Lesson 5 - Zone HVAC Systems in EnergyPlus - Design & Verification

I. Introduction to HVAC Systems A. Scope, structure, and verification techniques
B. Detailed demo and homework walkthrough
C. Focus on Zone HVAC systems

II. HVAC System Types in EnergyPlus A. Plant Loops
B. Air Loops
C. Zone HVAC

III. Plant Loop Architecture A. Supply and demand sides
B. Components: boilers, chillers, pumps, towers, coils
C. Set points and operation schemes
D. Loop-to-loop interactions

IV. Air Loop Architecture A. Supply and demand sides
B. Components: outdoor air mixer, coils, fans, packaged units
C. Controllers and set points
D. Interaction with plant loops and terminals

V. Zone HVAC Overview A. Definition and scope
B. Terminal units vs. standalone equipment

VI. Nodes in HVAC Systems A. Role of nodes for energy/mass flow
B. Node properties tracked (temp, humidity, flow, etc.)
C. Inlet and outlet categorization

VII. ZoneHVAC Equipment List A. ZoneHVAC:EquipmentList object
B. Load distribution types (Sequential, Uniform, Uniform PLR)
C. Cooling/heating sequence order
D. Parametric control workflows

VIII. ZoneHVAC Equipment Connections A. ZoneHVAC:EquipmentConnections object
B. Linking equipment lists, zones, and nodes

IX. Zone HVAC Equipment Types A. Standalone: electric baseboard, exhaust fan, ERV
B. Container: fan coil, unit ventilator, heat pumps
C. Ideal Loads Air System

X. Control and Availability Schedules A. Availability schedule vs. operating mode schedule
B. Sequential fraction and capacity control methods
C. Advanced availability managers

XI. Sizing HVAC Equipment A. Auto-sizing via Sizing:Zone object
B. Supply temperature and humidity parameters
C. Dedicated Outdoor Air System sizing options

XII. Design Specification Outdoor Air A. DesignSpecification:OutdoorAir object
B. Per-person, per-area, flow-per-zone methods
C. Connection through sizing zone

XIII. Detailed Fan Coil Deep Dive A. Four-pipe fan coil subcomponents: OAMixer, fan, coils
B. Node naming conventions and sketching
C. Tracing airflow and temperature shifts

XIV. Output and Validation Techniques A. NodeReport objects for time step reporting
B. Run period configuration (year, seasonal weeks)
C. Results Viewer and graph aliasing
D. Unit conversions and IP/SI toggles
E. JSON output for programmatic analysis

XV. Advanced Controls and Efficiency Measures A. Fan operating mode schedules
B. Multi-stage and variable-speed controls
C. Efficiency Measure workflows in EP3

XVI. Tips and Best Practices A. SketchUp purge settings for EP3
B. EP3 update highlights
C. Naming conventions for nodes and objects
D. Using JSON output for custom scripts

XVII. Conclusion and Next Steps A. Recap of HVAC verification process
B. Preview of Air Loop HVAC session
C. Homework and additional resources