Output Options

Simulation tab on Model Options dialog and Output tab on Simulation Options dialog.

You can control the data generated from simulations by making selections on the Simulation tab of the Model options dialog and on the Advanced tab of the Simulation calculation options dialog.

Output Data

Building and block output of zone data

This option causes average and total zone data to be generated for building and blocks. For example average temperatures, comfort conditions, total solar radiation, internal gains, fabric transmission losses etc. It does not affect the generation of energy consumption and CO2 data at the building level.

Note: It is not possible for DesignBuilder to display block level results when any type of zone merging has been enabled regardless of this setting.

Include unoccupied zones in block and building totals and averages

By default, data for unoccupied zones is excluded from block and building totals and averages. Check this option to include data for unoccupied zones.

A zone is defined as unoccupied if it has:

No occupancy and,
No cooling and,
No heating and,
No mechanical ventilation

The way building and block averages are calculated is described in the Comfort Analysis section.

Note: if you uncheck this option and all zones in the model are unoccupied then you will get a 'Zero floor area error' message

Graphable Outputs - Energy

Surface heat transfer

Select this option to generate heat flow at surface boundaries. Note that selecting this option results in large amounts of data being generated as EnergyPlus must generate output for every surface and window in the zone and you should only select it if you need to look at the zone heat balance.The following EnergyPlus reports are generated:

Opaque Surface Inside Face Conduction
Window Heat Gain
Window Heat Loss
Window Transmitted Solar

Internal gains including solar

Select this option to generate internal gains-related output and any associated energy consumption. The following EnergyPlus reports are generated:

Zone Lights Total Heat Gain
Zone Task Lights Total Heat Gain
Zone People Sensible Heat Gain
Zone Electric Equipment Cat02 Electric Consumption
Zone Electric Equipment Cat03 Electric Consumption
Zone Electric Equipment Cat04 Electric Consumption
Zone Electric Equipment Cat05 Electric Consumption
Zone Transmitted Solar
Zone Infiltration Sensible Heat Loss
Zone Infiltration Sensible Heat Gain
Zone Ventilation Sensible Heat Loss
Zone Ventilation Sensible Heat Gain

Energy, HVAC etc

Select this option to generate energy consumption data for the HVAC system.

Latent loads

Select this option to include output of latent gains from occupants and other internals gains.

Graphable Outputs - Comfort and Environmental

Reporting period

You can restrict the simulation comfort and environmental output to just occupied periods by selecting 2-Just occupied periods. Options are:

1-All periods - data is generated for all periods including times when the zone is unoccupied.
2-Just occupied periods - data is only output during times when the zone is occupied so daily and monthly comfort statistics become more meaningful.

Environmental

This option generates temperatures and humidity data. The following EnergyPlus reports are generated:

Zone Mean Air Temperature
Zone Mean Radiant Temperature
Zone Air Relative Humidity
Outdoor Dry Bulb

Fresh air supply

Select this option to include total infiltration, natural ventilation plus mechanical fresh air supply outputs.

Simple ASHRAE Standard 55

Time Not Comfortable Summer Clothes
Time Not Comfortable Winter Clothes
Time Not Comfortable Summer or Winter Clothes

Adaptive ASHRAE Standard 55

Checking this option causes these outputs to be generated:

Zone Thermal Comfort ASHRAE 55 Adaptive Model 80% Acceptability Status - Reports whether the operative temperature falls into the 80% acceptability limits of the adaptive comfort in ASHRAE 55-2010. A value of 1 means within (inclusive) the limits, i.e. the zone operative temperature is no more than 2.5°C from than the ASHRAE 55 Adaptive model temperature. A value of 0 means outside the limits (i.e. uncomfortable), and a value of -1 means not applicable, i.e. the running average outdoor air temperature is below 10°C.
Zone Thermal Comfort ASHRAE 55 Adaptive Model 90% Acceptability Status - Reports whether the operative temperature falls into the 90% acceptability limits of the adaptive comfort in ASHRAE 55-2010. A value of 1 means within (inclusive) the limits, i.e. the zone operative temperature is no more than 3.5°C from than the ASHRAE 55 Adaptive model temperature. A value of 0 means outside the limits (i.e. uncomfortable), and a value of -1 means not applicable, i.e. the running average outdoor air temperature is below 10°C.
Zone Thermal Comfort ASHRAE 55 Adaptive Model Running Average Outdoor Air Temperature - the running average of the daily average outdoor dry-bulb temperatures of the previous 30 days.
Zone Thermal Comfort ASHRAE 55 Adaptive Model Temperature - the ideal indoor operative temperature, or comfort temperature, as determined by the ASHRAE-55 adaptive comfort model. The 80% acceptability limits for indoor operative temperature are defined as no greater than 2.5°C from the adaptive comfort temperature. The 90% acceptability limits are defined as no greater than 3.5°C from the adaptive comfort temperature.

Note: ASHRAE 55 Adaptive outputs must be viewed in the Results Viewer - they are not available on DesignBuilder Simulation screen.

Note: Since valid ASHRAE 55 Adaptive outputs are only generated when the running mean outside air temperature is higher than 10°C, they apply mainly to summer overheating comfort analyses and so do not pick up winter underheating.

Adaptive CEN Standard 15251

Checking this option causes the following outputs to be generated:

Zone Thermal Comfort CEN 15251 Adaptive Model Category I Status - reports whether the operative temperature falls into the Category I (90% acceptability) limits of the adaptive comfort in the European Standard EN15251-2007. A value of 1 means within (inclusive) the limits, a value of 0 means outside the limits, and a value of -1 means not applicable.
Zone Thermal Comfort CEN 15251 Adaptive Model Category II Status - reports whether the operative temperature falls into the Category II (80% acceptability) limits of the adaptive comfort in the European Standard EN15251-2007. A value of 1 means within (inclusive) the limits, a value of 0 means outside the limits, and a value of -1 means not applicable.
Zone Thermal Comfort CEN 15251 Adaptive Model Category III Status - reports whether the operative temperature falls into the Category III (65% acceptability) limits of the adaptive comfort in the European Standard EN15251-2007. A value of 1 means within (inclusive) the limits, a value of 0 means outside the limits, and a value of -1 means not applicable.
Zone Thermal Comfort CEN 15251 Adaptive Model Running Average Outdoor Air Temperature - reports the weighted average of the outdoor air temperature of the previous five days, an input parameter for the CEN-15251 adaptive comfort model.
Zone Thermal Comfort CEN 15251 Adaptive Model Temperature - reports the ideal indoor operative temperature, or comfort temperature, as determined by the CEN-15251 adaptive comfort model. Category I, II, and II limits for indoor operative temperature are defined as no greater than 2, 3, and 4°C from this value respectively.

Note: CEN Standard 15251 Adaptive outputs must be viewed in the Results Viewer - they are not available on DesignBuilder Simulation screen.

CIBSE TM52

Select this option to generate TM52 outputs.

Building category (v5 only)

Select the building category. See Comfort Analysis for more details.

Note: CIBSE TM52 outputs must be viewed in the Results Viewer - they are not available on DesignBuilder Simulation screen.

FangerPMV

PiercePMVET

PiercePMVSET

PierceDISC

PierceTSENS

KsuTSV

Temperature distribution

Select this option to generate Temperature distribution data for each zone (distribution data for Blocks and Buildings not available).

Default is 1-All periods.

Detailed Daylight Outputs

Daylight map output

Generates the EnergyPlus daylight map outputs.

Details of this report are shown in the EnergyPlus Output Details document.

Daylight at reference points

Daylight factors are ratios of interior illuminance at a specific location to exterior horizontal illuminance. In EnergyPlus, they are pre-calculated hourly for every

shadow calculation day for every exterior window of a daylight zone. The pre-calculated daylight factors are interpolated between hours and for the actual sky

conditions in the time-step calculation of the daylighting performance of daylight zones.

EnergyPlus reports the daylight factors for four sky types (clear, turbid clear, intermediate, and overcast) at noon time (12:00pm) for each exterior windows

(base window without shading) in the eio file when the daylight factors are first calculated. This reports all hourly pre-calculated daylight factors.

Details of this report are shown in the EnergyPlus Output Details document.

Miscellaneous Outputs

HVAC System temperatures

Check this option if you would like DesignBuilder to generate temperature output for each air and water node in the HVAC system. This output data cannot be displayed directly in DesignBuilder but can be viewed in the separate Results processor application.

HVAC System mass flow rates

Check this option if you would like DesignBuilder to generate mass flow output for each air and water node in the HVAC system. This output data cannot be displayed directly in DesignBuilder but can be viewed in the separate Results processor application.

HVAC System humidity ratios

Check this option if you would like DesignBuilder to generate humidity ratio output for each air node in the HVAC system. This output data cannot be displayed directly in DesignBuilder but can be viewed in the separate Results processor application.

SQLite output

Output from EnergyPlus can be written to SQLite files for manipulation outside of DesignBuilder using standard spreadsheet tools and/or ResultsViewer. When this option is selected all of the predefined database tables as well as time series related data is included in the SQLite output. The description for SQLite outputs is described fully in the EnergyPlus Output Details document.

DXF model output

This option causes EnergyPlus to generate a DXF file summarising the building model. The file is called eplusout.dxf and it is stored in the EnergyPlus folder. This option can be useful for checking that the correct geometry has been generated.

Construction and surface details

This option causes EnergyPlus to generate a comma separated value file summarising the building model. The file is called eplusout.eio and it is stored in the EnergyPlus folder.

RDD File

Select this option is you would like an RDD file to be generated. The RDD file includes a list of all EnergyPlus output reports that could be selected for the simulation.

Time Setpoints not Met Tolerances

This section of input allows more control over the reporting of “Time setpoint not met” hours.

Tolerance for time heating setpoint not met

This data defines the maximum difference from the heating setpoint when reporting the time heating setpoints are not met. If the zone temperature is below the heating setpoint by more than this value, the following report variables will increment as appropriate:

Time Heating Setpoint Not Met
Time Heating Setpoint Not Met While Occupied

It also impacts table report "Annual Building Utility Performance Summary" sub-table "Comfort and Setpoint Not Met Summary".

Tolerance for time cooling setpoint not met

This data defines the maximum difference from the cooling setpoint when reporting the time cooling setpoints are not met. If the zone temperature is above the cooling setpoint by more than this value, the following report variables will increment as appropriate:

Time Cooling Setpoint Not Met
Time Cooling Setpoint Not Met While Occupied

It also impacts table report "Annual Building Utility Performance Summary" sub-table "Comfort and Setpoint Not Met Summary".