I'm modeling a two storied building with a mezzanine area in the first floor
and i need to define the rest of the first floor area apart from the
mezzanine as open to below. is it possible to define a particular zone as
open to below in the detailed mode? if so how?
Thank you in advance.
--
Udana
Before I was aware of 'open to below' and similar options in the wizards
(oh, the perils of being self-taught!), I came up with a practice of
creating multi-story spaces by making separate zones for each level from
the wizard, then in detailed mode deleting all but the lowest, then
modifying the remaining space/zone to get the correct height/volume.
Some further tips:
- Once done with the geometry edits, review that space's
internal loads - you may want to revise depending on your situation.
- You might consider for very tall spaces whether there is an
"unconditioned" layer from an HVAC perspective that you might want to
define as a separate, unconditioned space (think plenum).
- You can optionally pursue extra steps to tie the bounding
surfaces of adjacent spaces to the multi-story space if you deem it
necessary for accuracy. If you anticipate you'll want to do this, pay
attention before deleting the individual multi-story spaces so that you
don't accidentally remove some surfaces you'd like to have associated
from the adjacent spaces... this is a case where thinking ahead a few
steps can save you a headache later.
NICK CATON, E.I.T.
I'm in need of placing a day light sensor to sense day light coming from the
skylights and control light level of the ground floor accordingly. even
though i make the first floor open to below the sensor doesn't seem to take
skylights in to account. is there anyway to sense the light coming from
skylights to control the lighting level with a sensor that is placed in the
floor below?
Thanx & Best Regards,
Udana.
Udana,
Try assigning the roof surface that contains the skylights to the ground
floor space that contains the daylighting sensor.
Regards,
William Bishop, PE, BEMP, LEED(r) AP
I've played around with it in the past, and in my experience you will
not get accurate lighting behavior if you place the sensor remote from
the space whose lighting is being controlled. It's not fresh in my
mind, but I believe if you look up the help entries regarding those
sensors you'll find eQuest handles them in a way that interacts directly
with its location in relation to the surfaces and fenestrations on the
interior of the space in question.
In short, if you wish to control lighting with daylight sensors in a
2-story space, it must be a single space/volume. It sounds now like you
are trying to pull this off from the DD-wizards... I think your options
are more limited there. You might try (1) adjusting the upper-level LPD
to account for the ground level lighting, or (2) making the multi-story
space a separate shell wrapped by the other(s)... the latter is
something I've done in the past but I'd recommend the detailed edit fix
I suggested below as a relative time/headache-saver.
Further discussion between myself and others on this topic is in the
archives.
NICK CATON, E.I.T.
Hi Udana,
If you set up your mezzanine using a separate shell from the first floor
that might be what is causing you this problem. I don't think one shell can
access daylighting from another shell.
Carol