Once the Building Energy results have been completed, the heating and chilled water pipework design can be completed, to scale, on a floorplan with all routings design, pump duty and resistance calculations as well as Bills of Quantities, all defined in one easy operation. Unlike some less sophisticated packages that treat floor plans separately, you can route services seamlessly between floors as in reality, as opposed to creating nodal junctions and linking these up separately. This method of working allows far more accuracy when designing systems where head losses and pressure drops for pump neutral point locations are critical.
Using an extensive pipe database that can be fully edited by the engineer, pipe selection rules can be applied to each separate entry point to each separate system. This enables a mixture of piped systems where characteristics such as pressure drops, flow and return temperatures and different classes of pipework can be used on the same project without resorting to changing general details. Each system has its own “entry point” where data associated with that particular system is defined.
Pipe selection rules in database
Pipe schedule
From an extensive range of manufacturers heat emitters, radiators and other heat emitters can be placed in the room space (based on heat gains and loss information dynamically transferred across to the program) and sized. Connection details, mounting heights etc can be ascertained before placing the heat emitters. The ability to re-set and size heat emitters with pipe connections maintained is useful for architectural changes such as changes to window sill heights.
The pipework can then be very simply routed from the load back to the supply point in the plant room, with other parts of the system built up to complete the whole network of pipework routes. As the engineer is using the DXF back drop, all pipe lengths in any plane are to scale, however, each individual run of pipe between nodes can have its attributes edited to enable existing systems to be modelled. Additional resistances, bends and lengths can be input by quickly selecting a pipe.
Editing individual pipe
Once complete, the Index run, Pump duty, schedules and Bills of quantities can be ascertained with exportation to leading estimating packages either directly or by CSV format.
2D or 3D DXF files of the services layouts can be exported back into CAD to either overlay on existing 2D layouts or as a wireframe 3D in 3d layouts. These routings can form the basis for third party packages such as Autodesk’s MEP or Revit MEP to create full 3D clash detection and presentation as well as installation drawings or basic 3D wireframe conceptual layouts.
The Public Health program comprising Hot and Cold Water systems and Gas is used in the same way and achieves the same end as the Pipework program with the same user interface and menu structure for ease of use. All items placed can have customised flow rates and loading or demand units to BS6700 and CIBSE respectively. Fittings, vales etc can be placed on the pipework layouts.
Click here to download information about Cymap Mechanical - Pipework Programs.