Select Hydraunic Supply/Return or Specific Type. Direction: Correctly set to In or Out.
Shell & Tube. Heat exchangers with shell diameters of 10 inches to more than 100 are typically manufactured to industry standards. www.shell-tube.com
Clearance_Zone (Length - used to model the space required to pull the tube bundle for maintenance). Mechanical and Thermal Parameters Design_Pressure (Pressure) Design_Temperature (Temperature)
When creating your family, consider the level of detail (LOD) needed for your project phase. In early design stages, a simple extrusion representing the shell may be sufficient. As the project moves into detailed design and construction, you may need more precise nozzle placements, bracket details, and insulation thicknesses. A smart practice is to create multiple visibility settings within the same family: a simplified Coarse view representation and a more detailed Fine view representation. This allows users to switch between detail levels as needed without managing separate families. shell and tube heat exchanger revit family work
Starting with the correct template ensures your equipment behaves predictably within the broader building information model (BIM).
: Create the mounting feet or saddles using a solid Extrusion . Lock the boundaries of these extrusions to the support reference planes so they adjust automatically when the shell length changes. Nozzles and Flanges
Creating a high-quality Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger Revit family requires a balance between geometric detail and functional data to ensure the model is useful for both coordination and engineering analysis. 1. Family Type and Template Select Hydraunic Supply/Return or Specific Type
Use visibility settings to turn off complex parts in Fine view if they are not needed in Medium/Coarse views. 6. Conclusion
: Many Revit families do not include a "clearance zone" as a visible sub-category. You may need to manually add a transparent box to represent the space needed to pull the tube bundle for cleaning. BIMsmith Market Top Recommended Sources Heat Exchangers Revit Families - BIMsmith Market
For more advanced parametric control, you can add formulas to create relationships between different parameters. For example, you might want the tube bundle length to automatically be a certain value based on the overall shell length, or the number of tubes to be calculated from the shell diameter. Navigate to and define these relationships using formulas. A formula can reference other parameters, allowing for nested relationships that drive intelligent geometry. For example, a formula could ensure that "Shell Thickness" always equals "Tube Bundle Diameter" divided by a fixed factor. Heat exchangers with shell diameters of 10 inches
For full MEP functionality, your heat exchanger family should include MEP connectors. These connectors allow the heat exchanger to be connected to piping systems, enabling Revit to calculate flow rates, perform pressure drop analyses, and support energy simulations. Connectors can be placed on nozzles and assigned specific system types, such as Hydronic Supply, Hydronic Return, or Process Fluid. When adding connectors, it is best practice to avoid assigning any flow or thermal boundary conditions to the heat exchanger part itself; instead, let the connected system elements manage these properties.
for the cylindrical body. Ensure you lock the ends of the extrusion to your length reference planes so the shell stretches when you change the parameter. Headers and Ends