CLIMATE ANALYSIS

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 In the previous lecture, you understood how to plot
a given air property on the pyschrometric chart.
 Using the same process, the weather data of a given
location can be plotted as well.
 The weather data can be procured from the weather
file.

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What is a weather file ??
 Weather files are recorded data of variables such as
temperature, humidity, wind speed, solar radiation,
etc
 Commonly used format is the ‘epw’ [Energy Plus
Weather]
 EPW files can be downloaded from here
 http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/cfm/w
eather_data2.cfm/region=2_asia_wmo_region_2

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Weather files contain data for 8760 hours
in the year

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When the weather file is opened in a text
editor, it looks like this..

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You can now obviously identify the climate
type by looking at this data..

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Can you ??

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Does this look this hot humid or hot dry??

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You can’t really tell, can you?

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It is obviously not really possible 
Certainly not intuitive for sure..

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 Since we are discussion climate
type, lets quickly understand the
climate zones in India

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There are 5 climate zones in India
① Hot dry
② Hot humid
③ Composite
④ Temperate
⑤ Cold

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Thus, India has a predominantly warm
climate
① Hot dry
② Hot humid
③ Composite
④ Temperate
⑤ Cold

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Thus, India has a predominantly warm
climate
① Hot dry
② Hot humid
③ Composite
④ Temperate
⑤ Cold

We need to understand
how different design
strategies are applicable in
different climate

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 Now lets go back to the
discussion on weather files

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So here’s what a weather file looks like

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Now lets extract the dry bulb
and humidity data from this
weather file and plot it on the
psychrometric chart

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This is how the plot will look like

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Isnt this now easy to understand ??

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Now try to identify where are the dots
located

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Now try to identify where are the dots
located

What is the
condition of air in
this area?

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Now try to identify where are the dots
located

What is the
condition of air in
this area?
-Hot and dry

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Now try to identify where are the dots
located

What is the
condition of air in
this area?

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Now try to identify where are the dots
located

What is the
condition of air in
this area?
-Humid

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Now observe the overall trend and try to
identify the climate type

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This is a composite climate

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Identify the climate type

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Hot humid

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Identify the climate type

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Temperate

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Identify the climate type

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Cold and humid

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 Thus graphical
representation of weather
data is easier to understand

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There are software tools that
help do this..

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Graphical tools for climate analysis
 These tools show a graphical representation of the
8760 hours of weather data
 So it is easy to analyse a climate data

Climate Consultant DView

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Use Climate Consultant for analyzing
weather file
 Climate Consultant is a very popular, user friendly
and free tool used for climate analysis.
 You can download the software from here
 http://www.energy-design-tools.aud.ucla.edu/climate-
consultant/request-climate-consultant.php

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Use Climate Consultant for analyzing
weather file
 Please go through this very good tutorial to
understand how to use the tool
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pxpmdZptDM
 Once you start using the tool, try to use different
weather files and compare the climate data between
one location to the other

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 Now that you know the process of climate analysis,
the next step is to indentify the passive design
strategies applicable to that particular climate
 The intent of the design strategies is to provide
thermally comfortable building interiors to the
occupants.
 So lets understand ‘thermal comfort’ in the
upcoming lecture.

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