Building Services Design Software for Advanced Engineering Calculations and Cost Savings

Building services design software is needed by building services professionals to carry out advanced engineering calculations accurately and quickly. This software help in increasing the speed of service delivery with their automation features and help in achieving cost-effective solutions. The software provides realistic installation simulations with height elevation and takes weather conditions, materials and other design aspects into consideration. Here, we will describe some air conditioning ductwork design and electrical building services design software that industry professionals will find useful.

DONKEY

Donkey air conditioningductwork design software can be used to determine the size of a duct network. The program operates via a set of add-on menus in AutoCAD and performs a complete acoustical analysis for costing purposes. The user enters the duct layout and the program will calculate the duct sizes and noise levels throughout the system and the results are displayed on screen. Various alternative designs can be quickly investigated to meet the criteria of cost-effectiveness.

Ducts are drawn while the fans, terminals and fittings can be inserted with the help of pull-down menus. The program can also automatically place bends and branch fittings over areas of the layout nominated by the user.

For the purpose of acoustical analysis, the program assumes a standard 3m x 3m typical room under each terminal, taking into account attenuation of all duct elements in the network. The overall results of the calculation including duct sizes, pressure drops terminal NR levels and noise levels at selected frequencies can be displayed on the screen.  The program determines the sound transmission level throughout the whole network and displays NR levels in each room. One can also specify special rooms with up to 6 ducts and 6 terminals in each room.

Technical details of Donkey air conditioning ductwork design software

·         The program can be used to size the ductwork by any of the three methods viz. static regain, constant pressure gradient, or balanced pressure drop.

·         For rectangular ducting, practical size selections are made with the provision for fixing a duct dimension or velocity.

·         Duct leakages can be done on the basis of I/s per joint per kilopascal pressure difference.

·         The sound power levels in the network are calculated at each of the seven octave band frequencies from 63 Hz to 4000 Hz, taking into account the noise transmitted from the fan down to the terminals and back up the network.

·         The program features a range of material absorption coefficients and transmission loss data.

·         Breakout NR level is calculated for each duct based on the location of the duct on the ceiling space above the standard room.

·         Total weight of the sheet metal and the fabrication, erection and shop drawing manhours are determined for the ductwork and fittings.

DOLPHIN

This duct and fitting design pressure loss calculation software determines the required fan pressure for a duct network. For each duct entered, Dolphin calculates the pressure loss in each length of the duct and fitting. It can also size the selected ducts taking into account the entered pressure drop/meter.

Technical details of Dolphin

·         The program performs an hourly cooling load analysis taking into account the thermal storage on a design day in each month of the year.

·         Psychometric analysis of each AHU is calculated with the coil performance expressed as a bypass factor.

·         Additional data for lightweight roofs is also incorporated for analyzing building with lightweight metal deck.

·         Summary results of Dolphin include the total pressure loss of the supply and return ducts and fittings. The maximum velocity in the supply and return ducts is also displayed. The display output can be exported to Microsoft Excel for graphic or printing.

Some more electrical building services design software used by the building service professionals include the below:

Koala air conditioning load estimation software

This air conditioning load estimation software is designed for use in small commercial and residential buildings. It can be used for producing a load chart for up to 10 zones in a building. Monthly design conditions for over 600 locations in Australia and also for New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and SE Asia are available through a drop-down list. Windows can have shading from overhangs and reveals.

Graphics are provided on the Windows and roof screens to assist the users with checking of their input data. Air quality for each zone is determined based on the leaving coil temperature. Internal loads included in the program include people, lights and equipment loads, both sensible and latent. The results of Koala include a cooling and heating load chart for each zone. Templates are provided for a number of preset result selections.

Python air conditioning hot and chilled water systems design software

One more electrical building services design software is Python, which provides the analysis of hot and chilled water closed and open loop systems such as condenser water piping systems. The program can also handle other fluids based on their density, specific heat and viscosity. It provides for graphical input of the piping layout in schematic form with separate layers for supply, return and plant room piping.

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