[Equest-users] activity area allocation and zone groupdefinitions

Nick Caton ncaton at smithboucher.com
Wed Jul 7 11:02:37 PDT 2010


Sorry, time is short today for me so this is quick:

 

Wizards allow for X number of different occupancy types per shell
(however many rows are on that first screen).  If you can define as many
occupancy types as you need for the whole building on that screen (keep
it simple!) with X slots, then you're golden and you can define your
retail spaces on the first floor distinctly from the others without
having to fall back to multiple shells.  

 

Fewer shells is ALWAYS preferable, but if you have a large number of
occupancy types you need to account for, this may require you to split
up 1 large shell into multiples to account for everything. 

 

My general understanding is, when all is said and done, equipment/people
loads coming out of the wizards are assigned to each zone in quantities
(Watts or people per SF) exactly as you've grouped/defined/weighted them
in these screens.  The wizards will take a kind of weighted average of
all zones and their assignments, also considering your seasons and
similar project-level inputs to determine a fractional "building
occupancy schedule" & "building misc equipment schedule" unique to each
shell - if you have zone-specific occupancy schedules you'd rather use,
you'll still need to define those in detailed.  

 

~Nick

 

 

 

NICK CATON, E.I.T.

PROJECT ENGINEER

25501 west valley parkway

olathe ks 66061

direct 913 344.0036

fax 913 345.0617

Check out our new web-site @ www.smithboucher.com 

 

From: Pasha Korber-Gonzalez [mailto:pasha.pkconsulting at gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2010 12:51 PM
To: Nick Caton
Cc: Paul Brooks; eQuest user forum
Subject: Re: [Equest-users] activity area allocation and zone
groupdefinitions

 

Since I'm still learning and experiencing this wizard tool for zone
groups, how or where do you assign different occupancy types/schedules
to different areas?  Let's say for example i had a building with retail
on the ground floor and residential on the upper floors, how or where do
I select two different sets of operating schedules for the two different
types of spaces?  Or can this even be done from this function.

 

Before I knew how to do this zone grouping thing in the wizard I would
have input these two different spaces as separate shells so that I could
classify them with different schedules...

 

am I missing something or not?

 

thanks,

Pasha

On Wed, Jul 7, 2010 at 11:28 AM, Nick Caton <ncaton at smithboucher.com>
wrote:

For completeness, for those learning or re-learning these wizard
screens, let me offer a related caution:

 

I always end up defining my own zone groups to be sure everything has
the occupancy scheduling that fits best, however there's a hidden
danger:  DO NOT delete the default zone groups before first creating a
new one.  You will otherwise potentially crash out your wizard model and
be unable to move forward.  I've done this twice (fool me once...), so
it's pretty well ingrained in my active memory - but hopefully this will
help others avoid a headache!

 

~Nick

 



 

NICK CATON, E.I.T.

PROJECT ENGINEER

25501 west valley parkway

olathe ks 66061

direct 913 344.0036

fax 913 345.0617

Check out our new web-site @ www.smithboucher.com
<http://www.smithboucher.com/>  

 

From: equest-users-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org [mailto:
equest-users-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org] On Behalf Of Paul Brooks
Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2010 11:53 AM
To: Pasha Korber-Gonzalez
Cc: eQuest user forum 


Subject: Re: [Equest-users] activity area allocation and zone
groupdefinitions

 

Thank you so much.  YOur description is how I thought things
would/should work, but, as Ronnie said many years ago "Trust, but
verify"!

 

I am again a happy camper for now.

 

________________________________

From: Pasha Korber-Gonzalez <pasha.pkconsulting at gmail.com>
To: Paul Brooks <equestpaul at yahoo.com>
Cc: eQuest user forum <equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org>
Sent: Wed, July 7, 2010 12:46:54 PM
Subject: Re: [Equest-users] activity area allocation and zone group
definitions

Hi Paul,

 

These screens were an anomolie (sp?) to me until just this year thanks
to a younger fellow simulator who uses them quite efficiently.  In fact,
I always skipped out of the wizard when it came to these screens until I
took the time to learn how to readjust & reallocate the % space inputs
on these screens.   After learning to do this I now spend less time on
the back-end (ddedit mode) adjusting my HVAC system assignments... Yay!

 

Here's my attempt to explain what I've learned.  I'll call out my
colleague Dan W. for help on this one if I mess it up...

 

Screen 13 is your % space based on the WHOLE BUILDING floor area.  When
you move to screen 14 this is where you actually assign HVAC systems to
your zone groups.  A zone group is a group of zones that can be assigned
to the same HVAC system. (NOTE:  at this point you will want to have
created your basic HVAC systems types already in the wizard.  This was a
backward step for me at first, but it works for when you switch to
ddedit mode.)

 

So in  screen 14 the % space for zone groups is based on the total floor
area of all the zones you want to group together.  (at this point you
should also have a basic take off of floor area for your thermal zones.)
Now after you have "grouped" your zones that you want together you need
to revise the % space numbers in the top of the screen.   (I've included
a screen shot of one of my models where I used the zone groups.)  Note
how I have zeroed-out some of the % space input for other zones that I
have not grouped into my specific group I'm calling "Conference Center."
With the revised % space numbers make sure that they add up to 100%.

 

So to answer your question, when you use Screen 14 correctly these
inputs will override screen 13.   If I should clarify anything better
let me know.

 

Pasha

 



 

On Wed, Jul 7, 2010 at 9:45 AM, Paul Brooks <equestpaul at yahoo.com>
wrote:

Does anyone have any idea which of screen 13 or 14 in the DD wizard
overides the other?  I am using zone group definitions to give dtail on
how individual zone space is allocated (screen 14 of 25), but that does
not seem to affect the activites area allocation, (screen 13 of 25).

 

Anone have any thoughts or experience to share?

 

Thanks! 

 


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