The 'Zone' details window displays the name and description of the zone, which the user will be able to edit. It also displays a table of surfaces for which results can be displayed.
The table has the following columns:
No.
This is the number that the Building Simulator has assigned to the zone surface.
Orientation
The orientation for each surface, with the exception of ceilings and floors, will be displayed as an angle in degrees, this is to indicate the azimuth of the surface with respect to true north.
Type
Type is used to specify the space to which the surface connects, and whether the building component (wall, ceiling, etc.) to which the surface belongs is transparent to solar radiation.
There are five categories of "Type":
Exposed - denotes a component exposed to the external climate, such as a wall, window or a roof.
Ground - denotes a component in contact with the ground.
-> <Zone Name> - denotes a component which connects to another zone.
Null Link - denotes a component connecting to a space which is not being explicitly modelled. The adjoining space is assumed to be at the same environmental condition as the zone being described. Null Links allow you to investigate the performance of part of a building, without modelling the building in its entirety. The thermal mass of Null Links is taken into account in the analysis.
Internal - denotes one side of a component which is contained entirely within the zone, i.e. a partition wall or floor. The mass of such partitions may have a significant effect on the thermal characteristics of the zone (for example, reducing summer overheating) and they should therefore be included in the model. The two sides of a partition are represented by two internal surfaces of the same area and the same building element (though with opposite orientations). If one surface is set as a floor, then the other will be a ceiling, and vice versa.
Area
The area of the surface, defined as the average of the internal and
external areas of the component.
Building Element
The component's construction type, as defined in the Building Elements table of the Tas Building Data file.
Left clicking on the column header will sort the table alphabetically by that parameter. Left clicking on the column header another time will reverse the order.
To manually change the width of a column, left click and hold the left mouse button down while the cursor is over the line that divides selected column header and the column header to the right of it, move the cursor to the left or right, and then release the mouse button.
To alter the width of the column to accommodate all of the characters for the zone with the longest name, double left click on the line that divides the selected column header and the column to the right of it.
To assign a surface to an 'Output Specification', left-click on the '+' by the 'Output Specification' folder to display all the 'Output Specification' profile icons. Left-click on a row in the surface table to highlight the surface you want to use, hold down the left mouse button, move the pointer onto the 'Output Specification', and then release the mouse button.
To assign all surfaces of a zone to an 'Output Selection', go to the output selection details window by expanding the Output Selection folder and selecting an output selection on the Tree View. Left click on the '+' by the 'Zones' folder to display all of the zones. Move the mouse over the appropriate zone name, hold down the mouse button, move the pointer to the Surfaces table on the Output Selection window, and then release the mouse button. The software will populate the table with all of the output surfaces for the zone.
For details on how to apply a zone to an output selection or zone group profile, please go to the section called Zones Table.