You mentioned that
"The building is sufficiently
insulated and has a large number of
large openings to the south."
It is difficult to tell without looking at the IDF to see what these openings are, and how they are modelled..
================
The following are some of my observations and suggestions.
If these openings are windows, you can expect very high cooling load through them. You can look at the window heat gain, etc. to separate the heating source in Summer and Winter. Ceiling and roof insulation can also affect the cooling load.
The Winter in Thessaloniki is rather mild. Therefore, the cooling load may appear higher as a ratio. At 40 degree latitude, the windows facing North can also be receiving high solar radiation in Summer. The South facing windows are reducing the Winter heating load.
To save simulation time, you
only need to run the sizing simulation using the DesignDays, and list the heat transfer variables for the building.
Move the theremostat to 35°C in Summer and -3°C to turn off the HVAC. Display the zone mean temperature, to see whether there are unusual temperature distrubution in the building. For example, colder or hotter third floor may suggest insufficient insulation for the cieling. High ground floor temperature may suggest the use of too high building ground temperature.
Ventilation and infiltration can also change the temperature profile.
Dr. Li
To: EnergyPlus_Support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: alexiskirk2000@xxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:32:13 +0000
Subject: [EnergyPlus_Support] Excessive Cooling Load Using Ideal Load Air
System
Dear Group,
I am simulating a three storey building in Thessaloniki Greece, a region rather cold than hot, in order to estimate the anual loads for heating and cooling. The building is sufficiently insulated and has a large number of large openings to the south. Internal gains - occupants,lights and devices- and infiltration and ventilation loses have been taken into account. The simulation is implemented for constant heating setpoint at 21 C and constant cooling setpoint at 26 C. The building has no shading device. Regearding the HVAC system I used HVAC Template:Thermostat and HVAC Template Zone:Ideal load Air System with the above mentioned thermostat setpoints. In general, everything was done according to the Input/Output Manual and after consulting the idf.example files. What is amazing is the fact that the cooling loads are almost three times higher than the heating loads, something rather abnormal for the region of Thessaloniki. Is there a logical explanation
regarding Ieal Load Air System and high cooling load estimation even in cold regions?I am very curious to find out what is qoing on because from what i ve read so far both in older posts in the group and in the input/output file the Ideal Load Air System works efficiently. Any suggestion?