Re: [EnergyPlus_Support] Re: Automatic operation venetian blinds energy consumption

Because I suspect using the nominal power will be too high. The motor allows two different motions:

Retract and open the blinds. That is to say, bring the slats all back to back or increase the space between them to the normal distance for blind operation;
Change the slat angle, which I suppose must consume less energy but it's more frequent.

Why am I going to all the trouble? Because of this interview with Paul Torcellini from NREL about designing for ZEB (http://www.ecobuildingpulse.com/net-zero-energy/absolute-zero.aspx).

If you want to design a net-zero-energy building, you really have to plan for 20 percent beyond zero (...) Itâ??s very important to remember the details, like smoke alarms.

So I got paranoid :-). It is not so much that this energy consumption alone is relevant. But if you add up irrelevant energy consumption all together they may be.

Either way I mailed Somfy and I am waiting for their reply

Thanks a lot,
Miguel

From: rahulathalye7 <rahula7@xxxxxxxxx>
To: EnergyPlus_Support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, August 26, 2013 6:50 PM
Subject: [EnergyPlus_Support] Re: Automatic operation venetian blinds energy consumption

Motor power was from the catalog. The total usage was based on assumptions.

Why not start with the nominal power and calculate consumption? Check with manufacturers to see if it makes sense.

Rahul

--- In EnergyPlus_Support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "migueltgpacheco" <migueltgpacheco@...> wrote:
>
> Rahul
>
> Thank you. I liked the bonus info of the energy consumption for sliding doors :-). Is this catalog information or actual performance in some technical report?
>
> Miguel
>
>
> --- In EnergyPlus_Support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "rahulathalye7" <rahula7@> wrote:
> >
> >
> > This can be a simple post-processing calculation. Get the slat angle and blinds on/off operation for each hour (or timestep). Then aggregate the hours for which there is a change from the previous hour. This will give you the total hours for which the blinds are operating.
> >
> > Try poking around some manufacturer websites, such as this one:
> > http://www.lutron.com/en-US/Products/Pages/ShadingSystems/SivoiaQSWireless/Components.aspx
> >
> > Call them if you can't find the info you need.
> >
> > We looked into the operation of sliding door motors once. I recall it was less than 50 kWh/year per door. Quite small, and shades might be even lower. Of course, if you put these motorized shades on every window in the building, then it might become significant.
> >
> > Rahul
> >
> >
> >
> > --- In EnergyPlus_Support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "migueltgpacheco" <migueltgpacheco@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi List,
> > >
> > > I want to estimate the energy consumption of automated blinds. I searched the group for this topic but I didn't find any reference to it. This is important because I couldn't find either any report on monitoring the energy consumption of blinds. I'm trying to model zero energy and everything must be accounted.
> > >
> > > Energyplus allows a number of sophisticated options for blind control.I am using BlockBeamSolar option for the ShadingControl object. But there is no way to know the energy consumption the automated operation of the blinds.
> > >
> > > I canÂ´t use the nominal power of the blinds motor's for an estimate because this would be far too high. The blinds I'm modeling, can open or retract completely, besides varying the slat angle. Slat angle variation must consume less energy that open or retract the blinds entirely.
> > >
> > > Even if I know the energy consumption for changing angle slat, that would not be enough. The blinds are sometimes idle and sometimes on. I have doubts on which report I would use. There is no report that tells when a motor is on.
> > >
> > > Thank you in advance,
> > > Miguel Pacheco
> > >
> >
>