[esp-r] release of ESP-r version 11.3

[Beausoleil-Morrison, Ian]

Dear ESP-r users and developers,

Version 11.3 of the ESP-r system is now available.  A summary of the
changes and new features included in this release is given at the bottom
of this e-mail.

The source code may be accessed via the ESP-r Central Subversion
repository.  To do this, you must first install a Subversion client on
your system.  Free clients are available at
http://subversion.tigris.org/project_packages.html.

Once you have installed the Subversion client you can download the
source code for version 11.3 of ESP-r anonymously using the following
command:
	svn checkout https://esp-r.net/espr/esp-r/trunk
	OR
	svn checkout http://esp-r.net/espr/esp-r/trunk

If you previously downloaded version 11.1 or 11.2 with the above
command, then you do not have to do a full download of version 11.3.
Rather, you can update the source code by executing the following
command from your "trunk" directory:
	svn update

(ESP-r developers who wish to make source code contributions to ESP-r
should contact me directly so that we can configure an account for you
on ESP-r Central.  Further information on ESP-r Central for developers
is available on the ESRU web site.)

ESP-r source code is available exclusively through ESP-r Central.
However, ESRU will continue to produce and post pre-compiled versions
for specific operating environments on its web site.  These binary
versions will generally be made available within a few days of a source
code release and will be announced to this e-mail list.  Release notes
will also continue to be posted on the ESRU web site.

Regards,
- Ian

Ian Beausoleil-Morrison
ESP-r Archivist
Natural Resources Canada



Release Notes
11.3 (April 2007)
=================

Generic Code Update
-------------------
- Numerous changes have been made to accommodate native Windows
  file naming conventions (spaces, back slashes).  This improves
  the functionality of ESP-r under native Windows.
- Numerous changes have been made to improve the functionality of
  the GTK version of the project manager and climate analyzer.


Simulator
---------
- Support has been added for the CEN 13791 solar distribution rules.
With this
  ESP-r passes on all CEN 13791 test cases.
- Two mass flow components have been added: a regulated window vent
  and a roof mounted ventilation cowl.
- Numerous changes have been made to the implementation of the Alberta
Air
  Infiltration model (AIM-2):
  # The reporting of error messages during the reading of the AIM-2
    input file has been improved.  The simulator is now halted if an
error
    occurs in the reading of the file.
  # The calculation of the wind flow factor for houses with crawl spaces
    has been added.
  # The user can supply the flow coefficient and exponent directly.
  # Numerous minor bugs have been repaired.
  # Data on this model has been added to the QA reports.
- Two idealized HVAC models (GSHP and DHW) and the BASESIMP ground heat
  transfer model are dependent upon ground temperatures.  Previously,
each
  of these models read ground temperature parameters (annual average,
  amplitude of annual sine wave, and phase shift of annual sine wave)
  independently from input files.  This functionality is preserved, but
a
  new method has been implemented to calculate the required ground
  temperature parameters from the climate file.  Three plant components
  of water storage tanks also make use of this new model.
- A bug in the treatment of type 5 casual gains was repaired.  Type 5
casual
  gains impose an electrical load as determined by the power flow
modelling
  domain as a thermal load in the building thermal domain.  A boolean
  error resulted in a temporal mis-match between the modelling domains.


Project Manager
---------------
- A 'cancel' button has been added in about 135 locations to improve
  program navigation.
- The menu structure for the editing of control law period data
  has been revised to facilitate the description of controls.
  Documentation has also been improved and new exemplars have been
  created to demonstrate the use of some of the more obscure control
  laws.
- A facility has been added to allow the importation of typical
  operations, air flow, and casual gain profiles.
- Labels related to flow component 40 have been updated to remove
  the words 'volume flow' because it is actually an opening type.
- The QA report could be confused by old control files having 6 items
  for a zone basic controller.  This has been repaired.
- Support has been added for 'silently' inserting opeings in surfaces.
- Support has been added for the reading of a zip geometry format file
  (as produced by the Xzip program).
- The functionality of the events profile database manager has been
  incorporated into the project manager to eliminate the need for this
  separate utility.
- Some alterations have been made to the structure of the database menus
  to improve program navigation.
- An option has been added to allow the export of version 1.2, 1.3, 1.4,
  and 2.0 EnergyPlus IDF files.
- The format of the IPV report has been updated.  A control has been
added
  to allow the user to toggle between report formats.
- The user input dialogue for the 'constant' boundary condition has been
  altered to allow the user to input a very high temperature boundary
  condition (as requested by one user).


Results Analyzer
----------------
- An error in the reporting of surface absorbed solar radiation
  was corrected.


Quality Control Utility
-----------------------
- A number of new test cases have been added to the regression tester.
- New functionality has been added to the regression tester to
facilitate
  diagnosing errors.


Climate Data
------------
- The documentation on solar radiation data has been improved in the
  ASCII data exported from the climate analyzer.


Additional Changes
------------------
- Many additional changes have been made that are transparent to the
user.
  Information on these, as well as further details on all the
above-mentioned
  changes, can be found in ESP-r Central's change log by providing the
  following URL to your web browser:
https://esp-r.net/wsvn/espr/wsvn/esp-r/.