EXPANDING THE CAPABILITIES OF DOE'S ENERGYPLUS BUILDING ENERGY SIMULATION PROGRAM
EnergyPlus{trademark} is a new generation analysis tool that is being developed, tested, and commercialized to support DOE's Building Technologies (BT) Program in terms of whole-building, component, and systems R&D (http://www.energyplus.gov). It will also support evaluation and decision making of zero energy building (ZEB) energy efficiency and supply technologies during new building design and existing building retrofits. Version 1.0 of EnergyPlus was released in April 2001, followed by six updated versions over the ensuing three-year period. This report summarizes work performed by the University of Central Florida's Florida Solar Energy Center (UCF/FSEC) to expand the capabilities of EnergyPlus. The project tasks involved implementing, testing, and documenting the following new features: (1) A model for energy recovery ventilation equipment that transfers both sensible (temperature) and latent (moisture) energy between building exhaust air and incoming outdoor ventilation air; (2) A model to account for the degradation of cooling coil dehumidification performance at part-load conditions; (3) A model for cooling coils augmented with air-to-air heat exchangers for improved dehumidification; and (4) A heat transfer coefficient calculator and automatic sizing algorithms for the existing EnergyPlus cooling tower model. UCF/FSEC located existing mathematical models for these features and incorporated them into EnergyPlus. The software models were written using Fortran-90 and were integrated within EnergyPlus in accordance with the EnergyPlus Programming Standard and Module Developer's Guide. Each model/feature was thoroughly tested and identified errors were repaired. Upon completion of each model implementation, the existing EnergyPlus documentation (Input Output Reference and Engineering Document) was updated with information describing the new model/feature.
- Research Organization:
- Florida Solar Energy Center (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC26-01NT41249
- OSTI ID:
- 828670
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 1 Apr 2004
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Advancement of DOE's EnergyPlus Building Energy Simulation Payment
EnergyPlus Analysis Capabilities for Use in California Building Energy Efficiency Standards Development and Compliance Calculations