Simulations

ASW's simulation programs use information about your facility and energy in order to compare the impact of various energy efficiency measure (EEM) alternatives. We have numerous different simulation programs to meet a wide range of analysis needs.

• The Building Systems Electric Energy Simulation program calculates the monthly electric-energy consumption for a given building. It individually models building systems (e.g., chillers, pumps, lighting, etc.) and identifies their annual electric-energy consumption. This program uses the cooling-load profiles obtained from the Building Cooling Load program.

• The Central Plant With and Without Thermal Energy Storage program calculates the electric-energy consumption of a central plant with and without a TES (thermal energy storage) system. It accomplishes this by identifying the ton-hours and the electric-energy (kWh) shift based on a given TES-tank size and a given number of hours of the on-peak period. This program uses the cooling-load profiles obtained from the Building Cooling Load program.

• The Central Plant Operations program calculates the total energy (electricity and natural gas) consumption of a central plant (i.e., chillers, pumps, cooling tower). The program can handle any combination of up to five electric and three absorption chillers. In addition, it calculates the amount of water make-up to the cooling tower and associated pounds of chemicals to treat the condenser-water based the specified cycles of concentration. The user has the option to specify when each type of chiller will be in operation (i.e., on-peak, mid-peak, off-peak, or any other timeframe).

• The Air System: Constant, Two-Speed and Variable-Air Volume Analysis program calculates the monthly electric-energy consumption by a fan-motor with a constant-speed, two-speed, and variable-speed drive. It uses the circulating air requirement profiles obtained from the Building Cooling Load program.

• The Pump System: Constant and Variable Water-Flow Analysis program calculates the monthly electric-energy consumption by a pump-motor with a constant-speed and variable-speed drive. This program uses the cooling-load profiles obtained from the Building Cooling Load program.

• The Cooling Tower: Constant, Two-Speed and Variable Air Analysis program calculates the monthly electric-energy consumption by a fan-motor with a constant-speed, two-speed and variable-speed drive. This program uses the cooling-load profiles obtained from the "Building Cooling-Load Program.

• The Heat Pump Application program provides the means to quickly evaluate different methods of heating water for various applications. This program has five separate analysis options:

  • Analysis Option #1 — High-level analysis of historic natural gas bills. This analysis option allows the user to establish an order of magnitude of how the natural gas is being used in a particular building application.

  • Analysis Option #2 — The total "heat" requirements of a domestic hot water (DHW) system for a specific facility. This option performs a high-level analysis to evaluate the heat pump as an alternative source to a "gas-based" domestic hot-water system, based on the "type" of facility.
    

  • Analysis Option #3 — The total "heat" requirements based on an empirical daily gallons-per-hour profile of the domestic hot water (DHW) system. This option performs a high-level analysis to evaluate the heat pump as an alternative source to a "gas-based" domestic hot-water system.

  • Analysis Option #4 — The total "heat" requirements of a pool for a given weather region in Southern California. This option provides a high-level analysis to evaluate the heat pump as an alternative source to a gas-based or cogeneration pool heating system.

  • Analysis Option #5 — The life cycle owning and operating costs for a given system application. The objective of this analysis option is to provide a common basis by which to compare the relative financial merits of alternative investments over a similar period of time (years).

• The Metered Simulation program creates monthly representative-days (weekdays, Saturday and Sundays) kW-profiles just like the Building Systems Electric Energy Simulation program, except it uses empirical kW data from different types of facilities.

• The Daily kW Demand Profiles program creates hourly kW-demand (8,784) for an entire year. The required information consists of the monthly representative-days (weekday, Saturday and Sunday) kW-demand profiles and the regional hourly weather data.

• The Chiller Plant: Analysis of Empirical Operating Data program analyzes operating data (e.g., CHWR-temperature, CHWS-temperature, chiller's running amps, etc.) collected by operating staff at a central cooling plant. The program gives the operating staff insight as to what the system's performance (kW/tons) is under different operating parameters (e.g., outside-air temperature-conditions, building occupancy levels, etc.).

• The Air System: Analysis of Empirical Operating Data program analyzes operating data collected by operating staff at a specific air-system. The program gives the operating staff insight as to what the system's performance (e.g., tons of refrigeration, percentage of outside-air, etc.) is under different operating parameters (e.g., outside air conditions, occupancy levels, etc.).

• The Boiler Plant: Analysis of Empirical Operating Data program analyzes boiler operating data collected by operating staff, and gives the operating staff insight as to what the system's performance is under different operating parameters.

• The Hydraulic System Modeling program allows the user to establish a hydraulic system's piping distribution configuration and identifies the pipe-velocity (fps) and corresponding pressure-drop (ft) through every section of pipe in the established water-distribution system. This program is based on the Williams and Hazen formula.

The Hydraulic System Modeling program is ideal for checking the total dynamic head requirements of an existing pipe distribution system under constant- or variable-flow conditions or both, and identifying pipe sections that need to be replaced due to new water-flow requirements.

Use the links below for a sample from some of these programs.