NEW RELEASE - August 29, 2017

UTOnline.org and the PG&E Pacific Energy Center are pleased to announce the launch of the Universal Translator 3 (UT3).

The initial UT3 version was the culmination of over 3 years of work to re-develop the Universal Translator 2 to make it fast, reliable and extensible.

This has been a joint venture between PG&E’s Pacific Energy Center (PEC) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) with contributions from National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Quantum Energy Services & Technologies Inc. (QuEST). There were other numerous alpha testers who provided valuable testing information and feedback.

The UT3 development was a result of the "Development of Diagnostic and Measurement and Verification Tools for Commercial Buildings" initiative and was funded by the California Energy Commission Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program which supports public interest energy research and development that will help improve the quality of life in California by bringing environmentally safe, affordable, and reliable energy services and products to the marketplace.

The UT3 is software designed for the management and analysis of data from loggers and trend data from building management systems. The UT3 also has a software development kit (SDK) which describes how 3rd party developers can write their own UT3 extensions. Examples of extension types includes analysis modules and data importers.

PREREQUISITES: .NET Framework 3.5

QuEST

Measurement And Verification

The Measurement And Verification Analysis Module enables users to conduct IPMVP-adherent savings analysis based on short-time interval energy use and independent variable data. The Universal Translator provides data preparation functions, while the M&V Analysis Module walks users through the M&V process. Using IPMVP terminology, the M&V Analysis Module calculates savings as avoided energy use or normalized savings.
The Measurement And Verification Analysis Module provides users with great flexibility to develop accurate baseline regression models. Its integration with PG&E’s Universal Translator software enables users to quickly drag-and-drop data sets into the tool, merge and re-sample data, and conduct data quality checks. Users can use filters to group data according to operating periods, and develop different regression models for each group. It allows users to quickly generate baseline models and check their fit and error metrics. With the raw data in hand, generating an accurate baseline model takes minutes where previously hours were needed.
This initial development of the tool should serve most user’s needs. However, we acknowledge that additional capabilities can further enhance the tool and increase its usefulness. We’d like to hear from you!
• Please use the M&V Analysis Module webpage to notify us of bugs or recommend new features that would make the tool more useful.
• Program administrators - please let us know whether you are using the tool in your energy efficiency program, and whether we can improve the tool for your use. Please send us a note at eh technical support email below.
Please review the comments on the M&V Analysis Module webpage for technical support. Further assistance may be found by sending an email to: mvtoolsupport@quest-world.com.

PG&E PEC

Economizer

The Economizer Analysis can assist in in determining if an existing building economizer is functioning properly.

Light Load

The Light Load analysis module considers the availability of control devices for light loads and calculates the potential savings using that technology.

Plug Load

The Plug Load analysis module considers the availability of control devices for plug loads and calculates the potential savings using that technology. For most plug load types the analysis is based upon occupancy data for the space and power or amperage data of the load prior to a retrofit. For some loads the Plug Load Analysis Module can calculate the potential savings based on typical duty cycles and the measured savings from actual retrofits. This analysis module will provide the potential energy savings for an occupancy type plug load controller.

Psychrometric Calculator

The Psychrometric Calculator analysis module calculates air properties on the basis of a psychometric property table.

To calculate the air properties, you will need the:

- Barometric pressure
- Dry bulb temperature
- And either the wet bulb temperature, dew point temperature, relative humidity, or the humidity ratio.

Setpoint

The Setpoint analysis module performs a statistical analysis on trend data and displays the results in a table. Setpoint analysis module will display Percent of Time Over Upper Setpoint and Percent of Time Under Lower Setpoint, Minimum and Maximum value, as well as averages and actual times over or under Setpoint.

Statistics

This Statistics analysis module will calculate statistics for selected trends.

LBNL

Control Loop Diagnostics

The control loop diagnostics module can be used to diagnose two fault conditions in common control loops such as supply air temperature, zone temperature, and fan static pressure:

• hunting, which may be caused by:
- instability of the loop, due to excessive controller gain, possibly exacerbated by significant non-linearity, e.g. poor authority of a control valve or damper
- oscillatory disturbances from other loops, e.g. oscillations in the temperature of the water supplied to a heating or cooling coil

• constant offset, which may be caused by:
- inadequate equipment capacity
- proportional-only control with a relatively wide proportional band

The module analyzes trend log data to diagnose faulty behavior of HVAC control loops and can potentially reduce the time and expense of commissioning. For each loop, a set of trend data that includes the set-point, the measured variable and the control signal from the EMCS is analyzed. A search function in the analysis module is first used to find periods for which the set-point is approximately constant. The Fast Fourier Transform is used to identify periods of oscillation (‘hunting’). Least squares methods are used to identify periods of constant offset in the measured variable. The period during which the fault is most severe is identified and the performance displayed graphically.

Further assistance may be found by sending an email to: phaves@lbl.gov.

Fans And System Curves

Fan electric power can be a substantial fraction of HVAC energy use and depends on the ratio of fan air power (product of flow through and pressure rise across the fan) divided by the product of fan, belt, motor, and variable-frequency-drive (VFD) efficiencies. This module contains three user-selectable analysis types (Fan Efficiency, Fan Speed, System Curve) that provide coefficients for EnergyPlus air-handler fan performance analyses involving either its detailed fan system component model or its simple variable-air-volume (VAV) fan model.
The Fan Efficiency and Fan Speed analysis types support the component model by determining efficiency and speed curve coefficients for a particular fan, and also report characteristics useful for fan selection. The System Curve analysis type also supports the component model by determining fan pressure rise versus airflow coefficients for a particular air-distribution system connected to a fan. In addition, it supports the simpler VAV fan model by determining polynomial coefficients to correlate fraction of full-load fan shaft power (FFLP) to fraction of full-load airflow (FFLQ). For fan systems where the motor and VFD are located outside the airstream, VFD (system) input power can be used rather than fan shaft power.
This module enables energy analyses that could be used: 1) with fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) and measurement and verification (M&V) UT tools to identify and quantify opportunities to improve fan and air-distribution system designs, retrofits, and operation; 2) to provide a standardized means of verifying system performance, and 3) to develop new component-level requirements for commercial building HVAC system efficiency in future revisions of codes and standards.
All input data and resulting model outputs are stored in one project file, which may be transferred to other parties with the software for the purposes of technical review.

Further assistance may be found by sending an email to: CPWray@lbl.gov.

NIST

Dual Duct Air Handling Unit Fault Detection

Dual Duct Terminal Fault Detection

Fan Coil Fault Detection

Single Duct Air Handling Unit Fault Detection

Single Duct Terminal Fault Detection

The NIST Fault Detection and Diagnostics Expert Assistant (FDDEA) module is an interactive, rules-based FDD application provided to users as five variants, depending upon the application: 1) dual-duct AHU, 2) single-duct AHU, 3) dual-duct VAV box, 4) single-duct VAV box, and 5) fan-coil (i.e., “terminal”) unit. The FDDEA can operate upon data brought into UT as archived ASII files or, by way of a BACnet DLL interface for UT, obtained in real-time via a network connection to a building automation system. An instruction guide for set-up and use is provided on the UT site as “Using the NIST FDDEA Dashboard series with the Universal Translator”.

Technical contact: Mike Galler, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), 301.975.6521, michael.galler@nist.gov

Bugs And Feature Requests

Click here to submit a UT3 bug or feature request. You have to be logged in else you will see an "Access denied" message.

UT3 Training Videos

Click here for more details.

More Information

Contact us for more information.

Release Notes

version 3.0.1708.2913 Release 3 - August 29, 2017
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- #923 Added "Import TMY Data" option to import EnergyPlus Weather Data (*.epw) files. TMY is Typical Meteorological Year. After import, the imported "Simulated" source channel(s) are resampled to the containing folder's timeframe. Thanks to San Diego Gas & Electric (https://www.sdge.com) for sponsoring this enhancement.
- #924 Added Smart Meter Data Adapter to import Smart Meter Data. You can now drop Smart Meter Data files and they will import. Smart Meter Data files usually have one row of 15 minute data per day. There are several variations supported. One has columns "SPID", "UOM", "DIR" and "DATE" and another has columns "CHANNEL", "DATE" and "UOM". These column values are used to create channel names in UT3. Thanks to San Diego Gas & Electric (https://www.sdge.com) for sponsoring this enhancement.
- #929 Fixed a bug where a Formula like "if (x > 0, x, y)" would cause an error like "System.InvalidOperationException: Expected a larger array of variable values, at least size: 3". The repeated use of a variable e.g. "x", was what caused the issue.
- #933 Added "California Climate Zones" Energy Plus Files (*.epw) to the UT3 installation. These files are TMY (Typical Meteorological Year) weather data files and there are 16 files. Example names are : CZ01RV2.epw, CZ02RV2.epw etc... These files can be imported using the new "Import TMY Data" feature. Files are available using the UT "SampleData" shortcut and in a folder called "California Climate Zones Data". More files are available here --> https://energyplus.net/weather-region/north_and_central_america_wmo_regi...

version 3.0.1702.1408 - Release 2 - February 14, 2017 (not publicly released)
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- Added multiple charts to the Regression object view, to visualize the results of the Regression computation. You can now filter Regression data inputs. You can now specify that the slope of the regression curve is 0 (horizontal line) outside the range of the original independent data used to compute the regression. Fixed a bug in the Measurement and Verification Analysis Module, whereby the Independent only model setting, with segmented linear model types, would not calculate a y intercept for the first line segment (it always intercepted 0).
- Added Runtime AnalysisModule

version 3.0.1608.1312 - August 13, 2016
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- #842 Removed "BETA" from application title since application is now mature enough to do so.
- #858 Fixed deserialization error of AnalysisModuleChannels where there was no actual data points in the channel's Timeframe. This would only affect users who used analysis modules and only in certain cases.

version 3.0.1510.0208.beta8 - October 2, 2015
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- #836 Without taking any specific action, a project file can no longer be opened. The error is an ArgumentOutOfRangeException, stating that "No property value stored: TimeAdjustment." Once this error occurs, the project cannot be opened. With the new build, the projects can be opened, and the error no longer occurs.

version 3.0.1507.0815.beta7 - July 8, 2015
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- #820 Fixed "Submit Bug Or Feature Request" url to be the right url of http://utonline.org/cms/node/212.
- #824 Fixed issue with NIST AnalysisModules that had "side by side" error since these AnalysisModules included a "debugging" prerequisite that most users do not have. Removed prerequisite and AnalysisModules worked. AnalysisModules that had the side by side error are Fan Coil Fail Detection, Single Duct Air Handling Unit Fault Detection and Single Duct Terminal Fault Detection. Note that all NIST AnalysisModules need the x86 C++ runtime availble from Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5582) else a side by side error will occur.

version 3.0.1504.1510.beta6 - April 15, 2015
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- #808 Line ChartType: Now when exporting or copying the chart data in the Chart user interface the format is the same as the Menu Chart Copy Data and Menu Chart Export Data. This is similar to the Channel Copy Data and Channel Export Data.
- #810 Added "Smart Meter" CSV Import DataAdapter (aka Green Button Data DataAdapter) to import PG&E Smart Meter CSV data. Examples imported were gas and electric data.

version 3.0.1501.1209.beta5 - January 12, 2015
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- #772 Economizer - Fixed issue where when using the "Use Fixed Return Air Setpoint?" checkbox with a return air setpoint value, then the economizer did not work (return valid results).
- #773 Setpoint Analysis Module: Issue was that invalid setpoint values caused unexpected results. Added warning when Lower setpoint exceeds upper setpoint.
- #784 In the Statistics Analsis Module, if the Project is not to show hidden channels then do not show hidden channels (with Channel.Hidden == True) in statistics.
- #786 In Setpoint Analysis Module UI Settings, moved "Upper" settings above the "Lower" settings to make it more intuative.
- #798 When editing a Chart Trace Data Input, you can now create and chain multiple Filter entries. A Filter entry is an object that that references a Filter and a set of Bins in that Filter. The Filter entry filters out all data points that are not captured by the selected Bins. By chaining Filter entries, it is possible to create data points captured by an intersection of different Filter Bins.

version 3.0.1406.0911.beta4 - June 9, 2014
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- #778 ChangeOfValue data was incorrectly imported as TimeSeries. Modified import to use an AutoRecognize option that checks the DataPoints being imported for being on an even interval and if so then sets the Channel.DataPointType to TimeSeries, else set the Channel.DataPointType to ChangeOfValue which can be categoried as being on an uneven interval. Also changed TextFileWizardDataAdapter to have an AutoRecognize option (as the default selection).

Attached File Descriptions

• ReleaseNotes.txt: Contains release notes.
• UT3Setup.<version number>.zip: Most users should download and install this version.
• UT3SDKSetup.<version number>.zip: This version includes the contents of UT3Setup.<version number>.zip above, but also includes resources for users wishing to write their own AnalysisModules in C#.

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