Installation and setup¶

Following you find guidelines for the installation process for Linux and Windows. ExerPy is a Python package, thus it requires you to have Python 3 installed.

Installation of ExerPy¶

Linux

Installing Python 3

Most Linux distributions will have Python 3 in their repository. Use the specific software management to install it, if it is not yet installed. If you are using Ubuntu/Debian try executing the following code in your terminal:

sudo apt-get install python3

You can also download different versions of Python via https://www.python.org/downloads/.

Having Python 3 installed

We recommend installing ExerPy within a virtual Python environment and not into the base, system-wide Python installation. On Linux you can use virtualenv to do so.

Install virtualenv using the package management of your Linux distribution, pip install or install it from source (see virtualenv documentation)

Open terminal to create and activate a virtual environment by typing:

virtualenv -p /usr/bin/python3 your_env_name
source your_env_name/bin/activate

In the active terminal type
- if you plan to use json input only
```
pip install exerpy
```
- if you plan to use tespy
```
pip install exerpy[tespy]
```

Warning: If you have an older version of virtualenv you should update pip pip install --upgrade pip.

Using Conda

Alternatively you can use conda for environment and package management. You can follow the installation instructions for Windows users.

Windows

For Windows we recommend using conda as package manager. You can download a lightweight open source variant of conda: ‘miniforge3’.

Download latest miniforge3 for Python 3.x (64 or 32 bit).
Install miniforge3
Open ‘miniforge prompt’ to manage your virtual environments. You can create a new environment and acivate it by
```
conda create -n exerpy-env python=3.12
activate exerpy-env
```
In the active prompt
- if you plan to use json input only
```
pip install exerpy
```
- if you plan to use tespy
```
pip install exerpy[tespy]
```
- if you plan to use ebsilon
```
pip install exerpy[ebsilon]
```
- if you plan to use aspen
```
pip install exerpy[aspen]
```

Developer Version

If you would like to get access to not yet released features or features under development you can install the developer version. The steps are similar to the steps here, but INSTEAD of installing ExerPy using

pip install exerpy

follow the instructions on this page.

Additional Setup for Ebsilon Users¶

To enable ExerPy to access Ebsilon Python program files, you need to set an environment variable named EBS with the path to your Ebsilon Python directory. This allows ExerPy to locate and import the necessary Ebsilon modules. This is what you need to do if you are using Windows 11:

Search and click on Edit the system environment variables.

Click on Advanced.

Click on Environment Variables.

Under User variables, click New.

Set the variable name to EBS and the variable value to the path of your Ebsilon Python files, for example: C:\Program Files\Ebsilon\EBSILONProfessional 17\Data\Python

Be sure to replace the path with the actual location of your Ebsilon Python directory. After setting the environment variable, restart your terminal or IDE to ensure the changes take effect.

Additional Setup for Aspen Plus Users¶

Aspen Plus does not calculate physical exergy by default. Instead, you must define it as a user property in each model. Therefore, select the Calculation Options tab in the Setup folder in the Simulation menu on the left. In the Calculations tab, you will see two fields titled Exergy reference environment temperature and Exergy reference environment pressure. Enter the desired values for the exergy analysis.

Then, select Property Sets from the Simulation menu on the left. In the Properties tab, click the Search button. Search for the EXERGYMS entry and add it. In the Units column next to the Physical Properties column, set J/kg as the unit.

Next, select the Report Options tab from the Setup folder in the Simulation menu on the left. Select the Stream tab on the right and click the Property Sets button. Move EXERGYMS from Available property sets to Selected property sets and confirm. Afterward, run the simulation and save it.