Performance components help architects and consultants deliver low maintenance, energy efficient designs within the built environment. Pre-built manufacturer assemblies, such as ‘Monodraught Windcatchers’, can be imported to the Virtual Environment, providing a mix of geometry and thermal data as per manufacturer specification. Components fall into three distinct categories:
· Object
· Space
· Panel
Object components are components that can be placed within rooms. Traditionally these have been used for visualisation purposes within applications such as Radiance and also as CFD heat sources for use in Microflo.
Space components are components that when placed and finalized, become part of the actual building model; Windcatchers being the prime example of this. The user places the Windcatcher component accordingly and then chooses the option “Finalize”. It’s at this point that the component geometry is merged/formed into the building model. This pre-built Windcatcher has been assembled in accordance with manufacturer specification and can now be simulated without further user intervention. Essentially, this drag and drop feature allows the user to quickly model items, such as Windcatchers efficiently and accurately.
Panel components are components that can be placed on a surface. An example would be a PV panel. As with space components, these can be built as per manufacturer or user specification and then placed onto a selected surface in a similar manner to that of the window placement tool already available in the VE. Please search for PV panels to be directed to the relevant pages of this Help Site, for more information.
