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ENGINEERING DESIGN TOOLS TO ASSIST IN HEATER-COOLER SIZING

By Kirby S. Chapman
From Radiant Heating and Cooling Handbook
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER-AIDED THERMAL COMFORT DESIGN TOOLS
Chapter 2: THE DESIGN PROCESS FOR LOCALIZED THERMAL COMFORT
Chapter 32: EXAMPLE DESIGN CALCULATIONS USING ABOVE
Chapter 4: SIZING, DESIGN, AND METHODOLOGY CONCLUSIONS

Overview

Almost since the advent of computerized applications, researchers have worked to computerize the methodologies that are necessary to do the following:

  • Calculate the heating-cooling load for a building

  • Calculate thermal comfort parameters for a given heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) installation

  • Optimize thermal comfort relative to energy consumption

These programs have progressed to the point where they are classified as one of the following:

  • Whole-building simulations

  • Localized thermal comfort simulations

  • Auxiliary applications

Whole-building simulations help the user to select the equipment needed and to necessarily incorporate the efficiencies of the heat generation equipment and heating or cooling distribution design. Localized thermal comfort simulations determine the amount and design of heating or cooling required to meet the specification for the room or area, but they do not incorporate energy conversion or transmission factors. Auxiliary applications are specialized programs that enhance the capability of the master program for particular building components or performance features.

1.1 WHOLE-BUILDING SIMULATIONS

The most comprehensive and well-known whole-building applications are the BLAST and DOE/DOE-2 building models. These complex programs reportedly have had fewer than 500 users in the United States, mainly government laboratories and departments, corporations, and large engineering design firms. These computer simulations treat each room in a building as a cell that is at a uniform temperature.

Copyright The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2002 under license agreement with Books24x7
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