Chun Kwong, Good job hunting down the problem. You are correct that setting a minimum relaxation factor less than 1 can cause pumps and fans to output less than their rated flow rate times the control signal and that this can cause problems in downstream components. We have run into the same problem with the radiant floors in Type56; a smaller than 1 relaxation factor resulted in the flow to the radiant floor going below the minimum allowable value during an internal iteration. We had to set all the relaxation factors back to 1 in order to run it. Kind regards, david a8304506@graduate.hku.hk wrote: Hello, Trnsys users. I got an error in one simulation relating to the cooling tower (Type51). I try to chase the cause of the error by adding some output statements in the source code to record particular parameters. Then I found some strange results. I use a thermostat to control a water pump to supply water to the cooling tower. Hence, the inlet water flow for the cooling tower should be either zero or design flow. However, it seems that in some iterations, the logged water flow differs from these values. When it becomes a small value (but not zero), error occurs within the subroutine Psychromatics. I wonder if it is because I choose a value for the minimum relaxation factor other than 1 (I suppose that the use of a smaller value can enchance the convergence). If it is so, then the allowance for selecting the relaxation factor is probably a trap, as the intermediate values for particular input/output may fall into some dangerous ranges. Indeed, I encounter similar problems occasionally. Does anyone has other ideas for the cause of the problem? Best Regards LEE, Chun Kwong Research assistant Division of Building Science and Technology City University of Hong Kong -- *********************************************************************** Thermal Energy System Specialists (TESS), LLC David BRADLEY 22 N. Carroll Street - Suite 370 Partner Madison, WI 53703 USA P: +1.608.274.2577 F: +1.608.278.1475 E-mail: bradley@tess-inc.com Web Pages: http://www.tess-inc.com and http://www.trnsys.com *********************************************************************** |