Heat pump clothes dryer in EnergyPlus?

asked 2017-04-03 14:38:35 -0600

updated 2017-04-15 09:08:41 -0600

What would be the best way to model a heat pump clothes dryer in EnergyPlus, vented and/or ventless? I see that BEopt has the option.

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The BEopt team has been hard at work moving all of the BEopt functionality into EnergyPlus proper or OpenStudio as appropriate. If you could do this in BEopt, you can either already do it in EnergyPlus or will be able to shortly. Will leave it to NREL gang to answer the specific (adding beopt tag so they pick it up).

__AmirRoth__ ( 2017-04-03 20:35:29 -0600 )edit

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answered 2017-04-04 10:23:40 -0600

shorowit

11931 ●203 ●9 https://www.nrel.gov/b...

updated 2017-04-04 10:24:40 -0600

You have two options here.

If using OpenStudio, we have an electric clothes dryer measure that you can use. The inputs for the measure can be obtained from the BEopt heat pump clothes dryer option (which were provided by FSEC).
If using EnergyPlus, you could run two simulations in BEopt (one with no clothes dryer and one with the heat pump clothes dryer), diff the two EnergyPlus IDF files, and add the necessary objects to your file.

Note: The energy use of a clothes dryer is strongly tied to what clothes washer is used (and hence, the remaining moisture) as well as the number of bedrooms (which dictates number of drying loads). In both options, you'll want to specify these appropriately.

Note: Clothes dryer venting is not as straightforward. We currently handle it in BEopt as part of a larger EMS-based routine that incorporates interactions of infiltration, ventilation, and duct leakage. We're hoping to switch over to Airflow Network longer term. The way that you model dryer venting will be specific to how you are already modeling airflow in your EnergyPlus model.

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Thanks for the help!

Matthew_Boyd ( 2017-04-04 12:51:24 -0600 )edit

Hi Scott, Was the crediting for ventless dryers ever integrated into BEopt/EnergyPlus? It would appear to be a significant impact of this technology which many other tools overlook.

jpierce ( 2024-12-02 07:33:33 -0600 )edit

@jpierce Yes, clothes dryer options in BEopt can be either vented or ventless; note the "Exhaust (cfm)" property which is 100 cfm for all vented options and 0 cfm for ventless options.