Configuring Supply Air systems in Revit MEP 2008

[jwongmep]

I'm confused with how to organize the logical Supply Air systems in RME. I have a very basic office building configuration with one Air Handling Unit on the roof, which distributes air to VAV boxes, which in turn distributes the air to diffusers. Everything looks ok on the floor plan but when I open up the System Browser, all I see is a mish-mash of different configurations which is not what I intended my system to look like (refer to my attached image.)

I have all my VAV boxes defined under my Mech Supply Air 9, which is a subsystem of the AHU. I then have *another* copy of all the VAV units without an AHU attached to them, but with the diffusers attached.

I'm trying to reconfigure the systems into one logical tree instead of two separate configurations. So my question is this: in RME, does a "Mechanical Supply Air" system imply everything downstream of one AHU unit (ie. if you have 10 AHUs then you have 10 Mechanical Supply Air systems)? If this is true then I'll have to assign EVERYTHING under Mech Supply 9, even the diffusers, so I will get a huge list of VAV boxes and diffusers all bunched up together in the system browser.

Is this the way to do it? Or can you suggest a better way..

Thanks,

-John

[jason.martin]

Hi John-

It looks like you've done it correctly. The System Browser shows the "Base Element " of every system at the same level. This was done so that you don't have to "drill" multiple levels into the System Browser to find something easily.

jason

[jwongmep]

Thanks. So I guess there's no way to have the diffusers, VAVs, Mech Supply Air Systems, and AHU all in the same tree?

[Bvogt]

John,

I am a newbie with Revit but I do think you should be able to see everything under one tree. You create the supply air system by selecting the air terminals then select the VAV terminal unit. You can name the supplay air systems to match the VAV unit or zone or whatever. When you connect the VAV terminals to a supply main they should begin to group under the supply air system.

Attached is sreenshot of a system browser on a job I am working on. I have not assigned the AHU yet but all the VAV's are connected to the AHU by a supply main.

The diffusers appear below the assigned VAV unit.

I am still figuring this beast out but i'm starting to like it.

I hope this helps.

Bob

[kyle.bernhardt]

Thanks. So I guess there's no way to have the diffusers, VAVs, Mech Supply Air Systems, and AHU all in the same tree?

Not currently, we have not yet instantiated a hierarchy between systems, so there technically isn't a relationship between the AHU -> VAV and the VAV -> Diffuser Systems, although flow can obviously propagate between then if configured properly.

I would recommend that you name your systems according to the Mark on the System Equipment (VAV-1, AHU-1, etc). That makes it easy to identify each of them.

FYI, Jason's our lead Product Designer, I like to call him Obi-Wan-Jason. So knowledgeable he is.

Cheers,
Kyle B