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BEMGen 1.1.0

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@Chengxuan-Li Chengxuan-Li released this 07 Oct 07:58
· 32 commits to main since this release
v1.1.0
ab737e5

BEMGen 1.1.0 is a Grasshopper plugin for Rhino 8 that builds building energy models at several levels of detail.

What's new

  • Conditioned Merge (panel 3 Simplify) is a new plan simplifier. It merges every conditioned zone of a floor into one zone and every unconditioned zone, such as the stairs, into another. It keeps the conditioned floor area exactly, which Perimeter Core and Single Zone per Floor do not do when they cover a stair.
  • Join Pieces is a new input on Semantic Merge and Conditioned Merge.
    • False (default): every connected piece becomes its own zone, as Semantic Merge did before.
    • True: every piece of a class becomes one zone. For example, all of a floor's separate stair cores become one stair zone.
    • In the previews, Convert2BEM, and Convert2IDF, a zone made of several pieces has one solid per piece.
  • Mix Programs (panel 1 Program) is a new component that mixes program presets into a new preset. Each weight is the preset's share of floor area. The mix is calculated the same way a zone merge combines programs:
    • Loads per floor area and in air changes per hour are weighted by area share.
    • Loads per person are weighted by occupants.
    • Absolute loads, such as a fixture flow, are added as they are, without weights.
    • Schedules and setpoints mix as they do when zones merge.
    • The space type and window-to-wall ratio come from the largest weight and the weighted mean, unless you give them.
  • Infiltration is now set once for the building, on Envelope Preset. It takes a rate per m² of exterior surface, per m² of exterior wall, or in air changes per hour, with a schedule. The default is 0.3 air changes per hour, always on.
    • Convert2IDF writes one infiltration object per zone, in EnergyPlus's own method.
    • Convert2BEM has four new outputs: the infiltration rate, its basis, its schedule, and each zone's design infiltration flow.

Changes that affect existing definitions

  • Preset components no longer have Infiltration or Infiltration Schedule inputs.
    • The Load component no longer accepts the type Infiltration or the basis PerExteriorWallArea; it tells you to use Envelope Preset instead.
    • When you open a definition saved with an earlier version, Grasshopper shows a message about the removed inputs, and any infiltration values or wires on those inputs are dropped.
    • The building then uses the infiltration of its Envelope Preset, 0.3 air changes per hour by default. If your presets used other rates, set the rate on Envelope Preset.
  • Definitions with Semantic Merge saved before this version open with Join Pieces set to false, so they give the same zones as before.
  • The example definitions have been rebuilt with the new components.

Install

Close Rhino first. Install BEMGen in one way only, because two copies of BEMGen.gha register the components twice.

  • Yak package: drag bemgen-1.1.0-rh8_19-win.yak onto a running Rhino 8.19 (or later) window, then restart Rhino.
  • Zip:
    1. Open the properties of bemgen-1.1.0-rh8-win.zip and tick Unblock.
    2. Unpack it and copy the BEMGen folder into %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\, so the plugin is at %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\BEMGen\BEMGen.gha.
    3. Restart Rhino.
  • Examples: bemgen-1.1.0-examples.zip holds the example definitions.
  • Checksums: SHA256SUMS.txt lists the SHA-256 checksum of each of the three files.

Documentation: https://energy-atlas.github.io/BEMGen-docs/ (see Getting started, and What's new in 1.1.0 at https://energy-atlas.github.io/BEMGen-docs/user/whats-new/).

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