Trying to model blinds wider than 2.5 cm with WindowMaterial:Blind:EquivalentLayer
I am trying to model 12.7 cm wide vertical blinds using WindowMaterial:Blind:EquivalentLayer. When I do so I get the following errors:
* Severe * Out of range value Numeric Field#1 (Slat Width), value=0.12700, range={>0 and <=0.025}, in WINDOWMATERIAL:BLIND:EQUIVALENTLAYER=WMTEUQL_BLND_KINDV_RF80_T02_A18_RB45 * Severe * Out of range value Numeric Field#2 (Slat Separation), value=0.12700, range={>0 and <=0.025}, in WINDOWMATERIAL:BLIND:EQUIVALENTLAYER=WMTEUQL_BLND_KINDV_RF80_T02_A18
The input should be in meters. It seems a bit strange that the slat width would be limited to a maximum of 2.5 cm. Wider products are quite common and for vertical blind a slat width as small as 2.5 cm doesn't exist. The input output reference also state that 2.54 cm should be the default value.
I am using EP 8.5. I have also tried updating to 9.0 but this still gave the same error. My WindowMaterial:Blind:EquivalentLayer object: (I am aware I am omitting visible properties. I am not interested in these and the exmple IDF shows they are not required)
WindowMaterial:Blind:EquivalentLayer,
WMTEUQL_BLND_KINDV_RF80_T02_A18_Rb45, !- Name
Vertical, !- Slat Orientation
0.127, !- Slat Width {m}
0.127, !- Slat Separation {m}
0.0000, !- Slat Crown {m}
45, !- Slat Angle {deg}
0.02, !- Front Side Slat Beam-Diffuse Solar Transmittance
0.02, !- Back Side Slat Beam-Diffuse Solar Transmittance {dimensionless}
0.80, !- Front Side Slat Beam-Diffuse Solar Reflectance {dimensionless}
0.45, !- Back Side Slat Beam-Diffuse Solar Reflectance {dimensionless}
, !- Front Side Slat Beam-Diffuse Visible Transmittance {dimensionless}
, !- Back Side Slat Beam-Diffuse Visible Transmittance {dimensionless}
, !- Front Side Slat Beam-Diffuse Visible Reflectance {dimensionless}
, !- Back Side Slat Beam-Diffuse Visible Reflectance {dimensionless}
0.02, !- Slat Diffuse-Diffuse Solar Transmittance {dimensionless}
0.80, !- Front Side Slat Diffuse-Diffuse Solar Reflectance {dimensionless}
0.45, !- Back Side Slat Diffuse-Diffuse Solar Reflectance {dimensionless}
, !- Slat Diffuse-Diffuse Visible Transmittance
, !- Front Side Slat Diffuse-Diffuse Visible Reflectance {dimensionless}
, !- Back Side Slat Diffuse-Diffuse Visible Reflectance {dimensionless}
, !- Slat Infrared Transmittance
0.9, !- Front Side Slat Infrared Emissivity {dimensionless}
0.9, !- Back Side Slat Infrared Emissivity {dimensionless}
FixedSlatAngle; !- Slat Angle Control
I tried editing the maximum values in the IDD file. For energyPlus 8.5 this takes out the maximum slat width limitation. I then run in to the problem that there appears to be an error where EP doesn't use the slat angle given to it (a bug solved in newer versions of EP).
If I try editing the IDD file in the same way with energyPlus 9.0. Changing the maximum fields here doesn't have any effect. Does anyone know the change these type of limitations for newer versions of EP?
Later versions of EP us an epJSON file instead of the the IDD. @MarkAdams might be able to help.