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Buildings.Rooms.FLEXLAB.UsersGuide

User's Guide

Information

The Buildings.Rooms.FLEXLAB package contains models of rooms, wall constructions, window constructions, and examples demonstrating their use. These models are created to match the FLEXLAB architectural drawings.

Use of FLEXLAB models

FLEXLAB models are made based on architectural drawings of individual rooms. The room models are located in the Buildings.Rooms.FLEXLAB.Rooms package. The intent is that simulations of FLEXLAB test cells are created by connecting the necessary room models for the desired application.

The wall and window constructions in the models match the walls and windows installed during the intial FLEXLAB construction. The data records for walls can be found in Buildings.Rooms.FLEXLAB.Data.Constructions.OpaqueConstructions. The data records for glazing systems can be found in Buildings.Rooms.FLEXLAB.Data.Constructions.GlazingSystems.

One example demonstrating the use of FLEXLAB models is Buildings.Rooms.FLEXLAB.Rooms.Examples.X3AWithRadiantFloor. The example is made assuming that the shading position controls, internal gains, air handlers, and central plant do not need detailed models. Instead it is assumed that experimental data is available and data tables reading that data are used instead.

Each room model is made to match architectural drawings. If a construction needs to be changed to match an experiment the construction definition can be changed in the Parameters window. Sometimes constructions are used in multiple walls, so the user must be careful to avoid accidentally changing the construction of more walls than intended. Detailed editing of a model may be necessary.

All FLEXLAB room models are created by extending the Buildings.Rooms.MixedAir model. This model contains several ports which must be used to describe the heat transfer into and out of the space. The ports are described both here and in the documentation for Buildings.Rooms.MixedAir. The following table describes the available ports:

Name in icon Name of connector Physical significance
u uSha Shade control signal.
1 = closed shade
0 = open shade
q qGai_flow Internal gains vector with elements
[1] = Radiant in [W/m2] floor area
[2] = Convective in [W/m2] floor area
[3] = Latent in [W/m2] floor area
surface surf_surBou Models walls of the room with the construction represented externally. The connection represents heat transfer from the surface (represented by a separate model outside of the room model) to the air in the space. The air in the space must be described within the room model. An example of this could be a description of the floor area within the room model, connected to a model of a radiant slab modeled outside the room model.
boundary surf_conBou Connects to rooms with a shared wall. The wall is modeled in this room, and connects to the air in the other room. The area of the air gap in the other room must be described in the other model.
air heaPorAir Heat port connecting directly to the air in the room.
radiation heaPorRad Heat port for radiative heat gain and radiative temperature.
fluid ports Fluid ports that connect to the air volume inside the space. These ports are typically used for air conditioning inlets and outlets, and for air infiltration when connected to the outside air. Note that mass is conserved, hence the thermal zone cannot only have air inflow but must also have a means for air to leave the room.

For an example demonstrating how many of these ports are used, see Buildings.Rooms.FLEXLAB.Rooms.Examples.X3AWithRadiantFloor.

Future Work

A list of items which still need to be understood and finalized is below:

Extends from Modelica.Icons.Information (Icon for general information packages).
Automatically generated Thu Oct 24 15:11:09 2013.