How the CoolSim plugin for AutoCAD marks rooms, racks, CRACs, PDUs and blocks in a drawing and exports them for import into CoolSim.
This demonstration shows an AutoCAD plugin that exports room geometry from a DWG drawing into CoolSim, so the room does not have to be redrawn. It is aimed at designers who already have the layout in AutoCAD.
What the video shows
- Preparing the drawing: the drawing origin must sit in the lower left corner, and it can be moved if it is elsewhere.
- Opening the tool from the Add-ins tab, which shows a docked sidebar.
- Defining the room by entering its height and, if applicable, the supply and return plenum heights, then picking the diagonal corners of the room. The Escape key cancels a selection so it can be repeated.
- Defining racks by entering the height, heat load and flow direction, then clicking inside each rack so its size comes from the drawing outline. The diagonal opposite method also works, and the edit racks feature corrects mistakes.
- Defining only the first rack in a row and adding the rest in the CoolSim rack editor, since the size and starting position are still exported. A wrong flow direction can also be fixed later in CoolSim.
- Defining computer room air conditioner (CRAC) units with height, type and cooling capacity, then power distribution units (PDUs).
- Defining blocks, which the presenter notes are useful when the room is not a rectangle.
- Exporting the file, then using File, Import from AutoCAD in CoolSim and finishing the model there.