HB Shading Context_TransMaterial fails

Dear all,

I'm writing to you after two days of trials.

I'm trying to use TransMaterials as a way to perform EP simulations with a translucent shading device added as Context.

The point is that the simulation runs fine but It seems that the material is not considered (I tried to variate the material parameters and also disconnect it from context component and the results output are the same).

Hope you can help me undergone this issue :)

Thank you,

Marco

Replies are closed for this discussion.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Abraham Yezioro on May 24, 2016 at 5:06pm

Trying to upload the image, sing the forum is having trouble embedding images.

-A.

Permalink Reply by Chris Mackey on June 6, 2016 at 9:30am

Ernesto and Abraham,

I apologize to both of you for the late reply.

Ernesto, I don't think that there is any need for additionaStrings in your case. Just plug in a CSV schedule with fractional values that represent the openness of the screen into the shadeSchedule_ input of the zone shades component (or use one of the setpoint options under the shadeCntrlType_ input). Also, your additionalStrings in your GH file do not have any shading control object so, as it is now, the shades are always down. If this is your goal, then your file and the corresponding differences in surface temperature are correct.

Abraham, the geometry in the image that I posted was not generated by the "Honeybee_Window Shade Generator" but by Ernesto's script. I did not add in any capability to change the perforation of the screen geometry on the Window Shade Generator component for 2 reasons:

1) The user might be having the component represent an interior roller shade, where the perforation is typically so fine that you do not notice any perforation.

2) Adding such perforations would increase the runtime of the component unless I make them particularly coarse.

This said, I can add in perforations to the geometry if you think the visualization would be helpful. I would probably keep the density fairly coarse just to keep the runtime down. Or maybe I just add a boolean input for "show perforation"?

Let me know your thoughts,

-Chris

Permalink Reply by Abraham Yezioro on June 6, 2016 at 11:12am

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your answer.

External blinds are now more "sensible" to the need of providing somehow daylighting and not only privacy. Smart blinds allow to set different degrees of slit openness. So somehow it can be useful to have this feature.

If possible i would think about making this as a horizontal break with a density defined by the user (somehow). I also don't think that this degree of detail is very useful.

-A.

Permalink Reply by Abraham Yezioro on June 6, 2016 at 11:38am

You can see examples at this link.

-A.

Permalink Reply by Chris Mackey on June 7, 2016 at 4:16pm

Abraham,

The case for which you post images seems like it might be best modeled by using the 0-blinds shadeType_ with shdAngle_ of 90. Or perhaps I am misunderstanding. Is the angle of the shades changing dynamically over time? If so, I know that E+ has the ability to set a blind slat angle schedule but I have not implemented it yet on the component. If you are just requesting that this angle scheudle feature be added, we can create a github issue and I will implement it while I make blinds on the OpenStudio component (this will happen before the next stable release).

-Chris

Permalink Reply by Abraham Yezioro on June 7, 2016 at 9:26pm

Hi Chris,

The blinds on the link i sent are not really "blinds". They are like a roller shade, where you can control the distance between each slab. The thickness of the slab is just a few milimeters so it is not a regular horizontal element where you can set the angle. It is more like the image of Ernesto but instead a lot of small holes you have a "big" horizontal ones. Which it was my intention when i mentioned this. Like you can set the transmittance of the roller shade.

But anyway, it can be added an as issue. The option you mention will be really nice (scheduling the angle).

-A.

Permalink Reply by Patrick Keeney on April 23, 2015 at 2:40pm

Hey Chris,

What is the difference between using the "EP ContextSrf" component, and using the "Honeybee_CreateHBSrfs" and setting the 'srfType' parameter to 6 (Shading)? I tried the "Honeybee_CreateHBSrfs" method with 'srfType' as 6 and consistently got errors that the surface Normal Direction was not expected for a Shading element, its thought to be a wall or a roof, depending if its a vertical shading element or a horizontal shading element.

Thanks for your help. Patrick

Permalink Reply by Mostapha Sadeghipour Roudsari on April 26, 2015 at 11:30pm

Hi Patrick,

Depends on what are you trying to do. EP_ContextSrfs and Honeybee_CreateHBSrfs can be very similar if you use them to set-up a daylighting model. You only need to use ContextSrfs component if you want to set up an energy simulation and assign shadings with transmittance schedule.

I assume you are getting a warning and not an error. You can disregard the warning.

Mostapha