theothermy

HLCP, Hourly Load Calculation Program, version 1.03 has been released.

Visit: http://hvacindia.com/hlcp/ Read more on this article...

Hourly Load Calculation Analysis Programme for Indian Cities

Vikram Murthy and Rajeev Kakkar, ISHRAE Mumbai Chapter

Rajeev Kakkar is a Technical Consultant (HVAC) by profession, a graduate from I.I.T Kharagpur, and has over 30 years of experience in the field. He is also the webmaster for http://www.hvacindia.com, the Technical advisor for the "Hourly Load Calculation Programme" sponsored by ISHRAE, and faculty for IIE, the "ISHRAE Institute Of Excellence" training programme series conducted by ISHRAE Mumbai Chapter.

Vikram Murthy graduated from IIT Kanpur in Electrical enginering in 1975 . He is Director of Univac Environment Systems Private Limited and Trustee of Tropical Airconditioning and Refrigeration Institute , a recognised Training Centre, for Technicians and Engineers. He has 33 years of diverse experience in leading HVAC Contracting Companies , is active professionally and socially , serving ISHRAE as the President of the Mumbai Chapter for 2007 - 2008 and The Rotary Club of Bombay Film City since 1992.


Abstract:

The ability to make sensible decisions regarding the HVAC design with respect to environment and economics is of utmost importance. Air-conditioning load calculations in India have been carried out using single day peak load manual calculations. The commercially available tools for load calculations are either too simple to be used for professional work (low-end packages) or too expensive with long and difficult learning curves. In a recently concluded research project, ISHRAE and ASHRAE India Chapter have developed a database of the hourly values of climatic parameters. The next step obviously was to develop an Hourly Load Calculation Programme.

Key words: hourly load calculation programme; HLCP; cooling loads; EnergyPlus; ECBC; building energy simulation; hourly weather data


Preamble:

Considering the fact that there is an urgent requirement of a validated HVAC sizing programme which uses BIS Design Day Standards and also provides hourly outputs using the heat balance equations found in EnergyPlus (and as adapted from BLAST), the development of HLCP as an ISHRAE project has been timely. The ability to make sensible and well-based decisions regarding not only the prediction of energy consumption in a building during the conceptual and design stage, but also to be able to finally size the HVAC system, both with respect to environment and economics, is of utmost importance.


Current Methodologies:

Currently, HVAC sizing loads is carried out mainly by manual and spreadsheet methods based on the de-facto standard of calculating instantaneous heat gains using methods developed by Carrier, and based on tabulated empirical ETDs (Effective Temperature Differences) for fenestration, walls and roofs, apart from a myriad of programmes developed by individuals, which have not really been validated. The current methodology also adopts use of design day weather data based on simultaneous peak occurrences of DB temperature and WB temperature, and whose validity and source is not known and has been lost in antiquity.


Weather Data:

In 1999 the Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI), http://www.teriin.org/ developed a set of hourly Indian weather data sets for 52 stations from measured sequences of climatic data from 1981 to 1992 based on the concept of "coincident" temperatures in line with and in the format as published in the ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals, 1997. With the availability of WeDCo hourly and DesignDay weather data, and with the virtually simultaneous availability of a stable version of the EnergyPlus simulation engine, an opportunity arose to create a cooling load programme using WeDCo weather data as an input to EnergyPlus.

As EnergyPlus is more of a "black box" with a shell for input, which is more suitable for research rather than day-today sizing calculations, it was logical to propose and deliver a HVAC sizing programme with a GUI to serve the needs of the community in India.


Interfaces and tools:

The commercially available tools so far for energy analysis and load calculations were either too simple to be used for professional work (low-end packages) or too expensive with long and difficult learning curves (high-end packages).


HLCP, hourly Load Calculation Programme:

HLCP is simplified zone-by-zone method for calculation of HVAC cooling loads for sizing of equipment specifically for Commercial buildings, based only on numerical inputs. HLCP uses the "Purchased Air" system type in EnergyPlus which is itself implemented based on the ASHRAE cooling sizing method and the cooling design load calculations are carried out using the standard ASHRAE Heat Balance method. That solves the issue of validation. HLCP is not just a graphical user interface for the EnergyPlus simulation engine; rather, it's an interface to calculate hourly loads. Post-processing of the data also takes care of the hourly latent loads. The user interface has been kept free of icons, with tabs and buttons in plain English, so that even the average HVAC engineer is able to use HLCP after a few trail runs. The interface has been designed as a tabbed wizard, again for ease of use, without unnecessary clutter of providing options which may really not be relevant for an HVAC sizing exercise.

HLCP can do what manual or spreadsheet HVAC sizing programmes cannot. That puts HLCP right in the path of the ECBC. In all likelihood, energy simulation interfaces built over EnergyPlus, such as DesignBuilder will be prominently used for compliance with the ECB code, during the Feasibility and Site Planning phase, and the Outline Design Phase of the building. During this stage, it would be necessary for the building to comply with the ECB code, and at this stage the Architect would have a much greater say than the HVAC designer. As the building design moves to the Scheme Design and from there to the Detailed Design, it is the HVAC engineer who will most likely call the shots.


ECBC and HLCP:

On 27th May 2007, The Bureau of Energy Efficiency, India, BEE, released the Energy Conservation Building Codes ECBC, for Commercial Buildings. One of the clauses in the ECBC (apart from the clauses which specify the U values for walls, roofs and fenestrations), is that "The equipment capacities for the standard design shall be sized proportionally to the capacities in the proposed design based on sizing runs; i.e., the ratio between the capacities used in the annual simulations and the capacities determined by the sizing runs shall be the same for both the proposed design and standard design. Unmet load hours for the proposed design shall not differ from unmet load hours for the standard design by more than 50 hours."


Conclusion:

This really means that it would be a wise step to compare the energy simulation loads with the design loads in parallel, as the building design moves from the feasibility and site planning stage to the detailed design stage, so as to ensure that this requirement of the ECBC is met without any ambiguity. The use of a building energy simulation programme in conjunction with HLCP, using the same weather data and the same simulation engine, in this case, EnergyPlus, would ensure compliance.

Further Information on HLCP can be found at: http://hvacindia.com/hlcp/


References:

[1] ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals 1997

[2] Proceedings of the 23rd National Renewable Energy Convention, pp. 284-289,
edited by R L Sawhney, D Buddhi, and R P Gautam. Indore: Devi Ahilya
Vishwavidyalaya.
Extract: http://static.teriin.org/division/eetdiv/reta/docs/abs12.htm

[3] Review of Inside Design Conditions in Air Conditioned Spaces, by N. S. Hukmani, The
Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Journal, January 2004.
http://www.hvacindia.com/journals_20042005/2004jan/article05.html

[4] Weather Data & Design Conditions For India,
booklet published by ISHRAE and AIC

[5] InputOutputReference.pdf, 2007
EnergyPlus documentation.

[6] Carrier Systems Design Manual

[7] Weather data - ISHRAE
http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/cfm/weather_data3.cfm/
region=2_asiawmo_region_2/country=IND/cname=India

[8] EnergyPlus: The Merger of BLAST and DOE-2, 1998 - Dru Crawley
http://eetd.lbl.gov/newsletter/CBS_NL/nl18/energyplus.html

[9] What outside Design Conditions should I use in calculating a heat load?

[10] ECBC 2007
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Or maybe, HLCP has landed on the Eagle!

"Indian Interface to EnergyPlus: HLCP Hourly Load Calculation Program HLCP (Hourly Load Calculation Programme) is a graphical user interface for design-day and hourly load calculations for Indian cities, meant to be used with the EnergyPlus simulation engine. HLCP is a for-purchase program. For details, please go to http://www.hvacindia.com/hlcp/ "

http://gundog.lbl.gov/dirun/28nov.pdf

End of Post

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EnergyPlus "Most Wanted!"

http://gundog.lbl.gov/dirpubs/wanted.pdf

HLCP "Young Turks!"

http://picasaweb.google.com/hlcp.support/HLCPTeam

End of Post Read more on this article...

Update:

It is done!!

Name: HLCP - Hourly Load Calculation Programme
Date of Birth (DD/MM/YYYY)
22/11/2007
Time of Birth (24Hrs Format)
4:39:0
Place of Birth
Mumbai,Maharashtra,India
Latitude (Degree/min/(North/South))
018/58/N
Longitude (Degree/min/(East/West))
072/50/E
Time Zone
5.5
DST Correction
0
Moon sign: Pisces

And I'll be ready to ship HLCP!! The last bug has been captured, the screens are clean, the colours are bright again, and the software is well obfuscated. :)End of Post Read more on this article...

Update: The final HLCP Help file dated 20th November 2007 has been uploaded to www.hvacindia.com/hlcp/


Finally, a detailed 74 page Help file in pdf format (1.6 mB) uploaded for download to:

http://hvacindia.com/hlcp/

Screen animations coming soon. First copies of HLCP, the Hourly Load Calculation Programme (using the EnergyPlus engine), developed by ISHRAE to be shipped on Teusday, the 20th of November 2007. End of Post Read more on this article...

The IP example:

Click to enlarge

The almost equivalent SI example:






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HLCP requires that a suitable graphical help file be provided.

The Help file is a combination of still screenshots with text boxes, and short animated screen captures, for each "How To" for HLCP, basically to focus on how to get things done, rather than explain everything. Information needs to be presented in a logical manner so that the work flow is clear.



Since it is presumed that the user is familiar with HVAC Load calculations, there is no link to any "Reference" as such, but brief introductionary details shall be provide in text boxes on static screens to explain certain features such as "Project Masters", Schedule Masters", etc. which may be new to the HVAC engineer experienced only in manual Heat Loads .

To meet this end, an sectionalised HTML Help file, each section being a mix of static screenshots with dialogue boxes giving explanations, and short animated swf flash screen captures, which show an animated mouse cursor actually performing a certain task

The final file shall be a set of swf files, linked to HTML files, which can be accessed through the menubar of HLCP or even ported to a website.

"Wink" shall be used to create the animations, and "Shalom Help Maker v 0.6.1" shall be used for the compiled help file.

Download links here:


Wink

http://www.debugmode.com/wink/download.php


Shalom Help Maker

http://www.danish-shareware.dk/soft/shelpm/

You will need the compiler files for turning your project (the shp file and images) into a help file.


Help Compiler

http://www.danish-shareware.dk/soft/shelpmbeta/helpcompiler.zip


A preliminary broad index for the various Sections of the Help file is given below. (Note that within these sections, there would be sub-sections, i.e., that for each section, we may need subdivided sections to cover all aspects.

The proposed sections (index) of the HLCP Help.

Index for HCLP Help file.

Introduction to HLCP
What is HLCP?


Starting HLCP
Accessing the Getting Started pdf file
Accessing the FAQ pdf file


Defining a Building

The HLCP Environment
The Menubar
The tab bar
Getting Help

The user files
eplusout.csv
PostProcess.csv

projectname_input.csv
projectname_postprocess.csv
projectname.pdf

What is a Project
Starting a new Project
Opening an existing Project
Filling in Project Details
Saving a Project
Deleting a Project
Deleting a Project Master
Deleting a Schedule Master

Projects Tab

Selecting the units
Location / Weather Tab
Selecting the location
Selecting the Weather Data source
Selecting the City
Selecting the Range

Project Master tab

Project Masters Tab
What is a Project Master
Creating a new Project Master
Loading an existing Project Master
Saving a Project Master

Select the Project Master tab
Selecting a U value for the Project Master
Adding / deleting a value in the Project Master
Changing default safeties

U value calculator

Opaque U value calculator
What is the opaque U value calculator
Film coefficients
Maximum number of layers
Order of layers
Units

How to create a new opaque Construction...
How to select and transfer an opaque Construction...
How to delete an opaque Construction
How to add a U value directly
Exiting the U value Calculator

How to create a new window Construction...
How to select and transfer a window Construction...
How to delete a window Construction
How to add a U value directly*
Exiting the U value Calculator


Shedule Master tab

What is a Schedule Master
Creating a new Schedule Master
Loading an existing schedule Master
Saving a Schedule Master

System Details tab

What are System Details
Adding a new System
Deleting a System
Duplicating a system
Inside Design Conditions
Bypass factor
System multiplier

Zone Details tab

Defining a new Zone
Entering basic Zone details
Drawing a Zone
Saving a Zone

Entering Wall/ Partition details
Entering Window details
Entering shade (external to window) details
Entering Blinds / Drapes details
Entering Door details
Entering Floor details
Entering Flat Roof/Ceiling details
Entering Skylight details
Entering Gable Roof details

Internal Loads tab

Entering Occupancy details
Entering Infiltration details
Entering Heat Recovery details
Entering Ventilation Air details
Entering Equipment details
Entering lighting details

Input Summary tab

Reports tab

What are seasonal loads
What are monthly loads
What are hourly loads

Selecting the output type required.
Adding a monthly time period
Adding a hourly time period

The Run tab

Save and Simulate
Save and Simulate Later

The Outputs Tab

The Seasonal load output
Accessing the output csv files

The Error window

Read more on this article...

Useful as a common error list in HLCP documentation.


List of Likely Errors in data Entry:

While an extensive Help file, with animations has been provided, you may still face a few user errors. A list of possible common errors are given below. If you face errors while executing HLCP, check this error list first before contacting:



1. If you are seeing the Seasonal Load pdf output has lengths, breadths and areas far larger than they should be, (especially a multiple of 3.28 for lengths, or 10.76 for areas), it could mean that you are working in the SI units thinking that you are working in IP units, and vica versa.

2. If you see a severe or fatal error in the error screen, then possibly you did not "save" all schedules.

3. If you do not see the schedule populating a drop-down list, then you did not "save" all schedules.

4. Always "exit" HLCP after doing a calculation, and re-start HLCP to prevent faulty threading. If for any, reason, you still face errors, re-boot. This is not merely a "file" that you are dealing with. These are database "tables" and such problems occur sometimes, due to open threads (processes) and open tables, causing a conflict. It does not mean it's a bug.

5. If you face errors, please clearly define the error, and if possible attach a screen-shot (by using the "PrtScr" key on your keyboard, and send your query to "hlcp.support@gmail.com" It will be answered promptly. Only queries related to the working of the progamme shall be answered, not queries related to the theory of calculating cooling loads.

6. We expect values entered to be in a reasonable range, and that unusual values are not entered, so that the programme functions normally. Be especially careful of entering values null "0" values (in lengths for example), or negative values. There are no user entries which are negative.


7. If the hourly load is taking an unusually long time, please note that 8760 hour hourly loads will take time due to the extensive post-processing involved. To improve calculation times, increase the RAM. ensure that you have installed HLCP on a machine which has components rated higher than the "minimum" mentioned.


8. Just after a simulation, HLCP seems to hang. I am unable to click any tab.

This happens sometimes, because just after a run a small window pops up with the text "Successfully Completed"" and the OK button needs to be clicked. This small window sometimes is hidden behind the HLCP screen. In Windows XP, minimise all screens by pressing "ctrl d" and then maximise the small window and click "OK".

9. If you have made a mistake of not entering an item in the Project Master, and therefore do not see it in the dropdown box, remember, you cannot go back to the Project Master, add a new item, and expect it to become visible in the dropdown box! you wuold be forced to start the Project all over again. So, do fill up the Project Master correctly, and don't forget to SAVE it.
Read more on this article...

In the process of working on HLCP, I came across a few utilities which proved to be very useful during testing. These utilities can also be used on the .eso and .dxf files generated for the project by EnergyPlus through the HLCP interface.



xEsoView


xEsoView is a file viewer for Energy+ .eso output files. xEsoView uses the Qwt extension of the Qt toolkit from Trolltech Inc.

http://xesoview.sourceforge.net





DrawEzPlus

DrawEzPlus is a 3-D rendering tool that reads the geometry data in an EnergyPlus input file and uses a set of OpenGL commands to render the building objects. Two key steps are involved. First, the E+ input file is parsed and all vertices data is extracted into a temporary file, organized by type of building object. Second, the temporary file is processed by a set of OpenGL utilities that produce renderings of the 3-D data.

To Download DrawEzPlus 1.1, click here.
Courtesy: The Deringer group

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HLCP has been developed and promoted by ISHRAE, "The Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers".


HLCP, Hourly Load Calculation Programme.

HLCP software enables calculations of design day and hourly cooling loads from user entered data.

FREE upgrade to Version 1.1 for purchasers of Version 1.0!

Highly subsidised pricing by ISHRAE.


INPUTS

Engineer-friendly numerical inputs through an easy tabbed Windows graphical user interface.
Help file with screenshots for step-by-step guidance for inputs available in both pdf and html formats.


OUTPUTS

Output available in pdf format for Design Day loads.
Output available in Microsoft Excel or csv format for for 288 hour and 7680 hourly loads.


Why HLCP*?


FEATURES

Friendly graphical user interface.
WeDCo and BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) design conditions.
Uses the validated Energyplus simulation engine which is based on heat balance method.
Self-shading of the building.
Wall and roof tilts.
Window external shading and reveal effects.
Treated fresh air.
Design Day cooling loads.
288 hour monthly cooling loads.
7860 hourly annual loads.
Schedules for occupancy, lighting and equipment.


WEATHER DATA

WeDCo Hourly weather data for 58 stations.
WeDCo Design Day weather data, 2%,1% & 0.4% for 58 stations.
ASHRAE Hourly and Design Day weather data for 8 stations.

Stations covered:

Ahmedabad, Akola, Allahabad, Amritsar, Aurangabad, Bengaluru, Barmer, Belgaum, Bhagalpur, Bhopal, Bhubneshwar, Bikaner, Chennai, Chirtadurg, Dehradun, Dibrugarh, Gorakhpur, Guwahati, Gwalior, Hissar, Hyderabad, Imphal, Indore, Jabalpur, Jagdelpur, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jamnagar, Jodhpur, Jorhat, Kolkata, Kota, Kurnool, Lucknow, Mangalore, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nellore, New Delhi, Panjim, Patna, Pune, Raipur, Rajkot, Ramagundam, Ranchi, Ratnagiri, Raxaul, Saharanpur, Shillong, Sholapur, Sundernagar, Surat, Tezpur, Thiruchchirapalli, Thiruvananthapuram, Veraval, Vishakhapatnam

Developed and promoted by ISHRAE, "The Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers".


* Product suitable for installation on a single machine.

*For educational purposes only


Trademarks:

BIS© is a copyright of Bureau of Indian Standards

Microsoft, Windows, MS Word, MS Excel, and MS PowerPoint and/or other Microsoft products referenced herein are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

Intel© is a copyright of Intel Corporation.

EnergyPlus© 1996-2004 is a copyright of The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois and The Regents of the University of California through the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. All rights reserved. EnergyPlus is a trademark of the United States Department of Energy).

Sales Contact:

ISHRAE Mumbai Chapter
ishrae_m@vsnl.com

HLCP support:

hlcp.support@gmail.com

Webpage:

http://hvacindia.com/hlcp/

Read more on this article...

HLCP has been developed and promoted by ISHRAE, "The Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers".


1. What is EP and HLCP?

EnergyPlus (EP) is a simulation engine. Normally it is used in conjunction with a graphical user interface. HLCP (Hourly Load Calculation Programme) is a graphical user interface for designday and hourly load calculations for Indian cities.




2. What is WeDCo?

WeDCo means: Weather data and Design Conditions for India


3. How do I model Thermal zones? (Courtesy Energyplus, text reproduced from "Getting started.pdf"

This section provides a step by step outline that will help you streamline creating your building models for using HLCP.

Step 1: Checklist before you start to construct your input file:

EnergyPlus requires some information in specified, externally available formats; other information may require some lead time to obtain. The following checklist should be completed before you start to construct your input file.

Obtain location and design climate information for the city in which your building is located. If possible, use one of the weather files available for your weather period run.

Obtain sufficient building construction information to allow specification of overall building geometry and surface constructions (including exterior walls, interior walls, partitions, floors, ceilings, roofs, windows and doors).

Obtain sufficient building use information to allow specification of the lighting and other equipment (e.g. electric, gas, etc.) and the number of people in each area of the building.

Obtain sufficient building thermostatic control information to allow specification of the temperature control strategy for each area of the building.

Obtain sufficient HVAC operation information to allow specification and scheduling of the fan systems.

Obtain sufficient central plant information to allow specification and scheduling of the boilers, chillers and other plant equipment.


Step 2: Zone the systems

In the general sense, there are two types of "surfaces" in EnergyPlus. These are:

1. heat transfer surfaces and
2. heat storage surfaces

The first rule of building modeling is, "Always define a surface as a heat storage surface unless it must be defined as a heat transfer surface". Any surface, which is expected to separate spaces of significantly different temperatures, must be defined as a heat transfer surface. Thus, exterior surfaces, such as outside walls, roofs and floors, are heat transfer surfaces. Interior surfaces (partitions) are heat storage surfaces if they separate spaces maintained at the same temperature and heat transfer surfaces if they separate spaces maintained at different temperatures. A discussion of how to define heat transfer and heat storage surfaces will occur in later steps. In order to correctly "zone" the building it is necessary only to distinguish between the two.

A "zone" is a thermal, not a geometric, concept. A "zone" is an air volume at a uniform temperature plus all the heat transfer and heat storage surfaces bounding or inside of that air volume. EnergyPlus calculates the energy required to maintain each zone at a specified temperature for each hour of the day. Since EnergyPlus performs a zone heat balance, the first step in preparing a building description is to break the building into zones. The objective of this exercise is to define as few zones as possible without significantly compromising the integrity of the simulation.

Although defining building zones is somewhat of an art, a few general rules will keep the new simulation user out of trouble.

The inexperienced building modeler may be tempted to define each room in the building as a zone, but the thermal zone is defined as a volume of air at a uniform temperature. The general rule then is to use the number of fan systems (and radiant systems) not the number of rooms to determine the number of zones in the building. The minimum number of zones in a general simulation model will usually be equal to the number of systems serving the building. The collection of heat transfer and heat storage surfaces defined within each zone will include all surfaces bounding or inside of the space conditioned by the system.

1. Notice that Zones 4 and 7 include two rooms that are not adjacent to one another but are served by the same system. Because the air temperature in the two spaces is maintained at the same uniform temperature, the two spaces, though separated spatially, may be defined as a single zone. For our purposes, we will define them as separate zones.

2. Notice that Zone 1 and Zone 2 are served by the same fan system and could be defined as a single zone with 7650 cfm of conditioned air supplied to the space. The space was split into two zones because the designer expected higher solar loads on the South and West sides of the wing and wanted to examine the distribution as well as the magnitude of the load in the space.

When the building was zoned our objective was to define as few zones as possible.


Step 3: Prepare to Construct the Building Model:

Working from blueprints or sketches and following the guidelines in Step 2, the building zones were determined. It is recommended that the engineer sketch the building with its zones. Surface dimensions should be included in the sketch. Additional geometric and surface information is required before an input file describing the building can be constructed.

Compile surface and subsurface information.:

Building information:

Building North Axis: This syntax simplifies building geometry specification by designating one wall of the building as the building's north pointing axis. The building model North axis is measured from true (compass) North. Surface facing angles (see surface information below) are then specified relative to the building north axis.

Zone information:

Wall height: This is entered once. All walls are assumed to be the same height. If the height for a given wall differs from the specified height, the wall length should be adjusted by the user to give the correct equivalent area. In certain conditions this may not be possible and you will need to resize each wall accordingly.

Surface information:

1. Base Surface Type: Heat Transfer/Heat Storage Surfaces may be of the following types: wall, floor, roof, internal mass, or subsurface.

2. Construction: The type of construction of the surface (see previous table).

Subsurface information:

1. Subsurfaces are Windows, Doors or GlassDoors
2. Area: Area of the subsurface.
3. Reveal: For windows only, the distance it is inset from the outside surface of a wall.

Step 4: Finally Compile Internal Space Gain Data:


4. What are the outputs available from HLCP?

HLCP has three distinct and exclusive types of outputs.

Type 1:
Design loads - Design loads for summer, monsoon and winter based on WeDCo ambient design conditions. available as a pdf output, and also as a csv output.

Type 2:
Monthly loads - hourly loads are calculated for a 12 representative days corresponding to the 12 months of the year. Data for these 12 representative days are extracted from WeDCo. Available as a csv output.

Type 3:
Hourly loads are calculated for the user selected period (days). available as a csv output.


5. What HLCP would not do?

Dynamic Simulation by changing building parameters such as orientation, etc. (one could always do a kind of "manual" simulation by re-loading data with different parameters).

Input from CAD packages, and interfacing with the same.

Moisture adsorption and desorption in building elements, moisture load calculations, load calculations for cold stores, deep freezers (or calculations for DB temperatures below 18 °C, 60% RH and snow conditions).

Radiant heating and cooling systems, passive and solar systems.
Energy calculations, simulations and costs.
Sizing and optimizing cooling equipment.
Any special convolution required by a specific user.
Effect of heat recovery.
Interface with Linux, Macintosh, and link with TRNSYS, SPARK or other programs.
Effect of external shading such as adjacent buildings.


6. What are the features of HLCP over the conventional heat load calculations being used?

Self-shading of the building.
Wall and roof tilts.
Window external shading and reveal effects.
Treated fresh air.
Monthly loads.
Validated simulation engine.
WeDCo and BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) design conditions.
Heat recovery.


7. Can I do heat loads for multiple buildings?

No. You would need to do separate runs.


8. Can I change the outside design conditions given for various cities?

No.


9. Can I import a CAD drawing into HLCP?

No.


10. What is a "Building", System" and "Zone", "Multiple zones" as defined in HLCP?

Energyplus input is from a thermal model made by the user, from the building geometry inputs. Output is of the thermal model only.

A "zone" is a thermal, not a geometric, concept. A "zone" is an air volume at a uniform temperature plus all the heat transfer and heat storage surfaces bounding or inside of that air volume. EnergyPlus calculates the energy required to maintain each zone at a specified temperature for each hour of the day. Since EnergyPlus performs a zone heat balance, the first step in preparing a building description is to break the building into zones. The objective of this exercise is to define as few zones as possible without significantly compromising the integrity of the simulation.


Geometrical Zones: (Pic courtesy Energyplus)

Thermal Zones: (Pic courtesy Energyplus)

The minimum number of zones in a general simulation model will usually be equal to the number of systems serving the building.

Thermal model:

Sketched by HVAC engineer.
Zone has a common temperature.
Walls have a common height.

Definition:

Building Building has Floors (Systems)
Floor (System) Floors have Zones (Zones)
Zone (Zone) Zone has uniform inside conditions.

Multi-zone (one)1 Building:

Building: "n" Floors (Systems)
"n" Zones

Block load: Single Building only.
One Floor (System)
One Zone

Building should be:
Closed polygon.

Technically speaking, there is no limit to the number of Zones, Surfaces, etc. that EnergyPlus can process. The input routines allocate according to how many of these the user enters. Practically speaking, your simulation may take longer with more complex / larger numbers of these items.


11. Does HLCP consider self-shading from walls?

Self shading on the building walls by other walls, will only be considered if the building is entered as one system and one zone, as would normally be done, for an hourly load calculation, which as it is, is for a single zone only. Else, multiple zones are "unconnected" so to speak, and self-shading is not considered.


12. Can I change the calculated ADP temperature and will it reflect the re-calculated dehumidified air quantity?

Yes.


13. Why do we have to create a "Project Master"?

A Project Master holds all the construction types being used in a building, chosen from the hundreds of constructions that you may created in the U value calculator.

Constructions from the Project Master are then available for selection in drop-down boxes as "construction names" for selection.


14. What is a Schedule Master?

A Schedule Master holds all definitions of schedules for the particular project. Schedule Masters can be saved for use with other projects. See Masters menu.

Refer ASHRAE 90.1,1-1989, section 13 for representative inputs.



15. Could you list out what is not possible with HLCP at this version?

100% fresh air applications.
Moisture transfer applications.
Direct import of CAD data.


16. Why are film coefficients missing from the U value calculator?

EP calculates the film coefficient based on exposure, wind speed and wind direction.


17. What is the time-step being used in HLCP?

1 hour.


18. Can I get some training in how to use HLCP?

Maybe, at a future date, though currently there is no formal training programme put in place by ISHRAE.


19. Can I consider any external wall as a shaded wall?

Yes.


20. How are psychrometric calculations done in HLCP?

Through a purchased DLL from a reputed source.


21. People: What does the "Activity Level" describe?

Activity level is the amount of heat generated by one person.
The values are obtained from 2001 ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals, page 8.7, Table 4.


22. Curtain Glazing: How can curtain glazing be handled in HLCP

The concept of curtain glazing is akin to a passive trombe wall system, which is a glazing + solid opaque wall. Currently, you would have to model this as a separate zone.


23. Should I measure the outside dimensions of walls, or the inside dimensions?

Size of the wall is always the internal measure, although we look at the wall from outside when describing vertices. As far as the simulation is concerned, the inside and outside measurements are identical from a heat-transfer perspective. So, one could argue that the average of the two is more appropriate to pick up the additional outside heat transfer.


24. What are the outputs available in an hourly load analysis? Could you describe the output of the hourly load calculations?


Through EnergyPlus:

Zone Window Heat Gain[W]
Zone Window Heat Loss[W]
Zone Opaque Surface Inside Conduction Gain[W]
Zone Opaque Surface Inside Conduction Loss[W]
Zone-Total Internal Latent Gain[J](Hourly)
Zone-Total Internal Radiant Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
Zone-Total Internal Convective Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
Zone-Total Internal Lost Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
Zone-Total Internal Visible Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
People-Sensible Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
People-Latent Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
People-Total Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
Lights-Total Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
TaskLights-Total Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
Electric Eq-Total Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
Electric Eq-Radiant Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
Electric Eq-Convective Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
Electric Eq-Latent Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
Electric Eq-Lost Heat Gain[J](Hourly)


Through Post-Processing:

SH (Sensible heat total)
LH (Latent heat total)
BVSH (Bypass value of sensible heat, ventilation air)
BVLH (Bypass value of latent heat, ventilation air)
NBVSH (Non-bypass value of sensible heat, ventilation air)
NBVLH (Non-bypass value of latent heat, ventilation air)
INSH (Sensible heat, infiltration)
INLH (Latent heat, infiltration)
RSH (Room Sensible Heat)
RLH (Room Latent Heat)
RTH (Room Total Heat)
LIGHTFRACT Sensible heat fraction, lights, return air)
GTH (Grand Total Heat)
RSHF (Room Sensible Heat Factor)
ERSH (Effective Room Sensible Heat)
ERLH (Effective Room Latent Heat)
ERTH (Effective Room Total Heat)
ESHF (Effective Sensible Heat Factor)
ISH (Sensible heat, infiltration)
SHR (Sensible heat, heat recovered)
LHR (Latent heat, heat recovered)


25. Are the inputs available as an output file?

Yes, in the form of a comma-delimited file, and a pdf file.

The file structure is as under:

1 Units;
2 Source of Weather Data, Location, DB Temp Summer, Monsoon, Winter, WB Temp Summer, Monsoon, Winter;
3 System name, Zone name, Rotation;
4 Walls/Partitions, Surface Name, Orientation, Exposure, Temp Diff, Length, Tilt, Construction name, U value;
5 Windows, Surface name, Window Name, Quantity, Length, Reveal, Height, Construction name;
6 Shades, Surface name, Window Name, Shade name, Overhang projection, Overhang elevation, Right fin projection, Right fin offset, left fin projection;
7 Doors, Surface name, Door Name, Quantity, Height, Width, Construction name, U value;
8 Flat roof, Ceiling,Ceiling Name, Length, Width, Area, Tilt, Exposure, Temp diff., Const. name, U value;
9 Gable roof, Roof Name, Length, Width, Height, Area, Tilt, Exposure, Temp diff., Const. name, U value;
10 Gable roof skylight, GableRoof name, Sky Light Name, Qty, Length, Width, Const. name, U value;
11 Floors, Ceiling Name, Length, Width, Area, Tilt, Exposure, Temp diff., Const. name, U value;
12 People, Nos, units, activity, Schedule name;
13 Lighting Flourescent, Value, units, ballast multiplier, Fraction return air, schedule;
14 Lighting incandescent, Value, units, Fraction return air, schedule;
15 Ventilation per person, Rate / quantity, total, units;
16 Ventilation air changes, Rate / quantity, total, units;
17 Treated fresh air, Qty, DB, WB, RH;
18 Equipment Sensible, Total, Diversity Factor, Fraction lost, Units, Schedule;
19 Equipment latent, Total, Units, Schedule;
20 Infiltration, Value, Units;
21 Schedule Occupancy, value, value, etc.;
22 Schedule Lights, value, value, etc.;
23 Schedule Equipment, value, value, etc.;


26. How do I enter numerical data in various units?

Data entry has to be in the units selected.

If SI units selected as default units:

a. Whole meters: xx or xx m
b. Decimal meters: xx.xx or xx.xx m
c. Centimeters: xx cm
d. Millimeters" xx mm

If Inch Pound (IP) units selected as default units:

a. Whole feet: xx or xx '
b. Decimal feet: xx.xx or xx.xx '
c. Feet-whole inches: xx '(space) xx "
d. Feet-Fractional inches: xx'(space)xx-1/xx"
e. Whole inches: xx"
f. Decimal inches: xx.xx"
g. Fractional inches: xx-1/xx"


27. Can I change the safety factors?

Safety factors are user-definable, and can be set as defaults. However the range of values which can be input is as under:

The limits for safety factors are 0 - 20 %.

The default values are as follows.

Sensible load safety = 3%
Supply fan heat gain = 5%
Return fan heat gain = 0%
Return air duct gain = 0%
Latent load safety = 3%
Pump and pipe losses = 0%"
Pump and pipe losses = 0%

(This is a part of the equipment load, not the room load. For centrally air
conditioned systems, the losses are taken to be 3% of the sum of
sensible and latent loads.)

Supply fan heat gains:

Supply fan heat gains could be taken as follows:

Up to 40 mm static pressure, 3%
Between 40 and 50 mm, 5%
Between 50 and 100 mm, 12%
Above 100 mm, 17.5%


28. How many layers can I have in a construction?

A maximum of 10 layers are permitted for layered constructions.

Layers are to be sorted, "Outside" to Inside" by user, unless the construction
is symmetrical, in which case it does not matter. Layers can be sorted


29. Are user-defined materials possible?

User defined materials and constructions are also possible.


30. Is there a limit to the thickness of a material in a construction?

Yes, the limit is 3 metres.


31. What enhancements are expected in version 1.1?

The major enhancements shall be:

1. Return air with plenum.
2. Direct entry of composite U values, and / or ECBC U values.
3. SI output of seasonal loads.
4. At least 6 more cities in the WeDCo database.


32. What is the minimum system requirements?

1. Seasonal and Monthly loads:

Windows® System OS:

* Intel Pentium® IV 1.7 GHz or eq. AMD.
* 512 MB or more of RAM
* 32 MB graphics card.
* 1.0 GB available HD space
* 24x CD-ROM drive
* A 56k or better Internet connection
(for registration only).

2. Hourly loads.

Windows® System XP OS:

* Intel Pentium® IV 2.4 GHz or eq. AMD.
* 1024 MB or more of RAM
* 64 MB graphics card.
* 2.0 GB available HD space
* 24x CD-ROM drive
* A 56k or better Internet connection
(for registration only).
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