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'ClothingInsulationSchedule' not works in Fanger

asked 2025-07-09 06:46:07 -0500

XYFANS's avatar

updated 2025-07-20 04:30:41 -0500

Hello, I am trying to add Fanger thermal comfort model in IDF editor, but I found simulation results for "Zone Thermal Comfort Clothing Value" is always 0 (any time, any zone) desipite I have set ' Clothing Schedule' and used it in 'People'.(And I found using 'DynamicClothingModelASHRAE55' as 'Clothing Insulation Calculation Method' has clothing value not 0 ) My EnergyPlus version is 23.1. Here is my schedule for clothing:

`Schedule:Compact,
Clothing Schedule,       !- Name
Any Number,              !- Schedule Type Limits Name
Through: 4/1,
For: AllDays,
Until: 24:00,
1,
Through: 9/30,
For: AllDays,
Until: 24:00,
0.5,
Through: 12/31,
For: AllDays,
Until: 24:00,
1;

And code for 'People'

People,
102_Floor1_Zone3__50_61a6d223 People,  !- Name
102_Floor1_Zone3__50_61a6d223,  !- Zone or ZoneList or Space or SpaceList Name
Office Occupancy,        !- Number of People Schedule Name
People/Area,             !- Number of People Calculation Method
,                        !- Number of People
0.05447834,              !- People per Floor Area {person/m2}
,                        !- Floor Area per Person {m2/person}
0.3,                     !- Fraction Radiant
autocalculate,           !- Sensible Heat Fraction
Activity Schedule,       !- Activity Level Schedule Name
3.82e-08,                !- Carbon Dioxide Generation Rate {m3/s-W}
Yes,                     !- Enable ASHRAE 55 Comfort Warnings
ZoneAveraged,            !- Mean Radiant Temperature Calculation Type
,                        !- Surface Name/Angle Factor List Name
Work efficiency,         !- Work Efficiency Schedule Name
ClothingInsulationSchedule,  !- Clothing Insulation Calculation Method
,                        !- Clothing Insulation Calculation Method Schedule Name
Clothing Schedule,       !- Clothing Insulation Schedule Name
Air Velocity,            !- Air Velocity Schedule Name
Fanger,                  !- Thermal Comfort Model 1 Type
AdaptiveASH55,           !- Thermal Comfort Model 2 Type
AdaptiveCEN15251;        !- Thermal Comfort Model 3 Type
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Comments

1

Can reproduce this:

  • add IDF clothing schedule (similar to above example), with hourly variations (0.4 - 0.6 CLO)
  • add IDF Output:Variable "Zone Thermal Comfort Clothing Value"
  • ESO file holds 8760 "Zone Thermal Comfort Clothing Value [clo]" (hourly) rows
  • all 8760 rows at "0.0"

Nothing in the ERR file. No documented output variables for "Thermal Comfort Clothing" other than surface temperature.

Denis Bourgeois's avatar Denis Bourgeois  ( 2025-07-09 08:36:48 -0500 )edit
1

I have tried different clothing schedule, but the output of "Zone Thermal Comfort Clothing Value" is still 0 (all 8760 rows at "0.0") And in ERR file, I cannot find any warning related to clothing.

XYFANS's avatar XYFANS  ( 2025-07-09 10:33:00 -0500 )edit

1 Answer

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answered 2025-07-11 07:52:58 -0500

RKStrand's avatar

This appears to be a bug that affects thermal comfort when the ClothingInsulationSchedule method is chosen for the Clothing Insulation Calculation Method. The lack of documentation for the Zone Thermal Comfort Clothing Value is also an issue.

The good news is two-fold. First, from the code, it appears that this is just a reporting issue for this variable. The code is using the correct value for calculating thermal comfort based on the user defined clothing value. For some reason though, with the ClothingInsulationSchedule, the line of code that also assigns the reporting variable is missing.

Second, there is a temporary work-around. Change the Zone Thermal Comfort Clothing Value to CalculationMethodSchedule and then set the Clothing Insulation Calculation Method Schedule Name to a schedule that is always 1 (which tells E+ to use the clothing insulation schedule all of the time). I tested this and was able to get something other than 0 to show up for the Zone Thermal Comfort Clothing Value output variable.

I will log this as a bug and plan to work on it as soon as possible. Hopefully, this fix will make it for the V25.2 release. Thanks for bringing this to our attention!

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Comments

Thanks @RKStrand!

FYI, issue filed here.

Denis Bourgeois's avatar Denis Bourgeois  ( 2025-07-11 08:28:06 -0500 )edit

Thanks a lot! Actually I used DynamicClothingModelASHRAE55 instead. But now I have tested using Clothing Insulation Calculation Method Schedule Name and really got the correct clothing value, and the average PDD is the same as using Clithing Insulation Method (But this one get clothing value 0) It seems really a bug, should I upload .idf file for better future debug work?

XYFANS's avatar XYFANS  ( 2025-07-18 03:30:38 -0500 )edit
1

@XYFANS You are welcome to upload your file, but as part of the fix to this problem, I modified one of the existing test suite files to produce this output variable. So, I think this is already covered but what I did. My fix is just waiting on some peer review, so it seems pretty likely that this will make the V25.2 release. Thanks again for helping us uncover issues!

RKStrand's avatar RKStrand  ( 2025-07-18 07:41:01 -0500 )edit

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Asked: 2025-07-09 06:46:07 -0500

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Last updated: Jul 20