Organization of joint work of designers in nanoCAD BIM Heating and CADLib Model and Archive

As a rule, several designers responsible for different sections work on a project at the same time: architects, engineers from the HVAC departments, electricians, etc. This means that the question of how to organize the joint work of several users inevitably arises.

Let's consider a way to organize collaboration using programs nanoCAD BIM Heating and CADLib Model and Archive. And as an example, let's take the development of a heating system for a pumping station (Fig. 1), starting with the creation of a project and up to the formation of a 3D model of the heating system, the calculation of the resulting system and its subsequent unloading into CADLib Model and Archive to check the overall BIM model for collisions.

Fig. 1. Architecture of the pumping station building

In the program nanoCAD BIM Ventilation A ventilation system has already been formed for the pumping station (Fig. 2, 3).

Fig. 2. Pumping station building with designed ventilation system

Fig. 3. Ventilation system for the pumping station building

Therefore, to avoid collisions when designing a heating system, it is necessary to add ventilation objects. This is easily done using the IFC format (Fig. 4), which is the main universal integration mechanism.

Fig. 4. IFC format as a data integration mechanism

The designed ventilation system was downloaded to an IFC file and then imported into the project created in CADLib Model and Archive. The 3D heating model will also be downloaded to this system.

In nanoCAD BIM Heating all information (plans, 3D model, calculation results, output documentation, axonometric schemes, etc.) is saved in the local project database. Therefore, after loading the program, you need to create a project – or open it if it was created earlier.

Getting Started in nanoCAD BIM Heating

Before you begin placing the equipment elements and their subsequent piping, you must complete the following steps:

§ create a project. Let's call it “Pumping station”. It is necessary to specify the database used for the project. Different projects often use the same equipment, so for a new project you can use the database of an already created one. Let's take advantage of this opportunity and select the database of an existing project;

§ create a new layout file. Since the pumping station building is one-story, it is enough to create one *.dwg file, naming it, for example, Pumping station plan. For multi-story buildings, it is recommended to create separate files for each floor (1st floor plan, 2nd floor plan, etc.). If the object is small and there are not many floors, all plans can be placed in one file.

The created project will have the structure shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 5. Structure of the project “Pumping station”

For further work, it is necessary to either load a 2D layout of the required floor into the created file, or upload a 3D model of the architecture received from the architect. Since we are considering joint work implemented using CADLib Model and Archive, it will be necessary to connect to the CADLib Model and Archive DB and load a 3D model of the architecture.

Loading the Model Studio CS panel. Connecting to the CADLib Model and Archive DB

Adding the Model Studio CS panel to the nanoCAD BIM workspace Heating occurs by pressing a button Show CADLib Project panel in the group CADLib Project tabs Conclusion. The added Model Studio CS panel contains several tabs, but for now we only need the tab CADLib Project.

By pressing the button Open library on the Model Studio CS toolbar, connect the Pumpstation project base (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6. Connection to the CADLib project database

This DB is pre-created in CADLib Model and Archive. Also loaded into it are the model of the pumping building and the ventilation system (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7. Pumping station building with ventilation system in CADLib Model and Archive

As a result of the connection, the database structure with all publications and coordinate grids will be loaded (Fig. 8).

To display the Coordinate Grid 001, you need to go to the section Coordinate gridsthen select this grid, and then the line Show in the context menu.

The selected coordinate grid will be displayed in the model space (Fig. 9).

Fig. 9. Pumping station building grid loaded into nanoCAD BIM Heating

The architecture and ventilation system required for work are displayed in a similar manner. It is also possible to show/hide individual elements of the model. To do this, select the object in the tree that needs to be hidden and click the icon at the bottom of the window Hide object. An icon will appear near hidden objects (Fig. 10).

Fig. 10. Showing/hiding objects in the project database

The pumping station building and ventilation system will be displayed in the model space, while the roof, railings and other objects that will not be needed during construction will be hidden (Fig. 11).

Fig. 11. Result of setting up display/hide of project objects

Other 3D architectural models are connected in the same way. If the building contains several floors, you can choose which floor to show for a given plan in the CADLib project tree.

Working in nanoCAD BIM Heating

Next, you need to define the floors, create rooms (air temperature and heat loss should be set for the rooms), import equipment and piping elements into the project database (Fig. 12, 13). Since the database is defined when creating the project, the import process is not required.

Fig. 12. Properties of the created floor and one of the rooms

Fig. 13. The created premises for the pumping station building

Now you can move on to placing equipment elements, pipelines, and fittings (Fig. 14).

Fig. 14. Layout of the heating system of the pumping station building

Once the layouts are ready and have been checked for errors (this operation uses the Check Wizard), we proceed to the formation of a 3D model and calculation of the system.

After the calculations are completed, you can build a calculation model and view the calculated characteristics of the elements. Information on the system balancing is available at the system inputs. If the system is not balanced, balancing valves must be placed (Fig. 15-17).

Fig. 15. Calculation model of the heating system

Fig. 16. Circulation rings and balancing results of Input 2

Fig. 17. Circulation rings and balancing results of Input 1

All calculation information and other output documentation are saved in the project and can be downloaded into Word, Excel and CAD formats for placement on drawings (Fig. 18).

Fig. 18. Viewing output documentation using the Project Manager

Now we will use a specially developed mechanism for exporting a 3D model to CADLib Model and Archive to check the resulting BIM model for collisions (Fig. 19).

Fig. 19. Exporting a 3D model to CADLib Model and Archive

Let's open the project DB in the CADLib Model and Archive interface. Let's display the objects we want to view in the model space, and hide the unnecessary ones (for example, the roof and roof beams) – (Fig. 20).

Fig. 20. Viewing the exported 3D model in CADLib Model and Archive

Visual viewing of the consolidated 3D model (Fig. 21) can also be done using nanoCAD platforms. But, unlike nanoCAD, CADLib Model and Archive allows for automatic analysis of collisions between model objects. The standard delivery includes a number of pre-configured verification conditions (Fig. 22). In addition, the user can create their own conditions and edit existing ones.

Fig. 21. Viewing a 3D model using nanoCAD BIM Heating

Fig. 22. List of collision check conditions

After checking, icons indicating intersections appear in the model space. The inaccuracies found can be viewed and analyzed in the panel Collisions. And, if corrections are required, write a message with the task to the appropriate specialist.