Functionality for Engineers Increased with Upgraded VE-Pro

Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES), a provider of integrated performance analysis software and consulting services for sustainable building design, has announced the release of VE-Pro v6.0. The software allows engineers to analyze designs in great detail with interconnected performance assessment modules and advanced visual, graphical, and numerical outputs. An enhanced user interface, new Navigator functionality and HVAC developments provide a more intuitive experience and detailed level of analysis.

A new look and feel across the entire interface improves the user experience and provides a larger workspace, while smart workflow Navigator functionality is now available as an add-on for VE-Pro users; offering additional capabilities, enhanced visual/interactive reporting functions, an easy QA checking procedure and extra guidance. The new HVAC enhancements include multiplexing, an enhanced water cooled chiller model, and enhanced ASHRAE/CIBSE building loads reporting – all of which help to streamline the design process for engineers.

IES’ new unique multiplexing functionality enables engineers to easily deal with assigning HVAC data to very large, complex system models. Multiplexing layers and tabular editing facilitates fast and accurate data population – users can edit at either the global or individual level. This new functionality helps engineers add an extra dimension to the capabilities and productivity currently available in ApacheHVAC, IES’ highly flexible system modelling interface.

“We utilised the global feedback we were receiving from engineers to incorporate significant upgrades to the ApacheHVAC software,” said Dr. Don McLean, founder and managing director of IES. “The company has worked hard at ensuring different levels of engagement are available for all stages in the design process. VE-Pro offers an innovative bridge between architects and engineers. By simplifying the data, both parties can work easily within the software.”

The water cooled chiller model within ApacheHVAC also received several new enhancements, including detailed chiller definition (capacity, water temperature and part load dependence), parameter definition (rated, design and operation), and the definition of primary and secondary water loop parameters (cooling tower and chilled water systems).

VE-Pro also incorporated automated results filtering and report generation for its ASHRAE/CIBSE heating and cooling loads calculation tools. Minimising the loads in a building is the first step in achieving efficient designs, and VE-Pro’s enhanced load reports produce the data needed to achieve this goal. Engineers now have the ability to look at the detailed load calculation results at both a system and room level, broken down to individual components, for peak heating, cooling, and airflows. Users in North America will find the new report format more familiar to what they are traditionally used to.