The graphical user interface

The user interface consists of a menu bar, a tool bar, and three widgets. The central and main widget of the interface is the diagram. Here different components can be placed and connected. The available components can be found in the widget on the lefthand side and can simply be dragged into the diagram to be placed. On the righthand widget the file tree of the ddck-folder can be seen. For each component dropped into the diagram an additional folder is created in this tree.

interface

Components are simply added to a diagram by dragging the respective item from the library on the left into the central widget. It is recommded to toggle the snap grid for placing components to ease the alignment of them:

snap grid

Connections can be created by moving the cursor over a port, pressing the mouse, and dragging the cursor to the port that is supposed to be connected, and release the mouse there. Each pipe has a technical flow direction along which the mass flow rate is considered to be positive (and negative if it goes in the opposite direction). The technical flow direction is indicated by a gradient going from a bright to a darker grey along the positive direction.

The menu and the tool bar

File

New Create a new project.

Open Open an existing project.

save

Save Save the current diagram.

save

Copy to new folder Copy the complete content of the current project folder to a new one.

Export as PDF Export the current diagram as a pdf.

Debug Conn TBD

Set TRNSYS path Set the path to the exe-file of the TRNSYS simulation from which you want to run the mass flow solver.

Project

Run mass flow solver Run a short TRNSYS simulation of the hydraulics of your system with the valve positions and pump mass flow rates as given by the respective dialogues.

run mfs

Start mass flow visualizer Visualize the mass flow rates and temperatures of the pipes of the hydraulic system.

visualize mfs

Export hydraulic.ddck Export the ddck-file of the hydraulics of your system.

export hydraulics

Export hydraulic_control.ddck Export a template of the ddck-file specifying the control of your hydraulic system.

export hydraulics

Update run.config Update the configuration file for the execution of the simulation with the current project path and the ddck-files included into the ddck-folder of your project.

update run.config

Export dck Export a dck file according to your configuration file, but do not launch the simulation.

export dck

Run simulation... Run the simulation(s) as specified by the run.config-file.

run simulation

Process simulation... Post-process the results of your simulation as specified by the process.config-file.

process simulation

Export json-file containing connection information Export a json-file specifying each port’s variable name for mass flow rate and temperature.

Edit

Toggle snap grid Toggle a grid to which the components can snap to ease placing them.

Toggle align mode TBD

Undo Undo the last edit.

Redo Redo the last undone edit.

Remaining tool bar items

Zoom in Zoom into diagram.

zoom in

Zoom out Zoom out of diagram.

zoom out

Toggle labels Toggle the labels of the components and pipes.

toggle labels

Delete diagram Deletes the current diagram.

delete diagram

Component library and port information

Port information

The following information is shown on the widget on the bottom left of the GUI when the cursor is hovering over a port:

ID A unique identifier that is associated with each port when a component is dropped in the diagram.

Names The name of the port and its default function (input or output) determining the positive technical flow direction through the component. The port name is used in the ddck-file corresponding to the component.

Block The name of the component to which the port is attached.

Connections The name of the pipe that is connected to the port. This name will be used when the placeholder statements are automatically replaced.

The file structure of a project

The GUI expects a certain file structure for a directory representing a project. When a new project is initialized this structure is automatically created and it needs to be there, when one wants to open a project with the GUI. In the following the folder will be called [project name], where the square brackets indicate a placeholder for an actual name. When the GUI is started the user is asked whether they want to create a new project or open an exisiting one. When a new project is created a dialogue guides the user through the creation of a new project folder. Saving a diagram is accomplished through the generation of a json-file inside [project name], that has the same name. This means that in order to open the existing [project name] the following file needs to be opened:

..\[project name]\[project name].json

All files that need to be loaded for the project or which are generated from the GUI are saved in [project name].

When a project is initialized the following file structure is created:

defaultFiles

The folder called ddck contains the folder generic, into which the generic ddck-files head.ddck and end.ddck are loaded. Furthermore, the empty folders control, hydraulic, and weather are created. These are folders for ddck-files that are not directly connected to any components in a project diagram. The project folder also contains run.config, which is a template that can be altered by the user.

Handling ddck-files

When dropping a component that is supposed to be represented by a ddck-file on the simualtion level, a folder is created in the ddck-folder of the project that dynamically changes its name with the name of the component. All files that are needed to represent the respective component when building a dck should be loaded into this component folder.

In the following different folders are described, which can be found in:

..\[project name]\ddck

Square brackets indicate place holders for component names.

generic

This folder is created when a project is initialized and holds head.ddck and end.dck, which contain the information that needs to be added at the beginning and the end of a dck-file respectively.

[storage tank]

As soon as a storage tank is dropped in the diagram, a folder of the same name is created. Its name changes dynamically with the name of the storage tank. When the ddck-file of the storage tank is exported, it will build the following two files:

..\ddck\[storage tank]\[storage tank].ddck
..\ddck\[storage tank]\[storage tank].ddcx

Here the file with the extension .ddck contains the information of the storage tank, that is needed to build the dck-file. Meanwhile, the file with the extension .ddcx contains the black box component temperature equations, which are needed to build hydraulic.ddck (see below).

[component (not a storage tank)]

As soon as a component that requires one or more ddck-files for a simulation is dropped in the diagram, a folder of the same name is created. Its name changes dynamically with the name of the component. The user needs to load the ddck-file(s) that represent the component in question into the corresponding folder.

hydraulic

This folder is created when a project is initialized. It is the default export destination for hydraulic.ddck.

control

This folder is created when a project is initialized. The user should load all ddck-files which represent control features into this folder. It is the default export destination for hydraulic_control.ddck.

Complete procedure example

In the following the step by step procedure for starting with an empty diagram to launching a TRNSYS simulation is presented. The full diagram of the demonstrated example looks like:

interface

1. Initialize a project

When a new project is initialized the following dialogue is opened to build a folder for the project:

new dialogue

This creates the following file tree:

file tree

2. Build a diagram

To make the placement of the components easier the snap grid is toggled.

(i) Set up storage tank

First, a storage tank is dropped in the diagram. This opens the following dialogue:

Tes 1

To make the diagram better arranged, the size of the storage is increased. Furthermore, its name is changed to ‘’Tes’’. Then a heat exchanger with its input at 40 % and its output at 10 % height of the storage tank on the left side is added and named ‘’Tes_Hx’’:

Tes 2

Additionally, a pair of direct ports is added on the right side with the input at 1 % and its output at 99 % height of the storage tank:

Tes 3

(ii) Place components

Next, the components are placed one by one. They can be rotated when they are right-clicked, which is needed in the current example for the pump.

rotation

Furthermore, when double-clicking components they can be re-named, which will also change the name of their respective folder in the ddck-directory.

rename

When a three-way valve is placed, the darker connector indicates the port through which there is always flow, when there is flow at all. In our case this needs to be towards the warm water tap, since the three-way valve placed is supposed to be the mixing valve for the warm water demand. To access the valve settings the component is simply double-clicked. In the opened dialogue “vertical flip” is ticked for the correct orientation of the valve and “tempering valve” to make it one.

valve dialogue

(iii) Connect ports

After placing all components they can be connected. A connection is made from a port by holding the left mouse key and dragging the cursor to another port, where the mouse is released.

connect

The dialogue for a connection can be opened by right-clicking it.

connection

3. Load ddck files

Many components need to be represented by ddck- or other files in the simulation. These files need to be loaded to the individual component folders in the ddck-directory. This is done by right-clicking the respective folder in the file tree.

load

4. Export files and launch TRNSYS simulation

Once the component files are loaded, different files needed for the simulation can be exported from the diagram.

(i) Export Tes.ddck

First, the ddck of the thermal storage tank needs to be exported. This is done by opening the storage tank dialogue by double-clicking the component and then hitting the respective button on this dialogue.

(ii) Export hydraulic.ddck

Next, the ddck representing the hydraulics of the system needs to be exported. This is done by hitting the respective button in the tool bar.

export hydraulic.ddck

(iii) Export DdckPlaceHolderValues.json

After that, the json-file consisting of the variable names for mass flow rate and temperature for each port needs to be exported. This is done by hitting the Export json-file containing connection information button under Project tool bar. Following shows the structure of a DdckPlaceHolderValues.json:

{
    "ComponentName": {
            "InputPortName": {
                    "@mfr": "MfrConnectionName"
                    "@temp": "TConnectionName"
            },
            "OutputPortName": {
                    "@temp": "TComponentNameOutputPortName"
            }
}

(iv) Export dck

When all files needed are loaded and/or exported the dck-file (TRNSYS) can be built. Either this is done without launching a simulation directly afterwards to just generate the file by pressing the respective button in the tool bar

export dck

or a simulation is launched directly through hitting

run simulation