Project Tree (ETA)

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ETA Project Tree

The project tree in ETA’s Project Explorer displays the time series used in ETA and can reproduce hierarchically organized project structures. It contains the preconfigured nodes Open projects and Temporary time series. These are firstly empty once ETA has been started independently of TOP-Energy (see following figure).

If ETA is started from TOP-Energy, the Project Explorer of ETA takes over parts of the project structure from TOP-Energy.

Open ETA from TOP-Energy

After starting ETA from TOP-Energy, the ETA project tree shows only those elements of the project which contain the time series opened in ETA and are superior to them, e.g., the components, the Scheme nodes, the Simulation nodes, the Variant nodes and the project node.

The time series for which the ETA button was pressed in TOP-Energy are displayed.

The following figure shows the windows of TOP-Energy (top) and ETA (bottom) after starting the ETA from the form of the component Heat_Demand in TOP-Energy.

If further time series are added in TOP-Energy with the ETA button in the form of a component, these appear in the Project Explorer of the ETA. The following figure shows that a time series has been added from the Electricity_Demand component.

In this way, almost any value from TOP-Energy forms can be transferred to the Project Explorer of the ETA and assigned a time series.

Conversely, the time series are transferred from the ETA back to TOP-Energy using the button in the ETA menu bar in order to carry out time-dependent simulations. If this step is omitted, the original time series remains in TOP-Energy and is not changed.

Temporary Time Series

Time series imported into the ETA are always stored in the Temporary time series folder (see following figure).

The Temporary time series folder is automatically emptied when the ETA is closed. The time series should be stored and saved in an ETA project file so that they do not have to be imported again after an ETA restart.

Creating, Saving, and Reopening ETA Projects

A new ETA project file node is created via the entries in the menu bar File → New project, the key combination <CTRL>+<N>, the icon in the toolbar, or by the context menu on the input node Open projects. Using the context menu of a project file node, the project can be saved and named in a location of your choice. By creating new folders, a folder structure can be created within the project file (see following figure).

The time series imported in the ETA can be arranged in the project by drag-and-drop within the Project Explorer.

The projects can be saved individually or simultaneously via the context menu in the Project Explorer or via the menu items File → Save project/Save all projects. When saving, the name of the ETA project is specified.

A double-click on the file name in the Windows Explorer opens a saved ETA project file in the ETA. In ETA, alternatively select File → Open project from the menu bar or use the key combination <CTRL>+<O>.

Linking the TOP-Energy Project Tree to ETA Subsequently

In order to transfer time series from the ETA to a TOP-Energy project that is not yet mapped in the ETA Project Explorer, the relevant elements of this TOP-Energy project must first be transferred to the ETA. To do this, the time-dependent values of the components are selected in TOP-Energy and transferred to ETA using the ETA button. These are then displayed in the ETA Project Explorer with their own project structure in addition to the previously existing ETA project (see figure below).

In the next step, the time series to be transferred are assigned to the corresponding quantities (e.g., a demand) in the ETA Project Explorer by drag-and-drop in order to link them with each other. The time series are then transferred to TOP-Energy by clicking on the button in the menu bar.