Power Capacity control at each time step in EnergyPlus

Hi to all, I am struggling to find a quick and easy way to control the power capacity (either heating or cooling) of a building at each time step, using EnergyPlus. I am not considering any specific system, so the IdealLoad's object suits me well on this. It has a parameter to limit the power, but as far as I've investigated, I couldn't find a way to make this parameter being controlled by a schedule, actuator or EMS variables. Does anybody know how to make this parameter changeable ? And if not possible using IdealLoads model, what models would be the best to enable the power capacity to be controlled ? Thanks in advance for any help on this Xavier

xavfa

asked 2021-08-20 03:39:38 -0500

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__AmirRoth__

updated 2022-02-05 15:32:06 -0500

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If you really need to control only a htg/clg power supplied to a space, you can use an OtherEquipment obj and then control the EMS actuator

EnergyManagementSystem:Actuator Available, *,OtherEquipment,Power Level,[W]

You can set convective/radiant fraction to simulate some kind of terminal units;

positive numbers stand for heat gain to the zone --> heating like

negative numbers stand for heat losses to the zone --> cooling like

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answered 2021-08-20 15:09:39 -0500

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You could indirectly control the capacity with these actuators. Controlling the mass flow rate and supply temperature/humidity effectively controls the capacity.

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bonnema

answered 2021-08-21 08:01:18 -0500

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Thanks a lot for tips ! @bonnema, may thanks, I've search for controlling either mass flow or Temp as it leads to the same effect indeed, but I didn't knew/catch that these could be controllable with actuators ! I will dig into this option. Thanks. @Ag, thanks for the workaround, but the IdealLoad still have options that are useful. I still need to represent a lot of possible HVAC systems in an automatic way (fully exhaust, balanced, with or not heat recovery, all with the same scripts and avoiding making if/then/else everywhere).

xavfa (2021-08-23 02:46:47 -0500) edit