ApacheLoads

Performs heat loss and heat gain design calculations, using procedures laid down by American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers to determine building heating and cooling loads using the Heat Balance Method.

ApacheLoads uses the Integrated Data Model (IDM) generated within the IES . You can make any number of design changes within the APACHE view, which is a series of facilities inside the enabling you to edit the thermal properties of your IDM. ApacheLoads uses the IDM to undertake two principal calculations: steady state heat loss calculations to predict the heating requirements for the building, and heat gain calculation, based on the ASHRAE Heat Balance Method, to predict the building cooling requirements. The heat gain calculations can be performed for a selected design day of the week, and for a range of design months. The results from these calculations can be interrogated. Several post-processing calculations can then be performed, such as calculation of room air supply rates.

Keywords

heat loss, heat gain, load calculations

Validation/Testing

The tool has been extensively tested against the ASHRAE model building � the Atlanta Headquarters building � please contact IES for further information.

Expertise Required

N/A

Users

Many throughout the UK, Europe, Australia, and USA.

Audience

Mechanical building services engineers

Input

Input of building shape and form is through a CAD geometrical representation of the building in the IDM. Building constructions, building usage patterns, worldwide climatic weather data, building HVAC systems and natural ventilation openings data can all be input via pre-built databases or created by the user through an intuitive graphical user interface.

Output

Output of the design calculations (boiler/chiller size, room loads, system air flow rates etc) are shown in tabular and graphical form within a self contained results viewer. All reportage can be copied into word processing and spreadsheet packages for further analysis/reporting.

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

C++, Visual Basic, Fortran

Strengths

Results of the design calculations are linked to further modules in the IES , dynamic thermal simulation Apache-Sim, and pipe and duct sizing programs. Convenient data manipulation coupled with the ability to what-if assessment at design calculation stage. Integrated data model means that design changes are immediately updated elsewhere.

Weaknesses

None reported.

Contact

Availability

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

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