Activity templates

Taking into account the thermal zoning of the dwelling, which envisages the division into three “macro thermal zones”, the “day-zone”, the service zone and the “night-zone”, and being a dynamic simulation, which requires more detailed parameters variables over time, six different activity templates were used, in relation to the different usages of the rooms: one for kitchen, living room and study, the so called “day-zone”, Activity Template_Kitchen_

Living_Study HouJi; one for the bedrooms, the so called “night-zone”, Activity Template_Bedrooms HouJi; one for the Bathrooms, Activity Template_

Bathrooms HouJi; one for the other air-conditioned rooms used as service spaces, Activity Template_OtherAirConditionedRooms HouJi; one for the non-conditioned rooms, that are used, but only few times and are not usually occupied, ie Technical room and Storage room, Activity Template_

NoConditionedRooms HouJi; one for unoccupied spaces, Unoccupied_HouJi.

Much of the energy simulation is based on the values inserted into the activity templates to perform the calculations, so it is essential to enter some values related to: metabolic factor of the people present in the environment, the thermal contributions of the electrical equipment and their type , the operating profile of the lights, the temperatures that control both the internal conditions of comfort as well as the activation of the systems to heat or cool or ventilate;

the required ventilation flow rates per person and per square meter. Each of the elements mentioned above refers to specific regulations, which provide precise data. Nello specifico:

• Activity Template_Kitchen_Living_Study HouJi

In the “Occupancy” Tab, for the occupancy profile, it was set as “Detailed occupancy template”, that only defines which type of people lives in the rooms, Married_Couple_Two_Children_HouJi, and as schedule the S&L&K_Occ, mentioned in the previous page, with an occupancy density of 0.04 person/

m². For the latent fraction was assumed a default value of 0.5.

In the Metabolic Heat field, for the Metabolic rate was chosen the “Standing/

walking” schedule, which defines a “Metabolic rate” per person of 120 W.

The Metabolic factor indeed, was obtained averaging those of the father, 1, mother, 0.85 and children 0.75 (multiplied for two). The mean is 0.84.

The values related to the metabolic heat were taken from ASHRAE, Handbook of Fundamentals, Chapter 8, Table 5.

In the Other Gains field, which refers to the thermal contributions due

◄ ^{Fig. 5.16}

Setting of “Occupancy” tab in the Activity Template_Kitchen_Living_

Study HouJi in DesignBuilder.

to electrical appliances, nothing has been set, as the equipment such as computers, home appliances and the lighting system have been set individually for each room.

Lastly, the “Environmental control” Tab, establishes the temperature setpoint for cooling, heating and the necessary ventilation flow rates, as well as the illuminance target. The schedules related to Cooling and Heating were set starting from the following setpoints and setbacks, respectively 26 °C / 30 °C and 20 °C / 16 °C which were adapted on the three different thermal zones, with the respective activation schedules, realized after the initial analysis developed without active plants explained in this chapter; the same applies to the Mechanical Ventilation, designed after the analysis without active plants.

For the “Minimum fresh air”, values from legislation UNI EN15251 related to

“very low pollution building” were assumed: 10 l/s/person as minimum fresh air, 0,49 l/s/m², for mechanical ventilation per area which refers to airflow for building emissions pollutions.

The target illuminance has been set to 250 lux, because, according to the existing legislation, it is the average amount of required light for residential spaces.

• Activity Template_Bedrooms HouJi

In the “Occupancy” Tab, for the occupancy profile, in the first part the same values as in the previous template have been inserted: for “Detailed occupancy template”, Married_Couple_Two_Children_HouJi; occupancy density of 0.04 person/m²; latent fraction was assumed a default value of 0.5.

In the Metabolic Heat field, this time, for the Metabolic rate was chosen a

“Bedroom” schedule, which defines a “Metabolic rate” per person of 104 W. The Metabolic factor is again 0.84. As occupancy schedule was chosen

“Dwell_DomBed_Occ”, mentioned in the previous section.

In the Other Gains field, again nothing was set because the equipment has been set individually for each room.

Lastly, in the “Environmental control” Tab, the schedules related to Cooling and Heating have been set with different setpoints and setbacks compared to the previous activity template, respectively 27 ° C / 31 ° C and 18 ° C / 16 °

Fig. 5.17 ►

Setting of “Environmental control”

tab in the Activity Template_Kitch-en_Living_Study HouJi in Design-Builder.

C, with the respective activation schedules, realized after the initial analysis developed without active plants explained in this chapter; the same goes for the Mechanical Ventilation, designed after the analysis without active plants.

Again for the “Minimum fresh air”, values from legislation UNI EN15251 related to “very low pollution building” were assumed: 10 l/s/person as minimum fresh air, 0,49 l/s/m², for mechanical ventilation per area.

The target illuminance has been set at 250 lux, according to the existing legislation for residential spaces.

• Activity Template_Bathrooms HouJi

This template refers to WC1, WC2, i.e. the two house’s bathrooms, that need to have different setpoint and parameters for ventilation, compared to that of the other rooms. In the “Occupancy” Tab the values set are the same of Activity Template_Kitchen_Living_Study HouJi, except for occupancy schedule, in this case “WC_Occ” has been chosen.

The same goes for the “Environmental Control” Tab, where only setpoint, setback and air changes were changed, specifically: Heating setpoint and setback are respectively 22 - 18 °C; Cooling setpoint and setback are respectively 26 - 30 °C. For the ventilation, legislation UNI EN15251, Tab. B5, states that bathroom, in very low pollution residential buildings, need to have 20 l/s as minimum fresh air, and 0,49 l/s/m², for mechanical ventilation per area

• Activity Template_OtherAirConditionedRooms HouJi

This template refers to Additional working space and Aisles, but in the

“Occupancy” Tab, the same values of “Activity Template_Kitchen_Living_

Study HouJi” have been set.

The same happens in the “Environmental control” Tab, where only different setpoint and setback values were set, as the spaces are less used: Heating setpoint and setback are respectively 18 - 16 °C; Cooling setpoint and setback are respectively 28 - 31 °C.

• Activity Template_NoConditionedRooms HouJi

This template refers to the technical room and storage room, which, unlike other rooms, does not require active heating and cooling systems, being used for short periods of time. The set values are the same for all the Tab, except for the occupation schedule, set this time on “Tech & Storage_Occ” and the

“Other Gains” field, where it has been added the mean of the internal gains along all the week for rooms that are not kitchen or living room, which is 3 W/

m² (UNI/TS 11300 part 2). As said, no setpoint were needed for Heating and Cooling since there is no active system.

• Activity Template_Unoccupied HouJi