[Equest-users] [HELP]eQUEST error---exceed maximum number of expression

[Pasha Korber-Gonzalez]

For all energy models, the goal should be to build your building with a few
shells as possible.  If few means 2 or 20 it doesn't matter.

I recently am helping a new modeler with thier project file and found that
they had one shell per zone...in essence they built one shell for every
thermal zone....this is a no, no and it makes the model files way too big to
manage and run.

You will likely (by my recommendation) need to start a new file and re-build
your building with fewer shells...taking an extra day to rebuild your model
building will save you hundreds of hours of issues down the line if you
continue to work with your current file.

Think of building your building in a 'cake-layer' fashion.  This is not the
only way to do it, but will give you a start on how to think about
simplifying your model shells...

You can use one shell for many zones & floors of your building IF they have
the same zoning pattern layout (ie. floor plan, etc.)  IF they do not have
the same zoning pattern on each floor then you will have to create one shell
for each type of zoning pattern.  Now remember that your zoning pattern
maybe the same for floors 5-10, so you can have a separate shell for floors
5-10 and they all have the same zoning pattern within that shell.  This
shell can be completely different from your other shell(s).

If you think of shells as "cakes", meaning that every shell has a ground
layer, middle layer, and top layer, then when you stack shells on top of
each other it's like stacking layered cakes on top of each other...it will
get a bit messy, and too complicated.   Why not create one cake with many
layers in it (i.e. a shell with multiple levels with similar floor plans.)
However, if you want to make a Yellow cake for floors 1-4 and a Chocolate
cake for floors 5-10 then you will need to make two different cakes (or
shells).     Does that make sense?

I will send to another document offline (too big to attach to the
list-serve.)  Take a look at the document.  Within the first 20 pages or so
you should find some helpful info about custom building footprints and
zoning.  If you still have more questions then come back to the group and we
will help you from there.

Pasha :)

On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 3:38 AM, lee junshan <junshanlee at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I have been trying to build a hgh rise building model composed of large
> number of different shells and zoning patterns by DD wizard.
> However, when I finished all the shell setting in wizard, I got thousands
> of error message "....exceed maximum number of expression".
>
> I tried to search the solution in the Equest-Users, and found the follwing
> suggestion:
>
>
> http://lists.onebuilding.org/pipermail/equest-users-onebuilding.org/2010-May/004445.html
>
> The methods really help to increase the maximum number of expression, but
> it's still not enough for my case although I had tried to simplify my model
> by reducing the number of zones.
>
> Does my model size exceed the limit of eQUEST? or  I make mistakes on the
> pocedure?
>
> Thanks in advance for your help!
>
>
> Best Regards,
> Junshan Lee
>
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