The new ‘Generate system loads and sizing report’ dialog is available from the following locations:
· ApacheHVAC toolbar button
· VistaPro (selecting a .cln or .htn file in VistaPro and clicking “Heating and Cooling report” button)
· Selected navigators (PRM and Prototype system sizing)
Figure 4 - 1 : Generate system loads and sizing reports dialog within the VE
Note that system level sizing using ASHRAE Loads analysis must be completed to provide the .cln and .htn results files necessary for generating system loads reports. This can be done via ApacheHVAC, the 90.1 PRM Navigator, or directly from the ASHRAE Loads dialog.
Select results file
This section of the dialog allows the user to select a results file that will be used to generate the reports. One file can be selected at a time with the default selection always being the first one on the list.
Select report sections to generate
The new sizing reports are presented as a series of single page PDFs broken down over the following six types:
· Project and Climate
This is presented as a single page report for each file selected. It details model, location, weather and calculation data as well as giving a building loads summary. Further details can be found in Section 5.1 .
· Plant loops & equipment
This report presents data for each active plant loop and associated equipment in a series of frames. Depending on the amount of active loops, this may flow across multiple pages. Further details can be found in Section 5.2 .
· Space loads and ventilation
This report displays system, zone and room level loads and airflows that are the coincident peaks taken from the Room & Zone Loads run, System Loads run or System Parameters UI as appropriate. Further details can be found in Section 5.3 .
· System loads
A single page report is presented for each system within the selected results file. This page shows a detailed breakdown of each system in terms of peak coil performance as well as displaying ancillary information like temperatures, airflow, engineering checks etc. based on the System Loads run. Further details can be found in Section 5.4 .
· Zone loads
Similar to the system loads report, this page shows the breakdown at a zone level. This selection will be greyed out if HVAC zones do not exist in the ApacheHVAC file. Further details can be found in Section 5.4 .
· Room loads
Similar to the system and zone loads report, this page shows the breakdown at a room level. Further details can be found in Section 5.4 .
The user can select which reports are generated by checking or unchecking each report. By default, all reports are included.
Report generator settings
This section of the dialog includes two user options:
· Set peak time for reporting
· Include/exclude oversizing for coils, equipment, and zone loads
Select report sections to generate
This applies to the System, Zone and Room loads reports and allows the user to set the appropriate peaking devices (and thus peak time) for use in the cooling and heating coil peak frames of these reports. The dialog is launched by selecting the “Peak time for loads reporting…” button.
Figure 4 - 2 : Peak Time for Loads Reporting dialog where user can select relevant peaking device to determine peak time for loads reporting
If the results file has more than one HVAC system then these are listed and are individually selectable. Once the system is selected the dialog will auto select the most appropriate heating and cooling peaking device based on the system type and configuration e.g. in this case the system is 07a VAV with Reheat and the software has auto selected the AHU cooling coil and the Zone reheat coils as the relevant peaking devices.
These selections can be overridden by the user by simply selecting from the appropriate dropdown for each load report type (system/zone/room).
It should be noted that room units cannot currently be selected as a peaking device.
Oversizing
A dropdown selector has been provided to allow the user to determine, at the time of report generation, whether the reported values will include the application of oversizing factors. For coils and equipment, this applies to the oversizing factors for each of these items within the ApacheHVAC interface.
In the case of zone loads, the inclusion of oversizing factors reports values for zone cooling loads and zone heating loads in the Space loads and ventilation report after the application of oversizing factors set for each zone on the Zone Loads & Supply Airflows tab of the System Parameters dialog in ApacheHVAC. When Room components are used (rather than Zone components) in ApacheHVAC, each Room is equivalent to an HVAC Zone. When this is true, the loads for Rooms on each system within the Space loads and Ventilation report are similarly affected.
This does not affect the contributing loads on the detailed Room Loads and Zone Loads reports.
Figure 4 - 3 : Generate system loads and sizing reports dialog with option to include or exclude oversizing factors for coils, equipment, and zone loads highlighted
The inclusion/exclusion of oversizing factors has the following impact on the different report types:
· Project and Climate
Regardless of the toggle, the project cooling and heating loads are coincident peak values for all conditioned spaces without oversizing.
· Plant loops & equipment
All equipment and loop capacities will include or exclude oversizing factors during report generation depending on the user selection.
· Space loads and ventilation
Zone loads for cooling and heating are each coincident peak values with respect to constituent rooms with/without oversizing factors applied. Zone airflows are design values that include oversizing and other influences as set for individual zones in System Parameters.
· System, Zone and Room loads
Coil and room unit capacities will include or exclude oversizing factors during report generation depending on the user selection.
Dynamic notes have been added to each report to reflect the user selection in this dialog.
HTML Reports
The Generate system loads and sizing report dialog gives access to the VE2016 HTML based sizing reports and the ASHRAE 62.1 ventilation reports. These are not included by default.
Figure 4 - 4 : Generate system loads and sizing reports dialog with options for HTML reports highlighted
Content Manager
When the user selection is complete, the selected reports can be generated by clicking the ‘OK’ button. The PDF containing these reports will be generated and has the same name as the .cln and .htn files from the System Loads run. It is saved to the project scripts folder and is added to content manager for future viewing.
Figure 4 - 5 : Content Manager alert that appears following the generation of any loads reports
Content manager is the reports repository in the VE and can be accessed via a popup after the report generation process is complete as shown above or via the tools menu at anytime, as well as accessed from some navigators.
Content manager lists the available reports on the left hand side frame and displays the contents on the right hand side. Reports can be fully investigated, filtered, deleted, or opened externally in a local PDF viewer.
Figure 4 - 6 : Content manager and PDF viewer showing an example loads report page
