[esp-r] release of ESP-r version 11.7

[Ian Beausoleil-Morrison]

ESP-r users and developers,

Version 11.7 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/getting.html.

Once you have installed the Subversion client you can download the source
code for version 11.7 of ESP-r anonymously using the following command:
	svn checkout https://esp-r.net/espr/esp-r/trunk

If you already downloaded the source code of a previous version with the
above command, then you do not have to do a full download of version 11.7.
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 Bart Lomanowski at Bartosz.Lomanowski at nrcan.gc.ca who 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 Beausoleil-Morrison
ESP-r Archivist on behalf of the ESP-r development team

Carleton University
Ottawa, Canada


Release Notes
11.7 (June 2009)
================

Simulator
---------
- A new construction type, the complex fenestration construction (CFC), has
been
  added.  This allows a more accurate treatment of windows with or without
shading
  devices.  The front end of the CFC facility is the Glazing Shading Layer
Editor,
  GSLedit, used to assemble the window construction via a graphical user
interface.
  The editor can be downloaded from the ESRU website downloads section.
- CFC models are functioning with some limitations (which will be addressed
in the
  future).  The limitations currently include:
	  - surface must be vertical with external boundary condition
	  - a CFC is restricted to contain only one shading layer
	  - only slat-type shades are modelled (horizontal and vertical
slats)
	  - CFC is not coupled with daylighting models
	  - slat angle control is currently not available 
	  - timestep must be at least 6 timesteps per hour
- The theory and implementation of the CFC facility is described in
  http://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/bitstream/10012/4164/1/Lomanowski_Bartosz.pdf.
  Refer to Appendix F of this thesis for a user's manual.
- Theoretical errors in the four available phase change material models
  have been corrected. Previously, the apparent conductivity/specific heat
  was being incorrectly applied to the nodal equation coefficients and
  several variable indices were incorrect.
- A plant component for natural convection heat exchangers (commonly
employed
  in solar hot water systems) has been added.

 
Project Manager
---------------
- Some improvements to the importation of DXF files have been made.
- A new item has been added to the temporal definitions facility to
  impose vertical solar radiation data on surfaces.
- A new item has been added to the temporal definitions facility to
  impose heating and cooling setpoints from external files.
- A number of new exemplars have been added.
- The interface that manages images associated with models has been
  updated.  Users will now be able to add captions to images.
- The scripts for converting ESP-r models between machine platforms
  have been updated.
- An option has been added for the single-click creation of zone
  operation files for zones without internal gains and air flow.
- The export of ESP-r models to VRML has been updated to correct
  an error in constructions for obstruction blocks.


Validation
----------
- The CEN 15265 validation tests (annual space heating and cooling)
  have been added to the embedded validation section.
- The ASHRAE Standard 140 furnace test cases have been added to
  the automated tester test suite.
 

General
-------
- The default compiler set used by the Install script has been
  changed from gcc-3 to gcc-4.  Developers with older Cygwin
  installations and/or Cygwin installations with both gcc-3 and gcc-4
  may experience build errors related to the linking of standard
  libraries.  If this occurs, it is recommended that you reinstall
  Cygwin and exclude the gcc-3 packages.
- The building.h header file has been rationalized in order to
  better support parameter changes (e.g. number of zones and
  surfaces).  A number of variants of this file have been deleted
  as users should modify the revised version if they wish to
  compile the source to support larger models.


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/vvc/espr/esp-r/branches/development_branch.