Lecture 3: Output—Reports, Variables, and Meters Material prepared by GARD Analytics, Inc. and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under contract to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. All material Copyright U.S.D.O.E. - All rights reserved

2 Importance of this Lecture to the Simulation of Buildings  Running a simulation program results in the production of output data  Understanding the output data and its format can help avoid mistakes and save time

3 Purpose of this Lecture  Gain an understanding of: Different output files of EnergyPlus Which output will be the most useful and how to get it Define accumulation “meters” to save time in processing and analyzing results

4 Keywords Covered in this Lecture  Report  Report Variable  Report Meter

5 Output Data Format  Same philosophy as for input; somewhat human readable output files  EnergyPlus can perform some output processing to help limit output size  User definable variable level reporting

6 Output Reporting Flexibility  User can select any variables available for output  User can specify output at time step, hourly, daily, monthly, or environment intervals  User can schedule each output variable  User can select various meters by resource and end-use

7 Types of Output  Report Variables  Report Meters  Default Reports  Optional Reports

8 Output Files  Eplusout.  Filename.  eioInitialization Output – environments, constructions, global settings  esoStandard Output – numeric data  csvcsv spreadsheet of eso data  errErrors Output – always review this!  rddReport Data Dictionary – list of valid report variables for a particular run

9 Output Files (cont’d)  dxf dxf drawing of building surfaces  mtr Meter output – numeric data  Meter.csv csv spreadsheet of meter data  mtd Meter details – lists which report variables are on which meters  cif Comis input file  zsz Zone sizing report  ssz System sizing report Created using CVBbRh.idf

10 Output Files (cont’d)  bndBranch and node details  dbgDebug output  trnTrnsys output  slnVertices of surface For more details see Output Details and Examples

11 Report Commands Report Variable, EAST ZONE, Mean Air Temperature, Timestep; Report Variable, *, Mean Air Temperature, Daily, Report Schedule; Report, Variable Dictionary; Report, Construction; Report, Surfaces, DXF; Report, Surfaces, Details; MAT only for EAST ZONE every timestep MAT for all zones, daily average, only when “Report Schedule” equals 1 List all available variables *.rdd List material and construction properties *.eio Produce drawing of surfaces *.dxf List all surfaces with area, tilt, construction, etc.

12 Report Commands (cont’d) Report Variable,,Outdoor Dry Bulb,monthly; Report Variable,Zone 1,Zone/Sys Sensible Cooling Energy,monthly; Report Variable,Zone 1,Zone/Sys Sensible Heating Energy,monthly; Report Variable,,Heating Coil Energy,monthly; Report Variable,,DX Coil Sensible Cooling Energy,monthly; Report Variable,,DX Coil Latent Cooling Energy,monthly; Report Variable,,DX Coil Total Cooling Energy,monthly; Report Variable,,DX Cooling Coil Electric Consumption,monthly; Report Variable,,Fan Electric Consumption,monthly; Report Variable,,Zone/Sys Air Temp,monthly; Report,Variable dictionary; Report,surfaces,dxf; Report,surfaces,details; Report,construction;

13 Output Data Dictionary (ESO File) Data Dictionary - Beginning of Output Data File 1,5,Environment Title[],Latitude[degrees],Longitude[degrees],Time Zone[],Elevation[m] 2,6,Day of Simulation[],Month[],Day of Month[],DST Indicator[1=yes 0=no],Hour[],StartMinute[],EndMinute[],DayType 3,3,Cumulative Day of Simulation[],Month[],Day of Month[],DST Indicator[1=yes 0=no],DayType ! When Daily Report Variables Requested 246,2,ZN001:FLR001,Surface Inside Temperature[C] !TimeStep 302,2,ZN002:FLR001,Surface Inside Temperature[C] !TimeStep... End of Data Dictionary

14 Output Data (ESO File) Output Data – After the Data Dictionary 1,CHANUTE AFB ILLINOIS SUMMER, 40.30, , -6.00, , 1, 7,21, 0, 1, 0.00,10.00,Monday 246, ,

15 ESO vs. CSV  ESO “Raw” data in comma separated format “Stream of conscience” report—variables print as they are determined Less convenient for viewing variables  CSV Organized data in comma separated format Each row contains data in columns for a particular time step More convenient for viewing variables Requires an.rvi file and must run post-processing program EP-Launch handles this automatically

16 CSV File Sample

17 CSV File Sample (cont’d)  Part of the CSV file created when the CVBbRh.idf file is run in EnergyPlus:

18 RVI File  RVI: Report Variable Input  List of variables to take from ESO file and report to CSV file  Example: eplusout.eso eplusout.csv Outdoor Dry Bulb Zone/Sys Air Temp Zone/Sys Sensible Cooling Energy Zone/Sys Sensible Heating Energy FangerPMV PierceTSENS KsuTSV 0 Input file name for post-processor Output file name for post-processor Report Variables (see IDF or RDD file) to be taken from ESO file and reported in CSV file End of file marker

19 Report Data Dictionary (RDD Files) Var Type,Var Report Type,Variable Name [Units] Zone,Average,Outdoor Dry Bulb [C] Zone,Average,Outdoor Barometric Pressure [Pa] Zone,Average,Mean Air Temperature[C] HVAC,Sum,Zone/Sys Sensible Heating Energy[J] HVAC,Average,Zone/Sys Sensible Heating Rate[W]  Lists applicable output variables for a given input file  Must activate with “report, variable dictionary;” command

20 Meters  Accumulate multiple outputs of same form  Appropriate variables are grouped onto “meters” for reporting purposes  May ease analysis of output  Values are put onto the eplusout.mtr file  Meter component details in eplusout.mtd file  Meter names applicable for the simulation are shown on the Report Data Dictionary file  Meter names are of two forms: : : :

21 Meters – Resource Types  Electricity  Gas  Gasoline  Diesel  Coal  FuelOil#1  FuelOil#2  Propane  Water  Steam  PurchasedCooling  PurchasedHeating  EnergyTransfer (coil & equipment loads)

22 Meters – End Use Types  GeneralLights  TaskLights  ExteriorLights  ZoneSource  ExteriorEquipment  Fans  Pumps  Heating  Cooling  HeatRejection  Humidifier  HeatRecovery  DHW  Cogeneration  Miscellaneous

23 Meters – Meter Types  Facility (Master Meters)  Submeters: Zone (lights, plug loads, etc.) Building (all zones combined plus exterior) System (air handlers, terminal units) Plant (chillers, boilers, DHW, etc.)

24 Meters – Meter Types Zone Air loop Plant Loop Gas:HVAC Elec:Plant Gas:Plant Lights:Zone Elec:HVAC Elec:Zone Building System

25 Input for Meters Report Meter, Electricity:*, Hourly; Report Meter, Electricity: Facility, monthly; Report Meter, Cooling: Electricity, monthly; All electric meters, for all end uses and all levels Master electric meter Cooling equipment

26 Input for Meters (cont’d) Report Meter,Fans:Electricity,monthly; Report Meter,Cooling:Electricity,monthly; Report Meter,Heating:Electricity,monthly; Report Meter,Electricity:HVAC,monthly; Report Meter,Electricity:Facility,monthly; Report Meter,Heating:Gas,monthly; Report Meter,Gas:HVAC,monthly; Report Meter,Gas:Facility,monthly;

27 Meter Details File  Lists exactly what is included in each meter  *.mtd output file For Meter=Electricity:Plant [J], contents are: LITTLE CHILLER:Chiller Electric Consumption [J] BIG CHILLER:Chiller Electric Consumption [J] CIRC PUMP:Pump Electric Consumption [J] COND CIRC PUMP:Pump Electric Consumption [J] HW CIRC PUMP:Pump Electric Consumption [J] BIG TOWER:Tower Fan Electric Consumption [J]

28 Output Files Summary  Simple ASCII files  Simple input format (self-contained)  User-defined output can be interpreted by many programs Spreadsheets Databases Custom Programs

29 Summary  ESO (EnergyPlus Standard Output) file provides user with “raw” output data from EnergyPlus run  CSV file is a version of the ESO file that is in a format more readily usable in a spreadsheet program  Meters and meter output are convenient ways of grouping data for output analysis