SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EVALUATING THE ENERGY USE OF MULTIPLE DIFFERENT BUILDING MASSING CONFIGURATIONS

• US 20140025347A1
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Published: 01/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aditazz, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Aditazz, Inc.
• Inventors: Aatresh, Deepak, Yu, Robert, Kim, Sungmin
• Granted Patent: US 10,452,790 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/13 Architectural design, e.g. computer-aided architectural design [CAAD] related to design of buildings, bridges, landscapes, production plants or roads

Abstract

Computer based methods and systems for characterizing the energy use of multiple different building massing configurations are disclosed. In one embodiment, a computer based method involves specifying a set of parameters for a building massing configuration, calculating a normalized energy use index for multiple different building massing configurations that meet the specified set of parameters, wherein the normalized energy use index for each of the multiple different building massing configurations is normalized against a reference energy use index of a reference building, ranking the multiple different building massing configurations by the respective normalized energy use indexes, and selecting at least one of the different massing configurations for display on a graphical user interface according to the ranking.

Claims

1. A computer based method for characterizing the energy use of multiple different building massing configurations, the method comprising:

specifying a set of parameters for a building massing configuration;

calculating a normalized energy use index for multiple different building massing configurations that meet the specified set of parameters, wherein the normalized energy use index for each of the multiple different building massing configurations is normalized against a reference energy use index of a reference building;

ranking the multiple different building massing configurations by the respective normalized energy use indexes; and

selecting at least one of the different massing configurations for display on a graphical user interface according to the ranking.

2. The computer based method of claim 1 wherein the set of parameters for a building massing configuration includes at least one footprint shape, a range of footprint bounding box size on the x-axis, a range of footprint bounding box size on the y-axis, and a range of number of stories of the building.

3. The computer based method of claim 1, wherein the normalized energy use indexes for multiple different building massing configurations that meet the specified set of parameters are calculated from pre-derived shape-specific normalized energy use index formulas.

4. The computer based method of claim 3, wherein the pre-derived shape-specific normalized energy use index formulas are a function of Bx, By, W, H, and Ns.

5. The computer based method of claim 4, wherein Bx, By, W, and H are a function of a fixed size bay.

6. The computer based method of claim 3, wherein the pre-derived shape-specific normalized energy use index formulas are derived by:

establishing a reference energy use index for a reference building;

establishing a set of configuration parameters to define multiple different building massing configurations, at least one of the configuration parameters defining a building footprint shape;

running an energy simulation for the multiple different building massing configurations that meet the set of configuration parameters to produce energy use indexes for the multiple different building massing configurations;

normalizing the energy use indexes against the reference energy use index;

deriving shape-specific normalized energy use index formulas from the normalized energy use indexes.

7. The computer based method of claim 6, wherein deriving the shape-specific normalized energy use index formulas from the normalized energy use indexes comprises deriving a base formula and a correction factor for each different building footprint shape.

8. The computer based method of claim 6, wherein running an energy simulation comprises running an EnergyPlus simulation.

9. The computer based method of claim 6, wherein the set of configuration parameters includes Bx, By, W, H, and Ns.

10. The computer based method of claim 3, wherein at least one of the shape-specific normalized energy use index formulas is a function of Rs, wherein Rs=Be/Bfp, where Bfp is the number of bays in the footprint of a particular building massing configuration, Be is the number of bays along the exposed perimeter of the particular building massing configuration, and each bay is the same size.

11. The computer based method of claim 1, wherein the different building massing configurations have a footprint shape that is selected from the group consisting of a rectangular footprint shape, an L footprint shape, a Z footprint shape, a K footprint shape, an X footprint shape, a T footprint shape, a U footprint shape, an H footprint shape, and an O footprint shape.

12. The computer based method of claim 1, wherein the different building massing configurations and the reference building are defined as a function of a fixed bay size.

13. The computer based method of claim 12, wherein the fixed bay size has a rectangular footprint shape and dimensions of 30 feet by 30 feet.

14. The computer based method of claim 1, wherein the different building massing configurations are generated using a shape grammar and are stored in a building massing library.

15. The computer based method of claim 1, wherein selecting at least one of the different massing configurations for display on a graphical user interface according to the normalized energy use indexes comprises selecting a building massing configuration having a normalized energy use index that indicates low energy use relative to others of the building massing configurations for which a normalized energy use index was calculated.

16. The computer based method of claim 1 further comprising using the selected building massing configuration for further processing in a building realization system.

17. A computer based method for characterizing the energy use of multiple different building massing configurations, the method comprising:

establishing a reference energy use index for a reference building;

deriving a normalized energy use index formula for each of multiple different building footprint shapes using the reference energy use index; and

calculating normalized energy use indexes for multiple different building massing configurations using the shape-specific normalized energy use index formulas;

ranking the multiple different building massing configurations according to the normalized energy use indexes.

18. The computer based method of claim 17, wherein the shape-specific normalized energy use index formulas are a function of Bx, By, W, H, and Ns.

19. The computer based method of claim 17 wherein deriving the shape-specific normalized energy use index formulas comprises:

establishing a set of configuration parameters, at least one of the configuration parameters defining a building footprint shape;

running an energy simulation for multiple different building massing configurations that meet the set of configuration parameters to produce energy use indexes for the multiple different building massing configurations;

calculating a normalized energy use index for each different massing configuration from the energy use indexes for the multiple different building massing configurations and from the reference energy use index; and

deriving the shape-specific normalized energy use index formulas from the normalized energy use indexes.

20. The computer based method of claim 19, wherein deriving the shape-specific normalized energy use index formulas from the normalized energy use indexes comprises deriving a base formula and a correction factor for each different building footprint shape.

21. The computer based method of claim 19, wherein running an energy simulation comprises running an EnergyPlus simulation.

22. The computer based method of claim 19, wherein the set of configuration parameters includes Bx, By, W, H, and Ns.

23. The computer based method of claim 17, wherein the shape-specific normalized energy use index formulas are a function of Bx, By, W, H, and Ns.

24. The computer based method of claim 17 wherein establishing a reference energy use index comprises running an energy simulation based on building massing configuration parameters of the reference building to generate the reference energy use index.

25. The computer based method of claim 17 wherein at least 2000 different building massing configurations, which meet the established set of configuration parameters, are defined and wherein a separate energy simulation is run for each of the different building massing configurations.

26. A computer based method for realizing a building system, the method comprising:

receiving input related to customer needs for a building system, the input being received through a user interface at a remote client device and being expressed in a formal description language;

generating multiple different business models from the customer needs input, wherein the business models define, in a functional language, types and volumes of services that will be provided within the building system to satisfy the customer needs;

generating multiple different spatial arrangements from at least one of the business models, wherein the spatial arrangements define a form and shell of the building system, a block and stack of the building system, and room locations within the building system;

generating multiple different systems integration designs from at least one of the spatial arrangements, wherein the systems integration designs define three dimensional spaces of infrastructure of the building system;

tracking dependencies between the customer needs, the business models, the spatial arrangements, and the systems integration designs;

wherein generating multiple different spatial arrangements comprises;

identifying, from at least one of the business models, a set of parameters for a building form and shell, the set of parameters defining multiple different building massing configurations;

calculating, using pre-defined normalized energy use index formulas, a normalized energy use index for the multiple different building massing configurations, wherein the normalized energy use index for each of the multiple different building massing configurations is normalized against a reference energy use index of a reference building;

ranking the multiple different building massing configurations by the respective normalized energy use indexes; and

selecting at least one of the different building massing configurations for display on a graphical user interface according to the ranking.

27. The computer based method of claim 26 further comprising using the selected building massing configuration is the step of generating multiple different systems integration designs.

28. A non-transitory computer readable medium that stores computer readable instructions, which when executed by at least one processor, implement a method comprising:

specifying a set of parameters for a building massing configuration;

calculating a normalized energy use index for multiple different building massing configurations that meet the specified set of parameters, wherein the normalized energy use index for each of the multiple different building massing configurations is normalized against a reference energy use index of a reference building;

ranking the multiple different building massing configurations by the respective normalized energy use indexes; and

selecting at least one of the different massing configurations for display on a graphical user interface according to the ranking.

29. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 28, further comprising computer readable instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, implements a method wherein the set of parameters for a building massing configuration includes at least one footprint shape, a range of footprint bounding box size on the x-axis, a range of footprint bounding box size on the y-axis, and a range of number of stories of the building.

30. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 28, further comprising computer readable instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, implements a method wherein the normalized energy use indexes for multiple different building massing configurations that meet the specified set of parameters are calculated from pre-derived shape-specific normalized energy use index formulas.

31. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 30, further comprising computer readable instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, implements a method wherein the pre-derived shape-specific normalized energy use index formulas are a function of Bx, By, W, H, and Ns.

32. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 28, further comprising computer readable instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, implements a method wherein the pre-derived shape-specific normalized energy use index formulas are derived by:

establishing a reference energy use index for a reference building;

establishing a set of configuration parameters to define multiple different building massing configurations, at least one of the configuration parameters defining a building footprint shape;

running an energy simulation for the multiple different building massing configurations that meet the set of configuration parameters to produce energy use indexes for the multiple different building massing configurations;

normalizing the energy use indexes against the reference energy use index;

deriving shape-specific normalized energy use index formulas from the normalized energy use indexes.

33. A computer based method for deriving energy use index formulas for different building massing configuration, the method comprising:

establishing a reference energy use index by running an energy simulation based on building massing configuration parameters of a reference building;

establishing a set of configuration parameters for each of multiple different building footprint shapes;

running an energy simulation for each of multiple different building massing configurations that meet the set of configuration parameters to produce energy use indexes for the multiple different building massing configurations;

calculating a normalized energy use index for each different massing configuration from the energy use indexes for the multiple different building massing configurations and from the reference energy use index; and

deriving shape-specific normalized energy use index formulas for each of the multiple different building footprint shapes from the normalized energy use indexes.

34. The computer based method of claim 33, wherein the shape-specific normalized energy use index formulas are a function of Bx, By, W, H, and Ns.

35. The computer based method of claim 34, wherein deriving the shape-specific normalized energy use index formulas comprises deriving a base formula and a correction factor for each different building footprint shape.

36. The computer based method of claim 35, wherein running an energy simulation comprises running an EnergyPlus simulation.

37. The computer based method of claim 36, wherein the set of configuration parameters includes Bx, By, W, H, and Ns.

38. The computer based method of claim 33, wherein establishing a set of configuration parameters for each of multiple different building footprint shapes comprises applying a shape grammar to form at least one of building letters and building words, and further comprising storing the multiple different building massing configuration in a building massing library.