AHC App URL

You can access our app at https://autonomous-hvac-cfd.simulationhub.com/ If you are not logged in, it will ask you to sign in and take you to the dashboard for the AHC app.

Overview

The Autonomous HVAC CFD (AHC) is a fully autonomous cloud-based CFD simulation web app developed for HVAC Engineers, HVAC consultants, and property owners to help them evaluate the performance of their HVAC systems, without having any knowledge of CFD. We have launched the Early Access Application of the app to give the users an idea of how the user interface and experience of using the final app are going to be.

App Workflow 

The basic workflow of the app includes 5 major steps:

1 Project Stage

2 Design Stage

3 Scenario Stage

4 Simulation Setup Stage

5 Results Stage

Create a New Simulation Project

To create a new project, click the CREATE SIMULATION button on your Dashboard. Provide a title and description in the given fields. This will create a new simulation with the provided details and opens the 3D viewer for further setup.

Create Building Design

Once a new simulation is created, you will be directed to the Building Design Model section. Here the user can select Building Properties, Material Library, and Site Location.

Specify Floor Details

The user has to input Building properties as floor to Ceiling Height, Building Level and mark the check box if the adjacent floors are air-conditioned.

Select Material Properties from Library

This step involves selecting the building material properties such as Exposed Wall, Partition Wall, Glass, Roof/Ceiling, and Floor.

Provide Site Location

The next step involves providing location and weather information of the building area. This helps the Autonomous HVAC CFD app to choose accurate weather conditions for the simulation setup stage.

Building Orientation and Solar Loading Conditions

Choosing the correct building orientation is essential as it determines the solar load entering the indoor space. Users can select the building orientation and mention the date and time for winter & summer conditions.

Sketching a Floor Plan

This is a scale diagram of a room viewed from above and used especially for planning effective use and arrangement of Wall, Window, Seating, Furniture, and Appliances.

Create Airside design

The next major step after the project setup is the Design stage. In this stage, the users have to provide essential information about the Air Side systems in use by choosing the Supply, Return, Individual from the airside system list given below:

Ducted/Central Air Conditioning

Ductless/Individual Air Conditioning

Both Ducted and Ductless Systems

Diffuser Selection and placement

Ventilation plays a major role in the heating and cooling of space. Users get a variety of Supply and Return Diffusers in order to help their project.

Design Configuration

This step consists of defining HVAC Systems, Thermal Zoning, and Heating/Cooling Settings.

Heat Load Scenario 

Scenarios setting is the stage that allows users to set up thermal load and weather conditions for which the HVAC systems are to be evaluated. In the early access application, you can create multiple scenarios based on Occupant Density and Weather Conditions.

Simulation Setup

This stage shows the combination of simulations that are possible from the available spaces, air-side systems, and the scenarios selected by the user. The Autonomous HVAC CFD app will now begin with the process of generating the fluid volume, creating the mesh, running the simulation, performing post-processing, and generating the results.

Results

Using the simulated data, the app provides various forms of qualitative results that can be used to investigate thermal comfort. Here are some examples of the results provided in the Early Access Application.

In this Early Access Application, users can visualize results like Thermal Comfort Plot, Surface Plots, Contour Plot, Comfort Clouds, and Flowlines. By exploring the various results provided, the users can easily evaluate the thermal comfort conditions for the selected scenarios and airside systems.

Log in to your simulationHub account and try your hand at using and exploring the Early Access Application of the Autonomous HVAC CFD app.

You can visit the simulation Gallery for the AHC app and explore the already completed simulation https://autonomous-hvac-cfd.simulationhub.com/simulation-gallery