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Revit 2021: Top Five Reasons to Upgrade for MEP Engineers

CADD MicrosystemsApril 9th, 2020

Since the updates to Revit 2017, I personally have been looking forward to the new version of Revit every single year. That's because Autodesk has been putting MEP at the forefront of areas for improvement within the Revit platform and this year is no different!

The new version of Revit 2021 is here and it has added a lot of value on the MEP side of your projects. Along with added features such as row striping in schedules, more control of view filters in views, and new tag updates, MEP has a lot of new features that make it easier to design your project with Revit 2021.

Below are my top 5 reasons for MEP engineers to upgrade to Revit 2021!

Rotate Tags with Components

Autodesk has been improving their text capabilities within Revit for the last several years. There is still much room for improvement. However, this new feature helps MEP engineers finally be able to rotate their tags ALONG with their components. It's simple!

Select "Rotate with component" and the tag will rotate along with the component it is attached to

**NOTE: Depending on the origin point/default orientation of the component, the tag will default to that rotation. Meaning, if you place a component on it's side, the tag will rotate on it's side as well. I recommend using a different tag if you want it to be rotated separately from your component

Electrical Circuit Naming

Electrical engineers now have more control over how their circuits are being named. Instead of naming your circuits in a numerical format, you can change the circuit naming structure to match your standards! See below:

Go to "Electrical Settings" In your project and go to "Circuit Naming." Here, you can change the naming of the circuit according to your standards. You can also add Shared Parameters as part of the naming structure.

You can create multiple structures and apply them to individual panels! This would be good for existing circuits for renovations!

Once you've created your scheme, you will need to ensure that the panel you are using is utilizing the new structure you just created. Select the panel and change it's Circuit Naming parameter like so:

Once added, you will see this change:

Single Phase L-N Panelboards

Autodesk has added new features for Single Phase L-N Panelboards. Here, you are able to add single L-N panelboard schedules, Panels now hide unused phases, and distribution systems now check for compatibility and will provide an error if they are mismatched.

Switchboard Circuit Quantity

Switchboards now have the capability to show the max number of circuits available, not just the circuits used in the switchboard. To enable this, you will need to edit the panel schedule for switchboards in the Panel Schedules Template Options and set it to "Variable based on max number of circuits."

Once that is done, you can select the max number of circuits on the switchboard by updating the parameter value:

New Pipe Flow Units

New pipe flow units have been added to Revit. This now includes: Cubic Feet per Hour, Cubic Feet per Minute, and Liters per Hour!

With these added enhancements, you will find Revit easier to use and you will also find that your control over how your design is expressed has vastly improved.

Interested in learning more? We'd love to chat!

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