Working in the Floor Plans

The mechanical floor plans provide a visual interface for load calculations. Here, the basis of design templates created in the Elements Workspace can be associated with the spaces, walls, windows, and roofs in the building.

Follow these steps to import an architectural REVIT model or build a lightweight floor plan in THRUX. If manually creating architecture, be sure to check the Tips and Tricks Page for guidance.

Assigning Space Types to Spaces

Double click a space, and the Properties Explorer will open, displaying information about the selected space. Space types can be assigned one by one using this explorer or, they can be quickly assigned with the Quick Tag tool, shown below.

Select a space type from the Quick Tag Explorer and click spaces in the floor plans to assign them to the selected template.

Wall Edit Mode

While THRUX understands the length, height and direction of every wall in the model, defining a wall as exterior vs. interior is left up to the user. Toggle on “Wall Edit Mode” at the top of workspace to edit the walls of the building.

The following selections are available when building wall.

• Wall Type: Template for wall type (U/K/Infiltration)

• Window Type: Template for window type (% wall area vs. custom dimensions)

Note

These properties can later be changed on a per wall basis if necessary.

With Wall Edit Mode enabled, the edges of each space become selectable. To batch select, draw a selection region enclosing one or more of the highlighted edges. Dragging to the left selects every edge touched. Dragging to the right selects only the edges fully enclosed by the region. By default, selected egdes are indicated as exterior and therefore contribute to the load of the space.

Exterior walls are indicated visually in the plans with highlighted teal. Interior “load contributing” walls are indicated with a soft tan. Note, interior walls separating conditioned spaces are NOT required to be identified and should be left unselected. Only interior walls that separate spaces of differing interior temperature setpoints are required to be indicated as interior.

Wall Properties

Property	Definition
Wall Type	Wall Type template assigned to the selected wall. Wall Type templates define wall construction characteristics.
Length	Wall length. Can be manually overriden.
Direction	Wall orientation in degrees from North. Can be overriden.
Floor	Floor of the building the associated space is located.
Floor Height	The floor to floor height between the slabs.
Wall Placement	Exterior or Interior. Note, interior walls should only be indicated for walls that separate interior spaces of differing setpoints.
Adjacent Space	If interior, the space on the other side of the wall.
Windows	A list of windows positioned on the wall

Customizing Windows

Once a wall is created, walls can be selected in the floor plans to view additional information, including windows. When a window type is applied, a single window is created applying the glazing properties defined in the template.

Multiple windows can be modeled per wall. Each window can apply different Window Types and/or dimensions.

Note

Window dimensions can be overriden on a per window basis. If dimensions are overriden, changes to window type dimension properties will no longer apply.

This is helpful to avoid creating window types for one off cases, or buildings with a large variation in window size

Warning

If windows are modeled with dimensions that exceed the area of the hosting wall, calculations will max out at the dimensions of the wall.

Global Building Rotation

Modify the global building rotation field to align the THRUX grid with the actual building orientation. Building rotation is measured in degrees from North.

Zone Edit Mode

Toggle on Zone Edit Mode at the top of the workspace to create, modify and delete thermal zones.

Create/Modify/Delete zones

Select zones to edit from existing zones in the Zone Editor or create a new zone by selecting “Add Zone”. Selecting a zone in the Zone Editor will enable shading, visually indicating which spaces are contained in the zone. Add or remove spaces from the selected zone by selecting or deselecting them in the visual floor plan.

When a zone has been selected, additional properties will appear in the Properties browser which allow you to edit the name of the zone and the assigned zone type.

Shading Indicates How Spaces are Assigned to Zones

Hint: using the new Zone Editor, zones can now span multiple floors.

Floor Slabs and Roofs

By default, the floor and roof of a space is assumed to be adjacent to another conditioned space. To indicate that a floor or roof should apply a load to it’s respective space, toggle on the “Contains Floor Slab” or “Contains Roof” toggles in the Space properties browser.

Once toggled on, a new set of properties will appear, applying to the floor slab or roof.

Floor Slab Properties

Property	Definition
Area	Area of slab. By default is set equivalent to the space area.
U Value	Standard measure of conduction through a material.
Slab Location	Exposed, On Grade, or Above Space. Below Space indicates that a space exists below but is conditioned differently from the space in question.
Adjacent Space	If Above Space is selected as a slab location, this is required to be set = the space below the space in question.
Perimeter	If On Grade is selected, this is used to calculate heat loss/gain through the slab. By default set equivalent to full perimeter of the space.
Perimeter Heat Loss Coefficient	If On Grade is selected, this is used to calculate heat loss/gain through the slab. BTUH / Linear foot of exposed edge.

Roof Properties

Property	Definition
Area	Area of roof. By default is set equivalent to the space area.
Roof Type	Roof Type template applied to roof.
Floor	Floor of the building this roof is located on.
Roof Location	Exposed or Below Space. Below space indicates that a space exists above that is conditioned differently from the space in question.
Adjacent Space	If Below Space is selected, this is required to be set as the space above the space in question.