A critical part of CBE’s mission is maintaining a focus on research that will lead to improving the design and operation of the built environment. Towards this end, our research team has leveraged its extensive research results to create a wide range of tools related to building performance and indoor environmental quality. Many of these tools resulted from multi-year CBE research programs focused on core topics such as thermal comfort, occupant surveys, ceiling fans, radiant systems and underfloor air distribution. Our research team works to maintain and keep them current with evolving technology standards, while adding new capabilities based on the needs and feedback of CBE Industry Partners and other users.
Python Thermal Comfort Tool: pythermalcomfort
This well documented software package allows users to calculate the most common thermal comfort indices in compliance with the main thermal comfort standards such as ASHRAE 55 and ISO 7730. Read this LinkedIn post to learn more.
Energy Modeling of Underfloor Air Distribution (UFAD) Systems
CBE developed the first tool to provide accurate whole-building modeling of the energy performance of underfloor systems. This tool offers validated UFAD modeling capability for EnergyPlus, the next-generation whole-building energy simulation program developed by the U.S. Department of Energy. The UFAD capability is suitable for designing and analyzing UFAD system performance.