CALCULATING VOLUMES WITHIN A PIPEWORK SYSTEM

[ADfromeaton]

Hi All.

Does anyone have a useful method of calculating voulmes within a pipework system?.

We use pro-pipe here and I have an assembly with pipework routing through components such as heat exchangers and vessel tanks.

My manager has asked me if I can calcuate the approximate volume of water within the system by using proe data, but all I can achieve is the "solid valume" of each part, ie not the hollow sections where the water will run.

Anyone got any tips or tricks?

 

[mechbull]

well your half way there
if you know the volume of the pipe as a solid now
resize your O.D. to the current I.D. and subtract

 

[ADfromeaton]

Sorry mechbull, I dont see how that would give me the volume of the hollow section I need.

Bearing in mind that pipes have wall thickesses I can only see this method working if the id = 0 which is probably not possible?

 

[BK2003]

Hi,

I don't have a solution right away, but my first idea is to compare the actual volume with a new volume where the inner space/air is removed.
So, how do you calculate the new volume with space removed?
An idea would be to use shrinkwrap, but a short test I did, was not working. Perhaps you can make it work.
Another idea is to copy all outside surfaces and then make them solid.

You then subtract the new outside volume with the actual volume.

I hope this is helping you.

/BK

 

[Hora]

I think an assembly cut-out will help you here. Same procedure as "merge"

Good luck,

-Hora

 

[mloew]

Is the length of the pipe known? I have been creating datum curve features and using an analysis feature to measure the length. Using a relation analysis feature all the lengths can be summed and then multiplied by id²*[π]/4 to get an in itial estimate of the volume. Higher accuracy can be acheived by lknowing more about the number of bends, their radii, and amount of turn.

Best regards,

Matthew Ian Loew


Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

 

[Guest0527211403]

You can also add an analysis feature to each component, which analyzes the fluid volume based on the parameters for each part. This would be a great thing to do in the start part, but if it's too late for that, you can make the process quicker with mapkeys.

If each part ends up with a commonly named parameter (i.e. FLUID_VOL), you can create a table in your drawing that has a repeat region summation to add all of these values together.

 

[jeff4136]

Ya know, I don't know how to, exactly, accomplish this in Pro/E. If the idea has merit maybe someone will clue us in ...

Embed the assembly in a solid block and boolean subtract it from the block. This'll leave you, after a little whittling, with two solid bodies; one of which is the system volume.