SOS! Zone that is not on zone list causes problems!

[Anonymous]

Hi all!

I have a file attached with a building modelled in Ecotect which i am preparing for a thermal analysis. When i check for interzonal adjacencies i get a warning about a zone that does not exist in the zone mangement list or in the zones report summary list. I could not find anything relevant on previous posts. Please if anyone can take a look at it and give some insight on the issue....it is sos!


Thank you!

[drajmarsh]

Hi,

I couldn't see an image attached to this post, but may be able to help.

In error messages, Ecotect refers to zones by their index number (though typically with their actual name in brackets immediately afterwards). Hence Zone 9 is the nineth zone down beneath the 'Outside' zone.

You can see the index number of each zone in the Zone Management dialog. To display this, select Zone Management... in tthe Model menu.

Hope that helps...
Andrew

--
Dr. Andrew Marsh
Ecotect Support Team
Autodesk, Inc.

[Anonymous]

Thx for reply Andrew, i did not know that about the zone numbering.

I am not sure why the file did not get uploaded before. I have selected it again and i can see it now just under the text box i am writing now with the blue remove note next to it, which i assume means it is kind of there, or..... I hope you can get it this time.

The warning that i get is for a zone that is not properly formed. I have isolated the zone and re-linked all the walls/floor/ceiling elements but still the checks show the same warning. At the same time the zone seems to register correctly in the zone summary, volume, dimensions, windows all look fine. Is there an other way of auditing such problems?

Thanks again.

[Anonymous]

No file posted again, sorry but i am not sure what i am doing wrong. The .eco file is only 150KB???

[drajmarsh]

Hi,

It must be a site permissions problem because, again, I don't see any attachments other than the one under my reply. Maybe they only allow certain file types such as known images or zip archives. I'll hassle the site manager 🙂 ...

The 'properly formed' error message comes after a check that Ecotect performs to see that:

    A) the surface area is greater than a sphere of the same internal volume, and
    B) all edges of each bounding surface touch the sides of another bounding surface.

This determines if the zone volume is fully enclosed. Passing this test is not absolutely essential - everything should still run and calculate, but it is probably annoying for you and hints at the potential of an underlying problem. The co-linearity test is based on a small tolerance (10mm by default), so as long as each object node is within that tolerance of another node, the edge should be assumed to match.

Maybe try attaching a zip file with the model in it or, alternatively, email it to support@ecotect.com and I'll have someone forward it to me.

Andrew

--
Dr. Andrew Marsh
Ecotect Support Team
Autodesk, Inc.

[Anonymous]

Thx for that. I have already tried with .zip as well as just the .eco file. Anyway i hope i can start using the upload tool soon. In the meanwhile i will email you the file at the given address. It will be great if you can look at it. It will be good to know what exactly is happening even if as you say it should still be ok to calculate. I just buzzes me cause i went back and remodeled the specific room with the zone tool taking care how to close the shape and after that i only inserted child windows, so i am really wandering what happened...Cheers anyway!

[Anonymous]

Andrew i have sent the file with a subject title Re: SOS! Zone that is not on zone list causes problems!.

By the way, a question about wall overlaps or adjacencies. If you look at the file there is an internal wall overlap for two seperate zones. That duplicate wall has got openings on it. So the question is, what is the right way to model that:

i. put windows on both the overlapping walls
ii. do window on one and void on the other
iii. or try and do a bigger zone that is divided by a partition with openings

Sorry for sneaking this one in as well and thanks for all help.

[drajmarsh]

Hi,

I've got someone keeping an eye out for it. They will forward it as soon as it comes in - though it still hadn't when they checked it about 30 seconds ago...

Andrew

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

I have the same problem. I am modelling a house with an atrium and I have three different zones. All the zones have volume and everything seems to be fine but when I calculate the inter-zonal adjacencies I got the warning that a zone is not properly formed. I redrew that zone but same thing. Everytime I do the check it shows different zone with this problem or sometimes it doesnt even give a warning without me changing anything (is so random!) . Is it because the atrium glazed wall touches one side of the external walls of the two floors?

Can please someone reply?

Regards,

Eleni