Mechanical Elements

Space Types

Mechanical Space Types are templates for the spaces or rooms in the model. Space Types define the loading, temperature setpoints and occupancy types for spaces.

Space Type Properties
Property	Definition
Design Heating Setpoint	Space temperature setpoint when in heating mode.
Design Cooling Setpoint	Space temperature setpoint when in cooling mode.
Design Cooling % RH	Space setpoint or upper limit for relative humidity when in cooling mode.
Lighting Density	Lighting load carried / SF
Equipment Density	Equipment load carried / SF
ACH	Required air change rate for the space. Used to calculate required cooling/heating flowrates. Note - not outdoor air specific.
Ventilation Rate Type	Method for calculating required outdoor air flowrate to space. Options: Code Minimum, Percent Above Code Min, CFM Per Person, ACH Rate
Ventilation Rate Override	Applies to the selected Ventilation Rate Type. For Percent Above Code Min: Enter % extra outdoor air above code min. For ACH Rate: Enter required ACH Rate. No entry required for the other calculation types.
Code Occupancy Classification	Mechanical code occupancy type, defines the CFM Per Person and CFM / SF values used to calculate the code minimum ventilation rate.
CFM Per Person	Pulled from mechanical code per the selected Code Occupancy Classification. Can be overriden.
CFM Per SF	Pulled from mechanical code per the selected Code Occupancy Classification. Can be overriden.
Occupant Density	Used to calculate number of occupants in each space.
Degree of Activity	ASHRAE defined amount of activity in the space. Used to define the sensible and latent BTUH gains per occupant.
Sensible Heat Gain / Person	Pulled from ASHRAE per selected Degree of Activity. Can be overriden.
Latent Heat Gain / Person	Pulled from ASHRAE per selected Degree of Activity. Can be overriden.

Wall Types

Wall Types are templates applied to the walls in project. They specify wall construction characteristics. These templates can be associated to individual walls in the floor plans.

Wall Type Properties
Property	Definition
U Value	Standard measure of conduction through a material. This value applies to the opaque section of the wall.
K Value	Color correction factor for surfaces. From ASHRAE CLTD - 1.0 if dark colored or light in an industrial area. 0.83 if permanently medium colored. 0.65 if permanently light colored.
Infiltration Rate	Rate that outdoor air enters the space through leaky façade elements. Measured in CFM / SF of façade length.

Window Types

Window Types are templates applied to the glazing portion of walls in the project. They specify the glass construction characteristics, as well as the dimensions.

Window Type Properties
Property	Definition
U Value	Standard measure of conduction through a material. This value applies to the glazing portion of the wall only.
Shading Coefficient	Shading effect of the glass. A value between 0 and 1. Not to be confused with the solar heat gain coefficient which is equivalent to the shading coefficient x 0.87.
Percent Wall Area	Used to calculate glass area. Percent of façade taken up by glazing.
Dimensions	Optional field to specify fixed dimensions of Window. Percent wall area is not applied when dimensions specified.

Roof Types

Roof Types are templates applied to the roofs in the project. These define the roof construction characteristics.

Roof Type Properties
Property	Definition
U Value	Standard measure of conduction through a material. This value applies to the opaque section of the roof.
K Value	Color correction factor for surfaces. From ASHRAE CLTD - 1.0 if dark colored or light in an industrial area. 0.83 if permanently medium colored. 0.65 if permanently light colored.
Roof Construction	An overall approximation of the roof construction type
Percent Glass	Used to calculate skylight area. Percent of façade taken up by glazing.
Window Type	The glazing construction type associated with a given roof type.

Spaces

Spaces are rooms, defined and created visually in the floor plans (or imported from REVIT). The elements Space table is a good place to make bulk edits to the properties of multiple spaces at once. More information about space loads can be displayed by toggling on more properties. Many find it helpful to export this table to excel.

Space Properties
Property	Definition
Floor	Floor location of the space in the model.
Area	Defined by the 2D layout of the space defined in the floor plans. This value can be overriden.
Space Type	The Space Type template applied to a particular space. This defines the temperature setpoints, load densities, outdoor air and occupancy rates.
Ceiling Height	Used to calculate space volume for an ACH rate calculations. This is a required property when ACH rates are applies, but can be left blank otherwise.
Roof Exists	Indicates whether the space contains a roof with applied load (exposed roof of roof below a space conditioned differently from this one).
# of Occupants	Number of people assumed to be in the space for load calculations.
Floor Slab Exists	Indicates whether the space contains a floor slab with an applied load (exposed floor slab, slab on grade, or slab above a space conditioned differently from this one).
Walls	Indicates any walls applying load to this space. Readonly, walls are indicated as load carrying in the floor plans.

Zone Types

Zone Types define templates for thermal zones and the equipment that serves them. Once a zone is created in the model and a zone type is assigned, a piece of mechanical equipment (defined by the zone type) will be automatically created and linked to zone. Zone types can be used at any stage of the project lifecycle. For example, for block load calculations zone types can be used to create air handlers to serve a full floor. In a fit-out project zone types can be used to automically create terminal units.

Zone type Properties
Property	Definition
Equipment Template	Defines the equipment that will be automatically created when a zone is created. Equipment will be sized to serve the zone load.
Load Type	Defines whether the zone is sized for the cooling loads of the spaces, the heating loads or both.
System Connection Type	Indicates how the zone level equipment will be connected to the zone. For ex. a supply side VAV system should select “Supply Side Only”. Recirculating systems should select “Closed Loop”.
Equipment SA DB Temp (Cooling)	Override for equipment SA temperature in cooling scenarios (optional)
Equipment SA DB Temp (Heating)	Override for equipment SA temperature in heating scenarios (optional)

Zones

Zones are collections of spaces that thermally controlled together. Zones are created visually in the floor plans. Here you can view the spaces associated with a zone and the resultant load.

Mechanical Equipment

Load carrying equipment in the model.