Back when Andekan first started, we built a Revit person family that we called Andy. Andy was a chance to show off our Revit family-fu, while offering something that anyone working in projects would find useful.
While it’s only August, so far it would be safe to say that 2017 has been our hottest year on record for VRF Revit content. VRF stands for Variable Refrigerant Flow, and it’s a type of HVAC system that can do modulated and mixed heating and cooling. We’ve had multiple projects from multiple manufacturers and created a wide range of VRF components throughout 2017. This made me curious to learn more about where VRF products fit in the industry and why the sudden increase in interest.
When we started Andekan nearly a decade ago, the vast majority of our customers were architects and engineers who needed Revit content for specific projects. Things have changed quite a bit since then, and today most of our customers are manufacturers who want Revit families of their products to distribute to those same architects, engineers and contractors.
System connectors and their limitations have been a recurring theme in a slew of MEP content projects that we’ve been working on recently. When it comes to creating Revit families for MEP systems (HVAC, piping, plumbing, electrical, etc.), connectors are an essential feature of any usable piece of content. Anyone doing system coordination and calculations in Revit projects will know about the importance of having families with the right kinds of connectors, and of having those connectors correctly configured for the particular system (and for those that don’t, you can check out this Autodesk primer on Revit connectors).