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Simple represenation of HVAC to match building metering

asked 2018-08-24 06:32:44 -0500

Jacquob's avatar

I am modelling a building with an air handling unit supplying air to zones at a given temperature and flow rate. The air is conditioned at zone level by terminal units. The building is mechanically ventilated i.e. no fresh air introduced at zone level, only at the AHU. I have very little information on the actual terminal units and AHU themselves in terms of system specs.

The metering strategy for the building covers the AHU on one meter and the zones' terminal units on another meter. I'd like to match the output from the EnergyPlus model to the metered energy. However, I have very little information on the system components. Fully defining HVAC adds a lot of uncertainty (dozens of variables for chiller loops, boiler parameters, airflow branches etc.).

I have been modelling the HVAC at zone level using ZoneHVAC:IdealLoadsAirSystem objects. From my understanding of the IdealLoads object it models an idealised VAV but the building in question has a fixed flow going to the zones. Also, I'd like to explicitly define ventilation from the AHU (flow rate from the AHU is one piece of information I do have).

Is there a way to model the system that gives more insight than the IdealLoads but without the full complexity of a fully defined HVAC system? For example, using a dummy zone to represent an AHU and linking it to the zones through an AirFlow Network?

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answered 2018-08-28 17:12:54 -0500

Not sure I completely follow the question.

If you want to use a dummy zone, you can easily use ZoneMixing to link it to other zones. But note that ZoneMixing has no impact on the source zone, only on the receiving zone.

A better option may be to use EMS (EnergyManagementSystem) to control the ideal loads system. If you have flow and supply temperature data, then you can use EMS to specify the ideal loads mass flow rate, temperature, and humidity at every timestep. But note there is a known issue regarding this. If the ideal loads object doesn't think there is a zone load, then it will be off, no matter what the EMS flow rate says. See issue # 5788 for suggested workaround.

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Thanks for the answer. I'll give this a go.

Jacquob's avatar Jacquob  ( 2018-08-29 09:02:30 -0500 )edit
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answered 2018-08-29 06:23:41 -0500

Sounds like you have a DOAS serving zone HVAC terminal units. It seems like you could use OpenStudio to model this (would help remove some of the complexity related to airflow branches, etc.) and have an air loop representing the DOAS (what you call the AHU) and assign ZoneHVAC to the thermal zones. You can use something other than IdealLoads and just let it autosize. That way you can have constant flow systems.

In terms of metering the AHU and zone equipment separately, there may be a way of doing this, but I'm not familiar with that at the moment. As a last resort, you could use the output variables for fan and heating and cooling coil energy and DView, or I personally like the free DesignBuilder Results Viewer, to sum up the energy use independently.

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Thanks for the answer. I'm trying to avoid using ZoneHVAC terminal unit objects that add too much complexity to the model. I suppose I'm asking if I can use the IdealLoads object along with some other E+ tricks to keep everything as simple as possible i.e. minimise the total number of model unknowns.

Jacquob's avatar Jacquob  ( 2018-08-29 07:44:33 -0500 )edit

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Asked: 2018-08-24 06:32:44 -0500

Seen: 338 times

Last updated: Aug 29 '18