Honeybee Intermezzo 12: Create the Construction Sets (Assign material thermal properties)
Through creating the Construction Sets, the material thermal properties will be assigned to the different elements.
Opaque Materials & Constructions
For all the material layers in each building element (e.g floor/ceiling/exterior walls/interior walls):
1. Create a HB- Energy » Constructions » HB Opaque Material component.
2. Create a Params » Input » Panel component to set the name of the material layer. Connect it to the ‘_name_’ input.
3. Create 4 Params » Input » Number Slider components so as to set respectively:
A. Specific heat (‘_spec_heat’) - J/kg*K (the amount of heat needed to increase the temperature of 1kg of the material by 1K)
B. Density (‘_density’) - kg/m3
C. Thermal conductivity (‘_conductivity’) - W/m*K (rate at which heat is transferred by conduction through a unit cross-section area of the material)
D. Thickness of the material layer (‘_thickness’) - m
Important to note: It may be the case that the same material is placed in different building elements in the model. If the material layers do not have the same thickness, then different HB Opaque Material components should be created for each of the different thicknesses.
For this example, you should create 3 HB Opaque material components and set:
a. ‘_name_’ : Concrete, ‘_thickness’ : 0.2, ‘_conductivity’ : 1.4, ‘_density’ : 2400, ‘_spec_heat’ : 880
b. ‘_name_’ : Plywood, ‘_thickness’ : 0.15, ‘_conductivity’ : 0.12, ‘_density’ : 540, ‘_spec_heat’ : 1200
c. ‘_name_’ : Timber, ‘_thickness’ : 0.08, ‘_conductivity’ : 0.14, ‘_density’ : 400, ‘_spec_heat’ : 1200
4. Create a HB- Energy » Constructions » HB Opaque Construction component for each of the building elements.
5. Create a Params » Input » Panel component to set the name of each element. Connect it to the ‘_name_’ input.
6. For each of the material layers that compose the building element, connect the ‘mat’ result of the HB Opaque material to the ‘_materials’ input of the HB Opaque Construction component.
Important to note:
A. In case one building element is composed of more than one material layer, you should connect them in order from the exterior to the interior layer.
B. The interior floor and ceiling should have as inputs the same material layers but placed in reverse order.
For this example, you should create 5 HB Opaque Construction components and set:
a. ‘_name_’: Exterior walls, ‘_materials’: Concrete
b.‘_name_’: Interior walls, ‘_materials’: Plywood
c.‘_name_’: Door, ‘_materials’: Timber
d.‘_name_’: Interior floor, ‘_materials’: (first) Concrete + (second) Timber
e.‘_name_’: Ceiling, ‘_materials’: (first) Timber + (second) Concrete
Window & Shade Constructions
Window Material & Construction
1. Create a HB- Energy » Constructions » HB Window Material component for each of the openings that you need to specify.
2. Create a Params » Input » Panel component to set the name of the opening. Connect it to the ‘_name_’ input.
3. Create 2 Params » Input » Number Slider components so as to set respectively:
A. U-factor (‘_u_factor’) - W/m2*K (defining how fast heat from hot air will pass through the glazing system)
B. Solar heat gain coefficient (‘_shgc’) - defining how fast heat from direct sunlight will pass through the glazing system.
In this example, you should create 1 HB Window Material component and set:
‘_name_’: Window1, ‘_u_factor’: 0.4, ‘_shgc’: 0.6
Shade Material & Construction
1. Create a HB- Energy » Constructions » HB Shade Material component.
2. Create a Params » Input » Panel component to set the respective name. Connect it to the ‘_name_’ input.
3. Create 2 Params » Input » Number Slider components and set respectively:
A. Thickness of the material layer (‘_thickness’) - m
B. Thermal conductivity (‘_conductivity’) - W/m*K (how easy the material can transfer heat through its mass)
For this example, set: ‘_name_’: Wooden shades, ‘_thickness’: 0.08, ‘_conductivity_’: 0.14
By browsing your mouse over the inputs, you can see which other values can be set.
4. Create a HB- Energy » Constructions » HB Window Construction Shade component.
5. Create a Params » Input » Panel component to set the respective name. Connect it to the ‘_name_’ input.
For this example, write Window1 with Shades.
6. Connect the ‘constr’ result of the HB Window Construction component to the ‘_win_constr’ input.
7. Connect the ‘mat’ result of the HB Shade Material component to the ‘_shd_material’ input.
8. Create a Params » Input » Panel component and connect it to the ‘_shd_location_’ input. Write Exterior so as to define that the shades will be placed on the outer side of the opening.
Assign Constructions to the HB Model
To assign the constructions to the HB model, you should create the Construction Subsets and the final Construction Set.
1. Create:
a. A HB- Energy » Basic Properties » HB Exterior Construction Subset component.
b. A HB- Energy » Basic Properties » HB Ground Construction Subset component.
c. A HB- Energy » Basic Properties » HB Interior Construction Subset component.
d. A HB- Energy » Basic Properties » HB Subface Subset component.
2. Connect the ‘constr’ result of the HB Opaque Construction and HB Window Construction Shade components to the respective inputs of the Construction subsets.
3. Create a HB- Energy » Basic Properties » HB ConstructionSet component.
4. Connect the results from the Construction Subsets (‘exterior_set’, ‘ground_set’, ‘interior_set’, ‘subface_set’) to the respective inputs of the ConstructionSet.
Connect the ‘constr_set’ result of the HB ConstructionSet component to the ‘_const_set_’ input of the HB Room component as created in Step 3A: Compose the HB Room.
You can now continue following the steps in:
