4M has released a major upgrade for FINE-MEP (v.24), its BIM application for MEP, including significant improvements and enhancements that significantly boost the software's capabilities. In addition, FINE has been also rebuilt as a native cloud application to take advantage of the unique cloud computing benefits.
Among the main new features of FINE24 are a total redesign on top of the latest ITC and ODA libraries, compatibility with Revit, enhanced supervision, faster display engine with respect to the 3D building model, enriched dialogs, the AutoBLD (for the building shell) and AutoNET (for the piping networks) command groups, new material libraries on top of the Firebird platform, more detailed bill of materials, a large expansion of the network calculation spreadsheets, and many others.
In addition to the improvements listed above that are common for the six FINE-MEP verticals (FineHVAC, FineSANI, FineFIRE, FineELEC, FineGAS, and FineLIFT), there are also specific improvements for each vertical closely related to the domain they are dealing with. For example, the new version of FineHVAC introduces, among others, the thermal bridges smart manager, the sophisticated wizard to calculate u-factors through the structural element layers, the accurate heat pump selection based on the HVAC efficiency curves, the precise hydraulic calculations when it comes to the piping sizing, and more (Figure 1).
In addition, as mentioned earlier, FINE users can now use it as a native cloud application, within the framework of a powerful collaborative environment with strong synergies, to ensure effective coordination among designers as well as among third parties who need to collaborate on the design or construction process (such as project owner, contractor, facility manager, etc.). FINE24-CLOUD is also SaaS-ready, a fact that offers great flexibility to its users in terms of working environment options (for example, access via the web either for a fixed period or by project, or by subscription, etc.).
Using FineHVAC24 – the Heating-Ventilation-Air-Conditioning vertical of Fine-MEP – as a reference, this article explores the new features and highlights of the application, in both its CAD and CALC Components, as well as its functionality as a Cloud application.
The new FineHVAC CAD Component has been completely redesigned on top of the latest 4MCAD engine – which, in turn, is based on the latest ITC and ODA libraries – using BIM philosophy and 64bit architecture. This makes its CAD performance much superior compared to the previous FINE19 version.
The new GUI interface is closer to the AutoCAD look-and-feel, with the capability to display the ribbon and menu bar simultaneously. Enhanced by the new tool palettes, it is significantly faster in both the display engine itself, with even faster zoom and pan operations, and in reading/writing and opening/saving project files. With this new design, the AutoBLD and AutoNET group of commands, including new and enhanced dialogs, are now three times faster than the ones in FINE19. Even the project supervision is much higher due to the display of the underlying and superimposed floor outlines.
When it comes to the building shell, the new FineHVAC can now also read Revit (RVT) files of the 3D building model, further to the IFC/BIM files. The AutoBLD group of commands includes a series of new elements, such as Curtain Walls, Multiple Openings (consisting of horizontal and vertical repetitions of the opening selected from the program library), Blinds, 3D Horizontal Cantilevers and Inclined Cantilevers (all involving the analytical calculation of shadows).
There are several new functions including the ability to distinguish the connection-union of a column with a roof; the calculation of a thermal bridge of a sloping wall surface in case of connection with a roof; the display of thermal bridge sides which can be reversed with one click; the option to define a different thermal bridge between column and beam or to define building elements directly from the CAD environment; the ability to easily define typical space elements, as well as the ability to define values for ventilation, space, people, devices, lighting elements directly from the CAD environment with easy copying-editing per space.
Other important new features include the increased supervision viewing due to the outline of the underlying and superimposed floor; the “matchproperties” command for all entities of the building shell (and networks) to transfer properties from one entity to another, individually or in bulk, and for one or more attributes; as well as the integration with the new IDEA24 and FineGREEN24.
For the design of networks, the new FineHVAC24 application provides the ability to define and modify network elements directly from the FINE design tool for all E/M Installation networks. Some general improvements concern the quick selection from the library elements through text searching, the indication of the heating data in the floor plans, the axonometric charts, etc.
Heating Losses and Cooling Loads: Working in the CAD environment, the user can manage all the climate parameters (such as indoor and outdoor temperatures, city climate data, room conditions, etc.) as well as the default space values for ventilation, people, devices and lighting by copying/deleting/modifying this information per space.
Floor Heating: A series of new commands has been included, such as the design of the underfloor network in an upgraded environment-interface of high ergonomics and functionality, with a multitude of new tools; and faster network design and creation of floor plans and 3D because of the major upgrade of the design engine. There are also new options to identify the network for the automatic update of the calculations; to design normalized circuit pipes; to define an underfloor system directly from space; to design a clockwise and counterclockwise circuit; to define usage and thermal resistance directly from the circuit; to update circuit length during design; to update the floor plans; to create vertical charts either for a meander or a snail geometry; to create the axonometric chart; and to convert a 2D floor plan to a 3D drawing based on calculation sizing.
Fan Coils: Floor plans are automatically updated with all the necessary information, including detailed heating data along with the FCU type and others. There is also an automatic recording of the circulators, even at more than one network starting point.
Air Ducts: Detailed axonometric charts and multiple starting points (fans) of the air-duct network are now available.
The calculation environment in FineHVAC24 has been significantly redesigned on a 64bit architecture resulting in significantly higher speeds in the calculation sheets. It includes a renewed Interface (GUI) with ribbon menus, icon bars, and advanced ergonomics. Material and equipment libraries have been also redesigned on an advanced platform (Firebird instead of Access), for more user-friendly management and better performance. The main new features can be summarized as follows:
Additional improvements include:
Cooling Loads: RTS 2021 latest method, additional features for ventilation (i.e., calculation with both per-person and per-air volume changes, ventilation recovery coefficient in case that “Psychrometry” is skipped to go with the VRV unit selection), enriched lighting libraries with LEDs, precise calculations when it comes to some special cases regarding the building shell (e.g., "floor to pilotis").
Heating Losses: Precise calculations when it comes to some special cases regarding the building shell (e.g. "floor to pilotis").
Piping design: Single, Twin Pipe Heating and Fan Coils have been enhanced by the new features mentioned above. In particular in the Floor Heating-Cooling, there is a series of improvements such as the adoption of the EN1264-2 2021 standard for heating and/or cooling, the independent networks, the "network control" dialog for the supply temperatures (i.e., 40 for heating and 17 for cooling), consideration of the thermal efficiency due to “passing” pipes, calculations based on the desired floor temperature and others.
Fan Coils: The option to handle different types of Fan Coil in the same project, ability to define several independent individual units (like in the two-pipe app), elements also for heating within the FCU libraries, option for heating through a heat pump selected.
As mentioned above, FINE-CLOUD provides its users with a high degree of flexibility in choosing among several work environment options, constituting at the same time a powerful collaborative environment of high synergy among designers themselves and also third parties (i.e., project owner, contractor, facility manager, etc.). Besides, FINE-CLOUD (a stand-alone version or in conjunction with other 4M BIM apps) covers all the eight BIM dimensions: intelligent 3D building modeling (3D BIM), construction scheduling and phasing (4D BIM), costing and budgeting (5D BIM), sustainability (6D BIM), facility management (7D BIM) and health and safety (8D BIM).
FINE-CLOUD includes all the features of FINE, and its interface is quite similar, which helps to minimize the training time and effort.
The main concept behind the collaborative work with FINE-CLOUD is that there is a central model stored on a server and each user creates local copies and works on their PC, while all workstations are synchronized with the central model, so that changes are updated. Each user creates their own worksets to work on the drawings locally, while the modifications are synchronized with the central model in parallel.
More specifically, by selecting “collaborative work” on the menu, FINE-CLOUD allows the administrator to define the “worksets” of the project/study, to be processed by multiple users simultaneously. Regarding the building itself, worksets have to do with building entities and levels/floors that can be treated separately, whereas worksets concerning the building services and network installations (such as Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing, Electrical, etc.,) can be also considered separately by level. The designers can select any workset, while watching in real time the worksets assigned to other users. For example, one user can work on the heating network of the second floor, while another user works in parallel on the electrical installation of the second and third floors. In this way, not only does the design task become faster, it also allows any potential conflicts or "clashes" between different design elements in the BIM model to be promptly identified and resolved before construction begins.
Depending on the specifics of the project design, users can agree on a collaboration plan of maximum efficiency, sharing the worksets of the design process. For example, one user can process the building levels and spaces, a second one can use this data in order to calculate the thermal and cooling loads of the building, a third user can design the airduct network, and so on.
Thanks to its flexibility, FINE CLOUD provides multiple options that can assist the optimal sharing of the collective work. With the libraries of materials and equipment now hosted in the cloud, it ensures an effective sharing of the libraries among the FINE-CLOUD users. It also provides greater flexibility in terms of the utilization of libraries from different manufacturers who can update their materials in parallel in the cloud.
The latest release of FineHVAC – which is representative of the FINE-MEP suite as a whole – has been rated the most important ever, from the feedback of its thousands of users worldwide. Both Components, CAD and CALC have become significantly faster and even more friendly, thanks to many new features and capabilities, which speed up the design process. More specifically:
The seamless integration of those two Components creates powerful synergies for the user, allowing projects to be completed significantly faster, and with a high level of precision.
In addition to these major improvements, the fact that FINE has been also re-engineered as a native cloud application gives its users the ability to work within a synergistic, collaborative environment, leveraging numerous benefits and significantly increasing productivity throughout the design process.
Miltos Giannakopoulos graduated in 2020 with a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in the University of Patras, which is considered one of the top-ranked universities in Greece. During his first job at a local engineering firm, he conducted several MEP and Energy case studies, focusing on optimizing energy efficiency, while ensuring the quality and timely completion of project case studies for submission to the Urban Planning Authority. Since April 2022, he has worked at 4M in various roles including customer support, strategic planning, team management, and sales. Currently, Miltos is leading a team of support professionals to ensure the delivery of high-quality customer service to over 45 4M partners and 80,000 4M users worldwide.
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