Thursday, April 12, 2012

DIVA 2.0 for Rhino new features

DIVA for Rhino carries out environmental performance evaluations of individual buildings and urban landscapes including Radiation Maps, Photorealistic Renderings, Climate-Based Daylighting Metrics, Annual and Individual Time Step Glare Analysis, LEED and CHPS Daylighting Compliance, and Single Thermal Zone Energy and Load Calculations.

DIVA 2.0 new features:

Annual glare maps
This feature uses the gen_dgp_profile program written by Jan Wienold that comes with Daysim. It generates an annual glare map that predicts for all view points in a scene the hours in the year when glare is disturbing or intolerable. The results are displayed as an html report with embedded images. Note, if annual dgp profiles have been calculated, they are used in the climate based metric calculations if a dynamic shading system has been specified.

Dynamic Shading Module
The module allows users to specify up to two independently controlled dynamic shading systems. A shading system may be mechanical (venetian blinds) or switchable (electrochromics). Various manual or automated control options are available. When a dynamic shading system has been specified, it is considered during an annual climate based metric calculation and the status of the shading system over the year is displayed in an html report with embedded images.

Electric Lighting Module
The module allows uses to specify up to ten electric lighting zones in a scene. Any lighting zone may be manually or automatically controlled. The electric lighting calculation is fully integrated with the shading calculation and resulting hourly load profiles for electric lighting can be linked to EnergyPlus or other thermal simulation programs.

Thermal Load Calculation
The thermal load calculation sets up a single thermal zone in Rhino and specifies some basic thermal construction properties and usage patterns. The occupancy, lighting and shading schedules are taken from the daylighting module. Simulation results are displayed in an html report with embedded images.


Grasshopper Improvements
The daylighting analysis component has been overhauled to give users parametric control over project location and simulation type and settings. This means you don't need to 'prime' the components with a toolbar run every time you want to initiate or change your analysis. The thermal components have also been updated with several bug fixes since the last release.





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