Hello,
I came across this group searching for interoperability solutions with LBNL’s software.
I’m wondering if there’s any interest in compatibility with THERM 7.8.
I see from the post history that Fairyfly works with THERM8 as LBNL opened sourced the API for the this version. I’ve been working on a similar API for the old .thm format
From the perspective of supporting people to get their THERM models to simulate, no, not really. THERM 7 is a completely different animal than THERM 8 and version 7 does not have a good enough mesher to model the construction details that people typically draw in CAD environments (which tend to be a lot more complex than what people draw in the THERM application). Hence, all of the old discussions you see on this forum under honeybee-legacy where people could not get their construction details to simulate in THERM. So I would rather not move backwards in THERM versions here.
But I would like to understand what you mean by this:
When you say “opened sourced the API” are you just referring to the fact that THERM 8 natively uses the .thmz file format, which is just a .zip file with a bunch of THERM XMls in it? Or are you referring to something else?
From what I understand, it was not possible to write a THERM 7 .THM file and this is why they came up with the .THMX format. But perhaps my knowledge here is outdated.
Hi Chris,
Thank you for the response.
I agree that THERM 8 is more capable overall. My interest in THERM 7 is mainly driven by current certification constraints, as NFRC approval for newer version is still a way out (at least based on what I’ve heard).
When you say “opened sourced the API” are you just referring to the fact that THERM 8 natively uses the .thmz file format, which is just a .zip file with a bunch of THERM XMls in it? Or are you referring to something else?
Yes, that is what I was referring to, specifically the LBNL-ETA/LibraryFEMTherm project.
From what I understand, it was not possible to write a THERM 7 .THM file and this is why they came up with the .THMX format. But perhaps my knowledge here is outdated.
I developed a parser/serializer for the binary .thm format to address this issue, as the .thmx doesn’t expose full control over certain aspects of the simulation.
I’ll explore Fairyfly more to see whether it could act as a bridge for generating THERM 7 models for certification workflows. I’d be interested to know if you’ve seen any similar efforts in this area.