CAD Coordination

Comprehensive Planning

Computer Aided Drafting

Coordination between ductwork and piping alone can be a very involved and complicated process for planning a project. Mechanical piping requires specific sloping, diameters, and routes to properly function. This does not couple well with the spatially greedy nature of ductwork. And these are just two of the many trades involved in nearly every construction project.

In the past, this was handled from the field as a foreman would walk the job with a measuring tape and a notebook.  Dimensions would be jotted down, a new system configuration would be formulated and approved, and the shop sheets would be sent to the fabrication process.  However, as the construction industry grows more and more impatient thanks to technological advances and heightened customer expectations, this has become a cumbersome process depleting from the need for a foreman that can manage his workforce and on-the-fly job changes.

Thanks to an integration with an between HPE’s sheet metal and piping CAD departments, the company has the capacity to not only visualize the entire system throughout the job, but also coordinate it in house with most of the departments and establish priorities.  Visualizing becomes a virtual experience in NavisWorks where the CAD operator can walk the job in a digital model before the project has really started.  Collisions can not only be discovered manually, they can be detected by the system and flagged for review.

Moreover, the duct and piping systems are drawn piece by piece, according to SMACNA standards, with CAD Duct intelligent objects and Quick Pen Pipe Designer.  These objects have connectors, pressure classes, and material.  This leaves the field and fabrication foreman with the more appropriate responsibility of double checking these objects through generated reports.  Once they are approved, a file is processed through the fabrication equipment and the fabrication starts.

And because the CAD operator has already seen the job from a virtual standpoint, he will always be a point of reference, with documented records, for the field.  This allows foremen to allocate less time for coordination and redesign, and more time for doing their true job, supervising.

Coordination and Navis Works

Because we are a full mechanical contractor the major mechanical systems are designed and coordinated in real time in the same office. Conflicts are resolved based on the system flexibility, performance and costs. With a non-full mechanical contractor the customer may not get the best system because each sub contractor will protect their interest, have delays in coordination due to file transfers and may be working with old data and incompatible CAD systems.

Autodesk Navis Works is a 3D design review software package that allows virtual navigation, collaboration and presentation. We compile all 3D components of the building model and check for collisions and clearance requirements. Reports can be run in HTML format and sent for review by all team members on the project. The report will give a snap shot of the collision, clash number, coordinates of clash, and objects that are in conflict. Additionally, Autodesk provides a free viewer that allows others to view and navigate the 3D model. We provide our field crew with these files to help review and more quickly communicate what the finished product will look like. By navigating through the virtual world the field can better plan the installation of complicated and congested areas. Thus, reducing rework and possibly injuries due to forcing their work in place through and around other trades that are installed out of sequence.

Survey and Location

Total Station (Survey)

Our Survey department consists of skilled surveyors trained in the use of CAD and total-station equipment.  All of the coordination and design efforts originating in our CAD department are brought to the field through the use of a total station.

After a project is designed in CAD, points are placed that serve as landmarks and paths for identifying key points of various systems within the drawing. Each point is numerically sequenced and coordinates are defined within a database. That database is taken out to the field and, with some of the newest advances in surveying technology, these points are then scaled up and recreated on the actual project.  This virtually eliminates the need for manual layout by our installers.  They begin installation with the entire system already mapped out.

During the early stages of construction, sleeves and hangers can be placed prior to concrete being poured. This is of particular importance in post-tension slab construction when post-pour drilling of anchors or holes is prohibited or severely restricted. After the pour, we will often lay out our systems on the floor to further facilitate an accurate and coordinated installation.

Layout has always been a very important part of coordinated construction.   With a total station, HPE is able to accomplish our layout with speed and precision, saving our customer both time and money.

The survey department is also used when information needs to make its way from the field, back into the CAD department.  In as-built or remodel situations, it’s critical that our CAD designers have accurate information about the location of existing systems.  Flange locations, tie-in points, obstructions, and structural conditions can all be precisely located allowing us to prefabricate assemblies and minimize shutdown times.