Question about invalid models in EnergyPlus

I’ve run into this problem while trying to implement thermal zones via the HB SetZone component today. I have a very simple model with 2 zones.

Thermal Zoning.gh (120.3 KB)

  • The model is valid if I don’t apply the thermal zones.
  • The geometry is made of Closed breps.
  • I’ve played with Rhino Tolerance but it does not change.

During the translation into the IDF/OSM there are vertices that, in the simulation output error file, show a microscopic deviation:

I’ve gone through all the posts related to this component but haven’t found anything conclusive. Any ideas @chris ?

Hey @mateobarbero ,

The warning from EnergyPlus about coordinate values is completely innocuous and is separate from the Honeybee ValidationError about the VRF HVACs that you have assigned. You can ignore the E+ warning because the room volumes are closed at your Honeybee Model tolerance even if they are not closed at the native tolerance that EnergyPlus uses (1cm).

In the case of your sample model, the Honeybee ValidationError is also a false alarm because there was a bug in the check that performs the validation error. I just fixed it here:

… and after that, you will see that your sample model is reported as completely valid:

So you can ignore the ValidationError for your sample model. I see that you actually only have one HVAC system for each zone and so the ValidationError was being incorrectly reported.

FYI, the case that this ValidationError is intended to catch is one where someone assigns two separate HVAC systems to the same zone (by means of the two rooms that are in each zone). This does not make sense in terms of EnergyPlus logic because E+ assumes that the air temperature is uniform/well mixed across the rooms that are a part of the same zone and that there is only one thermostat for the zone. So it’s not like one HVAC controls the temperature of one room and the other controls the temperature of the other room when they are in the same zone. If someone actually meant to assign two HVAC systems to one zone, then they need to be more explicit in the way that they set these systems up with Ironbug. You basically need to have a set of staged controls that say “run this HVAC first and then run this other HVAC only after the first one has reached capacity”.

But, again, all of this is not relevant to your sample model. We were just performing the check incorrectly.

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