Introduction

Mep keys appear as a collection of goods, ducts and recesses. Moving the MEP key move all the components with it. This means you don't have to insert/detach every single component by hand. MEP-keys adapt to wall geometries height and thickness. The MEP keys can also differentiate between wall height and floor/ceiling height.

MEP Keys are added to walls just like other CIMs.

• Draw MEP Key
• MEP Keys - Definition
• Electric Box
• Electric Duct
• Edit MEP Key
• Edit MEP Pipe
• Show MEP Marker
• Move MEP Key
• Delete MEP Key
• Draw duct

MEP Key Definition

A MEP key is made up of 4 tables consisting of Items, Recesses, Duct connections and Recess connections. The definition window shows all four tables and a previsualization of the MEP key.

Items

Items are CIMs. Right click on the table to add or remove CIMs.

• Name: The CIMs ID
• Edge and Dist. from edge: From which edge and how far shall the CIM be placed. You may choose Top, Bottom, Floor and Ceiling. Floor and Ceiling is the dotted line in the previsualization.
• Offset:  Parameter controlling horizontal offset. 
• Rotation: CIM rotation
• Text/Dimension: Shall text or dimension be added for this CIM in a shop drawing
• Side: Which side is the cim front facing surface intersecting with.

Recesses

Add rectangular recesses. Works similarly to CIMs. Countersinking will be taken from the selected side.

Duct Connections

Represented by lines in the previsualization. Goes from one item to another or Top, Bottom, Floor or ceiling. As for previous tables, you can choose an offset, the number of ducts etc.

To decide what path the duct should take, you can right-click and adjust the displacement for that duct connection. This enables you to use bent ducts.

Recess Connections

Connecting two items with a recess in between them. 

Draw Duct

In IMPACT 17, there is new command called "Draw duct" which gives the possibility to draw the ducts by picking lines or points.

Figure 1 - Draw duct command in IMPACT Revit 

In the image below we can see the Draw duct dialogue window that is prompted when user starts the Draw duct command. 

Figure 2 - Draw duct dialogue window 

• Name: The duct family that is used to draw the duct 
• Side: The side of the element where the duct will be inserted. There are two option here - Front and Back 
• Depth: The depth of duct when it is inserted in element
• Fillet radius: If there is any radius of duct then it is specified in this field
• Delete duct lines: User can choose if the lines should be removed or kept after inserting the ducts

In order to draw the ducts there are some steps that needs to be done in advance. These steps are available for both methods of drawing the ducts - by picking lines and by picking the points. 

First, set up the work plane on the element where the ducts needs to be inserted. To do that, go to Architecture tab and choose "Set Work Plane". Then, choose "Pick plane" and select the element where the ducts needs to be inserted.

Figure 3 - Set work plane command in Revit

Figure 4 - Pick plane command in Revit

Draw ducts by picking the lines

The next step is to draw the lines on element. You can use the shortcut "LI" to start the draw lines command. 

Figure 5 - Drawing lines on element 

Once you are done with these steps before, you are ready to draw the ducts. In the example below, we draw the ducts with radius. Of course, the ducts can be also drawn without a radius.

When drawing the ducts by picking the lines, it is important to draw them by selecting the first part of the pipe (lines) and then second part of the pipe (line) and so on. 

Figure 6 - Drawing ducts by picking the lines

Draw ducts by picking the points

Drawing ducts by picking points doesn't require any lines to be drawn in advance on element. User can just pick the points where the ducts needs to be inserted. This is a bit tricky when there is no reference on element on where the points should be taken from because you might end with the ducts placed on a different position than the one is needed. 

When drawing ducts by picking points, it is important to draw the first part of the duct and end the command by pressing "ESC" button, then second draw the second part of the ducts and then press "ESC" and so on. 

Below there are two examples - one example where there are some references of the duct points drawn on element and one example without any reference on element.

Figure 7 - Drawing ducts by picking points with small reference on element

Figure 8 - Drawing ducts by picking the points with no reference

MEP key dimension functionality for Item and Recesses

There is a new functionality added to the MEP key definition which gives the possibility to select the dimensions type for Items and Recesses. The settings will be considered when generating a Shop drawing. 

There are different options of dimensions that user can choose from. 

The dimension options for Items are: None, Center, Vertical and Horizontal. 

The dimensions options for Recesses are: None, Top, Bottom, Center, Extents. 

It is important to know, that the new feature works in close connection with the settings from IMPACT Project Manager. In order to generate a Shop drawing and have the MEP key components dimensioned separately, user needs to make sure that the option "Dimension MEP Key components separately" is set to "Yes".