Armacell Insulation Taking Advantage of Revit MEP 2012 Enhanced Insulation Objects

Designers and engineers who use Revit 2012 MEP building design software can add mechanical insulation to their designs with this Module.

Armacell's most popular insulating products are incorporated into the BIM Module:

• AP Armaflex closed cell elastomeric foam insulation for piping components and ducts
• AP Coilflex highly conformable, pliable elastomeric thermal ductliner
• Tubolit flexible, closed-cell polyolefin/polyethylene pipe insulation for cost-efficient thermal insulation of domestic heating and plumbing lines
• ArmaTuff thermal mechanical insulation with UV protection for outdoor applications
• NH/Armaflex halogen free, flexible elastomeric insulation material for marine and offshore environments.
• UT Solaflex EPDM thermal insulation for high temperature, UV-resistant and oil-resistant applications

Link to the directions on how to load and use the module is here. 

Pressure Drop Calculation

I got an call from a client last week asking about some of the calculations that Revit MEP does.

I am trying to get results for Duct Pressure drop in Revit MEP.



Can you please share your ideas, as how can I achieve this?

This post has some additional information but is based on the Revit MEP calculation white paper from Autodesk.  Revit MEP Duct Sizing calculations

Revit MEP computes pressure losses in ductwork based on the geometry and roughness of the ductwork, air

density, and air viscosity. Values for Air Density and Air Viscosity are specified in the Mechanical Settings.

Roughness is specified in the type properties for duct/duct fitting component families.
 
 

The following example shows how Revit MEP calculates the pressure drop for a 100 foot segment of 36"x24" duct carrying air flow of 12,000 CFM.  Pressure drop is defined as:

This values checks with the Hydraulic Diameter parameter shown in the Properties of the Duct in Revit:

The velocity is based on the cross sectional area:

After determining the friction factor, the pressure drop can be calculated:

The value for the calculated pressure drop matches the value found in the duct’s properties in Revit MEP.

Family Jewels Blog - Creating Quality BIM Content for Revit MEP

A new Autodesk Website dedicated to BIM Content.  Familiy Jewels - Creating Quality BIM Content

I've talked to a lot of users who have dabbled in Revit MEP, and have quit saying they will try again when Revit gets more family content.  I don't remember AutoCAD coming with blocks back in the day.  We ended up creating all of our AutoCAD blocks to match our company standard.  It was a 25 year process.  Every company seems to have their own standard which varies from the National CAD Standard, or even the National BIM Standard.  If people end up waiting for someone to create all the content needed for for Revit MEP, you'll be waiting forever and never use the program.  The idea of waiting for someone else to make my content didn’t seem to be a proactive approach.  It's going to be another 25 year process of creating BIM content.  A job that will never be complete.  So getting started as soon as possible seems to be the best approach before falling behind.

People who have been using Revit Architecture or Revit MEP for a long period of time have either modeled from scratch or heavily customized nearly every family that is used in their projects. This means every piece of mechanical equipment, valve, air terminal, electrical device, lighting fixture, plumbing fixture, annotative tag, schedule, parameter and view reference.  These users have done this not because they want to work with Revit, but because they want Revit to work for them.  So how do you get Revit MEP work for you? One way is to seach for content directly from the manufacturer like Greenheck Fan, or by using Autodesk's Seek website.  But the other way is by creating your own families. The families you create can be as simple as a box, yet still provide information about a mechanical system and help with coordination of your BIM model.

This blog will feature some tips and tricks of creating quality content, some free content, some links to manufacturer Revit content, and all sorts of information related directly to BIM content.

Bell & Gossett products now available in Revit format

ITT Bell &Gossett (http://www.bellgossett.com/) announces a new extensive online library of 3D Building Information Modeling (BIM) content files in Autodesk(R) Revit(R) 2010. A total of 113 Revit families and 5,252 types have been created for the following HVAC product lines: Pumps: VSX, Series 1510, 1531, 80, 80-SC, 60, and 90 Pump Accessories: Suction Diffusers & Triple Duty Valves Engineered Specialties: Rolairtrols and B&D Expansion Tanks U-Tube Heat Exchangers Bell & Gossett contracted with CADworks(R), one of two certified Autodesk Content Network providers in the world, to transform its HVAC product drawing files into Revit families, which are parametric components that serve as the basis for all designs. Users can select the files directly in Autodesk Revit with a one time download of the Bell & Gossett Content Module at http://www.cadworks.net/bellgossett and picking the appropriate models from the Content Library.

Benefits of the Bell &Gossett (www.bellgossett.com) Revit content include: Easy access to integrated content in Autodesk Revit, eliminating the need to search and download files from external websites Fully certified content created by CADworks and approved by Bell & Gossett Bell & Gossett content is created in the latest Revit version (2010), and will be automatically upgraded to future generations, requiring no user patch downloads Changes to designs are automatically updated across the entire project and are easy to track; there is no need to re-enter information Multiple simultaneous design alternatives are allowed within projects Flexibility and control over visualization of projects"This new Building Information Modeling drawing library will be very beneficial for mechanical system designers at architects, engineers, contractors, fabricators, building owners," said Mark Handzel, Director of Building Services, Americas at ITT Residential & Commercial Water. "The on-line design will eliminate the need for downloading extensive libraries of drawings and assure that all drawings are 100% accurate."

Revit Content Setup and Use Video

Ruskin HVAC Revit Families Available

Ruskin is pleased to announce the availability of Revit® 3-D files of select products.

A list of models containing Ruskin Revit families are available here! or by visiting the Autodesk Seek website

Revit file solutions providing information for…

•Interdisciplinary Data Sharing
•Project Scope Communication
•Schedule Creation
•Rapid Attribute Modification
•Energy Analysis

Download Various application Files

•Ruskin Dampers
◦Life Safety
◦Air Control
◦Industrial/Process
•Ruskin Louvers
◦Drainable
◦Wind-Driven Rain
◦Hurricane
◦Sun Shades
•Ruskin ERV Units

You may download their full Revit Catalog at the link here. In order to stay up-to-date with any changes and additions to the catalog, they encourage you to sign up for our e-Specifer newsletter by providing your email address

Loren Cook families for Autodesk Revit MEP

Autodesk Revit families are available for every model and configuration of Loren Cook product. Each 3D parametric family is a full-scale representation of the product and contains all sizes available for that model. Each family includes information on duct connection size, electrical connection location, mounting holes (where applicable) as well as user defined attributes for airflow, static pressure, RPM, horsepower, voltage, phase, etc.

The files designed by Loren Cook are for use in Autodesk Revit MEP 2009 or later. The files are free to download and are intended to be inserted using the standard Mechanical Equipment placement commands. Each family will need to be loaded into the user's project proir to use.

Click here to access their library of Revit files.

Taco Revit Familiers

Download them Here

These Revit families are 2009 version.

The families are not the smallest files. They are a bit large. (900k typically). But if you don't have a lot of them, you could make due.

The Taco families are parametric, and there are hundreds of files, one for each pump and they contain all of the data associated with the pump.

There is a Type Catalog TXT file for each Taco family. Make sure that file is in the same location as the family itself.

You can download an entire pump family as a zip file, but then each pump is in another zip file, so you need to unzip each pump, and like I said, there are hundreds of them. Otherwise you can download them on the fly as you need them from Autodesk's Seek site.