topic Re: Making PLC Sheets in Revit MEP Forum

Making PLC Sheets

nathan_killiankeup — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 18:45:10 GMT

I know I could make PLCs in AutoCAD or AutoCAD Electrical, but I'm curious if any of you have a good workflow for making them in Revit. I suppose you could make a bunch of families with the correct symbology and use a drafting view. But is there a better way? Is there something I'm missing?

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I greatly appreciate anything you can add to the conversation.

Re: Making PLC Sheets

RobDraw — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 19:03:37 GMT

What's a PLC sheet?

Re: Making PLC Sheets

nathan_killiankeup — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 19:07:16 GMT

Sorry about that I should've specified, I mean a panel layout diagram.

(I can't remember off the top of my head what PLC is the abbreviation for... but I know it's in there somewhere...)

Re: Making PLC Sheets

nathan_killiankeup — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 19:11:33 GMT

Here's an example of what I'm looking for. (First photo is an overall, second photo follows the first and shows more detail)

Re: Making PLC Sheets

HVAC-Novice — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 20:22:01 GMT

That looks like something the panel manufacturer would lay out in their software... Have them do that and insert as PDF or jpg.

Normally the regular panel schedule would tell the contractor what they need.

Maybe some company made a plugin to do that.

If you want to re-create this, 2D view is the way. but this is a manual process and independent of the actual electrical system in Revit or the panel schedules.

Re: Making PLC Sheets

RobDraw — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 20:25:22 GMT

I've not done these kind of drawings and it's been a while since the last time I've done any electrical. I suppose you could go through the process of setting up a library of detail items and have some fun with Revit's drafting tools but I'd look for a 3rd party solution or do it in .dwgs and link them in. The advantage of 3rd party solutions is they may have some intelligence to link with the model.

There are a couple of electrical guys active here, they will probably have better advice for you.

Re: Making PLC Sheets

RLY_15 — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 22:26:58 GMT

My first suggestion would be to scour the typical vendors for a robust add-in and pay for the service.

My reluctant suggestion is to look into something like this (see the Fire Alarm Schematic portion of the presentation)

https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/class/Creating-Automated-Documentation-Dynamo-2018

This is functionally @RobDraw 's suggestion about detail items but with a self-created script to pull the information together into a finished detail. I've had limited success with this approach to generate mechanical equipment flat riser diagrams, but it will be time consuming as you're going to need to be responsible for both the detail family creation, parametrization, and associated script.

AutoCAD Plant 3D (P&ID generator) has some Revit integration but I'm not familiar enough to know if its workflows are compatible with this sort of stuff.