Energy Design Tools



April 2017OPAQUE 3.0 Beta TUTORIAL and USER’S MANUAL011112500OPAQUE calculates U-value, Time Lag, and Decrement Factor for wall or roof opaque surfaces composed of a single or multiple layers. These can be used to calculate the Heat Gain or Loss through the surface. Composite surfaces are constructed by the user from a library of materials and displayed in two or three dimensions. In addition, 2-D plots of Outdoor and Sol-Air Temperatures, Radiation variables, and Heat Gain/Loss through the envelope can be displayed. A unique new feature of OPAQUE allows the inclusion of microencapsolated Phase Change Material (PCM) in one of the layers of the composite surface and uses an efficient approximation algorithm to calculate average daily Energy Reduction when PCM is included.When in doubt what to do next, simply take the default input presented and click the Next button in the lower right corner of the current data window. On any display where you do not understand a term, select Help on the Main Menu.START A NEW PROJECT35433006985000When opening OPAQUE for the first time you will have a single choice – Start a New Project. On subsequent runs of the program more options are available which will allow you to continue a previous session or read a saved project file.OPAQUE is organized around Projects. Associated with a project is a location which determines required weather data (temperature and radiation) and a material data base. Projects then consist of one or more Schemes. Each Scheme describes a wall or roof surface in terms of an assembly of materials and associated properties. All Schemes share the same Project location and material database.350520025717500PROJECTA project is defined by a unique name; measurement units (Imperial or Metric); a construction Material database and a Phase Change Material (PCM) database. You have the option of selecting default material databases included in the program or ones which you have created or modified (see later section on MATERIAL DATABASES). A location for which weather data is available is also associated with a Project.Weather Data 320992586741000Weather data in the EPW format (Energy Plus Weather) can be downloaded from the US Department of Energy’s EnergyPlus site while running OPAQUE. You can download weather files for any of thousands of locations from around the world. Note that EPW data for the 16 California Climate Zones is automatically installed on your computer when you install OPAQUE. Files named CZxx.epw are for California Climate Zones, and the number xx corresponds to zones 1 to 16. 213741079184500When you Start a New Project or Edit an existing project, you have the option to Download a New EPW Weather Data File. This will link you automatically to the Energy Plus web site where you select your location of interest. Alternatively you can Open a previously downloaded EPW file or select one of the California Climate Zone EPW files from a map of the state. Once selected and installed, temperature and radiation data is accessed for OPAQUE’s calculation algorithms (see Appendix A).After a project is created you may Edit either the Project Data or the Weather Data by selecting from the Project menu on the Main menu.SCHEMEA project can have one or more schemes associated with it. Each Scheme describes a wall or roof surface in terms of an assembly of materials and associated. The Climate Data (from the selected EPW weather file) for all schemes in a project is the same, but the Indoor Comfort and Design Low and High Temperatures can vary by scheme. 184785091440001845310124968000A scheme surface is also defined by the direction it is facing - in this example South and by its tilt – in this example, 90 degrees which is the default for a wall. A roof surface defaults to a zero degree tilt.In addition the outer surface has an Absorptivity (the proportion of the incident solar radiation absorbed by the surface) and a Surrounding Ground Reflectance. In this sample scheme both absorptivity and ground reflectance have values of 0.26. Values for these properties can be determined by selecting an option from the list provided or a specific numeric value can be entered.517525825500051752526162000Section Builder160020096647000Once the overall properties for the scheme have been set it is time to build the section as a composite of materials. The Section Builder panel displays a list of materials available in the data base from which to choose. The table on the right hand side will display the materials in the section as it is built, starting with the Inside Air Film and working toward the outer surface of the section. Add a material to the section by selecting it on the material list and then click the Add button. Double clicking a material on the list will also automatically add it to the section. As each material is added the section properties are re-calculated. These include the composite R Value, the U Value (inverse of the R Value), and the Time Lag and Decrement Factor. See Appendix A for a discussion on the calculation algorithms.16021059461500As you are building a section, you can insert a material by first selecting a material in the section table, then select the material to insert from the material list and click the Insert button. To delete a material from the section, select it and click the Delete button. You may start over from scratch by selecting the Clear All button.If you choose to add a Framing material, a dialog will pop-up for specifying the framing properties. These include sizing and spacing the studs and selecting the type and thickness of the insulation (including if and where there is to be an airspace). A list of insulation materials available in the Project material database is displayed for selection.37909511176000 3790954762500Notice, adding a framing material automatically adds the insulation and airspace components to the composite section. These cannot be accessed independently for deletion or insertion purposes which is why they show as gray on the table of materials defining the assembly. Once you are satisfied with your composite section, select the Finish button. If you have not added the Outside Airspace as the final material, you will be asked if you wish to add it before the Section Builder window is closed.Graphic RepresentationWhen you have finished building the wall composite you will see a 3-Dimensional view in the right hand viewport of the OPAQUE screen with its properties displayed on the left. At any time you can return to the Section Builder dialog to edit your section by selecting the Edit Section button under the Material table in the legend.You have the option of displaying the 3-D assembly in a ‘Cutaway” view. Either view can be rotated by pressing the right-hand button and dragging the mouse.29235400000000Alternatively you can view the assembly in section. This view shows the temperature increase or decrease through the section from the Winter Design Low and the Summer Design High for the climate to the designated Indoor Comfort Temperature. The change in temperature in each material is based on its contribution to the total U-value for the composite surface.This temperature flow can be animated based on average hourly temperature values in a specified month. For example, in the first plot below the outdoor temperature represents the average temperature at 2 p.m. across all days in September. Alternatively, flow can be animated on a daily basis. The second plot shows the outdoor temperature for a specific day and hour (2 p.m. on September first). 64643094615006426207747000PLOTS OF EPW AND CALCULATED DATA31997652540000EPW temperature and radiation data along with calculated radiation variables, the Sol-Air temperature and Heat Gain/Loss values can be plotted on an average hourly basis by selecting Plot and then the variable you wish to view on the Main menu. Alternately you may go directly to the first plot, Dry Bulb Temperature, by selecting Display Plot on the 3D View legend. The Dry Bulb Temperature plot below shows a typical layout. You may display average hourly values for all months or just selected months.Page through available plots by selecting Next or Previous.At any time you may return to the 3D view of your wall or roof assembly by selecting the Return to 3D Section button.For some plots you have the option of overlaying a second plot. 175069517780000 For example, the lighter plot lines show Sol-Air temperature as an overlay on Dry Bulb temperature. Where appropriate you are also given the option of drawing the Indoor Comfort Temperature as a reference line. Plots of radiation variables have the option of overlaying any one of the other radiation variables.34848805016500ADDING SCHEMES TO YOUR PROJECTFrom the Scheme menu you can Add Schemes to the project. These will be new or modified wall or roof surface assemblies all with the same project weather data and material data bases.This second example is another wall section (Scheme 2).27571704635500You also have the option of Editing one of the current schemes (Scheme/Select Scheme displays the list of schemes to choose from) or Copying a scheme. When you copy a scheme the Scheme Data and Section Builder windows will display details of the copied scheme which you can then modify. 594995135382000In this example we make a new scheme by adding a microencapsulated Phase Change Material (PCM) to one of the layers in a copy of Scheme 2. Note that PCM can only be added to one layer of the composite surface and only certain materials in the material data base are eligible for the inclusion of PCM. If PCM can be added to a selected material, the Add PCM button on the window will be activated. The Concrete layer has been selected for the addition of PCM and once the Add PCM button is clicked a dialog appears to allow selection from the PCM data base (select a Core material and a Shell material). 166497026352500Once you select Add, the dialog will close and the name of the material in the composite is modified with a “+ PCM.” In addition, the material will be colored green in the graphic representation. Note also that the Time Lag and Decrement Factor are no longer displayed as the algorithm which approximates heat flow through a surface which includes PCM is not accurate for a single Time Lag and Decrement Factor. Instead when including PCM in your project, alternative designs are evaluated in terms of their Average Daily Energy Reduction. Selecting the Plot/Average Energy Reduction with PCM will display a Stacked Bar chart of the Average Daily Energy Reduction (as compared to the same wall composite with no PCM included) on a monthly and annual basis when up to four levels of PCM are included. You have the options to display alternate levels of PCM, scale the plot to fit (versus a pre-set y-axis scale) and plot with or without spacing between the monthly stacked bars.879475104140008794752622550021329654254500Alternatively you can display the plot as a Clustered Bar chart. In this example, the highest levels of Energy Reduction occur July through October if PCM is added to the Concrete layer of the wall component.Another plot available under the Plot option is a Heat Gain/Heat Loss graph which allows you to choose the volume fraction of PCM included (Percent PCM). The plot below shows the average hourly Heat Gain/Heat Loss for the wall composite with no PCM. On the following page you can see the change (dampening in the graph) as an increasing percentage of PCM is added to the concrete layer of the wall.00002967355238125003429023812500 5% PCM 10% PCM 15% PCM 20% PCMMATERIAL DATABASESTwo default material databases have been built into OPAQUE – one in Imperial Units and the other in Metric Units (both have the same materials). For calculating U-Value, Time Lag, Decrement and ultimately Heat Gain/Heat Loss for a composite wall or roof section the following variables are required for each material: R-Value, Density, Specific Heat and Conductivity (since the R-Value is the reciprocal of the Conductivity, if you modify one, the other will automatically be calculated). Also the material width is required and the database suggests a set of standard widths for each material, but the user can enter a custom width while building a section. Materials in the default databases were largely obtained from the 2013 ASHRAE Handbook with some additional materials from the 2006 CIBSE Guide A.The material data base is stored as a CSV file. While the default databases included in the program may not be changed by the user, a duplicate template database will be installed in the program folder if you wish to modify and save the database through EXCEL (see Appendix C for a description of the template format). The user may also modify and save a new database in OPAQUE through the Material Editor Dialog (select Material Editor… from the Editor menu).The material list on the left of the window displays the material database currently in use (when you start a new project you have the option of selecting a default database or one that you have modified or created). You have the following options for changing the database:Replace – Select an existing material and its properties will be displayed on the right hand side of the dialog. Change any of the properties and then click the Replace button. Add – If you have not selected a current material or you click on Clear to clear the property values, you may enter values from scratch. Start by naming your material and selecting a material type from the drop-down list. If you wish to create another type category, select Add New Type from the bottom of the list and you will be prompted to enter a category name. Note, if you enter a material name already in use, an error message will pop-up telling you to choose a new name when you try to add your material to the database. If the material has a Variable thickness you may specify up to three alternative default values for thickness. When using this material to build a section, the user can select one of your alternatives or enter an actual thickness value. If the material has a Fixed thickness, the value given in the database is the only one allowed. You can also specify whether or not this material is eligible for the addition of PCM and associate a color and pattern.Delete - Select Delete to remove materials from the data base.Once you have finished modifying the database, select Save As to save it to a new file or overwrite an existing file. Once saved, select Finish and the dialog will close. Now if you Start a New Project or Edit an existing Project, your new database file will be available to select on the Project Data input window. It is IMPORTANT to note, that if you change a material’s properties but do not select the Replace or Add button before selecting another material on the list or before saving the database, the new properties will not be saved with the material.Selecting PCM Editor from the Editor menu allows you to edit or create a PCM database in a similar fashion. Two types of materials are contained in the database: 1) the Core which is the Phase Change Material and 2) the Shell material which surrounds the core. Both types of materials are defined by an R Value, Density, Specific Heat and Conductance. Three additional variables are associated with a PCM: the Phase Change Temperature, the width of the Phase Change Temperature Window, and the Latent Heat of Fusion. Neither type of material has a specified thickness. Properties of the Core (PCM material) are assumed to be the same whether it is in liquid or solid state.249555-63500SAVING PROJECT FILESUser Saved Project FilesProject data can be saved to a file and opened during a later OPAQUE session.? Saved files are named by the user and given a .OPQ extension.??? The project files save the name of the EPW weather data file as well Project and Scheme properties.? You may opt to save a file at any time by choosing Save Project As... or Save Project... from the File menu.? Both options display a?dialog for entering a project file name. ? Save Project... prompts you with the current project name if there is one.?Before exiting OPAQUE, opening a saved project, or starting a new project you will be prompted to save your current session to a project file.? If you do not save the current session to a file, you will lose your current project data when a new project is started or an old project is recalled.?Automatically Saved Project File Project data is automatically saved to a file (opaque.txt) when exiting OPAQUE.??? If you select Continue Previous Session under Select Project Options, data from this file will be used to open the EPW file you were working with during the previous session and display all project properties and schemes.FILE MENU OPTIONS-63563500As discussed earlier the File menu can be accessed to start a New Project, Open Project previously saved by the user, Save Project or Save Project As… Two other options available on the menu allow the user to Export Data and Print graphic screens.26308051841500Export DataThis option allows you to write a .CSV file of selected EPW weather data variables used in OPAQUE's calculation algorithms (e.g. Outdoor Temperature) and variables calculated in OPAQUE (e.g. Sol Air Temperature and Heat Gain/Heat Loss).?? The Data File Output dialog presents a list of variables available to output to the spreadsheet format. ? First select the variables to export and then select the Export to CSV button. ? A Save File dialog will open for you to specify a file name and folder. ? Hourly data?for each variable selected will be written to the file (each variable will be a column on the spreadsheet if you open the CSV file in EXCEL or another spreadsheet program with the first three columns as the month, day and hour).? The first header line will be the location of the EPW data.? The second row specifies the following Scheme variables:? Surface Tilt, Orientation, Ground Reflection and Absorptivity.? This is followed by header rows of variable names and units of measurement.??? Note that the raw data in the EPW file is in metric units, but the file will be written in imperial units (degrees F for temperature) if these are the units you are working with in OPAQUE.? If you want the CSV file written in metric, you need to change units to metric in OPAQUE (select Edit Project Data on the Project menu).If data is exported successfully you will receive a message "Export to CSV file is successful."? You may then select another set of variables to export to another file if desired or select the Done button to close the dialog.2639060254000PrintThis option on the File menu allows you to Print?the OPAQUE content window (graphics panel, legend panel and title bar)? directly to a printer, the Clipboard or a PNG or BMP file.Select Print from the File menu to choose the output device.? You may print to the Clipboard and then paste the resulting graphic to another application or print to a PNG or BMP File.? If you select one of the file options you will be prompted with a dialog for entering the file path and name (the default file name is the Scheme name plus a description of what you are printing i.e. 3DSection or the plot name).? You may also Print directly to a printer.? Selecting Print Setup allows you to specify orientation and margins, prior to selecting Print.?? Note this Print option will also allow you to print to a PDF file if you have "Print to PDF" capability on your computer.APPENDIX A –ALGORITHMSOPAQUE employs the admittance method (Mackey and Wright, 1944; Milbank and Harrington Lynn, 1974; Pipes, 1957) to calculate the time lag and decrement factor for a wall or roof surface with multiple material layers (see CIBSE Guide A3, Appendix 3.A6, for a description of the calculation method with worked example). These are used to determine the total equivalent temperature difference (TETD) to assess the thermal load through opaque building surfaces. These methods were derived for wall materials with constant thermal properties and thus not applicable when a Phase Change Materials (PCM) is included. A new algorithm which extends the admittance method to evaluate the thermal load through microencapsulated PCM-composite building surfaces is included in the program (see Thiele, et. al. 2016, for a discussion of the original admittance method and the extension).Calculation of Heat Gain/Loss for a Wall for a Specific Month(m), Day(d), Hour(h)HeatGainm,d,h = Area ? TETDm,d,h ? U-ValueWhere TETD (Total Equivalent Temperature Difference) is calculated as:TETDm,d,h = AvgSolAirTempm,d,h - IndoorTemp + Decrement?(SolAirTempm,d,h-Timelag - AvgSolAirTempm,d,h)AvgSolAirTempm,d,h is the average of SolAirTemp for the 24 hours preceding the hour in question.SolAirTempm,d,h is the temperature of the outside surface considering the outdoor air temperature, the solar radiation absorbed by the surface, and the long-wave radiant heat exchange with the environment.SolAirTempm,d,h = OutdoorTempm,d,h + SurfaceAbsorptivity ?TotalSurfaceRadiationm,d,h/HeatTransferCoefficientTotalSurfaceRadiation = DirectSurfaceRadiation + DiffuseSurfaceRadiation + ReflectedSurfaceRadiationHeatTransferCoefficient is set at a constant 4.0 in OPAQUE.In OPAQUE, the three radiation factors making up TotalSurfaceRadiation are calculated using EPW Radiation data (TotalHorizontalRadiation and DirectNormalRadiation) , the surface Tilt, and the Direction the surface is facing.The U-Value (thermal transmittance coefficient) is the reciprocal of the total thermal resistance of a composite section.R-Total = (R1?T1) + (R2?T2) + … (Rn?Tn)WhereR-Total = the total thermal resistanceRi = the resistance per inch of the ith layerTi = the thickness in inches of the ith layerU-Value = 1/R-Total.The Timelag and Decrement are calculated with the admittance method (see references) based on the density, specific heat and conductivity of the materials included in the composite surface. The surface Absorptivity is a parameter specified by the user.APPENDIX B – GLOSSARY AbsorptivityAbsorptivity is the proportion or percentage of the incident solar radiation that is absorbed by an opaque surface. Most surfaces absorb only part of the incident radiation, reflecting away the rest. Dark colors have high absorptivity. Light colors and shiny surfaces have low absorptivity. The more solar radiation reflected away from the building, the less heat can be absorbed and conducted through the building envelope or transmitted through glazing; this would be desirable where you need to reduce cooling loads. Range of values: Minimum: 0.0 (A perfect mirror) Maximum: 1.0 (A perfectly black surface).Altitude AngleThe angle of sun above the horizon measured in a vertical plane. The sun’s altitude angle is always greatest at solar noon.Angle of incidenceThe angle that the sun’s rays make with a line perpendicular to a surface. The angle of incidence determines the percentage of direct solar radiation interepted by the surface. If the sun’s rays are perpendicular to a surface, they are said to be “normal” to that surface and so the angle of incidence would be zero.ConductivityConductivity per inch (k) is a property of a solid material. It is the rate of heat flow per hour through one square foot of material, one inch thick for each one degree temperature difference. Its units are BTU*in/hr*sqft*DegF. Decrement FactorThe Decrement Factor is the proportional reduction or damping in a heat wave as it moves through a High Mass material, beyond that accounted for by U value alone. The greater the mass, the greater the dampening of the heat wave. Range of values: Minimum: 0.0 (This is the case where the wall was so massive that the heat wave is totally damped out or dissipated and never shows up on the interior of the building. In effect, it means that steady state conditions always exist.) Maximum: 1.0 (This means that there is no additional damping or dissipation of the temperature wave as it passes through the building envelope). DensityThe ratio of the mass of an object to it's volume. It relates to a material's ability to store and conduct heat.Direct Normal RadiationThe amount of direct radiation falling on a hypothetical surface that moves continuously so that it is always directly perpendicular (normal) to the incoming sunray (i.e. always facing the sun).Ground ReflectanceThe ratio of incident radiation reflected from the ground.Heat Gain/Heat LossThe rate of heat transfer through a wall, roof, floor, or slab measured in BTU per hour, taking into account air temperature, incident solar load, convection at the outdoor and indoor surfaces, and conduction through the wall as modified by time lag and decrement factor. OrientationThe direction a surface faces measured in degrees from south or some other reference direction (in OPAQUE by convention South = 0.0, West +90.0 degrees).Phase Change Material (PCM)A phase change material stores and releases thermal energy in the form of latent heat by reversibly changing phase between the liquid and solid states on a daily basis. As a result, the heat transmitted into and out of a building through its envelope is reduced and delayed.R-ValueThe R-Value indicates a material's resistance to heat flow. Materials that provide a lot of insulation have higher R-Values. Insulation is typically rated in R-Value, for example 3.5 inches of fiberglass is R-13, 6 inches is R-19 and 12 inches is R-38. To find the performance of a whole building assembly, such as a wall, add up the R-Values for each of its components, to give the R-Total. The assembly U Value is calculated as the reciprocal of the R-Total (U=1/R-Total). Specific HeatThe ratio of the amount heat required to raise the temperature of a unit mass of a substance one degree to the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of the same mass of water one degree. Water has a specific heat of 1; all other materials are measured in proportion to water.Sol-Air TemperatureAn empirically derived temperature of a surface in sunlight. It includes the combined thermal effect on a surface of the outdoor air temperature, the solar radiation absorbed by the surface, and the long-wave radiant heat exchange with the environment.Time LagThe time lag of a wall is the number of hours it takes a temperature wave to move from the walls outside surface to its inside surface. Low Mass construction, like wood frame, will typically have time lags around one or two hours, while High Mass construction such as concrete or adobe has much longer time lags. A slab on grade, however, is in contact with so much thermal mass that the time lag is essentially 24 hours. Thermal time lag has passive design potential because it allows you to hold back heat from the hottest parts of the day for use at night when it is needed. Total Equivalent Temperature Difference (TETD)The hypothetical temperature difference used to determine heat gain/loss through surfaces with thermal mass. It accounts for the periodic variation of sol-air temperature and for the time la and decrement factor as this surface temperature moves through the building envelope.Total Surface RadiationThe total solar radiation falling on a surface is the sum of three components: Direct Radiation from the sun, Diffuse Radiation from the sky hemisphere, and Reflected Radiation from the ground and nearby buildings.U ValueThe U Value is the heat loss coefficient for any combination of materials that make up any part of the building envelope. It equals the number of BTUs per hour that pass through one square foot of the building envelope for each one degree difference between the inside and outside temperatures. The U Value is the reciprocal of the sum of all the R-values. U factors range from about 1.10 for a single sheet of glass to about 0.05 for a well-insulated wall. REFERENCESCIBSE Guide A3, Appendix 3.A6, CIBSE 2006.Mackey, C.O and L.T. Wright J, “Periodic heat flow – homogeneous walls or roofs”, American Society Heating and Ventilating Engineers Transactions, Vol. 50, pp. 293-312, 1944. Milbank, N.O., and J. Harrington Lynn, “Thermal response and the admittance procedure,” Building Services Engineer, vol. 42, pp. 38-51, 1974.Pipes, L.A., “Matrix analysis of heat transfer problems,” Journal of the Franklin Institute, vol. 263, no. 3, pp. 195-206, 1957.Theile, A., R. Liggett, G. Sant, L. Pilon, “Simple thermal evaluation of building envelopes containing microencapsulated phase change materials using a modified admittance method,” Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, UCLA, Draft 2016.APPENDIX C – DATA BASE EXCEL FORMATMaterial data bases are stored in .CSV format and can be created and manipulated in EXCEL or another spreadsheet program. The following three template data base files are installed with the program installation and can be used as models: templateI.matDB.csv – copy of default material data base in Imperial unitstemplateM.matDB.csv -- copy of default material data base in Metric unitstemplate.PCM.matDB.csv – copy of default PMC data base in Metric unitsYou will find the three template data bases in your “C:\OPAQUE X” folder for a PC install where X is the current version of OPAQUE you are using. If you have installed the program on the MAC, copy the data bases from the “Templates” folder on the OPAQUE installation disk image into your “~/Library/Application Support/OPAQUE/Material Data” folder.If you modify one of these data bases they must be stored in the same folders as above but given a new name – name.matDB.csv or name.PCM.matDB.csv. Note the .matDB and .PCM.matDB extensions MUST be included in the full name for OPAQUE to recognize the new data bases.Material Data Base Format (templateI.matDB.csv or template.matDB.csv)Row 1 – specify measurement unitsColumn A“Units” BMETRIC or IMPERIALRow 2 – column headingsColumn A“ID” B“Name” C“Category” D“Scales” E“Add PCM” F“Pattern” G“Color” H“Color” I“Color” J“Thick1” K“Thick2” L“Thick3” M“Conductivity” N“Density” O“Specific Heat” P“r” Q“Source”Row 3 – unitsColumn Ablank Bblank Cblank D“(y,n)” E“(y,n)” Fblank G“r” H“g” I“b” J“mm” or “in” K“mm” or “in” L“mm” or “in” M“W/(mK)” or “Btu?in/h?ft?F” N“kg/m3” or “lb/ft3” O“kJ/(kgK)” or “Btu/lb?F” P“per m” or “per in” QblankRow 4 – category description (heads a group of materials)Column AID – category symbol (“A”, “F”, “G”, “I”, “M”, “S”, or a new symbol) BName – category name (“Air Film/Space”, “Surface Materials/Finish”, “Building Board”,“Insulation Materials”, “Masonry Materials”, “Framing”, or newcategory name)Row 5 – material description (one row for each material in category)Column Ablank BName – material name (NOTE, the Name string may not contain a comma) CCategory to which material belongs (see symbols above) DSpecification “y” or “n” of whether or not the material can be any thickness. If no, thickness for this material is fixed at that specified in column J (Thick1). If yes, up to three suggested thickness values can be entered for selection by the user, or the user can enter any thickness when building a section. ESpecification “y” or “n” of whether or not a Phase Change Material (PCM) can be added this material. F Pattern category for 3D representation: 0 – empty space such as Air Film or Space. 1 – solid color2 – slanted stripe3 – slanted grid4 – horizontal stripe5 – brick6 – filled concrete block7 – concrete block2941320-78105008 – shingles9 – vertical stripe 10 – tile grid 11 – wood studs 12 – metal studs 13 – concrete 14 – insulation 15 – grid GRed component of color (rgb) HGreen component of color (rgb) IBlue component of color (rgb) JThick1 – first thickness option (the only one if Scales = n) KThick2 – second thickness option LThick3 – third thickness option (note these three options are for a drop down list of standard size suggestions. The user may also enter any thickness when building a section. MConductivity of material in “W/(mK)” or “Btu?in/h?ft?F” depending on data base units. NDensity of material in “kg/m3” or “lb/ft3” depending on data base units. OSpecific Heat of material in “kJ/(kgK) or “Btu/lb?F” depending on data base units. P R-value per meter or inch depending on data base units. QSource of material data specification.Rows of type (4) and (5) are repeated for each material category grouping.PCM Data Base Format (template.PC.matDB)The format of the PCM Data Base is the same as the Material Data Bases with the following exceptions: Measurement units are always METRIC.There are just two categories of materials: P – Phase Change Materials and H - Shell Materials.Properties of a Phase Change Material are assumed to be the same whether it is in liquid or solid state.The Width columns for materials in the P category are replaced by PCM related variables -- the Phase Change Temperature, the width of the Phase Change Temperature Window, and the Latent Heat of Fusion. These three columns are left blank for Shell Materials.No Pattern is attached to PCM materials (0) and Color is not relevant for the Shell Materials.The Scales and Add PCM columns are also not relevant so set at “n”.Row 1 – specify measurement unitsColumn A“Units” BMETRICRow 2 – column headingsColumn A“ID” B“Name” C“Category” D“Scales” E“Add PCM” F“Pattern” G“Color” H“Color” I“Color” J“PCTemp” K“dPCTemp” L“hsf” M“Conductivity” N“Density” O“Specific Heat” P“r”Q“Source”Row 3 – unitsColumn Ablank Bblank Cblank D“(y,n)” E“(y,n)” Fblank G“r” H“g” I“b” J“deg C” K“deg C” L“J/kg” M“W/(mK)” N“kg/m3” O“kJ/(kgK)” P“per m” QblankRow 4 – category description (heads a group of materials)Column AID – category symbol (“P” or “H”) BName – category name (“Phase Change Material” or “Shell Material”)Row 5 – material description (one row for each material in category)Column Ablank BName – material name (NOTE, the Name string may not contain a comma) CCategory to which material belongs (see symbols above) D“n” E“n” F 0 GRed component of color (rgb) HGreen component of color (rgb) IBlue component of color (rgb) JPhase Change Temperature in degrees C (blank for Shell Material). KWidth of Phase Change Temperature Window in degrees C (blank for Shell Material) LLatent Heat of Fusion in “J/kg” (blank for Shell Material). MConductivity of material in “W/(mK)”. NDensity of material in “kg/m3”. OSpecific Heat of material in “kJ/(kgK)”. P R-value per meter. QSource of material data specification.Rows of type (4) and (5) are repeated for each material category grouping. ................
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