ApacheHVAC

Graphical user interface for the APACHE APsim building and HVAC system simulation software. APACHE (Applications Program for Air-Conditioning and Heating Engineers) is a comprehensive program for analysing the thermal performance and energy use of buildings. It covers a wide range of requirements from basic design to detailed simulations of HVAC systems. Apache-HVAC is used to create HVAC system schematic models, subsequent to creating a building model using the IES building modeller ModelIT. The building models together with the HVAC system schematics are used as the data source for APsim. APsim HVAC system simulation may be used to estimate the expected fuel consumption of the building's space heating and cooling systems. It may also be used to examine in detail the expected performance of an HVAC system and controls under a range of operating conditions. The APACHE software suite incorporates facilities for performing fabric analysis; heat loss and heat gain calculations and thermal simulation.

Keywords

buildings, HVAC, simulation, energy performance

Validation/Testing

N/A

Expertise Required

Intended for use by qualified building services engineers. Basic knowledge of Windows 2000/XP required.

Users

Engineers, Facilities Managers, many throughout UK, Europe, Australia & USA.

Audience

Consulting building services/HVAC engineers.

Input

The interface uses a grid and tile method whereby the user selects components from toolbars or menus and places them on a grid to form an HVAC schematic diagram. Control components are then overlaid on top of the HVAC diagram. Pointing and clicking on HVAC components enables the user to place controller sensors and control lines.

Output

The interface uses a grid and tile method whereby the user selects components from toolbars or menus and places them on a grid to form an HVAC schematic diagram. Control components are then overlaid on top of the HVAC diagram. Pointing and clicking on HVAC components enables the user to place controller sensors and control lines. Each component and controller has a separate dialog box, which appears when the item is placed on the grid, enabling the user to enter specific component information (e.g. heating loads for heating coils, etc.).

Computer Platform

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 1.4 GHz+, or AMD Athlon 1400+ CPU Faster processors strongly recommended for frequent use of detailed simulation modules such as Radiance and APACHE-sim.

Memory: 512 Mb fast RAM (266Mhz+)

Hard Drive: 500 Mb free for installation, 1Gb free for Project data. Annual thermal simulation results for large models can produce large data files e.g. >50MB.

Optical Drive: CDRW, enabling large projects to be securely backed up.

Video Card: OpenGL compatible video card with 128 Mb RAM. Suggest GEForce or Radeon based cards.

Operating System: Windows 2000/XP.

Minimum screen resolution - 1024 x 768 pixels.

Programming Language

Visual C++, Visual Basic, Visual Fortran

Strengths

Apache-HVAC provides a relatively simple approach to creating HVAC schematic models for thermal simulation purposes.

Weaknesses

APsim is not intended to be used for the study of short-term component dynamics.

Contact

Availability

Contact IES at the above address or visit the IES web site.

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