Methods of teaching graphical subjects to building services engineering program

Carmen MRZA, Anagabriela FRCA, Georgiana CORSIUC

METHODS OF TEACHING GRAPHICAL SUBJECTS TO BUILDING SERVICES ENGINEERING PROGRAM

Abstract: After making a general presentation of the structure of graphical subjects from the curricula of the Building Services Engineering field, the authors elaborate on aspects related to the undergraduates instruction and training in drawings for specialty materials. The present paper presents comparatively the representation of the heating installations of a flat in 2 D, and 3D respectively, with the related software. Key words: graphical subjects, heating installations, two-dimensional representation, plan, diagram, three-dimensional representation. 1. INTRODUCTION Modern urban people spend a significant part of their time inside buildings that are erected by three categories of experts, architects, civil engineers and building services engineers. As building services play a more and more important role in providing comfort, building services engineering has turned in a distinct educational field that was called specialization at its beginnings in the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, and now has become a separate faculty in Cluj-Napoca as well as in Bucharest. Within the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, the Faculty of Building Services was set up in 2007, as independent; however, the academic year 2011-2012 is a jubilee as 40 years of education in building services as specialization are celebrated. In general, the syllabus of the graphical subjects at Bachelor of Science level is similar in the four classical university centres (Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iasi and Timisoara). The distribution of graphical subjects in the curriculum of the Faculty of Building Services from Cluj-Napoca is given in Table 1.
Table 1 Distribution of graphical subjects classes

graphical representations of objects in space. In the third stage, the basics of Computer Aided Design are introduced and students become acquainted with computer drawing related software. In the Faculty of Building Services emphasis is put on AutoCad and AllPlan, other software programmes being used in other faculties, among which, ArhiCad, 3Dmax, Solid Edge. We must find and develop only the communication and conveyance methods of the information to the students, in accordance with the fundamentals of the quality standard ISO 9001, applied to higher education. 2. NOTIONS RELATED TO QUALITY ASSURANCE LAW Standard ISO 9001 was adopted in 2008 and it contains the requirements related to a general System of Quality Management. This standard is applied to education too, if we consider that the undergraduate is the customer of the educational institution for whom the quality of the services provided should comply with the European quality assurance systems.[5] The Bologna process specifies and imposes the European quality standards for higher education and establishes a set of reforms that tend to focus education on students needs, in Europe. This process aims at putting closer the syllabi under study in various universities from various countries so that the transfer of credits between institutions affiliated to the Bologna process actually operates. Not last, the Bologna process also proposes a mobility of subjects and curricula in tight connection with the economic needs of markets. Educational institutions should comply with quality standards in so far curricula are concerned, should develop and implement strategies envisaging the permanent improvement of quality [5]. In this sense, a good rapport between the teachers and the students should exist. On the one hand, the undergraduate should be attracted and convinced to play an active role in the educational process; on the other hand, teacher must be properly qualified and be competent in the field of their action. The teacher has to have a clear and concise expression that enables students to easily understand the teacher. It is essential to have a good communication between these two components. In order to prove the teaching and in formative performances provided teachers are evaluated every year by the students [1]. SEPTEMBER 2012 VOLUME 7 ISSUE 1 JIDEG 9

Subject Descriptive Geometry Technical Drawing Technical Drawing and Infographics AutoCAD Allplan Allplan

Semester 1 1 2 2 3 4

Number of classes/week C S L 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 2

In general, to our university inclusively to our faculty, graphical subjects are taught along three stages. First is taught Descriptive Geometry, when undergraduates develop their thinking and space sight [1]. The number of contact hours differs from faculty to faculty, dependent on the specialisation. The second stage contains the teaching of Technical Drawing when students learn the basic conventions and rules for plane

Methods of teaching graphical subjects to building services engineering program

The educational institutions must provide the necessary materials for any subject or curriculum studied by the students. All the student-useful information must be regularly published and made available to the learners. 3. MEANS OF GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION IN THE FIELD OF BUILDING SERVICES ENGINEERING In the present paper, the authors aim at presenting and detailing the way in which the undergraduates of our faculty are trained to make technical drawings for the engineering subjects of study. Building Services Engineering is a field (domain) placed at the intersection of three basic engineering fields: civil, mechanical and electric engineering, having in the same time, a distinct specificity. It is for this first reason that our students have to be provided with data and knowledge from all the three fields with an emphasis on the specific representation of building services installations and devices. Irrespective of the drawing method, in representations the rules of technical drawing for the fields of civil engineering and building services need to be observed after a rigorous establishment, systematization and unification following the standardization process. Among the conventions and rules to be followed, we would mention [2]: the projection systems of views and sections, the representation scales, the types and thicknesses of lines, the conventional symbols used for various materials and objects, shading, elevations and dimensioning, etc. In this context, the topic proposed is the representation of the heating installation for a two-room flat placed in a block of flats with own heating central unit and distributor-collector at every flat in the building. In our country, such a solution is in the process of implementation, is seen as optimal by experts if a fullrange analysis regarding the engineering, economic and environment protection, that is of gas emission control is fulfilled. 3.1. The two-dimensional representation The parts in a project can be drawn either classically by drawing formats, by pencil and various drawing tools, or with the help of a computer by the use of special drawing editing programs. The technical drawing we propose in our topic was made with the help of AutoCAD [3]. As this software has a general character, that is it is used by experts in all fields of engineering, the controls for drawing and editing will not be detailed in here. The common technical drawings for the heating installation are the plans (drawn following the architectural plans of the building in question, at the 1:50 scale) and the diagram regarding the pipes. In Figure 1, we represented the ground floor plan of the heating installation.

Fig. 1 The ground floor plan

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Methods of teaching graphical subjects to building services engineering program

Fig. 2 The piping diagram

The drawing stages are the following [2]: - at a 1:50 scale, one represents the building including the related line thicknesses, that is thick continuous line noted C2 (walls) and the thin continuous line C3 (voids); - the heating bodies are then represented, at the drawing scale, with the conventional symbols, by a (C2) line; - the distributor collector placed at the entrance of the flat is represented by a (C2) line; - the routes of the pipelines, that is the supply main ( or flow) with a very thick continuous line C1, and the return main by a thick dashed line I2; the double adjustment valve is drawn on the turn line with a C1 line and the conventional symbol; - the plane is dimensioned so that all the components will be perfectly defined and according to the specific standards. It is evident that the drawing representation was organized on layers. In Figure 2, the diagram of the pipes was represented, in fact, as a developed diagram of the entire installation, found by the orthogonal projection of the installation in a main vertical plane on which the walls of the building are brought into coincidence with the related installation [2]; the plane scale is observed, the vertical dimensions and those of the heating bodies are respected, the only exception regards the derivations (connections) that are not represented according to the scale. 3.2. The three-dimensional representation

Engineering fields, the authors intend to detail and exemplify the most important moments in the steps mentioned earlier. The flat ground floor plane will be drawn beginning with the representation of the axes with the control Orthogonal axes, from the General module / Civil engineering extended module (see Fig.3.a). Masonry drawing will use the module Architecture / Basis: Walls, Openings, from the control Wall (see Fig.3.b). The voids in the masonry are produced from the same menu with the control Doors (see Fig.3.c), respectively Windows (see Fig.3.d). As the mentioned software also calculates dimensions for the installations, every element included in the plane needs to be defined in detail. Thus, for the walls, both height and width need to be mentioned as well as the number of wall layers (bricks, thermal insulation). For the windows, heights, widths, and parapet height need to be specified. For the doors, every opening height, width and number of leaves have to be found.

c In order to make the representation of the heating installation for the flat proposed with the ALLPLAN software [4], the steps to be followed will be: - at a 1:50 scale, one draws the building and its architectural mode; - the flat heating amount required will be calculated; - radiators will be positioned; - the route of the pipelines will be drawn and radiators will be connected to flow and return pipes; - the distributor- collector will be put into position; - the pipelines sizing will be calculated; - the elements of the installation will be dimensioned according to the results found. As the representation in Allplan is more complex and is a special program for Civil and Building Services

Fig.3 Allplan controls pictograms [4]

For heating regarding calculations, rooms need to be defined. The operation is performed with the module Architecture / Rooms, Surfaces, Floors and the control Automated rooms. Every room has to be described with details such as room destination, room floor, and a unique identification number within the building (see Fig.4).

Fig.4 Automated Room control Pictogram [4]

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Methods of teaching graphical subjects to building services engineering program

Fig.5 The architecture plan of the flat

After the flat has been defined with respect to structure and division (see Fig.5), the heat needed will be calculated. For this purpose, application AX 3000 has to be installed as it develops all types of devices, installations and energy certification. In the module Building Installations/ General: catalogue data, elements creation one will specify where the building is situated (location, city) by selecting the information from the software database. We select the county of Cluj, place Cluj-Napoca with the control Heating and Rooms Catalogues (see Fig.6).

From the same menu, the control View rooms, floors (see Fig.7.a) helps managing Space Manager (see Fig.8) according to the Romanian standards and checking for errors or mistakes is performed. One can also check whether external and internal elements have been correctly generated and if heat resistances are right. If all data are right, neighbouring surfaces will be generated with the button Determining Neighbouring Surfaces (see Fig.7.b) for all the rooms of the flat.

a
Fig.6 Allplan controls pictogram [4]

Fig.7 Allplan controls pictograms [4]

Fig.8 Space manager menu

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Methods of teaching graphical subjects to building services engineering program

Button En 12831 (see Fig.9.a) from the window Space Manager helps generating an Excel document containing the heat needed for every flat room, according to the standards in our country. The heat needed known, one can establish where to position radiators with the module Building installations/heating and the control Placing radiators (see Fig.9.b) which indicates the room, and helps selecting the radiator from the calculated value and the producers lists. The radiator will be placed by indicating two points with respect to room center and position desired. Radiators can also be selected function of length, height and thickness. To be fairly chosen, it is necessary to know the heating value for flow and return sides. As the software also enables the calculation of the materials needed, valves for radiators can also be specified. the starting point for both flow and return with the button Heating starting point (see Fig.11.a) from the same previous menu.

Fig.10 Allplan controls pictograms [4]

With all the heating installation elements defined, pipes dimensions will be calculated from the module Building installations / Dimensioning heating with the control Easyiline (see Fig.11.b). This button will generate an Excel document with data resulting from the calculations. When the calculations are over, the pipelines represented as continuous lines will be visualised in 3D.

b a b
Fig.11 Allplan controls pictograms [4]

Fig.9 Allplan controls pictograms [4]

After the heating radiators are specified with respect to their positioning, the route for the flow and return pipes can be defined from the module Building installation / Heating dimensioning with the control Parallel polylines 3D (see Fig.10.a). The pipelines are drawn following the rule that the return should be placed near the wall, and the flow to the room inside. From the same module with the button Connection to heating flow/ return (see Fig.10.b), radiators will be connected to the flow and return pipes. The distributor/collector will be placed near the flat entrance door. In Allplan, this will be

The last stage of performing the heating installation plan relates to dimensioning, in an implicit manner with results found after calculations for pipelines diameters and materials as well as radiators. The displayed data complexity can be set with the Allplan software with respect to the requirements of the user. A general image of the stages passed through can be seen in the following print screens (see Fig.12 and Fig.13).

Fig.12 2D and 3D projection of the plant

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Methods of teaching graphical subjects to building services engineering program

Fig.13 Overview of the apartment.

4. CONCLUSION Today, the graphical subjects contribute to forming and developing the undergraduates space vision and capacity of perceiving the double relationship between the representation in plane (2D) and in space (3D). The opinion of the experts in graphical engineering is that all beginners in engineering should start with manual drawing, learning standards norms so that they can learn and develop their way of thinking and perceiving notions and concepts in a proper technical manner, followed by computer-assisted drawing with specialized software (such as Computer Aided Design - CAD and ALLPlan), that increase accuracy and rapidity in execution. It is obvious that such an education requires access to high performance computers, tools and software as well as user expertise and experience in graphical subjects and in engineering. REFERENCES [1] Mrza, C., Iacob, G., (2010), Representation methods from the curricular area of descriptive geometry, put in agreement with the law for quality assurance in higher education, The International Scientific Conference for Geometry and Engineering Graphics moNGeometrija2010, Belgrad, Serbia, ISBN 978-86-7924-040-8. 14 SEPTEMBER 2012 VOLUME 7 ISSUE 1 JIDEG

[2] Mrza, C., Corsiuc, G., (2011), Desen tehnic si infografica Specializarea Instalatii pentru Constructii, Editura U.T.PRESS Cluj-Napoca, ISBN 978-973-662-665-4 [3] Simion I., (2005). AutoCAD 2005 for engineers, TEORA USA Publishing House, ISBN 1-59496033-X 2005, New York. [4] http://documentatie.nemetschek.ro [5] SR EN ISO 9001:2008, System of Quality Management. Authors: Carmen MRZA, Dr. Eng., Associate Professor, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Faculty of Building Services Engineering, E-mail: Carmen.Marza@insta.utcluj.ro. Anagabriela FRCA, Eng., Teaching Assistant, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Faculty of Building Services Engineering, E-mail: anagabriela.farcas@insta.utcluj.ro Georgiana CORSIUC, Eng., Research Assistant, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Faculty of Building Services Engineering, E-mail: Georgiana.IACOB@insta.utcluj.ro.