Autodesk Revit MEP

[#1]

Ok so the new air flow breakdown of a single duct is a nice update when when checking my Flow and velocities. But besides having to place a damper and measure its flow at a point, how am I suppose to tag a duct now indicating its flow without getting "Multiple Valuel/s"?

Ryan 

South Africa

MEP 2013

[#2]

Hello Ryan-

Do you use flow tags on ducts for internal use only, or are you required to show the flow on the ducts for construction document deliverables?

[#3]

Hey Martin 

Generally no, I dont directly tag the duct for the flow and use a damper instead. However we are working on a rather large complicated jigsaw of a project shaired with other consultants and their requirement is for the properties to be shown on the risers such as flow, size & system name which I would do with a single tag.

The annoying part is it worked perfectly fine in 2012. Yes I can do a work around and create a flow meter for those points but now its a lot of work that has to be done again. And ufortuantely we dont work on the same standard of using "Tees" but rather "Take offs". 

[#4]

Martin,

The data for the maximum flow for a section of duct is obviously there as it is reported in the pressure loss reports. Although we do not specificially tag the flow on a view we do use it for conditional formatting in schedules which no longer works. Can we access this value from with revit without writing code?

Regards,

Al

[#5]

Yes, the flow data exists, and is computed/updated with every change to the system.  The data is stored on Connectors.  The pressure loss reports extract the data from Connectors, and generates the output.  Connectors are not schedulable using 'normal' Revit schedules since they are not 'normal' Revit elements... futher, their data is not accessible from Duct schedules or tags.  The only way that you could populate a 'maximum flow' parameter on a duct element would be to use code (via the API) to dynamically (or manually) update such a parameter by extracting the values from each connector, and finding the largest.

[#6]

Martin,

Although the ability to view the flow at any point along a duct/pipe is a step forward, the inability to view this simply in the properties is a backward move IMO.

Suggestion for future release would be to make this propogate and viewable and schedualable (sic) at the duct level.

regards,

Al

[#7]

Hi Al- how did you use the Flow value for conditional scheduling? What were you looking for by way of the schedule?

[#8]

Martin,

See the attached screen shot, basic conditional format in that if the velocity is "4.0 m/s > Velocity or Velocity > 7.5 m/s" cells turn red. In the project this can be used for verification that velocities are within standard design parameters from one schedule rather than multiple colourised floor plans. Data was also able to be exported to excel for other calculations as necessary.

This won't work in ducts that have "Multiple Value" for Velocity (same for Friction and Flow).

Regards,

Al

[#9]

Hi Al-- that is a very helpful example.  Thanks for taking the time to reply.  You can find this info in the Pressure Loss Report (PLR)... but I understand that the conditional highlighting is additionally beneficial, which isn't provided in a PLR.

[#10]

No worries Martin. At least one Mechancial Contractor that I know off is not upgrading to 2013 as they use the schedules for a simillar task. So I'm not the lone voice in this space.

Regard,

Al