IDA ICE 4.2 changelog

ICE 4.2 Released 2011-10-26

New in ICE 4.2

• New "Getting started" guide including instructive movies, available from the Help menu.

• Forms that expand automatically when resizing the window.

• Added tables for setpoints, room units, energy meters, and HVAC systems
  to the Details view in the General tab. More information added to the Internal gains table.

• For the "Surfaces" table, the columns Type, Construction, and U-value are
  shown in 3D view separately for every subsurface.

• New "Zone sensor" object for reading a zone's variables in AHU and Plant.
  This simplifies cycling of AHUs.

• Support for user-defined lighting control.

• Added button to show usage of energy meters.

• Support added variables (drag and drop) in cross-dependency (scatter) plots.

• Possible to run scripts in batch mode (without pop-up dialogs).

• Possible to run heating/cooling design and energy calculation in batch mode.

• The windows in the Window menu are shown in hierarchical structure.

• New default dialog (with table of parameters) for aggregates and resources.
  Used for materials, wall surfaces, and wind profiles.

• Required confirmation to remove locked objects from plan.
  Still no confirmation when inserting and undoing the insertion.

• Added more component models to the "Utility" palette.

• The Mail Support program compresses file to zip format instead of tar.gz.

• Possible to choose font for log window. The default font is also changed.

• Developer option: Possible to show names without translation.

• Added "Load results" menu item to Tools menu (at advanced level only).

• The output diagram "Indoor Air Quality" now contains 3 y-axes for different
  units (hours, ppm, %). The mysterious coefficients in the legend are removed.

The corresponding output file IAQ.prn will contain column RHUM (relative
humidity in procent) instead of RELHUM (relative humidity as fraction
from 0 to 1).

• The energy of the domestic hot water is now reported in "Total heating and
  cooling" diagram.

• Made easy to define setpoint collections that are not shared between zones.
  In new systems such setpoints will be used by default.

• Added new column "Ret. airflow" to the heating and cooling summary on
  "Results" tab. It show the return airflow of mechanical ventilation at the
  time of maximal heating or cooling.

• In the site view, the frames showing the height of the shading buildings are removed.

• In custom opening and shading controls, added interface reference to local
  wind speed.

• The columns "Supply air" and "Return air" in the Zones table now show total
  supply and return flow through all supply and return terminals, both CAV and VAV
  (for VAV, the maximal flow is shown). The cells are editable for zones with
  single supply (resp. return) terminal.
  The same goes for corresponding columns in the "Zone totals" table.

• Added pictures explaining parameters "Twist" and "Tilt" in windows.

• For detailed window, special icons for coated glass panes are added.

• In the detailed window model, parameters describing gaps and holes (air flow) in
  the shading layer are added.

• In double-glass facade, added parameters describing the air flow around the
  shading layer in that standard level the outer window.

• The default value of slat angle in outer window changed from 0 to 45 degrees.
  This does not affect existing models.

• Added options
• show "Getting started" when starting IDA ICE
• default command line

• Support supply only and return only VAV systems.

Changes in models and functions called from models

• CEEXHT CentralMode > 0 instead of > 1e-4.
  CESUPT Lower limit for mass flow = cLow*mMin when CentralMode > 0.

• MixBox The insignal is limited.

• MinMaxD New model similar to MinMax but with smoothing the output
  signal using time constant.

• Sample Fixed implementation of Modelica function "Sample".
  (see Fixed bugs below)

• HXSIMCTR Parameter etaFi renamed to Fi_eta.
  Smaller tolerance for switching between formulas for eta_
  computation.

• HCSIMCTR Deadband as in CCSimCtr for On/Off switching.

• VolFlowMeter New model (similar to EMeter).

• SCHEDULE Fixed bug in calculation of smoothing at midnights.

• DETWIND Fixed multiple bugs.

• CEDETZON The convection behind shading devices is now incuded in
  CESIMZON the heat from windows reported in heat balance diagram
  and excluded from window surface heat balance equation.

CESIMZON Computation of LW rad coeff's for ext walls and windows,
hLwExtWall and hLwWind, moved up to be computed before they
are used.
New LOC variable vector TClLoc[i] := max(-30, min(TCl[i], 70)),
temp of clothes, used to avoid unphysical solutions.

• A2A_HP Eliminated erroneous warning.
  A2A_AC

• AirQuality Allowed zone multipliers below 1.

Fixed bugs

• Damping of fictive ground temperature for the ISO 13370 ground model was
  incorrect for buildings that have a ground slab below the ground level.
  Ground temperatures was too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer,
  i.e. both cooling and heating was overestimated by the bug.
  (Also corrected by a separate patch: IcePatch-4.10102).

• The report tables was not cleaned after failed simulation. Now fixed.

• In wall construction dialog, it is no longer allowed to save a construction
  without layers.

• The parameter "Energy meter" in various objects could reference a missing
  meter (if a meter was removed or renamed). In this case the energy
  delivered to this object was not metered and no message provided.
  Now this is not allowed. An error message is generated in case of missing
  meter.

• Fixed time schedules in the VAV fan coils available from palette.
  This does not affect the fan coils that are alredy inserted in the
  user's systems in the older versions of ICE.

• Fixed bug in opening ICE 3.0 systems at advanced level.

• The summary tables are no longer switched when exporting to Excel.

• Fixed small bug in calculation of energy from electric light
  (the energy of the light reflected from wall and then absorbed
  by lighting device was ignored).

• Fixed bug in the distribution between room surfaces of daylight
  passed through internal windows and doors.

• Partially fixed occupancy time in summary table.
  It was not accurate because of smoothing of the occupancy schedules.
  The definition of occupancy time changed to "time when the value
  of occupant schedule is >= 0.5 for at least one occupant object with
  non-zero number of people".
  (Old definition: time when the total number of occupants is > 0.01).

• Fixed implementation of Modelica function "Sample"
  Due to the bug, this function worked only in the first period of
  periodic simulations. For dynamic simulations, it did not work during
  the time that overlaps with startup phase.
  The function Sample is not used in any standard ICE system. It is only
  used in models available for expert users. These models are Pulse,
  SawTooth, Trapezoid, BooleanPulse, SampleTrigger (on "Sources" palette
  page) and all models on "Discrete" palette page.

• Fixed presentation of external IFC wall on floor plan. Only the walls
  that intersects the selected level are now shown.

• Fixed timeout error for network license when running long simulations
  (more than 12 hours) without interaction with user.

• Fixed error in columns "Other sup airflow" and "Other sup airtemp".
  It was wrong for zones with multiple air leaks.

• Fixed crash when IDA tried to write a message in log window before
  this window is created (this could happen in case of invalid license).
  Now such messages are displayed in a pop-up window.

• Improved DWG import with new version of LEADTools. Can now import many of
  the 2004 DWG files that did not work earlier.

• Fixed bug when trying to open an older network session, and the type
  of license (Standard/Network) does no longer exist on the network.
  Before, ICE was closed down without warning.

• Fixed fact that a warning about an expired maintenace license pops up.
  Maintenance feature is now optional, and if expired should make no
  noice.