Get in touch!
We are happy to discuss with you the possibilities of successfully using our Polysun simulation software for your projects.
PCM and latent thermal storage successfully simulated with Polysun
A latent thermal storage system with PCM capsules is simulated in Polysun in an advanced thesis at HSLU.
In his thesis at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Art (Switzerland), Mr. Markus Lacher tackled the problem of simulating latent thermal storage systems with PCM capsules using the Polysun software from Vela Solaris.
First, the system of latent thermal storage was analyzed in detail to determine the different influencing parameters. Then, a parameter analysis was performed on the fluid properties specified in Polysun to understand the calculations of the storage temperatures as well as capacities in Polysun. The next step was to program three different PCMs and test the PCMs through an experimental simulation. Then, the programming of an experimental memory in Polysun was done, giving the opportunity to validate the memory design. Finally, the simulation of an energy system of a single-family house took place.
The experiment was successful: “The simulations showed that both PCM and the latent thermal storage in Polysun can be simulated with the given components. The simulated capacity of the experimental storage tank of about 7.97 kWh corresponds quite closely to the measured capacity of 7.9 kWh or the temperature calculated 8.1 kWh.”
Find here the complete thesis (in german): link
Vela Solaris congratulates on the exciting work!
Are you interested in learning more about the possibilities of simulating PCM and latent thermal storage with Polysun? Feel free to contact us at info@velasolaris.com.
With the Polysun software from Vela Solaris you can rely on a multi-practice simulation of your energy system with reliable results in terms of functionality, energy efficiency and profitability – from single-family homes to districts, worldwide and for all market-standard technologies.
levelup with Polysun
TH Rosenheim competes again in Solar Decathlon Europe 21.
There are many ideas for sustainable urban development. The crucial thing is to follow up the ideas with action. The Solar Decathlon Europe 21 (SDE21) therefore has the motto “Design – Build – Operate”. University teams from all over the world come together to design, build and operate solar houses with a neutral or even positive energy balance.
After the great success at the Solar Decathlon Europe 2010 as “Vice World Champion in Solar Building”, the Rosenheim Technical University of Applied Sciences is taking on the challenge again. The levelup project at the TH Rosenheim is currently being driven forward by an interdisciplinary project team from various courses of study and faculties. At their side are about 20 advising professors from different courses of study. “levelup” stands for a modular, flexible addition in lightweight wood construction, adaptable to almost all 1950s to 1970s buildings. This creates an innovative solution for redensification in cities that can be applied to the largest proportion of Germany’s building stock of multi-family houses.
levelup relies on a renewable energy supply: The levelup is to be brought to an energy-plus level, which also includes the supply of the existing building stock over its life cycle. Photovoltaic modules for solar power generation on the entire facade and on the roof contribute to this.
For the planning of the solar energy system, the interdisciplinary levelup team relies on the Polysun simulation software from Vela Solaris. The energy production can be simulated precisely over the entire life cycle. With Polysun, the students succeed in gaining planning reliability and verifying whether the requirements regarding the energy-plus level are achieved.
The competition will run until the summer of 2022, when the houses built will be evaluated and awarded prizes. So the levelup team is in the middle of its work! The whole Vela Solaris team keeps its fingers crossed!
Learn more about the levelup project: link
Demand for commercial storage for peak shaving is on the rise.
pv magazine updated market overview of commercial and grid storage systems. Polysun is mentioned as a simulation software for storage integration.
The demand for commercial storage for peak shaving is on the rise. pv magazine updated its market overview providing interesting insights: Manufacturer prices decreased by an average of five percent. The market is still small in absolute numbers – but with a strong trend towards growth. That is what we at Vela Solaris are also experiencing: The demand for simulation of energy systems with storage capacities is increasing! With Polysun it is possible to show the impacts of storage integration on the increase of solar self-consumption, peak-shaving for grid fee reduction or on the integration of electric vehicles. We are pleased to be the only simulation software listed in pv magazine’s current market overview.
Learn more about the market overview of pv magazine:
SunPeople project builds energy simulation platform – using the Polysun API
The Interreg FCE SunPeople project aims to increase the development of a decarbonised heat energy service in the residential and commercial sectors. The project’s objective is to demonstrate and test on 15 sites, in Plymouth and Lorient, a cost-competitive, sustainable heat energy service based on heat pump and solar technologies. This service will enable to reduce carbon emissions on these sites an estimated 62.8 tons of carbon over a one-year contracting period corresponding to the project.
The service will rely upon a building energy simulation platform to scale up the zero-emission heating industry. The simulation of building energy schemes will be carried out using the Polysun simulation by Vela Solaris in the cloud (Polysun API).
The SunPeople project including the reference simulation platform approach relying upon Polysun software was introduced by Vela Solaris and ALOEN at this year’s conference of the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) on Digitalization in the H&C industry, on March 9 2021.
Missed it? Access the slides here.
Further information on the Interreg FCE SunPeople project: Link
Polysun is accredited by Minergie
Our simulation software Polysun is now officially accredited by Minergie for the calculation of PV yields.
Minergie is committed to quality assurance in the planning, construction and operating phases of buildings in Switzerland. The three building standards Minergie, Minergie-P and Minergie-A already set clear requirements in the planning phase with regard to quality, efficiency and comfort. Today, depending on the region, 10% to 25% of new buildings are planned according to Minergie.
For the verification of the PV yield, Minergie wants to ensure a comprehensible and uniform verification of the Minergie applications. We are very pleased that our simulation software Polysun is now officially accredited by Minergie as a calculation tool for the verification of PV yields.
Polysun takes into account the efficiency of the modules, the orientation and size of the plant, the exact location and relies on current weather data for the PV yield forecast. With Polysun, even higher yields than the standard value of 800 kWh/kWp can be claimed. In Switzerland, yields of 1,000 kWh/kWp and more are possible at most locations. It is therefore worthwhile to calculate PV yields with Polysun and use them for Minergie applications.
Would you like to learn more? Just get in touch with us:
Polysun goes BIM: The new Polysun release increases planning quality!
The actual software release of Polysun makes the use of simulation of energy systems in digital planning even easier.
The digital simulation of energy systems generates a clear added value: various aspects are tested at an early stage and the quality of the planning increases. This significantly reduces investment and operating costs. The current release of Polysun makes the use of simulation in digital planning even easier: relevant information on the current planning status is available at the push of a button. The fulfilment of set requirements for the energy system is immediately visible. Data import and export is automated and supports interdisciplinary teamwork. This also enables, for the first time, the seamless integration of energy system simulation in BIM projects. Simulation results can be generated and validated even faster. As a digital twin, the planning data is reproducibly available and generates added value right up to the operating phase. This makes quality control easy! Our development partner, the engineering services company Amstein & Walthert confirms: “This makes planning energy systems a pleasure! We were able to test Polysun-BIM on a concrete construction project and see great potential in using the software!”
Highlights of the Polysun software release, version 12, with Polysun BIM Add-On:
- Polysun-BIM supports automated data exchange. Meteorological data, heating load data and simulation results are thus available to the project team at the desired location at all times.
- The data import is subject to an automated quality check. Implausible and incomplete data are recognized immediately.
- Key performance metrics (KPM) from the construction project are defined for the energy system in Polysun on a project-specific basis. The achievement of set KPMs and deviations are available at any time at the push of a button.
Would you like to find out more?
Experience the new Polysun BIM add-on live and start testing right away.
Clever use of simulation in BIM projects: This makes planning fun!
BIM (Building Information Modeling) raises high expectations for time and cost savings and for improved planning reliability. In a joint project by Amstein + Walthert with Vela Solaris and with the financial support of EnergieSchweiz, it was examined how concrete added value can be created in practice. A decisive success factor is the combination of simulation and BIM. The corresponding use case will be made publicly available through Bauen Digital Schweiz.
The demands on buildings are increasing: With consequences for planning
Today’s buildings must meet increasing requirements: They should offer a high level of comfort, convince with modern architecture and at the same time be energy-efficient and profitable to build and operate. For planning, this means that different disciplines must work closely together to ensure high planning quality. For this to succeed, two things are essential:
- Define targets at an early stage: From the client’s point of view, the objectives for the overall project must be available as early as possible and translated for the individual disciplines from architecture to building services engineering.
- Enabling flexible changes to targets: If the requirements of a project change, the relevant information must be made available to the project team immediately and reliably.
This is the only way to ensure that deviations from targets are recognized by the project team and addressed at the lowest possible cost.
Simulation as a success factor for reliable planning
This is exactly where dynamic simulation of energy consumption and the satisfaction of demand by energy systems comes in. In time steps down to a second basis it is simulated how the planned energy system behaves during operation: From the heat stratification in the storage tank to the use of the solar system’s electricity production.
By means of simulation, it becomes clear at the push of a button whether a changed initial situation – caused by new requirements during the project – will lead to a deviation from the target specifications. If, for example, the usable roof area is reduced or the building use is changed, it can be simulated immediately what this means for energy consumption and energy system technology and whether adjustments are necessary. This increases the planning reliability and thus the confidence of the client in the planning.
But what does this mean in connection with BIM? What are the advantages of linking BIM with simulation? And how can processes and tools support this?
Amstein + Walthert and Vela Solaris are taking the next step. In a joint project, supported by EnergieSchweiz, the planning process was expanded in the area of model-based performance optimization and the Polysun simulation tool for process support was optimized.
Model-based performance optimization (MPO): BIM and simulation cleverly linked
The use case “Model-based Performance Optimization – MPO” from Amstein + Walthert combines the specialist areas of building simulation, energy system simulation and building services engineering planning. The main focus here is on enabling planning adjustments at any time and in frequent iterations – consistently across all specialist areas.
The MPO skilfully combines planning with simulation, taking advantage of the benefits of the BIM methodology: planners, simulation and BIM experts and project managers at Amstein + Walthert as well as experts for energy system simulation from Vela Solaris have contributed their knowledge to the MPO. The most efficient workflows and corresponding interfaces between different departments were jointly defined. This was done with the aim of enabling the seamless exchange of simulation results and thus increasing planning reliability. As a result, the MPO automatically links the required information and simulation results, documents changes and makes planning work in the BIM project more transparent. Frequent iterations of the planning and simulation results are now even easier to perform and facilitate efficient work for all project participants.
The MPO has been successfully tested on projects currently in planning. The project team is convinced of the gained process efficiency and quality.
The Open-BIM-based use case will be published on Digital Switzerland and buildingSMART Switzerland. The MPO method is thus available to all interested parties, can be continuously improved and is easy to use.
Smart processes need smart tools
The simulation software Polysun from Vela Solaris has been successfully used by Amstein + Walthert for years for the simulation of energy systems for buildings and districts. In the joint project described here, Polysun was made BIM-capable and thus ideally supports the MPO process.
Open-BIM interfaces enable a largely automated data exchange. Simulation results are thus available to the project team at the desired location at any time and are transferred to the BIM model of the building services engineering. As a result, only time for planning has to be spent if deviations from the target values occur – the planning time is significantly reduced. Polysun also provides digital support for the evaluation of the achievement of building services engineering targets.
All simulation results remain transparently documented with Polysun BIM and provide added value right through to the operating phase – for simple quality assurance.
Energy system simulation is easy to use
With the new MPO and Polysun BIM from Vela Solaris, it will be much easier for simulation experts and planners to accurately design systems for today’s buildings. Relevant information is exchanged digitally. Tedious data quality checks are no longer necessary.
System support makes deviations from targets immediately transparent and the expertise can be directed to the essential points – for a high level of planning reliability that is convincing. This makes the use of simulation in planning a pleasure!
We would like to thank Amstein + Walthert for the great cooperation and EnergieSchweiz for the project support!
Would you like to learn more about simulation and BIM?
Start your free trial of the new Polysun BIM add-on now!
