TRACE 3D Plus Getting Started - Load Design and Energy and Economics Examples L E T S G O B E YO N D. Trane.com/TRACE3DPlus

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1 TRACE 3D Plus Getting Started - Load Design and Energy and Economics Examples L E T S G O B E YO N D. Trane.com/TRACE3DPlus

2 Welcome to TRACE 3D Plus! You have purchased a next generation, comprehensive design and analysis software. TRACE 3D Plus will help you compare the energy and economic impacts of buildingrelated selections, such as; architectural features, heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system; HVAC equipment; building utilization or scheduling; and financial options. Trane s Customer Direct Support (C.D.S.) Department has created this getting started guide to help walk you through some simple projects and to explore the new features of TRACE 3D Plus. What to look for in this example? This exercise will walk you through defining a typical building in TRACE 3D Plus. We will describe each section and give you helpful navigation hints. After completing this exercise you will be able to: Create a new TRACE 3D Plus project Select a theme for the project Select a weather location Draw and zone a simple office building Select an airside system Understand the project summary screen View reports If you purchased the full edition of the TRACE 3D Plus program, this tutorial continues to illustrate how to: Add alternatives Create a plant Select a utility rate and add economic parameters and costs How to reach us If you should experience issues at any time during the sample project, please feel free to contact the C.D.S. Department. The Customer Direct Support (C.D.S.) Department can be reached at: Website: Phone: cdshelp@trane.com 2

3 Section 1 Load Design Tutorial Creating a New Project Landing Page The main program page displays three groups: Projects, Libraries and News & Updates. The Projects group allows you to add a new project, open an existing project, and displays all of your recent projects. The Libraries group allows you direct access to each of the library database categories. News & Updates will display relevant user information such as tips and tricks, updates, and issues. Figure 1. Main program page Dynamic news User Program Preferences Library database categories Create or Open projects The first part of the tutorial will focus on Load Design mode and the sections of the program you have access to within this mode. To check which mode you are working in, open User Preferences. This is located in the upper right hand corner in the program title bar. You will see your username or guest. Click on the user name to open and edit preferences. Select Interface to view the Operating mode options. Feel free to explore the other definable preferences found in this menu such as defaults for units, library filters, and drawing tool defaults. The interface look and feel can also be modified in User Preferences. You may continue in either mode for this exercise. We will let you know when you have entered all the information required for a Load Design project. 3

4 Figure 2. Operating mode selection 1. Select Interface. 2. Change Operating Mode drop down Creating a Project To start a new project, click the + button located in the upper left corner of the Projects group. New Project Defaults There are three groups in the New Project defaults screen: Project Image allows you to upload a.bmp,.jpg, or.png image file to represent your project. TRACE 3D Plus will assign a project image associated with the selected Theme by default. Project Details allows you to name the project and define other general information. Type your project name in the Project Name field. Project Defaults allows you to define the default weather location, simulation details and building model values that will be used when creating any new project. TRACE 3D Plus remembers the values you use and applies them to your next new project. We will create the example with the default weather location and will change it later in the exercise. 4

5 Figure 3. New project defaults screen Select weather file here and TRACE 3D Plus will remember this location for future Click to upload/replace with custom image These are new fields used in building creation Click to continue creating your new project For this example enter: Floor to floor height = 12 ft. Ceiling elevation = 9 ft. Top of Floor elevation = 6in = 0.5 ft. Window base Elevation = 2.66 ft. Wall Thickness = 7.5 in. = 0.63 ft. The next step in creating a project is to click the Select Theme button. Themes The templates functionality has been expanded in TRACE 3D Plus with the addition of building themes. Themes are a compilation of templates that allow you to group library information by building type. This simplifies the building creation process by providing predefined defaults to constructions, internal loads, airflows, and other areas, such as zones. Theme groups will display available building types for selection. The current theme groups are education, food service, health care, industrial, lodging, office and retail. For this exercise, you will use the low rise office theme. Click on the building labeled low rise to select that theme, you will then see a list of the templates that make up that theme. These are separated into building construction, zone types, and room types. Each of these will include a group of templates that can be used when creating the building. Selecting Create Project and Edit Templates will send you to the Themes screen where you can view the template information, change the template data, and add room and zone types from other building types. For this example click the Create Project and Edit Templates button. 5

6 Figure 4. Themes selection page Theme groups Construction template that applies to the whole building. Information for specific rooms can be overridden in the building section. Each room type contains templates for internal loads, airflows and construction. New template that defines thermostat conditions and other airflow and daylighting controls. Edit Templates Here you can view properties of the building construction, room types, and zone types. You can also add or delete templates to your project after you have selected a building theme. This will be helpful when you have a building that has room types from several building themes. To add templates click the plus button at the top of each template section. You will see the list of templates from all the building themes that can be added to your project. As you hover over the names of room types that are included in your project, you will see the edit, copy and delete buttons. Click the down arrow to expand each room type template and to see its sub templates. You will also see this icon next to one of the room type templates. That indicates that all rooms in the building will be assigned to that room type as they are drawn. You can change the default room type by clicking on the icon next to the room type you want as the new default. Changing room type assignments to your rooms will be covered later in the exercise. Each room type template has three sub templates: construction, internal loads and airflows. These sub templates group the information that will be applied to the rooms in the building. You can view and/or edit the information by clicking edit next to the sub template you would like to see. Red in TRACE 3D Plus identifies any fields that are related to templates. All template screens have a red background. You will also see later in the exercise that the program will show red text in fields that are using a value coming from a template. For this example, you will not use the Storage Dry room type, you can delete it from the list by clicking on the trash can icon next to that room type. Next, modify the amount of people in the lobby using templates. 6

7 While in the themes and templates section, hover over the Office Lobby room type name and click the pencil button to display the properties of that room type. Click the pencil again next to the Internal Load template and modify the people density in the lobby to 1 person. Finally, close the properties section by clicking the icon on the right side of the template screen. Figure 5. Building templates Add Room Type Add Zone Type Edit/Modify Room properties Delete Room Type To continue to the next section, we will use the top navigation bar. This bar shows you all of the sections of the project file: Templates, Building & Site, Systems, Plants, Economics and Project Summary. Each section is made up of subsections, for example, the Building & Site section has the following subsections: Weather, Create Building, Create Zones and Create Site. Using the top navigation bar, you can move to any section of the project at any time. Click on the Building and Site section of TRACE 3D Plus in the navigation bar. You will be brought to the Weather subsection. 7

8 Weather In TRACE 3D Plus, the weather location is easily selected as part of the project creation process in the project defaults area. However, the weather section is where design conditions can be viewed and adjusted. All TRACE 3D Plus files will be run with full year weather files. The standard library contains thousands of available EnergyPlus Weather (.epw) files throughout the world. For this example, you will use Memphis, Tennessee as the location. Type Memphis in the search field on the tree located on the left side of the screen and push enter. Select the Memphis Intl Airport weather file using the replace button. You will automatically be shown the properties of the new weather location. To exit the properties screen click the down arrow on the left side. Figure 6. Weather selection Displays current selected weather location Top navigation bar allows you to jump to any section or sub section of the project. Also displays the alternative that is being viewed. Properties area that can be expanded to display detailed fields in each section. To continue, click on the Create Building subsection on the top navigation bar. 8

9 Section 1.2 Creating and Zoning a Building Create Building This section offers three options for creating a building; Import gbxml, Drawn Building, and Building Wizard. Select the Draw Building option. You will be creating the building below. It is an office facility with a data center. All the project details will be provided throughout the exercise but are also summarized at the end of this document. The general workspace layout of this section, and the rest of the project file, displays drawing tools across the top toolbar, a tree on the left, and Properties in the lower left that can be expanded and contracted by clicking the up or down arrow. 9

10 Figure 7. Draw building screen Room type and Construction tab. Drawing toolbar Tree Raised Floor and Drop Ceiling check boxes Properties To start the example, import a floor plan for the building. Your Project Directory folder will include a file to import labeled Load Design Building.jpg. To import this image file click on the Floor Plan Image Tools icon to expand the toolset and select the Load Image icon. Navigate to C:\Users\<user>\Documents\Trane\TRACE 3D Plus\Documents\Help on your computer where the file has been placed and select it. The image will now appear on the drawing grid The second step is to define the building origin. Once imported, the cursor will change to a crosshair shape. Zoom in and select the lower left corner of Office 102 in the floor plan image (tip: right click on the building image to activate zooming). That will serve as the origin vertex for the 3D image. You will see the floor plan image shift to the origin on the grid. (tip: try to click in the middle of the line that defines the wall so that wall thickness is reflected evenly as you draw the rooms). The third step is to scale the image size. For this exercise, there is one reference dimension provided on the left side of the building for you to scale the image (tip: the longer the surface the better). Select the Scale Image icon on the toolset, click on one side of the line with the known length, then drag the scaling line to the other side and click. Finally define the length of this surface (87.8 ft. in this case) and select apply. The building image will now be scaled to size. At this point, you can trace over the imported building drawing. Activate the room drawing tools by clicking on the toolbar. Define the rooms using the rectangle or polyline tools which work with a click and drag functionality like typical drawing software. All of the rooms in our building have a ceiling plenum. To add a plenum to a room that you are about to draw, click the Drop Ceiling box located on the toolbar. Also, when drawing the data center, make sure that the raised floor is checked as well to give that space an underfloor plenum for the UFAD system that will be added later. 10

11 Next, use the door drawing tools and the window drawing tools to add them to the building. Doors has four different door types: single, double, roll up and sliding. Windows allows you to define single, array, and band window types. Each type will show a list of typical sizes that you can choose from a dropdown list. If the size you need is not listed, click on the plus sign to add a different size. Once you have selected a type and size of a door or window, you can add the same one as many times as you need to the building without having to reselect. For this example, there is one double door on the lobby. You will need to add the 120 x96 double door size by clicking the icon to the left of the size select dropdown. Key in the dimensions and click the checkmark to add in the door size. In the drawing, you can then click on the Lobby wall that has the door to add it. All rooms except for the conference, data center, and restrooms will get a 30% band window on all exposures. Switch to the window drawing tool, choose the band window type and type 30 in the % wall field. You can now click on the walls that will have the 30% band windows. Note: A flat roof is automatically added to the building. Figure 8. Drawing canvas Optional on screen zoom and move tool. Mouse should be primary tool for drawing. Building drawing tool View settings Grid settings Snap settings The tree will add the rooms, their surfaces and sub surfaces as they are drawn. However, to see these details you will need to double click on the room name to expand it. You will also be able to view the detailed information in the properties section at the bottom of the screen. To expand the properties section click on the arrow icon on the bottom left. 11

12 Once you are finished tracing the building image, use the tree on the left side to rename your rooms. Simply right click on each room name, choose Rename, and type in the new name. This is an important step in organizing your file to make it easier to work with. Once you are finished drawing the building, it is time to assign room types to each room. This is done so that each room gets the correct template information. To do this, switch to the Room Type tab on the tree. You will see a list of the room types that were brought in with the theme. Click on the Room Type Manager button at the bottom of the tree. To assign rooms to a room type, select the room type on the tree and click the + button next to the room you would like to assign. You can also use the building image to assign Room Types. Note that the plus button will only appear if the room type you have selected is not already assigned to the room. TRACE 3D Plus will color code the rooms to their assigned room types to make it easy for you to check for errors. Room Type Assignment: Office : Enclosed Office Conference Room: Conference Restroom: General Restrooms Lobby: Office Lobby Data Center: IT/Server Room Corridor: Hallway/Corridor Figure 9. Room assignment by color code Use plus or minus buttons to assign room to selected room type in Tree Next sub section in project flow The room type Manager is an alternative method to assign rooms to room types without using the building image. Now that all of the rooms have been assigned a room type, you may wish to change the specific information within a particular room. To do so, switch back to the Construction tab on the tree. Then select the room you wish to edit from the building tree and then click the pencil properties button. This will open up the room properties and allow you to make changes to the room inputs. Note that any value that is bringing its information in from a template will be displayed with red text. 12

13 Figure 10. Editing a room Tab between Construction, Airflow, and Internal loads to modify properties in each corresponding section. If at any time you wish to revert back to a template value, simply click the red triangle that appears in the user override field in the upper left corner. Once all rooms have been assigned to the correct room types and all necessary changes have been made to room properties, click on the Create Zones subsection to continue. Create Zones The Create Zone section allows you to create thermal zones by grouping rooms in the building. To achieve this in TRACE 3D Plus you can use the drawing and the tree or you can use the zone manager. At first all rooms will be listed under the unassigned rooms category, you will need to assign each room to a zone or the unconditioned space category in order to run simulations later on. For this example, you will first assign the restrooms to the unconditioned category and then use the Auto Assign feature to make each room its own zone. You can find this button at the bottom of the screen. Again, TRACE 3D Plus will color code the zones to make it easy for you to check for errors. Right click on the name of each zone in the tree to rename the thermal zones. This will make it easier to review output and keep your file organized. Once all rooms are assigned to a zone, you can continue to the Systems section. Note that for this example you will not define anything in the Create Site subsection. In Create Site you will be able to add adjacent buildings for shading and include power generating and power using objects like wind turbines and exterior lights. 13

14 Section 1.3 Creating Airside Systems Select Systems Once in the Systems section begin by choosing the Select Systems subsection. Here you will select and add systems from the list of existing systems in the library. TRACE 3D Plus includes more than 70 premade airside systems distributed in 10 categories. Please note that you can only add systems to your project in this section, you cannot yet modify them. The system categories are shown on the bar below the top navigation bar and include: VAV, Constant Volume, Double Duct, Chilled Beam and Induction, Heating Only, Cooling Only, Under Floor Air Distribution, Displacement Ventilation, Dedicated Outdoor Air Systems, and 90.1 Systems. Click on the category to display the system groups in a category. You can then scroll through the system groups and view the available systems in that group by clicking on the group box. To view the detailed diagram of a system, simply select it from the pull down menu. Finally, to add a system to the project, click on the Add System button at the bottom of the diagram. Figure 11. Systems screen System categories System groups Systems available from Library database (list will include standard and custom systems) System diagram displays components and controls that have been added 14

15 For this example you will pick 3 different system types. After selecting each one, click on the Add System button at the bottom of the screen to add it to the project. 1. Add one VAV RH (30% min default) (DX) system for the office spaces you will find this system under the Variable Air Volume (VAV) category and then the VAV Reheat group. 2. Add a single zone (DX with electric reheat) for the lobby this system is located in the Constant Volume (CV) category and then the Single Zone CV group. 3. Add an underfloor air distribution system CV (DX with electric heat) for the data center find this system under the Under Floor Air Distribution category and then the UFAD CV group. The three systems should appear in the tree to the left. After they have been added, rename the systems by right clicking on their names in the tree. You can now move on to the Configure Systems tab. Configure Systems Once in the Configure Systems tab you can add components to the system diagram using the categories at the top or you can click on the system in the tree and select the edit button to open the system properties screen. You can also select the component on the system diagram and then click the edit button next to the component name on the tree. For each system in the example you will need to change the fan static pressure to the values below. Fan properties are under the Components tab. Expand the fan component to view its detailed fields. 3 in. static pressure (office system) 2 in. static pressure (lobby system) 2 in. static pressure (data center system) Tip: The Components tab is also where you would change a coil type from dx to chilled water or an electric reheat coil to a hot water coil. 15

16 Figure 12. Components tab Now that you have configured systems, the next step is to assign zones to the systems. Move on to the Assign Zones tab. Assign Zones It is now time to assign the zones in your building to the systems that have been added to the project. The functionality in this screen is similar to the Create Zones screen. You will see the systems in the tree as well as a list of unassigned zones. To assign zones to a system, select the system in the tree and use the plus buttons in the drawings to add the zones to the selected system. The building image will be color coded for you to easily check which zones are assigned to each system. There is also an Auto Assign option. Assign zones as shown below. Note that the restrooms do not need to be assigned because they were set as unconditioned zones. Assign all offices, the corridor, and the conference room to the VAV RH Office System Assign the data center to the UFAD System and, Assign the Lobby to the Single Zone Lobby System. To continue, navigate to the Configure Zone Equipment section using the top navigation bar. Configure Zone Equipment This subsection allows you to view the properties of zone level components like the terminal device on the VAV RH system. To view the properties, select the zone group you would like to view on the tree and then click the edit button to its right or click the Properties section at the bottom of the screen. You will not make any changes in the Configure Zone Equipment subsection in this exercise. Tip: This section also allows you to add zone level equipment like baseboard heaters and different terminal devices to specific zones. 16

17 Figure 13. Configure zone equipment Plants The plants section is still active in Load Design mode. However, in TRACE 3D Plus it is used to define water loops. Since you only have systems with DX coils, there is nothing to define in this section and you will see the message below. Click on the Next Section button. When in Load Design mode, this will take you to the Project Summary screen. You will look at the functionality of that screen before moving on to the Energy and Economics portion of the tutorial. 17

18 Section 1.4 Project Summary and Creating Alternatives Project Summary This screen shows the alternatives you have created and gives details on each project section. A new feature in TRACE 3D Plus is that each section in the Project Summary screen will show if it is ready to calculate. This is done with green, yellow and red markers. If you see a yellow or a red marker, click on it to see the validation rule. Yellow markers are warnings but allow calculation. Red markers need to be resolved before calculating. You can navigate to sections of the summary by the icon next to each section in each alternative. The top navigation bar will indicate on the left side which alternative you are on. Once the first alternative has been calculated, you will be able to see a summary of results at the bottom of the alternative column. When more than one alternative has been created, this same section will show benchmark comparisons of the alternatives to the base alternative. Alternatives will always be ordered from left to right. The alternative name can be modified by simply highlighting the current name and typing a new one. Figure 14. Project summary view Create a linked alternative. Navigate to a project section in a specific alternative. Indicates if the alternative section is ready for calculation. Displays a summary of what has been defined in each section. Alternatives will display as columns. No current limit has been set to the amount of alternatives per project file. View benchmark comparisons of alternatives after calculation. 18

19 Adding Alternatives Alternatives will be displayed vertically. You can add alternatives using the linked alternative button shown at the top right corner of each alternative. Once you create a linked alternative you can unlink different sections to make changes. You also have the option of creating a completely new section, for example, if you are completely changing the system type or switching the weather location. You will not create alternatives in this example. The last step to cover is Calculate Results. Use the top navigation bar to navigate to that subsection. Figure 15. Alternatives view Allows you to grab and move the alternative Create a linked alternative Set as base alternative. Click to rename the alternative. This concludes the required sections for the Load Design mode of calculation. If you are working with a Load Design only project please proceed to Section 3 Calculate Results section. 19

20 Section 2 Energy and Economics Tutorial You will now add an alternative to the office and data center example and then edit it in order to demonstrate the sections required for an Energy and Economics project. To begin, return to the Project Summary screen if you had navigated away. Create a linked alternative using the linked alternative button shown at the top right corner of alternative 1. Unlink the systems by clicking the linked button next to that section in alternative 2 and choosing Unlink Systems. Unlink the plants section in the same way. Notice that the linked icon turns black to signify the section is no longer linked. Figure 16. Linked and unlinked alternatives 20

21 Navigate to the systems section in alternative 2 by clicking the icon. TRACE 3D Plus will now bring you to the Select System section in alternative 2. You will edit the coils in all three systems to make them water coils. To do that, first navigate to the Configure Systems section. Select the first system on the tree and click the edit button. This will open the properties section for that system. Move to the Components tab and expand the coil component (Tip: coils are usually labeled SCC #). Change the Category of all the cooling coils to Cooling Coils. The screens below shows the properties screens for each of the three systems in our example. Figure 17. Under Floor Air Distribution CV System 21

22 Figure 18. VAV RH System 22

23 Figure 19. Single Zone CV System Once you have changed the cooling coils in the systems, navigate to the Plants section of alternative 2 using the top navigation bar. 23

24 Section 2.1 Creating Plants Select Plants Upon entering this section you will see a message letting you know that you will need to define plants for this alternative. This is because the recently modified cooling coils now need a plant to send them chilled water. If you do not yet have that information for your project, you can use the automated plant option. You can always come back to change it later. Choose Select Plant from the message options. This will bring you into the Select Plants screen where we can add plant loops to our project. The screen s functionality is similar to Select Systems screen. The loop categories are displayed at the top. Selecting each will show the loop groups and clicking on the group box will show a list of the available loops in that group. To view the loop diagram, select the loop from the pull down menu. The plant wizard is selected by default when entering the Select Plants section. It allows you to bring in a group of loops that are pre assigned to each other. You will use the plant wizard to add the required loops for your example. Select Air Cooled from the plant configuration types. Then select the Single Air Cooled CV Chiller, Single Boiler plant configuration. Figure 20. Plant wizard Select from Plant Configuration categories. Select from the existing plants in the library View loops that will be added to the project once. Add this Plant Configuration button 24

25 You will see the two loops that will be added as part of this configuration: A chilled water loop with an air cooled chiller and a hot water loop with a single constant volume boiler. You can click the small loop images to view the diagram of the loop on the larger area. Click the Add this Plant Configuration button. You will see that both loops are added to the project and are displayed on the tree along with their components. The first loop on the list will be selected in the tree and displayed on the diagram by default. Figure 21. Loops in the project Navigate to the Configure Plants sub section using the top navigation bar. Configure Plants This section gives you the functionality to modify the loops that have been added to the project. You can add, move and delete components and controllers. TRACE 3D Plus will only display components that apply to the loop type you have selected and will only allow you to add them in valid locations. You can also access the Properties section to view and change the detailed values for each loop. You will not make changes to the systems in this example so you can move on. Select the Assign Loops on the navigation bar. Assign Loops For plants with multiple loops, this section allows you to assign the demand components to their respective supply loop. For example if you have a water cooled chiller, this section will allow you to assign the chiller to the condenser loop that has the cooling tower. The advantage of bringing in a plant configuration using the plant wizard is that the loop assignments have been done for you. Select Assign Systems on the navigation bar to move on to the next section. 25

26 Assign Systems Similar to when you assigned rooms to zones and later zones to systems, you will now need to assign the coils in the systems to the plant loops you have added to the project. The tree will show you a list of the loops and the unassigned coils. Coils can be assigned using the Manager icon at the bottom of the tree by selecting the loop you would like to add coils to in the tree and then clicking the + signs next to the coils displayed in the System Manager. Note that TRACE 3D Plus will only allow you to add applicable coils to each loop (for example, hot water coils to the hot water loop). For this example, you will use the Auto Assign option. Click the Auto Assign button at the bottom of the screen. You will see the cooling coils assigned to the air cooled chiller loop and the hot water coils assigned to the boiler loop. Figure 22. System auto assign option Opens the Assignment Manager allowing you to add system coils to the loop that is meeting the load. Will automatically assign all coils to the existing applicable loop. Defining plants is now complete. Select the Economics section on the navigation bar, when you do, you will see the message below. You will need to switch back to alternative 1 in the example. This is because edits can only be made in unlinked sections of alternatives. Click the Go to: Alt 1 DX Systems button shown on the message. Notice that the navigation bar now shows that you are in the Economics section of alternative 1. 26

27 Figure 23. Alternative 1 screen Alternative 1 Section 2.3 Selecting Utility Rates and adding Economic Parameters Utilities The first subsection in Economics is Utilities. Here, TRACE 3D Plus automatically assigns the utility rate defined in the project defaults section (seen when creating a new project) to the building meter in the project. You can add other utility rates that exist in the library to the project. You can then assign the building meters to different utility rates using the Meter Manager. For this example, you will not make any changes to this section. Use the top navigation bar to move to Meters. 27

28 Figure 24. Utilities home screen Add utility rates from the library Use the meter manager to assign building meters to different utility rates. Meters The next subsection in economics is Meters. When entering the section you will be asked if you want to move on to the next section or define custom meters. Remember that TRACE 3D Plus always has one building meter assigned to the selected utility rate by default. This means that even if you select to skip this section, your file will be ready to calculate. However, this section allows you to create custom meters if your building requires it. Select Next Section to move on to the Life Cycle Parameters. 28

29 Life Cycle Parameters Life Cycle Parameters are defined in Alternative 1 and applied to all alternatives in the project. You will need to define the study period, discount rates, tax rates, depreciation types and price escalation for the different fuel types in your project. Leave the defaults for this example. Use the top navigation bar to move to Costs. Figure 25. Life cycle parameters Costs The final subsection in Economics is Costs. The screen provides a spreadsheet for you to define the Investment and OMR costs in each alternative. Note that you will need to manually add the costs for each year before placing them on the spreadsheet. TRACE 3D Plus will give you a grand total per year and for the total study period. For your example, you will not add any costs. You will still be able to see consumption and demand costs in the output reports based on the utility rate that is applied. 29

30 Figure 26. Costs home screen All sections in the project have now been covered, you can move back to the Project Summary section using the top navigation bar. Both of the alternatives that were defined will show green checks in all sections, showing that they are ready to be calculated (See Figure 27 below). Move on to the Calculate Results sub section using the navigation bar. Figure 27. Calculation ready alternatives 30

31 Section 3 Calculating and Viewing Reports Calculate Results Files can be calculated using the Load Design or Energy and Economics simulation methods shown in the drop down menu in the top left corner under Simulation Method. If you have only purchased the Load Design program you will only see the Load Design option in this dropdown. For this example, leave the Load Design method selected if that is your only choice or choose the Energy and Economics method if you have that option available. There is a third simulation available for Energy and Economics customers. It is a Set per Alternative option. If you select this option you will be able to set the methodology for each alternative you choose to calculate. Next, click the checkbox next to the alternative you would like to calculate. For this example, check both alternatives and click the Start Analysis button at the bottom. TRACE 3D Plus will now calculate the checked alternatives. You will see progress bars as the alternatives are calculating. Once the calculations are completed, you will see the status changed to Passed you can move on to the Reports to see output data. The Simulation Settings subsection will not be covered in this example. Figure 27. Analysis report Simulation Method field Reports tab Errors button If your simulation s status set as Failed after calculation, you can click on the Errors button to see both Energy Plus and TRACE 3D Plus errors. These errors are helpful when trying to determining the cause of failure. If at any time during this example you should encounter issues, please contact the C.D.S. Department. It is helpful to save a screenshot of the issue so that the support group can better assist you. Contact information was included at the beginning of this document. 31

32 Viewing Reports In this section we will cover the report viewer layout. The viewer has three sections: alternative selection, report type tabs, and the display section. Figure 28. Report view layout Alternative Selection Report tabs (Load, Energy and Economics, and comparison) Print, Export, and Preview buttons The alternative section, will show you the alternatives that have results available to view. Any alternatives that have not been recalculated after making project changes will not show up. 32

33 Choose the reports you would like to view by checking the box next to the report name. You also have the option to select all the available reports. To view the selected reports click the Preview button at the bottom of the screen. The selected reports will now preview in the display section as tabs. Figure 29. Report options Toolbar Report tabs (Load, Energy and Economics, and comparison) The report toolbar will also now be active and will allow you to navigate through the pages of the report, view a document map of the report you are viewing, print, export and split the screen into multiple sections. Note that the trial version will not allow you to print or export the reports. This concludes the Getting Started example. Please contact the C.D.S. Support Center with any questions. 33

34 Trane, the Circle Logo, TOPSS, Performance Climate Changer, myplv, and TRACE are trademarks of Trane in the United States and other countries. ASHRAE is a registered trademark of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air- Conditioning Engineers, Inc.. LEED is a registered trademark of U.S. Green Building Council. All trademarks referenced in this document are the trademarks of their respective owners. Trane, A business of Ingersoll Rand For more information, contact your local Trane office or us at comfort@trane.com