honeybee_energy.internalmass module

Room internal mass, including construction and surface area.

class honeybee_energy.internalmass.InternalMass(identifier, construction, area)

Bases: object

Room internal mass, including construction and surface area.

Note that internal masses assigned this way cannot “see” solar radiation that may potentially hit them and, as such, caution should be taken when using this component with internal mass objects that are not always in shade. Masses are factored into the the thermal calculations of the Room by undergoing heat transfer with the indoor air.

Parameters

• identifier – Text string for a unique InternalMass ID. Must be < 100 characters and not contain any EnergyPlus special characters. This will be used to identify the object across a model and in the exported IDF.

• construction – An OpaqueConstruction object that represents the material that the internal thermal mass is composed of.

• area – A number representing the surface area of the internal mass that is exposed to the Room air. This value should always be in square meters regardless of what units system the parent model is a part of.

Properties:

• identifier

• display_name

• construction

• area

• user_data

ToString()

Overwrite .NET ToString.

duplicate()

Get a copy of this object.

classmethod from_dict(data)

Create an InternalMass object from a dictionary.

Note that the dictionary must be a non-abridged version for this classmethod to work.

Parameters

data – An InternalMass dictionary in following the format below.

{
"type": 'InternalMass',
"identifier": 'Kitchen_Table_Wood_050',
"display_name": 'Kitchen Table',
"construction": {},  # OpaqueConstruction definition
"area": 5  # surface area of internal mass in square meters
}

classmethod from_dict_abridged(data, construction_dict)

Create a InternalMass from an abridged dictionary.

Parameters

• data – An InternalMassAbridged dictionary.

• construction_dict – A dictionary with construction identifiers as keys and honeybee construction objects as values. This will be used to assign the construction to the InternalMass object.

{
"type": 'InternalMassAbridged',
"identifier": 'Kitchen_Table_Wood_050',
"display_name": 'Kitchen Table',
"construction": 'Hardwood_050'  # OpaqueConstruction identifier
"area": 5  # surface area of internal mass in square meters
}

classmethod from_geometry(identifier, construction, geometry, units='Meters')

Create an InternalMass object from a list of geometries.

Parameters

• identifier – Text string for a unique InternalMass ID. Must be < 100 characters and not contain any EnergyPlus special characters. This will be used to identify the object across a model and in the exported IDF.

• construction – An OpaqueConstruction object that represents the material that the internal thermal mass is composed of.

• geometry – An array of Face3D representing the exposed surface of the internal mass. Note that these Face3D are assumed to be one-sided so, if they are meant to represent a 2-sided object, the Face3D should be duplicated and offset.

• units –

  Text for the units system of the geometry. Choose from the following:

  • Meters

  • Millimeters

  • Feet

  • Inches

  • Centimeters

classmethod from_idf(idf_string, construction_dict)

Create an InternalMass object from an EnergyPlus IDF text string.

Parameters

• idf_string – A text string fully describing an EnergyPlus InternalMass definition.

• construction_dict – A dictionary with construction identifiers as keys and honeybee construction objects as values. This will be used to assign the construction to the InternalMass object.

Returns

An InternalMass object loaded from the idf_string.

lock()

to_dict(abridged=False)

InternalMass dictionary representation.

Parameters

abridged – Boolean to note whether the full dictionary describing the object should be returned (False) or just an abridged version (True), which only specifies the identifiers of the construction. (Default: False).

to_idf(zone_identifier)

IDF string representation of InternalMass object.

Note that this method only outputs a single string for the InternalMass object and, to write everything needed to describe the object into an IDF, this object’s construction must also be written.

Parameters

zone_identifier – Text for the zone identifier that the InternalMass object is assigned to.

unlock()

property area

Get or set a number for the surface area of the mass exposed to the Room air.

property construction

Get or set a Construction for the material the internal mass is composed of.

property display_name

Get or set a string for the object name without any character restrictions.

If not set, this will be equal to the identifier.

property identifier

Get or set the text string for object identifier.

property user_data

Get or set an optional dictionary for additional meta data for this object.

This will be None until it has been set. All keys and values of this dictionary should be of a standard Python type to ensure correct serialization of the object to/from JSON (eg. str, float, int, list, dict)