The free open-source AixLib library is being
developed for research and teaching purposes. It aims at dynamic
simulations of thermal and hydraulic systems to develop control
strategies for HVAC systems and analyse interactions in complex
systems. It is used for simulations on component, building and city
district level. As this library is developed mainly for academic
purposes, user-friendliness and model robustness is not a main
task. This research focus thus influences the layout and philosophy
of the library.
Various connectors of the Modelica Standard Library are used,
e.g. Modelica.Fluid and
Modelica.HeatTransfer. These are accompanied by own
connectors for simplified hydraulics (no fluid.media,
incompressible, one phase) , shortwave radiation (intensity),
longwave radiation (heat flow combined with a virtual temperature)
and combined longwave radiation and thermal. The pressure in the
connectors is the total pressure. The used media models are
simplified from the Modelica.Media library. If
possible and necessary, components use continuously differentiable
equations. In general, zero mass flow rate and reverse flow are
supported.
Most models have been analytically verified. In addition, hydraulic components are compared to empirical data such as performance curves. High and low order building models have been validated using a standard test suite provided by the ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 140 and VDI 6007 Guideline. The library has only been tested with Dymola.
The web page for this library is https://www.github.com/RWTH-EBC/AixLib. We welcome contributions from different users to further advance this library, whether it is through collaborative model development, through model use and testing or through requirements definition or by providing feedback regarding the model applicability to solve specific problems.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| UsersGuide | User's Guide |
| Airflow | Package to compute airflow and contaminant transport between rooms |
| BoundaryConditions | Package with models for boundary conditions |
| Controls | Package with models for controls |
| DataBase | Package contains records for the models in the library. |
| Electrical | This package contains models for electric components such as Photovoltaics or Batteries |
| Fluid | Package with models for fluid flow systems |
| Media | Package with medium models |
| Systems | This package contains subsystems which allow a fast modeling of complete systems. |
| ThermalZones | Models for BuildingPhysics |
| Utilities | Package with utility functions such as for I/O |
| Types | Package with type definitions |
| Obsolete | Classes that are obsolete and will be removed in later versions |