Conference Paper

Proceedings of SimBuild Conference 2024

Copper: A Performance Curve Generator for Building Energy Simulation

Jeremy Lerond, Aowabin Rahman, Yiting Zhang, Jian Zhang, Michael Rosenberg
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, United States of America

Abstract: Defining inputs for heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) equipment is an important part of creating a building energy model. Results from simulations depend on how HVAC systems perform at off-rated and part load conditions. Building energy simulation is often used in situations where efficiency targets are defined for HVAC equipment but guidelines on how this equipment should be modeled are lacking and have been for years. A new tool available for all practitioners was developed to help with this issue. This tool, named Copper, is a performance curve generator for building energy simulation that enables modelers to generate full and part load efficiency metric-specific performance curves for HVAC equipment to be used in applications such as baseline modeling for building energy code compliance and simulations for early design analysis. Copper uses a data-driven approach to derive typical performance curves that are then modified to target specific efficiency values. This study covers Copper's methodology and the factors to consider when dealing with integrated efficiency metrics in simulations and how they impact the modeling of part load performance.
Keywords: HVAC, simulation, software, standards
Pages: 185 - 196
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