Tekla Structures has a plug-in for Farrat Thermal Break Plates
In partnership with Farrat, a global specialist engineering company, we have launched a new Tekla plug-in tool, to facilitate the efficient design and detailing of high-performance isolation with Thermal Break Plates, into structural steel framed buildings.
With this time-saving tool, our Tekla Structures users can incorporate Farrat’s isolation products directly in their 3D structural model as well as automatically integrate all structural attributes, scheduling, and production dimensions.
Farrat has designed the Structural Thermal Breaks to insulate the connections between structural components, such as steel beams, reducing both energy loss through the building and the risk of interstitial condensation.
Before the launch of the innovative plug-in tool, Tekla and Farrat customers would have had to manually model a generic steel plate with no specific attributes and simply label it as a thermal break plate. What’s more, the plate would not have been specific to any manufacturer, meaning that it would have been impossible for architects and engineers to generate precise take-offs and price estimates.
Now, once the tool has identified a steel connection where a structural thermal break is required, the dimensional and locational information is drawn directly from the connection, and the appropriate Farrat break plate is automatically created. The plate remains linked to the steel connection, so any later design changes are reflected in the thermal break component.
The new plug-in tool is able to automatically assign the correct attributes and weights for the full range of Farrat’s thermal break products, meaning that all-dimensional, performance, and price information can be contained in the object and exported.
Talking about the decision to partner with Farrat, Steven Insley, National Sales Manager at Trimble Solutions UK said:
“We were delighted to have the opportunity to work with Farrat on this new plug-in tool. A significant number of their steel fabrication customers use Tekla Structures as their primary design and detailing tool and, with Farrat’s Structural Thermal Breaks regularly incorporated in the mainframe model, it made sense for us to collaborate and work on combining the two.”
The Structural Thermal Break plug-in is available from Tekla Warehouse.