Michael,
I don't have any experience with this yet, but recognizing that it will
be necessary for myself in the near future as it is for some, like
yourself, already I went ahead and asked our local Daikin Rep about
getting VRF routines incorporated into eQuest. The following is a
response given today by the Daikin engineering department:
|...EnergyPro is basically done. The VRVIII units have been added and
DOE |testing has been performed to verify the results. Martyn Dodd will
be at |Sawgrass to bring us all up to speed.
|
|eQuest as well EnergyPlus are next to tackle and we have already made
|contact and started working with the software developers. The time
frame |is middle to end of 2009 for both software packages. eQuest is
more of a |wildcard because there are some major software changes
happening on that |platform because of something called the "Design
Sizing" project which is |very delayed and could end up hurting our
timeline. I have found in past |that these timelines typically slip so
please be wary about making any |concrete promises but you have my
assurance that it is being worked on and |we will eventually (i.e.
anywhere from 12 months to 30 months) have this |done.
|
|If this is a project with immediate LEED implications, I would explore
|EnergyPro. There is a Daikin specific site on EnergyPro's domain now.
|www.daikin.energysoft.com
|
|Sincerely,
|Sherwin Khayatian
So, at least from the Daikin side it seems that the only sure way to go
at this time is with EnergyPro. I don't know of a responsive local
Mitsubishi Rep in my area, but maybe someone out there can ask similar
question to Mitsubishi regarding their involvement with supporting an
eQuest-compatible VRF routine.
Thanks,
Dan Russell, EIT
Michael,
As the other poster mentioned, Energypro is the software of choice for
modeling VRF systems including Mitsubishi City Multi. While I suspect
that Mitsubishi is pursuing support in other programs such as eQuest I
don't think we'll see anything in the near future. Due to the complex
nature of these systems I haven't found a reliable way of modeling them
in other software packages, and know that Mitsubishi encourages the use
of Energypro.
Sean Abbott, PE
All,
Steve Gates is working with Daiken to develop the algorithms and data
necessary to be able to model VRFs in eQUEST. He is also developing a
new eQUEST platform simultaneously and more slowly called the Design Day
platform which will solve many of the perceived "problems" with eQUEST
subroutines. I do not know when the DD platform will be available but I
don't think it will slow him up with respect to developing the VRF
algorithms. They will be added to the existing eQUEST platform. These
algorithms will be available some time early to mid next year.
The EnergyPro algorithms are based on MSA data and were developed by
Tianzen Hong for Martin Dodd. I do not know if there is enough of a
difference between MSA VRFs and Daiken VRFs operation/data that would
make the EnergyPro tool inappropriate for use in analyzing the Daiken
VRFs. Someone else could answer this question. Maybe the Daiken rep
quoted here knows enough about it and using EnergyPro is quite appropriate.
Regards,
Carol Gardner
In Energypro it is quite easy to model either the Daiken or Mitsubishi
systems as there are separate library data files available for download
for each system. The Mits system does operate somewhat differently from
Daiken so I'm not sure I would want to model one based on the data files
of the other. As Carol stated, the data files are based on information
provided by their respective manufacturers so the Energypro output
should be trustworthy in either case.
Cheers,
Sean Abbott, P.E., LEED(r) AP