sub surfaces i e opaque elements within the surface that have different properties from the main construction For example lintels and lightweight panels can be de
537. ss DesignBuilder web tutorials e e e e e e About DesignBuilder version number 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Section Modelling Advice Modelling Advice Modeling advice topics Working with large models Natural ventilation modelling Ground modelling Adjacent Buildings Defining setpoint temperature schedules Electrochromic Glazing Trombe Walls Autosizing Heating and Cooling Equipment Daylight Saving and Local Time Mixed mode Double Facades Solar Radiation Distribution Solar Technology Solutions 12 1 Natural Ventilation Modelling Natural ventilation There are two general approaches to natural ventilation and infiltration modelling in DesignBuilder depending on the setting of the Natural ventilation model option e Scheduled in which the natural ventilation change rate is explicitly defined for each zone in terms of a maximum ACH value and a schedule and infiltration air change rate is defined by a constant ACH value e Calculated where natural ventilation and infiltration are calculated based on window openings cracks buoyancy and wind driven pressure differences crack dimensions etc You should generally choose Scheduled natural ventilation if you are able to make a reasonable estimate of the natural ventilation rates and infiltration rates in the building Some airflow scenarios are more difficult to estimate and it may be necessary to calculate airflows SCHEDULED NATURAL VENTILATIO
538. standard atmospheric pressure using the equation for standard atmospheric pressure on p 6 1 of the ASHRAE 1997 HOF Density P R T Where R is the Gas constant 287 05 J kg K T is the temperature in K Air is assumed to be at 20 C so T 20 273 15 P is standard pressure P 101325 x 1 0 Z x 0 0000225577 9 2359 where Z Elevation above sea level m 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Reference 14 6 Pitched Roof Geometry Technical Description This page describes DesignBuilder pitched roof geometry generation with reference an example roof created by drawing a rectangular perimeter with an offset of 0 3m and an external wall thickness of 0 25m Block type 1 Buiding block Form 3 Pitched roof X Gable roof Roofspace occupied Roof overlap m 0 30 Roof slope 30 Wal thickness m 0 250 Perimeter Shape 2 Rectangle X Protracter Direction Snaps Pont Snaps Drawing Guides Roof perimeter blocks are created behind the scenes by first generating a conventional plan extrusion using the current external wall thickness and then generating the roof inner profile topology from the resulting block outer perimeter 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Perimeter used for internal zone Perimeter used for roof generation The roof geometry is created as if a stub wall existed from the original extrusion cut to fit within the ro
539. stem of the plane as if it were rotated to the horizontal 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Perimeter line snapped to local X axis If the axis snap is operating on a horizontal plane the perimeter line will change colour to red if the line is snapped to the X axis or green if it s snapped to the Y axis However if the active drawing plane is not horizontal the line will change colour to orange for the X axis and purple for the Y axis At the building level when the active drawing plane is horizontal you can also snap block perimeters and construction lines to the Z axis 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 4 DesignBuilder 1 5 Perimeter line snapped to Z axis which allows you to draw horizontally extruded blocks this process is explained under Adding Blocks 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 3 2 3 1 2 Parallel snap The parallel snap is used draw lines parallel with the edges of existing objects The parallel snap check box is displayed under Direction snaps in the Drawing Options data panel when the various drawing commands are active To draw a block perimeter line to be parallel with an existing block edge switch the parallel snap on and move the mouse cursor to touch the edge with which the current perimeter line is to be parallel 4 Block type 1 Building block X Form 1 Extruded T Height m 3 50 Wall thickness 0 292
540. struction Floor construction Floor suspension air Ground floor slab construction Ground construction optional site data Ground 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 C Construction Template Y Be Template Part L2 2006 Medium weight walls Part L2 2006 Wall Medium weight SY Flat roof Part L2 2006 Flat roof ceiling Medium Sy Pitched roof occupied Part L2 2006 Pitched roof Medium weight Sy Pitched roof unoccupied Clay tiles 25mm on air gap 20mm on roof SJ Internal partitions Lightweight 2 25mm gypsum plasterboard Cy Semi exposed walls Part L2 2006 Semi exposed wall Medium Suspended ceiling Suspension height 0 20 SJ Ceiling 10mm Ceiling tiles Floors Y SJ External floor below slab Part L2 2006 External floor below slab M Sy Ground floor slab incl insulat Part L2 2006 Ground floor slab Medium w internal floor slab 100mm concrete slab Floor fitted above slab Suspension height 0 20 Floor 18mm wooden floor SJ Roofspace insulation Part L2 2006 Roofspace insulation Mediu External walls The external wall construction defines the construction of walls adjacent to outside The formal definition of walls is given by the roof wall transition angle model option In cold climates this construction will generally include an insulating layer Flat roof Flat roof constructions apply to external horizontal surfaces The construction used to represent the
541. system category building level only e 7 Fuel totals fuel consumption broken down by fuel building level only 8 CO2 production CO2 production by weight building level only Click here for information on the meaning of the data Tip to update the data using different calculation options click Update Ctrl U Show as You can display the data in one of four ways Graph Grid Graph and table Table e e e e Note you must select the Grid option to export data in spreadsheet format Days per Page Simulation only DesignBuilder displays all simulation results together but you can select how many days are displayed at any one time using The Days displayed per page option A value of 365 means you will show all simulation data on the same screen and a value of 1 means you see each day on a separate screen Note you can use the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the graph to see simulation results not currently displayed Normalise by floor area Check this option if you wish data to be displayed per floor area i e m2 or ft2 You can select the area 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd gt DesignBuilder 1 5 to use as the denominator from e 1 All areas Total area is used e 2 Occupied area just occupied areas are used Note you can only select 1 All areas if the building and block data includes occupied areas as set in Include unoccupied zones in block and building totals and averages optio
542. t When partitions or partition streams are placed that don t connect with anything at either or both ends they are called hanging partitions and can be used to add thermal mass to zones 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Type 2 Natural ventilation open plan Once you ve placed partitions that divide existing zones within a block the block is re zoned automatically Navigate Site Untitled Building 1 Block 2 Site Edi dki 4 E Untitled Building 1 Block 1 EM Zone 1 Ep Block 2 H 6 Zone 9 60 Zone 1 Zone 2 Block automatically re zoned as partitions are drawn 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 When you partition complex blocks rather than simple vertical extrusions partitions are automatically cut to fit within the block In some cases if the geometry is complex it can be possible to create a zone that comprises several geometric bodies which are physically separated from each other For example in the case of a horizontally extruded C shape 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 153 If a partition is drawn as shown 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 154 DesignBuilder 1 5 The partition and resulting zone will be cut form what appears to be two partitions and two zones 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 155 However the
543. t Text Editor Decor eges Edit IDF Editor D C Documents and Settings Andrew My Documents DesignBuilder D ataALIS IWEC epw Browse Vau Deeds Select the weather file Text Output Files Drawing File Spreadsheets HTML Start the simulation EnergyPlus 1 4 0 025 Quick Open Panel for Single Simulation xj ELDMP BND DFEDMP DEG Close EP Launch and return to DesignBuilder Meter HDD Table Audit D EXPIDE SHD G 52 EPMIDE YRML SZ Check for errors and wamings m e Note 1 If you use this method you must make sure to set the correct weather file manually Note 2 Any changes you make to the IDF data either in the IDF Editor or using a text editor will be saved in a file called ip inp in the EnergyPlus folder This file will be overwritten the next time a simulation is requested so if you wish to save the any changes you make to IDF data you should use the File gt Export option and edit the data and make simulations outside DesignBuilder EnergyPlus You can select the version of EnergyPlus to use in your simulations This can be useful to target a specific DOE version you may wish to use or when a new version becomes available which might provide new functionality or address previous problems 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Program Options 451 You should generally select the reco
544. t L Compliance Checking mode New Analysis type options will be available in future versions 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 3 4 7 2 Edit Screen Display tab on Model Options dialog Show zone labels Select this option to display the name of each zone in the Edit screen while at block level Zone labels are shown by default Show shading devices Select this option to display shading devices while in the Edit screen Shading devices are shown by default Show windows You can speed up display in the edit screen by switching off window display Windows are shown by default Zone floor shading at block level Zone floors can be shaded by e 1 Activity Template where zone floors are shaded according to the Activity Template selection allowing different areas of the block to be easily identified e 2 HVAC Template where zone floors are shaded according to the HVAC Template selection to show the distribution of HVAC systems in the block e 3 None The image below illustrates shading by Activity Template 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 327 Circulation Kitchens Classrooms School offices Ry 3 4 7 8 Visualisation Display Display tab on Model Options dialog Dynamics This option affects the display of the model when orbiting and zooming in the Edit and Visualisation Screens e 1 Rendered the default setting where the whole building image is
545. t a specific distance from the other end of the edge you can switch the end of the edge from which the increment snap operates by toggling the Switch snap increment direction switch Geometry Perimeter Protracter Direction Snaps Paint Snaps Endpoint snap Mid point snap Edge snap O D F snap Snap increment Switch snap increment direction Drawing Sides Point positioned from other end of block 2 2 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 59 3 2 3 2 4 DXF Snap The DXF snap only applies when DXF data has been imported from an external file The DXF snap enables you to snap to the end points of DXF lines Thickness m 0 150 Line type 1 Straight line x Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps End point snap Mid point snap Edge snap Borse ___ 2 Increment snap Drawing Guides Partition snapped to DXF line endpoint Note You should generally switch DXF snap off when drawing partitions at block level and simply use the DXF lines as a visual guide This ensures that partitions correctly snap to perimeters instead of snapping to DXF lines which may be very close to the perimeter but not actually touching 3 2 3 2 5 Increment Snap The increment snap applies to any process that involves moving a point or a surface in a particular direction Such processes include drawing block partitions or perimeter lines which have an active direction sna
546. t fraction Metabolic rate data can be found in the ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals Chapter 8 Table 5 DesignBuilder data is derived from this data and is for adult males having typical surface area of 1 8m2 For women multiply the adult male value by 0 85 and for children multiply by 0 75 The metabolic factor accounts for people of various sizes Enter 1 00 for men 0 85 for women 0 75 for children or you can use an average value if there is a mix of sizes Background Heat is generated in the human body by oxidation at a rate called the metabolic rate This heat is dissipated from the body surface and respiratory tract by a combination of radiation convection and evaporation The relative proportions of sensible and latent heat from people is a complex function of the metabolic rate and the environmental conditions EnergyPlus uses a polynomial function to divide the heat gain into sensible and latent portions More details can be found in the EnergyPlus EngineeringDoc pdf documentation Note sensible latent split for occupancy gains is affected by the internal temperature and relative humidity With high internal temperatures people cool themselves largely by evaporation and sensible occupancy gains can be very low or even zero Clothing You can define the clothing levels of the occupants for summer and winter periods This data is used when generating comfort output Clothing reduces the body s heat loss and is classified accor
547. t humidity ratio mass of water per mass of dry air of the cold supply air The default humidity ratio is 0 009 3 4 4 3 2 Unitary DX Cooling Sizing When using the Unitary DX cooling sizing method the Cooling design calculation is made through a detailed EnergyPlus simulation using Compact HVAC Single zone Unitary DX equipment A diagram of the system layout used is shown in the Unitary Single Zone topic Each zone has it s own Unitary system with a fan generating no pickup a DX cooling coil an outside air controller and a damper to reduce supply air flow More specifically No economiser No heat recovery No heating coil Zero pressure rise fan No humidification dehumidification Zone plenums will be used if specified Outside airflow rate and operation schedule defined by the data under the Mechanical Ventilation header on the HVAC tab at the zone level Cooling coil availability defined by the schedule under the Cooling header on the HVAC tab at the zone level Zone design cooling temperature setpoints are defined by the data under Environmental Control on the Activity tab Unlike the ASHRAE cooling sizing option Unitary DX can be used in conjunction with Natural ventilation Note Unitary DX will tend to calculate higher latent loads than the other 3 cooling sizing methods and the zone air humidity will generally be lower This is because DX coils run colder than water cooled coils and will condense out more water from th
548. t the building level To create or edit a block you must first go to the building level and you can do this by clicking on the building entry in the navigator or if you re at the site level and you want to edit an existing building you can double click on the building in the Edit screen Go to building level Navigate Site Untitled Site Templates Heating design Cooling design Simulation 2 4 Untitled Building 1 Click on the navigator entry or double click on the building in the Edit screen Either operation will take you to the building level 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Navigate Site Untitled Building 1 Templates Heating design Cooling design Simulation 2 4 E Untitled 5 0 Building 1 Block 1 5 9 Block 2 9 60 Zone 1 3 2 9 4 Adding Blocks alr zissez oo9oo ut To add or create a new block first go to the building level if you are not already there and click on the Add new block tool If you ve just created a new building the Add new block tool is automatically activated A block is created by drawing the base perimeter of the block using one of the perimeter shapes such as a polygon The dimensions of the block are those measured from the outside the height of the block is the floor floor height 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5
549. t the ground hit point due to sky diffuse solar reaching that point To do this rays are sent upward from the ground hit point and it is determined which of these rays are unobstructed and so go to the sky for example rays 6 10 below For this calculation it is assumed that the radiance of the sky is uniform 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Modelling Advice Rays from the ground hit point A 0 ones surface me Obstruction i window One of the ence s receiving points Ground plane One of the ground hit points Two dimensional schematic showing rays going upward from a ground hit point Beam Solar Radiation Specularly Reflected from Obstructions The diagram below shows schematically how specular beam to beam reflection from an obstruction is calculated Mirror image of sun about EF Sun _Receiving surface D Receiving point j 4 Specularly reflecting obstruction n A F Two dimensional schematic showing specular reflection from an obstruction such as the glazed fa ade of a neighboring building The receiving point receives specularly reflected beam solar radiation if 1 DB passes through specularly reflecting surface EF 2 CD does not hit any obstructions such as RS and 3 AC does not hit any obstructions such as PQ More detailed information on can be found in the EnergyPlus E
550. ta Similarly using opening model data block facades are automatically created with the required configuration of windows doors vents and solar shading devices 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Glazing Template Y ge Template Energy code standard m External Glazing Y Glazing type Glazing Energy code standard i Layout Fixed windows height 1 5m w Dimensions Y Type 4 Fixed width and height Window width 1 00 Window height m 1 50 Window spacing m 1 00 Sill height 0 80 Frame Shading window shading Local shading i 1 0m Overhang Y Internal Glazing aj Roof Glazing Solar shading devices are displayed in the visualisation screen 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 A block may be divided internally into any number of zones by drawing partitions and where needed voids or courtyards can also be incorporated 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 103 Custom openings windows doors etc can be added to block facades by going to the surface level and using the Draw window family of commands 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Blocks can be moved copied and rotated Blocks can also be cut or stretched and block faces can be dragged to different positions An outline block is created and edited in exactly the same way as a building block but is just a 3
551. te Designbuilder Edit view data templates File Edit Go Tools Help j paz L1 e SBXIS 8 DesignBuilder Templat libraries for Andrew Info Data Recent Files Component Librarles Templates TM Help Data F E Activity templates ES A 3 EB System Import Export A Activity tem nt room lt gt Office Genes J amp Type 1 Natural ventilation modular Plant room X Type 2 Natural ventilation dpen plan alegory Office T X Type 3 Air conditioned standgrd P E CS BRE X Type 4 Air conditioned prestige 9f Region England and Wal X Circulation Sect UR Toilets 9 J Sector ices 3 Kitchens t Floor shade colour J IT server print rooms All Gains Unoccupied Load 20 Occupancy details eeting rooms Densit 0 10 4 Metabolic Heat 9 65 S ipei i Schools Select template to Accus Sleeping F E Sports and recreation centres viewledit in Info Data Metabolic factor 0 85 for women 0 7 1 00 Retail panel Workday profile e Hotels and Leisure From Oto 0 125 Residential Days week 5 Other Schedules 25 Miscellaneous chad fe Dit General fa t Construction templates Glazing templates zi Office Equipment 2008 DesignBuilder Softwa
552. te a holiday schedule with the sector Template data can be accessed e from the Templates tab on the opening screen if no file is open e from the Templates tab in the Navigator panel if a file is open e by double clicking on the template icon in the model data e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting templates from a list 6 13 Times Zone Templates DesignBuilder comes with a database of all of the world s time zones including information on daylight savings This data is sourced from ASHRAE If the time zone does not have daylight saving then the text N A is entered in the Daylight saving from field The time zone is selected in model data under Time and Daylight Saving on the Location tab at site level Note you can override daylight savings to be off in the model data by unchecking the Use daylight saving Template data can be accessed from the Templates tab on the opening screen if no file is open from the Templates tab in the Navigator panel if a file is open by double clicking on the template icon in the model data e e e e by clicking on the Edit button when selecting templates from a list 6 14 Wind Pressure Coefficient Templates Wind pressure coefficients are used when Natural ventilation model option is set to Calculated EnergyPlus AIRNET uses pressure coefficients when calculating wind induced pressure on each surface during simulations when the Calculated Natural ventilation option is sele
553. te an external courtyard within a block go to the required block by clicking on the navigator entry or double clicking the block in the Edit screen and then click on the Draw void perimeter tool You can the select a perimeter shape and set the required wall thickness in the Drawing Options data panel fall thickness 0 232 Shape 1 Polygon ine type 1 Straight line Protrav er Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides After completing the perimeter a courtyard is automatically generated within the block 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Wall Y Wall thickness m 0 232 Shape 1 Polygon Line type 1 Straight line Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides 3 2 10 5 Edit Block Options IBS IT E Ppa AL PP SE You can edit certain aspects of a building block geometry by clicking on the Building model options icon while at the block level This opens the Model Options dialog box 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Model Options Building and Block m Model Options data Data Advanced Heating Design Cooling Design Simulation Display Drawing tools Block Geometry Form 1 Extruded Pitched Roof Wall Consruction Transition Allow pitched roof construction Roof wall transition Angle At the block level the Block tab on the Model Options data dialogue box is enabled and allows you to
554. tem is programmed to turn the air handler back on if one or any zone temperature exceeds a night time cooling set point This data gives the user flexibility in determining how the night time on off decision will be made The manager can look at the temperature in one Night cycle control zone or it can sample all the zones connected to the air handler Cycle on any Enter the system behavior during times when the System availability schedule above is zero off The possible inputs are e Stay Off the system will remain off no matter how hot or cold the zones may be e Cycle on any if any zone served by this system has an air temperature outside the cooling or heating set points the central fan will turn on even though the System availability schedule indicates the fan is off e Cycle on control zone same as Cycle on any except the availability manager looks at the temperature in only the zone specified by the Night cycle control zone Note that when using this option you must select one zone as being the Night cycle control zone Do this by checking the option at zone level in the zone used as the control zone below D gt E Untitled 3 Template VAY with terminal reheat Building 1 Ess Night cycle control zone Mechanical ventilation The default is 1 Stay off The On cycle period is the time for which the system will run after it has cycled on This is hard set to 1 hour 2008 Design
555. template and component data Note DesignBuilder keeps separate program options and template and component libraries for each user on the computer system 41 Opening Screen Component Libraries From the Component Library screen you can add clone copy delete view edit import export backup restore components as shown below You can also save the libraries by clicking on the Save toolbar icon libraries are also saved when the program exits Library Components are automatically loaded into the model at the time the file is created and from then on they are associated specifically with this model and so are known as Model Components Any change made to the Library Components does not affect existing building models because they reference their own set of Model Components 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Library management 333 Save component and Add new template libraries Double glazing Clone copy selected component glazing component DesignBu lder Tools amp 7 2 waa DesignBuilder Component libraries for Andrew Info Data Recent Files Component Libreries Templates Data Consiructons Import Export Glazing Dbl Clr Low Iron 5mm 13mm Arg d gt q Glazing Single Gefieral Double Dbl Clr 3mm 6mm Air Click here to edit ame Cir Low Iron 5mm 13mm Arg
556. the Roof slope setting in the Drawing options data panel A pitched roof can be created with hips or gable ends using the Gable Roof setting Geometry Block type 1 Building block Roof overlap m 030 Roof slope 30 Perimeter Shape 1 Polygor Line type 1 Straight line Thickness m 0292 Protracter Direction Snaps Port Snaps Drawing Guides If you draw a pitched roof on top of an existing block you can control the overhang or the depth of the roof eaves using the Roof overlap setting 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models ve Geometry Block type 1 Buikding block Type 3Fitchedtoof Gable roof Prolracter Drecton Snaps Pant Snaps Drawing Guides Voids Where roofs are to be created on top of conventional blocks that contain voids and the voids are to be automatically incorporated within the pitched roof the Automatically include voids from lower blocks Model options switch must be switched on before drawing the roof perimeter The dome block form is used to create hemispherical blocks and can only be created using the circular perimeter shape 1 hm z E Sa ANN Geometry Y Block type 1 Building block 4 Dome z Form Perimeter 3 Circle Segments 0 232 Thickness Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides After drawing a vertically extruded block perim
557. the electrochromic glazing has memory and does not need constant voltage to maintain the tinting Further the film can be tuned to block certain wavelengths such as infrared heat energy Another switchable technology the liquid crystal suspended particle device SPD contains molecular particles suspended in a solution between plates of glass In their natural state the particles move randomly and collide blocking the direct passage of light When energized the particles align rapidly and the glazing becomes transparent This type of switchable glazing can block up to about 90 percent of light You can easily model electrochromic glazing in DesignBuilder using the Window shading data and defining the properties of the outer Window Pane to be used when the shading is active The procedure is Specify the glazing type to be used when the electrochromic glazing system is clear bleached in the standard way on the Openings tab under External glazing Under External Glazing and Shading headers check the Window shading option Select the Type as Electrochromic absorptive 6mm for example Select the Position as 4 Switchable The Shading Type defines the properties of the pane which is to be used in place of the standard outer glazing pane according to the control data in the Control type Set the Control type together with any supplementary setpoint data oR WP o 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Modelli
558. the previous time step is non zero The following two control types can be used to reduce zone cooling load They are applicable to any Shading type but are most appropriate for interior or exterior blinds interior or exterior shades with low insulating value or switchable glazing 9 Day cooling and solar night OnNight OnDaylfCoolingAndHighSolarOnWindow Shading is on at night Shading is on during the day the solar radiation incident on the window exceeds SetPoint W m2 or BTU hr ft2 and if the zone cooling rate in the previous time step is non zeo 10 Day cooling and solar OffNight OnDaylfCoolingAnaHighSolarOnWindow Shading is off at night Shading is on during the day when the solar radiation incident on the window exceeds SetPoint W m2 or BTU hr ft2 and if the zone cooling rate in the previous time step is non zero The following three control types can be used to reduce zone heating load during the winter by reducing window conductive heat loss at night and leaving the window unshaded during the day to maximize solar gain They are applicable to any Shading Type but are most appropriate for interior or exterior shades with high insulating value movable insulation Night means the sun is down and day means the sun is up 11 Night outside low air temp OnNight fLowOutsideTemp OffDay Shading is on at night if the outside air temperature is less than SetPoint C or F and schedule if specified allows shading Shading is o
559. the total energy consumed by equipment to give the amount of heat which is lost and does not impact the zone energy balances This might correspond to electrical energy converted to mechanical work or heat that is vented to the atmosphere Radiant Fraction This is a decimal number between 0 0 and 1 0 and is used to characterise the amount of long wave radiant heat being given off by process equipment in a zone The radiant fraction will be multiplied by the total energy consumed by electric equipment and 1 Fraction lost to give the amount of long wavelength radiation gain from process equipment in a zone A value of zero means that the heat gain is entirely convective in which case all the heat is transferred to the air node in simulations A value of 1 means that the gain is entirely radiative in which case all the heat is distributed to the inside surfaces a typical value is somewhere between 0 1 and 0 5 If the Internal gains operate with occupancy model option is not selected you can also set the operation schedule 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 198 DesignBuilder 1 5 3 3 2 2 Construction Data Construction tab in model data DesignBuilder uses construction components to model the conduction of heat through walls roofs ground and other opaque parts of the building envelope Constructions can be selected on the Constructions model data tab to define the thermophysical and visual properties of the various internal and ext
560. thing ensembles The environmental variables that influence the conditions of thermal comfort include 1 Air Temperature Ta 2 Mean Radiant Temperature Tr 3 Relative air velocity v 4 Water vapor pressure in ambient air Pa The Air Temperature Ta a direct environmental index is the dry bulb temperature of the environment The Mean Radiant Temperature Tr is a rationally derived environmental index defined as the uniform black body temperature that would result in the same radiant energy exchange as in the actual environment The Relative air velocity v a direct environmental index is a measure of the air motion obtainable via a hot wire or vane anemometers The Water vapor pressure in ambient air Pa is a direct environmental index The physiological variables that influence the conditions of thermal comfort include 1 Skin Temperature Tsk 2 Core or Internal Temperature Tcr 3 Sweat Rate 4 Skin Wettedness w 5 Thermal Conductance K between the core and skin Where the Skin Temperature Tsk the Core Temperature Tcr and the Sweat Rate are physiological indices The Skin Wettedness w is a rationally derived physiological index defined as the ratio of the actual sweating rate to the maximum rate of sweating that would occur if the skin were completely wet One more consideration is important in dealing with thermal comfort the effect of asymmetrical heating or cooling This could occur when there
561. through multiple shading devices having fractional transmittance in EnergyPlus version 2 0 and earlier We haven t yet verified that the bug has been fixed and so must recommend that you check results carefully when using fractional transmittance for component blocks Transmittance schedule The component block transmittance schedule defines any time varying transmittance of the component block surfaces By default the component block is fully opaque for the whole year The transmittance schedule can contain any value between 0 and 1 The transmittance schedule can be used to allow for seasonal transmittance change such as deciduous trees that have a higher transmittance in winter than in summer Transmittance based on time of day can also be used a movable awning for example where the transmittance is some value less than 1 0 when the awning is in place and is 1 0 when the awning is retracted The following assumptions are made in the shading surface transmittance calculation e Both sides of the shading surface have the same transmittance properties e The transmittance is the same for both beam and diffuse solar radiation e Beam solar transmittance is independent of angle of incidence on the shading surface 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 213 e Beam radiation incident on a shading surface is transmitted as beam radiation with no change in direction i e there is no beam to diffuse component e f two shad
562. ting and visual appearance e Thermal simulation of naturally ventilated buildings Daylighting models lighting control systems and calculates savings in electric lighting Visualisation of site layouts and solar shading Calculating heating and cooling equipment sizes Communication aid at design meetings e An educational tool Energy PIUS DesignBuilder uses the EnergyPlus dynamic simulation engine to generate performance data 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Getting Started 15 1 1 DesignBuilder Tips Miscellaneous information you should know before starting serious work with DesignBuilder 1 Buildings are put together by assembling blocks Block creation and edit operations take place at the building level 2 Blocks can be subdivided into more than one zone by drawing partitions Partitioning takes place at the block level 3 Default data is inherited from the level above so blocks inherit their data from the building level zones inherit their data from blocks surfaces from zones and openings from surfaces It is therefore possible to make global changes to the model by changing data at building level It is possible to override default by editing the data So for example you could change the external wall construction for a whole block 4 Data templates are the source of default data in DesignBuilder They can also be used for loading data to the model en masse For example you can load the
563. tion which is accounted for in Solar Gains Exterior Windows below For windows without an interior shading device this heat flow is equal to Convective heat flow to the zone from the zone side of the glazing Net IR heat flow to the zone from zone side of the glazing Short wave radiation from zone transmitted back out the window Conduction to zone from window frame and divider if present Here short wave radiation is that from lights and diffuse interior solar radiation For windows with an interior shading device this heat flow is equal to Convective heat flow to the zone from the air flowing through the gap between glazing and shading device Convective heat flow to the zone from the zone side of the shading device Net IR heat flow to the zone from the zone side of the glazing Net IR heat flow to the zone from the zone side of the shading device Short wave radiation from zone transmitted back out the window Conduction to zone from window frame and divider if present e Walls heat gain due to conduction through all external walls including the effect of solar radiation and longwave radiation to the sky e Roofs heat gain due to conduction through all external roofs including the effect of solar radiation and longwave radiation to the sky e Ceilings int heat conduction gain through internal ceilings e g zone above is colder Floors int heat conduction gain through internal
564. tion Modelling Scheduled Natural Ventilation Airflow through external windows vents doors and holes are not modelled with Scheduled natural ventilation because the natural ventilation airflow from outside is explicitly defined using the total natural ventilation flow rate and operation on the HVAC tab No operation data is entered on the Openings tab for external windows in this case Note Natural Ventilation can be overridden to be off on the HVAC tab for both Calculated and Scheduled model options 3 3 2 3 3 Roof Glazing Openings tab in model data The data under the Roof Glazing header applies to all glazing lying on external roof surfaces You can enter information on e Dimensions e Frame e Shading e Operation Note flat roofs do not have default glazing set up using Roof glazing layout model data To create Openings on a flat roof you should go to the surface level and add them there Openings tab in model data under External Glazing and Internal Glazing headers Facade types There are a number of standard facade types e None there is no glazing Continuous horizontal glazing is generated in a continuous horizontal strip using Sill height Window spacing and Percentage glazing Fixed height glazing is generated with a fixed height at the specified Sill height and Window spacing and width is calculated based on the Percentage glazing This option uses Window to wall but prioritises window height Prefer
565. tions If using reflections the program calculates beam and sky solar radiation that is reflected from exterior surfaces and then strikes the building These reflecting surfaces fall into 3 categories 1 Shadowing surfaces These are surfaces like overhangs or neighboring buildings see below These surfaces can have diffuse and specular beam to beam reflectance values derived from the material properties of the wall windows TZ MCN ML Solar Reflection from Obstructions Ax Beam X Sky diffuse Beam x E Beam a c Solar reflection from shadowing surfaces Solid arrows are beam solar radiation dashed arrows are diffuse solar radiation a Diffuse reflection of beam solar radiation from the top of an overhang b Diffuse reflection of sky solar radiation from the top of an overhang c Beam to beam specular reflection from the facade of an adjacent highly glazed building represented by a vertical shadowing surface 2 Exterior building surfaces In this case one section of the building reflects solar radiation onto another section and vice versa See below The building surfaces are assumed to be diffusely reflecting if they are opaque walls for example and specularly reflecting if they are windows or glass doors The reflectance values for opaque surfaces are calculated by the program from the Solar Absorptance and Visible Absorptance of the outer material layer of the surface s construction The reflectance value
566. tions Perimeter origin Geometry Perimeter 1 Straight line Protracic Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides To incorporate an arc within a perimeter set the line type to Arc An arc is defined using the sweep angle and number of segments Sweep angle Segments A negative sweep angle can be used to create an arc in an anti clockwise direction In DesignBuilder geometry arcs are created using a number of segments or straight lines and the accuracy of the representation can be controlled by defining the number of segments Generally speaking the greater the number of segments used will result in more memory usage and processing time and so particularly in the case of blocks it s advisable to use the default number of segments where possible 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 To draw the arc place the arc centre Drawing Options I TS bsa San Geometry Perimeter Protracter Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides Arc centre point _ 3 2 3 Snaps Drawing Guides amp Protractor A number of drawing aids are provided to enable block perimeter lines partitions etc to be drawn precisely e Protractor e Direction Snaps e Point Snaps e Drawing Guides These items are made available when the various drawing tools are used such as the Draw window tool at the zone surface 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models
567. tive cooling system being used unnecessarily There is currently no way to link the natural ventilation and cooling systems see limitations below Limitations DesignBuilder uses the EnergyPlus zone ventilation object for modelling natural ventilation when using Scheduled natural ventilation and mechanical ventilation when using Simple HVAC Only one ventilation object can be included per zone in EnergyPlus so if your model uses Scheduled natural ventilation and Simple HVAC you will get an error message like Building 1 Mechanical ventilation and Natural ventilation in same zone not allowed with Simple HVAC Scheduled natural ventilation This message will also be generated for Cooling design calculations when mechanical and natural ventilation are selected even if you have selected Calculated natural ventilation or Compact HVAC because Scheduled natural ventilation and Simple HVAC are used by default in Design calculations There are various workarounds 1 If the problem is occurring in Cooling design calculations it is possible to select one of the Compact HVAC cooling design sizing methods to use detailed modelling of mechanical ventilation instead of the simple Ventilation object This allows mechanical ventilation in combination with Scheduled natural ventilation 2 Again for Cooling design calculations you can put all of the ventilation in either natural or mechanical category to avoid having both switched on at the same time O
568. tive temperature in the zone using radiant fraction 0 5 at the time of maximum Sensible load Humidity is the humidity 96 in the zone at the time of maximum Sensible load Time of Max Cooling the time at which the maximum sensible cooling occurs Max Op Temp in Day is the maximum operative temperature in the zone using radiant fraction 0 5 over the design day including periods when the zone may be unconditioned Floor area is the floor area of the zone Volume is the volume of the zone Flow Floor area MBH ft2 in IP units is the Design Flow Rate divided by the Floor area of the zone It provides a useful check for the flow rates calculated 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Zone Design Capacity kW Design Flow Rate m3 s Total Cooling Load Sensible Latent Tempera Humidity Time Op Temp Floor Area m2 Volume m3 Flow Floor Area l s m2 152 HVACTest Total Design Cooling Requirement 67 030 kW 1 1 Total Design Cooling Requirement 31 850 kW Internal 1 9 87 0 58 987 867 120 254 492 1500 275 1628 488 4 359 East 1 4 76 0 23 476 438 290 491 0900 230 382 nz7 576 West 1 5 69 0 26 5 69 530 039 297 491 1600 309 382 117 7 665 North 1 5 67 0 32 567 499 Joss 261 492 1400 932 342 South 1 26 2 15 00 93 2 Plenum Block 1 Total Design Cooling R
569. to be made visible and centred in the Edit window 3 2 1 6 Pan view SSS LP SE 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 35 The Pan tool is used to move the model point of view vertically and horizontally across the plane of the screen To pan the view click on the Pan tool then press the left mouse button and keep the button pressed as you move the mouse cursor the point of view will pan horizontally as you move the mouse cursor left and right and vertically as you move it up and down 3 2 1 7 Normal View At the surface level The Normal button in the top right hand corner of the screen can be used to rotate the point of view to be normal to the surface and to automatically zoom in so that the extents of the surface fill the view View rotation Axonometric Nomad EN The Default surface normal view program option allows you to control the behaviour of this command 3 2 2 Perimeters Blocks courtyards and surface openings are all created using perimeters When any of these element drawing tools are activated perimeter options can be accessed from the Drawing Options data panel for example when the Draw window tool is active at the surface level Drawing Options 1 Polygon 1 Straight line E gt Protracter E Direction Snaps Point Snaps Drawing Guides 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Desi
570. to increase the cooling load prior to calculating chiller energy consumption VAV CENTRAL COOLING COILS The central AHU cooling coil data is specified for the whole building and is not accessible at zone level Cooling coil type The cooling coil must be one of e 1 None i e there is no cooling coil e 2 Chilled water to model a chilled water coil 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 267 The default is 2 Chilled water Note you can achieve cooling without a cooling coil by selecting 1 None but you will only get the cooling effect of the HVAC air on the zone if the outside air any fan pickup is cooler than the zone air temperature The difference between switching cooling off altogether by unchecking the Cooled checkbox and setting cooling coil type to 1 None is that in the latter case controlled free cooling is possible due to relatively cool outside air being introduced to the building but when cooling is switched off altogether there is no possibility of controlled cooling through the HVAC system Off coil air temperature set point This data defines the temperature of the air coming off the coils assuming idealised control Cooling coils are automatically sized by EnergyPlus before the simulation to provide this off coil temperature given the flow rates in the air handling unit Cooling coil setpoint reset type Select the type of automatic reset control for the central cooling supply air temperatur
571. to surface W m2 K 0 372 R Value w m2 K 2 858 U Value W m2 K 0 350 U values and R Values are shown including and excluding the effect of surface resistance and are calculated with and without bridging effects Note that when working with library constructions the outer surface resistance is calculated assuming a typical exposure to wind When working with model constructions the outer surface resistance is calculated using the wind exposure as defined on the Location tab at site level Convective heat transfer coefficients The calculated convective heat transfer coefficients are used in EnergyPlus when the CIBSE Inside Outside convection algorithm is selected Otherwise EnergyPlus uses its own convection algorithm as set in the simulation options and the transmission data displayed here is not used 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 5 2 Glazing Geng sal Name Dbl Cir Low Iron 3mm 6mm Air Category Double M Region General Source EnergyPlus dataset Layers Number layers 2 Outermost pane 0 Pane type LOW IRON 3MM Window gas 1 Window gas type AIR Innermost pane 0 Pane type LOW IRON 3MM Calculated Values Total solar transmission SHGC 0 827 Direct solar transmission 0 813 Light transmission 0 839 U Value 3 187 Each Glazing Component consists of a series of glazing layers Panes separated from each other by Window Gas layers There are two tabs on
572. tools can be activated at any time during operation of the drawing tools and control returned to the active drawing tool after completing the view process For example to draw a block perimeter adjacent to an existing cylindrical block To continue drawing the perimeter around the other side of the cylindrical block click on the Orbit tool and orbit the model to reveal the other side and then pan to centre the model 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 32 DesignBuilder 1 5 You can then return to the drawing process either by pressing the ESC key or selecting Cancel Pan from the right click menu Undo last point Escape Go up to Site level Untitled V Undo Add Perimeter Block Redo ge Protractor h Select a Move 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 3 2 1 1 View Rotation DesignBuilder provides several pre defined standard view rotations Left Right Back Front You can select one of these standard views from the view rotation drop list 281 x a 3 Right S Model Vata 4 Back Activity Banstruction 5 Front lo LAC rotation 6 Axonometric Y Fa 7 5 Axonometric Activity Template Sector A Template Type 2 Natural ventilation op Dffices i Occupancy Metabolic EIU CTI Environmental Comfort Computers Office Equipment Miscellaneous Catering Process The default Axonome
573. tric setting is designed to afford a good general axonometric view of the various components at each model level 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 3 2 4 2 Orbit Ja RF BS LP LOSR The orbit tool is used to rotate the view around the model To orbit the model click on the Orbit tool and then press the left mouse button and keep the button pressed as you move the mouse cursor the view will orbit around the model 3 2 1 3 Zoom Dynamic 21 SS 71 FESR OOPOD SE To zoom in and out from the current model point of view click on the Zoom tool then press the left mouse button and keep the button pressed as you move the mouse cursor the view will zoom in as you move the mouse cursor down and out as you move it up 3 2 1 4 Zoom Window Nsenmooeso lis The Zoom window tool is used to zoom in on specific area of your model To create window on an area of the model click on the Zoom window tool and move the mouse cursor to a corner of the window you want to create then press the left mouse button and keep the mouse button pressed as you drag the window when you release the mouse button the view will zoom to the extents of the defined window 3 2 1 5 Fit view 2 we 7 Msermocobolu The Fit view tool is used to zoom your view to a distance which will enable the whole model
574. trol data is used per Unitary multizone system this is the zone for which Thermostatic control zone for unitary system is selected Unitary Single zone Heating operation schedules are set at zone level and there is no central plant apart from the boiler Note for all systems heating setpoint temperatures are defined on the Activity tab Zone setpoint schedule This schedule data is used in conjunction with the heating setpoint temperatures on the Activity tab to define the heating demand in the zone by creating a heating setpoint schedule The schedule defines the times when full and setback setpoints should be met and the setpoint data on the Activity tab define the actual setpoint values See Defining setpoint temperature schedules for more on this 3 3 2 5 5 Natural Ventilation HVAC tab in model data You can control the operation of natural ventilation using the data under the Natural Ventilation header on the HVAC tab When using Calculated natural ventilation model option there is additional data on the Openings tab to control the timing and extent of operation of openings SCHEDULED When the Natural ventilation model option is set to Scheduled natural ventilation is defined simply as follows e Check the On checkbox under the Natural Ventilation header e Select the flow type e Set the maximum zone natural ventilation rate in air changes per hour if flow type is 1 By zone e Enter the operation information Find out
575. ts for people of various sizes Enter 1 00 for men 0 85 for women 0 75 for children or you can use an average value if there is a mix of sizes The Workday profile is used when the Timing option is set to Typical workday and the Schedule data is used when the Timing option is set to 7 12 Schedules 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 376 DesignBuilder 1 5 6 1 4 Activity Templates Other Gains Other Gains tab on Activity Templates Dialog Data on this tab is used when the Gains option is set to Early DHW Data is always used The default gains into the space from computers office equipment catering process and miscellaneous equipment for this activity Also hot water consumption rate per person per day and the operation schedules are defined here 6 1 5 Activity Templates DHW Enter the Domestic Hot Water DHW volumetric consumption per unit of floor area per day and the operation schedule In DesignBuilder the amount of DHW consumed is considered to be a function of the activity For example there is a demand assumed to arise from the occupants of an office for activities such as washing hands and washing up cups This demand is associated with the office rather than the toilet or tea room Thus the demand from each space needs to be assigned to a DHW system even if the system itself is not present in the space 6 1 6 Activity Templates Environmental Environmental tab on Activity Templates Dialog Enter
576. ts meaning depends on the Temperature control calculation option above Note when using the Typical workday timing option this setback temperature set point is only applied during unoccupied periods such as night time and holidays during the cooling season It is not applied during the winter if cooling is switched off during the winter Note if the setback temperature set does not appear to affect results when using a Compact schedule this may be because the Zone setpoint cooling schedule selected uses only 0 and 1 not the 0 5 required to access setback temperature See Defining setpoint temperature schedules for more on this VENTILATION SETPOINT TEMPERATURES Natural ventilation cooling setpoint temperature The natural ventilation cooling setpoint temperature controls the activation of natural ventilation If the inside air temperature is greater than this setpoint temperature and the natural ventilation operation schedule is on then natural ventilation can take place The way this works depends on the Natural ventilation model option Note that when using the Calculated natural ventilation model option windows and vents are only opened 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models when e The inside air temperature is above this cooling setpoint temperature and e The inside air temperature is greater than the outside air temperature and e The operation schedule allows ventilation Also the data und
577. ttings User LocalSettings Application Data EnergyPlus hourly DesignBuilder Weather Data weather data is stored in this folder The data may have been automatically downloaded from the DesignBuilder website or it can be added manually The actual names of the folders will depend on the language used on your computer and on your Windows user name The above locations assume English as the language and Windows user name User 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Reference 491 Tip the above folders can be accessed from the File Folders menu commands 14 2 Licensing amp Activation DesignBuilder consists of a modelling Graphical User Interface GUI connected to a number of calculation rendering modules The DesignBuilder GUI can be used without a licence but you need a license for each of the modules you intend to use gt P odi CX DesignBuilder Cni Modules NL Pd TS a Visualisation Future modules When you install DesignBuilder an evaluation license key is generated for each module These evaluation licences are valid for 30 days from the date of installation and allow you to try out a fully functional version of the software to check that it meets your needs and is compatible with your computer The only restriction with evaluation licences is that a nag screen is displayed prior to each simulation or visualisation session When you buy licences to use DesignBu
578. tual air volume of the space excluding the volume of floor and ceiling constructions and any raised floor and suspended ceiling voids if selected but including half the volume of partition walls Construction tab in model data under Construction header Sub surfaces are exceptions to the main surface construction Examples include cold bridging elements such as window lintels and opaque panels in a lightweight facade You can define different sub surface construction types for external walls internal partitions and pitched roofs Note because DesignBuilder Version 1 does not have model data associated with openings it is not possible to have more than one type of sub surface on any particular surface To add a sub surface go to the surface you wish to work on click on the Layout tab and select the Draw sub surface command You can also define constructions for doors Walls Any opaque sub surfaces created in a wall will have this construction Internal Any opaque sub surfaces created in any inside surface partitons internal floor etc will have this construction 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 207 Roof Any opaque sub surfaces created in any pitched roof will have this construction External door Defines the construction of external doors Internal door Defines the construction of internal doors Consiruction tab in model data under Construction header DesignBuilder uses the thermal char
579. ture e Wind speed and direction set to design values e No solar gain e No internal gains lighting equipment occupancy etc e Heated zones are heated constantly to achieve the heating temperature set point using a simple convective heating system e Includes consideration of heat conduction and convection between zones of different temperatures Simulation continues until temperatures heat flows in each zone have converged If convergence does not occur then simulation continues for the maximum number of days as specified in the calculation options The simulation calculates heating capacities required to maintain the temperature set points in each zone and displays the total heat loss broken down as e Glazing e Walls e Partitions e Solid floors e Roofs e External infiltration e Internal natural ventilation i e heat lost to other cooler adjacent spaces through windows vents 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 doors holes The total heat loss in each zone is multiplied by a Safety factor 1 5 by default to give a recommended heating Design Capacity This heating capacity can be written directly into the Heating capacity model data depending on the setting of the Plant sizing model option on the Data tab under HVAC Customise the data displayed and display style using the Display Options panel Note heating design calculations do not use any Natural ventilation data EnergyPlus IDF data
580. ture just below the slab and exclude the earth layers from the model This has the advantage of simplicity and clarity and the approach recommended by EnergyPlus developers Note the default ground temperatures provided in DesignBuilder assume that an earth layer is included in the constructions adjacent to ground If an earth layer is not included then you should increase the default site ground temperatures to values closer to those typically found just below the ground slab as described in note above Example Application Basement or Cellar under inclined ground slope This example illustrates how to create a simple 3 storey rectangular building model with e Basement which is fully below ground and e Ground floor is partially buried under an inclined ground plane Step 1 Draw 3 blocks on the z 0 ground plane The lowest block will be the basement completely buried the middle block will be the ground level block partially 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Modelling Advice buried and the top block will be the second level So far only the bottom surface is adjacent to ground because it sits on the z 0 plane Step 2 Draw 2 ground component blocks around the basement building block to give it s surfaces ground adjacency Note this step could be avoided by moving the whole building down so that the basement is fully below ground To do this go to building level select all the blocks select the move command
581. tween the floor slab of the zone above and the ceiling e Ceiling construction the construction of the ceiling tiles or other ceiling construction layers not including the suspension slab or floor above See Details 4 5 6 and 7 in the diagram above If there is no suspended ceiling you should clear the Suspended ceiling checkbox In this case the zone will be in direct contact with the floor slab of the zone above if it is an internal ceiling or the underside of the flat roof construction if it is an external flat roof Floors Floors are made up by combining floor slab and ceiling constructions with floor and ceiling suspension voids as shown in the diagram above If there is no raised floor you should clear the Floor fitted above slab check box In this case the room will be in direct contact with the floor slab Note it is not possible in v 1 to use the gap defined by the suspension height in floors and ceilings as a plenum zone supply and return plenums for use in Compact HVAC must be completely separate zones Roofspace insulation In Semi exterior unconditioned spaces such as roofspaces the Roofspace insulation data is used instead of the floor construction as the topmost floor layer To include Insulation in the roofspace floor follow the steps 1 Go to the roofspace block or zone 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 2 Check the Floor fitted above slab checkbox 3 Select the a
582. two resulting zones are in fact two geometric bodies within one zone 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 156 DesignBuilder 1 5 While this geometry is perfectly acceptable for the default EnergyPlus solar calculations see Model Options it cannot be processed by the more rigourous Full exterior and interior solar distribution option If this latter option is required you can either model the geometry as two separate blocks or cut the block 3 2 10 2 Hanging and Outline Partitions Hanging partitions are partitions that do not create zones because they do not connect at both ends with other walls partitions Hanging partitions are created in the same way as ordinary partitions using the Draw partition tool but are finished by pressing Enter or the End partition stream command from the right click menu to define the end of a partition stream They are shown in blue below 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 157 Office OpenOff Hanging partitions are modelled non geometrically in EnergyPlus as Internal thermal mass Outline partitions Also if Automatic block zoning is switched off all new partitions are treated as outline partitions shown in blue and do not create zones until converted to standard partitions by using the Rezone block command from the Tools menu 3 2 10 3 Virtual Partitions A virtual partition is a partition between 2 zones which exists purely to sub divide the space up and
583. u can create vents simply by checking the Vents fitted options under the External and Internal Vents headers In this case vents are positioned on each surface using Vent spacing and Vent height above floor in the automatically generated facade layout Typically a single vent is positioned under each of the windows if the vent spacing is the same as the window spacing Openings tab in model data under Vents The operation of vents can be defined by entering timing data under Operation headers The way this data is used depends on the Natural ventilation model option set Calculated A schedule can be applied to control timing of the vents The ventilation rate through the vent is calculated based on the wind and stack pressure effects 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 239 Scheduled External vent opening is not modelled explicitly with the Scheduled natural ventilation model data setting Instead the total natural ventilation flow rate and operation is defined for each zone on the HVAC tab No operation data is entered on the Openings tab for external vents Internal vents are modelled using the EnergyPlus Mixing object which mixes air between the two adjacent zones DesignBuilder uses a very approximate empirical relationship to calculate the mixing flow Flow m3 s Door area m2 6 area door opens time door is open Farea flow where Farea flow is a factor used to obtain the mixing flow f
584. ude the buffering of the occupied space by the semi exterior zones without sacrificing simulation speeds This option can be very useful for speeding data entry for simple calculation methods like SBEM Openings in semi exposed surfaces Any openings window doors vents sub surfaces and holes in semi exposed surfaces do not include the additional R Value when this option is selected By default this option is off and roofspace zones and all other semi exposed unconditioned zones are modelled as separate zones in calculations R Value to outside The R value added to the outside of semi exposed elements when Model semi exterior unconditioned 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 201 zones as simple R value to outside option above is set You can enter an R Value of 0 if you don t want to include a resistance between semi exposed elements and outside In this case it your responsibility to include the effect of the adjacent semi exterior unconditioned zone in the semi exposed constructions themselves Tip You can calculate approximations for R Value to outside by adjusting the R Value until the results match those of the equivalent simulation with Model semi exterior unconditioned zones as simple R value to outside switched off MERGING ZONES When zones are merged using Merge zones of same activity or Merge zones connected by holes combined merged zones are treated as a single zone in thermal calcu
585. uding the volume of all floor ceiling constructions The rationale is that infiltration will find it s way into all corners of the building but natural and mechanical ventilation is specifically delivered to the occupied space 3 41 3 Gains Data tab on Model Options dialog There are three levels of gains model detail 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 e Lumped all internal gains including occupancy computer office equipment miscellaneous catering process and lighting gains are lumped together into a single value Solar gains are still calculated in the usual way e Early gains can be defined separately under various categories see above e Detailed gains are specified by defining each individual item of equipment in each zone on the Equipment tab If you select this option then DesignBuilder will automatically set the Timing model option to Schedules Note that this option was developed for creating very detailed models of existing buildings based on survey data Entering this data for a large building is very time consuming and in most cases you will be better served by the Early gains option above Internal gains operate with occupancy Check this option if you wish the timing of internal gains to be the same as occupancy Unchecking the option allows you to set the timing of each type of gain individually For example there may be low levels of emergency lighting and some IT equipment usage whil
586. ugh exterior and interior windows is distributed according to the approximate view factors between the transmitting window and all other heat transfer surfaces in the zone This variable is the amount of transmitted diffuse solar that is initially absorbed on the inside of each heat transfer surface The portion of this diffuse solar that is reflected by all surfaces in the zone is subsequently redistributed uniformly to all heat transfer surfaces in the zone along with interior reflected beam solar and shortwave radiation from lights The total absorbed shortwave radiation is given by the next variable Interior window Treated as Beam solar diffuse radiation Solar radiation reflected from exterior surfaces EnergyPlus has an option to calculate beam and sky solar radiation that is reflected from exterior surfaces and then strikes the building For zones with detailed daylighting these reflections are also considered in the daylight illuminance calculations The reflecting surfaces fall into three categories 1 Shadowing surfaces These are surfaces like overhangs component blocks or surfaces of the building Examples are shown in Solar Options These surfaces can have diffuse and or specular beam to beam reflectance values that are specified with the based on the material surface properties 2 Exterior building surfaces In this case one section of the building reflects solar radiation onto another section and vice versa See F
587. uilder 1 2 to model temperatures and heat flows in 2 buildings simultaneously and account for energy transfer between them Future versions may allow this but in the meantime there are two options 1 Model the adjacent building using component blocks for shading reflection and adiabatic surfaces between the buildings This is the usual way to treat an adjacent building not requiring full simulation and is accurate if the temperature of the adjacent and actual buildings are similar or if there is insulation between the two buildings 2 If the adjacent building does require simulation then model it as part of the actual building and separate simulation results at the end You can set adiabatic adjacent condition data under Constructions on the Constructions tab at surface 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 470 DesignBuilder 1 5 level Merging buildings Where two separate buildings have been created inadvertently the blocks of one building can be transferred to the other building using the Transfer blocks command from the Edit menu Airflow If there is airflow between the two buildings and the adjacent building is at the same temperature as the modelled building then you could probably ignore its effect To model the effect of the airflow through an opening between buildings in detail you should model both buildings as one DB building using the Calculated natural ventilation model option If you do it this way and the adjacent build
588. uilder Software Ltd Modelling Advice The finished model The texture of Ground component blocks is defined by the material set under Component blocks on the Constructions tab 3 D Modelling Using the EnergyPlus Slab Preprocessor Advanced To accurately model long term ground thermal storage you may wish to consider using an external 2 or 3 D conduction tool such as the Slab utility supplied with EnergyPlus This can be used to calculate the temperatures applied to the underside of the ground floor surface elements The EnergyPlus slab program produces temperature profiles for the outside surface at the core and at the perimeter of the slab It also produces the average based on the perimeter and core areas used in the calculation EnergyPlus has a single GroundTemperatures object that is used for twelve monthly average ground temperature values see the Input Output Reference document Because of this there are two options for dealing with the ground temperatures 1 Use the average temperatures produced by the slab program for the GroundTemperatures object This will provide an average ground temperature at the outside face of any heat transfer surface whose OutsideFaceEnvironment field is ground 2 If two or more ground temperature conditions are desired it is necessary to utilize the ground temperature modification feature of other side coefficients OtherSideCoef field in OutsideFaceEnvironment Then for example if
589. uilding Zone Zonetshading Building Construction and Glazing Data Y Construction and glazing data Pre design construction templates Construction default data is defined using E insulation and thermal mass settings Pre design General Gains Data Y Gains data Early gains Intemal gains are separated into various categories e g occupancy lighting computing Lumped Early Detailed Timing Y Timing Typical workday Timing is defined as a single profile having a Start and end time for a typical workday Typical workday 7M2 Schedules Days week and summer and or winter options HVAC natural ventilation operates with occupancy Internal gains operate with occupancy HVAC Y HVAC Simple HVAC HAC systems are defined using plant seasonal efficiency data and are modelled Simple Compact outside Energy Plus Plant sizing 4 Autosize when not set E Ventilation Y Ventilation Scheduled ventilation Ventilation is defined as an air change rate SA modified by an operation schedule and Scheduled Calculated controlled using a set point temperature 3 41 1 Model scope Data tab on Model Options dialog You can use the scope control to switch between whole building and single zone modes To model a single zone within a building make sure you are editing the zone you want to model and change the scope to Zone If you want to include building self shading effects in a single zone an
590. uilding and block data excludes occupied areas Y AXIS OPTIONS These options give you control over how the Y axis is displayed Lock min max 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 Y Axis Lock min max Temperature Max Y 28 08 Min 15 75 Heat Gain kw 58 55 Min Y kw 56 94 Max kwh 62 41 Min kwh 0 Max kwh 0 Min kwh 0 2 MaxY 42 75 Min Y 0 This option locks the extent of the Y axes so that they keep their current maximum and minimum values This allows consistent comparison with the future results display The Y axis keeps its current settings until you unlock it again You can achieve the same effect by clicking on the Lock Y axis min max values toolbar command When you lock the Y axis the current settings are stored and displayed for each of the available Y axes You can edit any of these to get a more precise setting Remember to click on the Apply button when you are ready to register a change to any numeric display option data Overlap multiple axes Option allows you to save space on the Y axis allowing different axes to overlap Separate axes Check this option to add a vertical space between each of the displayed axes Normalise by floor area Check this option if you wish data to be displayed per floor area i e m2 or ft2 APPEARANCE You can control the details of the presentation of the graphical output by making se
591. ulating layer Flat roof Flat roof constructions apply to external horizontal surfaces The construction used to represent the flat roof should include any slabs insulation and suspended ceiling layers If there are no flat roof surfaces just ignore this data Pitched roof occupied The Pitched roof occupied construction applies to external sloped surfaces when they appear in occupied zones In cold climates this construction will generally include an insulating layer If there are no pitched roof surfaces just ignore this data The definition of pitched roof is given by the roof wall transition angle model option Pitched roof unoccupied The Pitched roof unoccupied construction applies to external sloped surfaces when they appear in semi exterior unconditioned zones This construction will generally not include any insulation layers If there are no pitched roof surfaces just ignore this data The definition of pitched roof is given by the roof wall transition angle model option Internal partitions The internal partition construction defines the construction of internal partitions walls used to divide blocks into zones and inter block partitions internal walls shared with other blocks Internal partitions are used where both zones are occupied When one of the zones is occupied and the other is not the Semi exposed walls construction data is used below If there are no partitions just ignore this data SEMI
592. ult activity related data for the building This will set the following default data Occupancy levels and timing holidays etc Metabolic rates Levels of equipment use Heating and cooling temperature setpoints requirements e e e e e Fresh air requirements Glazing The glazing template is used as a source of default window shading and percentage glazing data for the building Lighting The lighting template is used as a source of default lighting and lighting control data for the building HVAC The HVAC template is used as a source of default data for the HVAC equipment to heat and cool the building 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 3 2 9 Working with Blocks Building Level Blocks are the basic elements used to create a DesignBuilder model Three types of block can be added to the building e Building Blocks are composed of building elements such as walls floor slabs and roofs and may be partitioned internally to form a number of zones e Outline Blocks are used to help in the creation of more complex building block geometry e Component Blocks are used to create visual ground and shading structures which do not contain zones All block types are created at the Building Level in the same way and are drawn using perimeters which can be extruded either horizontally or vertically This section describes the various operations involved in creating and editing blocks a
593. ump following a crash 4 Executable EP Launch runs the DOE supplied EP Launch program waiting until this is closed before loading results This option is only possible if you have selected a DOE supplied version of the EnergyPlus executable This option can be useful for making quick minor changes to the IDF data prior to simulation Any changes made to the IDF data from within EP Launch will be included in the simulation but will not be retained for future simulations Info on the EP Launch option EnergyPlus Y E EnergyPlus version Version 1 4 0 025 Mode 4 Executable EPLaunch EnergyPlus export folder C EnergyPlus 1 4 0 EnergyPlus export folder When using a DOE EnergyPlus executable version you must also select the folder where the selected version is installed You can scan the disk for DOE installations by clicking on the link in the Info help panel When you select any option other than the default DLL option the necessary EnergyPlus files are downloaded seamlessly prior to the first simulation following the change Note If you wish to install a different DLL version of EnergyPlus to that which is recommended you must have administrative rights on the computer DesignBuilder are licensed distributors of EnergyPlus All versions of EnergyPlus supplied by DesignBuilder have been compiled by the DOE 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 ESO Output You can generate ESO output files co
594. und 6 presents a detailed description of the theory behind these three models Note for all Thermal Comfort reporting Though the published values for thermal comfort vote have a discrete scale e g 3 to 3 or 4 to 4 the calculations in EnergyPlus are carried out on a continuous scale and thus reporting may be off the scale with specific conditions encountered in the space This is not necessarily an error in EnergyPlus rather a different approach that does not take the limits of the discrete scale values into account The main similarity of the three models is that all three apply an energy balance to a person and use the energy exchange mechanisms along with experimentally derived physiological parameters to predict the thermal sensation and the physiological response of a person due to their environment The models differ somewhat in the physiological models that represent the human passive system heat transfer through and from the body and the human control system the neural control of shivering sweating and skin blood flow The models also differ in the criteria used to predict thermal sensation FANGER COMFORT MODEL Fanger s Comfort model was the first one developed It was published first in 1967 7 and then in 1972 2 and helped set the stage for the other two models The mathematical model developed by P O Fanger is probably the most well known of the three models and is the easiest to use because it has be
595. units cannot be used in same building 7 Fan coil units are incompatible with Calculated natural ventilation The Unitary single zone option allows you to model simple single constant volume direct expansion DX based HVAC configurations with several different heating options Direct expansion includes single packaged rooftop systems commonly seen in commercial buildings and split systems commonly seen in residential buildings In this system local cooling coils are used to condition air which is supplied to the zone through a local air delivery system Air delivery can be set up to ensure minimum fresh air supply and there are options for economisers to provide free cooling and heat recovery Note With Unitary single zone systems each zone has its own AHU and so unlike the Unitary multizone CAV and VAV Compact HVAC types Unitary single zone systems take all their data from the zone level System availability You can model unitary single zone systems with or without outside air If you include Air distribution with your Unitary single zone system then heating and cooling will only operate when the Air distribution operation schedule is on If you do not want to include outside air in your system you should uncheck the Mechanical ventilation 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models On check box In this case heating cooling availability is determined entirely from the heating cooling operation schedules unde
596. upply fan has two different possible operating modes The choices for this field are e 1 Continuous fan operates using air distribution availability schedule above e 2 Cycling fan operates when heating or cooling is delivered For most commercial buildings continuous fan operation will continue to supply outside air to the zones as typically required by code For continuous fan operation the System Availability Schedule see above is the supply fan operating schedule For systems where the supply fan only runs when either cooling or heating needs to be supplied to the zone such as for many residential systems cycling should be specified Fan Type When using Simple HVAC enter the type of fan Select from e 1 Intake fan blows outside air into the zone and the zone receives heat from the fan if Fan in air below 0 e 2 Exhaust fan exhausts air from the zone In this case there is no fan heat pickup It is assumed that makeup air comes from outside Note that in Simple HVAC the Auxiliary energy data accounts for all fan pump and other electrical energy use Fan pressure rise Enter the pressure rise at full flow and standard conditions Standard conditions are considered 20C at sea level 101325 Pa You can calculate the approximate fan pressure rise from Specific Fan Power SFP data using Delta P 1000 SFP Fan total efficiency 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 Where SFP is fa
597. ur to indicate that it cannot be converted 3 2 9 2 3 Edit Block Geometry Dialog PP OS POOBOO us You can edit certain aspects of a building block geometry by clicking on the Building model options icon while at the block level This opens the Model Options dialog box 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Model Options Building and Block Model Options data Data Advanced Heating Design Cooling Design Simulation Display Drawing tools Block Block Geometry Y Form 1 Extruded Pitched Roof Wall Construction Transition Y Allow pitched roof construction Roof wall transition Angle 45 0 Help Cancel At the block level the Block tab on the Model Options data dialogue box is enabled and allows you to change the Form of the block and to modify pitched roof assignment To change the form of the current block make a selection from the Form drop list When you change the form of a block from an Extruded form to Pitched Roof or Sloping Walls the original form will be remembered so that even if you have edited the block by cutting it or dragging a face when you convert the form back to Extruded the original form will be restored The Pitched Roof Wall Construction Transition settings allow you to control which elements within a block will be assigned pitched roof construction either by disallowing pitched roof construction
598. urface elements smaller than You can also filter out very small surfaces from the simulations and from the Navigator panel by defining a minimum area Experience suggests that a value of 0 05 is a good default If you set the limit much lower than this you will run the risk of including very small surface slivers in the calculations These can cause problems with EnergyPlus 3 4 2 6 Component Blocks Advanced tab on Model Options dialog Flat component block surface selection For flat component blocks DesignBuilder uses the selection made here to decide which of the 2 largest surfaces of the component block is used in the simulation as a shading surface Choose from e 1 Highest the upper of the 2 largest surfaces is used e 2 Lowest the lower of the 2 largest surfaces is used Definition of a flat component block A component block is considered flat when the 2 largest surfaces have the same area and constitute at least 95 of the total surface area of the component block 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 3 4 3 Heating Design Calculation Options Heating Design tab on Model Options dialog Data on this tab allows you to control the Heating Design calculations e Winter Design Day e Calculation Options e Heating system sizing e Advanced Calculation Options e Output Options This data is also shown before Heating Design Calculations 3 4 3 1 Winter Design Day Schedule types f
599. us number of windows in the single zone making up a block and this can slow down EnergyPlus simulations especially if carrying out daylighting analysis In this case you should try to reduce the number of windows in the model as recommended above 5 Try to use the smallest number of blocks possible to keep the number of surfaces down 6 Exclude semi exterior unconditioned zones from the model and replace them with an R Value 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Modelling Advice 45 7 Use Simple HVAC descriptions 8 Use the Scheduled Natural ventilation option 9 If you need to use Calculated natural ventilation in your simulations then you should aim to minimise the number of cracks and openings involved in the airflow calculations One way to do this is to Switch off infiltration calculations Normally DesignBuilder includes a single crack in each surface in the simulation to simulate infiltration If you have other openings such as vents windows doors etc in a particular block zone you can switch off infiltration This approach can be used in roof blocks or calculations such as cooling design where infiltration is relatively insignificant Switch off infiltration and create 2 vents or holes somewhere in the zone to allow the calculations to take place If you have multiple zones merged into a single merged zone you should make sure that you have two flow paths in total across all of the zones making up the single merged zone 10 Switc
600. ved by the AHU 2 The AHU has one Fan either a Blow Through or a Draw Through The diagram shows both to illustrate the position of both types 3 The diagram shows each zone with its Zone supply and return Zone Return Plenum plenums and also System supply and return plenums These are optional Parallel PIU Zone Supply Plenum 4 Also optional are Heat recovery Preheat coil Cooling coil Heating coil i J Damper y Reheat Coil Zone Return Plenum More zones See also Zone Terminal Units for more on VAV systems The CAV option allows you to model Constant Air Volume HVAC configuration with optional preheat main AHU heating coils and zone terminal reheat and several different heating coil options There are options to control the air distribution system in various ways including the ability to ensure minimum fresh air 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models 253 delivery to each zone set various outside air options including an economiser to provide free cooling when appropriate and heating and cooling coil temperature reset Only one CAV system can be defined per building Note the Compact HVAC type must be set to CAV at building level and in all zones which are part of the CAV system Other zones can have HVAC type Unitary single zone or Fan coil units but not Unitary multizone or VAV CAV Compact HVAC Airflow Schematic Air Handling Unit AHU Outside Air Blow T
601. vertices 3 Up to 400 zones in compact HVAC systems So if you attempt to use IDF files generated for internal versions of EnergyPlus in a version of EnergyPlus supplied by DOE you may find some surface or HVAC data errors related to the above changes To avoid this situation you should either 1 Explicitly target your DOE EnergyPlus installation by making the appropriate setting on the Program options dialog preferred option or 2 Carry the DesignBuilder IDD extensions over to your standalone version of EnergyPlus by copying Energy idd from the DesignBuilder EnergyPlus folder use the File gt Folder gt EnergyPlus folder menu command to your standalone EnergyPlus folder e g C EnergyPlusV2 0 0 15 3 EnergyPlus IDF Window Dimensions The window dimensions supplied to EnergyPlus are the total opening size window size including the frame but deflated by an amount equal to the width of the window frame The deflation is required because EnergyPlus expects window dimensions excluding the frame whereas DesignBuilder openings include the frame DesignBuilder takes this approach because it is usually more convenient to enter the size of the opening in the fabric The default window areas generated by DB should correspond with the Window wall WWR setting on the Openings tab provided you are using either Continuous horizontal or Preferred height facade types Tip switching off frames on the Openings tab causes EnergyPlus wi
602. vious backup if one exists In the screenshot below no backup had been made so the Previous backup option is not available x M Restore Libary Data Restore libraries supplied with installation Cancel v Restore custom data clear to delete all custom data Previous backup Help If you choose to restore libraries supplied with installation you can use the Restore custom data clear to delete all custom data option to either 1 Restore the custom data which existed on the computer at the time the software was installed or 2 Clear all custom data to keep only the data supplied by DesignBuilder Note to restore the libraries supplied with the installation and clear any custom data select Restore libraries supplied with installation and uncheck the Restore custom data clear to delete all custom data option 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Section Component Data DesignBuilder 1 5 Components represent individual building elements and can be referenced from other components templates or model data The following components are available e Constructions e Glazing e Materials e Panes e Profiles e Schedules e Textures e Window gas e Local shading e Window blinds e Vents e Holidays Library components are loaded into the model at the time the file is created and from then on they are associated specifically with the model and so are known as Model components An
603. wave radiation to the sky e Roofs heat gain due to conduction through all external roofs including the effect of solar radiation and longwave radiation to the sky Ceilings int heat conduction gain through internal ceilings e g zone above is colder e Floors int heat conduction gain through internal floors e g zone below is colder Floors ext heat conduction gain through external floors not ground floor e g floor in cantilevered space roof eaves etc Ground floors heat conduction gain through ground floors Partitions int heat conduction gain through all internal partitions e g adjacent zone is colder Doors and Vents conduction heat gain through doors and vents External Infiltration heat gain through air infiltration non unintentional air entry through cracks and holes in building fabric when using Simple natural ventilation option External Natural Ventilation heat gain due to the entry of outside air through natural ventilation as defined on the HVAC tab when using Simple natural ventilation option Internal Natural Ventilation heat gain from other zones due to air exchange through open internal windows doors vents holes and virtual partitions External Mechanical Ventilation heat gain due to the entry of outside air through the air distribution system You can exclude mechanical ventilation from the cooling design calculations by unchecking the Air Distribution On Model Data
604. when not used with a design safety factor Also the calculations may underestimate energy consumption in Simulations of buildings with poor insulation Note as a general rule you should prioritise checking building comfort levels when using Air temperature control and realistic plant operation oversized equipment supply temperatures very low when using Operative temperature control 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 3 4 4 8 Cooling System Sizing Cooling Design tab on Model Options dialog Design margin The Cooling Design margin is a safety factor used to multiply calculated cooling loads in each zone to give a recommended maximum cooling equipment capacity It accounts for the additional cooling required to cool the building down in a reasonably short precool period and allows you to be confident that comfort conditions will be maintained in all but the most extreme summer conditions risk depends on the Summer Design Weather Data options selected at site level Sizing method Sizing methods available are e 1 ASHRAE standard Heat Balance method implemented in EnergyPlus e 2 Unitary DX calculations are made through a detailed EnergyPlus simulation using Unitary DX equipment e 3 VAV detailed EnergyPlus simulation using VAV equipment 4 Fan coil detailed EnergyPlus simulation using Fan coil equipment Note you do not need to have the Compact HVAC model option set to use the detaile
605. with this issue before using operative temperature control to size heating and cooling equipment In our experience using Operative temperature control usually leads to higher peak loads in Heating and Cooling design calculations and higher energy consumption in Simulations Caution Operative temperature control can cause EnergyPlus Error 3 when using Simple HVAC or Cooling design calculations with Operative control in zones with strong radiant heat gains causing high radiant temperatures e g uninsulated roof or zone is highly glazed The error is caused by the fixed supply air temperature being higher than the zone air temperature required to give the operative setpoint e g 24 C The solution may be to use Air temperature control and to manage the high radiant temperatures using solar shading insulation as appropriate Air temperature control is easier to use as none of the aforementioned problems apply but it can lead to inadequate equipment sizes peak loads in Heating and Cooling design calculations when not used with a design safety factor Also the calculations may underestimate energy consumption in Simulations of buildings with poor insulation Note as a general rule you should prioritise checking building comfort levels when using Air temperature control and realistic plant operation oversized equipment supply temperatures very low when using Operative temperature control 3 4 5 3 Advanced Calculation Options Heating Design
606. xclude the area of any holes in the floor In this case if you have any gains calculated using the combined floor area you should either ensure that the area of the hole is very small or else use the Merge zones of same activity option instead and avoid using holes Why merge zones You may want to merge zones for various reasons 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 22 DesignBuilder 1 5 e Speed up simulations e A geometrically complex space in the actual building is to be modelled using more than one block in DesignBuilder e g Dormer windows Atria e To reduce the number of zones and simplify HVAC system descriptions when exporting EnergyPlus IDF data for use outside DesignBuilder f you have created a tall merged zone you may want to use the Air distribution model data on the HVAC tab to create a dynamic vertical temperature gradient This approach to modelling tall spaces is preferred over connecting a number of horizontal slices with air flow openings because it does not rely on getting correct airflow conductances between the horizontal slices Technical note Disadvantages of merging Merging zones can reduce cooling load peaks resulting in an underestimate of cooling equipment required to condition the building To understand this consider a building in the Northern hemisphere with two zones a North zone and a South zone connected to each other along the E W axis When solar gains are highest the South zone may ex
607. y is pressed until the perimeter has been completed or the tool is cancelled In the example below the vertical plane shown in blue has been selected the shape of the block will be drawn in this plane and the volume created by extruding normal to it When a block is added to the surface of another block a geometric link is automatically created between the two blocks 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 2 DesignBuilder 1 5 A hole can be added to the mating surface of this link the inter block partition in order to form one contiguous space 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd Building Models Note the Model option must be set if you wish the two zones in the 2 blocks to be treated as one zone in the thermal calculations As already illustrated a block perimeter can be drawn on the ground plane or onto the surface of an existing block in which case the perimeter is extruded normal to the surface on which it is drawn Drawing in a vertical plane without reference to an existing block To create horizontal extrusions from a vertical plane the first perimeter line can be aligned with the Z axis using the 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd DesignBuilder 1 5 eu Am a 1 The protractor can be used to place the second line in order to accurately define the orientation of the plane relative to t
608. y later change made to the Library components does not affect existing building models because they reference their own set of Model components Managing component data You can edit and move component data around in various ways 1 Add Edit Delete Import and Export Component library data from the Opening Screen Component Library tab 2 If a model file is loaded you can edit Model components from the Components tab in the Navigator panel Learning mode switched off or by using the Data management panel on the right of the screen Learning mode switched on 3 In either case to add a component open up the component type you wish to define by clicking on the to the left of the component icon then click on the category of component you wish to define Now click on the Green to add a component of the selected category 4 Import export Model component using the File Export Library data menu command to create a ddf file with the dsb model file open 5 To import the previously exported Model component data to the Component library close the dsb file and import the ddf file to the library 6 Load the latest library components into your model using the Import library components and templates to model command from the Tools menu when a model is loaded Any new data that has been added to the library since the model file was created will be imported to the model Also if there have been any changes to library component data this
609. y the weather data translator as being typical of the summer e All summer simulate the whole summer as identified by the weather data translator e Winter design week a week identified by the weather data translator as being the coldest of the year e Winter typical week a week identified by the weather data translator as being typical of the winter e All winter simulate the whole winter as identified by the weather data translator The above typical simulation periods are derived from the Statistics data from the currently selected Hourly weather data 3 4 5 2 Calculation Options Heating Design Cooling Design and Simulation tabs on Model Options dialog and Options tab on Simulation Options dialog Calculation description Enter some text to identify the calculation This will be used in reports and in the filename for automatically generated ESO files Number of time steps per hour Simulation only The time steps per hour is the number of times the building thermal network is solved per hour in the simulations When the HVAC portion of the simulation begins it s solution for the current time step it uses the basic time step as its maximum but then can reduce the time step as necessary to reach the solution The technical details of the approach are explained in the EnergyPlus Engineering Documentation under Integrated Solution Manager Advanced EnergyPlus users can obtain and view data at intervals of the H
610. y weather data dialog when the epw file is selected stat files are supplied with DesignBuilder and are automatically generated by the Hourly weather data translation process when creating custom weather data epw Weather data folder EnergyPlus hourly weather data a database of hourly weather data is supplied by automatic download or you can create your own hourly weather data Energy EnergyPlus folder EnergyPlus data definition dictionary see idd EnergyPlus documentation for information on this Eplusout EnergyPlus folder EnergyPlus error message file err Eplusout EnergyPlus folder Standard eso Output File contains detailed eso results to be read in by DesignBuilder Eplusout EnergyPlus folder EnergyPlus model summary configuration output eio file Note there is a free utility called xESOView that can be used to quickly view EnergyPlus eso output files Download it from http sourceforge net projects xesoview Eplusout EnergyPlus folder Report Variable Data Dictionary list all possible rdd EnergyPlus output reports for a particular idf input file Eplusout EnergyPlus folder HVAC layout summary file shows details about bnd the branches nodes and other elements of the flow connections It is intended for use in 2008 DesignBuilder Software Ltd 4 DesignBuilder 1 5 debugging potential problems and supports the EnergyPlus diagramming tool Eplusout EnergyPlus folder DXF file from Report Sur
611. zone or surface levels When entering construction data you could set the construction for each surface in the model but in practice this would be an extremely inefficient process It is faster and less error prone to set the construction as high up in the hierarchy as possible possibly at building level if all external walls in the building have that external wall construction or at block level if all walls in that block have the construction and other blocks don t Most data at the building level is user data as buildings do not inherit their data from the site level Defaults In short the rules are e Construction and Openings data is used at the surface level i e all construction and opening data at building block and zone level is default data and only data at surface level is actually used to define the model e Activity Lighting HVAC Equipment data is used at the zone level i e all Activity Lighting HVAC Equipment data at building and block level is default data The exception is AHU data for Compact HVAC systems which is set at building level common question is Why do I see Pitched roof constructions at building level on the Constructions tab when my building doesn t have a pitched roof The answer is that the Pitched roof construction setting at building block and zone levels should be thought of as the default setting for any pitched roofs that may or may not exist in the model further down in the hie

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