© 1996-2005 by EMSC.

Recent Independent Reviews

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Reprinted from CADALYST magazine, January 2000

MeMate HVAC
HVAC design and drafting software.

MeMate HVAC, an AutoCAD third-party application from EMSC, automates the process of developing plans for HVAC projects. The application is very sophisticated and develops CAD drawings automatically with MeMate's AutoCAD ObjectARX tools. With MeMate, your HVAC project nearly draws itself when you select the appropriate MeMate object and supply the values needed to define the object.

MeMate provides tools and features that perform numerous functions, as shown in the figure. It calculates cooling and heating loads and performs ductwork and piping calculations. It determines equipment sizing, identifies equipment selection, and automatically drafts your plans. It also creates a bill of materials and functions as a cost-estimating tool. By using MeMate, you can satisfy the most demanding HVAC project requirements and produce a complete set of plans and supporting documents.

As a building's design changes during the project's life cycle, MeMate makes updating objects nearly effortless. You easily move and resize objects using AutoCAD's core CAD tools, or use MeMate's interface to edit object properties.

An impressive feature of MeMate is that it automatically draws the objects you need when you create improvement plans. Select the desired object, and MeMate prompts you for the values and creates the object in great detail. The object is properly sized, with its various components drawn on separate layers for easy display manipulation.

MeMate uses industry standards during the design process to create its HVAC objects. For example, it uses the ASHRAE CLTD tables for load calculations. For ductwork design, the application uses the equal friction method. MeMate has built-in intelligence that lets you use only acceptable values for objects, and it alerts you to errors. MeMate also converts your drawings between English and metric units.

MeMate consists of three modules. The BES (Building Envelope Solution) module calculates cooling and heating load. The DS (Design Solution) module combines features from the BES module with the ability to determine equipment sizing and selection, perform ductwork and piping calculations, and automatically draft your plans. The Design and Estimate Solution module combines the features from the DS module with the ability to produce a bill of materials and cost estimating.

MeMate HVAC is available for AutoCAD Releases 13-2000. You can download the MeMate software in demo mode, complete with user's manual and tutorial documentation, from MeMate's Web site (www.memate.com). When you purchase the software for your design projects, you receive a password that makes the demo fully functional. Once you purchase MeMate, you also receive the application on a CD-ROM, which includes a multimedia real time demo. The multimedia demo walks you through all of MeMate's features and is an excellent learning tool.

MeMate is very user-friendly and requires minimal technical support. The application provides a simple way to limit mistakes with its error-checking capabilities. It also increases productivity and final product results thanks to its automated CAD drafting features.

Bill Burchard is an author and a consultant with Psomas in Riverside, California. E-mail him at bburchard@psomas.com.

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Reprinted from The Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration News, May 10, 1999

Hvac engineering software helps
simplify renovation of Calif. building

WOODLAND, Calif.- When the Yolo County District Attorney's Office in Woodland decided it had outgrown its existing facilities, the search for a new location started in earnest.

In the downtown area of Woodland, they found a two-and-a-half story, turn-of-the-century, brick facade building which could be remodeled and expanded to accommodate their needs.

An architect was commissioned to develop a design that would meet the space criteria for the offices while maintaining the charm and appeal of this historic building.

Effectively merging new additions while bringing the existing structure up to current building codes is a major challenge of working with an older building. Another challenge is adding or updating an HVAC system which was not a part of the original structure.

The architects turned to the McDermott Group of Sacramento for consultation on updating the HVAC systems for the new district attorney's offices. The client had several pages of HVAC design criteria which had to be met, including design conditions, load criteria, zone sizes and zone controls.

The existing HVAC systems in the building were outdated and would not be able to handle these new heating and cooling loads.

In the past, the engineers at the McDermott Group would have generally approached a project like this by manual take-off of the different areas and building assemblies and entering them into an HVAC load analysis program.

This would have to be done for each room or zone, depending on how detailed they wanted their analysis to be. They would then sketch-out the zoning and duct layout onto a copy of the building plan and finally draw the final layout using a CAD program.

This is a time-consuming and inflexible process. Moreover, if the client did not like their initial design, they would have to duplicate a large portion of the load/zone analysis, re-sketch the new layout and re-input it into the CAD system. Mike McDermott, owner of McDermott Group, knew there had to be a better way.

FOUND ON INTERNET

One night in late 1997, while surfing the Internet for programs that could expedite the company's HVAC design process, McDermott found a program called MeMate HVAC by Energy & Mechanical Systems Consultants, Inc., of Santa Monica, Calif.

This program claimed to be able to run detailed heating and cooling load analysis as well as layout ducting and zoning inside of AutoCAD.

"I downloaded the demo file with an interactive tutorial and was able to appreciate results within first two hours," McDermott said. "By using this new software technology with my current version of AutoCAD, I was able to run my loads, layout my ductwork and select my equipment all within one program.

"What made it even better, was that the artificial intelligence built into the software automatically selected diffusers, grilles, duct fittings and sizes with the click of a button. Or, at any time, I could override the automatic input and select my own devices and/or sizes."

MeMate's object-oriented approach allows engineers to experiment with various layouts quickly. The end product is a detailed, double-line duct layout with all duct runs and devises labeled. In addition, the software can even generate a bill of materials of the HVAC design for the contractors.

After obtaining a commercial version of the MeMate program, the McDermott Group put it to work on the Yolo County District Attorney's office project. Once they had the detailed room-by-room heating and cooling load analysis, they started putting together zones based on the client's design criteria.

With over 20,000 sq. ft. of office space distributed over three floors, less than two feet of space above the ceiling for light fixtures, duct runs and fire sprinklers, and one central duct shaft for all plenum drops from the third-floor roof, the engineers found themselves with a real distribution and control challenge.

"The general contractor and mechanical contractor had been selected early in the design process," said McDermott. "Working closely together we all agreed that by using six package rooftop units with VVT zoning and the direct digital controls specified by the district attorney's office, the zoning and budgetary criteria could be met.

"We started laying out zoning scenarios for the review of the contractors and client using AutoCAD with MeMate. The speed and simplicity with which we were able to evaluate various designs enabled instant decision-making on which approach would be the most workable and cost effective for the building."

Once the zoning was decided upon, the greatest hurdle for the engineers was finding a way to get the supply and return air plenums from four of the rooftop units down a single duct shaft to the first and second floors, while providing the required VVT crossovers for each unit and fire-smoke dampers out of the plenum.

It took several design iterations to get a viable solution - but using MeMate they were now able to evaluate a variety of options quickly and make the best decision.

The construction work is currently underway and moving along quickly on the Yolo County District Attorney's new office building

McDermott Group also continues to use MeMate on a variety of projects.

The MeMate HVAC is available for review when requested off the MeMate website at www.memate.com.

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