A few objects which I’m not quite sure which IFC class they belong to - some perhaps straightforward, others a little less so. Some are also outside of my domain, so perhaps they are easy for others? Looking forward to your confirmations / best guesses?
Pipe sight glasses pipe sight glass at DuckDuckGo - perhaps IfcDistributionChamberElement but with which PredefinedType?
Pipe clamps Domain Registered - Perhaps IfcDiscreteAccessory? Which PredefinedType should it have? It isn’t a mechanical fastener - since it is a clamp, not the bolts that hold the clamp together.
Tundish Tundish - Wikipedia - I think it’s a IfcPipeFitting with PredefinedType set to ENTRY, or an IfcWasteTerminal, but which PredefinedType applies?
VAV box Variable air volume - Wikipedia - some form of IfcFlowController, but not sure which one, or which predefined type. Perhaps it’s a control damper?
Access panels http://accesspanel.com/ - an IfcDoor? But we don’t put them in door schedules, if they are in the ceiling should they be IfcCovering with type CEILING?
ATM machines, ticketing machines - Some form of electric appliance, so an IfcFlowTerminal subtype?
Signage - they come in quite a few forms. Are they IfcFurniture or in some cases IfcCovering?
For panic button I propose IfcSwitchingDevice e.g. of type MOMENTARYSWITCH
For reed switch I prefer IfcSensor because reed switches sense magnetic field (e.g. to detect mechanical position like open/closed windows or doors).
IfcSwitchingDevice is more related to switches and buttons controlled by humans intention.
For load bank I propose IfcElectricAppliance of type ELECTRICHEATER because a load bank converts electrical energy into heat energy but is not an IfcSpaceHeater.
Bumping this thread, as I am encountering many of these ambiguous categorisations. It would be good to have these either clarified in the documentation or added as predefined types in the next IFC version, if some of the ones listed here are truly ambiguous.
Might’ve missed something, but what is a fire extinguisher classed as?
The closest match, a IfcFireSuppressionTerminal, describes itself as connecting to a pipework system, whereas an extinguisher is standalone, so I believe needs clarification. (i.e. to separate system elements from non-system elements)
Can I also request that the word “VAV” or “Variable Air Volume Box” is mentioned explicitly in the specification so as to prevent confusion as to its classification? I have encountered many situations where people dismiss IFC as not properly handling these.
Hello,
I am also looking for the ifc classification of fire extinguishers.
Your post is 2 years old and I don’t understand why this specific and important equipment is not yet defined with a particular ifc object.
I tried to get the information from the BIM object libraries but I can’t find a file in ifc format. Oddly, few manufacturers offer a BIM library and when there is one, the ifc format is not available. Did you get any responses to your post?
Two years further, I was looking (again) with no success to a reasonable mapping of the Fire Extinguisher to an IFC entity.
You could set the IfcFireSuppresionTerminal enumeration to USERDEFINED, but actually it’s not a terminal connected to a system, as Dion mentioned already.
As a standalone object it does not fit the IfcPlumbingFireProtectionDomain
