Creating Pipe Accessory that Inherits Pipe Properties so that they can be Associated with Shared Parameters

[mbender58HX2]

I want to make a pipe accessory that can inherit properties of the pipe it is connected to such as flow and pressure. For example, if I connected this accessory to a pipe that has a flow value of 10 GPM, I want that value to automatically appear in the accessory's parameters. The accessory I have been messing around with is able to inherit the pipe's system classification which is what I want for other properties but I can't figure out how to accomplish that.

Big picture is, I want to be able to associate these parameters with shared parameters on the pipe accessory so they can be automatically added to a schedule.

I am fairly new to Revit so if this is not making any sense, I apologize. And if you see a better solution that doesn't involve pipe accessories or anything, please share. Any help would be appreciated.

[iainsavage · Accepted solution]

You should be able to add a shared parameter of flow type

and then associate it to the Flow parameter of the connectors, set to Calculated.

It should then automatically pick up the flow from the connected pipes.

[mbender58HX2]

Yes, thank you. This works perfectly. The only problem is this only works for the flow. I would like to be able to use other parameters as well such as pressure, but unfortunately there's no "flow configuration" or equivalent for other parameters. 

Either way, this certainly helps. I appreciate your assistance. 

[iainsavage]

The pressure parameter would be used to allocate the pressure loss caused by the accessory itself, not to read pressure from the pipe.

You associate a pressure loss method with the connector(s) and this is pushed out into the pipe system and will appear as a loss in the accessory in the pipe pressure loss report.

Normally I would only assign this loss factor to one connector because if you assign it to both of them then the values would add together and result in double the loss.

Using the K-coefficient will adjust the pressure drop in the component with variable flow rates.

Specific Loss could be a fixed value or you could create your own formula and assign the value to a pressure parameter.

Note: that K-Coefficient is NOT the same as Kv or Cv so if the manufacturer gives you those values you will need a formula to convert to either K-Coefficient (see the linked page) or a Specific Loss. Kv is defined as the flow in m3/h which creates 1 bar loss across the component and for any other condition pressure varies with the square of flow rate, so specific loss in bar = (actual flow (in m3/h)/Kv)^2. You can then change to other units if you wish.