While internal, these may be modeled for weight calculation or visual clarity. 3. Revit Family Workflows and Best Practices
To keep your model manageable and clear in different views, use visibility parameters. This is particularly useful for controlling which parts of the heat exchanger are visible in plan versus section views, or for managing different levels of detail (Coarse, Medium, Fine). You can create a visibility parameter by adding a associated with a specific parameter, then toggle geometry visibility based on conditions—for example, showing only the outer shell in coarse views while displaying internal tubes in fine views.
: Model the ends using spherical or elliptical revolves.
To make the family valuable for procurement and engineering, inject relevant metadata. Dimensional Parameters (Type or Instance) Shell_Diameter (Length) Overall_Length (Length) shell and tube heat exchanger revit family work
Open Revit and start a new template. The key to successful shell and tube heat exchanger Revit family work is parameter discipline .
Four main connections: Tube Inlet/Outlet and Shell Inlet/Outlet.
Use a simple box or cylinder representing the "clearance zone" required to pull the tube bundle for maintenance. While internal, these may be modeled for weight
This guide explores the best practices, workflows, and essential considerations for designing and utilizing shell and tube heat exchanger Revit families.
A heat exchanger is useless if a contractor cannot pull the tube bundle. You must model invisible geometry.
A generic, boxy representation of a heat exchanger will fail during clash detection or facility management. A specialized Revit family (RFA file) provides: This is particularly useful for controlling which parts
Use revolves to create the curved end caps (bonnets) of the heat exchanger.
Change the family category to via the Family Categories and Parameters dialog box if you started with a generic template.