As of version 2024.b, the energy consumption of fans included in air conditioning systems is defined by their specific power, i.e. their energy consumption per unit of air flow rate. This value is standard in the documents for these appliances and replaces the previous parameters of "Total pressure rise" and "Total efficiency". The program calculates these parameters, which are the input for the calculation engine, on the basis of the new "Specific power".
A new automatic control of the heat recovery unit bypass damper has been included, which allows outside air to pass through when it is convenient to reduce cooling demands.
In previous versions, the bypass damper of the heat recovery unit was activated if the outside air temperature was within the limits selected by the user. In this new version, the damper will be activated automatically whenever the following conditions are met:
As of version 2024.b, the control of the heat recovery bypass damper is included in the calculation of the building's energy demand, which will lead to a reduction of the calculated cooling demands in buildings with air conditioning systems or ventilation systems that include this unit.
In the air handling unit of the variable airflow system, under "Heating" users can now choose the Direct expansion Heating coil. This way, it is possible to simulate a compact rooftop unit with a variable airflow system and with both cooling and heating provided by the compressor.
As of version 2024.b, it is possible to combine air-air conditioning systems in the same building. The following exceptions remain:
In previous versions, when defining air-air-conditioning systems in the building, there were restrictions that prevented placing more than one terminal unit of any type in the same zone or using more than one water-air conditioning system. As a consequence of the improved models for air-air conditioning systems (also implemented in version 2024.b), these restrictions have been removed.
The EnergyPlus calculation models used to simulate the air handling units in air-air conditioning systems have been changed. In the previous version (2024.a), this transformation began with the air handling unit of the constant air flow system. In version 2024.b, this change has been completed by also transforming the air handling units of the variable-flow and dual-duct air-air conditioning systems.
In previous versions, a "template" type model available in the calculation engine was used, which presented configuration and combination restrictions with other systems in the same job. With the change of model in version 2024.a and 2024.b, these restrictions have been removed. In addition, the definition interface of these systems has been organised into tabs to make it clearer.
As of version 2024.b, applications with the "Element selection tool" (this tool was implemented in version 2021.e) have the ability to move the selected model components with the arrow keys on the keyboard. The elements shall be moved on the work plane of the active view in the direction of the arrow key. Whenever the arrow is pressed, the distance that is displaced is constant, so zooming will make it larger or smaller.
Version 2024.b includes the following improvements and corrections to the connection of applications to the BIMserver.center platform:
From the BIMserver.center project information window (displayed by clicking on the project name shown in the project information bar - upper right part of the application window) you can access the project page of the BIMserver.center platform via a link that has been inserted in the text indicating the project name.
Likewise, from the information window about the project contributions ("Contributions" option in the project information window), users can access the page of each contribution in the BIMserver.center platform. These links are inserted in the texts indicating the name of each contribution.
The status information bar of the BIMserver.center project is located at the top right of the window of the programs included in the Open BIM workflow. This bar has been available in the applications since version 2022.e and shows a warning icon when there is a problem with the connection to the project, as well as other things. Now, in version 2024.b, users can obtain more information about the warning by hovering the mouse cursor over the icon.
As of version 2024.b, users can create projects associated with a "BIMserver.center Corporate" account from all CYPE applications included in the Open BIM workflow. To do this, the "Owner" field has been added to the window for creating a new project. This is a drop-down menu that includes, as one of the available options, the logged-in BIMserver.center user name along with the "BIMserver.center Corporate" accounts to which it has access. When selecting the user name as the owner, the project will be associated with this personal account, as was the case in previous versions. On the other hand, if a BIMserver.center Corporate account is selected, the project will be associated with that account.
The "Clear cache" button has been added to the CYPE applications included in the Open BIM workflow in the "Configuration" dialogue box that opens with the following sequence of commands: Select any of the options in the "BIMserver.center" tool group > "Configuration" option in the dialogue box that appears. When clicking on "Clear cache", the following options are displayed:
In previous versions, file paths used by applications were limited to a maximum length of 256 characters. This restriction is not specific to CYPE tools but is set by default in the Windows file system. As of version 2024.b, CYPE applications can bypass the restriction and allow the use of an extended path length for a maximum total path length of 10,000 characters. This eliminates the problems caused by the default limit and allows users to work with long access paths.
This improvement is particularly useful when working on projects with a complex directory structure or with long file names. By allowing longer paths, CYPE applications offer greater flexibility in file organisation.
