E+ : Accumulation Buffer Water Tank With No Fuel Heater Type

asked 2024-10-15 03:29:46 -0600

Behnam's avatar

updated 2024-10-18 11:08:41 -0600

Hello EnergyPlus Community,

I am interested to simulate a very simple water tank. The task of the tank is just to store the water, with no heater_fuel_type at all. It should be just a simple piece of metals to accumulate the water and serves the SHW or space heating when is needed. Let's say a buffer water tank.

I understood that there are some objects in EnergyPlus like WaterHeater:Mixed with the characteristics as below:

WaterHeater:Mixed,
  Big Water Heater,        !- Name
  0.151,                   !- Tank Volume {m3}
  Hot Water Setpoint Temperature Schedule,  !- Setpoint Temperature Schedule Name
  5.0,                     !- Deadband Temperature Difference {deltaC}
  82.2222,                 !- Maximum Temperature Limit {C}
  CYCLE,                   !- Heater Control Type
  20000,                   !- Heater Maximum Capacity {W}
  ,                        !- Heater Minimum Capacity {W}
  ,                        !- Heater Ignition Minimum Flow Rate {m3/s}
  ,                        !- Heater Ignition Delay {s}
  ,                        !- Heater Fuel Type
  ,                        !- Heater Thermal Efficiency
  ,                        !- Part Load Factor Curve Name
  ,                        !- Off Cycle Parasitic Fuel Consumption Rate {W}
  ,                        !- Off Cycle Parasitic Fuel Type
  ,                        !- Off Cycle Parasitic Heat Fraction to Tank
  ,                        !- On Cycle Parasitic Fuel Consumption Rate {W}
  ,                        !- On Cycle Parasitic Fuel Type
  ,                        !- On Cycle Parasitic Heat Fraction to Tank
  SCHEDULE,                !- Ambient Temperature Indicator
  Hot Water Ambient Temperature Schedule,  !- Ambient Temperature Schedule Name
  ,                        !- Ambient Temperature Zone Name
  ,                        !- Ambient Temperature Outdoor Air Node Name
  5.0,                     !- Off Cycle Loss Coefficient to Ambient Temperature {W/K}
  ,                        !- Off Cycle Loss Fraction to Zone
  5.0,                     !- On Cycle Loss Coefficient to Ambient Temperature {W/K}
  ,                        !- On Cycle Loss Fraction to Zone
  ,                        !- Peak Use Flow Rate {m3/s}
  ,                        !- Use Flow Rate Fraction Schedule Name
  ,                        !- Cold Water Supply Temperature Schedule Name
  Big Water Heater Use Side Inlet Node,  !- Use Side Inlet Node Name
  Big Water Heater Use Side Outlet Node,  !- Use Side Outlet Node Name
  1.0,                     !- Use Side Effectiveness
  Big Water Heater Source Side Inlet Node,  !- Source Side Inlet Node Name
  Big Water Heater Source Side Outlet Node,  !- Source Side Outlet Node Name
  1.0,                     !- Source Side Effectiveness
  0.005,                   !- Use Side Design Flow Rate {m3/s}
  0.006;                   !- Source Side Design Flow Rate {m3/s}

I make the field for the Heater Fuel Type and Heater Thermal Efficiency empty, however, it complains and will not run. The error results are as below:

Program Version,EnergyPlus, Version 23.2.0-7636e6b3e9, YMD=2024.10.15 10:14,
  ** Severe  ** <root>[WaterHeater:Mixed][Big Water Heater] - Missing required property 'heater_fuel_type'.
  ** Severe  ** <root>[WaterHeater:Mixed][Big Water Heater] - Missing required property 'heater_thermal_efficiency'.
  ** Warning ** Version: in IDF="24.1" not the same as expected="23.2"
  **  Fatal  ** Errors occurred on processing input file. Preceding condition(s) cause termination.
  ...Summary of Errors that led to program termination:
  ..... Reference severe error count=2
  ..... Last severe error=<root>[WaterHeater:Mixed][Big Water Heater] - Missing required property 'heater_thermal_efficiency'.
  ************* Warning:  Node connection errors not checked - most system input has not been read (see previous warning).
  ************* Fatal error -- final processing.  Program exited before simulations began.  See previous error messages.
  ************* EnergyPlus Warmup Error Summary. During Warmup: 0 Warning; 0 Severe Errors.
  ************* EnergyPlus Sizing Error Summary. During Sizing: 0 Warning; 0 Severe Errors.
  ************* EnergyPlus Terminated--Fatal Error Detected ...
(more)
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Comments

2

@Behnam, I edited your post to make it clearer. You suggest the tank shouldn't be fuelled, yet it has a 20kW heating capacity. As suggested in other posts here, here and here, maybe set the heat capacity to 0W. Maybe try "Electricity" as fuel type, and 1.0 for thermal efficiency.

Denis Bourgeois's avatar Denis Bourgeois  ( 2024-10-15 05:32:08 -0600 )edit