CoolSim 5.4.180 preview 12

This is an early build of the CoolSim desktop app, based on CoolSim 5.4.180. It installs as CoolSim 5.4 Preview, beside your current CoolSim, so you can try it on real models and go back at any time. Sign in with your usual CoolSim account. If you have an earlier preview installed, this one replaces it.

Download CoolSim 5.4.180 preview 12

64-bit Windows 10 or 11 · 84 MB · CoolSimSetup_5.4.180_preview12.exe

Prefer the look of CoolSim 5.4? The classic-look installer is the same preview 12, with every change on this page, in CoolSim 5.4’s grey Windows style: its fonts, buttons, toolbar icons, splash screen and 3D view colors. Windows the previews rearranged keep their new layout in the old colors. Both installers install CoolSim 5.4 Preview, so installing one replaces the other. To switch, run the other installer.

Download preview 12, classic look

64-bit Windows 10 or 11 · 84 MB · CoolSimSetup_5.4.180_preview12_classic.exe

What’s new

Changes from CoolSim 5.4.180. What changed in preview 12 has every change in this build; the CoolSim 5.4 changelog lists every build.

New in preview 12: what reaches the solver

These fix faults in CoolSim 5.4.180 that sent the solver a different model from the one you built. A model that went through one of them can solve to a different answer in the preview.

• The Room Editor no longer lifts turning-vane cooling units. In a room with no raised floor, every OK in the Room Editor raised each cooling unit with a turning vane by one more vane height, with no limit: on one of our test models, each OK put five units another 0.6 m (2 ft) off the floor. The preview raises a unit only if it or its vane would be below the floor, and only that far, so further OKs move nothing. A unit raised by an earlier build stays where it is: set its height in its editor.
• The Room Editor re-fits the room on every OK. In CoolSim 5.4.180, OK in the Room Editor skipped the step that fits objects to a changed floor, ceiling or plenum and works out rack, server and PDU airflows again for a changed air density. On one of our test models, 107 racks kept airflows worked out for the old density, 10% off by mass; on another, two blocks stayed inside a plenum that had been removed. The preview runs that step on every OK, as CoolSim 5.4.177 did.
• A typed air density reaches the solver. A room switched from altitude to a typed air density kept sending the density worked out from the altitude, with the altitude: one of our tests typed 1.1025 kg/m³ and sent 1.058 kg/m³ at 1,500 m. The preview sends the density you typed.
• A Frontflow PDU stands on a solid floor. CoolSim lifts Upflow and Downflow PDUs 6 in off a solid floor. A PDU switched to Frontflow kept that lift and floated, and earlier previews lifted new Frontflow PDUs too. The PDU editor’s OK now takes the lift off and says so. A height you set to exactly 6 in yourself looks the same, so the message says how to put it back.
• A cable cutout stays inside the room. A Start Point or Size typed past the room walls was sent where it was: one of our tests sent a cutout 305 m (1,000 ft) along a room 15 m (50 ft) long. The Cable Cutout editor’s OK now moves it inside, trims it if it is larger than the room, and says so.
• Baffles placed by end points reach into a raised floor. In a raised-floor room, the baffle editor reset a negative End Point Y to 0, so a baffle placed by its end points could not go down into the supply plenum. With end points it now accepts down to the bottom of the plenum; with a size the lowest is still 0.

New in preview 12: warnings and messages

• Run Simulation warns before a run would drop something. After the hidden-objects check, it now warns when:

  • CRAC Parameter Variation will not run, because a cooling unit is not on the Supply Temperature cooling method or has both fan and coil off. The run would solve only the baseline case.
  • perforated tiles are in a room with no raised floor, where they would be sent as vents through the floor.
  • a cable cutout saved earlier reaches past the room walls.

  Choose OK to run as it is, or Cancel to go back and change the model.

• The Room Editor says what it changed. In a room with no raised floor, OK removes a plain cooling unit’s plug fan, because there is no plenum for it to sit in. It did that without a word before; now a message names the unit. When raising a unit to stand its vane on the floor uses up its ceiling extension, the extension is removed and a message says so.

• The Groups report counts every member. Group members whose names start with a digit or hold spaces or punctuation dropped out of the group’s totals in the report. The solve was not affected.

• A PDU’s plug fans follow its inlets and outlets. A PDU with plug fans gets one fan for each inlet or outlet you set in the editor. CoolSim 5.4.180 kept the count from before, so the 3D view could show more or fewer fans than openings. Plug fans are drawn in CoolSim only and do not change what is sent to the solver.

Also included, from preview 11

• CRAC Parameter Variation runs on the new simulation service. For an account moved to the new service, a CRAC Parameter Variation job runs the baseline and each variation as a run of its own, and the Status Report follows each one. Download Reports fetches the report of every run that finished. They open in the Reports tab, from a page that lists the runs, and are kept with the project when you save. If some variations fail, the reports of the others still download. There is no report comparing the runs yet, and View Online is not available for these runs.
• The Status Report shows a progress bar for each run. Each bar has a step for building the model, meshing, solving, post-processing and the report, with a line under it saying what the run is doing. A CRAC Parameter Variation job has a bar for the baseline and one for each variation, and says how many runs have finished. Runs on the new service also show how long they have taken. A report that failed to download says so in red.
• A failed run says where it stopped, in plain words. For a run on the new service, the Status Report says at which step it failed, or that it could not start, and points to the email sent about the job, which has the cause. Earlier previews showed our server’s own message, often a line of solver output. A run that timed out still says so.

Also included, from preview 9

• A click in the 3D view selects what you aim at. In earlier previews, a click selected nothing if the mouse moved even one pixel between press and release, a slightly diagonal click turned the view instead, and most of a rack selected nothing when clicked. A click now counts while the mouse stays within 3 pixels of where you pressed, and anywhere on a rack selects it. Ctrl-click and the right-click menu work the same way. A rack in a row still selects its whole row, unless it is set to be selected on its own.
• A new startup screen. CoolSim opens with a splash screen in the app’s colors and a progress bar while it starts.

Also included, from preview 8

• Runs on CoolSim’s new simulation service, once your account moves there. For an account moved to the new service at app.coolsimsoftware.com, the preview signs in, sends runs, follows them and stops them there. An account moves only when we invite you to set a password on the new service. Until then, the preview signs you in and runs your models exactly as your current CoolSim does.
• Download Report opens those runs in CoolSim. For a run on the new service, Download Report fetches its report and opens it in CoolSim like any other. The report has the summary, the cooling unit and rack results, the sensor readings and the PDF, but not yet the temperature, pressure and airflow pictures. View Online is not available for these runs.

Also included, from preview 7

• Run and Status Report stay on the toolbar. On a narrower window, PRE Report, Plot Setup, Run and Status Report no longer hide behind the toolbar’s overflow arrow; the other buttons go there first.
• Tooltips look like the rest of CoolSim. The tips on the toolbars, the status bar, menus and the object editors use the app’s type and colors, and a long tip wraps to a readable width.

Also included, from preview 6: what reaches the solver

These fix faults in CoolSim 5.4.180 and earlier previews that sent the solver different numbers from the ones you entered. A model that went through one of them can solve to a different answer in the preview.

• Supplemental coolers send the capacity and drop you set. In CoolSim 5.4.180, a supplemental cooler set by Cooling Capacity always went to the solver as 20,000 W, whatever you entered. One set by Temperature Drop sent its drop as a temperature reading, so the default 20 °F drop reached the solver as a drop of 266.48 K (480 °F). A model saved earlier opens with the drop its editor showed, and an untouched default opens as a 20 °F (11.1 °C) drop.
• A rack’s airflow uses its own share to liquid. In the rack row editor, with racks set one at a time, OK and Apply recomputed the shown rack’s airflow from the row’s share of heat to liquid instead of the rack’s own. A 500 W rack sending 20% to liquid, in a row set to 0%, went from 49.3 to 61.6 CFM. A rack holding servers keeps the airflow the Rack Builder gave it.
• A number you type counts when you press OK. Number boxes in the object editors took a typed number 1.2 seconds after the last key, so pressing OK or Apply, or moving to the next box, sooner than that kept the number from before. The preview takes it as soon as you leave the box or press Enter.
• The RMS reference choice is saved with the model. Preview 5 sent root mean square to the solver but did not save the choice, so a reopened model went back to the average. Your current CoolSim opens these models and uses the average.
• Sensor names with hyphens, spaces or dots. The solver renames such sensors, for example “Inlet-A”. CoolSim 5.4.180 listed the room’s reference sensors and each VFD cooling unit’s sensors under the names as typed, which the solver could not find. The preview lists them under the solver’s names.

Also included, from preview 6: windows and checks

• Clone Objects says where the copies will land. The Clone button opens a dialog that says, while you type the count and spacing, which copy first lands on something (another copy, the originals, or another object, by name), which copies won’t fit in the room, and the spacing that keeps them clear. In 5.4.180, the overlap question never looked at other objects, cloning wiped whatever you had copied, and each copy left “Cannot perform add” errors in Messages.
• Options in seven pages (Edit → Options): Account, General, Units, Graphics, Snapping, Object names and Advanced. Every setting is named in words, with a line of help where it needs one, and the account password is masked. Your settings keep their values.
• One Snap to choice on an object’s Advanced tab: the grid set in Options, a grid of its own, or nothing, with a note saying what that means with your settings. It replaces checkboxes that read as ticked while nothing snapped.
• The hidden-objects warning names what a run leaves out. A run leaves out hidden objects, as before. The warning now names them, or counts them and names five, says how to show them, and says when every cooling unit is hidden and nothing else supplies air. In 5.4.180 it named nothing, missed a cooling unit hidden after any group, and warned about a hidden first rack in a shown row, which is still sent.
• A VFD cooling unit with no sensors in the run stops before sending. In 5.4.180, a cooling unit set to follow its sensors, with all of them hidden or switched off, was sent anyway and the job failed on our server. The preview names the cooling unit and its hidden or switched-off sensors, and says what to change.
• Model Description takes pasted text. Text pasted from Word or Outlook, with curly quotes, dashes or bullets, made every Run Simulation fail with a message that never mentioned the description. The box now turns those into plain characters as you type or paste, and names anything a run still can’t send. Editing only the description marks the model as changed, so closing asks to save.
• Toolbar tooltips in plain words. Each says what the button does, using the menus’ names. VFD Sensor is now Sensor, Circular Block is Cylinder Block, and XDO XDV is Supplemental Cooler. The toolbar, tab and status bar icons are redrawn.

Fixed in preview 6

• Export CoolSim Report touches only the report. In 5.4.180, the export gathered the report in a folder named after the model inside the folder you picked, zipped it, and then deleted that folder without using the Recycle Bin. If a folder of that name was already there, its files went into the report and were deleted with it. An existing report file was replaced without asking. The preview builds the report in a temporary folder of its own and saves only the finished .csr where you pick, with Windows’ usual question before replacing a file.
• Session folders are kept at least a day. Delete session folders after (days), under Edit → Options → General, deleted every session folder when CoolSim closed if it was set to 0, including the one another open CoolSim was working in. It now takes 1 to 3,650 days, and a saved 0 counts as 1.

Removed in preview 6

• File Manager (File). The online service it opened has been retired. Your reports are in the Status Report and in the email for each job.

Also included, from preview 5: what reaches the solver

These fix faults in CoolSim 5.4.180 that sent the solver different numbers from the ones you entered. A model that went through one of them can solve to a different answer in the preview.

• The Rack Heat Loads import works. In 5.4.180, File → Import → Rack Heat Loads (CSV) never changed the job: a rack row’s load went to a field the solver does not read. On a row set rack by rack, 0 kW became 1,000 W and a blank became −1,000 W, which the solver treats as a heat sink, and each rack’s airflow stayed sized for its old load. The preview sets every rack in a row you name, recomputes each rack’s airflow from its expected temperature rise as the rack editor does, and ends with a list of every line it left alone and why.
• Apply in Details saves every row you changed. Details is the table of every object of one kind, opened from the Pre-Simulation Report or a group. In 5.4.180, Apply skipped the row the cursor was still in, so editing one rack row and pressing Apply changed nothing in the job. A tile row’s changes never reached the row, and a rack row set by temperature rise had its airflow recalculated from its heat.
• The Rack Builder keeps what you built. A rack holding only blanking panels dropped out of the job. A server added from the rack row editor in a slot a blanking panel had held stayed a blanking panel, lost its heat, and the job could not be sent.
• The share to liquid is a percentage. The rack’s field is a percentage of its heat, but the 5.4.180 Rack Builder wrote the servers’ liquid watts into it and left them there when the last server was removed. On our test machine, removing a 5,000 W server at 20% left 1,000 in the field, and the emptied 4,000 W rack went to the solver with 40,000 W to liquid.
• Sensor connections reach the solver without opening Sensor Connections. In 5.4.180, the solver learned which sensors are the room’s reference sensors, and which ones each VFD cooling unit follows, only if Sensor Connections had been opened since the model was. A model opened and sent straight away went with no reference sensors and every sensor marked as a plain sensor. The preview takes both from what the model saves.
• Reference sensors combined by RMS use every reference sensor. In 5.4.180 the solver did not recognize the RMS setting and used the first reference sensor alone.
• A cooling unit’s set point follows its kind of sensor. In 5.4.180, a cooling unit switched from pressure sensors to temperature sensors kept its pressure set point, so 7.473 Pa ran as 7.473 K (−446 °F), and connecting pressure sensors put 7.473 Pa back over a pressure set point you had typed. The preview puts that kind’s default back when the kind changes (7.473 Pa, or 75 °F) and otherwise keeps your set point.

Also included, from preview 5: menus and windows

• Menus: File, Edit, View, Simulation, Help.
  • File → Open Recent lists your last projects. The 5.4.180 list lost its oldest entry each time it was read.
  • Edit has Copy, Paste, Duplicate, Delete, Group and Ungroup. Anything you can’t use at that moment is greyed out.
  • View and Simulation hold the Design toolbar’s tools, such as Libraries, Power View, the Pre-Simulation Report, Run and Status Report. Post Processing Parameters is now Simulation → Plot Setup.
  • Ctrl+O opens a project; in 5.4.180 it did nothing. Ctrl+N starts a new one.
  • Right-click Hide, Nearly Hide and Show list the object types directly, without the By Type step.
• The model tree is an outline grouped by kind of object, with a filter box, an eye to hide or show each object, and rename in place.
• Object editors open several times faster and line every field up in one column. On our test machine, a cooling unit’s editor took 14.2 seconds to open in earlier previews and takes 2.5 seconds now; a supplemental cooler’s took 17.9 and takes 1.1.
• Tool windows ask about what they do.
  • CRAC Parameter Variation has a tab for the baseline and one for each variation, each a table with a row per cooling unit.
  • Plot Setup has one Customize result plots switch; with it off, a note says which standard plots you get.
  • Energy Calculation asks whether you use measured power or estimate from a COP, and shows only that method’s fields. Other heat load is now Other power in the room, which is how the report uses it.
• Details: type in any cell, or select several and set them at once. Each value is checked as you leave its cell, changes stay marked until you apply them, and closing asks before dropping them.
• The Rack Builder draws each rack front-on, with U1 at the bottom as on a real rack. Click or drag to pick slots, drag servers between slots and racks, and set what you picked in the panel beside the drawing. OK changes only the racks you changed, and servers keep their make and model.
• The Library panel shows a whole catalog in one list, with search across every field, filters that show how many parts each one leaves, sorting by any column, and every value of the selected part in your units.
• Power View colors each rack by its heat load in watts: its own, or the total of its servers, including any share to liquid. A key in the corner of the 3D view counts the racks in each band and keeps up as you edit loads; Edit range… on the key sets your own range. In 5.4.180 the color came from the watts per cubic meter of one server in each rack.
• Add to Library (right-click an object) offers only the catalogs the object fits, says before you press the button whether it adds a part or replaces one of the same name, and points to any problem at the box itself. Model names with an apostrophe work.
• Remove parts from your own library in the Library panel: right-click a part, press Delete, or use the link under its name. It asks first. The library that ships with CoolSim has no remove.
• The Status Report offers Stop only while the job runs, asks first, and reports the stop only once our server has accepted it.
• Sensor Connections is under Simulation and a cooling unit’s right-click menu for everyone; in 5.4.180 it opened only in beta mode. It lists the cooling units with a line each saying what it follows, and you tick the sensors the picked one reads. Ctrl-click picks several to paste sensors or VFD settings into at once. VFD Settings says which sensors the fan follows and checks the set point and airflow as you type.
• Smart Measure (View) gives the shortest distance between two objects, or from an object to the room’s wall, floor or ceiling, and keeps it up to date as you move them. In 5.4.180 each click snapped to the nearest box corner and the number stayed put when objects moved.
• Keyboard Shortcuts (Help, Ctrl+H) opens a sheet beside the model that stays open while you work, and lists the model tree, Rack Builder and Library keys.
• Sign-in, Welcome and About are rebuilt. When sign-in turns you away, the message says why.
• The Pre-Simulation Report window can be resized, and Export asks where to save the page. The report’s contents are unchanged.

Fixed in preview 5

• Parts you remove from your own library stay removed. Every earlier preview brought back, at each install, every part ever removed from your own library. Parts you remove in preview 5 or later stay removed through later updates. A part removed earlier, in your current CoolSim or an earlier preview, can come back; remove it again in the preview and it stays removed.

• Power View leaves your model as it was. In 5.4.180, turning Power View off made see-through objects solid, and saving while it was on stored the faded objects at 20% opacity, so the model reopened faded.

Removed in preview 5

• The Energy Calculator tab, and the Locale Id and Culture Id fields, in Energy Calculation. Nothing on our servers reads them, and values already in a model are kept.

Also included, from preview 4

• Saving never leaves a model that will not open. The preview always writes a real package and replaces the old file only once the new one is complete. If a save fails, your last saved copy stays where it was and the model stays marked as unsaved. Two faults in CoolSim 5.4.180 could leave a .csp that CoolSim could no longer open:
  • Sending a job again for a model you had already sent, and answering No to Save as new model?, could write the model over its .csp as plain text instead of a package.
  • A save that failed part-way, for example on a full disk or a dropped network share, had already deleted the old .csp.
• Large models open and export faster. Windows Search indexed the files CoolSim unpacks each time it opens a model, which slowed opening and exporting large models several times over. The preview keeps Windows Search out of CoolSim’s session folder. On our test machine, exporting our eight test models went from 4 minutes to 40 seconds.
• No stray catalogs in your current CoolSim. Preview 3 added three catalogs named Crac, RackRow and TileRow to the library that your current CoolSim shares. Preview 4 and later remove them the first time they start.
• The right-click menu in the 3D view closes when you click elsewhere in the view or press Esc.
• Closing a model frees its memory. A model you had exported or sent a job from stayed in memory after you closed it, so a session that worked through several large models kept using more.

Also included, from preview 3

• A new 3D view. The model view is drawn with current web graphics (Microsoft Edge WebView2) in place of a 3D engine from 2011. The mouse and toolbar controls work as before. Two curved arrows over the view cube turn the view 90° left or right; in the top view, the tile row and column labels turn with the plan.
• Complete energy files. In 5.4.180 the energy file sent with a job stopped part-way whenever the room held a block without a heat load, and otherwise kept the heat of only one block. The preview adds up every block’s heat load and writes the whole file, so energy results can differ from 5.4.180. Model and airflow files are unchanged.
• PDUs in models saved by CoolSim 5.3 export. CoolSim 5.4 stopped with an error while exporting such a model if the 3D view had not drawn the PDU yet, for example with Optimize load time on. The preview gives those PDUs their top and bottom openings, as CoolSim 5.3 did.
• A supported library database. The object library now runs on Firebird 5 in place of Firebird 2.5, which dates from 2010 and has had no updates since 2019.
  • The first start after installing takes about 10 seconds.
  • Library pages show every column. Columns with names longer than 27 characters were missing.
  • Adding parts works on Windows set to use a decimal comma.
• The Reports tab says what fills it. A new project shows No report yet and names the two toolbar buttons that make a report, instead of a blank page or an Invalid window handle error.
• The Library panel stays open when the pointer crosses the toolbar.
• View Message, the Editor Analyzer and Object Summary show their tables in WebView2 in place of Internet Explorer.
• Packages. Models and libraries packaged by the preview open in your current CoolSim and the other way round. Opening a package never writes files outside its own folder.
• The memory chart on the status bar no longer uses more memory each time it refreshes.
• Flatter, clearer tabs across the app.

Removed in preview 3

• Python scripting. The script editor, the Python shell, the Python, Utility and PowerShell console tabs, and Edit Script are gone. Templates or import files that carry Python, and -run with a .py file, report Script Not Run instead of running it. CoolSim’s own built-in steps no longer use Python and write the same files as before. If you rely on your own Python scripts, write to support@coolsimsoftware.com.

Also included, from preview 2

• Moving a group no longer lifts ceiling grilles or cutouts. Previously, each move of a group raised every ceiling grille in it by 0.5 mm and every floor cutout by 1 mm. Even 0.5 mm leaves a grille sitting just off the ceiling, and the solved job then shows almost no air through it. Group members now keep their height, the same as when you move a single object. Installing the preview does not change models you have already saved.
• Undo and redo are dependable.
  • Undoing a group move puts every member of the group back.
  • Undo works after Redo.
  • A new edit clears the Redo history, so Redo can no longer replay an old change on top of new work.
  • Undo keeps recording after you cancel a Save or Open.
  • Undo with nothing left to undo no longer shows an error.
  • Changes made in an object’s properties dialog can be undone.
  • Undo and Redo from the menu now update the 3D view.
• Jobs with a PDU placed after other objects no longer fail on the server. The job’s parameter file counted obstructions wrongly when a PDU was not the first object in the model.
• Sloped polygon blocks keep their slope. Blocks extruded along X or Z, such as a sloped soffit, were sent to the solver flat.
• No more partial uploads. If exporting the model fails part-way, CoolSim now stops, tells you which file failed, and sends nothing, instead of submitting an incomplete model.
• Silent install for IT. CoolSimSetup_5.4.180_preview12.exe /S installs unattended, with the libraries and work area in place. The preview takes no .csp file association, so double-clicking a model still opens your current CoolSim.

Before you install

• The Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime draws the 3D view. Windows 11 and most Windows 10 machines have it already. If the preview says it is missing, install it from Microsoft.
• Run one CoolSim at a time. The preview and your current CoolSim share the same libraries, settings and work area. Close one before opening the other.
• Make library changes in your current CoolSim. Both read the same library parts, but each keeps its own index of them. The preview picks up parts added, changed or removed in your current CoolSim the next time it starts; that start takes about half a minute. Your current CoolSim does not see parts added or removed in the preview.
• Sign-in is shared. Signing in to one signs you in to both.
• Windows SmartScreen will warn that the installer is from an unrecognized publisher. Choose More info, then Run anyway.
• Your models, libraries and work area (C:\Users\Public\Documents\CoolSim 5.4) are the same ones your current CoolSim uses.

Going back

Uninstall CoolSim 5.4 Preview from Settings → Apps. Your current CoolSim is left exactly as it was. The preview leaves behind the work area, which holds your own models, and its own library index files in the library folders, which your current CoolSim does not use.

Checking the download

SHA-256 of CoolSimSetup_5.4.180_preview12.exe:

1a9f498f96feee6bacf19c78ecc31cb1a176c9381069deb2e4a8dd7a99fbed54

SHA-256 of CoolSimSetup_5.4.180_preview12_classic.exe:

d7260d32a8edf71c70aea038fb6dd45f15509a1ce4916260ed100b0ade357ddd

Found a problem? Write to support@coolsimsoftware.com and mention “preview 12”.