Zone

This form presents an object of the Zone type. It is most easily opened by double clicking on the name of a zone in the Zones list box in the Genera tab, or by double clicking on a zone in either the Floor plan or the 3D tab.

General

Number of zones of this type: Number of rooms with these conditions. Central consumption of air, water and electricity is increased by this factor, as well as any flow variables (heat flows through walls, air massflows through openings and leaks, etc.) to neighboured zones.

Loss factor for thermal bridges: Direct heat transfer between room air and outside air, Watts per degree (C) temperature difference. (W/°C). This parameter is normally given by values entered under Thermal bridges in the building form.

Controller setpoints: Choice of target values for temperature, air quality, light and pressure.

Ventilation

More…: Click here to add multiple central or local air-handling units that serve this zone. If the zone already contains multiple AHU's, this link is marked with red asterisk. The fields described below are marked in the same way if the field's value is different in additional AHU's.

[Select air handling unit]: Choice of air handling unit for this zone. First define systems to select from at the building level.

System type: Type of ventilation system. Constant or variable flow, with different controls. To create an exhaust only or supply only system - or no mechanical system at all – select CAV and set appropriate flows below to zero.

The list of ventilation control strategies contains also

• all user-defined custom control strategies;
• "New custom control" to define a new custom ventilation control strategy (Expert edition);
• ventilation control targets defined in the zone central controller, if such a control is defined in the zone (on advanced tab);
• "VAV signal from…" to use ventilation control signal from different zone.

If a custom controller is selected, the label system type works as a link to the control macro.

Supply air for CAV: Mechanical supply air flow for CAV systems (l/s m² floor area). VAV flow is given under Controller setpoints. Clicking on the link "l/s m²", opens a dialog where the flow can be specified in alternative ways (l/s or m²/h for entire zone, m³/h/m², or air changes per hour).

Return air for CAV: Mechanical return air flow for CAV systems (l/s m² floor area). VAV flow is given under Controller setpoints. Clicking on the link "l/s m²", opens a dialog where the flow can be specified in alternative ways (l/s or m²/h for entire zone, m³/h/m², or air changes per hour).

Leak area: ELA Equivalent leakage area in the envelope, defined at 4 Pa, Cd=1 and, 1 m above floor. Of importance only when other leaks, e. g., internal openings, also exist. (m²). This parameter is normally given by values entered under Infiltration in the building form.

Given additional in/exfiltration: Fixed flow, independent of pressure. Leak area should be small (but nonzero) when this option is used. This parameter is normally given by values entered under Infiltration in the building form. Read more about infiltration modeling in that form.

Room height

to ceiling: Distance between the floor surface and the ceiling (m). The ceiling or some parts of the ceiling may be below this level if the building's roof is too low to fit requested zone height. If "to roof" is selected, the field "to ceiling" shows the height level where the lights and active beams are located.

to roof: Select this to extend the room's ceiling to the building's roof.

Floor height above ground: Distance between the floor surface and the ground (m).

Room units

Shows the list of cooling and heating units in zone. The ideal cooling and heating units as well as any other heating or cooling device without position in the zone may be directly added here; devices positioned in the zone may be added to zone surfaces and will also occur in this list.

Internal gains

Full list of zone internal gains. Add equipment, light, and occupant loads here. Occupants and equipment will then be visible and can be positioned on the floor surface, lights on the ceiling surface.

[3D zone view]

By default the zone is rectangular with six surrounding surfaces, called main surfaces. When an alternative geometry is defined, the main surface names will be extended with a letter suffix (e.g. wall 1 can be split into wall 1a and wall 1b). Windows, doors, and radiators, etc are introduced as objects on the corresponding zone surfaces.

By double click on components in the 3D view, it opens the corresponding form, where additional actions are possible (ex. editing object on a surface).

Open Floor Plan Click to see this zone from the Floor plan view.

x+, x-, y+, y-, z+, z-: Cuts the zone in the corresponding direction.

[Detail table]

Shows selected parameters in a table view for different sub objects in the zone.

The row of radio buttons allows selecting the category of objects to be shown in the table. In the tables, you may:

• edit parameters (except in grey fields)
• select cells and copy/paste their contents to and from other applications
• open objects (double click the object in any non-editable cell)
• sort the contents by clicking a column header
• export all tables to Excel (click on the Excel icon top right of the table)
• expand the table to a separate window (click on the Expand icon top right of the table)

The Surfaces table shows all walls, floors and ceilings in the zone. The columns are the same as for the corresponding table in the Evenelope group of the General tab.

The Windows table shows all windows and skylights that belong to the zone. Windows inserted in the faηade are not included. The columns are the same as for the corresponding table in the Evenelope group of the General tab.

The Openings table shows all doors and openings that belong to the zone. Doors and openings inserted in the faηade are not included.

The Air Handling Units table shows the list of AHUs used by the zone, both central and local. See Local AHU for details.

The table Leaks shows the explicit leaks inserted in the zone walls, floor, and ceiling. The leaks automatically added by ICE (that implements the "Leak area" and infiltration) are not listed here.

Other columns contain the parameters of the leaks.

The table Room units shows all heating/cooling units and fan coils in the zone. Only the applicable cells are filled. The columns are the same as in the Zones group of the General tab.

The table Internal gains shows the occupants, equipment, and lighting in the zone. The columns are the same as in the Zones group of the General tab.

The table Internal masses shows the parameters of wall mass objects in the zone. Only the applicable cells are filled. See wall mass and Convective wall mass for description of columns.

In the Advanced tab of the zone form, additional parameters can be set.