Program History
The Akton Psychrometric Chart has a history of development spanning over 20 years.

VERSION 6.0

This release represents a complete rework of all the components and the program.

New Process Analysis capabilities include auto flow chart diagram, individual process line color control, individual point color, shape and size control, winter "V" air mixing capability with condensation, fog region property display, constant h, wb, hr, db, v, dp, vp line control, sensible heat ratio line plotting, humidification delta-enthalpy / delta-humidity ratio line plotting, partial mixing of airstreams allowing for component mixed air bypass and cooling coil leaving air calculator / auto-plotting.

New Engineering Tools included in Version 6 are complete thermal comfort calculator, weather data plotting with complete global weather files, weather bin shade plotting with complete control, global weather data table access, weather term glossary, wind chill factor calculator, stand alone psychrometric calculator, stand alone world-wide ASHRAE climatic data access and printing capability, air collection calculator with auto-plotting, IP<=>SI unit of measure converter, outside air estimator from ASHRAE Std 62-2004, motor heat calculator and steam property calculator.
New Presentation Controls include humidity ratio unit of measure control, cooling coil performance line control, page color control, chart area color control, ASHRAE Class 1 through 4 datacenter zones (allowed & recommended), NEBS datacenter zones (allowed & recommended), black & white or color display & print control, heading on/off control, chart outline on/off control, zoom window and pan control, state point icon and size control, color and label control, ASHRAE comfort zone area plotting, add/edit/delete note control with drag-drop positioning, project information control displayed on chart and report and user information save/display on charts & reports control.

New Toolbox Programs include ability to add user defined "ToolBox" programs under menu item tools, single & double interpolation calculator, fan law calculator, duct sizing calculator and financial loan calculator.

New Additional Capabilities include easy auto-create / export PDF files of charts and reports, high pressure capability up to 100 psi, auto-altitude change with climatic location selection and fog region thermo-physical property display.

New Chart and Report Languages include Afrikaans, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish.

New Data Exchange capabilities including real-time data monitoring capability, process control added to data import function, SI units added to data import function, complete weather data export to Excel or text file, SI units added to text file & Excel data exchange, export-as Excel *.csv file, export-as notepad *.txt file, ability to copy chart to clipboard and ability to copy report to clipboard.

VERSION 4.1

In Version 4.1 we have moved to an internet distribution model and changed our licensing scheme which allows for instant download of the software from our Web Site in its demo mode.  We have improved connectivity through the addition of an ActiveX control Add-on.

VERSION 4.0

This is the first true 32 bit windows version.  Version 3 was ported to the win32 environment, and as such was freed from many of the memory restrictions that were inherent in 16 bit Windows.  User defined properties were added, the 31 point limit was eliminated, the modeling engine was enhanced to provide for splitting and re-mixing of streams.  Support was added for DDE poke.  In general, version 4 is a far more powerful modeling tool.

VERSION 3.0

This represents an almost complete rework of all the components.   The primary thrust was to redesign the calculation engine to support a greater list of properties, that could easily be added to in the future, and provide for more sophisticated modeling capabilities.  The larger and perhaps even variable property list required a complete re-write of the interface module as well.  In response to user requests, we elaborated upon the graphical plotting capabilities.  Version 3 drew both a more realistic and efficient chart.  The menu was re-mapped to be more congruent with other windows applications and the contents of the process menu was placed in the user's domain.  Many other features were added or improved upon as well.

VERSION 2.0

This was designed to address the majority of complaints and suggestions that arose from version 1.  The calculations portion remained mostly unchanged.  Our effort was focused on improving the program interface to aid in solving more complicated real world problems.  We implemented some modeling capabilities but were limited by the initial design of the calculation engine.  We implemented file storage and recall, and a simple ODBC database connection.  We also added to the property list.

VERSION 1.0

This was a very simple program with the primary capabilities being the calculation of psychrometric properties over a wide range of conditions.   It did not even provide for the storage or recall of chart files.  It did however support the windows clipboard very much as it does now, though the image was much more primitive.  The publication and distribution of version 1 to others can be largely regarded as a learning experience.

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