AECOsim Building Designer Quick Start Guide

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AECOsim

Building

Designer

Quick Start Guide

Chapter M01

Mechanical

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www.Bentley.com/AECOsim Page 2 of 12 v2.0

Mechanical Engineers and Designers can quickly create a preliminary physical model of the building’s HVAC and plumbing systems using many of the HVAC and Plumbing placement tools found on the HVAC and Plumbing Design task menu. The physical model is important not only for coordination with the other discipline models, but it will also be used for the creation of the Mechanical HVAC and Piping/Plumbing drawings, along with any necessary schedules and reports.

This chapter will give an overview of basic Mechanical Building Designer concepts that need to be understood to effectively create and modify designs.

MECHANICAL BUILIDNG DESIGNER FEATURES

Mechanical Building Designer supports a 3D workflow, with 2D output. Intelligent components allow design engineers to work in the 3D model, while changes are automatically updated and synchronized with the 2D drawings. Automatic drawing generation uses industry-standard representations of mechanical system components. Automated connections, routing and sizing tools, and system component editing all designed to increase efficiency and workflow.

Mechanical Building Designer is also integrated with all the AECOsim Building Designer

solutions to ensure that designs and documentation are coordinated throughout the design and construction phases. Design project models provide extensive continued use during life cycle operations and future projects. Compatible Building Designer tools such as Clash Detection, provide integrated collaboration and analysis to facilitate coordination of designs with all disciplines in the project team.

Significant Mechanical Building Designer features include:

Supports both HVAC and Plumbing disciplines - Placement, modification, and

manipulation tools are available to each discipline.

Drawing resymbolization control - Automated drawing representations for mechanical

components are customizable. Standard single line and double line presentations can be used or they can be edited to meet company and project requirements.

Dynamic routing connections place transitions, fittings, and combinations of

fittings as route sizes change - Placement commands automatically place fittings, such as

elbows and transitions, and symbols in logical locations without leaving the command.

Automatic labeling and label updating - Various components are labeled with one

command. Labels are associative and update automatically when changes to components are made.

Automatic device hookup - Devices and route elements are hooked up by selecting them.

Additional settings contain options for connecting devices to existing route elements. If requirements exceed settings, then hookups are finished automatically.

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AccuDraw key-in short cuts specific to the Mechanical Building Designer

application - AccuDraw key-ins assist placement by re-orientating components dynamically

during placement or modification operations.

Context sensitive option menus assist with DataGroup property entries - A right

click on key components launches option menus and dialog boxes used to apply entries to tentatively placed or modified Mechanical Building Designer elements.

Integrated schedules and reporting - Building information can be entered at any point

during the decision making and modeling process. This information is managed and used by the DataGroup System to quickly generate accurate, user produced, schedules and reports.

Automatic manufacturer catalog selection - Automatic component selection from widely

recognized manufacturer catalogs simplifies the routing process. Manufacturer catalogs can be queried during both the placement or modification operations.

System analysis tools - Analyze individual routes or runs as well as entire systems.

Functionality includes automatic detection of disconnected components, global assignment and calculation of flow rates and velocities based on designed values, system optimization and automatic generation of system ID's and insulation.

GBXML Export - The energy analysis model and GBXML export tool employ the Energy

Analysis Module (EAM). EAM is a web based application that enables design and modeling applications supporting the GBXML (Green Building XML) schema the ability to use common building energy analysis applications.

PARTS/FAMILIES AND DATAGROUP DATA

Mechanical Building Designer components are intelligent 3D models of ducts, pipes, diffusers, fans, fittings, valves, pumps, and in line devices. Mechanical Building Designer is delivered with predefined parts and part families; however, new parts and part families can be defined to suit any specific project type. Part/Families data includes the default symbology definitions for these components used for both design and drawing environments.

The DataGroup System is a data schema utility common to all Building Designer applications. Design teams from every discipline need a system that enables them to assign important model data to model objects to distinguish their use. Many mechanical teams place duct and fittings that have different usage requirements depending on environmental conditions and other engineering variables. Assigned catalog item data must place with each item instance and the system must also track and manage the data for schedules and reporting.

Furthermore, design teams need to be able to set catalog items and instance data for a host of placement tools so that workflow can begin and continue without interruption.

SNAPS, ACCUSNAPS, AND ACCUDRAW

Snaps and Tentative Snaps are covered in the AECOsimBD-000-Introduction to AECOsim

Building Designer Core Functionality, but the mechanical tools also make use of

discipline specific connection points, to facilitate correctly connecting (or snapping) one

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Discipline Specific Connection Points – The need to distinguish between HVAC and plumbing disciplines arises when elements from both disciplines are present in a model. Connect points provide the necessary intelligence to the graphical elements that represent duct, pipe, fittings, diffusers or pumps. They are required for all operations related to

placement, manipulation and modification. An HVAC duct must not be allowed to connect to a plumbing fixture, and a pipe must not connect with a centrifugal fan. Mechanical Building Designer provides discipline specific connection points to prevent incorrect connections between opposing disciplines.

AccuDraw and AccuDraw Shortcut Key-ins are covered in AECOsimBD-000-Introduction to

AECOsim Building Designer Core Functionality. The following AccuDraw shortcuts are

specifically used in conjunction with the Mechanical Building Designer placement and modification commands.

AccuDraw

Shortcut Key-in Effect/Description

Key-ins available within the Place Component and Modify Component tools:

<H>,<C> Opens the Manufacturer Catalog dialog box when catalog links are available.

<R>,<R> Reorients the Mechanical Building Designer component by toggling through the connect point ID's.

<R>,<W> Rotates the Mechanical Building Designer component 90° to the left about the AccuDraw X axis.

<R>,<T> Rotates the Mechanical Building Designer component 90° to the right about the AccuDraw X axis.

<R>,<I>

Sets the Mechanical Building Designer component into inline dynamic placement mode after an end connection is established. Once placed, the parent duct/pipe is broken to accommodate the inline component. <R>,<O> During component placement, sets the AccuDraw compass to the

connected end of a component if dynamically connected. <R>,<P>

During component placement, sets the AccuDraw compass to the connected end of a component if dynamically connected. If the

connected end shape is "Round", the AccuDraw compass is adjusted to match the component's placed orientation.

<R>,<F> Swaps the dimensional sizes for all ends of the Mechanical Building Designer component.

<R>,<D> Swaps the dimensional sizes for the placement end of the Mechanical Building Designer component.

Key-ins available within the Modify Component tools:

<R>,<S> Resizes connected components to reflect size changes during a Mechanical Building Designer component modification.

<R>,<x>

Advances the focus to the next connection on a component or to the next component for modification. The key-in can advance to as many as twenty connections.

A duct can have as many as 18 taps plus the two ends totaling a maximum of twenty.

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Icon Locks (Ctrl+Shift+I)

Icon Locks determine whether data points and snap points will be projected onto the ACS plane (locked mode) or remain at the true placement elevation (unlocked mode). Whenever a placement tool is chosen in Mechanical Building Designer the locks will automatically be

unlocked, since placement is typically relative to other components and not an ACS plane.

For more information on ACS planes and the Floor Manager see AECOsimBD – A02 –

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THE INTERFACE

The Building Designer tasks dialog box, by default, docked on the left side of the Building Designer application window, provides all the Mechanical Building Designer tasks and tools in task toolboxes which organizes them into logical groups based on their specific type of use. For instance, the

HVAC Oval Ducts task contains all the Mechanical

Building Designer component placement and component modification tools for placing oval ductwork. The HVAC

Equipment task contains all the tools necessary for

placing mechanical equipment in the model.

Similarly, Mechanical Building Designer’s drawing and reporting features are provided in several other tasks; the

Data task, the Drawing Composition task and the

Annotation task.

Mechanical Building Designer provides Mechanical placement tools that simplify connect point sensitivity, selection of components, and provide increased component availability for more realistic system models.

Mechanical components obtain and maintain their intelligence through to their categorization in the

Part/Family system. And within that categorization is

further definition, including size, material, orientation, drafting attributes, labeling, and even specific customizable notes such as manufacturer’s name. The DataGroup

System extends the intelligence of Mechanical members by

managing the Part/Family data and additional

Datagroup data used in processes throughout Mechanical

Building Designer’s features.

Enhanced placement functionality takes advantage of

manufacturer catalogs. When available, manufacturer

catalog entries are scanned for the nearest match to user inputted data. DataGroup property values for key

dimensional parameters such as diameter, radius and angle are examples of the scanned properties. Data is

automatically applied from the manufacturer catalog to the DataGroup Instance Data dialog box during placement.

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PLACE EQUIPMENT

The Place Rectangular AHU tool, found on the HVAC Equipment task bar, is used to place an AHU in the model. AHUs are available in two categories based on their shape type; rectangular or round. Multi-end AHUs are also available up to 5 ends.

The Place Component dialog along with the

DataGroup Instance Data dialog opens.

The AHU end conditions are modified in the End

Spec schema properties. Set the Width and

Depth of Duct Connections.

Set the overall length of the AHU with the Total

Length property.

CellSymbol – Sets model cell from cell library to

the AHU by fitting cell proportionally to extents of device.

EndType – The end conditions of ducts are set to

flange, male or female connections with full dimensional control by setting the EndType

property. Also, the two ends are independent, and may have different connections. For example, the value fl-2; fe-.13 creates a flange at End1 with size 2, and a female connection at End2 with a clearance of .13.

Enter a data point to place the member in the model.

Besides these default devices, Mechanical Building Designer allows designers to assemble a unit by selecting components of the AHU like duct, filters, fans, dampers and air modifiers.

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PLACE DUCTWORK

The Place Rectangular Duct tool, found on the HVAC Rectangular Ducts task bar, is used to place rectangular ductwork in the model. Duct is a component type with unique properties and behaviors. Placing duct employs automatic

fitting placement logic that senses the

dimensional properties of the duct and orientation in 3D space of the AccuDraw Compass to correctly select combinations of elbows, transitions,

takeoffs and coupling components to maintain connectivity throughout the route.

The Place Component dialog along with the

DataGroup Instance Data dialog opens.

In the Place Component tool, set the justification to the center-center position. Set the active Family and Part in this example to,

Duct/Supply-New.

Turn on the Orientation, Size and Shape in the

Place Component tool settings. The duct

appears attached to the pointer.

Position the duct near the connection point of another piece of ductwork or an AHU. The match property settings checked in the previous step take effect, defining the size, shape and

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PLACE DIFFUSER

The Place Top Square Ceiling Diffuser

tool, found on the HVAC Grilles & Diffusers task bar, is used to place grilles and diffusers in the model.

Once selected, the Place Component dialog along with the DataGroup Instance Data

dialog opens.

If placing the diffuser in a ceiling grid, set the justification to the top-left position in the Place

Component dialog.

Set the active Family and Part, for instance,

Diffuser/Supply-New.

Set the parameters for the diffuser under the

CustomParamDiffuser tab. Alternatively,

select a catalog name in the Catalog Name field under the Properties tab. Once the catalog is defined, right click in any of the

CustomParamDiffuser fields and select

Manufacturer Catalog.

In the Manufacturer’s Catalog dialog, set any required parameters like the diameter of the connection (D1) to filter the catalog down to available items that fit the criteria. Select the item

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to place and select Apply. Place in model with a data point.

DEVICE HOOKUP

The Device HookUp tool, found on the HVAC Rectangular Ducts task bar, is used to create ductwork from a diffuser to other ductwork.

Once selected, the Device

HookUp dialog opens.

Set the Type of ductwork to Rigid

or Flexible. If Flexible ductwork

is selected, set the flex length to the maximum length of flexible duct allowed.

Select the diffuser and then select the ductwork it is to be connected to. A path will appear on the pointer. Adjust the path by moving the cursor, then use a datapoint to accept the path at the desired location.

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www.Bentley.com/AECOsim Page 12 of 12 v2.0 MOVIE: Mechanical

This movie shows: 1. Placing Ductwork 2. Placing Diffusers