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CoolSim Output Report Overview

beginner
How to read a CoolSim output report: run variations, airflow balance, the RTI and RCI dashboard, and the ASHRAE temperature and path line plots.

This video walks through the output report of a solved CoolSim model and explains what to check first. The example is a raised-floor room with an angled wall, perimeter cooling units and a room return.

What the video shows

  1. Run variations: the example model is run four times with different cooling unit parameters (on or off state, airflow rate and supply air temperature), the most the version shown allowed. The example turns off a different unit in each run, to look at the effect of losing one, as in an N+1 check. A summary page records what changed in each run.
  2. How results arrive: the Status button downloads the reports into the report tab. A PDF is also attached to the completion email.
  3. Numerical data: a case overview with mesh size, cores used and room dimensions, then the flow through the cooling units and racks, and the flow through the floor tiles.
  4. The energy report dashboard. The Return Temperature Index (RTI) is shown as the airflow the racks need divided by the airflow the cooling units supply, times 100. It should sit to the left of 100, meaning the units supply more air than the racks use. Near or above 100, racks begin to recirculate their own exhaust. The Rack Cooling Index (RCI) high value reflects the number and size of hot spots, and RCI low only shows the room running colder than needed.
  5. Per-unit tables: heat removed, pressure drop, supply and return temperatures, and each unit’s deviation from the average heat load, where a tight spread means a failure of one unit is easier to absorb.
  6. The 3D plots. The ASHRAE recommended inlet plot shades intakes blue below 64.4 degrees F and red above 80.6 degrees F, and the presenter calls it the most important plot. Other plots are the allowable range, the full temperature range, a horizontal temperature slice at 6 ft, tile flow, and path lines from tiles, racks and cooling units. In the example, fast air under the floor near one unit makes the tile flow uneven and bends the air away from the racks.
  7. Viewer shortcuts: the Y key for top view, N to turn off perspective, right-click to hide bodies, and P to save an image.
  8. The rack cooling report in the PDF lists the maximum, minimum and average inlet temperatures and whether each rack passes the recommended and allowable ranges.